Tag Archives: fantasy

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

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The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman follows the adventures of Lyra, a child raised by the staff of Oxford’s Jordan College. This coming of age story happens in an alternate universe where souls are manifested outside the body as animals. Lyra and her soul animal, Pantalaimon, are taken by Mrs. Coulter after she spies on her uncle, Lord Asriel’s slides. She is pulled into a battle between Church and Science. She strives to reach her uncle in the Arctic while dodging soul cutters, a price on her head and war between sentient bears.

The story itself was fine. Lyra as a characters though is an empty shell. At one point, Pullman explains this as a lack of imagination on Lyra’s part. She doesn’t think, she acts and takes the consequences. I liked her but found her lacking as main character. She has little power even with the compass, making her a tourist in the story. For a female protagonist it is unusual for such an active character but it kept up the pacing of the book as we learn Lyra’s past along with her.

Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor

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Frank Beddor captures the essence of bittersweet in Seeing Redd the sequel to The Looking Glass Wars. Wonderland needs cleaning up but Hatter goes missing only to return and disobey Alice. Arch, king of the Borderlands, is planning something pretends friendship to do it. And finally Redd. She haunts wonderland in every action the Queen takes and in the real world as well.

Alice’s journey is not yet done. She longs for the peacefulness she had in the real world and the friendship with Dodge from her childhood. However, she has neither. For a middle book, it keeps the attention and tension. Old characters revisited and mysteries from the first novel are solved. The new mysteries are presented in puzzle pieces which come together well at the end.

A combination of steampunk, and magic filled fantasy, Seeing Redd is a worthy sequel. Darker than the first where harsh realities seep into the fantastical dream of Wonderland.

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

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Being a fan of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and old worlds re-imagined, I was intrigued when I found a copy of The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor.

Alyss Heart is the heir to the Wonderland throne and hiding in exile from her evil aunt Redd Heart. She is pretending to be Alice Liddell, the adopted daughter of the Dean of Christ Church in Oxford, England.

Meanwhile war rages in a Wonderland against Queen Redd Heart’s tyrannical rule.

Beddor does a wonderful job of taking nonsense and making it a fact of life. He expertly creates a wonderland with technology and magic using Carroll’s base as misinterpreted well meaning book. I really enjoyed reading about the characters in exile as well the ones left behind. He manages to make silly terms seem serious by using character and description.

The book also contains beautiful character concept art by Dough Chiang.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

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I’m not a huge fan of Chris Columbus. He tends to dumb down his subject matter alot. So I didn’t have high hopes for Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief at all. And as we watched the movie our low expectations dropped even lower as we watched one of the stupidest movies of all time.

This made me pick up the book because every book I’ve read this touched or created from a Chris Columbus movie is 1000x smarter than his movie. I wasn’t disappointed. In Riordan’s book, Percy Jackson is 13 years old, troubled and in trouble. It gets worse when he finds out he’s a half blood, and even worse when he finds out who his father was. He is sent on a quest to clear his name and nearly doesn’t survive it. It was fun, scary and well written. Compare this with the movie:

Percy Jackson has something crazy happen to him at school once. So 18 year old Percy is taken to half blood camp by his mom (who gets herself kidnapped) after she tells him he’s the son of a god. After finding out he’s the perfect fighter, he and his friends run away to save his mom. But one of his not-friends gives him a map to find some pearls to get out of Hades once they get there.

It just kind of went downhill from there. So read book, skip the awful movie.

The Crystal Crown by B.W. Clough

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In the kingdom of Averidan any one could be king because this is a society which freely mixes history and fiction (plaiv) for every event in history, including royal genealogy. So when well off gardener, Liras-ven Tsormelezok, is chosen he’s not happy about it at first and finds royal life constricting and crazy. Then he has to go to war and get married.

Brenda Clough weaves a tale of clashing cultures so vividly that you can smell the market, feel the snow and almost hear the music. Whoever is allowed to wear the crystal crown is king, and only the crown knows why. This is a rich and fun tale of a man who only wants to do right and isn’t always sure what that means.

King Kelson’s Bride by Katherine Kurtz

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If you’re a fan of Kurtz’s Deryni novel this book is the one we’ve been waiting for years.

It reads like a fan story…there had been sad theme of killing, maiming and marrying off women who were to be the Queen of Gwynedd and this book promised to fix all that. Despite its length and intrigue I never felt that the characters were in danger. Instead the book act more like an end cap, tying up loose ends of the cast members and presents in a gift wrapped package for fans to enjoy. This is a happy book, with happy endings all around leaving the kingdom at peace and prosperity and all within content.

