Imaginative stories unrestricted by reality
August 25, 2017 by David McCan | Fantasy | No Comments
I listened to the audiobook version of The Queen’s Poisoner by Jeff Wheeler, read by Kate Rudd. The story opens with the Duke of Kiskaddon returning home from battle. His side was victorious, but there was a small problem, or rather a major problem. At a crucial point in the battle, …
June 14, 2017 by David McCan | Fantasy | No Comments
I’m a big Scott Westerfeld fan and was pretty psyched to start reading Zeroes. It is the story about 6 teenagers who each have a unique, special power. I wouldn’t call them “super powers,” though they were pretty cool: Flicker is blind but can see through other people’s eyes. Crash …
Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan, and Deborah BiancottiRead More »
April 2, 2017 by David McCan | Fantasy | No Comments
The Star-Touched Queen takes place in the milieu of Hindu mythology: the worlds of gods, goddesses, demons, illusion, and reincarnation. The story is about Maya, a young princess in a kingdom that has long been at war with the many surrounding kingdoms. In a bid to bring peace, her father …
February 21, 2017 by Cindy McCan | Fantasy | No Comments
The Fifth Season is a compelling and multifaceted story set on a geologically unstable and volatile “Earth”. Earthquakes and volcanoes are a constant threat and if severe enough can cause a fifth season, or extended winter, due to the amount of dust and ash sent up into the atmosphere. Tsunamis …
February 19, 2017 by Cindy McCan | Fantasy | No Comments
I just finished listening to The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman. The narrator, Fiona Hardingham, an accomplished actress and reader, picked me up, transported me to Regency London and set me down among the aristocracy. It is 1812 and Lady Helen Wrexhall is 18 and ready to go out …
February 18, 2017 by David McCan | Fantasy | No Comments
I was immediately hooked by The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge. As an anthropologist, I had read a number of works by “armchair anthropologists” that tracked the history of science through the Victorian era, the publication of Darwin’s The Origin of Species, the gradual unearthing of fossils that called into question …
February 16, 2017 by David McCan | Fantasy | No Comments
Cindy spoke highly of Truthwitch, by Susan Dennard, so I decided to read it also. Her review of Truthwitch really does a good job of summing up the book, so I won’t cover the same ground. Rather, I’ll report that the book was fun to read and that its fast pace …
January 14, 2017 by David McCan | Fantasy | No Comments
Sefia, the main character of The Reader, had a happy childhood and was loved by her parents and close to her Aunt. However, they had prepared her a hiding place in case something bad happened. One day assassins come and kill her parents and she goes into her secret room …
January 6, 2017 by David McCan | Fantasy | No Comments
Smoke by Dan Vyleta is one of Cindy’s favorites in our Hugo reading quest. She spoke so highly of it that I thought I should read it also. I started off with the first disk of the audiobook, but when that had to be returned to the library I continued …
January 1, 2017 by Cindy McCan | Fantasy | No Comments
This young adult book was a great read and should satisfy teens and young-at-heart adults who yearn for adventure, humor, close calls and an engaging fast-actioned book set in an original and well-constructed world. Safiya is a Truthwitch. She can tell when someone is telling the truth or lying, which …