Its that time of the year again, and we thought we’d compile a little (or not so little, actually) list of reading (and watching) recommendations for the holidays. We’ve included both some recent releases and some older favourites, and we think that most of them are great additions both to your own wish list and to your shopping list.
The Art of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire
This gorgeous book is a definitive must-have for any A Song of Ice and Fire fans. The stunning cover by Michael Komarck, featuring Jaime on the Iron Throne, is joined by numerous very good pieces of art within the book. Among the artists, you’ll find names such as John Howe, Charles Vess, John Schoenherr, Stephen Youll, Mike S. Miller and many more. In total, there’s well over 50 artists represented, and the 190 pages contain at least that many images.
A Song of Ice and Fire Audiobooks
Unabridged audiobooks of all four books are now available. The first three are read by Roy Dotrice, whom GRRM worked with on Beauty and the Beast, and the fourth is read by John Lee. If you don’t want to listen to the obligatory Christmas songs, why not listen to these instead?
Avaryan Rising & Avaryan Resplendent
Collected into these two hefty trade paperbacks are the six novels that make up Judith Tarr’s Avaryan cycle. Unlike her other novels, these are set in a purely invented world, and what a fascinating invention it is. The first three centre around Mirain, whose mother claims that he is the son of the sun god. He returns to her ancestral home to claim his birthright, the throne of the Mountain kings, but that is only the beginning. As his power grows, so does his ambition, and he sets himself on a dangerous path, refusing to recognize that light and dark are two sides of the same coin, and that neither can exist without the other. The second three books deal with the legacy left behind by Mirain and the way his heirs struggle with the power and the responsibilities that he has passed onto them.
Last Light of the Sun
The most recent book from Guy Gavriel Kay is set in the same setting as The Lions of Al-Rassan and "The Sarantine Mosaic", but moving to a period between these two novels in the equivalent of England under a pseudo-Alfred the Great, with analogs for Wales and Scandinavia featuring. The style of this novel is somewhat of a departure for Kay, with the thoughts and speech of the characters being less given to complexities of rhetoric or long, digressive considerations. This fits the setting, which has fallen from the heights of civility and learning reached by the Sarantine empire, but also gives a notable realism to the proceedings. Intertwining the stories of several different characters—with hints of a dozen or more spread throughout the novel so as to remind us that every one has a life suitable for its own story—Kay’s novel is an elegaic look at the struggle for life, peace, and honor that contemporaries of that time must have gone through. By the way, for those who feel that Kay has moved away from the use of the magical in this fantasy, it’s very much in evidence in this novel.
Sunshine
Written by Robin McKinley, perhaps best known for her brilliant young adult books, Sunshine is a vampire novel unlike most others. Its dark, adult and fascinating, and so much better than most everything else in the genre. Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer might find this particularly interesting, as there are a lot of similarities in how Sunshine and Sunshine’s reality are presented. The dialogue isn’t as theatrically snappy, but it’s done with McKinley’s trademark naturalism. When all is said and done, this is one of those books that one hopes get’s a follow up, because so many details about the background of the characters and the setting are just hinted at that could in their own right be the focus of novels.
White as Snow
This retelling of Snow White by Tanith Lee redefines the meaning of "dark fairytale". It is definitely nothing for the squeamish, or those who prefer their fairytales to be safely Disneyfied. But if you don’t mind them dark, disturbing and distinctly adult ... well, then this is for you.
Banewreaker & Godslayer
The Sundering, Jacqueline Carey’s epic fantasy duology, is finally complete. This is a classic, epic fantasy with a twist: it is written as a tragedy from the point of view of the dark side, and it is best summed up like this: If all that is viewed as good considers you evil, are you?
The Game of Kings
Dorothy Dunnett’s historical fiction has earned a well-deserved place as being some of the finest works to be produced in that particular genre. Although fantasy elements are (almost) non-existent, the first novel of her Lymond Chronicles shares more with A Game of Thrones than just a similar title (a coincidence, by the way; GRRM has read some Dunnett, but not the Lymond books). The Game of Kings is masterpiece of baroque prose mixed with truly byzantine plots and counter-plots and features one of the most vividly rendered protagonists in genre fiction. Francis Crawford, Master of Lymond, is something of a superhuman, good at everything he does, but as his strengths are great, so are his flaws. It’s certainly one of our favorite books in one of our favorite series.
The Book of Ballads
This is a lovely collection of traditional ballads, adapted into story form and illustrated by Charles Vess. The art is gorgeous, the adaptions very interesting, and the book also includes an extensive foreword on the use of traditional ballads in recent fantasy literature as well as a thorough list of sources for the various ballads.
Age of Bronze
Something both more historical and more epic in the world of comic books is Eric Shanower’s much-acclaimed Age of Bronze, his ambitious, award-winning adaptation of the Iliad to the medium of sequential art. Considered to be one of, if not the, best writer-artists in the business, his thorough research, his painstaking attention to detail, and his writing brings humanity and life to the world’s oldest surviving epic.
Fables
Now for something completely different. Bill Willingham’s Fables has garnered quite a bit of critical praise in the comic book community for its clever premise and skilled writing. Taking the idea of writing about figures from fables and fairy tales existing in the real world, Willingham’s runs with it and creates something consistently pleasing and interesting. His Fabletown is a hidden community of exiles from the lands of fable, chased into our world by the brutal Adversary and his terrible armies. There, Snow White helps Old King Cole to keep things working smoothly, something that’s difficult to do when men like Bluebeard, Prince Charming, and Jack (of beanstalk fame) are always looking for ways to gain power, wealth, or both. And that’s just a start of all their troubles. If you’re a fan of fairy tales, or a fan of Gaiman’s Sandman series, give this one a try.
Babylon 5
There have been many fantasy epics, and they outstrip science fiction epics in sheer volume. However, both literary and filmed science fiction has had a few epics of its own, from Frank Herbert’s Dune to Kubrick’s and Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Joining them is J. Michael Straczynski’s Babylon 5. Although the first season started shakily, you could quickly see the strands of a great story coming together, a story that resonates with the same sort of grand storytelling that made The Lord of the Rings such a powerful work.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Until a year or two ago, neither of us had watched more than few minutes of some early Buffy episodes, and we were quite convinced that it must be one of the sillier shows to ever get so much attention. The name says it all, doesn’t it? Well ... we were wrong. When a Swedish channel decided to start showing an episode of Buffy every weekday, we decided to give it a try, given the lack of other interesting series at the time, and it didn’t take many episodes for us to get completely hooked. Once we finished watching, our overall verdict was that Buffy is one darn good and dangerously addictive show. We’re definitely picking up one of those complete collections one of these days.
The Lord of the Rings Extended DVDs
What can one say about these films by Peter Jackson, adapting the single most important fantasy work ever published? Acting, direction, cinematography, scoring, visual effects wizardry all came together to amaze audiences around the world. I can’t help but think that, despite all the compromises made to secure funding and to make viewers just a little more comfortable, Professor Tolkien would have been as happy as a boy to see his great work on the silver screen. The extended edition DVDs add new scenes never shown in the theatrical release, and on top of that there are literally hours of extra material and commentaries. We’re making it a Christmas tradition to watch these each year.