Something Rich and Strange is a parto of the "Fairylands" series, and I think the only one to be issued with Brian Froud's artwork. (I read a library copy and some horrible person traced over a lot of the pictures.) It combines 4 of my favorite things-Patricia McKillip, Brian Froud, Tam Lin, and sea lore-to make a modern fairy tale that...is ( Read more... )

Every night, a bell at Sealey Head that no one can find rings. Judd Cauley’s family inn used to be the only one around, but he has few guests now that there are other options. Despite this, a traveler and fellow bookworm named Ridley Dow rents a room from him. Ridley has an interest in Aislinn house, where the aged Lady Eglantyne lays dying, and ( Read more... )

The complete list of books I read it 2008 is in poll form here.

( top books of the year )

Morgon is the prince of Hed, a small island kingdom of farmers in a world where rulers have a connection with their lands that allows them to constantly be aware of what’s going on in their land, and the land’s well being. When his younger sister finds a crown hidden under his bed (the rulers of Hed don’t wear a crown, though there’s some debate ( Read more... )

As soon as she was old enough, Sylvia Lynn fled Lynn Hall, her family’s home in upstate New York, fleeing her past and the secret of her birth that only she and one other know. But when her grandmother, Iris, calls to tell her that her grandfather has died, Sylvia knows that she has to go back home. There, she learns that she isn’t the only one ( Read more... )

When Regis, the king of Gloinmere, brings home his bride, the Lady of Skye, everyone is thrilled. At the wedding feast, however, his greatest knight, Cyan Dag, learns the truth: that the woman the king has married is not the true queen, but a scaled sorceress who has taken her place. With the aid of and old bard, he learns the true queen has been ( Read more... )

At the beginning of the book, we’re introduced to a young boy who has been burned by fire. Whisked away to Luly, and island of bards, he is there named Rook Caladrius, and spends over thirty years on Luly, marrying and having a son, Hollis. But the bards are drifting away from Luly and to the mainland, including Hollis. So Rook leaves Luly too, ( Read more... )

Cygnet is actually a reprint of two McKillip books, The Sorceress and the Cygnet and The Cygnet and the Firebird. The duology focuses on Nyx Ro, an eccentric sorceress who lives in the bog instead of her mother's vast holding by choice, and her relative, Meguet Vervaine, a swordswoman who serves Holder Ro.

In the first book, a Wayfarer (gypsy ( Read more... )

When fifteen-year-old Peri’s father was lost at sea, her mother entered a sort of dream world, spending her time daydreaming about a kingdom beneath the sea, a kingdom Peri adamantly believes doesn’t exist. Soon after, an old woman of Peri’s village, who Peri went to for comfort disappeared, and Peri, heartbroken and unable to bear living with her ( Read more... )

Od is the legendary, ancient sorceress of the kingdom of Numis.  Though rarely seen in Numis these days, her school-Od School of Magic-flourishes, and she keeps in touch by occasionally sending letters, or by sending people to the school.  One of these people in Brenden Vetch, a young man with a gift for growing things, is sent by Od to be the new ( Read more... )