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

[Mimzy]

What are they about?

I tend to shy away from "things that get too epic too fast and throne fighting" books that are too dark and silly. I prefer some bits of humor along the way.

I'm probably the only person here that didn't really like the George Martin books. They're too silly with politics and dark for my taste. But everyone has different tastes.

It's a children's book series that Coville started back in the '90s, left hanging for 10 years, and finally finished very recently. The last book just came out today. (People who started reading them as kids are now either in college or married and have their own kids now ).

there's not really any major plot spoilers, but I'm tagging the synopsis anyway

Spoiler:

There's four books now: Into the Land of the Unicorns, Song of the Wanderer, Dark Whispers, and The Last Hunt. They follow the story of this girl, Cara Diana Hunter, who, at the beginning of the first book, is being chased (along with her grandmother) by this mysterious man. To escape, Cara's grandma gives her this magic amulet that transports her to a magical land called Luster, which is primarily populated by unicorns. Unfortunately, the unicorns are facing extinction due to the threat of a race of goblin-like creatures called delvers, and, more importantly, due to the threat of an evil sorceress named Beloved. Beloved has a personal vendetta against the unicorn race and has pitted the human race against them. Cara finds that she is directly caught up right in the middle of the conflict and may in fact be a pivotal part in deciding the fate of the unicorns and of their relationship with humans.

For a kids' series, it's actually pretty deep. The first book is more of an introduction to the whole world that Coville created more than anything else, and for some people who've read more complicated things, it could be a bit flat (until the end, which is surprisingly very dramatic for a kids' book). But the second book is PHENOMENAL. I read it when I was in high school reading Shakespeare and all this "high literature" and I still found it to be one of the most engaging stories I've ever read. The series is just so unique for a fantasy series; it's not the same old regurgitated plot we always see in bookstores today. Plus, the plot is actually pretty complex. Coville didn't try patronizing his young audience when he wrote the books--of course, the language is pretty simple, but the content itself isn't dumbed down to a point of absurdity.

And, it's not one of those series that gets "too epic too fast." There is some humor in it and it goes at a pretty steady pace. I'd recommend it to anybody from 7 or 8 on up to 100+

[VampyreWraith]

What are they about?

I tend to shy away from "things that get too epic too fast and throne fighting" books that are too dark and silly. I prefer some bits of humor along the way.

I'm probably the only person here that didn't really like the George Martin books. They're too silly with politics and dark for my taste. But everyone has different tastes.

This is the author's web page. http://www.jenniferfallon.com/books.cfm?series=1 Im not really good at describing what its about. Politics are involved in it but in my opinion no where near as much as george rr martins books and its also not as dark and twisted either. I did like the george rr martin books though.The demon child books basically has a girl coming into her powers as one thread of the story. She needs to master her powers in order to kill a god, which now that i think about it kinda reminds me of the ori. the whole impending war between kingdoms is another part. The relationship between damin wolfblade and adrinna is kinda cute/funny. Its not as serious as game of thrones.
Oh and there are gods kinda like the ones on hercules and xena, that try to help but but sometimes that causes issues, the thief god was pretty cool though lol

[Iffy]

I only liked the first few books of the Wheel of Time series and the latest one, The Gathering Storm which was taken over by Sanderson. Mr. Jordan really dragged on meaningless politics later on. I liked Sanderson's style so I read his Warbreaker which was fantastic. I'll recommend it for those that enjoy fantasy. He came up with a somewhat creative magic system.

I've been trying to read the Malazan series but it's so hard to read because of the massive infodump. I've read about 100 pages of the Garden one, and it's still just a massive infodump of too many different things and characters. Has anyone read it? Should I continue?

I remember at some point the characters in the Wheel of Times series started getting lost in the events. I truly am no longer sure how many of them I actually have.

Really you should try huffing old books they smell so good.

[Mimzy]

ooooh i love my university's library because it's filled with old books and if you go into the stacks it smells like that everywhere.

[jmoz]

You huff, you drive, you lose!

[Iffy]

Sam Wellers bookstore used to have a whole basement of used books. It smelled so good. *sighs*

[jmoz]

Sprays on eau de musty library.

[Iffy]

Sprays on eau de musty library.

*follows Jmoz around*

[Mimzy]

*snifff*

[VampyreWraith]

musty library does smell rather nice lol

[Krichton]

This is the author's web page. http://www.jenniferfallon.com/books.cfm?series=1 Im not really good at describing what its about. Politics are involved in it but in my opinion no where near as much as george rr martins books and its also not as dark and twisted either. I did like the george rr martin books though.The demon child books basically has a girl coming into her powers as one thread of the story. She needs to master her powers in order to kill a god, which now that i think about it kinda reminds me of the ori. the whole impending war between kingdoms is another part. The relationship between damin wolfblade and adrinna is kinda cute/funny. Its not as serious as game of thrones.
Oh and there are gods kinda like the ones on hercules and xena, that try to help but but sometimes that causes issues, the thief god was pretty cool though lol

That book started off well, but if I'm not mistaken the main character who happens to be female is kidnapped and or imprisoned something like 5 different times throughout the first book. You just have to laugh out loud at something like that. That was the plot of the whole book.

[VampyreWraith]

That book started off well, but if I'm not mistaken the main character who happens to be female is kidnapped and or imprisoned something like 5 different times throughout the first book. You just have to laugh out loud at something like that. That was the plot of the whole book.

yeah i found that part of it annoying, especially when she gets constantly emprisoned/stalked by that one guy who gets obsessed with her cuz she wont submit to him or what not, she wasnt my favorite character in the books even thought she was the main character. I liked when the story threads diverged and and was more into the parts with the other characters

[jmoz]

Dang, if I had only known 5 years earlier, poor teenage jmoz wouldn't have spent so much time buying sprays and cologne when he could just check out a bunch of books and roll around in it.

Nah, I can understand the appeal of the smell, sorta like a new car smell. I don't really have any smell I'm particularly fond of, but I'll tell you what I'm not fond of, that cheese you keep in your fridge! Eww.

Not really sci-fi, but anyone ever read Maniac Mcgee? Or Neil Gaiman books, I want to know which ones to read. I've read American Gods, and didn't really enjoy it as much as others have. I've read Coraline which was okay. I really liked Roald Dahl books, most of them.

[VampyreWraith]

Dang, if I had only known 5 years earlier, poor teenage jmoz wouldn't have spent so much time buying sprays and cologne when he could just check out a bunch of books and roll around in it.

Nah, I can understand the appeal of the smell, sorta like a new car smell. I don't really have any smell I'm particularly fond of, but I'll tell you what I'm not fond of, that cheese you keep in your fridge! Eww.

Not really sci-fi, but anyone ever read Maniac Mcgee? Or Neil Gaiman books, I want to know which ones to read. I've read American Gods, and didn't really enjoy it as much as others have. I've read Coraline which was okay. I really liked Roald Dahl books, most of them.

The Graveyard Book By Neil Gaiman is really good. Its about a living boy named Nobody, who makes a graveyard his home after the murder of his family. He's raised by the inhabitans of the graveyard, and has to avoid getting noticed by the man who murdered his family because hes still hunting for him because of a prophecy about Nobody.
Ray Bradbury's From the Dust Returned, and The Homecoming, are also really beautifully written books.

[Mimzy]

The Graveyard Book By Neil Gaiman is really good. Its about a living boy named Nobody, who makes a graveyard his home after the murder of his family. He's raised by the inhabitans of the graveyard, and has to avoid getting noticed by the man who murdered his family because hes still hunting for him because of a prophecy about Nobody.
Ray Bradbury's From the Dust Returned, and The Homecoming, are also really beautifully written books.

OMG I love The Graveyard Book!!! I've unfortunately put finishing it on a 1 1/2 year hiatus, b/c my mom bought it for me when it first came out and stood in line to get it signed I have a signed copy of Coraline too

And Bradbury's From the Dust Returned is another one of those books that I need to finish. I LOVED Something Wicked This Way Comes. It's seriously the creepiest book I've ever read and I can't believe they made it into a Disney movie in the 80's (that was a really weird decade for Disney O_o lol).