Thoraiya Dyer: #Robinpedia

Thoraiya Dyer is an Australian writer of speculative fiction and archer. She has won several awards for her short stories and is well regarded by commissioning editors who describe her as an absolute pleasure to work with. She is so well regarded within the speculative fiction community that I was completely surprised, yet delighted to discover that she did not have a Wikipedia entry yet, so it is with extra pleasure that I write this entry.

Thoraiya has published more short stories and novellas than you can poke a stick at and collected four Aurelius awards and three Ditmar awards in the process. In 2017 she released her first full length novel, Crossroads of Canopy book 1 of The Titan’sForest Trilogy, through Pan MacMillan.

And can I just say a big personal thank you to Thoraiya Dyer for turning her hand to long-form epic fantasy. For those fellow readers waiting in the wilderness for Patrick Rothfuss’s third installment of The Kingkiller Chronicles, we now have something to get us through those lonely nights, Crossroads of Canopy by Thoraiya Dyer. I fully expect to see some Kvothe and Unar fan fic soon. It’ll be pretty racey. PRoth, you now have my full permission to take until this trilogy is wrapped up to get part three of yours out. I’m not entirely sure if your publisher or other fans will accept my authority but it’s worth a try…. My own three kids don’t accept it and the oldest one is only five. Sigh. 

Getting back to Thoraiya Dyer and #robinpedia, Book 1 of The Titan’s Forest Trilogy is phenomenal. It has the scope of Feist with the deft touch of Marillier. It truly is a master work, one we’ve been lacking for so long. I was like a kid again whilst reading Crossroads, with that same level of curiosity and excitement. And the characters from different areas actually genuinely look different. They’re not all just super sexy humans. I honestly didn’t even realise how much I’d missed truly great epic fantasy until I read this.

When she’s not writing Thoraiya is shooting things with an arrow. She loves the standing stillness and focus of target archery as it helps clear her mind. Fellow writers looking for a new approach to mindfulness might do well to try archery out. It has certainly worked wonders for Thoraiya who has an absolutely prolific output.

Find Thoraiya Dyer’s website here.

Find Thoraiya Dyer on Twitter here.

If you have any information you would like added to this entry please leave it in the comment section.

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P.S. Yes, I’m already fully aware that I am dyslexic.

Book Review: “The Name of the Wind” by Patrick Rothfuss

I will do my best to avoid spoilers. I will try to avoid referring to anything too specifically past the first three pages, although of course there will be general reference past this point, for there must be in order to review the whole novel.

Patrick Rothfuss managed to recapture my love of fantasy in his stunning debut, “The Name of The Wind.” At its heart it is a coming of age story, but of course it isn’t the coming of age story of an ordinary boy but that of a very talented one. This boy, Kvothe, is so talented that in fact, some people may criticize this as being unrealistic. Rothfuss, however, skilfully manoeuvres his was past this issue through his use of an unreliable narrator. Part of this story is set in the present time (present for the land they’re in) whereas the rest is Kvothe reluctantly telling the story of his childhood. The reader comes to love this unreliable story teller, full of belief in himself and utterly beset by tragedy, In fact it is the very tragic childhood that he has endured that makes us believe in him even more. Arrogant, troublesome but utterly honourable and loveable. The kind of hero that you can invest your heart in.

For lovers of adventure and epic fantasy this is a must read. It delves with the storyline of one character but through the flashing back and forth in time and the switch from third to first person narrative it really gives a fuller sense like that of Raymond E Feist who deals with a cast of thousand.