Where are you in fantasyland? June 2026

I'm starting out the month in the 5th level Earth Dungeon with Crawler Carl and Princess Donut.

I've just been to and left Nerezia (Awakenings) for a very short trip and a very short book.

Reading Brothers of the Wind, which delves into some backstory behind the Osten Ard novels.

It's interesting to see the variety of approaches authors take with this kind of thing - jumping back a thousand years to cover something the contemporary characters only know as legend. Tolkien did it with The Silmarillion and it was like reading The Iliad. Williams takes the more conventional approach, making the legendary sound contemporary. Its legendary elements rest among the everyday parts that were never known or are long forgotten about centuries later.

>1 elorin: I just got a recommendation from my brother for Dungeon Crawler Carl, how are you liking it so far?

>4 lennelki: I really loved the first three books. Book 4 took me a bit longer to read but I was traveling and that might have contributed to it for me. I'm working on a book club selection right now but I am very much looking forward to book 5.

I just left Kair Toren, with Maggie the Undying. It was a lot better than I expected from that particular trope - generally LITrpg is not my cup of tea, but Ilona Andrews can make almost anything palatable, even engrossing.

Still reading Brothers of the Wind, forgot I already posted about it. :P

I've only just arrived at Chetwood School and met Dr. Waldren and Marshall Kenning in The Incandescent.

I'm experiencing Startup hell in Manhattan.

I am back in Alt Coulumb with the fourth installment of The Craft Sequence: Four Roads Cross.

Also exploring New Amsterdam with Elizabeth Bear.

I'm visiting Montreal for Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter.

Back in the SF Bay Area with Toby Daye & company in Seanan McGuire's Silver and lead. Previously in Victorian Edinburgh with Kelley Armstrong's Kirkyards & kindness.

I'm in the kingdom of Polnya, watching a wizard, his apprentice, and a few others try to hold back the evil force emanating from a Dark Wood, in Uprooted. Old themes, but well handled here. I am struck by the similarity of some plot elements with the last book of Novik's I read, Spinning Silver -- but again, it's a reimagining of archetypal themes. In that book, the threatening force was cold & ice; in this one, rot. Novik is good at this!

I'm in the middle of The Starless Sea. I'm finding it a bit disjointed but enjoying it a lot.

I'm in the Singing Hills as The tiger came down the mountain.

Spending time in 15th century France with The Unicorn Hunters.

>15 Sakerfalcon: & >16 Niko: Both are on my wishlist. Lovely cover on The Unicorn Hunters but different from the one I'm seeing here.

>17 vwinsloe: Oh, yeah - the cover that shows on the hover-popup is not the one that I have on my book.

>18 Niko: It's not on the Blackwell's site either, so it is not the UK version. I'd buy it with the hover-popup cover!