My father and I just finished rereading A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones

My father and I just finished rereading A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones.

Time travel was hardly a new concept in Fantasy/Sci-Fi even back when Jones wrote this in the 1980s, but never through my vast reading have I ever encountered any author who does it better or more often than Diana Wynne Jones. Yet A Tale of Time City showcases her sheer imaginative genius and utter mastery of time-travel science and timeline synchronicity in staggering fullness. She misses nothing as Vivian (a British WWII evacuee) and Time City natives Jonathan and Sam crisscross History's Fixed and Unstable Eras, from World War II to the Mind Wars to an overgrown London while chowing down on – or getting revenge with – Forty Two Century Butter-pie. All in an unforgettable mission to protect a city outside the flow of History from a dark force moving through and sabotaging History; after all, the Second World War is messed up enough without adding trains with radio-active fuel and nuclear bunkers into the mix.

Beyond that, tis standard Jones: a plot bristling with invisible tripwires as she builds up to a climax bursting with surprise after surprise. Do not let her simple language fool you. I rank Diana Wynne Jones next to Tolkien himself, and all who know me knows that is not a comparison made lightly.

Quote of the month

"Forgiveness is hard, but so very worth it." - Kai'Sa

To the Professor!

Today is J.R.R. Tolkien's 133rd birthday! As Frodo did for Bilbo, the Tolkien Society continues to celebrate Tolkien's birthday in his absence. Their tradition: at 9pm your time raise a glass and toast "The Professor!"

New Year's Eve

As 2025 rolls away I think it is only fitting to look back on this year's accomplishments:

• The Lumen Caligo: Fallen by Lawrence C. Cobb
•  Books 4-6 of The Pages & Co. series by Anna James
• Kingdom Society: The Black Hood by Nathan Helm
• The Rivers Brothers and the Prince of Shadows by R. Antoine
• The Song of the Last Kingdom Duology by Amélie Wen Zhao
• Orphan's Quest by Terry Ironwood
• Rereading Archer's Goon by the great Diana Wynne Jones
• The second trilogy (Books 4-6) of Lynn Kurland's Novels of the Nine Kingdoms
• The Age of Enchantment, Book One of Anna James' Chronicles of Whetherwhy
• The Equinox Tor, Book Three of David Doersch's Chronicles of the Raven
• The Deadweed Dragons trilogy by Ava Richardson
•  Rereading The Dark Is Rising, book #2 of the Sequence of the same name written by Susan Cooper
• The Kingdom Over the Sea duology by Zohra Nabi
• Rereading Eight Days of Luke by the great Diana Wynne Jones
• Rereading Conrad's Fate by the great Diana Wynne Jones
• The Draconis Memoria trilogy by Anthony Ryan

Meanwhile, on a writing note, I fully self-published by The Dragonkin Legacy series, and also finished...well, no, I will keep that a secret for now. As to Sisters of the Desert and Mages' Legacy, they will come in time, but I have the aforementioned secret plus another surprise my students should be able to guess to handle first.

“You know when you walk into a bookshop and you see all those thousands of books lined up in front of you? That intoxicating feeling of knowing that behind each cover is a different world to explore, like thousands of tiny portals? That adrenaline rush just before you open a new book? The thrill of being surrounded by fellow book lovers? That is what fuels bookwandering, and it comes to life in bookshops.” – Anna James

I just started The Sapphire Heart by the Three Scribes, Book One of their The Erynvor Cycle

At the authors' request, I just started The Sapphire Heart by the Three Scribes – Sandra Mead Miller, Abigail Bender, & Victoria Hungria – Book One of their The Erynvor Cycle.

Amazing as the The Draconis Memoria was, it is nice to get back to some classic Epic Fantasy... though calling The Sapphire Heart such implies it uses the Tolkienesque approach, an assumption the first few pages instantly banishing to the deepest parts of the Oru Fen. Thus I find myself swept into the gloriously intricate and imaginative realm of Eolemar. A dying land that only the prophesied Erynvor, the Uniter, can restore. The problem? Ten Erynvors have tried, ten have failed. Felled by a thousand and more dangers in both the waking realm and the dreaming where wraithwolves prey.

Since I can see all bets, and predictions in this clearly unique tale, are off, the questions are, for the moment, simple: How long can Essiant keep the Wycche and Venge at bay? Why does the Wycche seek to end the Founding Dragons' influence? And will Elorah, the eleventh Erynvor, find these answers before they find her? 

(Naturally the Official Book Review will come after I finish the book.)

Jólabókaflóð

My kind of Holiday (and no, sadly, I am not Icelandic).

 

I have finished The Empire of Ashes, book three of Anthony Ryan's The Draconis Memoria trilogy

I have finished The Empire of Ashes, book three of Anthony Ryan's The Draconis Memoria trilogy.

Tis an irony that saving the world from destruction required the building of so many destructive weapons, yet it is a world free not only from the White's malice but the respectively greedy and tyrannical ideologies of the Corporatists and Imperials. A world ripe for exploration, with the understanding that some secrets – and all Drakes – should be left alone. A world saved and now rebuilt by those who embraced their shared humanity and risked everything on impossible chances.

When I started book one, The Waking Fire, I had Grimdark suspicions regarding The Draconis Memoria and in finishing as anything compared to GRRM's A Song of Ice and Fire is, for me, not exactly a ringing endorsement. Yet also people compared it Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time which, for me, is. While others named it "part Indiana Jones, part Pirates of the Caribbean, and part Mistborn" with an added chunk of steampunk naval fiction. I could not fathom such a series then. Now, on finishing, I say it this breathtakingly unique maskerwork is all that and more, including slices of Shelly's Frankenstein and Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. All infused with the rich Spirit of Tolkien, not in plot but in attitude: tis an old espionage adage never to let sentiment get in the way of one's work, but Lizanne let it guide and strengthen hers.

I salute you all, Lizanne Lethridge, Claydon Torcreek & Krizelle, Captains Corrick Hilemore & Zenida Okanas, Tekela, Loriabeth Torcreek & Lieutenant Sigoral, Captain Braddon & Fredabel Torcreek, Steelfine, Aberus, Professor Graysen Lethridge, Jermayah Tollermine, Lieutenant Talmant, Chief Bozware, the Tinkerer, Skaggerhill, Foxbine, and all the rest who put (and in some cases gave) their lives to end the White and rebuild a new world from the bloody ashes of the old.