What fantasy books to offer at Christmas, in 2022? Here is our selection concocted with little magic onions.
When the magic of Christmas mixes with the magic of fantasy literature, we open even more doors to marvelous worlds. How about slipping fantasy novels under the tree? Here are 4 novels of the genre, published in 2022, which will fulfill this role perfectly.
A Stranger in London (Sofia Samatar)
Sofia Samatar’s novel is a treasure: it’s not only at the top of the fantasy basket, it’s also a wonderful ode to books. It all starts with a trip: Jevick must take over his father’s business, which forces him to set sail for a distant land, Olondre and the city of Bain.
Bookstores and libraries are part of the landscape as in the dream of any reader avid for books. But this is not a utopia: the arrival of an “angel” will plunge Jevick into religious tensions and… the mysteries of a somewhat cloudy fantastic reality.
The soft and wavy feather of Sofia Samatar will conquer any lover and any lover of books and magic.
Sailors can’t swim (Dominique Scali)
Direction the island of Ys, in the 18th, in the middle of the Atlantic, in this novel which plays with literary genres. Under the pen of Dominique Scali, the magic is expressed rather in the context, where the island of Ys exists well, without being engulfed (while Ys is a Breton legend and it has the same fate as Atlantis) .
Sailors can’t swim is political as much as it is ecological and mystical. Social structures, the place of nature, the role of beliefs: the author plunges us into all the strata of Ys society. For a novel with a rather maritime geography, it is very earthy due to a powerful materiality in the pen. Added to this is a contemplative dimension, almost aesthetic, very strong.
This novel by Dominique Scali was a very nice surprise in 2022.
A long journey (Claire Duvivier)
A long tripit is the French fantasy novel that shook up the genre in France.
Claire Duvivier’s work has made noise, since its release in 2020, to conquer an ever wider audience. The author has since established herself as a major figure. All his talent is to have played with the codes of fantasy and travel novels. Magic, in the fantastic sense, is very discreet while being decisive. A long trip is above all the story of a poetically political journey.
If you have always wanted to introduce the work of Claire Duvivier to your loved ones, the release ofA long trip to Paperback in 2022 can give you a boost.
She Who Became the Sun (Shelley Parker-Chan)
She who became the Sun was the favorite of our journalist Aurore Gayte on the fantasy side, in this year 2022.
This novel by Shelley Parker-Chan, published in France by Bragelonne, revisits the history of China and the Ming dynasty, in the 14th century, in an uchronic way, by adding a protagonist: Zhu. His brother has been predicted a great destiny by an oracle… brother who dies a few days later. Zhu will then take his own destiny in hand to take his brother’s place.
And, the magic in all this? It is there in small touches. It’s also queer fantasy which, still rare, highlights a story set in Asia.
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