Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Discussion/Appreciation Anyone..??

[Ukko]

Most recently read: Tad Williams' Shadowmarch and R. Scott Bakker's The Darkness That Comes Before. Both good reads by the way
Also read Across The Face Of The World by Russell Kirkpatrick, wich was ok, but could have been so much more. Maybe the next one in the series will be better. If anyones read it, i wouldnt mind a review. (A short one)

Currently reading: Tad Williams' Shadowplay. Then on to Bloodheir by Brian Ruckley and Tony Gonzales' EVE The Empyrean Age

[Iffy]

The Dark is Rising books I've heard of, it was a bad movie though, do they follow about the same line?
Dune I think is a bit too old for them, I didn't like the Dune books till I was out of school and even then, I remember it getting a bit bogged down. I haven't read it in awhile though, I might dig out my old copy and give it another go just for me.
And Pierce, that name sounds familiar too, but I don't think I've read any of hers. Let me know how you like it after you finish it, it sounds interesting.

And I will forever love Twilight if for no other reason than it got my cousins to quit watching TV and start reading... alot. After they read the Twilight books, they started in to the Harry Potters, and now they're reading some cat warriors books and even Manga. Now if only some series would interest my son enough to get him to read something other than gaming manuals.

I have never seen the movie. They are a good easy read. Cooper incorporates mostly Welsh myth into them, some Cornish myth too.

[gotthammer]

Tony Gonzales' EVE The Empyrean Age

Ooh. As an 'irregular' (currently unsubscribed) EVE Online player (Amarr pewpew FTW! ), I really enjoyed this one. Tho' I think even those who aren't familiar w/ the setting can get into it, too.
(I'd recommend the videos on EVE's website, too...as some of them are quite good http://www.eveonline.com/download/videos/?type=2)
edit: oh, warning: I think 2 or maybe more of the trailers depict scenes from the book, so if you don't like potential spoilers, avoid for now.

[Mimzy]

On the subject of YA books, Garth Nix has written some pretty good ones. He's an awesome author

[Angela V]

So my 10 year old son is reading The City of Ember. His teacher is currently reading the class the 4th book in the series. We moved during March Break and my son has never read these books before. He got the first book out of the school's library. He said they only have the 1st and the last one. The local library has the 1st and 3rd one. That's what we get for living in a small town now!

I was curious and picked up his book. Got to chapter 3. Found out Hubby did the same thing and got to chapter 3. From what I read on the internet it's for teenagers. The first book deals with a city under ground because there was some big disaster. There was a box left behind with the Mayor to pass to each Mayor and at 200 some odd years it was suppose to open and explain to the people how to get back up in hopes everything was fine again above ground. But the box gets left somewhere and a Mayor dies without being able to tell anyone about it. The box opens with no one around. So yeah I got sucked into it.

There's a good local book store. The owner knew what I was talking about and helped me find the first 3 books and then put me on the list for the 4th one which is suppose to come in soon. My son was so excited I found the books. He made me read the library one of the first book. It's his first sci-fi series to read and since he watches a lot of sci-fi and has sci-fi video games I guess he's now officially a sci-fi geek.

[scifithinker]

Is anyone here a young adult lit fan? My cousins have just gotten into YA fantasy/scifi because of the Twilight books and I want to get them a bunch of books for the summer. I got them the Hunger Games books because I read those and thought they were great YA, but when I looked at Borders, everything else seems to be Vampire related. While I'm not against vamps per se... I'd rather their range be a bit broader. I've got the classics like Ender, Pern, and Heinlein already picked out. Anybody else have any recommendations? I know they tilt more towards the fantasy than the sci fi, but I'd be happy with either.

I work in a middle school library, and the hot thing right now is the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. The first book is The Lightning Thief which was made into a movie. If they liked the Harry Potter books, I think they'd like the series by PB Kerr which starts with The Akhenaten Adventure. There's also the Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo and Angie Sage's Septimus Heap series which starts with Magyk. The Atemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer was really big a few years ago but has cooled off with my kids. Still, they're good books.

If your cousins are good readers, though, adult science fiction may be the way to go. Ben Bova's hard science fiction may go over their heads, but it really is hard to differentiate the difference between Juvenile and YA fiction as well as between YA and adult. The lines are very blurred.

[scifithinker]

So my 10 year old son is reading The City of Ember. His teacher is currently reading the class the 4th book in the series. We moved during March Break and my son has never read these books before. He got the first book out of the school's library. He said they only have the 1st and the last one. The local library has the 1st and 3rd one. That's what we get for living in a small town now!

Even though you're in a small town, your library should offer interlibrary loans (otherwise known as ILLs). It may take a little time for the book to come in, but it's a good alternative if you don't want to buy the books. You can also put in a request that the library system purchase a copy of the book. Once again, it may take a while, but if they already own part of the series, there's a pretty good argument that they should offer the missing books as well.

[Iffy]

Angela V - Try what Scifithinker said. I'm in a small town too and our librarian is really good about taking requests for books and such.

[jmoz]

I read Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. Was surprisingly good despite the little politics and other stuff. It's written in a way that you have to keep reading.

[Iffy]

The Pillars of the World - Anne Bishop

[Krichton]

Is anyone here a young adult lit fan? My cousins have just gotten into YA fantasy/scifi because of the Twilight books and I want to get them a bunch of books for the summer. I got them the Hunger Games books because I read those and thought they were great YA, but when I looked at Borders, everything else seems to be Vampire related. While I'm not against vamps per se... I'd rather their range be a bit broader. I've got the classics like Ender, Pern, and Heinlein already picked out. Anybody else have any recommendations? I know they tilt more towards the fantasy than the sci fi, but I'd be happy with either.

Battle Royale, Audition, Graceling, Warrior Heir, Ranger's Apprentice, Inkheart, Unwind

[Iffy]

Stone of Tears - Terry Goodkind

[Ukko]

Juliete McKenna: Southern Fire.

[Mimzy]

I've recently found out about The Looking Glass Wars trilogy--it's supposed to be a re-working of Alice In Wonderland but I don't know if it's any good or not.

[Exiled Master]

Anathema - Neal Stephenson, so far I am enjoying.

[The title is Anathem, by the way.]
That was the second Stephenson book I read (first was Snow Crash). I didn't get the hint at the time that he doesn't really do endings. This realization fell upon me with great force when I finished reading Diamond Age. The ending of Snow Crash wasn't unusual in it's brevity to me because most of it could be inferred.

Spoiler:

Hiro reunites with Juanita and gets his life on track, YT gains an appreciation for her mother, Raven escapes to likely fight another day, Rife is captured and locked up wherever Enzo and Mr Lee agree to keep him, Da5id probably gets rehabilitation,