Stormy scenes
JOURNEYS ARE uppermost in the mind of fantasy author Sarah J Maas. Among them is herrecenttourof NewZealand and Australia. “I’m the biggest fan and I went to all the movie sites,” she says. Then there is the fictional journey in her latest book, a classic quest novel with “the old-school fantasy feel, going across the world and having adventures”, which sees wouldbe queen and former assassin Aelin on the road, gathering allies before going into battle to reclaim her kingdom.
This is the fifth book in her series (read them in order; you need to understand what Celaena Sardothien and Aelin Galathynius have in common).
“I’d always wanted to show more of the world and the characters interacting with it — I let them lead me emotionally on that journey,” says Maas. And what feisty characters they are — predominantly strong female leaders, including witches with fabulous names such as Manon Blackbeak and Yellowlegs, who fight tooth and claw.
“I have a big thing for claws and fangs,” says Maas, who also added a fistful of monsters to the mix. And there is still room for romance, with bedroom scenes that take the book into age 16-plus territory.
As an escape from the stresses of teenage life, to stretch those imaginative muscles, to identify with the powerful when life seems out of control, or just for the sheer joy of wallowing in a truly massive paperback, Maas is always a delight. There is another journey on Maas’s mind — a personal one this time: “Even with all my travelling this past year, I made sure I was home for Passover and I had my grandma round. She is 86 and a Holocaust survivor and still volunteers regularly at an Israeli army base. It was very special to have her at my house.”
A family trip with her grandma to Israel, says Maas, would be magical.
Characters lead me on an emotional journey’