Once Upon A Time Challenge: roundup

[calissa]

A few months back, I signed up to the Once Upon A Time Challenge. Specifically, I signed up for Quest the Third. In addition to reading or viewing A Midsummer Night's Dream, this challenge involved the following:

Read at least 5 books that fit somewhere within the Once Upon a Time categories. They might all be fantasy, or folklore, or fairy tales, or mythology…or your five books might be a combination from the four genres.

The challenge finished up on the solstice (21 June).

I had hoped to stretch myself by reading a bit more of those sub-genres I don't normally--namely folklore, fairy tales and mythology. But you know what they say about good intentions...

However, I did easily make the five books. I thought I'd share what I read and some brief thoughts on some of them.

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
This is the second book in The Gentlemen Bastards sequence and it proved to be just as much of a rollicking adventure as the first. It did better than The Lies of Locke Lamora in regard to the number of important female characters but not really any better with females in positions of power. I also think the pacing was slightly off, perhaps due to its problems with foreshadowing. There were Chekhov's Guns that didn't go off, some fizzled when they went off (this was a particular annoyance for me) and one very important element that needed to be set up earlier.

Emyr's Smile by Amy Rae Durreson
This was a spin-off from The Lodestar of Ys, a m/m fantasy romance. I was super impressed by The Lodestar of Ys and this didn't disappoint. It should be noted that Emyr's Smile a short story rather than a novella, like The Lodestar of Ys. The action is stripped out and the fantasy elements downplayed, so it's really more of a plain romance. This gives plenty of room for Durreson's character work to shine and it really does. I was thoroughly charmed by the main character, Heilyn, who is as warm and as cheerful as a beam of sunshine. This story confirmed to me that Durreson is an author I want to watch out for and I look forward to devouring more of her work.

Shadowfell by Juliet Marillier
I am a huge fan of Juliet Marillier and this book did absolutely nothing to change my mind. It is a YA fantasy about a young girl born with powerful magic in a kingdom where such power is likely to get you killed. The desperation as the protagonist scrambles to survive comes through really clearly, as does her uncertainty about who to trust. There is romance here, but it is subtle and coloured by a lack of trust, which I absolutely adored. It was a book that really sucked me in.

Raven Flight by Juliet Marillier
The sequel to Shadowfell. To my mind, it wasn't quite as good as the first. The urgency is not as strong, being now tied to the bigger picture rather than simple survival (except in a few powerful cases). The protagonist veered a little too close to self-absorption at times, particularly in her blindness to the feelings of others. Having said that, it was still miles ahead of other books I've read and I would have devoured it in one sitting if I hadn't become too exhausted to finish. It was very nice to see relationships of varying kinds develop further over the course of the story and there was some nice moments where the main character was able to see the events of the previous book in a new light, reflecting the way she had changed.

Dawn of Avalon by Anna Elliot
A fantasy novella about Morgan Le Fay's first meeting with Merlin. This is a prequel to a trilogy based on the legends of Arthur. Not having read the trilogy, I found myself quite confused at the start and struggling to orient myself. Overall, I found it an interesting take on the well-known legend, but Morgan had a wide streak of fatalism, of which I'm not a fan. Still, Elliot does an excellent job of humanising the legends.

The Vinter's Luck by Elizabeth Knox
An angel and a young vinter meet one night just after midsummer and make a pact to meet again on the same night every year. This book reminded me of what I love about literature. I adored the lyricism and the subtlety of its story-telling. While it features an angel, it is very much about human complexity and nothing is ever quite black and white.


And of course there was...

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
It has been a few years since I read this rather than viewed it. I have a DVD of the 1999 version directed by Michael Hoffman but chose instead to read my grandfather's copy. The whole time I was relating one to the other. For example, I really noticed the parts that had been cut out for the movie--on the whole, I think that was well handled. It also made me appreciate anew the movie's interpretation of Bottom and Hippolyta, which I felt brought more depth to these characters (a shame, then, about Titania).

It also made me appreciate again how much this play was made for speaking. The rhythms really get into my head and are an absolute joy. It was so nice to revisit the play.

Comments

[raze]

Gotta say, I'm impressed by the pace of your fiction reading! I am so very bad at reading fiction at anything but a snails' pace.

[calissa]

This has actually been a rather slow year for me. It's the non-fiction that I read at a snail's pace and I have been reading more of that this year than I used to.

[lynnoconnacht]

I love that description of Heilyn! <3

Glad to see you read so many enjoyable books! Here's to more awesomeness in our reading material!

[calissa]

Thank you! He seemed to just shine out of the pages.

Agreed! I'm not sure I've mentioned, but I have really enjoyed your posts on what you've been reading. It helps inspire me to post my own.

[lynnoconnacht]

He did. He was lovely. <3

*blush* Thank you. ^_^