Tough Traveling: Immortals

The Thursday feature "Tough Traveling" is the brainchild of Nathan of Review Barn, who has come up with the excellent idea of making a new list each week based on the most common tropes in fantasy, as seen in The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynn Jones. Nathan has invited anyone who is interested to come play along, so be sure to check out the first link for more information. Compulsive list-maker that I am, I'm very excited to take part!

This week's tour topic is: Immortals

IMMORTALS are fairly common in Fantasyland. There are three kinds:
1. GODDESSES AND GODS, who exist forever unless people stop believing in them.
2. ELVES or DARK LORDS, who live forever unless someone kills them.
3. Humans who are
a) Cursed and have to spend Eternity drearily Questing and/or hating everything.
b) MAGIC USERS. These generally find plenty of occupy the long years and mostly have a rather good time.

It's feast or famine with these Tough Traveling weeks! We could probably go on forever with books featuring immortals, but to keep this post to a reasonable length and because time is limited, I thought I might be cool if I split up my list using the categories outlined above and feature just a couple books (hopefully one obvious choice, and one not-so-obvious choice) for each.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
The following two entries are specifically for "Gods who exist forever unless people stop believing in them." Well, that's pretty much the central premise of this book, the idea that gods and other mythological creatures exist due to the sheer force of spiritual belief or mental discipline. From Odin to leprechauns, immortality was achieved when immigrants to the US brought with them their beliefs, though as that belief began to wane thanks to obsession with technology and new fads so did the power of the mythological beings. (Review)

Thief's Covenant by Ari Marmell
The minor god Olgun doesn't actually have a physical body, but he definitely still counts in this category (and I also love these books so much, I never miss an opportunity to talk about them). Instead, he hitches a ride in the protagonist Widdershins' head because she is his last worshiper. They need each other, as Olgun can augment many of Widdershins' abilities and help her get out of tough jams, and Widdershins being his last believer is also the only reason Olgun still has a presence in this world. (Review)

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
The obvious choice and most well-known example for immortal ELVES, it would be remiss if I didn't include them. Exactly as the examples states, Tolkien's elves in world of Middle-earth are immune to disease and do not experience physical aging, though they can still be killed by violence or by wasting away when they lose their will to live. Otherwise, they're essentially immortal.

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
My entry for immortal DARK LORD is the Darkling from Bardugo's Grisha trilogy. At first, all we know of the Darkling is that he is the charming, handsome and mysterious leader of the Grisha, but then he is eventually revealed as main antagonist. Turns out all the Darklings who held leadership in the past were all one and the same man - he is an ancient powerful force that has existed since the beginning. (Review)

The Scroll of Years by Chris Willrich
Hmm, cursed humans. Well, Imago Bone isn't exactly what I'd call "dreary". In fact, as a thief and scoundrel, he lives a pretty merry and exciting existence adventuring with his lover Persimmon Gaunt. But he has been touched in some way with immortality. I don't know how precisely, since I've never read the short stories, but the book's description states "A thief in his ninth decade who is double-cursed", Imago has not aged in nearly seventy years. Cursed? Check. Immortal? Sounds like it to me. Questing? Always. (Review)

Hounded by Kevin Hearne
Here's my example for a human MAGIC USER who finds plenty to occupy their long years and mostly have a good time. Uh yeah, that pretty much describes Atticus O'Sullivan to a T. The guy definitely knows how to have fun, and at the moment this two-thousand year old druid's idea of fun is setting up shop in Tempe, Arizona with his talking dog, selling herbal tea to college students and New Age types. Plus, he gets his kicks looking and acting like a frat boy. (Review)

YA Weekend: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Series: Book 1 of The Grisha

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (June 5, 2012)

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy's Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars


Once in a while, a great book like Shadow and Bone will come along and remind me of why I read YA -- and why overlooking this category of fiction would be a big mistake. It's another one of those titles which had hung around on my to-read list for much too long, and now I wish I'd listened to the glowing reviews and picked it up sooner. It has everything I look for in a YA novel: a likeable protagonist, a sweet and believable romance that's not insta-love, and a pace for storytelling that's just perfect.

At the beginning of the book, we are introduced to a girl and a boy, two orphans who became friends with each other when a kind nobleman took them in. Years later, both Alina and Mal have ended up in the army and are preparing to cross the Fold, a wasteland of darkness where savage creatures called Volcra lurk, ready to swoop down on any unsuspecting travelers. Well, of course they get attacked by Volcra during the crossing. Without understanding how, Alina manages to save the life of her best friend Mal by unleashing a brilliant flash of light as bright as the sun, driving away the creatures.

Anyway, this book doesn't waste time getting to the meat of the story. It turns out Alina is one of the Grisha, and a special one at that. Grisha are what you would call the sorcerers of this world, except I would say that their magic is more like a science -- acts of magic are actually the Grisha manipulating and altering matter at its most basic level. It's an interesting system, and I also find it fascinating that the Grisha have their own social structure, politics and culture. When it is discovered that Alina is the Sun Summoner with the power to control light, she is whisked away to learn the ways of the Grisha, and I had the pleasure of learning all about their society through her eyes.

The world of Shadow and Bone has a sort-of Russian flavor, and yes, the way of the Grisha court has some of your usual YA trappings. Normally, I'd be calling for more world building and further expansion into the book's ideas, but I'm actually quite amazed and how much it was able to convey. Especially when you consider how this was a relatively short novel and a really quick read. The story finds its momentum early on and it just keeps going like that all the way to the end, and I don't think I would have traded that for anything. Everything you need to know is there, and I liked how we don't get any unnecessary detail or lengthy exposition weighing things down.

But it's the characters that made this book such a joy to read. Alina's a tough girl, and even though she can get a tad too sentimental at times, she's proven herself to be quite capable. Her romance with Mal actually feels natural, and I liked the fact that it was the result of a long-term friendship that grew deeper over time. It makes their relationship more genuine, and I could better understand their intense feelings for each other. Since finding a YA romance that I actually like is quite rare for me, it makes a big impression whenever it does happen.

It also helps that this book was exactly what I needed at time. If you're ever in the mood for a quick YA fantasy with a decent romance and a bit of adventure and intrigue thrown in, this will do the trick nicely. I found it very enjoyable!