Tag: fantasy

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Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children: Ransom Riggs

This was such a fun book! It was a little creepy and a lot of fun. One thing that I thought was really cool was the way he incorporated all these true life vintage photos into the book (the photos were real, obviously the story is not). I was reading it on my Kindle so the photos definitely were not done justice, but I bet in hardback, the book is really awesome. I love how he incorporated the photos into the story. It did not distract in any way, but really added to it.
Anyways, I don’t want to give too much away because the story really unfolds sort of like an old school fairy tale. I give it 4 stars and totally recommend!

Amazon Description:
A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

A spine-tingling fantasy illustrated with haunting vintage photography, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children will delight adults, teens, and anyone who relishes an adventure in the shadows.

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: Quirk Books; Book Club edition (June 7, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1594744769

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The Kane Chronicles Book One and Two: Rick Riordan

 Rick Riordan is just a great story teller. Specifically he is a great mythical storyteller. I’ve always been fascinated with ancient lore and mythology and his books have been extremely easy and enjoyable reads. If you haven’t read the Percy Jackson or the Lost Hero series yet, you’re missing out. They are very “young adult” (especially the first few of Percy Jackson) but as the heroes progress, so do the books in terms of being a bit more enjoyable for adults. 

This series is Rick’s take on Egyptian mythology and I loved it and am definitely going to be getting book three when it comes out in May. Again, it’s written for a YA audience, but at over 500 pages it keeps you engaged. I also love how all three series are referenced in each series… pretty cool how it’s all woven together.

4 stars and recommend.

Amazon Red Pyramid Description:
Since their mother’s death, Carter and Sadie have become near strangers. While Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, her brother has traveled the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane. 

One night, Dr. Kane brings the siblings together for a “research experiment” at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, he unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives.
 
Soon, Sadie and Carter discover that the gods of Egypt are waking, and the worst of them–Set–has his sights on the Kanes. To stop him, the siblings embark on a dangerous journey across the globe — a quest that brings them ever closer to the truth about their family, and their links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.

  • Paperback: 544 pages
  • Publisher: Hyperion Book CH; Reprint edition (August 16, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1423113454
Amazon Throne of Fire Description:

In this exciting second installment of the three-book series, Carter and Sadie, offspring of the brilliant Egyptologist Dr. Julius Kane, embark on a worldwide search for the Book of Ra, but the House of Life and the gods of chaos are determined to stop them. 

  • Hardcover: 464 pages
  • Publisher: Hyperion Book CH (May 3, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1423140567
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Review of Clockwork Prince: Cassandra Clare

I’ve got to say, I love me some Cassandra Clare. I was hooked on the Immortal Instrument Series and love this series as well. It’s a Steampunk genre yet set in the same world, just a few hundred years earlier. This is the second book in a series, coming after Clockwork Angel.
This is a “Angel” book, or sort of. Has anyone else noticed the over saturation of Angel/Demon Paranormal romances out there? I’m not a huge fan and it’s getting old. HOWEVER, Clare and her Immortal Instrument series predated the craze and may have even started the craze in my opinion. Ok, I’m off track. Anyways, it’s a great second book in the series. Obviously you need to read the first one to make any sense of it. The lead girl is a little “angsty” if you know what I mean, kind of annoying at times. So I give this 4 stars and recommend it.

Amazon Description:

In the magical underworld of Victorian London, Tessa Gray has at last found safety with the Shadowhunters. But that safety proves fleeting when rogue forces in the Clave plot to see her protector, Charlotte, replaced as head of the Institute. If Charlotte loses her position, Tessa will be out on the street—and easy prey for the mysterious Magister, who wants to use Tessa’s powers for his own dark ends.
With the help of the handsome, self-destructive Will and the fiercely devoted Jem, Tessa discovers that the Magister’s war on the Shadowhunters is deeply personal. He blames them for a long-ago tragedy that shattered his life. To unravel the secrets of the past, the trio journeys from mist-shrouded Yorkshire to a manor house that holds untold horrors, from the slums of London to an enchanted ballroom where Tessa discovers that the truth of her parentage is more sinister than she had imagined. When they encounter a clockwork demon bearing a warning for Will, they realize that the Magister himself knows their every move—and that one of their own has betrayed them.
Tessa finds her heart drawn more and more to Jem, though her longing for Will, despite his dark moods, continues to unsettle her. But something is changing in Will—the wall he has built around himself is crumbling. Could finding the Magister free Will from his secrets and give Tessa the answers about who she is and what she was born to do?
As their dangerous search for the Magister and the truth leads the friends into peril, Tessa learns that when love and lies are mixed, they can corrupt even the purest heart.

