#the thorn of dentonhill

[effervescentnonsense]

Alright Book Lovers

I have a series recommendation for all of you.

If you like:

- Second World fantasy (as in, not our world)

- Magic

- Edwardian/Victorian aesthetics

- Complex stories that will have you cracking out the Red String Board

- Canonically/explicitly Queer characters (including Shield Lesbians, Ace detectives, Bisexual retired spies, healthy polyamorous relationships involving 7 or more people, and even trans characters!)

- So many female characters that one of the books even fails the Reverse Bechdel Test

- a wide array of sub-genres

Then may I present to you,

The Maradaine Saga

The Maradaine Saga is 14 core books that take place in the city of Maradaine, plus two novellas and one full length novel taking place in other parts of the same world. AND COUNTING (this series is still ongoing!)

The core 14 books contain Four main casts and their respective genres:

The Thorn of Dentonhill stars Veranix Calbert, magic student by day, vigilante hero by night, determined to rid his neighbourhood of efitte, the toxic drug sold by crime lord Willem Fenmere, who killed Veranix's father, and deliberately overdosed his mother. Aided by Kaiana, whose father also succumbed to efitte, and Delmin, his fellow magic student, and his cousin Colin, the street gang member.

A Murder of Mages follows Minox Welling, an inspector for the Maradaine Constabulary, a genius, if socially awkward, and considered a jinx around the station, because he is secretly an untrained mage. Assigned to be his partner is Satrine Rainey, mother of two, struggling to make ends meet with her husband who was gravely injured in the line of duty. Formerly of Druth Intelligence, she is 15 years out from her time as a spy, and forges her paperwork to get the only job she can do that will pay the bills- becoming the first woman inspector on the force.

The Holver Alley Crew- when Holver Alley goes up in flames, killing dozens of people and destroying the homes and businesses of many more, brothers Asti and Verci Rynax discover it was arson, and are determined to use their skills as thieves to track down who destroyed their neighbourhood. Asti, a former spy for Druth Intelligence, retired because of his recent escape from an enemy prison where he was tortured until it broke his mind, and Verci, husband and father and inventor of all sorts of gadgets. Recruiting old friends and new, they set to perform daring heists to make the arsonists pay.

The Way of the Shield- Dayne Heldrin is easy to spot in a crowd- towering at 7ft tall, and in his blue Tarian Uniform- he is a veritable Knight of the Modern era. He is a candidate in the Tarian order, a historic organization upholding values of Chivalry and Defending the Innocent, Shield on arm. He has just returned from being overseas, where his mentor was killed by the Gearbox Killer, a maniacal murderer who builds elaborate clockwork contraptions, designed to kill. Dayne barely survived, and his advancement to an Adept Tarian is in doubt. He befriends a young Initiate, Jerinne, and begins to mentor her, pushing her to be stronger, and uphold the values of the Tarians. Political Conspiracy is afoot, however, as a shadowy organization has fashioned themselves after the Grand 10, ten historic figures that helped turn the country of Druthal into what it is today.

All of these books take place in the same city, at the same time, and as the series goes on, recurring characters and crossovers begin to appear as these ragtag bunch of do-gooders find allies in each other.

I cannot stop talking about this series, its so good! The worldbuilding is immaculate (after all, the author, Marshall Ryan Maresca, is one of the hosts of the podcast Worldbuilding for Masochists), the pacing will keep you gripping your seat for dear life!

[eridanidreams]

The Maradaine Saga

Reposting this from my bluesky account. If you're looking for some hella good fantasy, check these books out! If you liked HP back in the day, but you want something that hasn't been eaten by the TERF braineater? These are fantastic! Want some hard-nosed crime drama? How about a heist or two?

Marshall Ryan Maresca has it all, my friends! I was privileged to attend his very first reading of A Thorn of Dentonhill at Armadillocon lo these many moons and mango seasons ago, and I was hooked with the first book. I've gotten them all as they've come out and haven't regretted a thing. His worldbuilding is ambitious and his storytelling is gripping!

