Sunday, September 27, 2020

Five fantasy novels starring self-taught protagonists

At Tor.com James Davis Nicoll tagged five fantasy novels featuring self-taught protagonists, including:
The Scapegracers by Hannah Abigail Clarke (2020)

Sideways Pike is a self-taught witch, an antisocial autodidact of the arcane. She’s smart, she’s determined, and her doting fathers have bought her some grimoires. No, she hasn’t attained powers beyond mortal comprehension, but she’s learned some minor spells that are flashy enough to convince a trio of popular girls to hire her to entertain at a party.

The party is a wild success. The magic dazzles. Sideways makes new friends and develops a massive crush on one of the girls she met at the party. She has also attracted the attention of witch-hunters determined to save Sideways from the evils of magic…even if stripping the magic from Sideways kills her.
Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue