Fantasy February: the Group Monthly Theme Read

Welcome to the February Group Read. Our theme this month is fantasy. The rules here are loose and limber. If you have a fantasy book you've been meaning to get to, let this be a stimulus. If you happen to read any fantasy books during February in the course of your normal reading, come here and tell us about them. If you want to use this as an excuse to read as many fantasy books as possible in February, go for it! And come here and tell us all about it!

One thing, you won't be stinted for choice. Fantasy is one of the largest genre categories, with thousands of titles in everything from literary fiction through mystery and romance into pure epic fantasy. Take your pick!

I have The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater mentioned by @humouress and @scaifea newly checked out. Also several others, since fantasy is really my basic reading stock.

Pantomime
Gideon the Ninth
A Longer Fall
Queen of the Sea
The Bookshop of Yesterdays
City of Brass

It's possible I'll get to one or more of them this month, but there are some other challenges and read along threads I'm considering.

>2 quondame: Ooo Gideon the Ninth! What a completely astounding experience that was. Harrow the Ninth is coming out this year, so it's a good series to get into.

I'm thinking this is a reason to read The Plastic Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg.

I'll definitely be diving into Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb. A possible if I get round to it will be Dragonsbane by Babara Hambly, and maybe more depending on how the month goes!

I'll be reading The Magicians' Guild by Trudi Canavan. I tried this on audio last year but stopped after the first couple of chapters, so I'll try reading it this time.
I have lots of fantasy on my shelves so will see what comes up.
One fantasy series I haven't read for a while is Thraxas by Martin (Scott) Millar, I'm up to book 6 so might just go for that one as they are always fun reads.

I’m in! Although what I decide to read will be whatever appeals in the moment.

I'm hoping to get started on The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander, as soon as I can next month.

I've started A Longer Fall and Her Majesty's Necromancer and am not sure whether I'll finish them in January or whether they'll last til Feb. One way or the other, I'm looking forward to discovering new fantasy titles on this thread!

I'm thinking that I might give Mercedes Lackey a try. The SERRAted Edge series looks interesting possibly.
Are there any Lackey fans out there that can suggest her best book or if the SERRATed Edge series is decent?

I'll hope to read Children of Blood and Bone, a Christmas gift from my son's fiance.

Thanks for setting this up, Roni. I am going to be reading Decoy Princess by Dawn Cook and, hopefully, The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson which has been on my shelf for far too long.

The thread for Feb is now on the group wiki!

I will definitely read something for the challenge.

And maybe get to Witchmark at last. QUILTBAG fantasy to the front of the line.

This is not my usual territory so I'm perusing others' choices and hoping to land on something of interest. My only substantial foray into fantasy is The Hobbit (does that count?) and the Dragonriders of Pern trilogy. I greatly enjoyed both. I'm open to suggestions.

I have Good Omens on my TBR shelves and it is heavily tagged as fantasy so it may be my choice.

Thanks for setting this up, Roni!

>15 EBT1002: Have you tried Lois McMaster Bujold’s Chalion series, Ellen? One of my favourites.

ETA: >16 EBT1002: Oops, cross-posted. Have you watched the ‘70s film ‘The Omen’ with Gregory Peck? And I think there was a remake a couple of years ago. I’m not into horror myself, but the book is a kind of parody of that and is funnier if you can relate it to the film.

>15 EBT1002: There are quite a few more Pern novels. I just picked up 8 in a used bookstore today to give to my daughter. I loved every one of them. And Good Omens is a good pick.

You might also like Katherine Arden's Winternight trilogy which is richly layered with Russian folklore or Naomi Novik's Uprooted. Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere or Stardust. Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series. Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber is also worth reading, retellings of fairy tales but much more than that.
Diana Wynne Jones' Dark Lord of Derkholm is great, about group tours to a fantasy world.

>9 ChelleBearss: I've read a bunch of Lackey's books, and my favorites are:

Arrows of the Queen (book 1 of 3, all are pretty good)

Exile's Honor (1st of 2 books, both are good but I like this one a little more)

By the Sword

>15 EBT1002: as much as I enjoy the Dragonriders trilogy, I love the Harper Hall more. The first book is Dragonsong, book 2 Dragonsinger is my favorite of the trilogy.

>17 humouress: I loved the first book in the Chalion series, have yet to read #2 and #3.

