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Category Archives: Fantasy

Harry Potter: a History Of Magic

31 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by truebooktalks in Fantasy, History, Mythology, Uncategorized, Young Adult

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Harry Potter, J.K.Rowling

Harry Potter: A History of Magic (American Edition)
British Library and New York Historical Museum and Library

Once in a while, I run across a book that just makes me want to say, “WOW!” This is such a book.

It may be hard to believe, but it has been 20 years since, J.K. Rowling first introduced Harry Potter to the world. This anniversary edition is done by the British Library and The New York Historical Society. The book is actually subtitled; The Official Companion to the British Library Exhibition at the New-York Historical Society Museum & Library. I understand that there is an exhibit in New York of the history of magic going on now.

As one might suppose, the history of magic through the ages is presented to the reader, but is it done in a rather unique format. The chapters are arranged to lead the reader through the history as if he or she were taking classes at Hogwarts. The titles of each chapter is the name of a class that Harry would have taken at Hogwarts; i.e Herbology, Divination, and Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Most things presented in the text are actual historical items, but interspersed with the historical are copies of drafts of Rowling’s drafts for the texts of the Harry Potter series and actual artwork for those books. Some illustrations are pen and ink drawings by Rowling herself, but the fantastic color illustrations were done by Jim Kay for Bloomsbury Books.

The book is well-bound. It is delighting to the eye, interesting to read, and engaging for all Harry Potter fans, ages 6-60. It also could be used as a source for research into the history of magic. There is an index of the exhibits shown in the text and brief biographical sketches of Rowling and of the curators of the British Library Exhibit. I highly recommend the purchase of this book for public,middle, and high school libraries.

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We Rule the Night by Claire Eliza Bartlett

16 Sunday Dec 2018

Posted by truebooktalks in Fantasy, Uncategorized

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Fantasy, Fiction, Relationships, teen readers

This is a fantasy that focuses more on relationships than the magic powers of the characters. The setting is in a world torn apart by war. The Union of the North – very reminiscent of Russia – is trying to defend itself against the onslaught of the Elda forces that want to totally wipe out the Union.

     The two main characters are very different.  Linne’ is the daughter of one of the generals of the Union. She felt that her father didn’t notice her, so she bound her breasts and enlisted in the army as a boy. She has distinguished herself by her bravery in battles, but at the beginning of this story, she has been discovered and disgraced for trying to serve as a man. Linne’ has the power of sparking things. That means she can make engines move and start fires by using her magical abilities.

Revna is the other main character. She is a factory worker who lost both of her legs in a tragic accident. Her father was very skilled in working with living metal, so he fashioned artificial legs for her from the scraps at the factory. The only problem with that is ALL of the living metal, including the scraps, are considered government property. He was tried and convicted as a traitor because the courts argued that his use of the metal impeded the war efforts of the Union. The government did not take Revna’s legs from her so, she went to work in the factory where her father had been working.

Revna has the gift of using the Weave, a type of strand that connects the universe. She can locate and pull objects along the strands Weave. Both girls are recruited to serve in an experimental airborne division for the war effort, and all the men expect them to fail.  Revna and Linne’ do not like each other, but they are thrown together because no one trusts Linne’. They think she is a spy, and no one else wants to fly with Revna because they see her as a liability who might get them captured because she can’t run if they crash.

All the girls fear the two Sakrov officers that come to their camp. The fact that Linne’ used to serve with them only makes the girls fear her more. The Sakrov are like the CIA, and they deal mostly in intelligence and torture. The Union has a strange philosophy that if a soldier goes down behind enemy lines and then manages to escape then they must be a traitor, so they are tortured upon their return and then killed or taken to work in the mines. All of the girl aviators are allowed to only fly at night so their presence won’t demoralize the men.

One night Revna and Linne’ crash deep in enemy territory. How they get out and what they learn about each other is the main point of the story. While the book comes to a satisfactory ending, I think there is a possibility of more to come. Even though there is occasionally a bad word, and some smoking and drinking, I recommend this book for middle school and highs school libraries.

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The Dragon With a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis

29 Wednesday Nov 2017

Posted by truebooktalks in Children's Books, Fantasy

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Children's books, dragons, Fantasy, Fiction

Aventurine is a young female dragon who wants to explore the world outside her family’s lair. Her adventure into the unknown has disastrous results when she meets a food wizard who gives her enchanted chocolate which turns her into a human.

Aventurine falls madly in love with chocolate and wants more of it. She eventually is taken in as an apprentice to a famous chocolatier and begins to learn how to make the best chocolate in the kingdom. She also makes a friend of a young girl in the town.

