Livyers World is a young-adult science fiction novel with a fascinating premise. It’s set in a future Newfoundland — or rather, two future Newfoundlands. The young protagonist Viddy is drawn into what he first thinks is an interactive computer program, but it quickly begins to seem more like a parallel world to his own, an [...]
I love Jasper Fforde. I’ve loved him since the first time I picked up the first Thursday Next book, The Eyre Affair. His wordplay, his bizarre parallel world, his (and his characters’ 
obsession with the hidden lives of literary characters … honestly, what’s not to like?
At the end of the fourth Thursday Next book, Something [...]
On our plane trip from St. John’s to Seattle, the kids and I made a game of counting how many people we saw — on the plane, in airports, on the street — reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. We counted eight — which, when you think of the number and variety of books [...]
I know you have just been waiting with bated breath these last two weeks thinking, “What is Trudy reading? Why is she not updating her book reviews?!?! How can I go on living?!??!??!!?“
Have no fear, fellow overreaders. I have my reasons. For the last two weeks I have been immersed — engrossed, even — in [...]
For item #2 on my post-Lent fiction fun list, another new novel by another of my favourite fantasy authors. I have loved all nine of Robin Hobb’s “Realm of the Elderlings” trilogy of trilogies — the Assassin series, the Liveship Traders, and the Tawny Man trilogy. The first volume of her new Soldier Son trilogy, Shaman’s [...]
For my first plunge back into fiction after Lent, I could not do better than read the newest book by my favourite fantasy author. I was first introduced to Guy Gavriel Kay through reading his Fionavar trilogy back in the 80s — classic high fantasy with characters from our world drawn into an epic conflict [...]
In my last post I raved about re-reading a favourite novel by my favourite fantasy author. I continued my Christmas fantasy excursion by reading an old, but new-to-me, trilogy from my other favourite fantasy author. This was Robin Hobb’s Assassin trilogy. I had read the two follow-up trilogies, The Liveship Traders and The Tawny [...]
As I moved into my Christmas reading this year I decided to relax with some classic fantasy, which included re-reading my all-time favourite fantasy novel, Guy Gavriel Kay’s Tigana. I first read this about 12 or 13 years ago and I can still remember where I was sitting when I read the final pages [...]
I would never have known about The Dying Days if Shannon Patrick Sullivan hadn’t posted a comment here on Compulsive Overreader, which just proves blogging is good for something. At least, I might have heard of the book (after all, it was published by Creative/Killick, a local press with whom I have more than a [...]
I’ve done a lot of good reading this summer, but it’s been a long time since I’ve read any good fantasy. I love good fantasy, and there’s a lot of it out there, but not a lot that I really enjoy and can get into. Tastes in fantasy seem to be even more individual and [...]
