[ SECRET POST #2882 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2882 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 061 secrets from Secret Submission Post #412.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

More recs for the grown-up fantasy reader:

N.K. Jemisin's DREAMBLOOD duology (The Killing Moon, The Shadowed Sun) - inspired by ancient Egypt; main characters are ninja assassin priests.

Kate Elliott's SPIRITWALKERS trilogy (Cold Magic, Cold Steel, Cold Fire) - Afro-Celtic post-Roman alternate-nineteenth-century Regency ice-punk mashup with airships, Phoenician spies, the intelligent descendants of troodons, and revolution.

Lois McMaster Bujold's FIVE GODS series (The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls, The Hallowed Hunt) - setting is inspired by medieval Spain and Germany; main character of the first is a crippled royal secretary; second is a middle-aged queen dowager.

Lynn Flewelling's TAMIR triad (The Bone Doll's Twin, Hidden Warrior, Oracle's Queen) - setting is inspired by Byzantine empire; main character is a girl magically disguised as her dead twin brother.

Martha Wells' CHRONICLES OF THE RAKSURA (The Cloud Roads, The Serpent Sea, The Siren Depths) - main characters are occasionally humanoid, but are otherwise shapeshifting gargoyle-dragon creatures with a culture that's a mashup of lion pride and bee hive social dynamics.

[yourotherleft]

ancient Egyptian and Byzantine-based fantasy? SIGN ME UP

[(Anonymous)]

Bless you for bringing up Martha Wells' Raksura novels. They're not flawless, but she completely bucks off the obligation to write about cultures with real world analogues. It's fabulous.

[(Anonymous)]

Super important question about the Spiritwalker trilogy: are those troodon descendants feathered?

[(Anonymous)]

They are indeed feathered! They have also become lawyers and printers.

[(Anonymous)]

Was coming here to rec those Jemisin books. Glad to see them!

[darkmanifest]

Love the Raksura novels.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, wow! I've never even heard of these - thank you so much for reccing series inspired by cultures other than Medieval Europe! I knew this sort of fantasy must surely exist, but I'd never really been able to find it.

As a jaded fantasy reader myself who hasn't been in that section of the bookstore for a while, I might have to go back to find these. Thank you!

[(Anonymous)]

Awww, I'm really glad to have been helpful! I've been looking for books outside the stereotypical medieval-Europe milieu for years (especially since those settings are often based on a very, very loose understanding of what medieval Europe was actually like). A few more recommendations, both for fantasy set outside Europe and for medieval Europe done well:

Guy Gavriel Kay -- anything he's written, but especially UNDER HEAVEN (Tang dynasty China), RIVER OF STARS (Song dynasty China), THE LIONS OF AL-RASSAN (Reconquista Spain), and SAILING TO SARANTIUM and LORD OF EMPERORS (Constantinople under Justinian and Theodora). A SONG FOR ARBONNE (medieval Provence) and THE LAST LIGHT OF THE SUN (Dark Ages Britain) are also excellent.

Gillian Bradshaw -- writes mostly absolutely wonderful historical fiction, but WOLF HUNT is a fantasy set in medieval Brittany, based on the Lais of Marie de France. If you're content without magic, though, definitely read BEACON AT ALEXANDRIA (nobly born Ephesian girl disguises herself as a eunuch and runs away to Alexandria to study medicine) and ISLAND OF GHOSTS (conquered Sarmatian prince, grieving his slaughtered family, is sent to Hadrian's Wall as a Roman auxiliary).

C. J. Cherryh -- THE PALADIN, set in an Asian-inspired empire where a determined peasant girl seeks out an exiled martial arts master to teach her how to avenge her family.

Lois McMaster Bujold -- THE SHARING KNIFE quartet (BEGUILEMENT, LEGACY, HORIZON, PASSAGE), which are really romance books set in a fantasy world inspired by frontier Ohio circa 1820. They're wonderful.

G. Willow Wilson -- ALIF THE UNSEEN, fantasypunk genre-crossing novel about a young Muslim hacker who gets tangled up with djinni. Inspired by the events of the Arab Spring.

That's probably enough to go on...