The Guardian recently reported on the five major trends emerging from the London International Book Fair, one of which was that "from stories exploring colonialism through the lens of fictional societies to tales of dragons, fantasy novels will be bigger than ever in the coming year, with many inspired by myths and cultures from around the world".
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Certainly in financial terms, fantasy sells, aided by social media, especially Tik-Tok, which reaches a young adult audience. American author Brandon Sanderson was cited in a recent Wired magazine article as the world's best-selling fantasy author, with sales of more than 20 million copies worldwide, earning US$55 million in 2022.
Sanderson, whose straightforward narratives particularly appeal to a young adult readership, has said his latest novel, Tress of the Emerald City (Hachette. $32.99), part of his Cosmere universe, was inspired by the film The Princess Bride. He wanted, however, a plot line in which the girl plays a more active part, which certainly happens with Tress, a young girl who lives on a small island on a planet whose moons drip deadly spores into the oceans.
Tress is friends with Charlie, a groundsman but, in reality, the son of the Duke, who becomes imprisoned by "the Sorceress of the Deadly Midnight Sea". Tress stows away on a ship to cross the pirate infested, spore-ridden oceans to try to rescue her beloved Charlie. Read on. Sanderson certainly knows his audience.
Australia's leading fantasy author is undoubtedly Garth Nix, whose books have sold more than 6 million copies worldwide. The Sinister Booksellers of Bath (Allen and Unwin $24.99), the sequel to his best-selling The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, is set in an alternate England of 1983.
Susan Arkshaw is hoping to "slow" her relationship with her left-handed magician bookseller boyfriend, Merlin St Jacques, to refrain from using her magical powers derived from her father, an "Ancient Sovereign", and just concentrate on being art student. When Merlin becomes trapped in an enchanted map world, and an ancient force is inducing statues to kill people, Susan knows she has no choice but to enter that map world to save him. But ultimately it will be Susan's life that is more in danger. Nix has written another engaging and innovative fantasy, which reaffirms the power of books to inspire.
Michael Moorcock has been a major fantasy author over six decades. His stories of the doomed albino "prince of ruins", Elric of Melnibone, first appeared in 1961 and Elric subsequently featured in numerous novels, role-playing games, comics, music and films. The Citadel of Forgotten Myths (Gollancz. $32.99) places a three-part story of Elric and his companion, Moonglum during Elric's "early wandering" years.
The new novel sees the pair venturing beyond familial frameworks and the kingdom of Melnibone. Once more, the ailing Elric has to rely on his vampiric sword Stormbringer, which provides life essence but only by devouring the souls of his enemies and occasionally those of his friends. Moorcock never intended Elric to be a traditional fantasy hero but rather an anti-hero. The Citadel of Forgotten Myths, which Moorcock hopes will be "a good easy ride", may be the last in the epic Elric saga given Moorcock is now in his 80s.
British novelist Samantha Shannon achieved immediate fantasy fame with her debut "Bone Season" trilogy, which she discussed at the 2017 Canberra Writers Festival. A Day of Fallen Night (Bloomsbury. $34.99), termed a "sapphic fantasy", is the standalone prequel, set 500 years earlier, to her best-selling The Priory of the Orange Tree.
We meet a largely new set of characters, with the four leading figures, three female and one male, each living in different regions with different cultures, politics and religions where they must combat an awakened ancient evil and the destructive power of dragons. Shannon's compartmentalised structure, in a novel of almost 850 pages, impacts its narrative effectiveness, although it's overall message of female friendship and the need for love in order to survive, emerges strongly.
American author Owen King is the son of Stephen and Tabitha King, and the literary genes certainly emerge in The Curator (Hodder $32.99), advertised as a "Dickensian fantasy", which is also an homage to libraries and museums. King's central character Dora, a domestic at the National University, wants to find out how her brother died during the turmoil after a revolution has overthrown a long-standing monarchy.
Dora's lover, now in a position of authority, asks her to take charge of "The National Museum of the Worker", but Dora is more interested in the adjacent Museum of Psykical Research, which she believes will provide the answer to her brother's death. King builds an fragile post-revolutionary world where optimism of the "lower" classes becomes impacted by realpolitik. The paper-cut silhouette illustrations by Australian artist Kathleen Jennings provide visual enhancement to an imaginative Gothic fantasy.
