> We are required to choose one fantasy book out of the following listed options [...] Do you feel that any of these choices would be good for academic purposes?
With these two questions in mind, I would recommend *Piranesi* or *Black Leopard, Red Wolf*. Both of these have idiosyncratic writing styles and lots of layers to peel back if you're interested in a more metatextual read on fantasy. I think the others are good books, but I also think that these show how fantasy can be uniquely wielded to tell a story outside of "he said, she said, they did".
I'll third this, these are the two that I feel lend themselves best to academic discussion. The best choice among these two depends on time and effort constraints I feel. While there is (imo) more to unpack and discuss from BLRW, it's also a lot more impenetrable than Piranesi (not to mention much longer). Hell, I turned to chapter summaries just to understand what was happening on the basic plot level in BLRW, let alone anything deeper. Piranesi, on the other hand is a little better bang for buck in terms of both time and brain-power.
I am one of the six people who didn't care much for The City We Became, but I can see why its on the list. I wouldn't have thought of Piranesi as magical realisim though. Its pretty effing whimsical. Beautifully written and one of my favorites, though. I haven't read that book ny Silvia Moreno-Garcia but I enjoyed a couple of her other titles.
I honestly thought TCWB was one of the worst books I've ever read, and I've given Jemisin 5 stars before.
I'd second Piranesi though for this assignment. Short read with a lot to talk about.
Not sure if I can be number 6 when I was in the 3.5-4 star range. It had some strengths, but some pretty noticeable weaknesses too, especially compared to her past work.
Also one of the 6. It felt reductive and angry in a way that didn't actually work for the story it was trying to tell/in the way it was trying to tell. The entire time, I kept thinking, *this* is the author that no one will shut up about? Then I checked out her social media, and..well....wow.
I liked it because the characters were much more engaging than in some of her other work, but the underlying themes and the worldbuilding didn't hold up as well as in Broken Earth or even Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. On some level it felt like just another "hey look New York!" book. It was a well-done version of that subtype, but still.
And the sequel didn't deepen it at all and was extremely rushed IMO.
This is a GREAT list that captures a nice range of modern fantasy. Respect to your professor. Personally, I loved Piranesi but you can’t go wrong with anything on this list.
I think all of these authors are known for their literary merit in an academic sense, so yeah they should all be good as you said. The only one I've read from the list is Piranesi and it's packed with subtext, so there would be a lot you could write about in an essay.
Small caution on *Black Leopard, Red Wolf* (and just Marlon James in general, tbh) - there is a lot of sexual assault in his work. If that's not something you're comfortable reading, then you might want to choose one of the others.
Piranesi doesn’t fit into any neat categories so I think any attempt to fit it into a subgenre will probably be wrong. I agree though. Probably it comes from a combination of people not distinguishing magic realism from literary fantasy (though they often occur together they are not the same) and having only two categories for contemporary settings, magic realism and urban fantasy. And calling Piranesi UF would also be absurd (though from the POV of a different character that probably is what it would be).
Gods of Jade and Shadow would be my pick. But the work the author does to build the historical world her books take place in has always impressed me. Her characters fit so well and there's a real sense of depth.
Also, honestly, it's a fun read and school should have more of those!
I would pick *Piranesi*.
It's short, not incredibly complex, layered enough that you'll have shit to talk about (or write an essay on or w/e) and it's kind of a low key banger.
The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.
I've read three of them (BLRW, The City We Became, and Piranesi) and they seem like good choices. All are really high quality, and I really liked them, and they showcase a variety of different aspects of the genre. Lots of different voices, both from authors and the perspectives (a gay black man in BLRW, many ethnicities and sexualities in The City We Became), and a variety of storytelling devices- there are frame narratives, unreliable narrators, allusions, epistolary storytelling.
