Reading in Fantasy / Horror, January 2024

[Hobbit]

For me YA is always about the way it was written, as if intended for a younger audience - so the vocabulary is lessened, there's less adult concepts - sex, violence etc. It doesn't really matter if the main character is a teenager for example, it's the way the book's written.

For what it's worth, agreed - though these days many see a story with a young adult as the main character as a YA novel.

I have had similar conversations about the Red Rising series. Some consider it YA and I never even remotely got those vibes. So as you say Westy it is a lot about preference and perception.

It is blurring, though - The latest one for me is Fourth Wing, which to me reads as a book for a younger audience - simplistic plot, basic characterisation and emotional content - but has sex in it - 'spicy', as the young reviewers say - but I still think is meant for teenagers. Like Twliight.

 

[chitman13]

Just started Spellslinger by Sebastien De Castell, narrated by Joe Jameson - an audio loan from the library (and they have the whole series!). I really enjoyed De Castell's Greatcoats series so looking forward to this, and Jameson is a great narrator.

 

[Randy M.]

Finished The Beetle: A Mystery by Richard Marsh (grandfather of "strange story" writer, Robert Aickman). It's part mystery, part comedy, part supernatural horror story, contains passages that will offend feminists and/or anyone sensitive to racial stereotypes (though towards the end, after the damage is done, there's a line that seems to try to mitigate the latter) and has an Orientalist plot that in many ways is b*tsh*t crazy. At GoodReads I describe it as, "quite possibly the font from which flowed a thousand pulp adventure stories." And I'd stand by that.

The Beetle having put me in a Victorian mood, just started a reread of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Tales of Terror and Mystery; I'd forgotten how engaging "The Horror of the Heights" was.

 

[Ubergeek]

For what it's worth, agreed - though these days many see a story with a young adult as the main character as a YA novel.


It is blurring, though - The latest one for me is Fourth Wing, which to me reads as a book for a younger audience - simplistic plot, basic characterisation and emotional content - but has sex in it - 'spicy', as the young reviewers say - but I still think is meant for teenagers. Like Twliight.

I like the Twilight books . But I found it hilarious listening to author Shaun Hutson's yak track on the Slugs blu ray when he absolutely slated the twinkly , twanky glittery vampires as portrayed in the Twilight books .

 

[LayZ25]

It is blurring, though - The latest one for me is Fourth Wing, which to me reads as a book for a younger audience - simplistic plot, basic characterisation and emotional content - but has sex in it - 'spicy', as the young reviewers say - but I still think is meant for teenagers. Like Twliight.

I think ultimately it is like Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart said regarding the definition of hardcore porn

"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description, and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it."

 

[Raf]

It's interesting, I didn't think of it as YA at all (and I generally swerve away from YA books). But it's all personal preference/perception.

I thought the story concept "bordered" on a YA theme. Budding young witch and all. It didn't quite resonate with me as an adult story.

Anyway, a young protagonist doesn't mean YA to me. I quite liked some of John Gwynne's youngsters in several of his books.

 

[LayZ25]

Finished The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu. This was a fun read with some cool action and an interesting enough plot to keep me engaged. However, there was a lot of stuff going on with it that kept it from getting beyond a more basic enjoyment. Let's talk about some of them.

My first issue was within the first couple pages of the book with the first POV. "She had run out of pity years ago" and then a few paragraphs later "Taishi pitied this pathetic bunch". I don't know if this is a minor thing or not but this really drove me crazy early on. I may be a bit too harsh here but it just felt so unpolished right from the beginning. Glaring examples like this didn't jump out at me throughout but having finished it I did come away feeling like the whole thing kind of suffered a little from a better guiding hand.

Next is that 3/4 of the POV's were very strong characters. I am a sucker for the wizened mentor who is a beast or a master of their craft handling business vs the enemy but when you get 3 different versions and they are all a little too good it removes a lot of tension from the story. It made it so that the only real tension was when the 3 of them opposed each other and even then 1 of the 3 was so good that even that didn't quite hit the mark.

My last point to the negative side is that the universe didn't quite feel connected which ties back to my point about the lack of polish. You had different cultures and fighting styles and things of that nature but they all felt like separate ideas. Like the author kept thinking of things he wanted to do and added them all to one book but never quite fleshed out the world in a way that made it all one thing.

For me when I go into a book I am okay with a good floor. Don't be boring and give me some entertainment. This had that going for it. At 528 pages it never felt like a slog and there were cool elements that kept me into it. It also ended more strongly than it started which gives me hope for the sequel. I am going to order it and get into that next. 3.5/5

 

[cgw]

The YA topic comes up now and again. I steer away from YA and anything that gives me a YA vibe. There are tropes that give me that YA vibe and they have nothing to do with whether there is sex or not sex.
It seems to me that a good portion of fantasy these days does have that YA slant whether or not by my definition. 1. Thats where the money is. (or get the reader while young and take them to adult fantasy) 2. A lot of authors and readers got their start with Harry.
Speaking of adult fantasy - Looking at youtube booktubers, which I do, it appears there are 2* fantasy genres now: Fantasy (meaning YA) and adult fantasy (which I would call regular fantasy). I'm having a hard time wrapping my old head around it.

* ignoring for the moment romantasy

 

[cgw]

BTW Mark Stay's, The Crow Folk: The Witches of Woodville 1 does sound like a god premise. I may try a sample.