Anything by CJ Cherryh is going to be good, though she leans more SciFi than fantasy.

And what about Tad Williams? What a writer...

I'm in! I'm trying to focus my energies on ROOTs this year. A few fantasies I've had on the shelf for far too long are:

Alphabet of Thorn
Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern
Swordspoint
Jack of Kinrowan
The Lies of Locke Lamora

So, we'll see if I can get to any or all of these in February!

I am currently reading Lies of Locke Lamora and book 2 in the Nevernight series - Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff. I hope to finish both of them next month.

>15 EBT1002:
Another book that is fantasy but walks a grey area between fantasy and historical fiction is Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. It is set in 1890's New York City and is about immigrant groups and how they lived when they arrived. Lots in the book that is fantasy, but lots that is just plain historical information.

I'm in!

I'll most likely be reading The King of Attolia in my reread of Megan Whalen Turner's series and Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi. More fantasy might creep in as I get into the month and whittle down some non-fantasy library reads.

I am in for FF. I have The Night Circus out from the library I hope to start this weekend. After that, I will find one of my fantasy ROOT books from the TBR shelves.

Thank you for all the recommendations! Regardless of what particular book I choose for FF, I can sense exploration of the genre coming into the rest of my year. Yay!

Just an FYI: this month's SFF-KIT topic is "Transformations", and our thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/315582

I like doing two challenges with one book...I can't be the only one?

>26 fuzzi: You're not the only one who does. I don't yet know what I'll read in February, but at least one book should be a fantasy about transformations.

>9 ChelleBearss: I enjoyed that series - I even own most of it, though there are some that just sort of disappeared. The related series Bedlam Bards starting with Knight of Ghosts and Shadows* was written earlier. I wouldn't really recommend any of these as starters unless you very much prefer urban fantasy to medieval milieu fantasy. Arrows of the Queen was her first, and it is better. I also like The Fairy Godmother with it's sly nod to Terry Pratchett and my daughter really liked The Black Swan. She has written so much, of so varied a nature, though all basically in the empowered romantic vein, that there are lots of choices for first read. However there are some real duds too.

*Bedlam Boyz is a prequel, not by ML.

I read a Slate Magazine article about a book I've already started, Elizabeth Knox's The Absolute Book, which describes it as a fantasy masterpiece as they lament that the book hasn't found an American publisher as yet, so I guess I'll add that one to my Fantasy February list.
Luckily for me, Knox is published by her husband, Fergus Barrowman, at Victoria University Books here in New Zealand.
https://slate.com/culture/2020/01/the-absolute-book-by-elizabeth-knox-review-thi...

>19 fuzzi: Thanks! I will look those up and see if any spark interest

>28 quondame: Are all her books written as romance/fantasy? I don't do well with romance novels

>30 ChelleBearss: All of Lackey's books that I'm aware of are romantic fantasy. They don't read the same as standard Romance novels with a fantasy theme. The characters are often dealing with a challenge that's a core of the story while their relationship(s) develop.

Example: From what I remember of The Fairy Godmother, the main character works to get what she wants despite her love interest, not so much because of him.

Ah, quondame and ChelleBearss, I hope you don't mind me jumping into the conversation.

>31 aspirit: Interesting. I will probably pick up one of the Lackey, despite the romance aspect. I did love Outlander and it is classified as historical romance so perhaps I should be less of a romance snob *grins*

>9 ChelleBearss: >28 quondame: Agreed with quondame -- I would only recommend the Serrated Edge books to deep Lackey fans. I used to own close to all of her books and still own a LOT; this series was one of two or three of hers that I culled entirely in a donating spree. Valdemar or the Elemental Masters series (maybe starting with The Serpent's Shadow? It's been a while) are better entry points.

>31 aspirit: Yes, I'd say they're fantasy novels with romance in them, not romance novels.

>32 aspirit: Me, too!

Lackey is hit and miss with me. One of her old urban fantasy "series" I really enjoyed was the Diana Tregarde Investigates books. I think I still have one or two on my shelves. I also enjoyed the Valdemar and Queen's Arrow books back in the day. More recently, I enjoyed the Doubled Edge alternate history series set in Elizabethan times.

