The Lies of Locke Lamora

Tough Travels: Snarky Sidekicks

/ Nicola @ Thoughts on Fantasy / 40 Comments

I’ve been a bit absent on the blogging front this month for all the usual end-of-year reasons (including trying to finish a draft of a novel-in-progress), but I plan to get stuck back into the regular posting at the start of the New Year. Since it’s the final Tough Travels of 2017, however, I thought I’d make an effort to fit one in before then!

This feature was originally created and run by Nathan at Fantasy Review Barn and is now hosted by Laura Hughes at Fantasy Faction, but it will move to The Fantasy Hive next month. Inspired by Diana Wynne Jones’s humorous classic The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, every month it puts the spotlight on a particular fantasy trope, theme or cliché, and invites bloggers to list stand-out books related to that week’s theme.

This month’s theme is snarky sidekicks:

Why is everyone so serious all the time?  Perhaps they need a friend that is there with a quick bit of wit to liven up the day… even if the day is looking to quickly turn to blood.

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The Magic of a Brilliant Book Brilliantly Read: The Gentleman Bastards Audiobooks

/ Nicola @ Thoughts on Fantasy / 15 Comments
Book cover segment from The Republic of Thieves, Random House, 2013. (NPR Books)

The Gentleman Bastards is a much-loved fantasy series that is particularly popular in audiobook format. Fans who’ve listened to the audiobooks regularly recommend them, the narrator Michael Page has won awards for his performances (including his narration of The Lies of Locke Lamora), and author Scott Lynch has made no secret of the fact he thinks Page does a brilliant job: Continue reading →

5 Awesome Fantasy and Science Fiction Audiobooks

/ Nicola @ Thoughts on Fantasy / 8 Comments
Photo by Jeff Golden (CC BY-SA 2.0)

I’m a big fan of audiobooks. I’ve previously told the story of how I fell in love with them on this blog. I still read hard copy books, but I like the flexibility audiobooks allow me to do other things while “reading” and how the story really comes to life when narrated by a great voice actor. I have an Audible subscription and I listen to between 1 and 2 audiobooks a  month, which may not sound like a lot, but when each one can last for between 8 and 30 hours (most being around the 10-18hr mark) it equates to a lot of time spent listening.

Amidst all of this listening, I find particular books stand out. Continue reading →

My Favourite Fantasy and Science Fiction Books in 2014

/ Nicola @ Thoughts on Fantasy / 10 Comments
Photo by Nicola Alter (CC BY SA 4.0)

Only one more day left in 2014! And even though this isn’t really a review blog (though I do mention books I’ve enjoyed), I thought I’d follow in the footsteps of several other bloggers I’ve seen recently and take this opportunity to list a few of the best fantasy and science fiction books that I’ve read this year. Continue reading →

Confessions of an Audiobook Convert

/ Nicola @ Thoughts on Fantasy / 4 Comments
Photo by Nicola Alter (CC BY SA 4.0)

If you’d told me a year ago that I’d be looking forward to mundane things like morning commutes and chopping onions, solely because that meant I could binge on an audiobook… well, I wouldn’t have told you you were crazy, but I’d probably have nodded and smiled and filed you away in the weird person trying too hard to sell me something category. I’d have maybe agreed to give the whole “listening to a book” thing a try, but it would have been grudgingly and with scepticism.

In fact, I’d say I had a definite prejudice against audiobooks, even though I’d never listened to one. Why? As an aspiring author, I’d started going to readings.

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