By Slanted Light

Theseus is the grandson of the King of Troizen, but his paternity is shrouded in mystery. When he discovers his father's sword beneath a rock, his mother reveals his true identity: Theseus is the son of Aegeus, King of Athens, and is his only heir. So begin Theseus's adventures. He undertakes the perilous journey to his father's palace, escaping bandits and ritual sacrifice in Eleusis, and slays the fearsome Minotaur in Knossos. Weaving legend and historical research, Renault breathes new life into the Theseus myth.

I can't get enough Mary Renault at the moment, I love her lyrical, thoughtful, clever storytelling - and she fits the The Once Upon a Time Challenge beautifully, with her re-telling of Greek myths as historical stories! This one, of course, is the myth of Theseus facing the minotaur of Knossos, and she makes it looks so easy to weave between the worlds of that story and of actual possible history.

Theseus is a real person, and the book is written from his point of view. It's a pov I'm usually less keen on these days, but I didn't even notice it in The King Must Die because it's just so naturally done. We're right inside Theseus' head, right there with him, to the point that we believe just as much in the gods, and can almost read their signs as well as he can. I love the way Renault interprets and seems to get to the heart and feeling of those beliefs too, done so deeply and yet so lightly that it's just obvious that's how the world is.

I don't want to say too much about the actual story, because it's well worth reading and everyone should (*g*) but it's just fascinating how well and how realistically Renault has tied all the elements of the mythology of Theseus and the minotaur together, so that I may well remember this more clearly than I do the myth itself. *g* I'm away now to find the sequel - this was a library book, but I spotted the second book in Waterstones the other week, when I was good and resisted... *g*

And of course it fits beautifully for The Once Upon a Time challenge! Coincidentally, I've just read a short story that echoes with this myth too, and I've also been reminded that I have a version of the myth on video, one that I've adored in the past, so there may well be connected posts... *g*

1/1) - Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (fantasy)




Folklore - Savage Magic by Lloyd Shepherd
Fantasy -
Mythology - The King Must Die by Mary Renault
Fairytale -


1 - folklore - Lord John and the Succubus by Diana Gabaldon

Covent Garden, 1814: a centre of vice to which rich and poor alike are drawn by the promises of gin, ale and other carnal diversions. In opulent private rooms, several fashionable young men have been found murdered, each wearing a satyr's mask, each behind a locked door. Constable Charles Horton of the River Police Office is called in to investigate and soon finds himself at Thorpe Lee House in Surrey, where accusations of witchcraft have swept through the village. What connects these London aristocrats in pursuit of pleasure and a country backwater suddenly awash with folklore and talk of burning witches? In this strange, captivating world, it is savage magic indeed that holds its victims in its thrall.

Now there's a blurb! I bought this book after reading the author's The Poisoned Island last year, which I loved. That was also a blend of folklore (from Tahiti this time) and Victorian London, and it was readable and interesting and different.

( Savage Magic... )

So yes - jolly good, and if you like twisty plotty edge-of-magic-and-supernatural books that are actually based in the grim real world, this could be for you!

My next book for two challenges! I bought this sometime last year, so it's the fourth book for my Mount TBR challenge (reading the books you've previously bought rather than buying new ones and reading those - I was doing quite well, but fell down in February...)

And I'd say it fits the folklore category for the The Once Upon a Time Challenge! So - I've completed The Journey, and I am now setting out towards Quest the Second - "Read at least one book from each of the four categories. In this quest you will be reading 4 books total: one fantasy, one folklore, one fairy tale, and one mythology."

1. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (fantasy)
2. Savage Magic by Lloyd Shepherd (folklore)

I was going to let most reading challenges slide by this year, but perhaps I hadn't really thought that through, because as soon as read_warbler posted about it, I found myself completely tempted again by the Once Upon a Time Challenge. Well, I do like a bit of myth and magic... *g*

From the challenge website, the rules for playing are:
Rule #1: Have fun.
Rule #2: HAVE FUN.
Rule #3: Don’t keep the fun to yourself, share it with us, please!
Rule #4: Do not be put off by the word “challenge”.
While this event retains the word “challenge” from its earliest days, the entire goal is to read good books, watch engaging television shows and films, play immersive games and most importantly, visit old friends and make new ones.