I'm 18% into The Plastic Magician and two things are obvious to me: 1) It's really a YA novel, b) it's part of a series with which I am unacquainted. There's enough info to get me over any worldbuilding gaps. But there's just *something* I'm not getting and, upon investigation, this turns out to be #4 in a series.

*fumes*

But I'm keepin' on keepin' on because it's hooked me.

>21 benitastrnad: I loved The Lies of Locke Lamora! The sequels aren't bad either.
>36 richardderus: The Paper Magician is the first in the series. I thought the premise was quite interesting, even though the series is YA, and despite some rather shaky writing in places they got me hooked too.

I've recently started on a re-read of some of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next literary detective novels. Surreal doesn't even begin to cover it. A world where dodos, mammoths and Neanderthals have been re-sequenced, and where if you know how, you can insinuate yourself into literary classics such as Jane Eyre or Great Expectations. The Eyre Affair is the first one, closely followed by Lost in a Good Book which I finished last week. I expect I will read the third, The Well of Lost Plots over the next couple of weeks.

Kind of by accident, I'm reading Moribito by Nahoko Uehashi and The Ancient Magus' Bride Vol 8 by Kore Yamazaki at the same time.

>37 Only2rs: The Thursday Next books are some of my faves. I think I'm due for a reread soon...
>38 aspirit: I read Moribito last month but haven't heard of the other one!

Richard mentioned a rereading project of the books of Ursula Le Guin on tor.com. I loved the idea and started, and finished, The Left Hand of Darkness. It's still amazing.

And now I'm looking for something unfamiliar. As the official reread there hasn't even started.

>37 Only2rs: I'll see if the read demands that I go back and pick up the earlier books; so far I'm enjoying it but not to that level.

>40 EllaTim: I find myself wishing the docent would pick up the pace....

>39 curioussquared: Since I originally read Thursday Next, several others have come out that I haven't yet read so I have that to look forward to. I also read one of Fforde's more recent ones, Early Riser in December. It's a standalone about a world in an ice age where humans hibernate. Not a comic novel, but the protagonist is still a detective of sorts.

>38 aspirit: I loved the second Moribito book, the first one was good too.

>40 EllaTim: I have that one on my shelves, unread. I've hesitated to read it as it's part of a series. Do you think it would work for a stand-alone read?

>42 Only2rs: I really enjoyed Early Riser, too. Agreed that it's not a comic novel overall, but there were definitely some darkly humorous parts for me. I don't think Fforde can write without a bit of funny.

I finished listening to book 2 in the Nevernight series by Jay Kristoff. Godsgrave wasn't bad and he certainly sets up his worlds nicely for the reader. The narration was well done on this title. I will get to volume 3 soon.

>40 EllaTim: Yes, it would certainly work. It is a series of books taking place in the same world, but the stories themselves are not related. And the world view is easy to pick up on. So Yes, go for it, i'd say.

Finished Gods of Jade and Shadow this morning over coffee. Wow, what a great fantasy anchored in Mayan folklore and beliefs, with elements from the Popol Vuh. Beautiful story, great writing, Moreno-Garcia is one to watch.

Could not resist a quick reread of Crown of Renewal after Lucy finished the series--it's the final book of 11 so not the place to start, but such an interesting series.

I’m reading Forest Born, the fourth (Richard be warned) in the Books of Bayern series and enjoying it.

>36 richardderus: Well that looks like an endorsement.

*steps carefully around an effervescent Richard*

>48 drneutron: That sounds like a really cool stand-alone.

>50 humouress: Oh goody! A series I can ignore because La Overkill said so! *happy dance*

>50 humouress: Nina, I've read the other three books in that series but not this one. Onto the wishlist it goes!

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman was such fun!!

Come Tumbling Down just arrived in my house, so I'm planning to read that after I finish my current dead tree book :-)

I'd like to reread Down Among the Sticks and Bones first, but it's in a box. Somewhere. Um. Moving house is fun!

I have read The Bear and the Nightingale and The Girl in the Tower, liked the first one a little bit better than the sequel. Now waiting until my library gets a copy of the last book.
Now I am reading Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa, first book of a trilogy taking place in Japan.

>54 archerygirl:
I just read Every Heart a Doorway and went back to the library to check out Down Among the Sticks and Bones. The first book was a fun twisted way of looking at fairy tales. It was also the first Seanan McGuire book I liked.

