Staff Picks Category: Fantasy

The Sandman [Book, Graphic Novel]

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Ten years ago a friend lent me The Sandman: Brief Lives. I had not read many comics, but I was hooked, and I quickly read each of the ten trade paperbacks that make up The Sandman. (Brief Lives is actually the seventh volume in the series, but it was a good place to start, as it better reflects the character of the series as a whole than does the dark and brooding Preludes and Nocturnes. If you know you are going to read the whole series, start at the beginning, but if you are unsure, starting with Brief Lives is not a bad idea.)

Although nominally set in the universe of DC Comics, no past comic reading experience is required. More important is a knowledge of myth and literature, and an appreciation for story and fantasy. The Sandman is a collection of stories which together tell the story of Dream. Dream, in The Sandman, is both a character, and a fundamental, inescapable force of the universe in which he resides. He is one of the Endless, and like Destiny, Death, Destruction, Despair, Desire and Delirium, he has always been, and will always be. Despite this, Dream is moody, stubborn, and often remarkably human.

The Sandman had its roots in horror, a genre I have never had much inclination to explore, but while it has fantastical and grotesque elements, it is too optimistic, too affirming, too delightful to be anything of the kind. The characters of Death and Delirium are particularly delightful—while both have their obvious dark sides they are depicted as being kind and caring; Death in particular is shown to be particularly wise. Most of all we delight in the world of stories and dreams. “The Dreaming”, where Dream makes his home, also provides its own delights, including a cast of often comic characters and a library containing every book and every story.

Many different artists worked with Neil Gaiman on The Sandman, and the art is always competent, and often very good indeed, especially in the later volumes. I’m particularly fond of some of P. Craig Russell and Jill Thompson’s illustrations, and Dave McKean’s covers are fantastic.

The Sandman is a haunting story with great characters set in a complex, detailed world. It is made up of many stories of many different types, and its variety is part of its appeal. This is a great graphic novel, and worth trying even if you aren’t normally a fan of comics.

Snuff by Terry Pratchett [Book]

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One Terry Pratchett Discworld novel is much like another, and I mean that as a compliment, the way I would about the Marx Brothers or P.G. Wodehouse.  Pratchett is reliably funny, satirical, detailed, and quick, coming at you from all sides (including footnotes).  In Discworld there are no sacred cows, and in this latest installment cows feature prominently since streetwise city detective Sam Vimes has been lured by his formidable wife to her country estate on vacation.
Pretty soon the deceptively sleepy village reveals there’s more than manure to meet the eye, and Vimes is entangled in crimes and secrets that rival his usual pastimes in the metropolis.
Start anywhere; you won’t regret it.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern [Book]

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Evocative. Descriptive. Atmospheric. The Night Circus is a good story, but its the atmosphere that will keep you turning the pages. Set in the late Victorian era, The Night Circus tells the story of two students, Celia and Marco, forced by their individual teachers to compete against each other in a game they don’t understand. Their playing field is an unusual circus, which becomes more and more fantastic as the two young magicians populate the circus with their increasingly elaborate creations. A carousel with strikingly realistic animals. A tree without leaves or flowers, but covered with candles which never go out or melt away. A hall in which hundreds of mirrors each show something unexpected. A garden made of perpetually unmelting of ice.

Everything about Le Cirque des Rêves is improbable, and much of the book is devoted to describing the circus and the experience of visiting it. The narrative shifts in time, place, and voice, but always describes the circus or the people connected to it. Some chapters are written in the second person, and while most of the book is written in the third person some chapters are completely without characters (unless you count the circus itself); these chapters especially create a feeling of immersion and they felt to me as if they were in the second person, even if they did not use the word “you”.

The level of detail is appropriately, but sometimes startlingly, varied. Morgenstern often writes at length about minutia such the smell of the popcorn, or the costume of a particular performer, only to gloss over the details of a conversation in the most general language. These glosses may, perhaps, represent some lost opportunities on Morgenstern’s part, where she could have further fleshed out her story, but on the whole I found them unobjectionable and even welcome; not only did they help keep the story focused, but they contributed to the tone of the novel, which I found unusual but very much enjoyed.

The Night Circus is a fantasy, and a romance of sorts, and will be enjoyed by many open-minded readers of both genres.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman [Book]

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What if Harry Potter and his friends were older and lived in New York instead of England? Despite its references to Narnia and other fantasy classics, The Magicians is not a children’s book. The protagonist is neither hero nor anti-hero — he’s more like an actual human being (granted, with magical gifts) looking for meaning in the world and generally failing to find it. He and his classmates graduate from a secret, elite college for wizards and don’t know what to do with the rest of their lives. (Here’s where the existential literary fiction comes in.) Everything is open to question — was that a quest we were given, or are we just projecting? — and the lines between good and evil are often unclear, or beside the point. The plot is twisty enough and the prose captivating and spiced with humor. There are occasional disappointments, but The Magicians is still an adventure that’s hard to put down. It’s going to make a great movie someday.

