For
this Friday: Five fantasy books/series (well-known and not so
well-known) that influenced me. (links go to Goodreads, to first books
in series. Covers shown are the editions I own.)
1. The Prydain Chronicles, by Lloyd Alexander. The first epic fantasy series I ever read (that I can recall, anyway). A great starter series for kids, and also entertaining for adults. The struggle between good and evil, the colorful characters, the adventure, and the love story between Taran and Eilonwy (even as a child, eight or nine years old, I loved love stories) all caught my imagination and made me want more.
1. The Prydain Chronicles, by Lloyd Alexander. The first epic fantasy series I ever read (that I can recall, anyway). A great starter series for kids, and also entertaining for adults. The struggle between good and evil, the colorful characters, the adventure, and the love story between Taran and Eilonwy (even as a child, eight or nine years old, I loved love stories) all caught my imagination and made me want more.
2. The Earthsea Trilogy, by Ursula K. LeGuin.
My parents gave me a nice boxed set of this when I was 11 or 12, for my
birthday or Christmas (they're close together). Magic and adventure on
the oceans and islands of Earthsea with Ged, one of the greatest fantasy
characters of all times. Ged was one of my book crushes when I was a
tween (of course, I'm far too old for that sort of thing now
*coughcough*). This introduced me to the idea of the wizard dedicated to
that life (and to the concept of schools of magic), and contributed to
my thinking that it wasn't fair that wizards didn't get to fall in love
and if they did they could never do anything about it. Naturally, I was
intrigued by what could have been the romance between Ged and Tenar. The
relationship is finally continued in the 4th Earthsea book, Tehanu, but
I had a lot of problems with that book, especially feeling like Ms.
LeGuin changed her characters almost to where they were unrecognizable
to suit the political/philosophical points she wanted to make in the
book. So, for me, Earthsea stops with book 3 and I let my imagination
take it from there.
3. The Riddle-Master Trilogy, by Patricia McKillip.
Gorgeous prose and dripping with magic in a world where riddles hold
the keys to ancient, lost knowledge, no one thinks there's anything
strange about rulers who are hundreds of years old, ghosts and spirits
walk the earth, and magic isn't a discipline, it's the fabric of which
the world is made. Morgon, the farmer-prince, is another of the greatest
fantasy characters ever (and another of my teenage book crushes), and
the relationship between him and his betrothed Raederle is another great
love story. (The cover on my original copy of book 1 is hideous. Get the very nice omnibus edition instead.)
4. Crispan Magicker, by Mark M. Lowenthal.
I'll say it right now, yet another of my teenage book crushes. There
are a lot of problems with this book, but the character of Crispan makes
up for them. He's a wizard dedicated to the Order, naive and honorable,
who has to go after his teacher Vladur who has become corrupted and put
a stop to his evil plans. Along the way he is tested and tried and
stretched, required to become a military commander and take lives, and
ultimately has to risk losing everything that matters to him in order to
protect the world. Really an awesome character. This book again brought
up the themes of wizards dedicated to the practice, and to a formal
order, and also risking losing everything you have and everything you
are in order to do the right things. And again, why don't wizards get to
fall in love and do something about it? There's a tantalizing hint
about "a woman by an unknown sea", and Crispan clearly has a lot of
adventures ahead of him, but no sequel was ever published. Which makes
me sad. Long out of print, which also makes me sad, but used copies are
available. I would love to see Mr. Lowenthal (also a prominent figure in
intelligence and national security circles) get the rights back,
republish independently, and write some sequels.
5. The Apprentice, by Deborah Bickmore.
Yes! Fantasy with a real romance in it! Jaimah, the young
apprentice/servant of the powerful sorceress Shayna, is drawn to and
terrified by Corwyn, Shayna's mysterious and powerful new apprentice.
When it comes to a showdown between Corwyn and Shayna over a powerful,
dangerous spell, which wizard will destroy Jaimah and which one will
save her? The kind of book I love to write (and love to read if I can
find them), where the fantasy and the romance are in equal balance. This
book was out of print for a long time, but now Ms. Bickmore has
indie-published it in Kindle and paperback editions, hooray!
