Book: Firebird by Mercedes Lackey

Title: Firebird
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 384 pgs

Summary: Mercedes Lackey is one of the best fantasy writers out there. Her Elemental Masters quartet is one of MANY reasons to read her. This book, Firebird, is a departure from her usual fantasy series, though. It is a stand-alone novel set in Old Russia, and heavily draws on Russian fairytales and magic. If you’ve read Enchantment by Orson Scott Card, you will feel right at home with this book.

Why should you read this book?
I almost suggest reading Enchantment before Firebird, however, because in my opinion, Enchantment just seems more…earthy? Compelling? Ilya, the main character in Firebird, tends to think a lot. There is a lot of family description at the beginning of this book that isn’t entirely needed. For instance, Lackey likes to tell us that Ilya’s father, Ivan, is a mean man. His actions alone tell us that, so why be so blatant? I also thought the ending was slightly rushed. But that’s just me.

Read this book for clear description, interesting characters, and a well-written retelling of the generic fairy-tale about heroes who magically learn to speak to animals and save beautiful women from scary sorcerers.

Book: Deerskin by Robin McKinley

Title: Deerskin
Author: Robin McKinley
Genre: Adult Fantasy
Length: 309 pgs

Summary: Deerskin by Robin McKinley is fantasy only in its setting: a generic kingdom with a handsome king and a queen more beautiful than any before, and more beautiful than any queen to come. This is the story of their daughter, Lissa Lissar, largely ignored, and therefore unused to people. It is with the death of her mother that her father finally notices her, and with that notice comes a danger that I, for one, was not expecting.

Why should you read this book?
This was, I believe, McKinley’s first major foray into adult fantasy. And while Lissa’s character is very well developed (this is an extremely introspective book with little dialogue), I wouldn’t suggest this as your first McKinley reading. If you are working on character development, and the treatment of delicate, controversial subjects, and the emotional/mental/physical repercussions of said subjects, this is an excellent book to read.

That said, Deerskin is not light reading. I will admit to taking a break from it, because I was slightly bothered by some of the imagery, though the imagery is highly symbolic. I would say, only because this is a fantasy, and there are elements of magic and mystery, that McKinley successfully works with adult subjects.

Once again, if this is your first McKinley reading, wait a while. Try Beauty, a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Or, better yet, my favorite McKinley prose: Spindle’s End, an earthy, organic and unique retelling of Sleeping Beauty.

Book: Chasing Shakespeares

Title: Chasing Shakespeares
Author: Sarah Smith
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Length: 352 pgs

Summary: If you like any sort of research-based/mystery-type fiction, this book might be for you. Chasing Shakespeares by Sarah Smith is the story about a graduate student from Northeastern University who finds what he thinks is a letter written by THE William Shakespeare. In his search to prove Shakespeare wrote it, Joe Roper gets involved with the Oxfordians, a group of people who believe the Earl of Oxford was the real William Shakespeare.

Excerpt:
pg 248 – You can’t help it. They’re just there, the beautiful wrong people; you come across them, you can’t help it. Then they have you writing poems, they have you believing in things you aren’t suited to believe, and the worst of it is you aren’t going to come to your senses someday, your senses are here.

Why should you read this book?
This book was very interesting in its facts. If you love Shakespeare, it’s interesting to watch a character deal with the idea that maybe, just maybe, Shakespeare wasn’t Shakespeare. If you’ve heard about the other theories, that Kit Marlowe was the actual Shakespeare, etc etc, then you’ve reached familiar ground. In actuality, this book reads more like a snappy history mystery than much fiction, and rather than feeling for the characters you continue to read in order to find out whether they prove Shakespeare as Shakespeare, or as Oxford, or as Marlowe, or whomever they decide he is.

Good book to read if trying to strengthen your hook, your idea that pulls the reader in. Also good for suspense, on an emotional and mental level. Trying to research modern London will also slightly benefit from this book.

Book: Elantris

Title: Elantris
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Fantasy, Science-Fiction
Length: 496 pgs

What happens when the city of the gods becomes the city of the damned?

If you liked Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, then you will adore this book. (It’s also loved by Orson Scott Card, Simon Green, and Publisher’s Weekly.) Elantris is brilliant fantasy-science-fiction, combining a cleverly thought-out world with intriguing politics, mysterious religions, and surprisingly real characters.

Summary: Ten years ago, the great city of Elantris fell. With it went any semblance of democratic government, though this isn’t to say that Elantris led a democratic example. A paranoid and stingy king rules Kae now, the city feeling the brunt of Elantris’ fall. The kingdom of Fjordell is trying to invade with their demanding and regimented religion, Shu-Dereth, by sending its high-ranking gyorn, Hrathen. The Teoish princess, Sarene, is on her way to Kae to marry the crown prince, Raoden, only to hear once leaving the ship that her fiancé has very mysteriously died/disappeared. No one knows how it happened, but the situation is profitable for Hrathen and potentially disastrous for Sarene.

Excerpts:
pg 16: Before, Raoden had been able to see a few of the city’s inhabitants. Now he could hear them as well. A dozen or so Elantrians lay scattered across the courtyard’s fetid cobblestones. Many sat uncaringly, or unknowingly, in pools of dark water, the remains of the night’s rainstorm. And they were moaning. Most of them were quiet about it, mumbling to themselves or whimpering with some unseen pain. One woman at the far end of the courtyard, however, screaming with a sound of raw anguish. She fell silent after a moment, her breath or her strength giving out.

pg 200: Yet, Teod also reminded her of pain and loneliness. It represented her exclusion from society and her humiliation before men. Sarene had established early in life that she had a quick wit and an even quicker tongue. Both things had set her apart from the other women–not that some of them weren’t intelligent; they just had the wisdom to hide it until they were married.
Not all men wanted a stupid wife–but there also weren’t a lot of men who felt comfortable around a woman they assumed was their intellectual superior. By the time Sarene had realized what she was doing to herself, she had found that the few men who might have accepted her were already married. Desperate, she had ferreted out the masculine opinion of her in court, and had been mortified to learn just how much they mocked her. After that, it had only grown worse–and she had only grown older. In a land where nearly every woman was at least engaged by the age of eighteen, she was an old maid at twenty-five. A very tall, gangly, argumentative old maid.

Why should you read this book?
Sanderson has become one of my new favorite authors. I started this book a little wary, thinking there was no way he would be able to keep my attention for the thickness of this book (496 pgs hardcover). Not only did he keep my attention, I was riveted. Sanderson’s characters are the main motivation behind that: these are true heroes we are reading about. People who are certain they don’t have the strength to deal with what’s been laid before them, and yet, finding themselves facing tragedy, horrors, and more.

Elantris is one of those few books where, as you’re reading it, you can see it happening. You believe the magic, the science, and the internal struggle between politics, religion, love, and morality. Yes, there is love in this story, but its presence is something needed between the characters, and a great plot device. If anything, it’s natural and takes nothing away from the story. The writing is tight and concise; nothing is lacking and nothing is oversaid. And, though this book is close to 500pgs, it doesn’t have a dull moment: beauty and atrocity are tackled with the same deft hand. And get this! A fantasy/sci-fi that isn’t volume one of twenty! I find that incredibly refreshing.

Give it a try. Especially if your preferred genre is historical fiction. There is nothing better than reading something outside your comfort zone to bring an edge to your writing. And Brandon Sanderson, you get props and snaps for this. I’m really looking forward to your next book, Mistborn.