On top of all that, he has an amazing worldbuilding podcast that's been nominated for another Hugo!

Check him out at his blog!

[miraculoustrashblogger]

Alright, in the wake of the boops having dragged my dead blog back to life...

Hello friends! Many of you followed me because of my Miraculous Ladybug ficlets while we desperately awaited season 2 to drop. I've falled off the MLB train, but I am not out of the fandom scene yet

Mostly, I'm gonna start using this blog for my new Fandom Fixation

The Maradaine Saga by Marshall Ryan Maresca

Its a book series, and if you like:

- second world fantasy

- miss the days of reading about magic school students (and are intrigued by a magic student who goes vigilante hero on drug dealers in dark alleys)

- enjoy Procedural detective stories

- knights, Shield Lesbians, and political intrigue and conspiracies

- reformed thieves being forced back into performing heists to find out who burned down their neighbourhood

It has all of the above. There are 15 books and 3 novellas (and counting!) in this world. 4 main casts that the books follow, alternating, and slowly we begin to see their lives collide and they meet and interact! Its such a good series! It also gets Queerer and Queerer as the story goes on (i cant even count the number of queer characters, theres so many)

Book 1 is The Thorn of Dentonhill, which stars Veranix the magic student vigilante hero.

I'm obsessed with this series and I hope you'll join me!

[the-dust-jacket]

You're mileage is going to vary on what constitutes a major character death and my memory is a frail and fallible thing, but with that caveat--!

For similar-feeling worlds and/or character dynamics: The Palace Job, Terrier, The Thorn of Dentonhill or The Holver Alley Crew, normally this is where I'd put The Lies of Locke Lamora but that has way too high of a body count.

Rogues, reprobates, and magnificent bastards: The Thief, Game of Kings (historical fiction, but excellent if you want moral ambiguity, intrigue, big casts, cunning conmen, betrayal and revenge), Little Thieves, The Legend of Eli Monpress, A Darker Shade of Magic (ETA that as @sawthefaeriequeen pointed out this isn't standalone and it does get bloody by the end of the trilogy. This may apply to other sequels/series too.)

General vibes: The Gilded Wolves, Court of Fives, Fall of a Kingdom.

If you're looking for fantasy heists and cons but substantially lighter: Mairelon the Magician, Valour and Vanity, The Thief Lord, Fly By Night, Red Heir.

Anyone have any recommendations for a book series similar to the six of crows duology? (Without any major character deaths)

:)

[sapphicunicorn]

The Thorn of Dentonhill by Ryan Marshall Maresca (fantasy)

Veranix Calbert leads a double life. By day, he’s a struggling magic student at the University of Maradaine. At night, he spoils the drug trade of Willem Fenmere, crime boss of Dentonhill and murderer of Veranix’s father. He’s determined to shut Fenmere down.   With that goal in mind, Veranix disrupts the delivery of two magical artifacts meant for Fenmere's clients, the mages of the Blue Hand Circle.  Using these power-filled objects in his fight, he quickly becomes a real thorn in Fenmere's side.   So much so that soon not only Fenmere, but powerful mages, assassins, and street gangs all want a piece of “The Thorn.” And with professors and prefects on the verge of discovering his secrets, Veranix’s double life might just fall apart. Unless, of course, Fenmere puts an end to it first.

I don’t have many (or maybe any) vigilante stories, so when I spotted The Thorn of Dentonhill’s interesting cover--and the promise of wizards--I snatched it up. The set-up is so good but as the story goes on it just becomes predictable.

Veranix has devoted his life to being the thorn in Fenmere’s side. Fenmere killed Veranix’s father, addicted his mother to a drug called effitte, and now Fenmere has no idea Veranix is even alive, not to mention destroying his drug operation.

The book starts out so good! It’s action packed, it’s fast paced, Veranix’s struggle between getting enough sleep for school or spending all night fighting drug lords is fun--it’s all pretty fun in the beginning. The action scenes are well written and constantly moving. The introduction of street gangs, of the divide between the university students and everyone else, was interesting. But the characters absolutely can’t carry the story in the second half and it crawls to a snail’s pace.

