Author | Alex Bledsoe |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | Tufa |
Genre | Urban fantasy [1] [2] |
Publisher | Tor Books |
Publication date | September 2016 |
Media type | Hardback |
Pages | 315 |
ISBN | 978-0-7653-7656-5 |
Preceded by | Long Black Curl |
Followed by | Gather Her Round |
Chapel of Ease is an urban fantasy [1] [2] novel by American writer Alex Bledsoe, first published in the United States in September 2016 by Tor Books. It is the fourth in a series of six books by Bledsoe about the Tufa living in a remote Appalachian valley in East Tennessee. The Tufa are descendants of Irish fairies and were found in the area when the first European settlers arrived. [3] [4]
Chapel of Ease generally received positive reviews from critics. The book's name was taken from the title of a song by South Carolina singer-songwriter Jennifer Goree. [5]
Matt Johansson is a gay New York City actor who lands a part in Chapel of Ease, a musical written by playwright Ray Parrish. But Ray dies on the play's opening night, and Matt, who had befriended Ray, decides to visit the chapel on which the play is based in the dramatist's hometown in Cloud County. There Matt encounters the mysterious Tufa and becomes embroiled in Ray's Tufa heritage.
In a review in Fantasy Literature, Kat Hooper called Chapel of Ease a "character-driven romance", and said Bledsoe's decision to feature homosexual relationships should please many readers. [6] She remarked that the novel has the same "eerie atmosphere" as the previous books in the Tufa series, and its "run-down close-minded Appalachian town" has an air of "squalidness, despondency, and desperate menace". [6] Hooper's only "minor quibble" about the story were inconsistencies in the Tufa's attitude to homosexuality: initially they appeared intolerant, yet later they came across as being more accepting. [6] Hooper gave the novel three-and-a-half stars out of five. [6]
Debbi Bachman wrote at Talk Nerdy with Us that the Chapel of Ease's characters are "so well fleshed out" that "they ... feel like friends you’ve known for a lifetime". [7] She said that this is a book to enjoy relaxing on your porch and imagining "that you too are in the hills". [7] A review in Publishers Weekly stated that Chapel of Ease "skillfully fuses music, legend, and regional atmosphere to create something that feels like an unexplored corner of American mythology." [8] Kirkus Reviews , however, complained that Chapel of Ease does not continue to explore the nature of the Tufa as Bledsoe did in the previous books in the series. The reviewer also felt that the author tended to overplay the mystery of chapel. [9]
Jonathan Strahan is an editor and publisher of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. His family moved to Perth, Western Australia in 1968, and he graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Arts in 1986.
Alex Bledsoe is an American author best known for his sword and sorcery and urban fantasy novels. Bledsoe's work is characterized by hard-boiled protagonists and classic noir themes.
Hannah Moskowitz is an American author of young adult and middle grade novels.
Wesley Chu (朱恆昱) is a #1 New York Times Bestselling speculative fiction author. He was originally raised by his grandparents in Taiwan while his parents were studying in the United States. In 1982, he joined his parents in Lincoln, Nebraska, later settling in Chicago in 1990. He received a degree in management information systems from the University of Illinois, worked consulting jobs, then spent ten years in the banking industry. He has acted in film and television, and has also worked as a stuntman. Chu has appeared in several high-profile commercials alongside numerous celebrities, such as Michael Jordan.
Saad Z. Hossain is a Bangladeshi author writing in English. He lives in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Brian Staveley is an American fantasy writer. He has written an epic fantasy trilogy, The Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, the first volume of a sequel series, Ashes of the Unhewn Throne, a prequel novel, Skullsworn, and a selection of short fiction.
Fonda Lee is a Canadian-American author of speculative fiction. She is best known for writing The Green Bone Saga, the first of which, Jade City, won the 2018 World Fantasy Award and was named one of the 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time by Time magazine. The Green Bone Saga was also included on NPR's list, "50 Favorite Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of the Past Decade".
Tamsyn Muir is a New Zealand author of fantasy, science fiction and horror. Muir won the 2020 Locus Award for her first novel, Gideon the Ninth, and has been nominated for several other awards as well.
Justina Ireland is an American science-fiction and fantasy author of young adult fiction and former editor-in-chief of the FIYAH Literary Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction. She received the 2018 World Fantasy Award for Non-Professional Work. Her novel Dread Nation won the 2019 Locus Award, and was nominated for the Andre Norton, Bram Stoker, and Lodestar Awards.
Bethany C. Morrow is an American author. She writes speculative fiction for adult and young adult audiences and is the author of Mem (2018), A Song Below Water (2020), So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix (2021), and the editor of YA anthology Take the Mic (2019).
Mordew is a 2020 fantasy novel by British author Alex Pheby. It is the first novel in the City of the Weft trilogy.
Travis John Klune is an American author of fantasy and romantic fiction featuring gay and LGBTQ+ characters. His fantasy novel The House in the Cerulean Sea is a New York Times best seller and winner of the 2021 Alex and Mythopoeic Awards. Klune has spoken about how his asexuality influences his writing. His novel Into This River I Drown won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Romance in 2014.
The Hum and the Shiver is an urban fantasy novel by American writer Alex Bledsoe, first published in the United States in September 2011 by Tor Books. It is the first in a series of six books by Bledsoe about the Tufa living in a remote Appalachian valley in East Tennessee. The Tufa are descendants of Irish fairies and were found in the area when the first European settlers arrived.
Wisp of a Thing is an urban fantasy novel by American writer Alex Bledsoe, first published in the United States in June 2013 by Tor Books. It is the second in a series of six books by Bledsoe about the Tufa living in a remote Appalachian valley in East Tennessee. The Tufa are descendants of Irish fairies and were found in the area when the first European settlers arrived.
Long Black Curl is an urban fantasy novel by American writer Alex Bledsoe, first published in the United States in May 2015 by Tor Books. It is the third in a series of six books by Bledsoe about the Tufa living in a remote Appalachian valley in East Tennessee. The Tufa are descendants of Irish fairies and were found in the area when the first European settlers arrived.
Gather Her Round is an urban fantasy novel by American writer Alex Bledsoe, first published in the United States in March 2017 by Tor Books. It is the fifth in a series of six books by Bledsoe about the Tufa living in a remote Appalachian valley in East Tennessee. The Tufa are descendants of Irish fairies and were found in the area when the first European settlers arrived.
The Fairies of Sadieville is an urban fantasy novel by American writer Alex Bledsoe, first published in the United States in April 2018 by Tor Books. It is the last in a series of six books by Bledsoe about the Tufa living in a remote Appalachian valley in East Tennessee. The Tufa are descendants of Irish fairies and were found in the area when the first European settlers arrived.
Tracy Deonn is an American author. Her debut novel Legendborn (2020) was a New York Times bestseller and received a Coretta Scott King–John Steptoe Award for New Talent and the 2021 Ignyte Award for Best Young Adult Novel. The sequel novel Bloodmarked was published in 2022 and also became a New York Times bestseller.
Queen of the Conquered is a 2019 fantasy novel by Kacen Callender. Callender's adult debut, published by Orbit in 2019, the book was the 2020 winner of the World Fantasy Award. In October 2020, a Time panel rated the book one of the top 100 fantasy novels of all-time.
Redemptor is a 2021 young adult fantasy novel by Nigerian American writer Jordan Ifueko. It is the sequel to Raybearer and the last book in the Raybearer duology, it was published on 17 August 2021 by Abrams Books.