Year of the Dragon indeed. City of Dragons the latest instalment in the Rain Wild Chronicles by Robin Hobb, is the book I am most looking forward to in 2012. I think all of her fans were longing for a return to Bingtown and the Rain Wilds (well actually we’re also all longing for a return to the Six Duchies but I’m sure it’s not going to happen) and what a return it was. They were nothing short of brilliant. Something akin to when you get to the end of an epic fantasy series and everything happens exactly as you want it to happen and fills you with all sorts of rampant glee. Only these were just the first two. It could be because they were originally intended to be just a two volume series (the thought fills me with horror) and the pace is a lot faster than her usual sort. With the world building long established the books plunge straight in, with a disparate host of new characters and a group of Dragons who you fall desperately in love with and almost forget about the humans.
Tag Archives: Redwall
My Year in Reading and Other Bookish Things
I actually managed to knock over a whole lot of my reading list this year, at least two or three books a month, including re-reads. I am, quite frankly, surprised at myself (and insufferably pleased with myself I might add) that I not only managed to get through a large quantity, I branched out a lot and read a good variety. It is no mean feat that I get through a book that (if not an Enid Blyton) does not grace me with the presence of a dragon.
The Great Redwall Hunt : Volume VI Martin the Warrior
Martin the Warrior continues the saga with the long-awaited history of Martin, Redwall’s most glorious hero, who rises from slavery to become the greatest warrior the land would ever know.
I know I haven’t been keeping up with these lately when I should have, as I have the entire collection now, but I’ve been a little down since the untimely death of Brian Jacques. I felt like I couldn’t do the books justice, for a time, but as fans, we’re here to keep the books alive and keep spreading the word of the magic of Redwall.
Farewell Brian Jacques 1939 – 2011
Take comfort in those old comrades, who have been companions some two decades, in a world that will last my lifetime, and many lifetimes after mine.From the immortal Mossflower Country, words from High Rhulain…
“But the warriors true, the brave of heart
Who valiantly upheld the right
They are raised on high to the velvet sky
Bringing light to the darkness of night
They’ll stand there as long as they sky will,
their honour in brightness will glow,
a lesson to see, for eternity,
of where the real warriors go!
So ‘ere my eyelids close in sleep,
these are the words I will say,
may I have the courage and faithfulness,
that my spirit should join them someday”
My 2011 Reading List
I am thoroughly ashamed of my reading efforts in 2010, I barely managed a book a month. Another year went by where I missed my annual re-reads (although I did squeeze in a Farseer Trilogy re-read after I read the new latest Robin Hobbs) So I will make a futile attempt at having a plan.
What I would like to try and get through this year
Annual “Re-Reads”
Books I have read every year for many years
The Great Redwall Hunt – The Wall, The Quest, The Warrior
It might have been 1987, perhaps a shade before, but I will stick to “when I was eleven years old” (and that is quite a stretch in memory) when I first saw Cluny the Scourge. On my oldest friend’s bookshelf, (she is still around and sharing books with me) sat a paperback copy of Redwall. A 1986 copy to be exact, with the original British cover illustrated by Pete Lyon. She was quite excited when she purchased it, as she had been reading her cousin’s copy on the weekends when visiting, and now she had one of her own. I was promised a loan of this marvelous book as soon as she had finished, and I was certainly intrigued, as she had filled me with tales of Abbeys and Mice and dastardly Sea Rats. I was convinced I had never read anything like it before and therefore it must be the greatest book written since any of my Enid Blytons. And then there was the superb illustration of Cluny on the cover, and surely he must be the greatest villain any mouse had to overcome.