Jabotikaba’s Comments (group member since Oct 31, 2024)

Jabotikaba’s comments from the Scripted in Fantasy and Fiction group.

It's probably The Navigator's Children by Tad Williams. The author killed off my favourite character in his Osten Ard books quite brutally and very unexpectedly. But it's still a great book and I've been waiting for it to be published since 2022.
Chimeras of Estmer by Heather Marsh comes in second. This author seems to have read my mind and combined everything I love about the fantasy genre into one great book.
Third place goes to Goblins&Greatcoats by Travis Baldree, because it's a really cosy book

Tamara wrote: "Honestly, ( i think people might hate me for this ), but Quicksilver from Callie Hart. But maybe because I read this book after I finished an amazing series and I was in such a reading slump OMG. M..."

I found this book pretty boring too.

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

Since I haven't read Mistborn, I'll have to say Eragon. It's not LOTR or ASOIAF, but it's not a bad read.

I don't like it when characters spend their whole lives haunted by a psychological trauma they suffered a long time ago and do strange things because of it. This sometimes happens with real people, but in fantasy books (and especially George R.R. Martin) almost all characters suffer from this kind of PTSD, and it is very silly.
Also very silly are characters who suddenly find out that they have great magical powers, or that they are the lost heirs of royal families or something like that, but then cannot believe it for a long time and say that they are just ordinary people. I call it the Farm Boy Syndrome.

Cindy wrote: "I feel like I am always seeing the same books being recommended and wanted to get some fresh ideas. What's your favorite not-that-popular book that you absolutely love and wish other people knew ab..."
Thanks for starting this thread! I read a great book this summer and I'd like as many people as possible to know about it, as I'd like to talk to other fans about it.
It's Chimeras of Estmer. It's similar to epic books like ASOIAF in that it has a complex plot, great worldbuilding and many POVs. But it also has a lot of humor, a bit of romance and is quite fast paced. So I would describe it as a "very light version of very epic fantasy".
There's another great book that, for some unknown reason, doesn't seem to be popular. It's Silver Hands, a wonderful mix of historical romance and fantasy. I read it quite a while ago, in 2018, and I don't see it becoming more popular since then, and I don't understand why that is. It is a great book!
So I recommend these books to anyone who wants to read something different from the books everyone recommends to each other. Even though they don't seem to be very popular, some people have left reviews and you can read them to see if you should read these books.

For now, it's Chimeras of Estmer by Heather Marsh. I may change my mind as I'm about to start reading The Navigator's Children (the final book in Tad Williams' The Last King of Osten Ard series). But I've known about the Osten Ard books for a long time, so Chimeras of Estmer will definitely remain a great discovery of the year for me.
This book is everything I look for in a good fantasy novel. The world building is phenomenal, the magic system is unusual, the plot has many twists and the characters are great and very diverse as they belong to different cultures and peoples. It may be a bit slow at first, but it quickly becomes a fast-paced adventure full of humour, romance, magic, friendship and amazing twists.
It's a really clever mix of classic fantasy and YA. I have no idea how the author managed to make this combination work, but I think that's what makes this book so great. It's super easy to read and also reminds me of great books like LOTR or ASOIAF.

Kemlilin from Chimeras of Estmer. He's a very dangerous pirate, and that alone makes him a bad guy. But he is described as a very likeable character, very brave and smart. He also cares about his friends and the girl he loves. Sometimes he even seems to act like a very noble man, but then it turns out that this sudden nobility was mainly for himself or his people. So I think Kemilin fits the definition of a 'morally grey character' very well.
Sorry, I can't think of any others right now.

I like him too. But Ineluki is still my favorite villain.
By the way, if you like Jareth, you might be interested in Greta and the Goblin King and its sequels. It's obviously inspired by Labyrinth.

I was going to post about this character in the Favourite Morally Grey Character thread. But then I realised that my favourite character in the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn books is more of a villain than a morally grey character, so I decided to start a new thread.
So does anyone have a favourite villain? I mean a character who should be a villain, but you like him/her anyway.
In my case it's Ineluki the Storm King from Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams. He started out as a Sithi prince (Sithi are like elves or fae) and was a great hero and brave defender when he fought the humans who invaded the Sithi lands. But then he turned into a vengeful demon who hates all humans and those Sithi who are friends with humans. As a result, he became an enemy even to his own kin. But when you read the books, you still sympathise with him, because it was the cruelty of the humans that made him such a monster. So he seems to me to be the most compelling of the characters in those books.
So who is your favourite villain?

Caelestis⁵⁵ wrote: "City of Bones. I read it in German when I was younger, I absolutely loved it. But I just couldn't reread it in English, it felt too stereotypically fanfictional written to me."

You mean City of Bones by Martha Wells? In my opinion, this book is very good in English.
But maybe I'm just not as much of a book gourmet as you are.

Feel free to add me too. I like to read mostly history, fantasy and sometimes romantasy.

Feel free to add me! I prefer history, fantasy and sometimes romantasy.
And yes, I like Taylor Swift too.

Midnight in Everwood by M.A. Kuzniar
Chimeras of Estmer by Heather Marsh
The Changeling Sea by Patricia McKillip
Winter Rose by the same author
City of Bones by Martha Wells

Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber

Rhys and Azriel.

Feel free to add me, too. I mostly read historical research, epic fantasy and fairy tale retellings. Sometimes I also enjoy YA fantasy and romantasy.

I think you might like Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman and The Witches of Eileanan by Kate Forsyth. But I don't know much about Wicca and I'm not sure about these recommendations. At least Magic Lessons is a well written and interesting book.

There are so many such characters, but I'll only mention a few. Otherwise this post would be very long.
So this is Ghe from Chosen of Changeling by Gregory Keyes. It's probably a bit weird to call an undead assassin a compelling character, but there are plenty of girls out there who admire vampires and werewolves. Maybe I am not so strange after all.
All in all, I really wish Chosen of Changeling had been a diology instead of a trilogy, and that the author had written a third book in which Ghe would rise from the dead for the second time.
Kemlilin from Chimeras of Estmer by Heather Marsh. I really wish he had his POV. Hopefully the author will write a second book with more about him and the Stormy Pirates in general.
Also Jiriki from the Osten Ard books by Tad Williams and Morkeleb from the Winterlands books by Barbara Hambly.

Wulfgar from Robert Salvatore books and Perkar from Chosen of Chageling dilogy by Gregory Keyes.