 

[Hobbit]

Speaking of adult fantasy - Looking at youtube booktubers, which I do, it appears there are 2* fantasy genres now: Fantasy (meaning YA) and adult fantasy (which I would call regular fantasy). I'm having a hard time wrapping my old head around it.

The genre (if such a thing exists - big debate there!) is always splitting into subgroups, following surges of interest and trends. To be fair, it's usually new labels on old themes/tropes. What I find slightly amusing is that new readers often feel like they've invented it!

But yes. If I remember the stats, and certainly in the UK/Europe, generally most Fantasy readers these days are female and fairly young - 16-35. (Young from where I'm at, anyway.) The market reflects that, producing material that such readers want to read (ie: buy.) Obviously there are exceptions when you look at groups - Grimdark tends to be slightly older males (but again, there are always exceptions.)

KatG may give us her thoughts on the US experience later.

M.

 

[Westy]

I read Ring by Kōji Suzuki, after seeing Ropie post about it a couple of months ago. Asakawa discovers a videotape that warns the viewer will die in a week if they don't perform a certain act (which was erased from the tape). After Asakawa watches it, he has a week to discover what needs to be done to stop the curse.

A big positive for me was the pacing - there was rarely a dull moment, as Asakawa and his weird friend Ryuji race against time to track down who made the tape. There was also plenty of tension and Asakawa's emotional rollercoaster as he alternately finds clues and dead ends as the story progresses.

On the downside I thought the characters weren't really that likeable, and there was a misogynistic undertone that soured the enjoyment somewhat.

But on the whole a good read and I'll be checking out the next book.

 

[chitman13]

Finished Spellslinger by Sebastien De Castell, and very much enjoyed. I believe the series is more YA, but on the whole it worked well for me and delivered a good story along with an interesting world. Looking forward to seeing where he goes with the rest of the books.

 

[laceylamora]

I just started reading Shadows Linger by Glen Cook. it's taken me way too long to read The Black Company books, and they're wonderful so far. Cook has a very terse style that's like being dropped into cold water

 

[Raf]

I just started reading Shadows Linger by Glen Cook. it's taken me way too long to read The Black Company books, and they're wonderful so far. Cook has a very terse style that's like being dropped into cold water

Cook is really talented. If you haven't read them, his Garrett P.I. series is a lot of fun as well.

 

[chitman13]

Currently listening to The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay, narrated by Simon Vance (another audible plus listen, and the whole trilogy is available). I've never read anything by Kay before, but I've always heard good things mentioned about his writing, and I can see why. So far the prose is just great, and the narrator is doing it justice, so I hope the story progresses well.

 

[Raf]

Currently listening to The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay, narrated by Simon Vance (another audible plus listen, and the whole trilogy is available). I've never read anything by Kay before, but I've always heard good things mentioned about his writing, and I can see why. So far the prose is just great, and the narrator is doing it justice, so I hope the story progresses well.

GGK is a favorite of mine. I haven't read this trilogy in years. But I've been looking for something good for the next round of audiobooks once Dungeon Crawler Carl finishes.

Let me know what you think of it after you finish, Chitman.

 

[Sfinx]

Read the 'book of the month' on SFFworld , to wit, The Crow Folk by Mark Stay.

I enjoyed the story. It's fun, well paced and steeped in Englishness. And a good combination of 'murder in the countryside' - featuring Faye Bright [yes, name and surname fully intentional] as a very young miss Marple - with elements of folkore, magic and (a sprinkling of) horror. It all works surprisingly well. I have seen it labeled as 'YA', but personally would not put it in that category. Young heroine does not equal YA (thankfully).

Won't continue with the series however. It's like a cold can of Coke on a warm summer day: refreshing, very nice while it lasts, but when you're finished, there are more satisfying beverages. Still: recommended.

 

[Sfinx]

Just started John Gwynne's The Shadow of the Gods (book 1 in The Bloodsworn Saga).

I mostly like it - you can just about touch, feel and smell the landscape Gwynne describes; he is very good at that. Can't say much about the story yet, just a couple of dozen pages in. Seems promising though! My only niggle so far (and here's hoping it won't persist): Gwynne's choice of words when describing characters' behaviour and interactions are somewhat...predictable. When long limbed Orka looks at something she doesn't like, she scowls (a.k.a. the Nynaeve-syndrom), the bearded, muscular husband grunts and mutters, the boy is hopeful / seeks to win his parents' favour. It's not out of place as such, just not very original. Plus, I really dislike the use of this stylistic device:

"The Bloodsworn docked yesterday. They have a Seior-witch thrall."
The Bloodsworn!
The Bloodsworn were famed throughout the whole of...etc.

Feels like I'm reading a sixth grader's attempt at writing fantasy or something very YA-ish. Anyhows, will definitely continue, the basic premiss sounds really good & as said, I am really drawn into the world Gwynne paints so viscerally.

 

[chitman13]

GGK is a favorite of mine. I haven't read this trilogy in years. But I've been looking for something good for the next round of audiobooks once Dungeon Crawler Carl finishes.

Let me know what you think of it after you finish, Chitman.

Finished The Summer Tree this morning, and enjoyed. A little different to what I was expecting - more thoughtful and intricate. I liked this, and look forward to the next one.

Now on to Mister Magic by Kiersten White.

 

[chitman13]

Finished and very much enjoyed Mister Magic - it had that feeling of something not quite right throughout, and the more we learnt the better it got.

Now listening to the first Dungeon Crawler Carl book by Matt Dinniman based on recommendations here. So far, love it