Unfortunately, her dragon family is trying to find her, and Aventurine must decide how to stop them from destroying the world she must now live in. This is a cute story for elementary readers, grades 3-6. I recommend its purchase because it is a very unique approach to dragon tales.

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Truthwitch by Susan Dennard

07 Tuesday Jun 2016

Posted by truebooktalks in Fantasy, Young Adult

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Fantasy, Fiction, Sarah J.Maas, Susan Dennard, teen readers

truthwitch

 

Fans of Sarah J, Maas will love this first book of a new series. This story takes place in the Witchlands. The main characters, Safiya and Iseult, and the land in which they live has long known the diverse power of witches.  These two come with very unique powers – which most had thought were long gone from the land.  Iseault is a Threadwitch.  She sees the ties that bind people to each other as strands of color.  The colors indicate to her the emotional bonds between people. But, she is unable to see her own bonds, and the lack of that ability limits her knowledge of how people may be using her.  Iseult is the cool-headed, more balanced of the two.

Sayfiya is a Truthwitch; she knows when people are telling her the truth.  Most of the rulers of her world do not realize that she is a truthwitch because she knows her life is in danger if they dicover her abilities.  If her power were made known, she would be the most sought-after person in the land because she would know if countries and rulers were telling the truth to each other.  Safiya is also impetuous and quick-tempered.  She often acts without thinking the consequences through.  She definitely needs Iseult to give her balance.

A young Bloodwitch, a man who can smell people’s blood and track them down, and a young male Wind Witch appear on the scene and their lives are changed forever.  The girls have many harrowing adventures the outcomes the reader will not anticipate. The reader will be eagerly anticipating the arrival of the next book in the series.

High school and middle school readers of fantasy will drawn into this tale of friendship and love.  I recommend it for such people.

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Sandrider by Angie Sage

04 Wednesday May 2016

Posted by truebooktalks in Fantasy, Young Adult

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Angie Sage, Fantasy, Fiction, teen readers

sandrider

This second book in the Todhunter Moon series is well-written and is a pleasure to read.  Alice Todhunter Moon is a novice magician in the Castle when a young girl accidentally enters the lives of the people in the Castle through the Ancient Ways. The inhabitants of the Castle already know about the Egg of Orm which had been stolen by an evil sorcerer named Oraton-Maar. But, they have no idea where he is keeping it until it hatches.  Of course, the girl can help them, but she doesn’t trust them, and they soon learn they can’t trust her either.

How Alice and her friends manage to get to the egg before the baby Orm hatches and whom the Orm will imprint on when it does hatch makes this a very fast-moving tale that will appeal to the middle-school reader.

Reader of the Septimus Heap series will enjoy this new series.  It continues with Septimus Heap now being in charge of the Castle.  This book may stand alone, but the reader will want to go back and read the first book if she begins with this one.

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The Murdstone Trilogy by Mal Peet

30 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by truebooktalks in Adult fiction, Fantasy

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Adult fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Mal Peet

murdstone

I had read Tamar by Mal Peet, and I loved the story.  When I saw this book show up on our review list, I was glad that I could review it, thinking that it would be as good as the one I had read.  I was VERY wrong.  I read the entire thing, hoping against hope, that I would find something to like about it. The only thing I can say is that it was the biggest piece of twaddle I have ever read.

The main character is a writer of sentimental coming-of-age books for boys.  His agent convinces him that he needs to write a fantasy, because “fantasy sells.”  He can’t bring himself to do it, but in a very Faustian move, he does sell his soul to a “greme” named Pocket Wellfair, who actually writes a fantasy for him. After he becomes a sensation in the fantasy market, his agent tells him that he has to expand his work into a trilogy.  Many unbelievable things occur between the writing of the first book and that of the third book – one of which is that he goes off to an island in the Mediterranean to avoid having to write the thing at all.

I totally get it that Peet is thumbing his nose at writers who are looking out for their own “pocket wellfair.”  I do know that he thinks that writers who write to please their agents – no matter how pleasing or pretty those agents might be – will not be happy nor successful in the long run.  Hats off to Peet for that.

However, the book is loaded with so many British phrases and phonetic pronunciations that no high school student will ever take time to read it.  I’m not sure that many adult readers in the U.S. would choose to read it.  There is no way I could ever recommend the expenditure of limited library funds for this.

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Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas

23 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by truebooktalks in Fantasy

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Fantasy, Sarah Maas, Throne of Glass

queen of shadows

I began reading this series, Throne of Glass, with the third book, and was delighted when I got a chance to review this volume.  In this tale, Calaena Sardothian has embraced her true identity as Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen; but before she can go home to take her rightful place as Terrasen’s ruler, she must go to Rifthold to rescue her cousin, and a friend, both trapped by  a brutal king.