  • Hardcover: 528 pages
  • Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books; 1ST edition (December 6, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1416975888
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Heroes of Olympus, Son of Neptune: Rick Riordan

This is seriously one of the best YA fantasty series out there right now, so why don’t more people talk about them? I totally get that the first part of the Percy Jackson series is pretty “middle grade” fiction, so it’s kind of hard for an adult to get hooked, but I pushed through because I enjoyed the cadence of the story. As the series progresses, much like a lot of series, as the characters age, so does the level of the book. That said, this is the 2nd part to the Percy Jackson series and the 2nd in this series Heroes of Olympus (the first was Lost Hero. You’re going to need to read the Percy Jackson series (think Harry Potter meets Greek Mythology), but if you do and you like that series, then this series is WAY better! Same characters and then some. Same crazy gods, but then with a Roman twist. Loved the series and loved this second book!

5 stars and totally recommend.

Summary:

 In The Lost Hero, three demigods named Jason, Piper, and Leo made their first visit to Camp Half-Blood, where they inherited a blood-chilling quest:
Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,
To storm or fire the world must fall.
An oath to keep with a final breath,
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.
Who are the other four mentioned in the prophesy? The answer may lie in another camp thousands of miles away, where a new camper has shown up and appears to be the son of Neptune, god of the sea.
With an ever-expanding cast of brave-hearted heroes and formidable foes, this second book in The Heroes of Olympus series offers all of the action, pathos, and humor that Rick Riordan fans crave.
 
  • Hardcover: 544 pages
  • Publisher: Hyperion Book CH; First Edition edition (October 4, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1423140591

 

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Inheritance: Christopher Paolini

I’m not sure I could be more sad right now.

The Inheritance Cycle is over. It’s over!

I feel like I was married to this book. Okay, that’s a bit strange, but I read the first book a few months after I got married and slowly but surely a book has come out throughout the big events of my life. It’s almost like I have measured the length of my adulthood with this series and now it’s done. So does that mean I’m going to die soon? KIDDING!

But I must say, I love how it ended.

I loved it.

I loved how it didn’t end like 4 pages after the final battle too.

This is a fabulous book and I really hope it goes down into the halls of literature with the likes of all the other great epic tales because I truly think it’s epic.

I mean, it has it’s own map, world, languages, battle struggle between good and evil, young boy, mentor, journey, group of friends, betrayal, love, final battle that changes the face of a world; how much more epic can it get?

Again, SO sad this series has come to an end, but I loved the way it did. Oh and it was 880 pages long. How awesome is that?

five stars and YES read it!

Summary:
Not so very long ago, Eragon—Shadeslayer, Dragon Rider—was nothing more than a poor farm boy, and his dragon, Saphira, only a blue stone in the forest. Now the fate of an entire civilization rests on their shoulders. Long months of training and battle have brought victories and hope, but they have also brought heartbreaking loss. And still, the real battle lies ahead: they must confront Galbatorix. When they do, they will have to be strong enough to defeat him. And if they cannot, no one can. There will be no second chances.  The Rider and his dragon have come further than anyone dared to hope. But can they topple the evil king and restore justice to Alagaësia? And if so, at what cost?
This is the much-anticipated, astonishing conclusion to the worldwide bestselling Inheritance cycle.

  • Hardcover: 880 pages
  • Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; First Edition/First Printing edition (November 8, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0375856110