Veranix, when he’s not busting drug lords, is boring. He’s the typical “Has too much power and doesn’t know how to/can’t use it properly” trope, and of course he’s failing his classes. The mystery of his past is also typical. At this point it’s nearly expected. There’s just a small spin on it this time because we have a character who knows his past. He’s intentionally lying about it, and it’s nice that he doesn’t immediately dump it all on the reader. We learn about his past when other characters do. But it doesn’t help him avoid that Gary Stu territory. While it’s nice that he does get beat up in his fights, he magically makes a great escape, or kills the person, and makes it home. Every time.

Colin was maybe the best character. He had more going for him than Veranix, being an orphan and captain of a street gang, and I started to wish the book would stop playing with the magic school idea and focus more on the street gangs. Colin was definitely more interesting--actually, all of the street gangs were more interesting than the little bits we got to see about the university! I can’t even say why I enjoyed following Colin more than Veranix. Maybe it was Colin’s level-head, his common sense, and the way he hustled for the information he needed or whatever needed done. Veranix just kind of had what he needed handed to him.

I just really wanted less magic school, more street gangs.

My biggest problem--besides Fenmere being an evil stereotype--was with Kaiana’s character. She’s the only woman in the entire book that actually speaks. The rest of the unnamed women mentioned in passing are drug-addicted whores, naturally. Veranix claims Kaiana is his friend, but really, she’s just a tool for him. She keeps all of his gear, she treats his wounds, she takes the fall for him multiple times. There’s no substance to her character besides “Plot convenience that helps Veranix” and there’s never anything that proves otherwise. This book was published in 2015, not the 80s where these problems ran unchecked, so I really see no excuse for her horrible treatment. Oh wait, did I mention Kaiana is a WOC?

While the book started out great, and I loved the idea of Spiderman (there are a lot of comparisons to Batman, but Veranix definitely moves more like Spiderman) meets Harry Potter, I wanted to skip through a majority of the book to find Colin’s next chapter or just get it all over with. It became boring and predictable. When the action went away, it was all on the characters to move the story and they just couldn’t do it. Honestly, I can’t even tell you how it ends. It was just... mediocre.

[the-dust-jacket]

[velvetblush]

The Thorn of Dentonhill (Maradaine) by Marshall Ryan Maresca

“But you will go after him.”

“Like fire and blazes. As long as he’s poisoning the streets.”

[kestrellady]

August Reading Wrap-Up

A few more books this month, but still fewer than the first part of the year. You can definitely tell on my pages graph when we went on vacation and when my husband left on his trip right after.

Books I Actually Rated What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher- 4.5/5 A quick, delightfully creepy retelling of Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher. Kingfisher has a gift for taking characters that should be very tropey and making them feel like real people. And there's a sequel in the works!

Stand Out Books from August Heartstone by Elle Katharine White An homage to Pride and Prejudice but with Dragons! This is classed as YA, but could easily be shelved with adult fantasy, imo. The author does a great job hitting the heart and story beats of Pride and Prejudice while letting the characters be their own people with their own motivations. First in a trilogy, though the others aren't a retelling of anything.

Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace This book was... something. I really don't know how to classify it. Somewhere between fantasy and dystopian sci-fi, shelved as YA, but opens with the protagonist in a ritual fight to the death, so 🤷 An incredibly rich mythology that seems to suggest conclusions without actually spelling them out for the reader. Whatever it was, it's going to stick in my brain for a long time and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

This Side of Murder by Anna Lee Huber First in the Verity Kent series. I love Huber's Lady Darby mysteries, so I picked this one up to scratch the itch until the next one comes out and it's definitely a very different protagonist. These are set just after WWI and it's really fascinating to see a world (and protagonist) that is simultaneously trying to move past a catastrophic war and still dealing with the fallout.