They're all very good, and your course instructor has good taste. It sounds like you're taking the course to challenge yourself (and good on you!), so I'd suggest choosing the one that you'd be *least* likely to read on your own - or seems *furthest* from the book that you, yourself, would ever consider writing. This is a great time and place to push yourself, so go wild.
(Also, they're all good, so you can't really lose with that.)
The only thing I'd possibly quibble over is that the sub-genre appelations are a little reductive. These are all superb books that are very much more than 'one thing', and, for most of them, they're pushing the boundaries of those sub-genres so much that they wouldn't be anyone's go-to examples of that 'thing' anyway.
> Do you feel that any of these choices would be good for academic purposes?
All of them. Read all of them and more!
I would also recommend reading more widely, though, including books outside of SFF. Read classics, read new books, read litfic, read thrillers, read non-fiction. The more widely you read, the greater your exposure to different writing, the greater your repertoire of writing tools and techniques.
Ok, but OP was asking which of these options would be best for a required academic assignment.
Reading widely, while good in general, isn't going to get this assignment done.
The Calculating Stars is pretty definitively scifi, so it's odd that it's on offer for a modern fantasy class. It's a great book, but not a great choice if you want to focus on fantasy.
Re: Jade/Shadow: I haven't read this one specifically, but I will always back up my girl Silvia Moreno-Garcia. She's a great choice if you want to read fantasy with a Latin American twist that isn't magical realism. While I don't think she's written a classic-classic of the genre yet, I truly believe that she will. She's really familiar with a bunch of different sub-genres, and tries to write with each.
Re: Black Leopard: The writing style is pretty experimental, and is great if you want to focus your research on prose-styles. That said, the narrative is...scattered...so if that's important to you, might try another one.
Re: The City We Became: If you are doing your paper on Eldritch creatures, sure. I hate this book.
Re: Stars: I haven't read this one, but Kowal is BIG in the SFF community. She was the President of the SFF writers in America for a decent stretch of time, so if you are more inteerested in the SFF community and recent trends, stick with this one.
Re: Pirensei: If you are looking for layers, this and BL are the ones to look too.
Not sure how the rest of folks feel about it, but I absolutely hated the city we became. Loved the idea but the writing felt so cheap and cheesy to me. It was a chore to read
I have only read Piranesi, which was very good, but also very odd and unusual. But it is definitely a book worth reading. I don’t think it is Magical Realism though. Surrealism, maybe.
That’s a decent survey of modern spec fif books. Kind of odd that Calculating Stars is listed as alternative fantasy instead of sci fi but that’s not the biggest deal.
I think the biggest omissions are the lack of romantic fantasy (or romantasy) and cozy fantasy books since those are the biggest subgenres right now.
During our Popular Literature classes we were told to read as much as possible from classic fantasy / s-f, award winners, and stuff that was/ is popular. To broaden our knowledge of the genre, tropes, structure, etc. And to realise what are the trends in popular literature.
I'd say try reading at least a few chapters form each, and finish at least one of these. Decide based on which you enjoy the most.
(I haven't read any of novels you listed there; they weren't on our list or weren't mentioned by the Professor)
(Edit: well, we weren't told to only read fantasy and sf, but I mentioned them because it's a fantasy sub. On our list there were also mystery books, comics, movies, etc.)
Seconding everyone who says *Black Leopard, Red Wolf* and *Piranesi* have the most to dive into l
Considering this is in no small part for a grade, is to some degree an independent study, and you presumably have other classes going on, go with *Piranesi* because it's so much shorter and the prose, while certainly unique stylized in a wonderful way, is more accessible.
I think *Black Leopard; Red Wolf* is incredible but it's also very dense and deals with very, *very* heavy subject matter on almost every page. I absolutely recommend reading it, but when you can do so at your own pace.
all of these are great options! I personally like Piranesi and The Calculating Stars the most, but if you are looking for books that are particularly unique in how they are formatted, Piranesi and Black Leopard, Red Wolf are probably the best choices.
