Category Archives: Fantasy

The Five Hundred Kingdoms

Posted on 20 January 2018 by Barbara Howe

I’ve mentioned before that I’m a sucker for fairy tales. It shouldn’t be surprising then that Mercedes Lackey’s Five Hundred Kingdoms series appeals to me. In this fantasy world, the magic system is The Tradition: a mindless force that tries … Continue reading →

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Children of the Black Sun

Posted on 12 January 2018 by Barbara Howe

What choices can you make when there are no acceptable choices left? That seems to be the question raised in Australian author Jo Spurrier’s Children of the Black Sun trilogy. This is one of the best fantasies I have read … Continue reading →

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Rivers of London

Posted on 3 November 2017 by Barbara Howe

In the first chapter of Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch, probationary constable Peter Grant of the Metropolitan Police Service tries to take a witness statement from a man he doesn’t realise at first is a ghost. Pretty soon Grant finds … Continue reading →

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Edward Eager

Posted on 1 September 2017 by Barbara Howe

The captivating children’s books by American author Edward Eager are among the classics in children’s literature. I remember being spellbound by them when I was first introduced as a young reader, and my then seven-year-old daughter enjoyed them when I … Continue reading →

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Mercy Thompson

Posted on 8 July 2017 by Barbara Howe

In the urban fantasy Moon Called by Patricia Briggs, our world is awash in the preternatural: werewolves, vampires, the greater and lesser fae, and other assorted oddities. The fae have recently been forced out of hiding; concerned over the pace of … Continue reading →

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Lord Darcy

Posted on 17 June 2017 by Barbara Howe

The time: the 1960’s. The place: the bustling port of Cherbourg. A nobleman in the Anglo-French Empire, engaged in a sensitive international inquiry, is missing. Lord Darcy, detective, and Master Sean O Lochlainn, forensic sorcerer, have been summoned to investigate. … Continue reading →

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