One of our Thursdays is missing by Jasper Fforde [Book]

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Jasper Fforde’s latest offering in the Thursday Next series is a metafictional tour de farce. The original Thursday — literary police Special Operations Agent (ret.) and the star of her own series of novels-with-novels — has disappeared, and it’s up to her fictional character to find her by impersonating the real Thursday. There’s a border dispute in BookWorld between the genres of Racy Novel and Women’s Fiction, and if Thursday doesn’t show up for the peace talks, war might ensue. Fforde sprinkles his story with characters and allusions from the classics and popular fiction, and makes liberal use of puns including setting up whole subplots just for a punch line. His style is uncategorizable and nearly indescribable, at least not in a way that makes any sense, but irresistibly entertaining and uniquely inventive. This sequel refers back to things that happened (or didn’t) in previous titles in the series, and it might help to start with the first installment, The Eyre Affair.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness [Book]

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Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis [Book]

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In this early work of science fiction (Out of the Silent Planet was first published in 1938) C.S. Lewis tells the story of a philology professor, much reminiscent of Lewis’s friend J.R.R Tolkien, who, while exploring a mysterious house in the English countryside, is kidnapped and brought to the mysterious planet of Malacandra aboard a strange space–going vehicle. The professor escapes his captors soon after they land, and he finds himself terrified in an unfamiliar world. His curiosity overcomes his fear, however, when he discovers that many of the native creatures possess the ability to speak and share a common tongue. During his time on Malacandra the professor learns much about the planet and its inhabitants, but even more about his own home, the Earth, and the place of human kind in the universe.

This is an engaging tale, characterized by a sense of wonder and enthusiasm which is too often lacking in newer works of speculative fiction. It is as much a fantasy story as it is science fiction, and with its exploration of the nature of good and evil and its Christian inspired themes it has some resemblance to Lewis’s more familiar Chronicles of Narnia, though it is a more serious, more adult book in many ways.

Out of the Silent Planet is a quick, enjoyable read, that provides much food for thought to those who want it, without weighing down those who would rather do without. It’s also the first book in a trilogy; those who enjoy it will want to continue with it’s successors Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength.

Rocannon’s World by Ursula K. Le Guin [Book]

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Ursula Le Guin’s first novel seamlessly blends science fiction and fantasy. Rocannon, an ethnologist, visits the planet Formalhaut II to study the native culture, and finds himself trapped when his ship is destroyed. In his adventures he rides on the back of giant winged cats, meets the various species inhabiting the planet, some of which have striking similarities to the men, elves, and dwarves of fantasy fiction, and must confront a mysterious presence in a cave. In Rocannon’s World, Le Guin explores the implications of space travel, faster than light communication, and the meeting of alien cultures. A powerful story, appropriate for fans of either genre.

Luka and the fire of life by Salman Rushdie [Book]

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This wonderful book is a sequel to Haroun and the Sea of Stories, though it stands perfectly well on its own. Luka and the Fire of Life, like Haroun, is a children’s book, and like Haroun it is dedicated to one of Rushdie’s sons. This story is a fast-paced fantasy set in a world made up from bits and pieces of many stories, from ancient myths to Super Mario Brothers and Doctor Who. The writing is wonderfully witty, full of word play and puns and humour of many sorts; it had me chuckling immediately and erupting in belly laughs within the first few pages. Children and adults alike will get great pleasure from this book.

Soulless by Gail Carriger [Book]

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Part regency-romance, part steampunk — “a novel of vampires, werewolves, and parasols.” Set in an alternate regency England, in which werewolves and vampires are an accepted part of society, some with positions at the top levels of government. Alexia Tarabotti is a witty spinster in a family of beautiful people without substance. She is also a preternatural, without a soul. Alexia is bored with her society life, and wants to join the Bureau of Unnatural Registry, a division of Her Majesty’s Civil Service. Although unable to work there, she is still involved in the mystery of where the new vampires are coming from and why the werewolves are disappearing. Very enjoyable read.

Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier [Book]

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In 12th Century Ireland, Caitrin is fleeing an abusive suitor and finds work as a scribe to a struggling and crippled chieftain, Anluan. Caitrin goes through his family documents and begins to uncover an evil sorcery that has plagued Anluan’s family. With enemies approaching, Caitrin must help Anluan overcome this evil and save their budding romance. Heart’s Blood is an adventurous love story and reminded me of Beauty and the Beast, one of my favorite fairy tales.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon : A Novel by Sarah Addison Allen [Book]

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Seventeen-year-old, Emily Benedict, comes to live with her grandfather following the death of her mother. Hoping to solve the mysteries of her mother’s childhood, Emily soon meets the many colorful characters of Mullaby, North Carolina. There are many supernatural happenings including: mood changing wallpaper, dancing lights in the backyards, and the smell of pastries that can bring people home from afar. A satisfying and magical read.