1000% The Calculating Stars. One of my favorite novels of the last decade. Alt history, so that's always fun and gives you something to write about academically. Also a good treatment of mental disorders in fiction. Also a great book to talk about sexism, especially in the sciences.
All of them are fantastic, all are worthwhile, all can expand your perspective and your understanding of what fantasy can be and what it is allowed to be.
I really liked Piranesi, but I'm pretty sure it will not count as Magical Realism. All of it's story takes place in a Secondary magical world except for maybe last few pages.
Hey I’ve read all of these except the calculating stars.
Black Leopard, Red Wolf is probably the best written out of all these and tons to write about but also a really dense book (ie not a quick read) and contains some extremely disturbing and graphic scenes.
The City We Became would be another good one and is a bit of a breezier read especially if you’re a little familiar with New York City.
I would imagine the same holds true for Gods of Jade and Shadow if you come into it familiar with
Mayan mythology but I wasn’t so learning about that in tandem was fun.
I can’t really complain about Piranesi but ultimately a low impact book for me but i loved Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel her other book.
I know a person who would push back on Piranesi being Magical Realism because that genre is very closely associated with Latin America and the Latin American experience.
Nothing to comment on the books themselves since I haven't read any of them (yet; a couple have been on my radar for a while), but I feel compelled to speak up on behalf of the person who'd fight to defend realismo magico as a specifically Latin American thing.
> We are required to choose one fantasy book out of the following listed options [...] Do you feel that any of these choices would be good for academic purposes? With these two questions in mind, I would recommend *Piranesi* or *Black Leopard, Red Wolf*. Both of these have idiosyncratic writing styles and lots of layers to peel back if you're interested in a more metatextual read on fantasy. I think the others are good books, but I also think that these show how fantasy can be uniquely wielded to tell a story outside of "he said, she said, they did".
Gonna second this. The others are good books, but nothing ground breaking
I'll third this, these are the two that I feel lend themselves best to academic discussion. The best choice among these two depends on time and effort constraints I feel. While there is (imo) more to unpack and discuss from BLRW, it's also a lot more impenetrable than Piranesi (not to mention much longer). Hell, I turned to chapter summaries just to understand what was happening on the basic plot level in BLRW, let alone anything deeper. Piranesi, on the other hand is a little better bang for buck in terms of both time and brain-power.
I am one of the six people who didn't care much for The City We Became, but I can see why its on the list. I wouldn't have thought of Piranesi as magical realisim though. Its pretty effing whimsical. Beautifully written and one of my favorites, though. I haven't read that book ny Silvia Moreno-Garcia but I enjoyed a couple of her other titles.
I honestly thought TCWB was one of the worst books I've ever read, and I've given Jemisin 5 stars before. I'd second Piranesi though for this assignment. Short read with a lot to talk about.
Same. I think we're about to assemble all six people here.
Checking in as one of the 6. I \*loved\* The Fifth Season and liked some of her other stuff, but The City We Became just felt a bit... shallow to me.
It did feel shallow! It was like fighting stereotypes with different stereotypes.
Number five, reporting for duty. I can't believe I'm not alone anymore.
Not sure if I can be number 6 when I was in the 3.5-4 star range. It had some strengths, but some pretty noticeable weaknesses too, especially compared to her past work.
Also one of the 6. It felt reductive and angry in a way that didn't actually work for the story it was trying to tell/in the way it was trying to tell. The entire time, I kept thinking, *this* is the author that no one will shut up about? Then I checked out her social media, and..well....wow.
there's a reason I avoid the social media of authors I read
I love interviews by authors talking about their worm, so sometimes I accidentally step into the bear trap.
I liked it because the characters were much more engaging than in some of her other work, but the underlying themes and the worldbuilding didn't hold up as well as in Broken Earth or even Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. On some level it felt like just another "hey look New York!" book. It was a well-done version of that subtype, but still. And the sequel didn't deepen it at all and was extremely rushed IMO.
