![]() ![]() ![]() Over the beginning third of the book, the two fall in love and decide to try and do a biography of the deceased France with Thomas writing and Saxony researching. In Land of Laughs we get the story of Thomas, a frustrated prep school English teacher, as he meets Saxony, a woman who shares his passion for the work of fantasy children’s author Marshall France. To me it helps ground his work in a really wonderful way, as we get invested in the characters and not in the genre trappings. I haven’t read all of his work, but this is something that rings true for all that I have read. Jonathan Carroll likes to set up the reality of his characters before introducing the fantastical. It is what is often called low fantasy, because it’s probably more than halfway through the book before there are any “fantasy” elements whatsoever introduced explicitly to us. Land of Laughs is often characterized as a fantasy novel, but it’s just as much a relationship dramedy, exploration of father/child dynamics, and small town horror novel. ![]()
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