Lee Hunts

I just finished reading The Company, by K.J. Parker. This is not exactly a fantasy novel, but it certainly has that aesthetic. It takes you back to medieval times, and it captures the aesthetic of what you could call a grimdark fantasy novel; the catch is that there is no magic in the novel. It is a very dark, heavily character driven novel. People often criticize it by saying that nothing happens (until the very end), but that's because they go in expecting large and momentous events to unfold—kind of like a fantasy novel. The plot of this novel is very subtle, and it's more about the character dynamics than anything else. But another thing, which I think a lot of people miss in relation to this point, is that there is a certain way in which the story is told, which affects how people perceive its pace. We will get into the specifics below. The basic premise of this book is that Kunessin, a former military general, has returned home. He is making contact with all of his old wa...

I just finished reading The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams. This is the first book in his Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series. As described by Mike's Books Reviews, this series is about what happens after happily ever after. King John Prester is a great King that is loved by all. Legends are being sung about his exploits, when he rose to power. But now, he is old and dying, and he has two sons that do not love one another. One is destined to take the throne, while the other is suspected of wanting it for himself. But matters are even more terrifying to behold than that, as an ancient evil seems to be awakening in the north, and humanity is woefully unprepared for what is to come. Amidst all of these machinations is Simon, a lowborn scullion, who is a bare fourteen years of age. He is always lost in his head, fantasizing about romantic adventures, and finding excuses to escape this or that task at hand. But, as you can imagine, he is eventually swept up in an adventure of his own tha...

I just finished reading Norylska Groans, by Michael R. Fletcher and Clayton W. Snyder. This is a grimdark fantasy novel set in a Russian inspired industrial setting. The reader follows two characters as they struggle to survive in a system that seems to conspire to crush them without any regard for their personal circumstances. Paired with this is a unique magic system that involves manipulating memories and personality traits. Given my own interest in themes of identity, this definitely caught my interest. No Spoilers Setting The setting of this book is one of the stronger elements of the story. I am not only referring to the concepts behind it that I mentioned above, but the execution of said concepts. The descriptions are vivid and oppressive, mixing winter and industrialism to create a horrifying backdrop for the story. There was one quote about the mixture of black ash and white snow turning everything grey, comparing that to moral complexity, which I thought was quite apt. Anothe...

I just finished reading the final book in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever. The Power That Preserves is probably the darkest story in the series, with the first one starting out at the Land's default state. In the second, the reader begins to see the slow decline, with the climax of that coming into full view in this entry. Covenant comes to the Land for his third time, for one last push to stop Lord Foul, something that was hinted at in the very beginning of the first entry. Forty-seven years have passed from that moment, and now everything has come together. No Spoilers Characters As is obvious from the first two entries of this series, as well as from Donaldson's writings on what fantasy is, characters and themes are probably the most important aspects of the story. Worldbuilding, too, but I think that is better covered in the part on themes. This is where Donaldson delivers on his story in spades. Thomas Covenant I speculated that Covenant was not the actua...

I just finished reading the whole Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer. I decided to read the whole trilogy before writing this, in part because I am participating in a read along on Jason Fuhrman's channel. Regardless of my reasons, I think reading the trilogy in this way helps shape my perspective for the whole story and especially each entry in the series. I will cover each entry on its own and also talk about how my thinking has changed as I continued on into the later entries. Annihilation (No Spoilers) Premise The first entry is an incredibly interesting story in its own right, given the format that it takes. It is presented as a journal written by a woman who has been selected for an expedition into a place called Area X. This location is a mysterious place that has appeared from seemingly nowhere, and now an institution known as the Southern Reach is tasked with trying to understand it. The woman, known as the biologist, is now part of the twelfth expedition, entirely ...

What's up morons? I just finished reading The Illearth War by Stephen R. Donaldson. This is the second book in The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, in both the original trilogy and in the overall ten book series. This is the second time that Covenant has been dragged to this world, and he finds himself in yet another situation where he is responsible for the existence of The Land. In this entry, he is both the same and different all at once. We get to see the subtle influences that his prior adventures have brought onto him, and also the continued bitterness that his leprosy has battered into him. So, what did I think of it? Let's find out. No Spoilers Covenant's Influence and Role I The first thing that I think is worth talking about is Covenant's impact on the story from a world building and plot-based perspective. I'm actually asking myself questions about the focus of the story. While the series seems to be about Thomas Covenant, as the series is named after him, ...