#Elemental Logic

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Rose- Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

Zanja Na'Tarwein- The Elemental Logic Series by Laurie J. Marks

Father Victor Ardelian- What Manner of Man by St John Starling

Sarcean- Dark Rise Series by C.S. Pacat

[spiritintheinkwell]

Happy Pride! Featuring my nine favorite wlw books.

Mahit/Three Seagrass from the Teixcalaan series by Arkady Martine

Catherine/Lucy from The Lady's Guide To Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

Kath/Lily from Last Night At The Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo

Zanja/Karis from the Elemental Logic series by Laurie J. Marks

Jude/Síle from Landing by Emma Donoghue

Ead/Sabran from The Priory Of The Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Emi/Ava from Everything Leads To You by Nina LaCour

Thenike/Marghe from Ammonite by Nicola Griffith

Red/Blue from This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Ordered by theme, not by preference.

[raspberryspacecloud]

Yeah, Tea also classifies Elemental Logic as comfort reads, we were both very surprised when people commented that they found them difficult to get through.

They just have that vibe. I’m a little shamed to admit despite recommending the series every chance I get to people, I’ve only gotten through the first two books. I do that a lot with tv shows too—save a little bit of a thing I love for later so I know there’s always more to come back to when I need it. Also if I wait long enough it gives me an excuse to go back and reread fire and earth logic (again.)

Speaking of which I found your blog through your elemental logic fic on ao3, which itself has become a bit of a comfort read. Excellent stuff!!

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Fantasy Books Bracket: Round 1

Book summaries and submitted endorsements below:

The Raven Cycle series (The Raven Boys, The Dream Thieves, Blue Lily Lily Blue, The Raven King) by Maggie Stiefvater

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive. Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her. His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble. But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little. For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore. Fantasy, young adult, paranormal, urban fantasy, series

The Elemental Logic series (Fire Logic, Earth Logic, Water Logic, Air Logic) by Laurie J. Marks

Submitted endorsement: A 4-book series about transforming war and prejudice into peace and fellowship. Unique, subtle magic system. Lesbian knife-wielder survives the unspeakable to save and be saved by a giant blacksmith who is hiding the fact that she is the most powerful mage in the world! Bisexual paladin gets a new lease on life when he meets a much younger seer boyfriend! Realistic found family!

Earth * Air * Water * Fire These elements have sustained the peaceful people of Shaftal for generations, with their subtle powers of healing, truth, joy, and intuition. But now, Shaftal is dying. The earth witch who ruled Shaftal is dead, leaving no heir. Shaftal's ruling house has been scattered by the invading Sainnites. The Shaftali have mobilized a guerrilla army against these marauders, but every year the cost of resistance grows, leaving Shaftal's fate in the hands of three people: Emil, scholar and reluctant warrior; Zanja, the sole survivor of a slaughtered tribe; and Karis the metalsmith, a half-blood giant whose earth powers can heal, but only when she can muster the strength to hold off her addiction to a deadly drug. Separately, all they can do is watch as Shaftal falls from prosperity into lawlessness and famine. But if they can find a way to work together, they just may change the course of history. Fantasy, adult, politics, secondary world, series

[nimblermortal]

you’ve read the elemental logic books? can I ask you for content warnings? because I tried reading the first one but put it down when I realized that the tribe that was described as destroyed on the book flap wasn’t destroyed yet and that this meant it was probably going to happen on page. but it also has the vibe of 80s fantasy *and* is queer, so I kind of want to try again

specific triggers I would like to know about (beyond the usual): graphic depictions of the aftermath of disasters (man made or natural), betrayal, amnesia, time travel/dimension travel

thanks!

Hmmm. @spiritintheteapot, @slipperyliz, @hello-delicious-tea, care to weigh in?

I'm not great at triggers because I tend to be a bit sociopathic about disasters, so I'd like a second opinion.

-aftermath of disasters man made or natural: the entire series is about the aftermath of war and colonialism. They are extremely idealistic and hopeful books, but brutal things happen to people. The narration is not going to dwell on it, but these things do happen. There's also a plague sequence because, y'know, what happens when you murder all the physicians in a population, but it's in the context of 'oh well I guess our overpowered mages will go deal with this for a time then'. (I find the plague sequence underwhelming.)

The destruction of Zanja's tribe does happen on page, and does happen in flashbacks. Again, the narration is not going to dwell on this but neither is it going to shy away.

-betrayal: technically Zanja's tribe is betrayed by a practically nameless character. Technically one of the core people is a traitor but it's definitely a good thing. Technically the plot of the entire first book is people choosing to betray their people and their cause for the sake of peace, and hope, and love.

-amnesia: in the second book Zanja deliberately does a ritual that causes complete memory loss for a significant chunk of the book. There is a later ritual that restores her memory, and she is... the sort of person who just sort of makes room for the time in her life that was occupied by another person?

-time travel/dimension travel: in the third book there is time travel to give greater historical significance to the present day. There is no dimension travel.

I don't really know what 'the usual' is but these are books about war, and ending its tragedies, and those will include things like death and maiming and destruction of libraries and a long plot arc about drug abuse and its use in war. And forced prostitution of children. Wow, I am surprised by the number of atrocities in these books, they really stick in your head as more 'and then Garland shows up and bakes apple pie and kicks someone out of his kitchen for not plating the whipped cream properly' kind of books, for what that's worth.

So, in sum: Yeah, kind of ticks off all your boxes! I'm tempted to argue that it's one of the gentler ways you could approach these topics, but you should take care of yourself, and you know best what you can handle.

If you want to give it a try, I could always give you a summary or offer you pages to skip?

[livelyhearth]

Our new single "Crosser of Boundaries" is out now, check it out on your favorite streaming platform! 🔥🦉 Inspired by the novel Earth Logic by Laurie J. Marks, which you should also check out wherever excellent fantasy novels are found.

Youtube 🔥 Apple Music 🦉 Amazon Music

[r0segarden]

"Well, of course, I am devoted to you. So why can you accept devotion from Norina and not from me?"

Karis's hand clenched convulsively in Zanja's, her palm sticky with sweat. "I accept Norina's duty," she said.

"But you have no excuse.”

The convulsions began

[spiritintheteapot]

Another year, another Shaftal-style Long Night dinner: "carefully balanced sweet, savory, salty, and bitter foods, to guarantee a balanced year"

The pastries are:

Asparagus alfredo bundles

"Pigs" in a blanket (turkey hot dogs so maybe chicks in a blanket?)

Caramelized onion & goat cheese bites

Cranberry brie bites

Happy Solstice! 🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️

[badrockbookrecs]

eyooo let's do this

I keep telling people to read a crapton of books/series so let's put em all in one place. Let me know if/when you read them and what you think!! Seriously, anytime.

Off the top of my head, to start:

Leagues And Legends by EJ Lomax (free as ebooks on the author's website!! Link goes to first book of 3). Genre-aware found family fantasy trilogy. Queer characters and side characters, no MC romances (which was refreshing to me).

Fire Logic + subsequent books by Laurie Marks. Exploration of colonialism through fantasy lens (?). Very interesting magic system. Disabled and queer main characters. I have... some opinions about how the series wrapped up but I'd love to talk about it, and I still recommend it!

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky and the two follow-up books. Oh my GOSH please read them and any ROS fans let me know what you think of Children of Memory (3rd book). Arachnophobia warning for the first book lol.

Note: I'm linking bookshop.org for now, because f* that one rainforest conglomerate store, but lmk if you have suggestions as to how I should do that with these, what would make them easiest for you to find and read :)

I will probably also do reviews at some point? Idunno. LMK what you want me to do with this/what ur willing to listen to.

[spiritintheteapot]

Has anyone recommended the Elemental Logic series to @elodieunderglass yet?

Every time Sean Astin makes a statement on whether or not Sam and Frodo were indeed gay for each other in lord of the rings he’s always like “well we have to acknowledge that attitudes around sexuality have changed dramatically over the past several decades and since authorial intent is only up to speculation, the story is open to multiple readings, some of which might have different significances for different groups of people also they kiss on the lips because I said so”

[bumblingbabooshka]

Thinking about marriage/women's rights on Vulcan Some may think that T'Pring not being allowed to divorce Spock was because he was going through the pon farr but if she were allowed to divorce him at all she probably would have done that a long time ago, confirmed by T'Pol when she's speaking with Koss, who isn't suffering from the pon farr. She says that he can choose another mate (without invoking a fight it seems: note the difference between a 'mate' and a 'challenger') and after he makes it clear that nothing she says will change his mind about marrying her, she finally threatens to declare a kal-if-fee. It's clear that Vulcan women cannot divorce/refuse to marry a man they've been betrothed to under any circumstances if A) He himself doesn't consent to ending their marriage or B) She doesn't have someone else waiting in the wings to be given to in his stead. Though, if the challenger she selects fails to win the fight, she'll have to marry her betrothed anyway unless (again) he decides he doesn't want her after the challenge. That seems like an incredibly unfair system, heavily biased towards men. SNW is an alternate universe in many obvious respects but most egregiously in that T'Pring has a lot of non-canonical agency over her relationship with Spock. It's interesting to me that Vulcan society has women in many positions of power and treats women as equal to men from what I've seen despite these laws. We don't really see Vulcans exhibiting a misogynistic attitude towards women in general but in TOS (perhaps because of its general writing style but it's still interesting to note) both Sarek and Spock take on patriarchal attitudes specifically regarding wives. Amanda says that 'of course' Sarek commands her because "he is a Vulcan and I am his wife." It's worthwhile in my eyes to note that she specifies 'wife' instead of attributing this attitude to women as a whole. Again, with TOS' writing style it wouldn't be out of place for her to say "he is a man and I am a woman." Spock, while in a pon farr induced irritation, states that it's "undignified for a woman to play servant to a man that isn't hers" - again implying that there's something specific about being a Wife in Vulcan society which is different from being a woman in general and demands subservience to a husband. This could perhaps stem from the extreme sense of ownership that Vulcan law has permitted men to have over women. A woman legally cannot point blank refuse marriage. There is no option which guarantees she won't have to marry her betrothed other than death. When T'Pau speaks of T'Pring she refers to her as being 'property' and Stonn, before being interrupted, states he's made 'the ancient claim' - we don't know what this is because he gets cut off but it's obvious they're both using the language of Vulcan law. Men are permitted true freedom to choose. If a woman wants to choose someone else to be with there is no option available to her other than the kal-if-fee which might result in the death of the one she wants to be with. And, if her lover fails, her husband can still just decide he wants to marry her and she'll be forced to. T'Pring gives two scenarios: One where Spock 'frees' her and one where he doesn't - it's still ultimately his decision which is clear when he ends the conversation with "Stonn, she is yours." This again isn't just because of the pon farr as T'Pol also goes through this. Koss can choose another mate and when the option is talked about there's no implication that this would result in any sort of fight (both by the casualness of its mention and by the fact that there's no formal word for it unlike the kal-if-fee.) Also, the fact that Koss does eventually grant T'Pol a divorce and it's all fine means that T'Pol isn't lawfully required to have another man waiting if her HUSBAND doesn't want her. It's ONLY required if SHE doesn't want her husband. Tradition must take precedence over individual desire UNLESS!!! You're a man. Then it's fine. Like, your parents might not be happy but legally you're golden.

