The Wyrd & Wonder prompt of today is ‘Magical community.’ My favourite magical community to read about is a school. I love school settings: I am passionate about learning things and in my daily life I work at an elementary school. The first magical school I fell in love with is Hogwarts. I dreamt of going there: I would become a Hufflepuff and my favourite class would be Herbology. Due to all the Harry Potter movies, games and websites (like Hogwarts is Here), Hogwarts feels very real to me. It still has a special place in my heart.

However, I don’t feel like rereading the books. The controversial things J.K. Rowling said are just a part of the reason. I also moved on, because I discovered new favourites and other fantasy worlds to emerge myself in. I still like to read fantasy books set on some kind of school. None of them can compare to Hogwarts. But I do like these schools for other reasons.

Scholomance in A Deadly Education
This may not be a magical school I actually would want to attend. Scholomance doesn’t have any teachers, monsters are lurking everywhere and there’s a big chance of getting killed before graduation. But this school is so fascinating! I loved to read how studying at a teacher-less school works. Naomi Novik also does a great job in describing the history of Scholomance. Of course there are good reasons why parents would send their children to this dangerous place.

The Red Church from The Nevernight Chronicles
Another school I never want to go to for real. At the Red Church the deadliest assassins of Itreya are trained. The teachers are dangerous and quite likely to murder their students. In classes like Potions and Thievery, students learns how to steal things and poison people. Only a couple of them will survive and become a Blade. This is a dark and bloody adult fantasy story set in an interesting world. But what makes the books extraordinary is Mia Corvere. Mia is loyal, confident, competitive and ready to fight for the people she loves. She also has a shadow cat that feeds on her fear.

The Untracable University in De erfenis van Richard Grenville
It’s a pity that this story is not translated to English (yet). The book is the first of trilogy (I still have to finish) and pretty unkown, even in the Netherlands. The Untracable University is the hidden part of a common university in London. Only people with magical talent can enter. This is a university I actually like to attend. I would be able to follow courses like Magic in Music, The Origins and Functionality of Spells, and Ethics in Magic. And there would be a lot of other magical places in London I could discover.

This is not a prompt from the Wyrd & Wonder challenge, but I do like to celebrate this subgenre. In a portal fantasy the real world is connected to one or more parallel worlds by some kind of portal. Most well-known are the rabbit hole that brings Alice in Wonderland and the wardrobe to Narnia. There are a lot more portal fantasy books, here are my five favourites:

His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
This trilogy, starting with Northern Lights (The Golden Compass in the US), is a childhood favourite I still love. It’s a magical, adventurous, coming-of-age story, but also has a lot of deeper layers. The story is full of portals. And while reading these books, I often wished I was able to go to other worlds as easy as Lyra and Will.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor
Karou may seem just another art student in Prague. However, she hides a secret life where she is able to fulfil small wishes with her necklace, and runs mysterious errands for a monstrous creature from Elsewhere. Karou knows little about that other world, but she is about to find out. And this world with chimaeras and angels is fascinating.

Firebird Trilogy by Claudia Gray
I really enjoyed this adventurous and exciting love story. The Firebird is an invention from Marguerite’s parents. It can be used to jump to other dimensions. When Marguerite’s father is killed, Paul is the main suspect. With the Firebird he escapes to another dimension, but Marguerite follows him. Interesting enough, she meets alternate versions of people she knows, including Paul.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
This novella is an interesting take on portal fantasy. Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children is the place for children who came back from other worlds and no longer feel at home in our world. This book is the first part of a series alternating between our world and various other worlds.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
In this story there are multiple versions of London. Kell is one of the few who is able to travel between them. I enjoyed reading this book, but for some reason I never read the sequel. But I still hope to finish the trilogy at some point.

Today’s Wyrd & Wonder prompt is ‘Historical Fantasy’, a subgenre that basically combines two of my favourite genres: fantasy and historical fiction. I love it, because I like learning about history through fiction and I enjoy reading about magic. It’s also interesting to see how history would have been different if magic was involved. Here is my top five historical fantasy books:

The Embroidered Book by Kate Heartfield
This book is amazing! It’s the best example of historical fantasy I have read so far. The Embroidered Book is a great historical novel with an incredbily well-thought-out magic system. It’s the story of Marie Antoinette and her sister Charlotte, if they would have a book of spells. The spell book gives them power, but every spell requires a sacrifice

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
Malaysia, in the 19th century. Her father asks Li Lan if she would like to become a ghost bride. A rich family wants her to marry their recently deceased son. While considering this proposal, Li Lan becomes involved in the Chinese afterlife. It’s an interesting world with ghost cities, corrupt officers and some vicious ghosts. I loved how the writer combined real Chinese practices with folklore and her imagination.

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
This book is set in the 1920’s, but inspired by Maya mythology. The result is a unique story with ancient gods and demons walking through modern Mexico City. The world-building is amazing and the story also has a couple of great characters. Especially Hun-Kamé, the God of Death. At the beginning of the book he’s a cold and quite awful character. At the end of the story I actually liked him.

