Why ‘The Witch Roads' author Kate Elliott has many books to recommend

Miami Herald

09-07-2025

For the past 30 years, Kate Elliott has written fantasy, science fiction, space opera, Young Adult fantasy, as well as two novellas set in the Magic: The Gathering multiverse.
Her work has been nominated for the Nebula, World Fantasy, Norton, and Locus Awards. The Hawaii-based author's latest is "The Witch Roads," the first in an epic fantasy duology.
Q. Please tell readers about your new book.
As I say in the dedication, "The Witch Roads" duology is the book that reignited my love of writing during a rough period when I wondered if I should just quit. So the story was not just a labor of love but a gift from wherever creativity comes from, a grand piano dropping unannounced into my head at a time when I needed a bolt out of the blue. I'm so grateful for it, and particularly so because I don't normally work like this; I'm more of a writer who stirs pots on the back burner, for years oftentimes, until they are ready to be written.
Q. How about the story, though?
Macmillan's book page says: "When an arrogant prince (and his equally arrogant entourage) gets stuck in Orledder Halt as part of brutal political intrigue, competent and sunny deputy courier Elen-once a child slave meant to shield noblemen from the poisonous Pall-is assigned to guide him through the hills to reach his destination. When she warns him not to enter the haunted Spires, the prince doesn't heed her advice, and the man who emerges from the towers isn't the same man who entered."
This is epic fantasy set in a big world with a mysterious past (as well as a ravenous fungal ghost plague!). The story follows a small cast of characters on a journey with all kinds of twists and turns, as well as unexpected joy, friendship, and a few ruminations on how beautiful the world can be, even if it isn't always.
Q. Is there a book or books you always recommend to other readers?
Reading is so personal that I can't imagine a specific book I would always recommend to any reader. Reading recommendations are more of an art that allows me to talk to other readers (always fun!), hear what interests them that they have to recommend to me, and consider what I want to say in return. For example, I'd likely not recommend non-fiction to someone who wants a fast-paced novel to dive into. And if a person told me they don't like fiction, I wouldn't try to convince them that, "No, it's just that you haven't read this one novel that I really think is great."
If I am going to recommend, how will I do it? Will I drill down and figure out a book that will match their specific interests? Or perhaps a book that isn't something they would normally pick up would be a good option.
Let me offer six examples, which doesn't even scratch the surface, but these are books I've recommended multiple times.
Isabel Wilkerson's "The Warmth of Other Suns" is an in-depth study of the 20th-century Great Migration of African Americans out of the South and into the Midwest, Northeast, and West. Superb history and excellent writing.
Atul Gawande's "Being Mortal" is a compassionate and pragmatic (and well-written!) discussion of mortality and what people face as we reach the end of our lives. I avoided reading it for years, but it turned out to be incredibly reassuring, even the parts that are so uncomfortable to contemplate. We are all headed in the same direction, and it helps to be clear-sighted about our ultimate end.
Philip Reeve's Railhead trilogy is ostensibly Young Adult, but the incredible world building with sentient trains that travel between worlds and the youth who gets caught up in a revolt against the Powers That Be dazzles me. I've recommended it successfully to both younger and older readers.
Audre Lorde's "Sister Outsider" is a collection of incisive essays and speeches about identity, race, feminism, motherhood, and so much more. When I first read it many years ago as a young woman, it hit me hard, and I have come back to it again and again, as one returns to a wellspring.
"The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" by James D Hornfischer is a history book my dad recommended to me (and to my Navy son). It covers World War II's Battle off Samar in which an overmatched USA squadron of destroyers and small escort carriers went up against a powerful Japanese force off the Philippines. So well researched (based on first-hand accounts), so readable, grabs you by the throat and doesn't let up. A story of ordinary men displaying extraordinary courage and resolve.
Rosemary Kirstein's The Steerswoman books. I wish these novels (starting with "The Steerswoman") were more widely known. They're so well observed. I can't say more because this is one of the very few series that truly it is best to go into without knowing anything much about it, simply because the discovery element is so worthwhile.
Q. What are you reading now?
Ned Blackhawk's "The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of US History." An eye-opening re-vision of how we look at American history, and in this case through the lens of how the long interaction between the Indigenous people and the settlers (and then government of the U.S.A.) has driven, and created, so many of the institutions and iconic narratives of this nation in a way most histories overlook, ignore, or don't even recognize.
"Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman, about the two systems that drive the way we think. This book was recommended to me, and I was a bit apprehensive that it might be a tough read with a lot of science jargon, but it is so fluidly written that the pages fly past. Fascinating and illuminating.
As for novels, I just finished reading Vasily Grossman's masterpiece "Life and Fate"(set during World War II and written by a Soviet journalist who reported through the war) and Ken Liu's forthcoming near-future tech thriller "All That We See or Seem," which was too short; I wanted more! I'm about to start M. H. Ayinde's debut fantasy, "A Song of Legends Lost."
Q. How do you decide what to read next?
My TBR pile is more of a shelf. Or shelves, to be honest. I am an obsessive book buyer (who needs shoes when you can have books?), so I always have plenty of unread titles at hand.
Sometimes I find out about a book and just have to read it right away. Sometimes I finally grab a book I bought five years ago and fly through it because the writing hits me just right or the subject matter becomes incredibly timely. Sometimes I read a book because it's needed research for what I'm writing just now. Sometimes the next installment in a multi-book series that I love arrives, so I have to read it immediately (for example, Juliet McKenna's "The Green Man's Heir" contemporary fantasy series).
Q. Do you remember the first book that made an impact on you?
Thornton W. Burgess's Mother West Wind series, a gentle children's book series about anthropomorphic animals in a woodland setting, with low stakes, and cute animals, written at the early chapter book level. The books were originally published in the early 20th century, and my dad read them as a child. In my childhood home we had three volumes of the stories. I was obsessed with them in early elementary school, reading them over and over.
Q. Is there a book you're nervous to read?
"Moby Dick," but my eldest says I have to because it's wickedly funny as well as brilliant. I'm going to venture a read-along with friends next year. Wish me luck.
Q. Do you listen to audiobooks? If so, are there any titles or narrators you'd recommend?
I don't process audiobooks well because I can't pay attention to the story. What's interesting is that I love storytellers and storytelling, but oral storytelling creates a different rhythm than book narration. That said, I think audiobooks are a great medium for many readers, and I'm glad technology has made them so accessible to so many.
I'm delighted to have had such great narrators for my books, including Shiromi Arserio's magisterial narration of my seven volume "everything but the kitchen sink" epic fantasy "Crown of Stars"; Natalie Naudus's impressive skill in dealing with a complex story and cast of thousands for my space opera trilogy, the Sun Chronicles; Zehra Jane Naqvi's incredible attention to detail in the dense world of the Crossroads Trilogy; and Georgia Dolenz nails the tone I'd hoped for with the Court of Fives (YA) trilogy. And more besides these! I'm so excited to see what Ella Lynch does with "The Witch Roads" (the audiobook is coming in August) after she and I had a great exchange via email about names and accents. The voice actors I've interacted with have been so dedicated and skillful. We are really in a golden age for audio in so many venues and media.
Q. Is there a genre or type of book you read the most – and what would you like to read more of?
I read a lot of history. My dad taught history so I grew up with it as household conversation, and that's probably why I love it to this day. History is a window onto the past that always surprises and amazes me.
My favorite fiction genre is science fiction and fantasy (which I lump together). I couldn't tell you why; I've loved SFF since I was a child.
Mostly, I'd like to read more of the as-yet-unread books on my shelves. Everything; I just want to cram everything into my brain.
Q. What do you find the most appealing in a book: the plot, the language, the cover, a recommendation? Do you have any examples?
In fiction, I love best when the story evokes a place so deeply and effectively that I feel as if I am there, that I have experienced that place alongside the characters. For example, J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" is set in Middle Earth, a place that feels "real" to me as a reader, as if it could have (and should have) existed. Ken Liu's Dandelion Dynasty epic fantasy series also creates a fully-fleshed out fantastical world and a century's worth of incredible technological and cultural changes as seen through its many people from all walks of life, total catnip for me as a reader.
I also love vivid characters whose personalities and journeys I remember years and even decades after I've read their story. Characters I still think about include (but are not limited to) Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice"; Tremaine and Ilias from Martha Wells' "The Fall of Ile-Rien" trilogy; the members of the Kaul family, leaders of the No Peak clan, whose lives we see unfold over decades in Fonda Lee's Green Bone Saga.
Q. If you could ask your readers something, what would it be?
Selfishly, I would love to ask my readers (those who enjoyed a book of mine): what scene or moment has really stuck with them, that they still think about months or years (or decades!) later.
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