On the last Friday evening in July, I went to the new after-dark Fantasy event at Paperchain books in Manuka, I believe the tickets sold out quickly. It was a lovely evening filled with fantasy enthusiasts and local genre writers. I was extravagant and bought 7 books! The bookstore brought out many of the evenings' genre books for display with the guest of honour Sam Hawke choosing the titles for one of the tables.
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke was highly recommended to me by Canberra book blogger Tinted Edges. I could have wandered the halls of statues with Piranesi for a long time so evocative are the descriptions - and what inspired my statue studies. It really is the perfect book - mysterious, atmospheric, philosophical. Angharad was correct that I would love it and you can read her review of Piranesi here.
Q: I'm curious - What books have you read with memorable statues? (The books of Narnia come to mind but I'd love to hear more).
I also enjoyed the fast-paced political fantasy City of Lies by Sam Hawke. Thread Needle by Cari Thomas and Torn by Rowenna Miller both have themes of sewing and magic. I particularly liked the stitching and fashion details in Torn. Despite the lovely cover and magic system, after a few chapters, Thread Needle suddenly went very YA.
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho is a magical adventure set in regency Britain with oodles of magic, crotchety fairies, and dragons. Humour and satire poke equally at the patriarchy and colonialism while the plot races on.