Sunday, September 27, 2020

Five fantasy novels featuring self-taught protagonists

At Tor.com James Davis Nicoll tagged five fantasy novels starring self-taught protagonists, including:
The Midnight Bargain by C. L. Polk (2020)

If she were a man, Beatrice Clayborn would be trained; she possesses strong natural skills and has the potential to be a great magus. But Beatrice is a woman and in Chasland she will be denied magic until she is past menopause. Even then, what magic she can learn will be strictly circumscribed.

Nevertheless, she persists. There are grimoires, by women for women. Beatrice finds one in a bookstore, a text that will teach her to “summon a greater spirit and propose the pact of the great bargain.” She is one purchase away from achieving her dream…except that Ysbeta Lavan beats Beatrice to the coveted tome.

Too bad for Ysbeta that she cannot read the text she just purchased. Beatrice can. Perhaps an alliance is in order…
Read about the other entries on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue