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The Hollow Kingdom. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mnemex made me read this one. It's very good. It won the Mythopoeic Award for Children's Literature, and is written so that protective parents would probably have no complaints, while being mature enough that the implications are clear to any old enough to understand them.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I really liked this one, and I think John Clute nailed it well. As he said, it is that good, it is that important, and each scene could have used some editing. Clute was wrong about one thing: The book is a standalone, not the first part of a trilogy.
At the clmactic scene, the Dr. Seuss switch in my brain flipped on. mnemex andacrobatty think I should do a full (but short as possible) Seuss version of the book.
The Golden Griffon Feather. This one hearkens back to the days when one could tell a good story, with an awful lot of plot, in under 200 pages. I know -- it's word count that's the key, but this 160 page book has got to have fewer words in it than the Strange & Norrell's 780 pages or so.
The Family Trade. This one disappointed me, but give it a try if you're an Amber fan.
Ghosts in the Snow. Forensic fantasy, where there is a discussion of privies, rare in any fantasy that doesn't focus on muck and grime to the point where I've had more than enough, and something I'd never seen happen in a fantasy novel before. Someone wants to send a message via bird, only to discover that someone else has just sent out the last bird. Sure, there will be more, but not for a few days.
Faerie Wars. Also recommended by mnemex. I like the family subplot, and I really liked the bit where one of the protagonists is extremely clever in a gamer-like way.
mnemex made me read this one. It's very good. It won the Mythopoeic Award for Children's Literature, and is written so that protective parents would probably have no complaints, while being mature enough that the implications are clear to any old enough to understand them.Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I really liked this one, and I think John Clute nailed it well. As he said, it is that good, it is that important, and each scene could have used some editing. Clute was wrong about one thing: The book is a standalone, not the first part of a trilogy.
At the clmactic scene, the Dr. Seuss switch in my brain flipped on. mnemex and
acrobatty think I should do a full (but short as possible) Seuss version of the book.The Golden Griffon Feather. This one hearkens back to the days when one could tell a good story, with an awful lot of plot, in under 200 pages. I know -- it's word count that's the key, but this 160 page book has got to have fewer words in it than the Strange & Norrell's 780 pages or so.
The Family Trade. This one disappointed me, but give it a try if you're an Amber fan.
Ghosts in the Snow. Forensic fantasy, where there is a discussion of privies, rare in any fantasy that doesn't focus on muck and grime to the point where I've had more than enough, and something I'd never seen happen in a fantasy novel before. Someone wants to send a message via bird, only to discover that someone else has just sent out the last bird. Sure, there will be more, but not for a few days.
Faerie Wars. Also recommended by mnemex. I like the family subplot, and I really liked the bit where one of the protagonists is extremely clever in a gamer-like way.
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By the way, while we're talking about books & suchlike matters _
Another one of my friends, 'Dave_Rainbow' (http://www.livejournal.com/users/dave_rainbow/), is currently writing an epic poem with an Arthurian setting and wondered [after I'd mentioned it to him in the context of Mordred's origins, which he'd decided to include...] where he could get information about the 'May Babies' incident: Could you possibly identify a good source for this, and perhaps also (to satisfy both our senses of curiosity...) say when & where it seems to have been added to the Arthurian mythos?
Oh, and have you read 'Family Bites' (which I recommended in my last zine) yet?
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The May Babies were added during the French Vulgate Cycle or post-Vulgate, I think -- there's two versions, one where the attempt is only made against Mordred, I think by Merlin, and one the whole May Babies. Mm, check out The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, edited by Norris Lacy. I can check around for sources, but I will have to dig a bit. It's been a while since I had everything at my finger tips for this.
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