Fantasy Book Club discussion

My tentative list for the sub-genre challenge:

Start date: January 1st, 2018

Initial list: 12/12 [COMPLETED March 22nd]

✓ Fairy Tale: The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
✓ Dark Fantasy: Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
✓ Magic Realism: American Gods by Neil Gaiman
✓ Mythic Fiction: Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
✓ Paranormal Romance: Sunshine by Robin McKinley
✓ Science Fantasy: Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence
✓ Sword and Sorcery: Legend by David Gemmell
✓ Urban Fantasy: Death Masks by Jim Butcher
✓ Young Adult: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
✓ Epic Fantasy: The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter by Michael J. Sullivan
✓ Military Fantasy: The Black Company by Glen Cook
✓ Dragon Fantasy: His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

Bonus list: 6/6 [COMPLETED June 22nd]

✓ Paleo Fantasy: The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
✓ Portal Fantasy: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
✓ Medieval Fantasy: The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White
✓ Fantasy of Manners: Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner
✓ Comic Fantasy: Sir Thomas the Hesitant by Liam Perrin
✓ Middle-grade: The Winter Knights by Paul Stewart

Diving into the Horror genre: 3/3 [COMPLETED September 28th]

✓ Gothic: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
✓ New Weird: Dreamer by Daniel Quinn
✓ Fairy Tale Horror: The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

Great list!

Got a good start at this challenge with 3 books completed.
I just realized that most books I read would fit "Dark Fantasy" and "Military Fantasy".

Goodness, you're flying through these challenges.

Yeah, I have some free time before my internship starts, so I'm reading reading reading!
Helps that most books were already on my TBR, so the challenge actually motivates me to read them :)

4th book finished: The Last Unicorn
I have to admit, reading a book from the Fairy Tale genre is really refreshing, even though it's not my favorite.

Virginie wrote: "4th book finished: The Last Unicorn
I have to admit, reading a book from the Fairy Tale genre is really refreshing, even though it's not my favorite."

One of my all time favorites :)

Liam wrote: "One of my all time favorites :)"

Oooh, I can understand. The prose is wonderful, so lyrical.

Changed my Epic fantasy to An Echo of Things to Come 'cause it's all the way up on my TBR.
I'll slay this challenge even faster that way! *demonic grin*

More than halfway through the challenge with The Black Company, Sunshine and Death Masks!

Great progress Virginie. I was thinking of using Sunshine also. How did you like it?

Changed my YA book. The Edge Chronicles 1: The Curse of the Gloamglozer: First Book of Quint is more a middle-grade book.

Bill wrote: "Great progress Virginie. I was thinking of using Sunshine also. How did you like it?"

Whoops, I didn't see your message. Thanks!

I have mixed feelings about Sunshine... I liked the world-building and the fact that the romance in this book is not your usual "Whoa, this vampire/wereworlf/other creature is so hot, I think I'm in love" that is way too common in PNR novels.
But... Sunshine's internal thoughts are over-present in the book. Some editing to cut it down a bit, along with the use of made-up words and (intentional?) bad grammar, would have made the book much better IMO. As it is now, it's annoying.

So... Short answer is: As a PNR novel, I liked it. But then, I read too much of the genre a few years ago, so anything unusual is fine by me. Compared to my usual reads, it's a 'meh'.

Thanks. Might work for me if it is outside the normal pnr.

If you want unusual PNR, I recommend Except the Queen

Mary wrote: "If you want unusual PNR, I recommend Except the Queen"

That sounds interesting. Thanks for the recommendation :)

Thanks Mary. Looks good.

Got my Sword and Sorcery book with Legend. Seven down, five to go!

What are you going to do with the rest of the year? You're killing this challenge.

I can see why you're doing 5 challenges. Great job.

Thanks :)
I have to admit, I'm surprising even myself with this challenge. I didn't expect to be this motivated :p
As for what I'll do after... Probably some damage control with my series challenge. I'm just starting His Majesty's Dragon, so I now have Temeraire (9 books), The Black Company (10 left to read), the Dresden Files (10 to read) and The Edges Chronicles (11) to finish. Among others.
And to add to that, my book-loving-inner-demon is whispering: "You started so many series recently... One or two more will not make any difference, will they? Look at your TBR. So many good books..."

I'm only doing the original trilogy for the Black Company.

Tnkw01 wrote: "I'm only doing the original trilogy for the Black Company."

I think I'll take a break after the first three and focus on other series, but I intend to read'em all :)

Finished American Gods and 25% into His Majesty's Dragon.

I'm really glad I started this challenge on a whim, it helps me diversify my reading :)

Added 10 categories to have even more fun!
I shamelessly stole ideas from Bill's post and various websites.

Knocked one book ff my "Bonus list": The Clan of the Cave Bear. Really hard to read, especially as a women, but a wonderful story.

Finished Prince of Fools for the Science fantasy slot which brings me at 10/12 books of my initial challenge :D

Couldn't finish Kraken. I'll have to pick something else for the New Weird slot.

Virginie wrote: "Finished Prince of Fools for the Science fantasy slot which brings me at 10/12 books of my initial challenge :D

Couldn't finish Kraken. I'll have to pick something e..."

