Started by Fantasy Review Barn, now run by Fantasy Faction. Tough Traveling is back my friends! Yes, the best fantasy specific meme around is finally up and running again. So join us every week as we tour the fantasy genre. From high to low, from classics to new releases, from epic to urban; each month, we will guide you in search of a different trope, theme or cliché. For a history of what came before check the tag above.
This weeks topic (fittingly enough) is BEGINNINGS:
There is an official intro do this topic but I ignored and decided to focus on the beginnings to several of my favorite series instead. I will play by the rules next time, I swear.
Discworld by Terry Pratchett – A small group watch a town on fire. Small wagers are made on what exactly caused an explosion. No one is in danger, there is no desperate escape needed. As beginnings go it isn’t the most exciting but 
it obviously left an impression on me. Terry Pratchett’s Discworld has been my favorite series for so long at times I forget how simple the beginning was. Just two men, chatting about a disaster they are outside of, watching the now infamous Rincewind and Twoflower show up.
The humorous thing is for a great many readers this ISN’T the beginning they read. Because the more common advise is to start somewhere else in this wonderful series. And it is hard to disagree; The Color of Magic is unlike anything else in the series and in reality one could grab any Discworld book and use it as a starting point (I have even come to the conclusion that Night Watch is a perfectly fine first book for a curious reader).
But there is a real starting point to this series. And I am a seemingly rare reader who actually started there. So for me my greatest reading pleasure will always be tied to a city on fire.
Faith by John Love – A long, slow ride in a slow carriage takes a madman to the ship he is in charge of. The 
technology exists to get him them quicker by the captain insists on his pomp. A murderous crowd has to be kept back. And the end journey will put the man on a ship that represents the only hope against an alien ship known as Faith that once passed through the system and left devastation in its wake. So why was the man so insistent on this ride? And why did the author take almost the entire first third of the book pursuing this strange ride and the rather mundane conversations happening within the carriage?
Read Faith. I can’t promise you will love it but I can promise you have never read a book like it.
Generation V by M.L. Brennan – I can’t really remember how the book started. I know I laughed at both the covers and the name of the first book and like way too many others ignored the series for way too long. But eventually I got around to reading it and the first meeting between protagonist Fortitude Scott and the kitsune Suzume is a beginning I can get behind. A mischievous woman saving the protagonists life is cool enough, her smirking and making light of the situation makes it even better. A series I need to reread in a hurry. In fact, I got nothing else on my plate at the moment….
The Dark Company by Glen Cook – The series starts with a were-leopard coming out of a sealed cave and reaping havoc and immediately moves on to the company joining forces with the best cast of villains ever assembled on page. Details are hazy in my mind after so many years but this was a series I had read two books of before even realizing I was hooked. And The Limper is awesome.
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Ok, that is all I have this month. And… Oh wow. That is all. Laura is doing all the hard work now! I don’t have to tell you what comes next month or provide link ups or anything. It is all up to you Laura! Everyone please head over to Fantasy Faction. And once again Laura, THANK YOU for bringing back this old labor of love. And bugging me to be involved multiple times =)
Fantasy Review Barn 
The Generation V series is one of the best UF series I’ve read to date – and it saddens me no end that there will be no more books, at least in the near future…
On the other hand, there is a big, Pratchett-sized hole in my reading “career”, and one I need to fill one of these days, because every time I see the Discworld mentioned I know I need to start reading, and learn what it’s all about 🙂
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I’m just amazed that you made it through so many past TT lists without ever succumbing…
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No kidding. I sure wish Gen V had gotten the support it deserved. I blame the covers.
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I love this meme – it’s the best out there and I think now we’ve all had a little rest from it we can once again take part feeling renewed and with some fresh ideas.
I don’t think I ever properly thanked you for creating Tough Travel – so here it is now! I loved taking part every week, such a lot of great bloggers and a great environment to take part in because it felt so friendly, welcoming and we all interacted so well together. Thanks for creating it.
And now I’m over with the gushing – I love that you included Generation V and it’s a great nudge for me to read the final book. Where did you get up to – did you read the last book yet?
Lynn 😀
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Yup, Tough Travels was pretty much single-handedly responsible for introducing me to you guys. I might not even be blogging any more if not for TT and everyone’s positivity! ❤
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I liked it because it was so fantasy specific; no drive by comments from people who never once look at the blog. It also took some thought to do; one couldn’t copy and post a picture and move on. Always made it interesting to read through.
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Travelling through everyone’s Tough Travels was a highlight! I’m glad we’re doing it again and happy that you’ve joined in 🙂
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I’m so excited! Thank you for trusting me enough to pass on the torch. ❤
Assassins next month… but don't worry about rules. If anyone's allowed to break them, it's you!
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Assassins should be a bit easier to handle but as of this moment I am not impressed. BUT, glad to here I have a whole month to think about it. Can a man get a reminder at the end of the month?
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I loved The Color of Magic sooooo much. Such a great introduction for a series. I also love this meme and am glad to see it revived. I didn’t always participate because I realized I hadn’t really read enough to contribute to the topics. But reading everyone else’s selections always gives me ideas on books!
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I don’t know if I knew you were a Discworld fan. I am happy to here this. I was always glad when you could drop by. I promise, putting these lists together were always tough; sometimes I would stare at Goodreads for hours trying to think of ANYTHING to write.
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I’ve read none of these!! 🙂 But I am thrilled this is back 🙂
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Not even Dark Company? I… I didn’t know that.
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D’oh! OK, I lied. I did read the first book in that series, it just didnt register for some reason
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Great to have Tough Traveling back. I have so many new books to feature! Great picks too, I would never have thought to include Generation V but it is perfect.
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I have been wanting to reread the series so it was high on my mind when it was time to do lists.
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/me raises hand as one of the few who started with The Colour of Magic.
It wasn’t a particularly informed choice, as this was back in the days before we invented Information. I was probably 7 at the time, fresh from reading The Lord of the Rings, and there were only four or five SF&F series in my very small local independent bookshop, and I bought the first book of three of them and went from there; one of them was TCOM. It’s a pretty funny book when you’re 7, although I think some of the more recondite allusions may have gone a smidgen over my head…
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I found him in College. Read a review in a ‘newspaper’ for Thief of Time and was working in the mall at the time. Grabbed Color of Magic on lunch break. I read them in order for the first four books then went by the ‘whatever book the little shop had in shop’ method.
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Really glad to see this meme is doing so well, hopefully having it spread out more will make it easier for me to participate:-)
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For me as well. The weekly thing was absolutely killing me at the end.
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Yay! So happy to see Tough Travels back at the barn. Just like the old days, eh? {Sighs nostalgically}
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It is. A lot less work though =)
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