March SFFKIT: Historical Sci Fi and Fantasy

March SFFKIT: Historical Sci Fi and Fantasy


(Image from here.)

Welcome to the March SFFKIT! This month's theme is historical sci fi and fantasy. Simply defined, this is SFF that takes place in a recognizable historical time, whether it be ancient Rome, medieval Japan, or 19th-century England. In other words, it's historical fiction with some type of supernatural or speculative element: magic, paranormal creatures, imaginary technology, etc.

Subgenres include:

• Mythology - gods, demons, ghosts, Arthurian legends, etc.
  
• Steampunk - generally set in the Victorian or Edwardian eras; marked by the use of steam technology mixed with Victorian or Gothic-style architecture and technology.
  
• Alternate history - stories that propose "what if" scenarios about crucial events in human history and present outcomes very different from the historical record.

I'm a huge fan of this type of SFF, since I love historical fiction and am especially fond of anything that can be described as "Jane Austen plus magic." Here are a few of my favorites in the genre:

• Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer, Sorcery and Cecelia
  
• Zen Cho, Sorcerer to the Crown
  
• Naomi Novik, Temeraire series
  
• Juliet Marillier, Daughter of the Forest
  
• Elizabeth Marie Pope, The Perilous Gard

And here are some other suggestions from the "historical fiction, fantasy" and "historical fiction, science fiction" tagmashes:

• Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
  
• Diana Gabaldon, Outlander
  
• Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Jinni
  
• T.H. White, The Once and Future King
  
• Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
  
• Harry Turtledove, The Guns of the South
  
• Scott Westerfeld, Leviathan

Please share what you're reading below -- I can't wait to add some more books in this genre to my TBR list! And don't forget to update the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/2022_SFFKIT. Happy reading!

Soulless by Gail Carriger has been sitting on my virtual TBR shelf for a while, so now may be its time.

From the blurb it seems that These violent delights would fit?

>3 MissWatson: Definitely! I read These Violent Delights last month - really enjoyed it. It is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet so could be used for March ShakespeareCAT as well, if you are doing that.

How about Prince Valiant?

I"ll be reading How To Rule an Empire and Get Away With It by K.J. Parker.

>5 fuzzi: That would certainly fit!

Most, maybe all, of Mary Robinette Kowal's books would fit--she's got a Regency series with magic, and The Calculating Stars and its sequels are alternate history/science fiction.

I am planning on reading The Vine Witch by Luanne Smith. Set in the wine country of France during the late 1800s where, in this book, the fate of the grape crop was helped by witches spells.

I've been meaning to read P. Djeli Clark's A Master of Djinn ever since I read one of the novellas in the attached universe; the series takes place in Cairo, Egypt in 1912. The Haunting of Tram Car 015 was fantastic, so I expect great things of this one!

>4 JayneCM: Yes, that's what I hope to do.
>6 majkia: I just ordered the first in the series, I hope it arrives in time.

>7 christina_reads: yippee! I'm trying to read off my shelves and nothing seemed to fit this challenge.

>11 MissWatson: Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City is a hoot. Hope the second lives up to it.

A series that I just read, Arturo Sandus by Peter Rhodan, would fit this perfectly. It starts with On The Rocks.

>4 JayneCM: I see that These Violent Delights is the first in a series. Can it be read as a standalone?

>15 BookLizard: It is a planned duology, so Our Violent Ends will wrap it up. You could read it as a stand alone but I think you would want to continue to see what happens next! It doesn't end on a total cliffhanger but there is certainly more to come.

I read The Oracle Glass by Judith Merkle Riley, which falls toward the historical fiction end of the spectrum, but given that the heroine's actual gifts for divination, I think it qualifies as fantasy.

COMPLETED Soulless by Gail Carriger, a cross between urban fantasy and romance, set in the 1870s.

Great fun, so I am now reading the first in story chronological order The Curious Case of the Werewolf That Wasn't

And continuing with Etiquette & Espionage

Finished A Master of Djinn and wrote a full review. I absolutely adored the novellas set in this author's world, and the book didn't disappoint on a story and world-building front. I do wish there'd been a bit more depth/growth to the main characters, but Clark's writing and the worldbuilding still made it a stand-out read in many ways.

COMPLETED Etiquette & Espionage and Curtsies & Conspiracies, both by Gail Carriger.

I just finished (and thoroughly enjoyed) Sorcerer to the Crown.

I read Relic by Renee Collins.

This book had a lot of potential. It was set in a version of 19th century American west where remains of extinct magical creatures are mined and used for their magical abilities. I liked the magic system a lot and wished that we had more information on it and the types of creatures that left the relics. The characters were the typical western story stereotypes: the evil brothel owner, the kind prostitute, the handsome cowboys, the mysterious Chinaman, the nobel natives, etc. I wanted a little more out of them than typical fill in the blank western town inhabitants. The story was OK, but the idea had such potential that the average execution was a disappointment to me.

I decided to read Horses of Heaven by Gillian Bradshaw and although most of the book was a straight forward historical novel, the fantasy element came into play toward the end of the book when the main characters had to fight a supernatural monster.

I read Time and Again by Jack Finney. It is a fantasy, time travel book that focuses on NYC and what it was like in 1882. A bit of mystery, a bit of romance and a bit of history.

I just finished Black Powder War by Naomi Novik. It's book #3 in the Temeraire series, which is set during the Napoleonic Wars and has dragons. Love the premise and love the series so far!

I just finished A Marvellous Light, which is Edwardian-era fantasy with strong romantic elements.

I just finished A Marvellous Light, which is Edwardian-era fantasy with strong romantic elements.

I didn't know it when I started Die Romanfabrik von Paris but this is an alternate history. Alexandre Dumas' journal "Le Mousquetaire" is used to precipitate Louis Napoléon's putsch into a bloody uprising and he has to flee Paris. We also have a hypnotiser with magic powers enhanced by Egyptian amulets and scandal in the English Royal Family.
Unfortunately, it is so bad that I gave up on it after 259 pages. This might have worked if Dumas had written it, but the author is far too pedestrian for such histrionics.

I read Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett, which is a very short book that continues The Tempest. I thought it was just OK.

I just read the delightful Scales and Sensibility by Stephanie Burgis, a frothy Regency romance with a magical dragon. Looks like a sequel is planned for this fall, and I'll definitely check it out!

Today I finished The Glass Magician by Caroline Stevermer, a historical fantasy set in Gilded Age New York. It was OK, but I was hoping for better. It felt like book one of a series, with a lot of plot lines unresolved, but I don't see any evidence of a sequel coming.

I read Changeless by Gail Carriger and was having so much fun in this world, that I went ahead and finished the rest of the series with Blameless, Heartless & Timeless.

I read The Door Through Washington Square by Elaine Bergstrom which could be considered both as time travel and as historical fantasy fiction. There are entire sections that take place during Aleister Crowley's documented time living in Manhatten, and they involve his magickal workings, so it would fit both this month's and February's time travel theme (for anyone who hosts another SFFKit time travel thread!). The bulk of the action takes place in (now historical!) 1991 and the main character's change of abode from Calgary to the ancestral home in New York's Washington Square.

I have finished These violent delights which did not quite live up to expectations, mostly because of the writing style.