May 2025 – Peat Long's Blog
10 posts published by peatlong during May 2025| Peat Long's Blog
Kalyna the Soothsayer by Elijah Kinch Spector: A lot of my reading friends have read this one and what they said intrigued me. Fake prophet getting involved in a lot of intrigue is a strong spell. The dramatis personae at the beginning was a touch right after my heart so I settled in with high […]| Peat Long's Blog
I have reviewed every Falco novel but a few on this blog. Lindsey Davis is one of the iconic authors of my personal canon. I hugely appreciate her wit, her nuanced and empathic view of humanity, he…| Peat Long's Blog
Been a while since I’ve done one of these innit. This one’s been on my mind ever since doing a playlist for taking me back to home Now, my love for this song runs deeper than being more Sarf Lahndan than a box of Morleys on your way to the Horniman to see the weird […]| Peat Long's Blog
Most readers end up with a short list of authors where the majority of their works exist on a very special level to them. Guy Gavriel Kay is on mine – is maybe the only living author on it &#…| Peat Long's Blog
It is once again time to update (and slightly expand) my previous top books list. As I rewrite the introduction, I’m currently rewriting the list. It’s a little too easy to pump the sam…| Peat Long's Blog
It is once again time to update (and slightly expand) my previous top books list. As I rewrite the introduction, I’ve got a shortlist of six books worth adding – no, wait, seven –…| Peat Long's Blog
We’re going to try this new thing where I post this within the first few days of the month. Theoretically, that should result in me remembering more things. In practice, May was a low energy month where I didn’t do a lot, so what will there be to remember? WHAT I READ Fantasy The Guns […]| Peat Long's Blog
I knew I was forgetting to do something last month. There are many answers to what that thing was but one of them is reviewing Roger Zelazny’s second book in the Amber Chronicles, namely The Guns of Avalon. To cut right to the chase, the fact I forgot is in many ways the review itself. […]| Peat Long's Blog
I have not done the things with this month’s Wyrd & Wonder that I wished I had done. That’s a bygone though, and as such, all I can do is make the last of it with one last tale of fantasy on the high seas. Tim Powers’ On Stranger Tides. In 1718, Tim Powers’ Caribbean […]| Peat Long's Blog
Once upon a time there was a blogger called Rin, and in a fit of madness she posted about 10,000 ideas for end of year lists. One of them was a best of year for characters. Now, she might have stopped blogging, but I won’t stop blaming her for my bullshit here. This might be year […]| Peat Long's Blog
It is once again long past the time where I update (and slightly expand) my previous top books list (although being late does mean it gets to be part of W&W). As I rewrite the introduction, I&#…| Peat Long's Blog
It’s time for a Wyrd & Wonder readalong. There’s a few kicking around this year but the one that intrigued me most was Sunbolt by Intisfar Khanani, which I knew absolutely nothing a…| Peat Long's Blog
I barely remember April at this point, so this should be a fun read, but better to do it and have something than forget all together. WHAT I READ Non-Fantasy Sharpe’s Siege by Bernard Cornwell – Holy shit, maybe the reason I don’t recall April is I didn’t read anything during it. One palette cleanser […]| Peat Long's Blog
When the very first murmurs of this year’s Wyrd & Wonder could be heard flowing through the water, it was suggested that Patricia McKillip’s The Changeling Sea would make an excelle…| Peat Long's Blog
The background to me trying NK Jemisin’s debut, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, starts with Zezee With Books. We’ve tried a few buddy reads now and when Zezee messaged me asked if I was …| Peat Long's Blog
I haven’t been keeping up with the W&W prompts well but this one’s been earmarked from the beginning because when I saw the prompt watery women, I immediately though of Magrat Garli…| Peat Long's Blog
When I first learned of the maritime mood for this month’s Wyrd & Wonder, my mind went straight to Le Guin’s classic, A Wizard of Earthsea. You see, not only is it one of the keysto…| Peat Long's Blog
This article has been in my mind for a while. I’ve never really had time to sit down and flesh it out properly, so I’m chucking it out as it is and seeing what it brings back in the hop…| Peat Long's Blog
So welcome to another day of Wyrd & Wonder, and today’s prompt is a list around “Favourite nautical myths / folklore (Davy Jones, Flying Dutchman, Bermuda Triangle, mermaids, selkie…| Peat Long's Blog
Welcome to Wyrd & Wonder day 2! The prompt for today is a dark and stormy night. I wasn’t quite sure what to do with that – other than find the rum bottle – until I said it ou…| Peat Long's Blog
Hello all! Welcome to Wyrd & Wonder 2025 where, despite being absolutely snowed under by writing things, I’m going to try and keep with the voyage. Voyage being the operative word because…| Peat Long's Blog
This review is coming right from the hip and is driven by a quote on the Inception wiki page about heist stories traditionally being “very deliberately superficial in emotional terms” a…| Peat Long's Blog
Look. I’m not the most educated on literary matters but at the same time, I’ve been at this game thirty years, man and boy. I’ve been around the block a few times, seen some thing…| Peat Long's Blog
I’m mashing these two into one as they were quiet blogging months. WHAT I READ The creaky reading pace continues Fantasy The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan – I LikeThe Fires of Heaven by Robe…| Peat Long's Blog
Let me start this by saying two things I have a foul mouth I’m beginning to feel actively negative towards swearing in my fantasy books I didn’t always. Goodness, there was a time when …| Peat Long's Blog
When I found Bridge of Birds a long time ago, a life-long love affair started. However, it took me forever to find the sequel, The Story of the Stone, and until now to finally read the last book he…| Peat Long's Blog
As ever, I’m doing the End of Year book tag. I’m doing it a bit later than usual because I forgot about it and it wasn’t until I saw James at Alligators & Aneurysms do it that…| Peat Long's Blog
Let me set the mood for this one with a little rant. I like watching Marvel things with The American as it’s a thing we do but other than that, god I am over Marvel (except Deadpool). I am ov…| Peat Long's Blog
Every now and again you find a book of genius and must rhapsodize about it. That’s quite hard when it’s Tim Powers’ Declare and so much about its genius is not only spoilertastic,…| Peat Long's Blog
In general, I try to avoid knowing too much about a book before I start it. I like to make my voyage of discovery with as few expectations as possible. When it came to time for me and Zezee’s…| Peat Long's Blog
The inspiration for this article arose after an old thread on SFFChronicles was revived by our forum necromancer. The thread was what authors you’d like to see writing new stories in Middle E…| Peat Long's Blog
I, by and large, steer clear of Arthurian retellings. A huge part of this is Cornwell’s Warlord Trilogy, which I read young and took a large amount of direction from. It’s been a long t…| Peat Long's Blog
When you have talked about a favourite book over and over, the only thing left to do is to rip it to bits (lovingly) for entertainment. This is why Katherine Kerr’s Daggerspell is getting the…| Peat Long's Blog
The spark for this post was a book tag. The fuel is the past and the uncomfortable awareness that a good deal of the genre we love has been shaped by deeply dubious beliefs. Let me expound. When do…| Peat Long's Blog
I already had one review of David Eddings’ Pawn of Prophecy in the books. It’s one of my oldest though, written before we knew of the Eddings’ criminal past. As such, I want to do…| Peat Long's Blog