What I'm Reading Now The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson I was thoroughly captivated by Wilkerson's more recent book Caste, so I added this one to the list. It's the story of the Great Migration told primarily through three protagonists that left the South at slightly different times. It does a beautiful job weaving together the broad strokes historical with the incredibly personal. Hopefully I can finish before it goes back to the library in a few days. 🤞

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle Despite being able to quote the movie most of the way through, I'd never read the novel, so this was perfect for the Read Harder challenge. It's... strange. I can hear so many of the lines in the voices from the film, but there are also references that I definitely didn't get as a kid and times the novel about breaks the fourth wall. I'd probably call it a "modern fairy tale" more than just about anything else I've ever read.

What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month I started Marshall Ryan Maresca's Maradaine world with the Constabulary series and only realized at the third book that they're all intertwined, so I'm going back to start from The Thorn of Dentonhill. Crossing my fingers on a few holds coming in soon, especially Ruby Fever, the third Catalina book in Ilona Andrews' Hidden Legacy series, and Fault Tolerance, the last in Valerie Valdes' Chilling Effect series. Nona the Ninth also comes out next month, but the odds of me getting to read it next month are pretty slim.

Book Challenges I'm most of the way through both of the Read Harder books I picked for last month, so the goal is to finish those and two more to get caught back up. I've got either Velvet Was the Night or While Justice Sleeps for (10) Read a political thriller by a marginalized author, but I'm not sure about the other one. I've tentatively got The Song of Achilles down for (3) the Women's Prize longlist, but it's got a ridiculous number of holds on it (like 125 on 21 copies for the ebook despite being a decade old! Seriously people!), so maybe it'll be The Cat Who Saved Books for (2) Set in a Bookstore, instead. For r/Fantasy's Book Bingo, I've got The Oleander Sword on hold, which will cover "Revolutions and Rebellions."

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[lacependragon]

Newest additions to my shelves! The Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick, a very intense, political fantasy. And The Thorn of Dentonhill and The Velocity of Revolution by Marshall Ryan Maresca. Thorn is the first of his Maradaine books, which are all different wacky subgenres in fantasy? This one is superheroes. Velocity is a dieselpunk, post-apocalyptic, poly and queernorm society of motorcycle racers trying to hold their lives together against the world.

God I am excited.

[ibelieveinturtles]

Meme things

tagged by @dresupi

top 5 ships:

Darcy Lewis/Bucky Barnes (MCU)

Darcy Lewis/Brock Rumlow (Triple agent version) (MCU)

Geralt/Yennefer (The Witcher)

lipstick or chapstick neither

last song: Jump - Van Halen (I’ve got an 80′s playlist on shuffle in Spotify)

last movie: That I actually paid attention to??? And wasn’t just playing while I read fic?? I think it was Little Monsters.

last tv show: Um, I think we were watching an episode of Bones right before I went to bed last night...

reading: I’ve been rereading all of @yespumpkindoodlesthings tumblr prompts on AO3, and listening to the audiobook of The Thorn Of Dentonhill by Marshall Ryan Maresca

three random things that make me happy:

a good book, a good movie, my bed

tagging @chrissihr @yespumpkindoodlesthings @aenariasbookshelf @dixiedolittle @madamebaggio

[daniellethamasa]

Hey all, Dani here.

Well, here we are, at the very end of January. It’s hard to believe that we have completed an entire month of 2019 already. Time flies when you keep busy I suppose. And we have been pretty darn busy here at Mousai Books. There was at least one post up every day (and a few days there were two). Every day when I would log in to check my comments and respond and all that, I found myself blown away at my stats. Seriously, I can’t thank you all enough for joining us here in our bookish and geeky corner of the world.

So, with January pretty much over, I suppose I should actually focus on February a little bit. And because I think my January Wrap-Up post will be a bit on the longer side, I am splitting the TBR onto a different post.

Since my experience with Kathy at Books and Munches and her monthly reading challenges has gone great so far, I’m going to stick with it. For February this means participating in Fantastic February, where we will read all the fantasy and/or paranormal books. Now does this mean I’m only going to read those genres? Well, probably not, but they will likely be a majority of what I read.

Actually, since using the TBR mug in January made things so interesting, I’m going to keep using a TBR mug. But I’m going to run through all the possible fantasy and paranormal books I’ll be adding to the mug, just so you can get an idea of where I’m going with my reading.

The one book that won’t be going into the mug is King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo. Of course I will be reading this one as soon as it is in my grabby little hands. Nikolai is one of my favorite characters in the Grishaverse, so I’m really looking forward to reading this one.

Other books that will be included in my possible February TBR include: Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik, City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett, The Exiled Queen by Cinda Williams Chima, To Kill a Kingdom by Alexandra Christo, Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell, Tower of Dawn by Sarah J Maas, The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, The Thorn of Dentonhill by Marshall Ryan Maresca, Priest of Bones by Peter McLean, Onyx & Ivory by Mindee Arnett, The Boneless Mercies by April Genevieve Tucholke, The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty, and The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan.

I find it highly unlikely that I would make it through all of these, but I wanted to have a little variety in my fantasy subgenres and such. But there are quite a few in the list that are filled with political intrigue, or a heist plot, so clearly that’s the kind of mood I’m in, and that is totally fine with me.

Wow, so many of my potential book choices are lengthy ones. They would certainly knock a few titles off my list for my year of Big Books. The only way to see what happens is to just start reading.

What reading plans do you have for February? Let me know in the comments, because you know I’m always ready to talk about books. I’ll be back soon with more bookish content.

Fantastic February TBR Hey all, Dani here. Well, here we are, at the very end of January. It's hard to believe that we have completed an entire month of 2019 already.

[kammartinez]

Just read and reviewed The Thorn of Dentonhill (Maradaine #1), by Marshall Ryan Maresca (click on the pic to get to my review).

This isn't actually half-bad, for a fantasy novel that's set in yet another European-esque city and starring a Spiderman-esque protagonist. The city itself is interesting, but it could have been better-built. Some cities have a kind of life, but Maradaine just doesn't have that spark fo life that makes me really want to live in it, if only for a while. The potential's there, though, which is pretty cool. Hopefully Maresca can give Maradaine a pulse in the next books.

As for the characters, they aren't all that bad, but the protagonist isn't all that interesting: it's the other characters who are, and they're the ones who kept me reading. I'm especially fond of Kaiana, who's the only girl in this whole sausage-fest of a novel, and I sure do hope Maresca pulls in more girls because seriously, this novel needs them badly. I also hope Kaiana and Veranix don't get into a romantic relationship ever, because I'm desperate for platonic female-male friendships/partnerships, and their dynamic is just fine, thanks. I've also got a soft spot for Colin and Delmin, with Delmin occupying a slightly squisher space than Colin because he tries to help Veranix with all his schoolwork, he really does, but then again he doesn't know his best friend's a drug-busting vigilante so there's not much he can do.

Villains are...well, I'll say Fenmere is pretty interesting--farthest thing from sympathetic, but there's something there I kind of like about him as a villain, so I'm looking forward to more from him. The mages of the Blue Hand, though, are like cartoon villains: cackle in their lairs and yell "We'll get you for this!" over their shoulders while running away when they've been defeated. And they're supposed to be more dangerous than Fenmere? Hopefully (again) that changes further down the line in later books.

Plot's like everything else: pretty fun, but could use some work. I mean, it works, and it's not bad, but I keep thinking that the twists could've been twistier, the sudden changes in fortune more striking. Or something. I just think it could have been more than what I got, is all.

So in all, not that bad a turnout, for a first novel. I wouldn't mind swinging into Maradaine again, or meeting these characters again for another adventure. But the next Maradaine novel looks like it's going to be a murder mystery, so let's see how that goes while waiting on the next Veranix book. Might turn out to be a great deal of fun.

[bookcountryofficial]

Congratulations to Book Country member Marshall Ryan Maresca! His debut fantasy novel THE THORN OF DENTONHILL is now on sale. Read what Marshall says about his path to publication. 

