In contrast, Shannon’s The Priory appears to be a standalone novel and, even at 800+ pages, seemed to lack the space in which to deepen some of its world building – and it does seek to cover not a single country, or even continent, but an entire and conflicted world with contradictory interpretations of myth and history. I love the sheer fun and spectacle that can come with the genre.īut a new fantasy novel is always a daunting prospect: entire continents, histories and mythologies, religions – and the names, oh the names – thank goodness we’ve abandoned the trope of the random apostrophe in names! The Song of Fire and Ice series had many benefits: the opening salvo in A Game of Thrones felt relatively comfortable and familiar, settled in a western European monarchy as most viewers of the show will recognise, the Lannister-Lancaster / Stark-York parallels with The Wars of the Roses was fairly obvious the number of (planned) novels and (completed) television seasons allowed for a slow drip feed of more exotic locations and mythologies. I cut my reading teeth on fantasy – thank you Tolkien and Eddings and so many others! I love the way that the freedom of a fantasy world can throw a light into the contemporary.
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