Aelin, who was trained as an assassin, must destroy demons who do unspeakable things to those they enslave, and she must try to free the magic in the world that has been captured by the king so that magic workers can use it to drive back the forces of evil.

The reader also learns more about Manon, the Wing Leader of the Blackbeak witch coven, and of a young girl named Elide enslaved by her own uncle on the mountain of Morath. Manon can be as blood-thirsty and as cold-hearted as any witch in the coven, but something awakens in her when she is around Elide.  She begins to feel compassion for Elide – a new experience for her.

Aelin, on her quest to save her cousin, learns that one cannot always judge people by what the eye sees; they are often hiding their true identity out of fear.  This is a good lesson for all of us to learn.  We sometime have to look deep into a person to discover who they really are.

The author has skillfully woven together the bits and pieces, both good and evil, of this fantasy world.  She brings all events to a satisfying conclusion, and yet teases the reader into desiring to know more about Manon and Elide and possibly other characters from the Throne of Glass series.

This series is very violent, and is not appropriate for younger readers.  I can only recommend it for those readers high school age and above.  If you have read the other books in the series, you will need to get this one.  It can stand alone, but it is best read in sequence.

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Dearest by Alethea Kontis

16 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by truebooktalks in Fantasy

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Fairy tales, Fantasy, teen readers

dearest

This book is a continuation of the tale of the Woodcutter sisters from Knotis’s book Enchanted.  Friday Woodcutter takes in all the children who are left after her sister Saturday broke the world.  Among those at the castle, unknown by the other inhabitants, are seven brothers who, by day, are swans, but who become men again each night.

Of course, Friday falls in love with Tristan, one of the brothers, but she tries to keep their existence a secret because they are still being hunted the evil Mordant, the person responsible for turning them into swans in the first place. Can Friday save the brothers and the rest of the world before Mordant takes over completely? A strange little man by the name of Mr. Humbug comes to help Friday.

This is an interesting retelling of two fairy tales: The Wild Swans and The Goose Girl. It is a good story for middle school readers of fantasy.  I recommend it for grades 5-8.

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Public Enemies by Ann Aguirre

16 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by truebooktalks in Fantasy, Mythology, Young Adult

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Fantasy, teen readers

public

This is the second book of a series entitled The Immortal Game. Readers of the first book, Mortal Danger will be waiting in line to get their hands on this one.  The story of Edie Kramer, a mortal who has been pulled into a game played by immortals makes a very exciting tale. Kian, the boy who saved her from destruction at the hands of the immortals now awaits his death. Can Edie save him, her father and herself?  That is the problem in this book.

It is a mystery/horror mashup based on religion and mythology.  I waded through the first few chapters and finally had enough understanding of the first book to really get into the storyline.   I recommend the purchase of this book ONLY if you already have, or are intending to purchase, Mortal Danger.  The characters are not given enough backstory in this book for the reader to easily figure out who they are.  The events that took place in the first book are mentioned, but not enough pieces are given to put them  together until near the end of the book.

I also cannot recommend this for any parochial school or for middle school libraries.  There is a very graphic sex scene near the end of book which would not be acceptable for most parents of those students. Optional purchase for high school or college age readers IF you have the first one.

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Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

27 Saturday Jun 2015

Posted by truebooktalks in Fantasy

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Fantasy, Sarah J.Maas, teen readers

Scan0077

This, the fourth in The Throne of Glass Series, continues the saga of Celaena Sardothian and her struggle to find herself in a world that is filled with monstrous enemies. She must go to the fairy world to find her true origins and powers.

Although the king is trying his best to eliminate magic use by anyone, Celaena knows she needs to conquer and use what magic she has – even if that means she may face death.  Celaena is to be taught about her skills by Rowan, a Fairy sent by Maeve, the Queen of the Fairies.  Celaena is not sure she can trust Rowan, but she has no other choice.

She is not the only being with magical powers that must fly under the king’s radar. Other beings, such as the witches of the world are aligning themselves with the king, but only to decrease other magic users and thereby increase their hold on the world. And, in the capital itself, the son of the king begins to exhibit his magical powers.

What will be the outcome of the inevitable confrontation of good and evil?  This tale is sure to please readers of the series in grade 10 and up. I recommend it only as an optional purchase because, unless the library already has the first three books, it may not move off the shelves. Or, it might incite the reader to insist on getting the other three books into the collection.

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