[HPFGU-OTChatter] Beyond the Potterverse

[Maria Gromova]

Jo wrote:
>Hi,with all the speculation and disappointment over a release date
>for book 6 I was wondering what people are reading beyond the
>Potterverse? (Wait, you mean there are other books?!!). Any
>reccomendations?
Well, I am now into an excellent fantasy-mystery series, the Liam Rhenford
novels by Daniel Hood, about Quaestor Liam Rhenford and his familiar,
dog-size dragon
Fanuilh. The series begins with poor young scholar Liam Rhenford, a bit of a
rolling stone, coming to the rich seaside merchant town of Southwark after a
time of absense and going to visit his old friend, powerful wizard Tarquin
Tanaquil, only to find Tarquin with a dagger in his heart. Tarquin's
familiar, little dragon Fanuilh, was magically bound to Tarquin and would
die if he couldn't find himself a new master, so Fanuilh bound himself to
Liam as his familiar. He then asked Liam to find Tarquin's murderer, and
Liam began to investigate. Coeccias, the Aedile (Sheriff) of Southwark, a
honest, straighforward man, helped Liam very much, but at some point Liam
himself became the main suspect in Coeccias's eyes, for it turned out that
Tarquin made a will and left all his property, his nice house near the town
including, to Liam. Liam managed to persuade Coeccias that he knew nothing
of the will, and, with Fanuilh's help, he found Tarquin's murderess.
Somewhere in the course of the investigation Liam found he is being called
Quaestor (investigator in Latin, sometning like a Deputy Sheriff). So, when
all this was over, Liam settled down as a house-owner and the Quaestor of
Southwark, but, to his annoyance, all the town of Southwark now considered
him a wizard, with Tarquin's magic house and Fanuilh and all. Liam knew so
little of magic that he couldn't, as a honest man, to call himself a wizard,
but all the town was impossible to dissuade, of course, everyone who saw him
with Fanuilh thought him a powerful wizard, and Liam sometimes used that to
influence an uncooperative suspect. Though Liam wasn't a wizard, he was a
very intelligent, scholarly and brave, even daredevil, young man,- he once,
being imprisoned and to be tried on the charge of murder, found out and
caught the real murderers, and then, his name being cleared as a result,
declined the office of the Aedile of Dippenmoor, the main city of the
province. He was content to be just a Quaestor, as he was his own master, a
free lance, he once  served as one of the associate judges in the circuit
court of the province, but retired, as he didn't like the pressure. Tarquin
called him 'the young man who does not care a straw', and Coeccias - 'my
lord, capable of anything.'  Of course, Liam had Fanuilh to help and defend
him - Fanuilh was brave, loyal and intelligent, could do simple but
effective spells, such as to light a fire or to make someone itch, laugh or
fall asleep, and of course he had claws, fangs and wings as well. The
writing is very good, with livid descriptions and a lot of humor. The
setting is late Middle Ages - feudal struggles and rich merchant cities, and
so on. Read the books, you won't regret it.
Maria