Historical fantasy as a genre has always puzzled me. In some sense all fantasy is historical, for the reasons you explain. It all comes from the past. It is fairytales and folklore and Norse myth, and Arthurian legend all mushed together and projected forward or backward or into strange worlds. It baffles me that people don't seem to recognize the Arthurian elements in Lord of the Rings: Aragorn is Arthur, Gandalf is Merlin, the fellowship of the ring are the knights of the round table, and the ring is the anti-grail. I never know whether to classify my own novel, Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight, as historical fantasy, or dark fantasy, as some seem to categorize it, or literary fairytale as I like to call it, or pseudo-Arthuriana, as another reviewer astutely dubbed it. It is all these things. And that seems to be true of most things in the genre. A little bit more of this. A little bit more of that. But basically all the same stew. It is, in the end, the spirit-haunted world, and it all flows back to what seems to us now, as it seemed to them then, a spirit-haunted time.
I think you misread, or possibly misremembered, The Perilous Guard. There is magic. It’s not very powerful, and tends to consist of things like illusions or talking people to sleep, but it exists and is very real - as the protagonist observes. Note the scene where her cross breaks. And yes, it’s relevant that it’s a cross.
Although, what is with you and good taste in literature?! That’s another little old one-shot paperback that was surprisingly good that nobody’s read!
(Those ones are always the hardest to find - you can usually notice an author is good and seek more out, but that doesn’t work if the author only ever wrote one or two books. Though in this case she wrote two; I thought the second was weaker, but still solidly worth reading.)
Oh, did you catch the second folk song? It’s built around two.
For a vaguely similar thing which is not European, have you read Bridge of Birds?
(I thought Moorchild was solid, but definitely a kids’ book, with less added when I read it as an adult than many other books. I have not read, or heard of, By These Ten Bones, but seeing the context in which it’s named I suddenly want to.)
Also re Masquerade, have you read War for the Oaks? I get the sense it’s a bit of a genre founder for that sort of urban fantasy, and she has a solid and yet not prosaic explanation for why the masquerade works, which would be a spoiler to explain if you haven’t. But from what you’re describing in this essay, you might like it.
Dude if you haven't read The Traitor Son Cycle by Miles Cameron you need to. I reviewed it here: https://www.eleanorkonik.com/the-traitor-son-cycle-by-miles-cameron/
Historical fantasy as a genre has always puzzled me. In some sense all fantasy is historical, for the reasons you explain. It all comes from the past. It is fairytales and folklore and Norse myth, and Arthurian legend all mushed together and projected forward or backward or into strange worlds. It baffles me that people don't seem to recognize the Arthurian elements in Lord of the Rings: Aragorn is Arthur, Gandalf is Merlin, the fellowship of the ring are the knights of the round table, and the ring is the anti-grail. I never know whether to classify my own novel, Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight, as historical fantasy, or dark fantasy, as some seem to categorize it, or literary fairytale as I like to call it, or pseudo-Arthuriana, as another reviewer astutely dubbed it. It is all these things. And that seems to be true of most things in the genre. A little bit more of this. A little bit more of that. But basically all the same stew. It is, in the end, the spirit-haunted world, and it all flows back to what seems to us now, as it seemed to them then, a spirit-haunted time.
I think you misread, or possibly misremembered, The Perilous Guard. There is magic. It’s not very powerful, and tends to consist of things like illusions or talking people to sleep, but it exists and is very real - as the protagonist observes. Note the scene where her cross breaks. And yes, it’s relevant that it’s a cross.
Although, what is with you and good taste in literature?! That’s another little old one-shot paperback that was surprisingly good that nobody’s read!
(Those ones are always the hardest to find - you can usually notice an author is good and seek more out, but that doesn’t work if the author only ever wrote one or two books. Though in this case she wrote two; I thought the second was weaker, but still solidly worth reading.)
Oh, did you catch the second folk song? It’s built around two.
For a vaguely similar thing which is not European, have you read Bridge of Birds?
(I thought Moorchild was solid, but definitely a kids’ book, with less added when I read it as an adult than many other books. I have not read, or heard of, By These Ten Bones, but seeing the context in which it’s named I suddenly want to.)
Also re Masquerade, have you read War for the Oaks? I get the sense it’s a bit of a genre founder for that sort of urban fantasy, and she has a solid and yet not prosaic explanation for why the masquerade works, which would be a spoiler to explain if you haven’t. But from what you’re describing in this essay, you might like it.