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Fantasy is not that much different from
science fiction in that the author creates an entirely new world
for the reader. However, where science fiction might have some
possibility of attaining reality, fantasy readers are served
up dragons, unicorns, fairies, talking beasts, witches, wizards,
and magic. However, some fantasy veers a bit toward science fiction.
In my opinion, Anne MacCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern
series contains enough science along with those flying dragons
to make for interesting science fiction.
| Black, Holly |
Tithe
Tithe
is amazing. I spent one full day of my summer vacation happily
reading Tithe because I couldn't put it down. Kaye is
the sixteen-year-old heroine of the story. She has basically
quit school to follow her musician mother from job to job. It
just got too hard to constantly get records sent and she usually
ended up taking care of her mother and working odd jobs to make
ends meet. Kaye doesn't mind because she never really fit in
anywhere, she had friends who were fairies, real fairies, only
no one ever believed her because no one but she could see them.
Once she finds herself back home, in her grandmother's house,
she attempts to contact her old friends and discovers that she
is a pixie-changeling and the fairy world needs her help. |
| Black, Holly |
Valiant: A Modern Tale of Faerie
Black presents us with one
angry heroine in this modern day tale of faerie folk. Seventeen-year-old
Val, runs away to New York City from suburban New Jersey after
she discovers an unforgivable betrayal. She intends only to see
the hockey game for which she had tickets, but when she misses
the last train home, sleeps in the subway and bumps into a pair
of friendly, homeless teens, she decides to stay. Dave and Lolli
seem harmless enough, but Dave's older brother, Luis, is not
happy
Luis is a messenger assigned to deliver
potions to the various faerie folk who make New York City their
home and some of the folk are turning up dead. Lolli has discovered
that the potion provides not only a decent high, but gives human's
some faerie power as well. When Lolli and Val are caught stealing
from the troll who creates the potions, Val is pressed into service
as a messenger as well.
This adventure is edgy, suspenseful and
not for the faint of heart. There is some language and drug use.
Fans of Tithe may be disappointed in that this is not a sequel
per se.
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| Delaney, Joseph |
The Curse of the Bane (The Last Apprentice #2)
I found the first book in this series extremely suspenseful. So much so, I had to read it in one sitting. The same held true for this book, but I moved it to the YA section, because I felt the vivid description of violence and torture and its implications made for a more mature read. |
| Duey, Kathleen |
Skin Hunger: A Resurrection of Magic - Book One
This double narrative tells the stories of Hahp and Sadima. Hahp is the second son of a rich, hateful merchant and he tells his story in the first person. Sadima's story is told in third person. It is not clear, initially, how the two narratives are related and the ending of the book is a cliffhanger. Sadima's mother died giving birth to her due to the negligence of a magician hired to help her through childbirth. Instead the charlatan magician robbed the family blind, leaving the infant Sadima on the floor and her mother bleeding to death. Her father and older brother do their best to raise her, but her father withdraws from friends and community and despises magicians or anything magical. Sadima discovers early in her life that she can communicate with animals and needs to hide this gift from her father and brother.
Hahp is forced to attend an academy, where, if he is successful, he will become a wizard. Only one of the ten boys in his class will become a wizard. Those who fail, "stay with our walls and remain with us, becoming part of the school." This is truly a school where the student is successful or dies trying.
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| Marr, Melissa |
Wicked Lovely
Faery folk are all around us, but invisible to most of us unless the faeries don glamour and they usually do so to provoke trouble. Aislinn and her grandmother can see them, but Aislinn learned early that she doesn't want the faery folk to know that. Keenan, the summer king, has been locked in battle with his mother, the winter queen for centuries. He needs to find a summer queen powerful enough to take up his mother's staff without turning to ice and he thinks Aislinn might be that person! Very cool, very suspenseful twist on a faery story. Students who liked Holly Black's Tithe, Valient and Ironside books will like this one. I think students who enjoyed Stephanie Meyer's Bella books, Twilight and New Moon will like it as well. |
| Meyer, Stephenie |
Twilight
Sixteen-year-old Bella Swan has chosen to move to Forks, Washington to live with her police chief Dad, Charlie rather than move from Arizona to Florida when her mom remarries. She loves her dad, but also loves the sun and Forks is rainy and dreary. She settles in pretty nicely and attracts the attention of several boys, but one boy, Edward, attracts hers because of how achingly gorgeous he is and because of the fact that he seems utterly repulsed by her. He's not. He is incredibly attracted to her, but he also happens to be a vampire and though he and his family have sworn off human blood, he is worried that giving into his attraction will put Bella's life in danger. The first part of this book is a clever romance which turns into agonizing suspense once Bella's life is in danger.
Excellent first book in a planned trilogy.
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| Meyer, Stephenie |
New Moon
Well, I read this 550+ page book practically in one sitting and I am very sorry that it is over. I was told that it was even better than Twilight and I agree. New Moon picks up several months after Twilight ends. It is Bella's eighteenth birthday and she is bummed because Edward refuses to turn her into a vampire and now she is older than he. She insists that no one celebrate her birthday but the Cullens ignore her wishes. Unfortunately, clumsey Bella manages to cut herself leading to near disasterous results. Edward realizes that he is putting Bella in danger by remaining in Forks and so he breaks up with her so harshly that she becomes nearly catatonic with depression.
Charlie is ready to send Bella to Florida to live with her mother and step-father because he is going out of his mind with worry but Bella refuses to move and promises that she will join the living. She tries to go out with her old friend Jess and accidentally discovers that went she puts herself in danger, she can hear Edward's voice. So she sets about doing dangerous things. This leads her to develop a friendship with Jake, who has always had a crush on her and who might have some secrets of his own.
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| Meyer, Stephenie |
Eclipse
Well, it arrived and the trilogy has apparently morphed into a series as Ms. Meyer is at work on a fourth Bella book.
Graduation is fast approaching and Bella is pressing Edward to set a date for changing her. Edward counters by pressing her to set a date for the wedding he insists on before changing her. So they are at a stalemate. Additionally, there are unexplained mass murders going on in Seattle that must be the work of vampires. As the Cullens set to work trying to figure out who is killing with such disregard for the rules and why, the truce the family brokered with the werewolves is an uneasy one and Bella tries to maintain her friendship with Jacob and peace between him and Edward.
While I enjoyed the intensity of the romance and suspense of the first two books very much, and overall, enjoyed this third installment, I am becoming increasingly bothered by Bella's helplessness, naivete and self-deprecation. Sure, she occasionally figures something out or takes a stand by stamping her foot like a two-year-old, but come on already, it's getting old. I need to read a Tamora Pierce book (see below) as an antidote.
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| Pierce, Tamora |
Alanna:
The First Adventure (Song of
the Lioness, Book #1)
For some reason, I never got around to reading Tamora Pierce.
She receives great reviews for her many books and I adore fantasy.
Thanks to the eighth-grader who loaned me her copy!
Eleven-year-old Alanna and Thom are twins
of noble birth about to be sent off by their distant, uninvolved
father to a convent and palace for knight's training, respectively
and neither twin is happy. Alanna wants to train as a knight
and has no interest in the training in magic that she is about
to receive in addition to learning to be a "lady."
Thom has no aptitude for becoming a knight and Coram, who has
trained both of them so far, has wished more than once that Alanna
had been born a boy.
Alanna convinces Thom to switch places
and to forge the letters of introduction each will carry and
enters training as Alan. Training is arduous and while Alanna
was always a tomboy, she finds her body and spirit tested in
many ways, and develops strong friendships along the way - a
thoroughly enjoyable and fast-paced read.
|
| Pierce, Tamora |
In
the Hand of the Goddess (Song
of the Lioness, Book II)
Book 2 does not disappoint as it follows Alanna from her fifteenth
birthday through her Ordeal of Knighthood. While on an errand
for Sir Myles, she takes cover from the rain under a gigantic
tree where she is visited during the night by a strange violet-eyed
kitten and a tall, hooded woman. The woman is none other than
the Goddess who has advice and a gift for Alanna. She advises
Alanna to face her three fears, the Ordeal, accepting love and
Duke Roger, whom Alanna suspects is plotting to kill the king,
queen and Prince Jonathan. |
| Pierce, Tamora |
The
Woman Who Rides Like a Man
(Song of the Lioness, Book III)
Horrified by the events at the end of book II, Alanna feels the
need to flee what she perceives to be the gossip and disapproval
of the Conte family and test herself as a knight. She travels
south to the deserts and the land of the Bahzir with Coram and
they are quickly accosted by dangerous hill men. While she manages
to fight them off, her trusty sword Lightning breaks and the
sword which replaces it is filled with evil magic which reminds
Alanna of Roger. Soon, she meets up with the Bloody Hawk tribe
and earns the name, "Woman who Rides Like a Man." True
to form, she turns expectations on their ear as she not only
becomes adopted by the tribe, but becomes the first female shaman. |
| Pierce, Tamora |
The Lioness
Rampant (Song of the Lioness,
Book IV)
What an eventful and satisfying end to Alanna's tale. Pierce
packed plenty of romance, fighting and adventure into this series
and created some mighty interesting characters. With the introduction
of yet another romantic interest for Alanna, the reader is kept
wondering who, if anyone, she would choose.
Alanna travels to the "Top of the
World" in search of the Dominion Jewel which is supposed
to give the ruler who can control it, great power. She wants
to attain it to help Jonathan heal the rifts that have formed
in his kingdom. She is also worried about what her twin brother,
Thom has been up to since he borrowed her gift in the previous
book.
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| Pierce, Tamora |
Wild Magic (Book 1 of The Immortals Quartet)
Thirteen-year-old Daine was orphaned when raiders killed her
mother and grandfather. She has a "way with animals"
and a secret when she meets Onua, horse-mistress to the Queen.
Onua is impressed with Daine's skill with horses and hires her
to help bring a string of ponies back to the kingdom ofTortall.
