Novel by an r/Fantasy AMA Author

• Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley (#1 in series, epic, mirror worlds) Read 4/16/15. So… I made the mistake of reading The Language of Knives (short story) at the same time as this. And the two paired just give a whole new meaning to bringing relatives to dinner. Okay, having said that, and having read the Bel Dame Apocrypha, I knew what I was getting into here: Hurley is a master (mistress?) of the creation of TRULY unique worlds with intricate worldbuilding, but also being able to delicately throw that information at the reader. I have absolutely zero doubt that she’s figured out plumbing for each of her cultures, but she has the grace not to explain it to the reader. I have to admit that most of her writing leaves me in the mind of China Mieville, who I consider the king of the New Weird genre, but honestly? I think she’s better at it. Unfortunately for me, I’m not a huge fan of New Weird, so while I enjoyed the uniqueness of the setting, it also had a tendency to get under my skin. THIS IS NOT TO SAY this is not an awesome book, because it is -- it is to say that I’m not one for this much complexity in my reading. Also counts for (8. Novel over 500 pages, 4. /r/Fantasy women, 7. Portal fantasy)

Novel Originally Written in a Language Other Than English

• The Neverending Story by Michael Ende (children’s) Read 5/2/15. A lonely boy named Bastian finds a strange book that draws him into the beautiful but doomed world of Fantastica, a place that can only be saved by a human giving its ruler, the Childlike Empress, a new name. I really wish this challenge included the whole 2015 year -- I read The Rabbit-Back Literature Society about two months ago, and it was fantastic. The Neverending Story hit many of my least-favorites all at once. The journey, it was long, it was wide, it was about an inch deep. I am too old for this book, because I don’t deal well with skimming, and skimming is all this book does. I found it incredibly superficial -- but I wish I had an eight year old to read it to. (Also counts for 8. Portal fantasy, 14. Adapted to the screen, 2. Stand-alone, 15. Published before the year 2000)

A Novel Over 500 Pages

• Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare (594pp, #3 in series, steampunk/historical fantasy set in Victorian London) Read 4/15/15. Tessa’s life seems to be falling into place with an engagement and an impending marriage, and her little family at the Institute. But the Magister is still out there, and he won’t let her happiness stop his plans. I have to admit I spoiled myself on this one, just because I got so frustrated at the end of the last book. I really did not realize when I started this series that it was actually a victorian romance with elements of steampunk, not the other way around. But now that I’ve finished it, I really can’t say it better than another reviewer on Goodreads, Wendy Darling, did: “My poor heart has never felt this way after finishing a series; I had no idea it was possible to feel such tempered happiness as well as such overwhelming grief for everyone involved. Many of the things I thought might happen, did--and yet it doesn't change my fierce love and admiration for the way everything unfolded. THIS is how a love triangle should be written, in a way that preserves the honor of everyone involved.” (Also counts for 3. Historical fantasy)

Pre-Tolkien Fantasy

• The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft (1936) Read 5/17/15. A short novel about a weird hybrid race of humans and creatures resembling a cross between a fish and a frog, which lives in the seaside village of Innsmouth, so says the synopsis. In reality, it reads like a journal or a travelogue, and honestly, the writing style kept me with it as much as anything, as it was very matter-of-fact about what the writer went through. I’ve had this on my to-read list for a very long time, having been a goth teenager with a penchant for reading excessive amounts of books, and the books I skipped over in my goth-dom would probably have gotten me kicked out for cardinal sins - I never got around to Lovecraft or Gaiman’s Sandman comics, for instance -- so I’m glad I’ve finally gotten to both this year. I think I missed the comics train, unfortunately, but this was very readable and very creepy.

A Novel from r/Fantasy's Official Underrated and Under-read List

• American Elsewhere by Robert Jackson Bennett (fantasy, horror) Read 4/19/15. Under a pink moon, there is a perfect little town not found on any map, and in that little town are quiet streets lined with pretty houses that conceal the strangest things. Ex-cop Mona Bright inherits her long-dead mother’s home in Wink, New Mexico, and when she gets there, she finds that the people of Wink are very, very different. Woo. Lovecraftian horror. This really reminded me of the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, which, if you haven’t listened to before, you really ought to. I loved Mona -- she’s pragmatic, realistic, cynical, even in the face of some really weird shit going down. And while I get that Bennett is more literary than a lot of authors out there, I sort of wished that this book had been trimmed down a little -- I was really experiencing book fatigue by about page 500, but I knew if I put it down, I’d never pick it back up. This is not to say that the book isn’t fantastic -- it really is, and it may make it onto my favorites shelf. It was definitely a joyride. (Also counts for 8. >500 pages, 2. Stand-alone, 6. AMA author)

Fairytale Retelling

• Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth (historical, fairy tale - Rapunzel) Read 5/9/15. Braids together the tales of French novelist Charlotte-Rose de la Force, a young girl with burnished red hair named Margherita, and the witch who holds her captive. Bitter Greens is a historical fiction cum fairytale retelling of Rapunzel, and it is richly woven together with attention to detail and beautiful prose. I found it a little wearing after a while, but I don’t often have the patience for historical fiction. Either way, I truly enjoyed it and am glad to have read it. (Also counts for 3. Historical Fantasy, 4. r/Fantasy Women in Fantasy)

Portal Fantasy

• The Arrivals by Melissa Marr (wild west) Read 5/9/15. Chloe walks into a bar and blows five years of sobriety, but when she wakes in the morning she finds herself in an unfamiliar world in a group of people from all different times and places, and none of them really understands how they got there, or if there’s a way home. The Arrivals is basically a weird west novel with a little bit of romance, a lot of gunfighting, and some monsters. I bought this in hardcover last year because I enjoyed Graveminder so much, but it’s resided on my to-read shelf ever since. So it was with some trepidation when I started this and noticed how low the ratings are on Goodreads (3.16 out of 1,519 ratings). I can kind of see why this didn’t really resonate with some people -- it’s kind of a genre-bender; in some ways, you’re expecting a wild west showdown; in others, you’re expecting a romance; what you get is a character-driven adventure dealing with corruption and mortality, trust and fear. I enjoyed it -- and I’m glad I gave it a chance despite the reviews. (Also counts for 2. Stand-alone, 4. r/Fantasy Women in Fantasy)

Free Space - Monsters!

• Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (horror, thriller, monster) Read 4/30/15. Just days before a massive exhibition opens at the popular New York Museum of Natural History, visitors are being savagely murdered in the museum's dark hallways and secret rooms. Autopsies indicate that the killer cannot be human. I’ve been meaning to read this for forever, and now that I have… I dunno. I hit the halfway point and literally quit reading it, decided to give up forever and marked the book DNF and done. And then decided I could at least follow the major exhibit’s opening, and ended up finishing the book, and was kind of pleased that I had. While it felt like X-Files, the investigations felt incredibly forced and like an awful lot of running around with very little to show for it, and I found that a huge boring drag. The action’s good when it happens, at least. Not really all that scary for me -- very little atmosphere, very little build-up. And I wish we had seen more of Pendergast, who is nominally the lead for the series, and less of Margo.

Novel Adapted to the Screen (Movie or TV)

• City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (#1 in series, urban fantasy) Read 4/23/2015. Clary Fray may be in over her head. She went out to go clubbing -- but instead, starts seeing monsters and finds out a whole other shadow world is real. And then her mother disappears. With her whole world turned upside down, Clary is facing down trying to get her mother back and keep her friends safe, all without the training, allies or even memories she needs. What the hell? This doesn’t really read like it was written by the same author as the Infernal Devices trilogy. I’m sort of confused. MUCH more childishly written, the language is nowhere near as smooth, the story not as intricate. I feel cheated. Going on to read the second because I am both insane and kind of curious to see if it improves significantly. (Also counts for 25. Urban fantasy, 5. Debut) City of Ashes, Book 2, read 4/24/15. City of Glass, Book 3, read 4/26/15. City of Fallen Angels, Book 4, read 4/27/15. City of Lost Souls, Book 5, read 4/27/15. City of Heavenly Fire, Book 6, read 4/29/15. Okay, I got lost.