Spy fiction, I find, tends to do the same thing. I do think one of the ways the two genres meshed well in the Dossier is that when a reader is introduced to a new fantasy world, names, people, and places are a bit meaningless until the reader gets a grip on the story. It’s a setting that doesn’t lend itself well to established fantasy tropes, since there’s no magic, or many of the markers of traditional fantasy. The tropes are far more Spy Novel than they are High or even Urban Fantasy.
In the Amberlough Dossier, however, nobody has the Gift. If you’re operating in a low-tech world but you want to do some high-tech spying, and you’re lucky enough to have magic floating around, there you go!
It uses the magic extant in the world she’s created to excellent effect in tradecraft, which is I think is one of the ways the two genres can mesh. A great example, if you’re looking for more, is Tamora Pierce’s duology Trickster’s Choice and Trickster’s Queen, which has long been my favorite set of Tammy books. I don’t know why they aren’t mixed together more often. Why isn’t it done more often? Were there any unexpected ways the two trope-heavy genres worked particularly well together? With the second book in Lara Elena Donnelly’s series The Amberlough Dossier published last week, we thought it was the perfect time to invite her on the blog!Ĭombining spy thrillers with fantasy was a stroke of genius: a genre mash-up made in heaven.
0 kommentar(er)
