Trevor and Paul both grew up reading fantasy in the 1980s and 1990s, and both stopped around the same time. But we still look back on that time fondly and talk about our memories, our complaints about tropes and fantasy bloat, and maybe some hope for the future. Spoiler: Trevor has been enjoying some great fantasy books again.

We touch on the days when you could go to the mall and spend an hour in a bookstore. We talk about Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, which we both started but never finished. And we talk about Brandon Sanderson, who not only finished Robert Jordan's series after Jordan died but is also key to why Trevor is getting back to his roots.

Also, we talk about Susanna Clarke's wonderful Piranesi, which recently won the 2021 Women's Prize (though we recorded this some time before that happened).

If you'd like to support the show, visit The Mookse and the Gripes Patreon.

Visit our blog at http://mookseandgripes.com/reviews. Follow us on Twitter @mookse and @bibliopaul. Email [email protected].

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit mookse.substack.com/subscribe