My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton & Jodi Meadows
A fun and very enjoyable story! This is a magical retelling of the life of Lady Jane Grey. She lived in England during the 16th century and is also known as the Nine Days Queen. Jane is about to become involved in a conspiracy and is going to mary a stranger who regularly turns into a horse.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
Vasya lives in a small Russian village where it’s always winter. During the cold nights people tell each other stories about a demon that claims unwary souls. Vasya knows these stories aren’t just fairy tales, because she can see the spirits. The writer managed to create a very atmospheric world based on Russian folklore.

Today I tag along with the Wyrd & Wonder prompt ‘Bite-size delight’. I share my thoughts on the short stories that are nominated to win a Hugo Award. With some of them, I purposely stayed a bit vague. Because the stories are so short, I don’t want to give away too much of the plot. If a story sounds interesting, definitively read it yourself! All of them can be find online.

Mr. Death by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, February 2021)
In this story reaper is a job you can get after you die. We get to explore this fascinating idea with an interesting main character and see his character develop during the story. This story about death is a bit heart-breaking, but also heart-warming and even has some humour. I admire the writer for being able to convey so many emotions in just five thousand words.

Proof by Induction by José Pablo Iriarte (Uncanny Magazine, May/June 2021)
The main character of this story is able to talk with his father after he died. The idea is interesting, but the conversations they have are quite boring. There were so much mathematical terms! For me all the math they talk about overshadows the better part of the story.

The Sin of America by Catherynne M. Valente (Uncanny Magazine, March/April 2021)
I just didn’t get this story. It’s about an American woman who had a life full of pain and disappointments. Her dinner at Blue Bison Diner & Souvenir Shoppe is meticulously described. The many details obscured the plot for me. In the end I’m not sure what the writer wanted to tell. This is the kind of story you have to read three of even four times to get. But I couldn’t find anything in the story that makes it worth rereading.

Tangles by Seanan McGuire (Magicthegathering.com: Magic Story, September 2021)
This short story tells about a meeting between a dryad and a mage. They live in a fascinating world with magic and trees that walk. We just get a small insight in this world and I would love to read more about it if possible. The story is also beautifully written.

Unknown Number by Azure (Twitter, July 2021)
If short stories could win prizes for originality, this one would probably get one. This story has the most unique format of all the finalists. It’s a SMS conversation between the main character and theirself from another universe. Their lives have many similarities, but there’s one big difference. The format made the story feel very real. I do think this story has the potential to have more depth. The writer spends quite a lot of time on setting up the story.

Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, March/April 2021)
Another story with an unusual format. This one is formatted like a kind of website about a song called ‘Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather’. Various commenters discuss the phrasing and history of the song. Sadly it felt like a huge info dump. I didn’t really like the song, so I had no reason to be interested in its fictional history. The story may have worked if the characters were more relatable.

There were three short stories I enjoyed reading. My favourite was definitively Mr. Death by Alix E. Harrow. It’s based on an original idea that is well executed, and the story is beautifully written. Which one do you think should win?

This post is inspired by the Wyrd & Wonder prompt ‘Top Five Forest Fantasy Recs’. I actually have read exactly five forest fantasy books. So I decided to just make a list of the books I read. In of all them there is some kind of enchanted wood. I’m currently reading a sixth forest fantasy book: The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik
The forest in this book is evil and powerful. It takes people who enter it. The ones who survive, come out different and just as dangerous as the forest itself. Agnieszka lives in a village close to this forest. Her people rely on a wizard known as the Dragon to protect them. Once every ten years the Dragon demands a young woman to serve him.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
This atmospheric book is set in a small village close to the cold Russian wilderness. During the nights people nestle around the fire and tell each other chilling stories about strange creatures. Vasya loves to hear them. She also knows the stories are more than fairy tales, because she can see the spirits. Better than anyone else, she realizes the importance of honouring the spirits who protect them against evil creatures lurking in the forest.

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
I didn’t give this book all the stars, but I did like the out-of-this-world vibe. Alice and her mother always have bad luck. It gets even worse when Alice’s mother is kidnapped. She left behind a message: ‘Stay away from the Hazel Wood’. This is the secret estate of Alice’s grandmother, a woman Alice has never met. Hazel Wood is of course the place Alice has to find.

Wildwood by Colin Meloy
I received this book as a present and I keep it for the beautiful illustrations made by Carson Ellis. Wildwood is an enchanted forest in the middle of Portland. It’s inhabited by talking animals. When Prue’s baby brother is kidnapped by crows, she has to save him. With the help of Collin, she follows her brother into the forest. I wouldn’t recommend this book for the plot, but I liked the world the story is set in.

The Liveship Traders trilogy by Robin Hobb
These books are about ships fashioned from wizardwood. The special wood for these ships comes from the Rain Wilds, an area with enormous trees. Settlements are built high in the trees. The forest plays a bigger role in The Rain Wild Chronicles, but I haven’t read those books yet.