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Tag Archives: Fantasy

The Kingdom of Back by Marie Lu

22 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by truebooktalks in Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Uncategorized, Young Adult

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Fantasy, Musicians, women

Many people know about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Few know about Nannerl Mozart, his older sister. She performed with Wolfgang, and possibly even had written some of the music attributed to him. The two of them traveled together and performed all over Europe until Nannerl was no longer looked upon by the audiences they performed for as a child prodigy. Nannerl lived at a time when any child prodigy – either male or female was praised and noticed; but when she became a woman, she had to begin the role of a woman – subservient to the men in her life. Nannerl’s performing ceased, and she had to take a back seat to Wolfgang.

This story takes on 18th century social norms, but it does not remain an historical novel. There are elements of fantasy rolled into the tale. Nannerl once said that she had but one wish – to be remembered forever. That wish almost became true due to a influence of a mythical being from the Kingdom of Back – a kingdom of fairy princelings and queens of the night. But when Nannerl learned the true cost of having her wish come true, she was faced with the most important decision of her life. It was a decision that no one could make for her – not mother, father, or a famous brother.

I wondered whether or not the author could pull off a merger of history and fantasy, but Lu did a superb job of doing just that. By the time I was well into the story I was immersed into the concept of a fairy being responsible fo I recommend this historical/fantasy for middle school and high school readers.

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Song of the Abyss by Makiia Lucifer

11 Tuesday Jun 2019

Posted by truebooktalks in Fantasy, Young Adult

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Fantasy, mystery, Relationships, teen readers

Reyna is nearly finished with her training as a map maker and explorer. She needs to do a major project to finish her studies and become a master explorer, but in a world where women are not accepted in that position, she has to prove that she is capable of what she wants to do. She has been traveling around her world and making maps for a year when the ship she is traveling on is attacked by a pirate ship. She manages to escape from the clutches of the pirates by jumping into the sea and swimming to land. Once there, she encounters a young man who she finds out is the crown prince of that land. Of course he helps her – at least as much as she allows him to. Thus begins a fast-paced adventure involving foreign intrigue, traitorous friends and sirens.

This is a great story of a woman defending her rights and proving her capabilities. While the world that Reyna lives in is a fantasy, it becomes realistic for the reader. The author has provided the reader with a great deal of adventure, a mystery, some mythology, and a little bit of romance. I believe this book is a suitable selection for high school readers.

I recognize that I am reading a review copy, but I would like to point out an observation: Places mentioned in the story are not on the map provided in the front of the book (I like to get a feel of where the action goes, and I could not do that). This might be corrected in the final editing, but the reader should be aware.

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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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