[spiritintheinkwell]

Karis/Zanja sketch before the year is over

[decamarks]

I think one of the greatest tragedies of digital mediums is that fact that, no matter what, you cannot make a comic with 3D models. Despite how convenient the idea seems. You can animate with them, illustrate with them, make video games with them—but you cannot, under any circumstance, make a comic with them. Because it will just end up looking exactly like this:

[queereads-bracket]

Queer Fantasy Books Bracket: Preliminary Round

Book summaries and submitted endorsements below:

The Elemental Logic series (Fire Logic, Earth Logic, Water Logic, Air Logic) by Laurie J. Marks

Submitted endorsement: A 4-book series about transforming war and prejudice into peace and fellowship. Unique, subtle magic system. Lesbian knife-wielder survives the unspeakable to save and be saved by a giant blacksmith who is hiding the fact that she is the most powerful mage in the world! Bisexual paladin gets a new lease on life when he meets a much younger seer boyfriend! Realistic found family!

Earth * Air * Water * Fire These elements have sustained the peaceful people of Shaftal for generations, with their subtle powers of healing, truth, joy, and intuition. But now, Shaftal is dying. The earth witch who ruled Shaftal is dead, leaving no heir. Shaftal's ruling house has been scattered by the invading Sainnites. The Shaftali have mobilized a guerrilla army against these marauders, but every year the cost of resistance grows, leaving Shaftal's fate in the hands of three people: Emil, scholar and reluctant warrior; Zanja, the sole survivor of a slaughtered tribe; and Karis the metalsmith, a half-blood giant whose earth powers can heal, but only when she can muster the strength to hold off her addiction to a deadly drug. Separately, all they can do is watch as Shaftal falls from prosperity into lawlessness and famine. But if they can find a way to work together, they just may change the course of history. Fantasy, adult, politics, secondary world, series

The Cursed Heart by Derin Edala (Curse Words: Spellcasting for Fun and Prophet Series)

Kayden was six months old when the doctor found the curse in his heart. From then on, his life was a struggle to manage it, to keep it locked away and dormant and above all secret, dreading the day that it would finally break free and wreak havoc. Now he's fourteen, and that day has come. Things look bad, but there's hope — the world's most prestigious magical school is willing to take him in, keep him safe, and pay his legal fees to avoid bankrupting his family. Most importantly, they can teach him to control his curse, to avoid ever hurting anyone else. It sounds far too good to be true, but what other option does he have? Kayden quickly finds himself embroiled in a large political game he doesn't understand. But he'd better learn fast. Because the secrets of his new school run deeper than he ever expected, and his actions have far more dangerous consequences than he could ever have known.

[haveyoureadthisqueerbook]

Earth * Air * Water * Fire These elements have sustained the peaceful people of Shaftal for generations, with their subtle powers of healing, truth, joy, and intuition. But now, Shaftal is dying. The earth witch who ruled Shaftal is dead, leaving no heir. Shaftal's ruling house has been scattered by the invading Sainnites. The Shaftali have mobilized a guerrilla army against these marauders, but every year the cost of resistance grows, leaving Shaftal's fate in the hands of three people: Emil, scholar and reluctant warrior; Zanja, the sole survivor of a slaughtered tribe; and Karis the metalsmith, a half-blood giant whose earth powers can heal, but only when she can muster the strength to hold off her addiction to a deadly drug. Separately, all they can do is watch as Shaftal falls from prosperity into lawlessness and famine. But if they can find a way to work together, they just may change the course of history.