#the World of the Five Gods

[nobodysuspectsthebutterfly]

Do you have any high fantasy book recs? I have enjoyed asoiaf and would like to explore more of the genre

Sure, you can see a lot in my book recs tag, with plenty of details, but here's a quick list of my favorite high fantasy series:

The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien (yes, everyone knows this one, but you might be a complete newbie to fantasy, so hey)

The Discworld series, by Terry Pratchett (ditto; also note I detest those reading order guides you may see around, I read the books as they were published (almost) and I was better than fine ok)

The World of the Five Gods, by Lois McMaster Bujold (I recommend again going with publishing order for the novels, then moving on to the Penric novellas, either publishing or chronological. I also rec her Sharing Knife series, though it's not a top favorite, her Spirit Ring novel is sweet and should appeal to YA fantasy fans, and I highly rec her Vorkosigan Saga to ASOIAF fans, though it's SF.)

The Chronicles of Amber, by Roger Zelazny (love this series so much, always rec it to fans of ASOIAF, and like GRRM I agree it desperately needs a tv adaptation)

The Chronicles of Prydain, by Lloyd Alexander (utter classic, very badly served by the Disney adaptation, needs a much better one)

The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis (another classic, and lol publishers really like "chronicles" don't they)

Pelmen the Powershaper series, by Robert Don Hughes (out of print for a long time sadly, but you may be able to find cheap used books)

and there's so much more, in low fantasy and other sub-genres (Naomi Novik's various series and novels are big loves of mine, and I adore Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series), check my tag!

[umbershift]

You should read the Penric and Desdemona books

[severalsmallhedgehogs]

I’m Going To Talk About the Five Gods

Specifically the Penric and Desdemona novellas. If you follow me for fic, know that they were the inspiration for the Luxon’s whole vibe in Memory. Maybe mild vibe spoilers for Memory underneath? Definitely some spoilers for Penric’s Mission and Orphans of Raspay. But I have to talk about this. Fair warning there is no structure I’m just talking

Ok so there’s The Mother, the Father, the Son, the Daughter, and the Bastard, okay? I love the Bastard. I love how when two children of one of his saints got kidnapped by pirates he went “Ok how do I fix this? Penric and Desdemona are out at sea, they’ll immediately instinctively protect the kids, let’s get them kidnapped by the same pirates and that’ll work itself out. :) Also Penric will light some metaphorical fire in that temple while we’re at it.”

I still think about that little moment in the Cedonia trilogy when Penric opens the Father’s offering box and finds a ton of money in there and is like “oh someone wants to win a legal battle huh” and later he starts to suspect that the Father borrowed him and Desdemona for this fake treason charge stuff. I’m imagining the Father going “Ok I’m gonna borrow these two a little for a long game, but I’ll make sure people are donating enough money for them to take out of the offering box ok? ok”

Or the story about the Daughter’s temple in Limnos, and a group of occupying raiders getting struck by a plague from the Daughter. “Or a really angry woman poisoning the well.” The really angry woman poisoning the well could be argued as the plague sent by the Daughter. The Bastard’s Order’s motto is “The gods have no hands but our own.”

There’s also the situation in Lodi, with Penric grieving people he couldn’t save and expectations he couldn’t meet, and Chio grieving the demons she’s seen destroyed. The Bastard basically pushed them together and was like “You two will understand each other really well. Comfort and spiritual counsel both ways. Go”

Even Penric getting Desdemona (the demon who lives in his head and lets him do magic) was probably arranged by the Bastard. The person Desdemona was with last wanted to take a different route to town. Penric was late leaving for a ceremony. And as a result Penric came across the previous person as she was dying, and Desdemona jumped to him. Her previous person thought of Penric as the “Bastard’s last blessing.” The Bastard is the god of accidents and mischance, by the way. All disasters out of season.

And don’t even get me started on the guy who just wants to sit beside a river pretending to fish, and kind of offered the Bastard companionship and a place to just sit around because he figures the Bastard doesn’t get offerings like that very much. And the Bastard went “That one. I love that one. I’m gonna make him a saint so my order will pay for him to sit around and take naps on the riverbank and occasionally do a little work for me.”

I love how these gods kind of nudge and arrange things, mostly. And then also appear in dreams and be like “You did good. Also I see you’re worried about snow. No rush, just don’t stay here more than three days ok”

I have a lot of feelings about the Bastard in particular but that’s its own post and it’s late

[booksaresacredspew]

Penric: *having existential angst over injuring someone who was literally trying to kill him* what do I do I don't want to become a violent person

Princess-Archdivine Llewyn: Pen, dear, first take a bath and wash your hair. Then eat something and get some sleep. We can talk theology tomorrow.

Penric: yes, Mother

[hdra77]

if you've been following me since my first posts when i was very new to the fandom you'd notice how i used to draw iterator with mouths now i just wonder what would happen if i just..draw them with mouths again lol

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[zenala-art]

the perfect excuse to show everyone my designs

[pilkypills]

Thinking about Frodo and Thorin. It is nuts how two characters who have never interacted can be so father and son coded.

[twigs-sprigs]

misc rw doodles from my sketchook

i dont usually post sketchbook stuff but i thought hey why not i kinda like some of these

theyre a bit messy but ah its fine

[vellichorom]

we've waited all 8 years, to fi~na~lly bring true our fears; newcomers to watch us play, & veterans rejoice - it's our day! 🎉

[void-and-virtue]

Lying on the floor in a puddle of my tears and staring blankly at the ceiling as I once again think about all the fucked up, multi-dimensional ways that Kim Dokja, Yoo Joonghyuk and Han Sooyoung encompass the god vs creation and deity vs worshipper dynamics

[silkysong]

the rot and infection switch places what hapens?

oh, yknow

everything is fine

[slugfishh]

I miss a lot of my old, more relaxed iterator doodles so I’m trying to fall back into that and take a break from from rendering everything I touch, so expect some more silly loose stuff

[pmpwbrrs]

[gods-little-meow-meow]

i think the real tragedy in rain world is how slow everything moved. there is no one fixed point in the timeline where everything could've worked out, the iterators were doomed from their birth. the ancients died centuries ago, silver's ascension is but a distant memory. how long did it take for moon to collapse, in her slowly decaying structure? how long did she sit there and beg for pebbles to save her? and after her collapse how long did she wait half dead and alone for hunter to save her? was there any way out of this? a fixed point everything went wrong? no, just a slow and tedious march towards the end.

[riant-draws]

go read Leaving Only Rust Behind by @clubsheartsspades if you haven't, and if you have, do it again XD

this fic is so, so good. not only is the writing awesome (lots of fun details if you look close), but the characterization is delightful, both heartfelt and heart-wrenching. my favorite, FAVORITE scene is, well, near the end of chapter 19 GAAAAHHH /pos

ALSO! GO GO READ THE SEQUEL! (From Rust We Rise) I've only just started it myself but mmmmmmm does not disappoint

(haha not me drawing a scene from the one chapter pebbs isn't a slugpup... seriously tho I can't draw scugs (or animals) to save my life. send help)