Though we consider things in much starker genre divides now, there is nothing so universal as a fantasy story. Fantasy’s roots are in folklore: the timeless myths, legends, fairy tales, and tall tales that have shaped culture and been passed down through centuries of literature. There would be no sweeping epic fantasies—no Tolkien—without first the enduring folk […]
For nearly two decades, Jim Killen has served as the science fiction and fantasy book buyer for Barnes & Noble. Every month on the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog and Tor.com, Jim shares his curated list of the month’s best new science fiction and fantasy releases.
The weather is heating up, and the SFF release schedule is following suit. There’s no time to waste, let’s get to this week’s new releases. Every second lost is a second you could be reading.
It’s no secret that modern epic fantasy, as a genre, tends toward Euro-centrism, taking its cue from Tolkien’s Middle Earth. That doesn’t mean you can’t spin original, unique stories from Western medieval cultures and myth, but it does mean that when a fantasy drawn from a different setting and historical period comes along, it’s a welcome change.