Category Archives: Fantasy

Brian McClellan has done it again with In the Shadow of Lightning

Posted on June 21, 2022 by H.P.

Brian McClellan’s opening salvo in his latest series, In the Shadow of Lightning, didn’t immediately grab me.  The opening scenes, which take place some nine years before the events in the bulk of the novel and setup Demir’s character arc, … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Fantasy | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Throwback SF Thursday: The Black Company by Glen Cook

Posted on February 24, 2022 by H.P.

Glen Cook’s The Black Company was a milestone work that had an outsized influence on the fantasy genre.  Which is probably why Tor decided to reissue it (as a handsome trade paperback with a bland cover) for their “Tor Essentials” … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Fantasy | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Vintage Science Fiction Month: Conan the Valorous by John Maddox Roberts

Posted on January 20, 2022 by H.P.

I’ve said before that John Maddox Roberts is neck-and-neck with Robert Jordan for best writer of Conan pastiches, but that he gets Conan better than any other writer of pastiches I have read.  Conan the Valorous helps firm up my … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Fantasy, Throwback SF | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Vintage SF Month: A Fighting Man of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Posted on January 13, 2022 by H.P.

Goodreads used to give you nifty little pie charts divvying up your books read in a year by genre or however you categorized your books in shelving them.  Google (as Google does) discontinued the tool they used to generate the … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Fantasy, Throwback SF | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Book Reader Looks Back at Season 1 of The Wheel of Time on Prime

Posted on December 31, 2021 by H.P.

What Friday would be complete without a Wheel of Time post?  I’m not quite ready to give up on writing about the show yet.  I recapped and reacted to each and every episode in basically real-time, but an episode-by-episode analysis … Continue reading →

Posted in Fantasy, Sundry | Tagged , | 9 Comments

Book Reader Wheel of Time Recap and Reaction: Season 1, Episode 8

Posted on December 24, 2021 by H.P.

There are a couple primary problems with Amazon’s adaptation of The Wheel of Time.  The first is a lack of respect for the source material.  The second, and more serious, is that the show creators are not very good at … Continue reading →

Posted in Fantasy, Sundry | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Book Reader Wheel of Time Recap and Reaction: Season 1, Episode 7

Posted on December 17, 2021 by H.P.

Changes in adaptation are inevitable.  Making a TV show is a messy, collaborative process that demands endless tradeoffs.  It’s an iceberg, because it happens almost entirely out of the public eye and, frankly, I know little about making talkies.  But … Continue reading →

Posted in Fantasy, Sundry | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Book Reader Wheel of Time Recap and Reaction: Season 1, Episode 6

Posted on December 10, 2021 by H.P.

I’ve been pretty lenient with the book changes up to this point.  A certain amount of leeway is necessary—the change in format requires changes in storytelling, and any creator worth their salt is going to put their own spin on … Continue reading →

Posted in Fantasy, Sundry | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Book Reader Wheel of Time Recap and Reaction: Season 1, Episode 5

Posted on December 3, 2021 by H.P.

The strident pleas of book hipsters and show apologists notwithstanding, after five episodes we have a sense of what we are getting from Amazon’s adaptation of a landmark work of epic fantasy.  A high production value work that mostly looks … Continue reading →

Posted in Fantasy, Sundry | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Book Reader Wheel of Time Recap and Reaction: Season 1, Episode 4

Posted on November 26, 2021 by H.P.

I am thankful this Thanksgiving season to have a high quality, high production value TV adaptation of my favorite fantasy series of all time. SPOILERS abound below.  Mostly for the first four episodes of the show, but there will be … Continue reading →

Posted in Fantasy, Sundry | Tagged , , | 8 Comments