Five top fantasy action reads with lyrical prose

Howard Andrew Jones's new novel is Upon the Flight of the Queen.

At Tor.com he tagged five favorite fantasy action stories "with great characters and some lovely writing," including:

Last Song Before Night by Ilana C. Myer

There’s a reason NPR described Ilana C. Myer’s first novel as “lyrical, dynamic, and winningly melodic.” That’s a wonderful summation of some of the book’s strengths, and can serve equally well as a descriptor for Myer’s writing throughout the trilogy.

I really can’t understand why her wonderful prose hasn’t earned this gifted author a wider audience. Maybe it’s because people think “lyrical” means slow. Yes, the descriptions are gorgeous, but don’t wander in expecting languid limpid pools to be the subject page after page. Here, have a glimpse from deep in the book and see what she does with the simple act of a musician playing before a fireside audience.

His hands stroked the strings almost tenderly, to start, but that of course did not last. As with so many things, tenderness was only a beginning, giving way to need and violence. And on the first chord where tenderness gave way to need, Edrien’s voice joined the music of the strings, lifted in a chant that recalled the earliest songs of the people who had wandered these mountains, the songs they had bequeathed, over centuries, to their children. That much, at least, he owed his hosts. But it was a song he had written himself, combining their traditional forms with his own inspiration as a young man. It was one of the songs that had made his name what it was.

The children were talking and laughing at first, but soon Edrien was aware that in addition to the darkness that encircled them, they were ensconced in breathless silence that only his music filled.

The flawed and driven characters and the mysteries they uncover propel this book so that you’re soon turning the pages with anticipation. Myers supplies plenty of dynamic tension and layered backstories. When violence occurs in a Myers scene, it is sharp and deadly. I love that much of the book (and those that follow) are set in a musical college that actually feels like a real institution where fantasy bards would train, one with fascinating traditions and secrets so engaging I really wish I’d thought of them myself. And best of all, each book is a little bit better than the one that precedes it, and they start out strong indeed.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue