Tanya Huff Books In Order

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Tanya Huff is a Canadian Fantasy Author that has been pursuing her writing career since the late 1980s.

+Biography

Tanya Huff was born in 1957 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Raised in Kingston, Ontario, Tanya’s first foray into the writing arena began at The Picton Gazette, when she was ten. Earning $10 for two of her poems as a result, Huff later on joined Canada’s Naval Reserve as a Cook in 1975.

With her service ending in 1979, Tanya Huff attended Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto, earning a Bachelor of Applied Arts Degree in Radio and Television Arts. The author is said to have shared a class with Robert J. Sawyer, a noted science-fiction writer with whom she collaborated on their final TV Studio Lab assignment.

Following her graduation, Tanya Huff briefly worked at a game store (Mr. Gameway’s Ark) in Downtown Toronto. She also worked at North America’s longest surviving science fiction Book store. It was during this time that Tanya wrote various novels and short stories.

Many of them were subsequently published in the years that followed. She sold ‘Third Time Lucky’ to George Scithers (editor of Amazing Stories) in 1985. This was her first professional sale.

During the early years of her writing career, Tanya joined many a writing group, especially while she was living in Downtown Ontario. Eventually moving to rural Ontario with her four large cats, Tanya Huff is currently one of Canada’s most prominent writers, specializing in the area of contemporary fantasy.

Many of Tanya’s scenes take place in and around places in Toronto, Kingston and elsewhere that she has lived or frequented. She also has a tendency to utilize the names of her friends and acquaintances in her stories.

During her long career, Tanya Huff has written novels in a wide variety of genres, from horror to romance fantasy and Space opera.

Several of Huff’s works have been nominated for the Aurora Award. Tanya Huff is proud of the fact that she makes her living solely through writing.

+Blood Ties

Blood Ties was a CBC Television show adapted from Tanya’s Vicki Nelson series of novels. Produced by CHUM Television and Kaleidoscope Entertainment, it lasted for one season, failing to attract the necessary ratings to warranty a second season (which would have been a third season in the United States).

+Child of the Grove

Ardhan is losing its magic, slowly but surely. One wizard remains, a master of evil determined to claim lordship over the entire world. IN an attempt to stop his machinations, the elders send crystal, the last wizard to walk the earth, the child of the grove and daughter of power.

The final war is about to begin.

Most readers will agree that Child of the Grove is a Flawed book. This is especially true for the first 100 pages. Granted, they aren’t terrible by any definition of the word. However, the fact that they are little more than an extended prologue doesn’t help matters.

Some readers might also complain about timing of the breaks in the story; just as you begin to truly enjoy the characters and their tales, their time ends and a new generation begins, bringing with it new characters and stories.

The romantic element of Child of the Grove is no better. Crystal’s attraction for her love-interest doesn’t work; it’s almost as if she only cares for him because he is the only individual around interested in her.

And Tanya Huff doesn’t do a particularly good job of fleshing Crystal out as a character; Tanya’s intention to chronicle Crystal’s attempts at balancing the various facets of her life, the wizard, princess and human being in her, doesn’t quite deliver the results one might expect, probably because the audience isn’t given nearly as much time to understand Crystal as might be necessary.

The villain hardly fares better; as an immortal being that is trying to bring the world to ruin because he’s bored, the antagonist’s objectives fail to captivate primarily because of the lackluster reasons driving his actions. More of a caricature than an actual character, the villain is hardly worth exploring outside the arena of the magic he wields.

None the less, Child of the Grove could be described as a comfortable read. One of Tanya Huff’s earliest works, the inexperience clearly shows, the book boasting some decent elements that quickly become overwhelmed by facets that, while hardy terrible, could have done with some polishing.

Most pieces of the story do not fit together well enough to make for a cohesive tale, not when they are compared to her later works.

However, despite these shortcomings, especially the rather lackluster climax of the story, Tanya Huff manages to entertain, building a rich and vivid world filled with magic and fantastical creatures.

+The Last Wizard

Crystal came to the world of Ardhan as a gift from the elders, sent to save its people from an evil wizard. With her enemy destroyed, Crystal is now without purpose, until she saves a human life, finding a new cause for her growing powers.

The last Wizard is a better book than Child of the Grove, its predecessor, primarily because of the direction Tanya Huff chooses to take her story. As opposed to every other fantasy tale that sees the hero ride off into the sunset after saving the world, Tanya dares to ask a difficult question: when you save the world from unfathomable evil and accomplish your purpose, what comes next?

Crystal has been training for the final battle her whole life; with the fight now over and victory attained, she struggles to find a place in civilized society.

One striking difference between The Last Wizard and Child of the Grove is Tanya Huff’s decision to focus her story; as opposed to Child of the Grove, which chose to cover the various generations that came before Crystal, this creating a back story far longer than anyone cared to read, The Last Wizard focuses solely on Crystal, this allowing readers an opportunity to finally explore the heroine of Tanya Huff’s novels.

Along with a cast of interesting characters and a love interest worth reading about, The Last Wizard is a truly impressive improvement over Child of the Grove; though Tanya does drop the ball with her less than impressive ending.