I haven’t put together my own list of favorite fantasy books, but if I did, WEEPING DARK: BLEEDING EDGE by Raven and Lain Bower would be on it. I loved that book and will be among the first to return to its rich world of magic and adventure (reviewed here: https://horrordelve.com/2013/09/02/review-of-weeping-dark-bleeding-edge-by-raven-and-lain-bower/) when the next book comes out. I also enjoyed their fantasy novella, NYMPH’S LAIR (reviewed here: https://horrordelve.com/2014/02/01/nymphs-lair-by-raven-and-lain-bower/). Suffice it to say, Raven Bower knows how to produce her own magnificent fantasy tales, so I wanted to find out what were some of her favorites to read.
Raven, What are some of your favorite pieces of fantasy fiction?
Raven: I have many favorites and they tend to change almost daily, depending on the mood and which story resonates with the day.
Fantasy is one of my favorite genres – a never-ending adventure that encompasses works in original worlds and works set in our own world, in our own time. That’s one of the many appeals of the genre – it’s so vast that it’s impossible to exhaust.
My top five, in no particular order are:
The Order of the Sanguines Series by James Rollins & Rebecca Cantrell
This is a brilliant piece of fantasy fiction set in modern times. Truly, this series is a flight of fantastic fantasy with the pace of a thriller and creep of horror. Rollins and Cantrell’s handling of world building is nothing short of stunning. They take an old-time favorite monster, vampires, and put an entirely new twist on them that leaves the reader wondering…what if…?
The Sellswords Series by R.A. Salvatore
Anything by Salvatore is bound to be good, but the The Sellswords series plays to one of Salvatore’s strong suits and one of my favorite aspects in any novel – great bad guys! Only here, the bad guys are the good guys – just read it, you’ll see 🙂
The Codex Alera Series by Jim Butcher
Oh goodness. Butcher’s pacing is simply phenomenal in this series. He has an innate talent to draw the reader into a world that’s rich and colorful while at the same time keeping everything active, imaginative, adventurous. No static descriptions for this fellow, nope. Love his characters and their quirks. His take on magic is very interesting and integral to the world and plot.
Everything Raymond Feist
I’ve never met a Feist book that wasn’t fantastic, so I couldn’t choose any singular series over the others. *Spins the bookshelves* Pick your poison – Riftwar Saga, Conclave of Shadows, Chaoswar Saga, War of the Five Crowns and any other book with the name Raymond Feist on it and it’s certain to be entertaining, filled with lovely, deft world building, characters that exude life from their inky pores, plots that tangle, twist and mangle.
Death’s Heretic by James L. Sutter
Really wish Sutter would write more fiction. Not that his gaming content is anything less than excellent, he’s just also a talented fiction writer and I’d love to see more stories from him. Death’s Heretic is rife with mystery and packed with many subtle questions that leave the reader pondering well after the end. Gritty, real world building and conflicted characters make for an exciting story.
Raven and Lain’s Bio:
Raven and Lain Bower are a wife and husband team of writers. They are avid role-players and love to design mythical and diabolical creatures, characters and fantastic worlds together. They live in Northern Michigan with their four kids, hellhounds, alien doom cats and the ever growing tentacle army.
In their *cough* spare time *cough* they enjoy gardening, home improvement projects, archery and target shooting.
Raven is an aquarist – obsessed with creating mini-ecosystems encased in glass (read natural aquascapes in fish tanks) and raises assorted freshwater fish, shrimp and plants.
Lain is an accomplished technician who upgrades and repairs audio equipment, mostly Carver amplifiers, and various electronic devices.
Their credits include:
Novels:
The Weeping Dark epic fantasy, which includes Bleeding Edge.
The adventure fantasy novella, Nymph’s Lair.
The Vengeance urban fantasy series which includes Primal – soon to be re-released with Under the Moon! and Smoke (2015)
Raven is the author of the supernatural horror / suspense series, Apparitions, which includes Apparitions, Wendigo and Rags Beneath
Scripts:
The film rights for the Apparitions series have been purchased by Joseph Leroy Studios, LLC. Directed by Michael Bryant. Screenplay by Raven & Lain Bower.
Website: http://ravenbower.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RavenandLainBower
Twitter: @RavenBower
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