Friday, July 29, 2016

Five of the best fantasies rooted in folklore

At the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy blog Nicole Hill tagged five top fantasies rooted in folklore, including:
The Devourers, by Indra Das

Das’s recently released debut is at once intoxicating, grotesque, and gorgeously wrought. After an encounter with an alluringly enigmatic stranger, a modern professor in Kolkata, India, becomes engulfed in a tale that traverses centuries. With the blunt boast that he’s half-werewolf (or shape-shifter, djinn, demon, or whichever term a culture prefers), the stranger imparts two distinct stories from the 17th century: that of three shape-shifters, and of a defiant, enterprising young woman. Beyond its ethereal plot, the novel spends much of its attention on the nature of stories and the murky borders between the real and the fantastic, and between right and wrong.
Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue