#thirteenth child

[book--brackets]

Dragonkeeper Chronicles by Donita K. Paul (2004-2008)

When Kale, a slave girl, finds a dragon egg, she is given the unexpected opportunity to become a servant to Paladin. But on her way to The Hall, where she was to be trained, Kale runs into danger. Rescued by a small band of Paladin's servants, Kale is turned from her destination. 

Feeling afraid and unprepared, Kale embarks on a perilous quest to find the meech dragon egg stolen by the foul Wizard Risto. But their journey is threatened when a key member of the party is captured, leaving the remaining companions to find the Wizard Fenworth, attempt an impossible rescue, and recover the egg--whose true value they have not begun to suspect.

Clocktaur War by T. Kingfisher (2017-2018)

A paladin, an assassin, a forger, and a scholar ride out of town. It's not the start of a joke, but rather an espionage mission with deadly serious stakes. T. Kingfisher's new novel begins the tale of a murderous band of criminals (and a scholar), thrown together in an attempt to unravel the secret of the Clockwork Boys, mechanical soldiers from a neighboring kingdom that promise ruin to the Dowager's city.

If they succeed, rewards and pardons await, but that requires a long journey through enemy territory, directly into the capital. It also requires them to refrain from killing each other along the way At turns darkly comic and touching, Clockwork Boys puts together a broken group of people trying to make the most of the rest of their lives as they drive forward on their suicide mission.

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon (1988-1989)

Paksenarrion — Paks for short — is somebody special. She knows it, even if nobody else does yet. No way will she follow her father's orders to marry the pig farmer down the road. She's off to join the army, even if it means she can never see her family again.

And so her adventure begins... the adventure that transforms her into a hero remembered in songs, chosen by the gods to restore a lost ruler to his throne.

Here is her tale as she lived it.

Paks is trained as a mercenary, blooded, and introduced to the life of a soldier . . . and to the followers of Gird, the soldier's god.

Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica by James A. Owen (2006-2016)

An unusual murder brings together three strangers, John, Jack, and Charles, on a rainy night in London during the first World War. An eccentric little man called Bert tells them that they are now the caretakers of the Imaginarium Geographica -- an atlas of all the lands that have ever existed in myth and legend, fable and fairy tale. These lands, Bert claims, can be traveled to in his ship the Indigo Dragon, one of only seven vessels that is able to cross the Frontier between worlds into the Archipelago of Dreams.

Pursued by strange and terrifying creatures, the companions flee London aboard the Dragonship. Traveling to the very realm of the imagination itself, they must learn to overcome their fears and trust in one another if they are to defeat the dark forces that threaten the destiny of two worlds. And in the process, they will share a great adventure filled with clues that lead readers to the surprise revelation of the legendary storytellers these men will one day become.

Dragon Jousters by Mercedes Lackey (2003-2006)

The first book in this thrilling new series introduces us to a young slave who dreams of becoming a jouster-one of the few warriors who can actually ride a flying dragon. And so, in secret, he begins to raise his own dragon...

Frontier Magic by Patricia C. Wrede (2009-2012)

Eff was born a thirteenth child. Her twin brother, Lan, is the seventh son of a seventh son. This means he's supposed to possess amazing talent -- and she's supposed to bring only bad things to her family and her town. Undeterred, her family moves to the frontier, where her father will be a professor of magic at a school perilously close to the magical divide that separates settlers from the beasts of the wild.

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan (2017)

The Borderlands aren’t like anywhere else. Don’t try to smuggle a phone or any other piece of technology over the wall that marks the Border ― unless you enjoy a fireworks display in your backpack. (Ballpoint pens are okay.) There are elves, harpies, and ― best of all as far as Elliot is concerned ― mermaids.  "Serene," said Serene. "My full name is Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle." Elliot? Who’s Elliot? Elliot is thirteen years old. He’s smart and just a tiny bit obnoxious. Sometimes more than a tiny bit. When his class goes on a field trip and he can see a wall that no one else can see, he is given the chance to go to school in the Borderlands. It turns out that on the other side of the wall, classes involve a lot more weaponry and fitness training and fewer mermaids than he expected. On the other hand, there’s Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle, an elven warrior who is more beautiful than anyone Elliot has ever seen, and then there’s her human friend Luke: sunny, blond, and annoyingly likeable. There are lots of interesting books. There’s even the chance Elliot might be able to change the world. In Other Lands is the exhilarating new book from beloved and bestselling author Sarah Rees Brennan. It’s a novel about surviving four years in the most unusual of schools, about friendship, falling in love, diplomacy, and finding your own place in the world ― even if it means giving up your phone.

Iron Butterfly by Chanda Hahn (2012-2014)

Imprisoned, starved and left with no memories, Thalia awakens to find herself at the mercy of an evil cult known as the Septori. Their leader has chosen Thalia as the test subject for a torture device of untold power, designed to change and twist her into something that is neither human nor Denai.

Escaping, Thalia finds an unwilling warrior to protect her and an unlikely Denai to befriend her. After finding a home at the Citadel as a servant, Thalia’s worst nightmare comes to life and she begins to show signs of power. Scared and unable to control her gifts, she tries to hide her past to fit in among the Denai. But the Septori want their latest test subject back and will stop at nothing to retrieve her, dead or alive.

Old Magic by Marianna Curley (2000)

Jarrod Thornton is mesmerizing, but Kate Warren doesn’t know why.

Jarrod is the clumsy new boy at school that Kate can’t take her eyes off, and it’s not just because he has amazing eyes, but because she senses something different about him, and when he inadvertently blows up the classroom, she knows exactly what it is. He has powers like her, except he doesn’t know it and Kate sets out to show him. On their journey of discovery Kate learns Jarrod has an ancient curse on his family that will keep hurting his little brother and parents if they don’t do something to remove it.

Faerie Tale by Raymond E. Feist (1988)

Successful screenwriter Phil Hastings decides to move his family from sunny California to a ramshackle farmhouse in New York State. The idea is to take some time out, relax and pick up the threads of his career as a novelist. Good plan, bad choice. The place they choose is surrounded by ancient woodland. The house they choose is the centrepoint of a centuries-old evil intent on making its presence felt to intruders.

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[moplayspoke]

Yeah uh. I went to B&N just to “look”. Jokes on me.

[literallykarvonenshusband]

I love the end of the far west cause it’s like

“DRAGONS! This must be the climax!”

“OH! DRAGONS! THIS MUST BE THE CLIMAX!”

“OH NO! THE GREAT BARRIER SPELL! (PLEASE LET THIS BE THE CLIMAX I CANT TAKE ANY MORE)”

[melly-fox]

In Patricia C. Wrede's Frontier Magic series, the protagonist's magic just doesn't really work the way the rest of the European/East coast trained magicians' work, so to get by in school, she learns to twist and mess with her spells to make it look like it's working the same way as everyone else's.

For example, to build a complex spell, she has trouble balancing the various elements until they click together, so she uses extra magic outside of the spell to shore it up artificially. Which means she develops a very different understanding of spells from her traditionally taught peers. For her it's not about keeping your magic rigidly organized to make a discrete spell. Instead she focuses on the overall shape and feel of the spells and where the power needs to be and uses extra power to fill in the gaps where she can't make her magic follow the "correct" protocol. So she becomes super skilled at examining the frameworks of magic and understanding where power is going and what function it's serving.

At the end of Book 1, her self taught method of pushing her magic into alignment allows her to save the day because of her unique viewpoint. By the end of the trilogy, as she works with more diverse magicians, she ends up making a major scientific/magical breakthrough that changes people's fundamental understanding of magic.

These books are so cool with such an interesting and unique approach to magic; Eff's descriptions of how she visualizes magic are fascinating. Plus it takes place in a fantasy version of the 1800s where some animals and plants also have magical abilities, and it's both fantastical and realistic about how such a world would affect the people living in it.

All throughout childhood, while my peers were socializing and making friends, I studied the blade read so many books that I am now almost legally blind, which left me with vast and deeply instinctual understanding of English grammar - and next to no ability to explain how it actually works. Friends will often ask me to proofread their writing and then get very mad when I say things like, "You need to completely reverse this sentence and cut this clause entirely; no, I'm sorry, i don't know why, I just know that the way it is now ITCHES 😭"

Now, what I want to see is a fantasy story where this plays out with MAGICAL grammar. Someone from a backwater town deeply steeped in folk magic arrives at Wizard Uni where all their fellow students are like "What do you mean, we should add another '𝞯∘⋇𝞿' to the incancation because it 'sounds better'? What do you mean, 'it could just be a regional thing'?? WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'THIS SPELL JUST FEELS LIKE IT NEEDS A LIVE RAT'????"

[yuarru]

[rtfics]

My own black kitty, Kismet.

[paternostergays]

starting to sense a pattern here

[terapsina]

I'm a bit late to the party with this particular epiphany but you know what's really fucked up? The Timeless Child reveal retroactively means that the Time Lords weren't moved by sentiment to save the Doctor on Trenzalore, - the Doctor was gonna regenerate anyway - they sent that sparkly, sparkly regeneration energy to cover their tracks.

[zagreuses-toast]

Source/source

[ID: a set of gifs from Wild Blue Yonder and from Revolution of the daleks, combining two conversations. A gif of Donna saying "oh, ok. But what really happened?. A gif of the thirteen saying "ah, it's been a rough few decades". A gif of fourteen saying "a lot". A gif of Jack Harness asking "you're Ok now, yeah". A gif of Donna saying "you ok?". A gif of thirteen hesitating and looking down at the controls tiredly. A gif of thirteen looking up and saying "oh, I guess we'll find out". A gif of fourteen saying "I will be". End ID]

[thoscheienjoyer]

Am I the only one who hated the timeless child reveal and thought it made no sense? If they needed a reason for the Master to blow up Gallifrey they had plenty:

The Doctor and the Master were both heavily bullied to the point the Master almost died and the Doctor had to kill the bully to save him because he was being drowned

The Master was locked in a room for who knows how long intentionally as a punishment

The Master was taken from his family as a child to look into something that basically gave him schizophrenia

The Master was told to his face he's "diseased" (End of Time) and he's "the worst thing to come out" (The Five Doctors)

He has constantly been the timelord's pawn, giving him the drums was an intentional decision

It's implied he was tortured for his crimes after being trapped on Gallifrey when he sacrificed himself for the 10th doctor in End of Time

I would have LOVED if the Master blew up Gallifrey simply because he thought they deserved it after how they treated him and the Doctor both. What could make him do this could just be the fact he's disgusted by Missy's actions in trying to be better and feels like he has to do the worst thing he can possibly think of and that's what comes to mind. He'd try to convince the Doctor he's right "Remember how they didn't help us? How they took us and made us see things no child should? How we never got our own lives? That'll never happen to anyone ever again now" unhinged speech

Or "With them gone we are truly the last of the time lords, we have a right to the universe more than anyone now and it's ours to shape. Conquer with me and be a just ruler if you're so concerned"

[book--brackets]

For the fantasy books: The Graceling series by Kristin Cashore, The Belgariad/Mallorean series by David Eddings, The Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix, The Iron Butterfly Series by Chanda Hahn, The Goose Girl series by Shannon Cole, Joust series by Mercedes Lackey, Rangers Apprentice series by John Flanagan, Eragon series by Christopher Paolini, Hexwood by Diana Wynne Jones, Thirteenth Child series by Patricia C Wrede, Uglies series by Scott Westerfield, The Traveller's Gate series by Will Wight

I have a lot haha!

I added what wasn't already there except for Uglies. Uglies is technically a sci-fi, dystopian series, not fantasy, so it's ineligible for this competition. However, if we ever end up expanding into new genres again, hold onto it for that!

[dandelionjack]

it really does all go back to ARE YOU MY MUMMY. meme phrase earworm do what you want with it, but through the empty child/the doctor dances, steven moffat created a microcosm of every theme and character motif explored in all of subsequent nuwho, everything the show would become.the original. the prototype. nothing will ever be that two parter nothing will ever measure up to it. defined the show. instant KO

[humanstein]

I can't help but draw a connection between The Dot deciding the people of Finetime needed to die and The Master learning about the Timeless Child from the Matrix and deciding that the people of Gallifrey needed to die.

Domed cities full of the safe and entitled being executed systematically.

[wykart]

"Hiding behind a visual projection shield. And this one shows us what we instinctively want to protect, as a defense."

This parallel from 'The Power of the Doctor' knocked me on my ass but then I didn't finish this off for like a year, so...here it is! It was nice to get back to my roots (the Squiggles).

[spookulators]

My spooky comics so far, quickly developing a problem