Along the way, Daine senses "wrong animals" and manages
to save a wounded hawk from the ravages of Stormwings, immortal
vulture-like creatures who are supposed to be confined to the
Realm of the Gods. The hawk doesn't respond to Daine's ministrations.
She can't figure out why until she discovers that the hawk is
the palace mage, Numair, who has the ability to shape shift.
Numair senses wild magic in Daine and encourages her to explore
it.
Characters from The Song of the Lioness
quartet, such as Alanna, King Jonathan, Queen Thayet, and Buri
make appearances in this book, but it is Daine's story, secrets
and adventures that are center stage in a very satisfying read.
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| Pierce, Tamora |
Wolf-Speaker (Book 2 of The Immortals Quartet)
Daine's wolf pack calls on her to help them prevent "two
leggers" from poisoning the forests and lakes around Dunlath.
She and Numair find that the nobles there have discovered black
opals beneath the ground and have enslaved ogres to mine them
without regard to the surrounding environment. These opals possess
great magical power. They also uncover that plans for overthrowing
King Jonathan are in the works. Daine finds her loyalties tested
as the wolf pack demands she stay with them and Numair wants
her to return with him to warn Jonathan. Her wild magic grows
and matures, she befriends the squirrels, a lonesome ten-year-old
and meets a basilisk. There is high adventure and suspense in
this intriguing sequel. |
| Pierce, Tamora |
Emperor
Mage (Book 3 of
The Immortals Quartet)
Daine, now fifteen, is part of a diplomatic visit to Carthak
to attempt to forge a peace treaty. The Emperor managed to escape
culpability for his part in the previous attack on Tortall. King
Jonathan decides to send Daine along because he has heard that
the Emperor's beloved birds have fallen sick and feels she might
be able to help. It also doesn't hurt that she has now adopted
Skysong, aka "Kitten," the dragon left orphaned at
the end of Book 2. She adds to her menagerie when she jumps off
the royal barge to rescue a drowning monkey, whom she names "Zek."
There's plenty of palace intrigue as the
Emperor plays cat and mouse with the diplomatic team. Daine discovers
an unwelcome addition to her wild magical powers, the ability
to awaken dead animals.
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| Pierce, Tamora |
The
Realm of the Gods (Book 4 of
The Immortals Quartet)
Orzone has impossibly learned to master the magic of the Stormwings
and opened the gates to the Realm of the Gods to free some pretty
unsavory mortals to wage war on Tortall. Daine and Numair are
saved from certain death by Daine's parents and brought to the
Realm of the Gods. There, they learn that the Realm is also under
siege by the goddess of chaos. Daine and Numair want nothing
more than to return home to fight for Tortall, only it is not
as easy to return home as it was to be brought to the Realm.
They must travel to the land of the Dragons and ask for assistance
from them but there is little hope that they would be interested
in helping. |
| Pierce, Tamora |
First
Test (Book 1 of Protector of
the Small Quartet)
Keladry of Mindalen, the ten-year-old daughter of nobles wants
to train to become a knight. It is she has ever wanted to do.Her
heroine is Alanna the Lioness. King Jonathan has proclaimed that
girls are eligible for training if their parents give permission.
However, the master trainer, who is opposed to having female
knights, insists that Kel's first year be probationary. |
| Pierce, Tamora |
Page
Kel is now an "official"
page and back for more training against the wishes of Master
Trainer, Lord Whyldon. She acquires a maid who needs protection
from a noble who keeps assaulting her and a crew of devoted friends
who are pages. Her enemies remain convinced that she doesn't
belong in training because she is a girl and will be weak in
times of conflict. This volume covers the next three years of
her page training and is as readable as ever. |
| Pierce, Tamora |
Squire
Although Kel is disappointed
that Lady Alanna did not choose her to be the Lioness' squire,
she is happy squiring for Lord Raoul, commander of the King's
Own. While her enemies continue to doubt her ability, she sees
quite a bit of action and manages to foster a baby griffin until
its parents can be found. She also frets about her "Ordeal,"
her last step before achieving knighthood. |
| Pierce, Tamora |
Lady Knight
Now eighteen and a knight, Kel hopes to be posted to the front
to prepare for battle with the Scanran's who are positioning
themselves to overrun Tortall with united tribes and a killing
machine. She has been instructed by the Chamber of Ordeal to
find the "Nothing Man" who is responsible for the creation
of these horrible machines. When she finds herself in charge
of a refugee camp, she is torn between her duty to her king and
her duty to fulfill the mission that the Chamber has given her.
The conclusion of this fast-paced quartet
is breathless.
|
| Taylor, G.P. |
Shadowmancer
Vicar Demurral is anything
but demure as he is lord over all he surveys, yet is still not
happy. He cheated the previous vicar out of his holdings and
holds sway over the populous by torture and murder. He has procured
an artifact which will allow him to control the powers of darkness
and needs only its mate to claim sovereignty of nature itself.
Three young people stand in his way, Raphah, an African priest
and Kate and Thomas teenagers from his vicarage. This book can
be read and enjoyed for the action and adventure alone, or discussed
for its themes of good and evil, power and corruption or religious
allegory. |
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