Marrying a prince seems like the ending of a fairy tale, but for Marra’s sister’s it is only the beginning of a nightmare. So, Marra sets out on her own fairy tale quest to find whatever magic or powerful allies can kill a prince in T. Kingfisher’s Nettle & Bone, which came out last year. Having thoroughly enjoyed Kingfisher’s Poe-inspired horror tale What Moves the Dead, I was excited to see what this author would bring to more straightforward fantasy. Kingfisher certainly has a gift for creating fantasy worlds that seem comfortingly familiar and yet also strange and unique. Continue reading Review of Nettle & Bone—Fairy-Tale Fantasy
Tag: journey to the underworld
Review of Hell Bent—A Descent to the Underworld
Would you go to Hell and back to rescue a friend? Alex Stern is prepared to do just that in Leigh Bardugo’s Hell Bent, which came out earlier this year. If you loved the dark academia vibes and intricate paranormal world of Ninth House, then you do not want to miss this high-stakes sequel! Continue reading Review of Hell Bent—A Descent to the Underworld
Modern Journeys to the Underworld
The journey to the underworld has been a popular plot motif for millennia. It can take many forms, but generally involves the hero of the story crossing over into the land of the dead to rescue someone, speak to someone, or otherwise complete a quest. This trope appears in many classic myths, such as the Greek tales of Orpheus and Eurydice or Hercules’s twelve labors. It also became a staple of epic poetry, beginning with the Odyssey, continuing in the Aeneid, and becoming the basis of Dante’s Inferno. Scholars of epic poetry even have a word for this recurrent plot element: katabasis, which means “to go down” in Greek. With such a storied history, it’s not surprising that we see variations on journey to the underworld cropping up in modern fantasy novels. Below are a three of my favorite recent variations on this classic trope: Continue reading Modern Journeys to the Underworld