If you want to stick with Mieville, you might try one of his Bas-Lag books (Perdido Street Station etc.). They're more traditional secondary world fantasy, but still weird as all get-out. And grotesque.

Virginie wrote: "Finished Prince of Fools for the Science fantasy slot which brings me at 10/12 books of my initial challenge :D

Couldn't finish Kraken. I'll have to pick something e..."

May I recommend Dreamer. It has so many twists and turns you want know the truth till the end.

Joseph wrote: "If you want to stick with Mieville, you might try one of his Bas-Lag books (Perdido Street Station etc.). They're more traditional secondary world fantasy, but still weird as all get-out. And grotesque."

I'll give it a try at some point. Several persons told me that Kraken is not a good introduction to Mieville and suggested Perdido Street as well. And it's on the FBC Bookshelf. :D

Tnkw01 wrote: "May I recommend Dreamer. It has so many twists and turns you want know the truth till the end. "

Oh, it's already on my TBR. How did I miss it for this challenge? (I blame my evergrowing TBR).
I remember you read it for your AZ challenge. Thank you for the recommendation, I think I'll go with this one if I find a copy :)

Virginie wrote: "Tnkw01 wrote: "May I recommend Dreamer. It has so many twists and turns you want know the truth till the end. "

Oh, it's already on my TBR. How did I miss it for this challenge? (I blame my evergr..."

I found it on kindle.
Here's the link

Tnkw01 wrote: "I found it on kindle."

The Kindle version is not available on amazon.fr, and physical copies are ridiculously expensive (25euros for a used paperback :o).
I'd like to avoid changing my country within the settings, it messed with my Prime membership in the past.

:(

Tnkw01 wrote: "Virginie wrote: "Tnkw01 wrote: "May I recommend Dreamer. It has so many twists and turns you want know the truth till the end. "

Oh, it's already on my TBR. How did I miss it for this challenge? (..."

That's ridiculous. I know how frustrating it can be l run into the same thing with books I've wanted to read.

Tnkw01 wrote: "Tnkw01 wrote: "Virginie wrote: "Tnkw01 wrote: "May I recommend Dreamer. It has so many twists and turns you want know the truth till the end. "

Oh, it's already on my TBR. How did I miss it for th..."

Yeah... I don't really understand limiting access to ebooks in certain countries.

Finished A Darker Shade of Magic [★★★] for my YA slot.
Only one book left for my initial challenge, and I'm currently reading it :D

Girl, your making us look bad. Great job, slaying them challenges and all.

Virginie wrote: "Yeah... I don't really understand limiting access to ebooks in certain countries..."

I suspect legal argie-bargie.

Tnkw01 wrote: "Girl, your making us look bad. Great job, slaying them challenges and all."

Thank you :D
I've never been that productive reading-wise in my entire life! I didn't expect this challenge to motivate me that much... But I really want to slay 'em all now! :p

Decided to not use An Echo of Things to Come for my Epic Fantasy slot. I'm putting the book on hold as I'm not making any progress with it. Forgot too much about the Shadow of What Was Lost... I'll wait the completion of the series to come back to it.

So... I've got an empty slot. And here I was, thinking the epic fantasy subgenre would be the easiest haha :)

Virginie wrote: "Decided to not use An Echo of Things to Come for my Epic Fantasy slot. I'm putting the book on hold as I'm not making any progress with it. Forgot too much about the Shadow of What ..."

I plan on reading this one some time in the near future.

Virginie wrote: "Decided to not use An Echo of Things to Come for my Epic Fantasy slot. I'm putting the book on hold as I'm not making any progress with it. Forgot too much about the Shadow of What ..."

I’m doing the same thing. The extra year from him rereleasing book 1 made all the details fly right out of my head.

Bill wrote: "I’m doing the same thing. The extra year from him rereleasing book 1 made all the details fly right out of my head."

Yeah. Those books are so rich in informations that I think I'll enjoy them best if I read them closer together.

Tnkw01 wrote: "I plan on reading this one some time in the near future."

Nice! Let me know what you think of it :D

Replaced my Historical Fantasy category by Fantasy of Manners as I already have Paleo and Medieval Fantasy categories.

I may have to do those other categories myself. Maybe next year.

Yay! Do it, do it, do it... ;)
I'm already wondering what challenges I'll do next year ^^
I'm not very interested in the A-Z with author names... Maybe something related to the publication year of a book: in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2010-2016, 2000-2010, ... until 1940-1950, before 1940 (so I have 12 categories)

You should check out bestfantasybooks.com. It has lists of the best books by decades.

Finished The Disappearance of Winter's Daughter [★★★★] for my Epic Fantasy slot.

I completed the initial challenge :D :D :D

Tnkw01 wrote: "You should check out bestfantasybooks.com. It has lists of the best books by decades."

Oh thanks! I used their lists of best books by sub-genre for this challenge. Didn't know they have lists by decades as well...
Well, I guess I know the challenges I'll be doing next year: FBC Bookshelf, Series and Decades. Maybe the Complete an author if I can't finish it this year.