“Tough Traveling” is a weekly Thursday feature created by Nathan at Review Barn where participants make a new list each week based on The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones. This hilarious little book cheerfully pokes fun at the most prevalent tropes in fantasy. All are welcome to take part, and there is a link up over at his site. Join in any time!
This week’s topic is MAJOR DISCOVERIES:
While often the people of Fantasyland seem stuck in a time warp occasionally a major discovery can shock the land into changes. Be they new lands, new peoples or new technologies fantasyland thrives on having something to jump start the next age.
What a fun topic! The best weeks are the ones where you can pull from every genre/sub-genre, and this was definitely one of them. I even snuck a little sci-fi in there…because I do what I want!
 Gracelings/The Seven Kingdoms – Fire by Kristin Cashore
Life is far from peaceful or magic free in The Dells, a kingdom plagued by magical monsters and civil war. But when Fire and her friends meet a strange boy with two different coloured eyes, they learn of a new realm…and the dangerous Gracelings who live there. |
 Werewolves – Alpha & Omega/Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs
Although werewolves and their ilk are the subject of Patricia Briggs’ two companion series, the human population only learned of their existence halfway through both series. Most people have difficulty processing the fact that the things that go bump in the night are real…and it goes about as well as you’d expect. |
 The Still Blue – Under the Never Sky series by Veronica Rossi
Aria and Perry live in a land plagued by lightning storms that ravage the land and destroy natural resources (not to mention killing people). But there are whispers of a territory where the sky is free of the lightning storms, a land called The Still Blue…if only they could find it. A fantastic dystopian series that doesn’t get enough love or attention, imho. |
 Various Alien…Things – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Learning that aliens are real is not initially a happy discovery for Arthur Dent (and it blows chunks for the rest of humanity, let me tell ya). In fact, I’d call it pretty damn traumatizing. But all’s well that ends well, and Arthur meets many alien races, visits alien planets, and sees alien tech. |