>51 richardderus: Not necessarily; it’s a good series. You can start at the beginning or you could read it as a stand-alone. One of the reviews in my edition seems to think it’s a stand-alone, though I do think it’s easier to follow if you know the back story.

Anyway, it’s got the >52 ronincats: Roni seal of approval!

I've just finished the fourth novel in Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library series, The Lost Plot. It's an alternate reality series that has a central trope that I do like - access to all the different alternate realities via some sort of central point, here it's a library, but I've seen a similar idea where it's a corridor or road - Raymond E Feist has one in his Magician series, In one of CS Lewis' Narnia books you access the alternaties via the wood between the worlds. I read one recently (can't for the life of me think of the title) where once in the central corridor there's almost no way of finding your way home as all the doors to the different worlds are identical.

I can think of any number of alternate reality novels, but those with a central access portal (always infinite in size of course) are rarer. Anyone else think of any?

All being well I will finish The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski today my first fantasy read of the month and year!

Not half bad either, The Witcher TV series is based on it.

I'll bet you didn't think a Fantasy dullard like me would join in did you, Roni? But for you.....of course! xx

I’ve just finished Preludes & Nocturnes which is volume I of the Sandman graphic novels consisting of magazines 1-8.

8 - The Sound of Her Wings by Neil Gaiman et al
7 - Sound and Fury by Neil Gaiman et al
6 - 24 Hours by Neil Gaiman et al
5 - Passengers by Neil Gaiman et al
4 - A Hope in Hell by Neil Gaiman et al
3 - Dream a Little Dream of Me by Neil Gaiman et al
2 - Imperfect Hosts by Neil Gaiman et al
1 - Sleep of the Just by Neil Gaiman et al

>58 Only2rs: Sounds like you're thinking of Blake Crouch's Dark Matter.

>61 humouress: Love those GNs!

I've started A Wizard of Earthsea by Urula LeGuin

>63 ChelleBearss: Oh, nice! I read A Wizard of Earthsea recently too, just last November, and I'd be interested in your thoughts on it whenever you will feel like sharing!

I'm reading Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg, which my sister gave me for the holidays. So far, so good.

>62 Storeetllr: Thank you! You are absolutely right. There it was in my catalogue (box in the attic actually) with 5 stars. Read it about three or four years ago.

>66 Only2rs: I really enjoyed it too when I read it a few years ago, and it's stuck with me.

>57 humouress: ...how odd...there *should* be a post there but it's all muzzy and unfocused...

>68 richardderus: It says ‘Read it’ ;0)

Well, Fantasy February is turning out to be just that! I read Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb and loved it so much that I had to read the next part immediately, so bought it for my Kindle and powered through that in no time too! I'm now on City of Dragons, part three of four, and I'm finally slowing down a bit. The first two were probably my favourite Hobbs I've read so far for pure enjoyment - partially because nothing too awful happens to the main characters, unlike in most of her other books. But I have a bad feeling about how this third instalment is shaping up. The Duke of Chalced seems like the kind of guy who could do some serious damage to our intrepid dragons, their keepers and supporters. There's already been a pretty brutal scene of dragons dispatching soldiers that we find out have been coerced into fighting them by said nasty Duke.

I am just about to finish The Wizard of Earthsea and I'm disappointed that I didn't love it, or really even like it much.
I am going to start the second in the Bear and the Nightingale series next, The Girl in the Tower

>71 ChelleBearss: The Tombs of Atuan is, IMO, the best book in the Earthsea series.

>71 ChelleBearss: Same here. I was hoping to love A Wizard of Earthsea more but I didn't, though it was sufficiently interesting.

>72 PawsforThought: In that case, I quit the series too soon, since I left during Chapter 2 of The Tombs of Atuan, but I might get back to it sometime. Was it much better than A Wizard of Earthsea?

>73 Majel-Susan: Well, I liked A Wizard of Earthsea so if you absolutely didn't like it I'm not sure you'll like The Tombs of Atuan. But the characters are almost completely different and it's a different type of storyline.

I have finished The Haunting of Tram Car 015 and A Dead Djinn in Cairo, both by P. Djèlí Clark - great fun, and I want more of this.

I am currently reading Fire Touched by Patricia Briggs, which is the ninth book in the Mercy Thompson series - hoping to finish this up today.

