Tag: John C. Adams

  • King, Queen, Knave: The Eternal Love Triangle in Fantasy Fiction and Film

    by John C. Adams in Issue 117, October 2021 Readers of Medieval tales were fascinated by the notion of a young queen married to a much older kingly husband who was often a total stranger, generally without her wishes on the subject being taken into account and with the marriage arranged to bolster international alliances…

  • On the Ocean Wave: How Sea Voyages in Fantasy Can Provide Both Threats and Opportunities

    by John C. Adams in Issue 112, May 2021 Poor roads and the danger of coming under attack from robbers or worse when travelling overland can make a journey by boat seem the natural way to journey afar, but in the fantasy universe the ocean waves can harbour equally fearsome enemies. The sagas of Viking…

  • Green Fingers? The Garden in Fantasy Fiction

    by John C. Adams in Issue 106, November 2020 For millennia, gardens have been the ideal location for sin and subterfuge, especially when competing forces clash for prestige and power without descending into open hostility. Where concealment is ranked above all else, the leafy avenues and closeted walls of a formal garden can be relied…

  • A Dance with Dragon’s Volume 2: After the Feast, by George R. R. Martin

    by John C. Adams in Issue 104, September 2020 This is the most recent installment in the long-running and hugely popular ‘A Game of Thrones’ series, also known as ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’. For anyone who isn’t familiar with the books and their accompanying TV adaptation, the idea of jumping in partway through a…

  • ‘The Desert Spear’ by Peter V. Brett: A Review

    by John C. Adams The Desert Spear by Peter V Brett is the sequel to The Painted Man, his debut novel. Both lie clearly within the dark fantasy subgenre courtesy of the night demons terrorising villagers and city-dwellers alike. There are also aspects of epic fantasy and quest, and a certain amount of the novel is also…