Archive for the ‘fantasy’ Category

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

So, I loved this book to start out with.  Strong female character.  A little violent, but not graphically so.  There was a passage in the first half of the book that I absolutely loved.  The main character, Katsa, has been used by her uncle as a thug to keep his kingdom in line.  She is [...]

January 13, 2012  Tags:   Posted in: fantasy, Young Adult  No Comments

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris

These books have sort of been my guilty pleasure…not at all the type I usually go for.  They are marketed as mysteries, though very few of them have struck me as truly dealing with solving an actual mystery.  The early books seemed to fit more properly in the Romance genre.  The latter books have leaned more [...]

July 26, 2011   Posted in: fantasy, mystery  No Comments

Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix

This one is probably a good mystery book for the middle school set, but doesn’t have a lot to interest older readers.  My interest wasn’t really piqued until the end, but let me explain that beneath a cut, since that will include some spoilers.

December 15, 2010   Posted in: fantasy, mystery  No Comments

The Hunger Games

It’s been awhile since this has happened…I’ve read a book that drew me in enough to make me want to post about it right away. The Hunger Games is so powerful, filled with significance while still subtle.  The story is set in a post apocolyptic North America that has been divided into thirteen districts that [...]

October 3, 2010   Posted in: fantasy, science fiction, Young Adult  No Comments

The Looking Glass Wars

Alice in Wonderland is one of those books, at least for me, that was fun to read as a child, but then when I reread it as an adult, it had me wondering if  Charles Dodgson (a.k.a. Lewis Carroll) wasn’t a but touched.  In The Looking Glass Wars, Frank Beddor takes this classic children’s tale [...]

June 24, 2010   Posted in: fantasy, fiction, retold fairy tale, Young Adult  No Comments

The Heir Series

My brother recommended these books to me, so I suppose that he should really be the one to write the review.  He doesn’t feel all that confident in his writing (yet), so you’ll have to put up with my version, yet again. As far as fantasy for young adults goes, these books are some of [...]

June 3, 2010   Posted in: fantasy, fiction, Young Adult  One Comment

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

This is the second book I’ve read by Funke, and I must say this is the better of the two.  I find her unorthodox in her approach towards children’s fantasy in that very little of the story is based on anything fantastical.  Her characters are very much grounded in the real world and must deal [...]

January 22, 2010  Tags: ,   Posted in: fantasy, fiction  No Comments

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

This is a pretty fun series of books geared towards middle school students. They are actually really perfect for sixth graders, since (in California, at least) they are studying ancient cultures in history and mythology in English. So far, I’ve read the first two books in the series and am planning to make them available [...]

December 2, 2009  Tags:   Posted in: action, fantasy, fiction  No Comments

The Last Unicorn

I have this childhood attachment to the movie “The Last Unicorn” which led me to bear the scorn of my family and friends and seek it out on DVD (now the 25th anniversary edition!) Was it as great as I remembered? That’s another story. I was only ten minutes into it when the laughter and [...]

July 17, 2007   Posted in: fantasy, fiction  3 Comments

I am Morgan le Fay

It has taken me quite some time to get around to reviewing this book, and it isn’t because I haven’t had time. (Okay, that’s part of it, but not the main reason.) I simply can’t decide if I liked it. That seems to be the norm lately, so I don’t know if it’s a phase [...]

April 17, 2007   Posted in: fantasy, fiction, historical fiction  2 Comments