I read Jewel and Her Lapidary by Fran Wilde. This is a novella published by Tor.com and is the first in the upcoming Jewels series. (The second book in the series Fire Opal Mechanism was published in June of 2019. I have been reading several of these novella's lately. The well known SciFi/Fantasy publisher TOR has developed a publishing division called Tor.com that publishes novellas. They have had some hit books in the last two years. The Wayward Children series is published by them. As is the Murderbot Diaries. Haunting of Tram Car 015 is also one of their novellas. They are developing quite a stable of active and talented authors who may become novelists. In the meantime, Tor.com is giving them a place to publish shorter works that will help support them as they work on that blockbuster that is somewhere inside of them. It seems to me that this is one progressive publisher. Tor.com publishes both hardback and paperback books.

I have two more Tor.com novellas lined up to read this week. I am starting on Your Band Cannot Save You by Scotto Moore and Undefeated by Una McCormack. Both of these novellas are going to be the first in a series of short stories/novellas about their respective heroes and heroines. I am hoping that they will become hits in the same way that Wayward Children and Murderbot Diaries did.

By-the-way, Jewel in Her Lapidary was a fine fantasy. It didn't turn out the way I thought it would, and the style in which it was written is vivacious and fresh. It is also a cheap book. Amazon lists it for $10.80, but I got it from my library. Unfortunately, they don't have the second book, so I will have to place in Inter-Library Loan request for it. After I read the two novellas I mentioned above.

The Undefeated by Una McCormack is an excellent first installment in what should be an ongoing series. Tor.com has started publishing some of the original short fiction from some good up-and-coming authors and this is one of those books. This one was very polished and a really good setup for any stories that will follow. The characters are interesting and garnered my sympathy. The setting is described in terms that make it easy to imagine the world, complete with a culture, to which the heroine has returned. The plot is well thought through and told from different points in time that flesh out the heroine and her reasons for being where she is at this point in time. The fact that the heroine is not the usual kind brings an interesting perspective to this novella, and the plot twists just add to the fun. I await the next installment.

I’ve just finished How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse (I got hit by a BB) and enjoyed it thoroughly.

I’m now contemplating Crooked Kingdom, the second in the Six of Crows duology.

I have just finished The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson. I enjoyed this YA fantasy even though the "fat girl morphs into a curvy beauty" is a familiar theme. At least this heroine needed to use her inner strengh and intelligence to emerge with a victory. I have had this book on my shelf for a number of years - don't know why I didn't get to it sooner. I now intend to read the rest of the trilogy.

>79 DeltaQueen50:
I really liked that series. It wasn’t filled with happy endings. I thought it was fairly well written. I remember it because I read the series over a Thanksgiving break one year. It was a great way to spend three days.

>78 humouress: Oh, I enjoyed Rory Thorne, glad it was a good one for you!

I finished Children of Virtue and Vengeance earlier this month and will be starting a reread of The King of Attolia tonight.

I read Vathek by William Beckford, which can be considered fantasy. It is a blend of Gothic novel and Orientalism. A story of greed.

I’m in the middle of The Steel Remains, first in a dark trilogy. Morgan’s great, but it may be a bit graphic for some.

>69 humouress: Comment? Désolée, Madame, mais je ne comprends pas.

I just finished A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas. Fun follow-up to A Court of Thorns and Roses, and it's always nice to see a character come into her own, which Feyre definitely does in this book.

>76 benitastrnad: I found Jewel and Her Lapidary on audiobook at the library and am going to start it tonight, so thanks for that reccie, Benita. It looks really good.

So far this month, I've read (listened to) four fantasies:

Cast in Oblivion by Michelle Sagara
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Cast in Wisdom by Michelle Sagara
October Man by Ben Aaronovich

and continue to read A Longer Fall on Kindle.

I've also been hit by a whole bunch of BBs which, if I don't get to them this month, I will be reading throughout the year. So, thanks, all!

I'm currently still dragging through The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander, and I'll confess that I was hoping things would move a little faster, especially as I was intending to read the full Chronicles of Prydain series. Of course though, it did also take me a whole month to finish Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone last year, after which I picked up the pace with the rest of the books...

>87 Majel-Susan: I loved that series as a teenager, keep going!

>87 Majel-Susan: I loved that series as well. Keep going!