As it brings this era of Gwynedd to an end, it gives my warm fuzzies. I would not recommend this book to anyone who has not read any Deryni books…you should read the many volumes before this book. It really is worth it.

Charmed by Nora Roberts

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Book Three in the Donovan Legacy, Charmed follows Anastasia, the daughter blessed with healing powers. She is cut off from life because of a past betrayal but when Boone Sawyer and his daughter move in next door…well this is a romance novel folks.

The book is sweet and fun. Not too much in depth on any subject other than their relationship, the book is a great afternoon read.

The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart

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The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart chronicles the adventures of a young Merlin. He lives the life of a bastard child, son of the lady Ninane and an unknown father. Merlin manages to befriend a hermit who teaches him the ways of the mystic. Eventually, as war breaks out across the ilses, Merlin escapes and finds his father, eventually returning as the son and advisor to the king.

The novel brought me back easily into the Authurian saga. Well written, exciting and just fun. I admit I’m a sucker for any Authurian drama especially those which dwell on other characters besides Arthur. The Crystal Cave is set amid wars and history of Dark Age England, so a lot of apparent history is thrown in, though most is only on the fringes of the plot. Magic is only alluded to as this a much more gritty fantasy than high fantasy.

Temeraire: In the Service of the King by Naomi Novik

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It’s War! Napoleonic! With Dragons!

Okay not as exciting as In Space!, but Novik’s books about dragon aviators in the 19th century are brilliant. The language, at first, comes off stiff and formal. But as you pick up on the nuance it become endearing. I honestly wasn’t sure if I’d like this book. My omnibus edition was thick and the cover blurb didn’t do it justice. I loved this book.

His Majesty’s Dragon

The first book begins with William Laurence, a captain in the British Navy, finding a dragons egg aboard a French frigate. Forced to allow one of his men to bond with the dragon due to Britain’s needs, the dragon hatches and chooses him instead.

Most of the book centers on learning one’s place given circumstances with a good note on when to break that rule. It was fun story, with heart-break and triumph mixed well. Not very deep, but extremely entertaining.

The Jade Throne

The adventure continues when word gets back to the Chinese that Temeraire landed in the hands of the English, and is being forced to fight as well. Most of the book concerns itself with journey to China via the sea.

Unfortunately the second book highlights more flaws with Novik’s work. She constantly brings up social ills such as poverty and slavery, however they seems to be brought up as flavor and not very plot worthy. Laurence is staunchly against both but that’s about as far as it goes. I don’t need these as a moral compass in the story. They are just brought up as “Fact of Life” tidbits, similar to the treatment of Levitas in the first book. Even when Novik hits on deeper truths (European dragons are treated like slaves), she just shrugs it off with a isn’t is so much better than being left to starve when you’re old detail during a town visit. Then the thought is left fallow until Temeraire remembers again.

The Black Powder War

I’m thinking these books should not be read quickly together.  Most of this book concerns itself with the overland trip back from China.  While I love the description and the setting, there isn’t much more than that for nearly half the book.  It took a long time to get to the war and then it was very frustrating. However one thing I absolutely loved? The feral dragon and Novik’s depiction of their society. That was absolutely brilliant. I loved the storytelling scene.

Overall the book were good but the formal language was a bit much for one sitting. I’ll take a break and get back to the other books. They were fun, well written and entertaining.

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

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In accordance with new FTC stupidity I Disclose:  I bought this book at King Soopers.  Aia threw a fit because it wasn’t a WITCH book.  I paid with my debit card and I went through the self check out line cause I hate talking to Cashiers.  I got seven paper cuts from the book, one of which bled on the page.  I’m keeping this book and it will be filed under H for Hale…because I’m anal retentive about these things.  I’d totally review your book if I got it for free but since I’m a normal person I have to pay for books.  And because I’m in Debt Consolidation, I have to pay cash.  If you buy the book through my Amazon link, I might get, like a penny.  Maybe one day I can buy a book with it.

The Cinderella story that’s not.  Shannon Hale’s tale about Miri, the clever mountain girl is endearing and just lovely.  Miri is rounded up with rest of the village girls of Mount Eskel to attend a Princess Academy.  Normally when priests choose the location of the current Prince’s bride they choose an area in the lowlands.  The noble daughters are gathered up, a ball is thrown and the prince chooses.  There are no nobles in the out-laying territory of Mount Eskel, the nobility must be created.

With a lesson in why education is key, the book brings home thoughts on family, home and life worth living.