There are a number of challenges that you can do, and I usually go for the one that involves reading at least one book from each of four categories - fantasy, folklore, fairy tale, and mythology. I'm still going to go for this one, and I'm also going to attempt the Short Story Quest (This quest involves the reading of one or more short stories that fit within at least one of the four genres during the course of any weekend, or weekends, during the challenge. Ideally you would post about your short story readings on Sundays or Mondays, but this is not strictly necessary.) and Quest on Screen (To participate in this quest simply let us know about the films and/or television shows that you feel fit into the definitions of fantasy, fairy tales, folklore or mythology that you are enjoying during the challenge.) I'd rather like to try Quest the Game, but I don't really have any gaming stuff, and the fact that I used the word stuff might tell you all you need to know about that. *g*

Because I've been rubbish about keeping up with posting and reviews, though, I thought I might - well, not cheat exactly - but consider myself on The Journey (which basically means you're playing by reading one book) and dot around fulfilling the other quests as far as I can. Then I won't have to apologise at the end for dropping one after the first enthusiastic couple of weeks... *g* So - that's what I'm going to do! And it's a fun challenge, so if anyone else fancies playing, that would be good!

I have way too much to do today, work-wise and making-the-annexe-fit-for-guests-wise, and finishing-off-those-garden-bits-wise, and fiddle-practice-which-I-haven't-for-ages-wise - so naturally I felt the need to make a books-post first... *headdesk* In theory it's to do with tidying-up, mind - now I can move the books from the corner of the desk... *g*

( Books and books and books... )

So - where does this leave me in my Once Upon A Time challenge? Well, if I add what I have read to the list it looks pretty good - but I feel as if I've cheated a bit so far, because four were beloved re-reads, one was a re-read for the bookclub, and another was a book I didn't finish. So I've sort of only read two new fantasy books - and they were from the same series, so perhaps really only count as one. Help - I'd better get on! *g* Oh, the pressures of life... *vbg*

One fantasy
Point of Hopes by Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett
Point of Knives by Melissa Scott
Point of Dreams and Lisa A. Barnett
Fair's Point by Melissa Scott
Ghost King by David Gemmell (178/356 - unfinished...)
One folklore
One fairy tale
Among Others by Jo Walton
One mythology
The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

It's been a weird day. Fab morning and eclipse, and I thought I'd take a drive through the gorgeous spring day to the supermarket to clear my headache, and that was nice, but after that it all went downhill, cos my headache got worse not better, and I'm going to have to finish work tomorrow now, which is just what I didn't want, and... and you know what? My headache's mostly gone now... *headdesk* And I napped earlier (which also didn't get rid of my headache) so I'm quite awake... which means reading in bed. *g* And it's after midnight on the 21st March, so that also means it's time for the Once Upon A Time IX reading challenge... *g*
I had a go at this last year and rather enjoyed it, so I thought I might join in the 2015 reading challenge too. It's hosted over at Stainless Steel Droppings: Saturday, March 21st marks the official start date of the ninth annual Once Upon a Time Challenge. This is a reading and viewing and gaming event that encompasses four broad categories: Fairy Tale, Folklore, Fantasy and Mythology, including the seemingly countless sub-genres and blending of genres that fall within this spectrum. The challenge continues through June 21st .

I'm going to have a go (as last year) at:In this quest you will be reading 4 books total: one fantasy, one folklore, one fairy tale, and one mythology.