I have been binge reading through several of the Tor.com novellas. This week I have read four of them. I have one more to go. I had to request two of them through Inter-Library Loan, and the came in at the same time, so while I was buzzing through them I just read through several more that I got from the local public library. Here they are in order of ranking.

1. Undefeated by Una McCormack - great setup for a series. About a journalist, in her sixties, who returns to her home world to remember and wait for the invasion to come.
2. Your Band Cannot Save You by Scotto Moore - really great sarcastic take on the Indie music scene. Fun read.
3. Alice Payne Arrives by Kate Heartfield - first in a time travel series set in 18th century England. Complete with highwaymen and automatons.
4. Jewel and Her Lapidary by Fran Wilde - Some structural and writing problems with this one, keep it from floating higher on the list. As far as plot - it had unexpected twists and characters I liked. It is short and I wonder what the next in the series will be like.

>88 fuzzi: >89 benitastrnad: Thank you for the encouragement! For some time, I've been thinking that this was a forgotten series, but now I have some hope again for the books.

>87 Majel-Susan: >90 Majel-Susan: Oh I also loved this series, one I discovered as an adult.

I'm almost done with The Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan.

So far this month I've enjoyed exploring an alternate 19th century India with Gail Carriger's Prudence (complete with the local versions of werewolves and vampires) and got completely engrossed in S. A. Chakraborty's Daevabad trilogy starting with The City of Brass which I enjoyed so much that I carried straight on to the sequel, The Kingdom of Copper. The Chakraborty series is a mix of historical and portal fantasy in a Middle Eastern setting with a lot of political intrigue. The third (and final book) in the trilogy is released in June.

>91 avatiakh: I read The Magician's Guild trilogy just after I joined LibraryThing and I'm seriously tempted by a reread.

>92 souloftherose: Heather, I've nearly finished The City of Brass and I love it! I don't read much fantasy, so I'm pleased to read that you also like it, as you're a better judge. I'm tempted to go straight on to book 2 but I really have to reread Bring Up The Bodies before the new one in March. What *we* really need is a portal into a different world (full of books) while time in the human world stands still :-)

I had planned on this being more of a mystery month, but I did read The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan, the 4th book of the Wheel of Time series earlier this month. It has probably been my favorite of the series so far since I enjoyed it a little better than the first three. I'm just not loving the characters, and there doesn't seem to be enough real danger in the books to them in the books to make me want to love them. Several are pretty whiny and self-centered, and there are soooo many of them. It's definitely difficult to keep track of them without the companion, and if I don't stop reading the entry in the correct place, I find myself learning more than I particularly wanted to. Sigh...

I'm reading a couple of chunkster fantasy series this year, so I'm trying to break them up and read one a month. I finished Dragon Haven by Robin Hobb in January and will read her City of Dragons next month. I had planned to read Lois McMaster Bujold's The Hallowed Hunt next month, but I think I'll try to read it this month to fall in with the theme.

I also read Jo Walton's Among Others, last month, and absolutely loved it!

>4 HanGerg: >70 HanGerg: I read Dragon Keeper in November, so we're keeping pretty close to each other. I decided that I was just going to go ahead and finish the entire Realm of the Elderling series in 2020, so I'm doing one every other month this year. It's so hard to space them out - especially when they involve Fitz and the Fool! It took me a little time to get into the new cast of characters. I didn't love them immediately they way I did the Liveship characters, but I do recall that I wasn't always fond of Fitz in the beginning either. I think what you enjoyed about the new series characters (that nothing too awful happens) is perhaps what kept me from immediately liking them! I love Hobb and Bujold because they both put their characters through the worst possible things, but the characters always find a smart and believable way to get through them (well...I use the word smart extremely loosely in Fitz's case. LOL!)

>16 EBT1002: >17 humouress: Good Omens was a great book, and I echo Nina, the Chalion series is wonderful. Bujold is one of my favorite authors.

>24 jayde1599: I've wanted to read The Night Circus for some time and finally decided this is the year. I've been searching for my paper copy to no avail, so I have the ebook on hold from the library.

>37 Only2rs: >39 curioussquared: >76 benitastrnad: LOVE the Thursday Next series. Fforde is another favorite author of mine, although he is very different from Bujold! I'm excited that he has a new book coming out later this year.