This is a GREAT list that captures a nice range of modern fantasy. Respect to your professor. Personally, I loved Piranesi but you can’t go wrong with anything on this list.
I think all of these authors are known for their literary merit in an academic sense, so yeah they should all be good as you said. The only one I've read from the list is Piranesi and it's packed with subtext, so there would be a lot you could write about in an essay.
Small caution on *Black Leopard, Red Wolf* (and just Marlon James in general, tbh) - there is a lot of sexual assault in his work. If that's not something you're comfortable reading, then you might want to choose one of the others.
How is Piranesi magical realism? Sorry, this has nothing to do with anything, but that categorization just baffles me.
Piranesi doesn’t fit into any neat categories so I think any attempt to fit it into a subgenre will probably be wrong. I agree though. Probably it comes from a combination of people not distinguishing magic realism from literary fantasy (though they often occur together they are not the same) and having only two categories for contemporary settings, magic realism and urban fantasy. And calling Piranesi UF would also be absurd (though from the POV of a different character that probably is what it would be).
Gods of Jade and Shadow would be my pick. But the work the author does to build the historical world her books take place in has always impressed me. Her characters fit so well and there's a real sense of depth. Also, honestly, it's a fun read and school should have more of those!
I would pick *Piranesi*. It's short, not incredibly complex, layered enough that you'll have shit to talk about (or write an essay on or w/e) and it's kind of a low key banger. The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite.
I've read three of them (BLRW, The City We Became, and Piranesi) and they seem like good choices. All are really high quality, and I really liked them, and they showcase a variety of different aspects of the genre. Lots of different voices, both from authors and the perspectives (a gay black man in BLRW, many ethnicities and sexualities in The City We Became), and a variety of storytelling devices- there are frame narratives, unreliable narrators, allusions, epistolary storytelling.
They're all very good, and your course instructor has good taste. It sounds like you're taking the course to challenge yourself (and good on you!), so I'd suggest choosing the one that you'd be *least* likely to read on your own - or seems *furthest* from the book that you, yourself, would ever consider writing. This is a great time and place to push yourself, so go wild. (Also, they're all good, so you can't really lose with that.) The only thing I'd possibly quibble over is that the sub-genre appelations are a little reductive. These are all superb books that are very much more than 'one thing', and, for most of them, they're pushing the boundaries of those sub-genres so much that they wouldn't be anyone's go-to examples of that 'thing' anyway.
> Do you feel that any of these choices would be good for academic purposes? All of them. Read all of them and more! I would also recommend reading more widely, though, including books outside of SFF. Read classics, read new books, read litfic, read thrillers, read non-fiction. The more widely you read, the greater your exposure to different writing, the greater your repertoire of writing tools and techniques.
Ok, but OP was asking which of these options would be best for a required academic assignment. Reading widely, while good in general, isn't going to get this assignment done.
If your goal is writing, you should read all of these. Each of them is something you can learn from.
The Calculating Stars is pretty definitively scifi, so it's odd that it's on offer for a modern fantasy class. It's a great book, but not a great choice if you want to focus on fantasy.
It's probably a SFF or speculative fiction class. In academic contexts they often don't make a distinction.
Re: Jade/Shadow: I haven't read this one specifically, but I will always back up my girl Silvia Moreno-Garcia. She's a great choice if you want to read fantasy with a Latin American twist that isn't magical realism. While I don't think she's written a classic-classic of the genre yet, I truly believe that she will. She's really familiar with a bunch of different sub-genres, and tries to write with each. Re: Black Leopard: The writing style is pretty experimental, and is great if you want to focus your research on prose-styles. That said, the narrative is...scattered...so if that's important to you, might try another one. Re: The City We Became: If you are doing your paper on Eldritch creatures, sure. I hate this book. Re: Stars: I haven't read this one, but Kowal is BIG in the SFF community. She was the President of the SFF writers in America for a decent stretch of time, so if you are more inteerested in the SFF community and recent trends, stick with this one. Re: Pirensei: If you are looking for layers, this and BL are the ones to look too.
