Warbreaker

Now I'm not into tabletop gaming. I've never played D&D or Warhammer or anything of that sort, and I'd heard people saying that Warbreaker was, in their mind, a narrative of a tabletop campaign, and that was why they liked it so much. Well, despite the fact that I don't play tabletop games, I loved this book. I simply couldn't put it down.

From the get go I was confused and intrigued by the use of Breath and colors for Awakening, Sanderson doesn't really ever explain it but you grow to understand the basic rules as the narrative develops. Eventually Awakening is sort of explained when Vasher is trying to instruct Vivenna on how to Command objects in order to Awaken them, but largely the reader has to draw their own conclusions. And I liked that, it made me think. I had to draw my own conclusions and come up with my own theories which kept me reading to either confirm or deny what I thought to be true. Throw in a dash of political intrigue, several strong lead characters in whose story I was invested, and you've got a story I want very much to read. Literally towards the end of the story I was sitting on the couch reading and reacting to the climax of the story whilst my boyfriend sat by, holding my hand, waiting for me to finish the book.

And, as I mentioned in class, when I finished the book I was surprised. Slightly upset even. The .pdf file told me there were about a hundred pages left and so I was expecting to read about Kalad's Phantoms taking down the Lifeless army and Siri and Vivenna dealing with peace talks between Idris and Hallandren. But right after Vasher was revealed to be Peacegiver and Lightsong sacrificed himself to heal Susebron the chapter header was suddenly 'Epilogue' and I was a bit shocked, I was so invested in the story and the characters and how they all tied together that I just wanted to know more, and had been led by the .pdf's page count to expect that.

But it's probably good that the story ended where it did, it left me wondering about what else could go on in the world that the author had created, and so I am left again to draw my own conclusions and create my own ideas within that landscape.

Anansi Boys

I'm pretty familiar with Neil Gaiman. I've read most of his novels, several of his short story collections, a lot of his comics, and I follow his blog. So I guess I could be considered to be a fan. Though I've always seen it as a sort of casual deal, I wouldn't consider myself a super-fan or anything. But there's something about Gaiman that attracts that sort of loyalty from readers. He permeates through so many different media that most people have seen something or at least know of something in which he had a hand, even if they aren't aware of it. So who better to write a novel about a little known spider god in Africa?

And so we come to Anansi Boys. Technically considered to be a sequel to the considerably more dense American Gods, Anansi Boys is a romp with the sons of a trickster god. But the especially fun bit is, the presumed race of everyone in the novel is African. Now, I am white, as my last name would likely clue you in to knowing, so I never really noticed as a child how in every novel I read the only characters whose skin was actually described were those of other ethnicities. The assumed race in nearly every fantasy novel is caucasian. So Gaiman's friend, Paterson Joseph, who is black, was talking to him about this one day, and Gaiman thought that perhaps he should change that up a bit. Cut to several years later and Anansi Boys is released. And the best bit is that he doesn't make any sort of a big deal about it, that's just how the story is written. I didn't even think about it the first time I read it, I only noticed it when I was listening to the NPR interview and Gaiman mentioned it outright. He wrote the concept so well that it passed completely under my radar of consciousness.

And implanting concepts like that under the radar of conscious thought is a thing at which Gaiman is particularly good. The best qualities of his work aren't necessarily to plots, but the characters and the morals he sneaks in under your nose.

The Magicians

I live in the Harry Potter generation.

If you mention muggles, Voldemort, Dumbledore, or almost anything from the series in a conversation the chances are high that the person to whom you are speaking will catch the reference, regardless of whether or not they've read the series. Now that is impressive.

I mean, the Harry Potter books are such a cultural phenomenon that they had midnight release parties for each new book. I've never read a series that had that loyal of a following besides Harry Potter. And I am not ashamed to say that I went to two midnight release parties. And furthermore, I won the Harry Potter Spelling Bee at the release party for book seven. The winning word was Serpensortia, in case you were curious.

So how does a young adult fantasy author write a book today without being compared to HP? The fact of the matter is they can't. In today's publishing world everyone is looking for 'The Next Harry Potter.' They're all waiting for lightning to strike twice, so as soon as an author proposes an idea it's going to be held up to Harry Potter to see if it can make a comparable amount of money.

Some authors try to fight the Harry Potter stigma, but others just work with it. Lev Grossman is one of those. From one angle you could look at 'The Magicians' as Harry Potter at college in America. But, seeing at Grossman had the idea before the Harry Potter books began to be published, and because the novel is so much more than that, that's a bit of a one-sided view. But Grossman knows that that comparison will be drawn, and he seems to be okay with it, even referencing Harry Potter a few times throughout the book. But then, his whole book sort of plays off and references book series that are staples of the landscape of fantasy today. The land of Fillory is clearly a parallel to Narnia, and Middle Earth, like Hogwarts, is referenced outright, with one of the characters seeking to find it so that he can 'bang an elf.'

That delightfully classy piece of dialogue brings up a good difference between The Magicians and most other fantasy. It's about college aged kids, and they act like college aged kids. There's a good amount of sex, rather a lot of drugs, and perhaps magic replaces the rock and roll in this equation. But the kids are just that, kids. They're emo, they have their little spats, there are cliques and couples and all the other baggage of life as an adolescent. Throw in some magic and it makes for a very interesting literary cocktail. I mean, the novel could be seen to have no real plot up until about page 250, but the combination of characters and circumstances is interesting enough to keep most readers engaged until the grand quest finally gets rolling.

So if you're feeling some void after 'losing' Harry Potter, especially with the end of the film series coming up now as well, perhaps you should try filling it with some other books. I would recommend The Magicians to be a good start.