Quote:
Originally Posted by xendula
Are you kidding? I need a good dose of romance in my novels. I guess that's the girl in me 
Thanks for the suggestions- they reached me too late, unfortunately.
I did download the first in the Darwath trilogy as a sample, but then read about it being a bit dark and hopeless, so I decided against it. I can take a bit of darkness, and a tiny bit of cruelty if need be, but can't continue reading unless I see light at the end of the tunnel. |
Yeah, there are some dark parts. A kingdom is besieged by flying "things" (sound a bit Lovecraftian) that basically suck the life out of people when it is dark. People are only safe in daylight or, if out at night, with lots of fire. They have to retreat to a completely sealed keep.
So the nature of the "bad guys" makes the books kind of horror and well as fantasy.
But they do prevail, although it takes three volumes. But I liked it. Some predictable things, but some not so. The way the "bad guys" are defeated and why they attacked in the first place are interesting. And some nice character development.
Her two-book series that involves a dragon is much "lighter." First book is Dragonsbane. Yeah, I know, yet another fantasy about dragons. But she adds enough new elements to make it interesting. And still a bit of romance.
So if these are on sale again, might consider trying that.
I'm just glad that her books are available as ebooks, as many of them are out of print.
Although she is still writing. She basically switched from fantasy to mystery awhile back with her Benjamin January series. The protagonist is a Creole in early nineteenth century New Orleans.
But I see she has recently put out some more titles in her James Asher series. Again nineteenth century, this time in England. Asher is an academic who is also a spy for the British government who ends up working with vampires. Yeah, I know yet MORE vampire books. But her first ones in the series were written years ago (80s?), well before the current vampire craze. I thought they were quite good. Perhaps the more recent titles are in response to the vampire craze. I haven't read them, so no idea as to how good they are.
Sorry to wander off topic, but I kind of like this author.
. Hopefully her stuff will be on sale again soon.