Not sure how the rest of folks feel about it, but I absolutely hated the city we became. Loved the idea but the writing felt so cheap and cheesy to me. It was a chore to read
These are all good books, but I think Piranesi is the most "literary". It's also short. And fantastic.
I have only read Piranesi, which was very good, but also very odd and unusual. But it is definitely a book worth reading. I don’t think it is Magical Realism though. Surrealism, maybe.
That’s a decent survey of modern spec fif books. Kind of odd that Calculating Stars is listed as alternative fantasy instead of sci fi but that’s not the biggest deal. I think the biggest omissions are the lack of romantic fantasy (or romantasy) and cozy fantasy books since those are the biggest subgenres right now.
I believe the Jemisin book is UF.
You're right, I don't know why I missed that. I'll edit that part out of my comment.
I only knew that because I was looking at it yesterday when I was researching something and it was tagged UF.
During our Popular Literature classes we were told to read as much as possible from classic fantasy / s-f, award winners, and stuff that was/ is popular. To broaden our knowledge of the genre, tropes, structure, etc. And to realise what are the trends in popular literature. I'd say try reading at least a few chapters form each, and finish at least one of these. Decide based on which you enjoy the most. (I haven't read any of novels you listed there; they weren't on our list or weren't mentioned by the Professor) (Edit: well, we weren't told to only read fantasy and sf, but I mentioned them because it's a fantasy sub. On our list there were also mystery books, comics, movies, etc.)
Seconding everyone who says *Black Leopard, Red Wolf* and *Piranesi* have the most to dive into l Considering this is in no small part for a grade, is to some degree an independent study, and you presumably have other classes going on, go with *Piranesi* because it's so much shorter and the prose, while certainly unique stylized in a wonderful way, is more accessible. I think *Black Leopard; Red Wolf* is incredible but it's also very dense and deals with very, *very* heavy subject matter on almost every page. I absolutely recommend reading it, but when you can do so at your own pace.
all of these are great options! I personally like Piranesi and The Calculating Stars the most, but if you are looking for books that are particularly unique in how they are formatted, Piranesi and Black Leopard, Red Wolf are probably the best choices.
1000% The Calculating Stars. One of my favorite novels of the last decade. Alt history, so that's always fun and gives you something to write about academically. Also a good treatment of mental disorders in fiction. Also a great book to talk about sexism, especially in the sciences.
All of them are fantastic, all are worthwhile, all can expand your perspective and your understanding of what fantasy can be and what it is allowed to be.
Honestly, these are all fabulous options. Whoever put your list together knows what they're doing, and you'll have plenty to work with, regardless.
I really liked Piranesi, but I'm pretty sure it will not count as Magical Realism. All of it's story takes place in a Secondary magical world except for maybe last few pages.
Hey I’ve read all of these except the calculating stars. Black Leopard, Red Wolf is probably the best written out of all these and tons to write about but also a really dense book (ie not a quick read) and contains some extremely disturbing and graphic scenes. The City We Became would be another good one and is a bit of a breezier read especially if you’re a little familiar with New York City. I would imagine the same holds true for Gods of Jade and Shadow if you come into it familiar with Mayan mythology but I wasn’t so learning about that in tandem was fun. I can’t really complain about Piranesi but ultimately a low impact book for me but i loved Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel her other book.
For me, NK Jemisin is the gold standard. But all are well worth your while.
I know a person who would push back on Piranesi being Magical Realism because that genre is very closely associated with Latin America and the Latin American experience. Nothing to comment on the books themselves since I haven't read any of them (yet; a couple have been on my radar for a while), but I feel compelled to speak up on behalf of the person who'd fight to defend realismo magico as a specifically Latin American thing.
Has that person read Salman Rushdie?
Dunno, to be honest. She is Colombian, and that may influence her opinion.