>87 Majel-Susan: >88 fuzzi: >89 benitastrnad: Definitely keep going! I first read the series myself several years ago and then again to my sons, and we all loved them. Admittedly, some of the books are better than the others, but they can be reasonably quick reads!

>84 richardderus: Lit le!

>86 Storeetllr: I’ve been looking for Michelle Sagara’s series. Which reminds me, I have some books to unpack from our holiday trip.

>87 Majel-Susan: I read a couple of the books as a child and I read the whole series a few years ago. Keep going!

>95 rretzler: If you’re reading Hallowed Hunt Robin, I might pick it up too (if I can read fast enough). It’s been languishing on my shelves for a while.

>93 souloftherose: Hi Heather. I finished The Magicians' Guild and am already missing reading it. I found it a great fantasy romp that was easy to read, so will probably pick up the next book sometime next month.

I'm now reading The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox which has fantasy elements that I have yet to encounter. I love Knox's books and am enjoying this one.

I finished my last binge read of the Tor.com novellas. I have thrown up my hands and said I have had enough! I did save the best for last. Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday bu Saad Z. Hossain was a great good fun read! This is an example of a publisher going out and getting some really good stuff from under-represented voices.

This novella was a combination of science fiction and a darn good djinn story. It was full of humor, and lots of folklore that we don't get enough of in our normal reading. The science in it was great and the way the author combined that with more traditional folklore made this very interesting. The author also did a bang up job of giving the reader a variety of characters that made you smile and want to hear about further adventures that you just know they are going to have. This author had better write another one of these books.

If your library has this book and you like science fiction you need to read it.

Wow! So much fantasy! I'm only managing one book for this challenge: Bellewether by Susanna Kearsley. Tagged 'ghosts' and 'timeslip', I think it'll fit. But I won't be around at the end of the month to get it listed here, so posting before I'm done with it.

I finished The Book of Three and have moved on to The Black Cauldron today. Thanks for all the encouragement, by the way!

>100 Majel-Susan: yippee!

I finished the first in the urban fantasy series Mercedes Thompson Moon Called by Patricia Briggs and it was great. I am sure I'll end up reading this whole series if they stay great!
I am hoping to start Vampire Academy today!

I have also finished Decoy Princess by Dawn Cook and really enjoyed this one as well. There is a sequel, Princess At Sea and I have it patiently waiting on my shelf for me to get to it.

On a whim I picked up The Giver and couldn't put it down.

And it fits this challenge!

I've nearly finished Come Tumbling Down and I love it (possibly biased because Jack is my favourite Wayward Children character and anything with her in it makes me happy), so if McGuire sticks the landing it might go down as one of my top 2020 reads.

I might have to go for The Starless Sea next, because it's getting so much love and The Night Circus was one of my favourite reads the year that came out.

I read Vathek by William Beckford. It was written in 1786 and is a blend of Orientalism (popular then) and a Gothic novel with a Middle Eastern setting.

I haven't read anything I intended to read this month, but I did finish Pet, Thornbound, and How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse. All were excellent!

>96 humouress: ...ah, mes yeux salopes...Lillet? Lille?

>98 benitastrnad: Best for last is great to hear since I have that story on the Kindle.

>108 richardderus: Excuse your French

80o

I have just finished reading The Black Cauldron yesterday and will be moving ahead with The Castle of Llyr next :) . . . but probably only after my exams on Friday. :(

I'm happy to say that I am enjoying The Chronicles of Prydain series so far.

I am reading Elantris by Brandon Snaderson which I am enjoying but I won't finish it by the end of today.

>110 Majel-Susan: I'm so glad!

The Plastic Magician was very cute. These Paper-Magician series are meant to be YA books. I assure you it is so, but it doesn't seem to be explicitly stated anywhere that Author Holmberg is very much a Mormon and very committed to its Manichean dualism. Good girls aren't simpering idiots, but they sure as heck aren't going to third base, still less all the way; I think there's exactly no one QUILTBAG in this universe.

I don't think I'm drawn to read the others in the series, but wouldn't say that anyone else shouldn't. Of course, I'm not warbling my fool lungs out to encourage you to do so. It's just fine. Really fun, fairly obvious, very predictable, and pleasantly dense in its magical world. So much fun to imagine Magician Praff's "The Imaginarium", a key plot point that doesn't feel freshly invented but rather like something Author Holmberg developed earlier in the series. And I like the way the author uses the honorific "Magician" without gender reference. In this book, Alvie refers to her mentor as "Mg. Praff" which also gave me a happy smile.