[the-dust-jacket]

[velvetblush]

Not your Maradaine!Anon but I want to know more about these. Do I start at Thorn of Dentonhill? It seems like there's three Book Ones!

aaahhhh i’m so happy you want to read it!!

there are 3 series set in this universe; maradaine, the maradaine constabulary and the streets of maradaine.

maradaine is about a teen vigilante named veranix calbert. this is the series we’re currently discussing about. the first book is the thorn of dentonhill

the maradaine constabulary is about 2 inspectors. i can’t say much about this one because i haven’t read it. but maradaine!anon said this series is also good

the streets of maradaine is about a heist lead by the rynax brothers. i’ve read this one and it’s pretty good!

you can read one of the series without reading the others. but i’m sure at one point all of them will collide so I suggest you read all!

If you want to read in chronological order, here’s the order:

The Thorn of Dentonhill (maradaine #1)

A Murder of Mages (the maradaine constabulary #1)

The Holver Alley Crew (the streets of maradaine #1)

The Alchemy of Chaos (maradaine #2)

An Import of Intrigue (the maradaine constabulary #2)

Lady Henterman’s Wardrobe (the streets of maradaine #2) *

The Imposters of Aventil (maradaine #3)

A Parliament of Bodies (maradaine constabulary #3) *

* come out next year

let me know if you still have any questions!

[kestrellady]

October Reading Round Up

Not a great month for books. Several that I didn't enjoy when I really hoped they'd be good and lots of days where I was just trying to get through something before it went back to the library.

Books I Actually Rated The Haunting of Highdown Hall by Shani Struthers - 3/5 I think my biggest gripe with this book is that it felt more like a cozy mystery than the horror it was shelved as. Also, trigger warnings for sexual assault and harassment and some not great handling thereof. Full review

Forget the Alamo by Jason Stanford, Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson - 2.75/5 I love Texas history and was very prepared to be wowed by this book and it just... wasn't that good. The jokes didn't land for me and often got in the way of the narrative. I didn't feel like they actually made a case for their argument, and actively countered it by discussing all the ways the Alamo narrative should actually be expanded to include the history of groups other than the Anglos involved in the 1836 battle (which I agree with! It just doesn't work while also trying to say that the Alamo doesn't matter and we should stop paying so much attention to it). They also desperately needed an editor. They referred to a painting of figures at the Battle of the Alamo as having "massive boners." My dear readers, they meant "inaccuracies." Full Review

Stand Out Books from October The Thorn of Dentonhill by Marshall Ryan Maresca It's always wonderful to find a story about a college kid who manages to both feel like a college kid and not be horrible annoying. Think Batman, if Batman had Robin's backstory, attended college, and had magic. So excited to read the next books.

Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir I'm still working out exactly what happened in this book. I don't think I've ever hit book 3 of a fantasy series and still had no idea what was going on. I'm definitely going to have to re-read this series after the last book comes out and see how much foreshadowing I can spot with the benefit of hindsight. Also, no spoilers, but weird The Last Unicorn parallels.

What I'm Reading Now I'm about a third of the way through While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams. So far it's really good! I've had to wait a bit on it because I know when I pick it up again I'll probably finish it in one sitting. I'm also working through La ciudad de las bestias by Isabel Allende. I read this YA trilogy in translation a lot as a kid, so I thought it was a good place to ease into reading full books in Spanish.

What I'm Looking Forward to Next Month I'm hopeful I'll get my hold on A Restless Truth by Freya Markse in fairly soon. The first book in the series was a bit of a surprise favorite, so I'm really looking forward to this one. I got Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt in from the library and I'm hoping it'll hit the spooky craving I've been missing so far. I've also got The Shadowy Horses by Susanna Kearsley, and her books usually hit that vibe, so fingers crossed.

Reading Challenges I've got my last book for the r/Fantasy Book Bingo, Six Crimson Cranes for 24. No Ifs, Ands, or Buts. The Song of Achillles finally came in, so I've got that for Read Harder 3. Women's Prize winner or nominee. While Justice Sleeps will count for 10. a political thriller by a marginalized author, but I've also got One for All for 23. a book by a disable author. If I finish all of those this month, I'll actually be ahead for once!

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