One of the first posts I created on this blog was about the fantasy authors who inspired me the most. Australian author, Ian Irvine made that list along with the likes of Tolkien and Jordan. The fact that he made that list with those two shows you how much he inspired my own dabbling in fantasy fiction and how much I enjoyed his story and world-building. What follows is my review and general musings on The Worlds Cycle, an epic story which finally came to an end (or so we are led to believe) this month, with the publishing of The Sapphire Portal. This is the culmination of four main, linked series (The View From the Mirror, The Well of Echoes, The Song of the Tears, and The Gates of Good & Evil) which began in 1997.
Years ago I had a vision. I put too much cinnamon into some food I was preparing, and the resultant dish was so filled with spice that I was able to see through time to this very moment. Yes, I knew then that I would re-read Dune in 2020, and write a review of it. That’s the reason why I’ve never done it before, I was trapped by my prescience to do so…and if you, dear reader, have never read Dune or are not familiar with it or its adaptations, well, the entire preceding paragraph will go over your head and you likely think I’m mental. Those of you who are familiar with it will be thinking “Oh! Isn’t he devilishly witty”. Today, I review the greatest science fiction novel ever written (heart on my sleeve moment, there). There will be spoilers here.
On 16th September 2007, the world lost one the greatest fantasy authors of all time. After a battle with cardiac amyloidosis, James Oliver Rigney Junior, better known as Robert Jordan, the author of The Wheel of Time was woven out of the Pattern. Today, thirteen years on from his death, I’m going to discuss my thoughts on the legacy of The Creator himself.
He came like the wind, like the wind he touched everything, and like the wind he was gone.
It’s a very, very, rare occasion these days that you will open a fantasy novel and not see a map. In fact, it’s got to the point now that if there isn’t one you will probably find yourself thinking “Dude, where’s my map?”. I love maps, regardless of them being real or being made-up for a story, so I’m going to ramble on about them for a while here. In true Blue Peter style, here’s one I made earlier;
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams is widely considered to be one of the greatest Epic Fantasy series ever, which makes the fact that I haven’t bothered reading it until now all the worse. What follows are my thoughts and spoiler free review of the first book in that series: The Dragonbone Chair.
A bit of a change for the blog today. I’m not going to make a habit of this, but today I’m going to do a music review. I listened to an album a few days ago and it made a big impact on me, so much show I’ve decided to share my thoughts on it here. It’s called Noir Kid by the Azerbaijan based one man experimental project, Violet Cold.
The vast majority of the time I sit down to write my work in progress (WIP) I end up getting distracted and doing very little. In fact, this blog was the result of the Angel Dark Lord of Procrastination resting her wing gently on my shoulder bludgeoning me with her Hammer of Dithering. Though to be fair, at least the blog leads me to actually write something every now and again. Like today, for example. I’m going to discuss all the things I end up doing, rather than actually writing my WIP.
Today’s review is The Girl and the Stars (Book one of the Book of the Ice series). Lawrence’s previous series include The Broken Empire, The Red Queen’s War, and the The Book of the Ancestor.
Today’s review is The Light of Other Days by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter. This is a novel outside of my comfort zone in that it is firmly in the genre of Sci-fi and I usually stick to fantasy. Yes, I know Dune is technically sci-fi, but it also has quite a fantasy vibe to it – this one is pure sci-fi. There won’t be any plot spoilers here.
Today I’m going to provide a brief review of The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb. This series is generally considered to be one of the all time greats of modern fantasy fiction. Spoilers are not included.
The Philmarillion 
You must be logged in to post a comment.