There's a short story quest, and a screen quest too, which I might also join in - we'll see how organised I can be - I tend to struggle a bit with short stories, but I'm feeling quite optimistic about them right now, so... I thought I was all forward-planning too, because I have books on my shelf that I thought would fit the challenge nicely - except that I haven't matched up the categories yet, so I rather think I'm going to be off hunting bookshops and library shelves at some point after all. Yeay. *g* And it feels like ages since I watched a decent fantasy film, so I shall look out for one of those, too.

I know, I've posted about these so many times, but I have just re-read them, and they fit my Once Upon A Time Challenge nicely, so here we go again!
The Points books tell the story of Nicolas Rathe, Adjunct Point (policeman) and Philip Eslingen, ex-soldier. They meet in Point of Hopes, when Eslingen has just been paid off from Coindarel's Dragons, and is looking for a place in the city of Astreiant, and when Rathe is investigating the worrying and mysterious disappearance of far too many children. Of course they end up working together much of the time, and find they get along well.

Astreiant itself is part fantasy, part science fiction. There are two suns in the sky, so it's not quite this world, and it's a world where she is the default pronoun, where the broadsheet astrologers are avidly followed because that is the main science, and where forms of magic - scientifically studied magic, no less than electricity is our magic - truly work. It feels rather like Renaissance England (or at least some European country), but... there are two suns. *g* And as I might have mentioned before, it's wonderful. I'd move there tomorrow, if I could, and not only to see Rathe and Eslingen in action. Scott and Barnett created a really wonderful world, simply because it feels so real - it's other, and yet at the same time it's a city just over there, it's so familiar. And there, I think, is the talent of really good authors - creating not just a fantastical world, but people that we relate to, that we understand, that we'd lean against a fence and chat to, one bright evening, with the winter sun just appearing in the night sky... *g*

( Otherwise, these are stories about... )

Oh, what to say about books that you fall in love with, just after you've read them... everything and yet nothing, because you're still in that half-stunned world that is somewhere else, half-stepped between there and here...

First of all, thanks to moth2fic for reccing these stories. You caught me just at the right time - when I wanted more Astreiant, more Matthey and Lynes, more stories that are about the characters in the stories than about how clever an author is, and that's just what K.J. Charles gives us. Eminently readable, I love the world she's building, and it all comes together with Lucien Vaundry (Lord Crane) and Stephen Day perfectly. Bonus that the author comes across as smart and decent in her blog, and my only (though rather serious) complaint is that the books aren't available in print. This means that I can't pick them up and flick through them, and re-read my favourite bits at will, and gaze adoringly at the covers, and hug them to myself in joy and glee, because you can't do any of those things with an e-reader!

( There are two books so far in the series... )

Finally, another book I can include for my Once Upon A Time challenge! I kept thinking this-one or that-one might count, but when it came down to it they were pure science fiction, or pure ghost story, or... well, just not. *g* But this is definitely a fantasy story!
It's been ages since I read any Pratchett - I found after a while that he needed rationing, otherwise you just got a bit ho-hum about his insights and wit and all, which is a shame, because he should absolutely always be appreciated.

( It's about the little moments... )

I was really looking forward to reading this - I've been tucking into The Almighty Johnsons, a New Zealand tv series about four brothers who are Norse gods, and I thought it'd be rather cool to read more about these chaps (the gods, not the brothers - though that would have been good too!)

Runemarks tells the story of a girl called Maddy, and a sweeping, imaginative story it is too, full of twists and turns and cleverness and oh-my-god I can't believe that although that kept me going through half the books, I'd almost stopped caring by then... waaaaaah! Joanne Harris, what did you do?! I love your books, why don't I love this one?

( Funnily enough, I'd delayed buying it... )

I have to admit to starting this book and then interrupting it one morning to read Compass Murphy, which is why two books posted on one day... I'm not that fast... *g* And I must remember first to say a big thank you to read_warbler for making this read possible in the first place - thank you! I shall pop back and read your review again before I get to the end of this one, for comparison, but first...

( Thirteenth Child )