Pretty much perfect for today's sensibilities, as witness the film option that Disney+ took out in 2016. It's still in pre-production, but that's not surprising when there's this much f/x work to do. I hope they stay with Allison Shearmur as producer, she of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, to get the women's point of view right. This is a series I'd encourage parents of tween daughters to casually mention.

I read Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet a few years ago. Like this read, it was just fine...not superb, but certainly not sub-par, and pretty much perfect for light, undemanding, yet involving reading. It suited me well for Fantasy February.

I'm still reading The Absolute Book, it also qualifies for the March theme as well as there are crimes and mystery as well as fantasy elements.

I ended up reading 11 fantasy books out of my 14 total read this month, very lop-sided!

Crown of Renewal
Close Kin
A Murder in Time
The Goblin Mirror
In the Coils of the Snake
Deep Secret
A Dead Djinn in Cairo
Paladin’s Grace
The Haunting of Tram Car 015
Imaginary Numbers
Harley Merlin and the Secret Coven

>115 ronincats: you read The Goblin Mirror, woo!

I was AWOL most of the month, but I did read some fantasy

In the order I read them:

Bronze Gods by A. A. Aguierre
Perilous Seas by Dave Duncan
Emperor and Clown by Dave Duncan
Raven’s Strike by Patricia Briggs
Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold
Angels’ Blood by Nalini Singh
Penric and the Shaman by Lois McMaster Bujold
Penric’s Fox by Lois McMaster Bujold
Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh

More than a few rereads in that lot - it was that kind of month.

These were my fantasy reads for February:

First Truth by Dawn Cook
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason
The Sound of Her Wings by Neil Gaiman et al
Sound and Fury by Neil Gaiman et al
24 Hours by Neil Gaiman et al
Passengers by Neil Gaiman et al
A Hope in Hell by Neil Gaiman et al
Dream a Little Dream of Me by Neil Gaiman et al
Imperfect Hosts by Neil Gaiman et al
Sleep of the Just by Neil Gaiman et al
Forest Born by Shannon Hale

My only fantasy read in February was Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire, but it was excellent so I'm happy to have that as my only :)

>117 Dejah_Thoris: I've had months in which I also did a lot of rereads. They seem to help me get out of a reading slump, whenever one occurs.

Wow, Roni! 11! Did anyone else come close to that number?

I finished Children of Blood and Bone, a Christmas gift from my future daughter in law who is doing her thesis on non-white fantasy authors. I thought it started out slowly, but I enjoyed it more as it went along. I'll get it reviewed (eventually! - my reviews are behind!). I'm looking forward to reading the sequel, Children of Virtue and Vengeance.

ETA: Yay >117 Dejah_Thoris: and >118 humouress: Your numbers are also very impressive!

I managed five out of my thirteen in February but I am keeping with some Fantasy in March as I am loving this urban fantasy Mercedes Thompson series by Patricia Briggs

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs

>121 streamsong: I loved Children of Blood and Bone, Janet,and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.

>122 ChelleBearss: I'm a big fan of the Mercedes Thompson series, Chelle, and I liked The Wizard of Earthsea books.

My sister loves Carol Berg's books, and gave me Flesh and Spirit recently. I find her writing style a little - ornate? faux medieval? - but it was a good yarn, and eventually I'll read the sequel, which she also gave me. It's a dark fantasy featuring a rebellious son who has rejected his highly-placed magician family and lived apart for 12 years, but now gets drawn back into a multi-sided battle for power, with a youngster he's been protecting gravitating toward the center of it.

Last night I did a quick read of Nnedi Okorafor's Broken Places & Outer Spaces. I had read her Binti trilogy last year and really enjoyed it, but didn't know her back story.

In the summer after her freshman year in college, she had scoliosis surgery. She went under anesthetic as an athlete and pre-med scholar, and woke up paralyzed from the waist down. She felt that science had let her down.

This is a Ted book - an expansion of her Ted talk. It's less than 100 pages and you can read it quickly in one sitting as I did. I promise you will find it inspiring!

Thanks to whomever recommended this one.