Ahira's Hangar

In the Forests of Serre was a great read. It was a very well written story dealing with (among other things) grief, desire, addiction...heavily influenced by Russian myth with figures such as the Firebird and a powerful witch clearly inspired by Baba Yaga...I really enjoyed this short, stand-alone novel. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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Alphabet of Thorn had several strands of plot which do not weave together until the end...one involves the magicians of the kingdom, and their school in a magical grove of trees (put me in a bit of an Earthsea mood)...one involves a young and untried queen whom several people feel is a bit of an airhead and may face some uprisings as a result...one involves a young orphan girl who works as a translator in the great library...one involves the greatest army the world has ever known...but they all come together quite well in the end. ******************************************************

Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
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McKillip's Od Magic was a short (but good) little book. I read a few chapters last night and I finished it up this morning while waiting for an appointment. It had a theme I can identify with - closing yourself off from the world can take away your sense of wonder. Yes, it is possible to make yourself far too safe.

It begins as the story about a young man who has some sort of plant magic. His parents died in a plague, and he was sunk in depression and grief, which was made worse when first his brother and then his lover leave the village where he lives.

He meets a magician named Od, who invites him to a magic school in the distant capital, to take the job of gardener.

The story follows events at the school...

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I re-read The Riddlemaster recently.

I never get tired of that story...

McKillip is *wonderful*. Her use of language is just amazing.

"In the Forests of Serre" was a great book. She has a newer one out -- "Solstice Wood", set more or less in the present day -- that is good, too, but I didn't think it was quite as strong as her other works.

I think my favorite of hers is still "Song for the Basilisk". I very much like the fact that the main characters are middle-aged folks, instead of the standard young and innocent hero in most fantasy works.

Solstice Wood is one of her few books which I have not read. Did you know that is actually a sequel of sorts to one of her earlier novels? I was sort of lukewarm (for a McKillip book ) to the earlier novel, so have not read the sequel.

Have you ever tried her short stories Ali? She is every bit as gifted with short fiction as she is with her novels.

No, I didn't know "Solstice Wood" was a sequel. I might have to look for the earlier book. Tho I wasn't all that wild about "Solstice Wood". One of the joys, for me, of reading McKillip is her narrative voice. In "Song for the Basilisk" and "In the Forests of Serre" and "Od Magic" and the other sort of fairy-tale-like books -- and yeah, her short stories, too (I got a collection from the library awhile back, thinking it was a novel... ), her narrative voice really draws me in. "Solstice Wood" was a more modern-day-type narrative voice. I did like where she went with the story, but it didn't have the same resonance for me because the voice was different.

Ooooh ooooh ooooh! Thanks for the heads-up! That will be next on my list, after I finish Toll the Hounds.