oyceter | (no subject)

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I've got a friend who recently read Juliet Marillier's Sevenwaters Trilogy and loves Mists of Avalon who's looking for good fantasy, preferably of a Celtic bent, with strong female characters. Any suggestions? Heh, I've found I generally read more Asian and fairy-tale influenced fantasy, so I've probably missed this entire vein.

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She can try Katharine Kerr's Deverry series if she likes (the first book is Daggerspell. It's heavily Celtic-influenced The main characters are Jill and Rhys, but it also deals with reincarnation and you'll see characters from the first book come back as someone else, or a flashback to the past will tell you who the characters *used* to be.

It's a fairly long series. There are eleven books to date and two more planned (they've been delayed due to problems Kerr had with her US publisher). I've enjoyed it, though, and kept the books around to wait for the last two and see how she wraps it all up.

And because I'm a dork who hit "post comment" instead of "preview", let's try to finish my original post now, hmmm? :P

One of the few Charles de Lint books that I'll recommend is the Jack of Kinrowan duology (Jack the Giant Killer and Drink Down the Moon). It's entertaining with a pretty good female lead character.

And while the main character in the books is a boy (Will), Susan Cooper's series The Dark is Rising also features Jane along with her brothers, Simon and Barney, in Over Sea, Under Stone and they also show up in the last two books of the series, Silver on the Tree and The Grey King. As I recall, Jane was part of the action in all those books.

Plus, there are always the women of George R. R. Martin's books... (and I still remember your caution to some of your friends: "Not happy! Not fluffy!" *G*)

I might have to dig up the Kerr series myself now ;).

Oooo, The Dark is Rising!! Love love love that series. I think she might have read it, but I'll ask just in case (it's a childhood read for me, and it seems sort of odd thinking that someone has not read it).

Hee, George R. R. Martin definitely needs the angst warning. I told you about that one friend who was traumatized when the dire-wolf was killed in book one? I was just thinking, heh, heh, yeah, just you wait...

Diane Duane's trilogy, THE DOOR INTO FIRE, THE DOOR INTO SHADOW, and THE DOOR INTO SUNSET are enthralling reading, and heavily influenced by Celtic mythology. I think your friend might be very pleased with them. All three books can be found in paperback form, now, under the title TALES OF THE FIVE, I think.

Oh, thanks!!

(eep, another author I need to read, too)

If she's willing to go for urban fantasy with Celtic faeries, she should try Emma Bull's WAR FOR THE OAKS. Also just about anything by Charles de Lint-- I recommend YARROW, GREENMANTLE, and DREAMS UNDERFOOT. And Terri Windling's BORDERTOWN books.

For more Arthuriana, try T. H. White's THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING (not female-centric, but with at least an attempt at giving Guinevere some depth), Elizabeth Wein's THE WINTER PRINCE (a beautifully written and very dark YA novel narrated by Mordred, in which Arthur has a daughter), and Guy Gavriel Kay's FIONAVAR trilogy.

And then you can give her Michael Swanwick's THE IRON DRAGON'S DAUGHTER, which is Celtic and has a strong female protagonist, and is a beautifully written and savage deconstruction of everything she'll have read so far.

Thanks! I already recced Fionavar (it being one of the few Celtic-influenced fantasies I've read), but not the rest.

I think I'll snag Swanwick for myself as well.

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