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I dont know what it is about Patricia Briggs, but her writing is damn magical. Every book of hers I touch is filled with characters I not only care about, I adore. I smile, I wince, I cheer...reading one of her novels is an involved sort of activity.
I picked up Hob's Bargain last week, and put it down again a day later. Done. Finished. Every page devoured. It was magnificent. It is always grand to find a stand alone fantasy novel, and this one is perfect. The world build is stellar, and the characters that people it are remarkably human.
The book starts out with a newly married couple, the wife seeing her new husband off in the morning, thinking about her less than storybook perfect attempt at being a wonderful wife (burning the toast and being grumpy about it) and the scene is so endearing you take a rather quick liking to both husband and wife.
Raiders ruin what seems a wonderful start on a new life. bereft of husband and family, and outcast due to having a bit of fey blood which has cursed/blessed her with the sight in a world that fears and hates magic, our protagonist grows, and grows up, and becomes comfortable not only with herself, but with her place in the world. And manages to save that world in the process.
And then there is the Hob, a mischievous creature who is the last of his kind, and just as lonely as our outcast protagonist. The interaction between the two of them is a pleasure to read. There are hijinks. And chronic misuse of a tail. Misuse by her option, not his. He feels be is being rather clever.
Grab a copy. It is more than worth it.
I just finished Raven's Shadow (and am not so patiently awaiting my copy of Raven's Strike) and damn if Briggs hasnt done it again.
The use of a gypsy-like people as a magical race of outcasts is not a new one, but I would like to declare that this may be the best I have come across in the genre.
The Travelers, as this incarnation of that idea are called, are occasionally born into Orders, talent groups named after birds. Raven's happen to be the mages, and the story starts with a soldier returning home walking into the middle of a witch burning. He buys the sister of the Traveler being burned in the town square and takes her home with him, giving her a chance to settle a bit before going with her to find more of her people. This gets delayed, and he ends up marrying her. That is more or less a Prologue. The meat of the story contains Tier, the soldier, going missing and his wife and children, who are born into Orders themselves, going after him.
There is a drunken sot of a young Emperor who learns to be more than he seems, a dark cult of nasty politics and magic, and a creepy ghost that ends up being amazingly helpful.
Fun and fast paced, it kept me smiling and turning pages and looking forward to book two. Hunt it down. You wont regret it.
I picked up Hob's Bargain last week, and put it down again a day later. Done. Finished. Every page devoured. It was magnificent. It is always grand to find a stand alone fantasy novel, and this one is perfect. The world build is stellar, and the characters that people it are remarkably human.
The book starts out with a newly married couple, the wife seeing her new husband off in the morning, thinking about her less than storybook perfect attempt at being a wonderful wife (burning the toast and being grumpy about it) and the scene is so endearing you take a rather quick liking to both husband and wife.
Raiders ruin what seems a wonderful start on a new life. bereft of husband and family, and outcast due to having a bit of fey blood which has cursed/blessed her with the sight in a world that fears and hates magic, our protagonist grows, and grows up, and becomes comfortable not only with herself, but with her place in the world. And manages to save that world in the process.
And then there is the Hob, a mischievous creature who is the last of his kind, and just as lonely as our outcast protagonist. The interaction between the two of them is a pleasure to read. There are hijinks. And chronic misuse of a tail. Misuse by her option, not his. He feels be is being rather clever.
Grab a copy. It is more than worth it.
I just finished Raven's Shadow (and am not so patiently awaiting my copy of Raven's Strike) and damn if Briggs hasnt done it again.
The use of a gypsy-like people as a magical race of outcasts is not a new one, but I would like to declare that this may be the best I have come across in the genre.
The Travelers, as this incarnation of that idea are called, are occasionally born into Orders, talent groups named after birds. Raven's happen to be the mages, and the story starts with a soldier returning home walking into the middle of a witch burning. He buys the sister of the Traveler being burned in the town square and takes her home with him, giving her a chance to settle a bit before going with her to find more of her people. This gets delayed, and he ends up marrying her. That is more or less a Prologue. The meat of the story contains Tier, the soldier, going missing and his wife and children, who are born into Orders themselves, going after him.
There is a drunken sot of a young Emperor who learns to be more than he seems, a dark cult of nasty politics and magic, and a creepy ghost that ends up being amazingly helpful.
Fun and fast paced, it kept me smiling and turning pages and looking forward to book two. Hunt it down. You wont regret it.
