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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Books, Books Books!'s InsaneJournal:

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    Sunday, November 16th, 2008
    12:46 pm
    [graculus]
    Fantasy rec: Fevre Dream
    The book I'm reccing today is Fevre Dream by George RR Martin - I have to confess, I hadn't heard of the guy before I stumbled over the first of his lengthy Song of Ice and Fire series (and am now desperately hoping he doesn't emulate Robert Jordan and die before he finishes it...) so I was a little surprised to see he'd also managed to get a book in the Fantasy Masterworks series.

    The story of Fevre Dream is quite a simple oneclick here for spoilers )

    It's an excellent book, for anyone who likes their plots well supported by factual information (in this case the running of steamboats and the historical context of the story) and both lead characters are very well drawn. If I wasn't already a fan of Martin's writing, Fevre Dream would have made me one.
    Monday, November 3rd, 2008
    8:23 pm
    [mist_stalker]
    Wow long time no recs, well I return bearing another fantasy  rec, it is Founding by Mercedes Lackey, she returns once again to the land of Valdemar.   I enjoted it it had a newer...fresher? feel to it then her more recent Valdemar novels.  so far stand alone but it feels like there will be a sequel.
    Monday, August 25th, 2008
    9:39 am
    [graculus]
    Fantasy recs: Lois McMaster Bujold
    Although she's probably better known for her Vorkosigan series, Lois McMaster Bujold has also written a number of fantasy novels and I wanted to rec one particular trilogy - I would start by saying, though, that it's only really a trilogy because it has three books (so far) all set in the same universe. It'll probably be easier to read them in order but it's not completely necessary to do so.

    The books I'm talking about are The Curse of Chalion, Paladin of Souls and The Hallowed Hunt.

    Cut for spoilers )

    I didn't realise until recently that Paladin of Souls won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, but it's richly deserved. Of the three books, it's certainly my favourite, but they're all good! Bujold has talked about wanting to write two more in this universe, and I hope she does...
    Thursday, July 24th, 2008
    10:08 pm
    [mist_stalker]
    Fantasy rec: The Innocent Mage
    I picked this book up at my local bookstore mainly because I was bored and none of my favorite authors had anything new out.  Let me tell you it was a GREAT find, probably my best "I bored lets try this, random book" pick ever.  It's by Karen Miller I blew through it's 500+ pages in 3 days.  Normal bored picks take a week or two or I never finish them.  It's fast paced and tells a great story about a truly unlikely character, I'm currently reading the second and final book in this tale The Awakened Mage and while it's not nearly as fast paced its still a good book.
    Sunday, July 20th, 2008
    3:52 pm
    [graculus]
    Rec: Succubus Blues (urban fantasy)
    Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead - I picked this book up just by chance in the library, though I have to say my experience of urban fantasy books has been somewhat hit and miss. In this case, Succubus Blues was definitely a hit, as I enjoyed it very much.

    Cut for spoilers )
    Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
    3:03 pm
    [graculus]
    Rec: Sisters of the Raven (fantasy)
    Sisters of the Raven by Barbara Hambly.

    Click here for spoilers )
    Friday, June 20th, 2008
    8:58 pm
    [kirakuni]
    Okay so I just finished reading The Host by Stephenie Meyer, and even though I didn't thoroughly enjoy her first series I have to say this book is much better. Of course that is just my opinion. So if you were going to give her a second or a first chance this would be the book that I would recommend.

    What made it better you ask..... )
    Sunday, June 8th, 2008
    10:53 am
    [graculus]
    Rec: Snake Agent (fantasy)
    Snake Agent by Liz Williams - having already recommended one of her other books (Darkland), I've now got around to reading the book that got me there in the first place, the first of a series featuring Detective Inspector Chen. The books are set in Singapore Three (a franchise city in the far east) where Heaven and Hell are easily reachable from the human world. Chen is a police officer, whose duties see him travelling easily between the realms, much to the dismay of his colleagues.

    Spoilers behind this cut... )

    It's clear that Williams knows her stuff in terms of setting up a convincing universe - this isn't a book you can skim, or at least not without losing a lot of the value of her storytelling. There are already a number of other books in the series, with more on the way, and I look forward to reading them. The next book in the series is The Demon and the City.
    Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
    10:18 pm
    [mist_stalker]
    Fantasy Recs ahoy
    Hey all long time no post unfortunately my time online is limited these days do to the lack of a laptop. I do however come bearing a rec. If you like Mercedes Lackey and are over the age of say 16 I think that you'll enjoy:

    Lynn Flewelling's books the first of which chronologically is The Bone Doll's Twin.  The begining is very dark and at first it turned me away from the book but then I read the first book of the second trilogy which is actually the first book she wrote Luck in the Shadows, after reading the second trilogy I decided to brave the first and I found that after slogging through the darkness of the first say 25-30 pages I truly began to enjoy it.  Be warned however, that like Mercedes Lackey, Miss Flewelling does not shy from writing about homosexual couples so if that's not your cup of tea don't come back and bitch that I didn't warn you.  I loved these books and would recommend them to any reader who enjoys Mercedes Lackey, Anne McCaffrey (hope I spelled that right, it's late), ANdre Norton and even Marion Zimmer Bradley (the Grandmother of Sci-Fi writing who is unfortunately deceased.) 

    Well that's it for now keep those recs coming!
    Sunday, May 25th, 2008
    12:31 am
    [ex_newmoon787]
    If anyone watches the TV show Torchwood, then I would recommend the books. The books are just as great as the show and gives you amazing descriptions and plots. In two days I read two of them. From the moment you start reading them, you are hooked. My personal favourite so far is Something in the Water.

    Like the TV Show, there are new aliens and mystery in each book. While admittedly in a couple of the books it is predictable, there are also a couple of books in the series that keeps you wondering. But still brilliant reads!
    Monday, April 28th, 2008
    6:53 pm
    [graculus]
    Rec: the Temeraire series (fantasy)
    There are four books in this series, written by Naomi Novik, so far: Temeraire (published in the US as His Majesty's Dragon), Throne of Jade, Black Powder War and Empire of Ivory. I must also praise the design of the covers on the new UK editions (linked to from this post) which I feel are very much in keeping with the novels themselves.

    Click here for more )
    Saturday, April 26th, 2008
    10:46 pm
    [bloodbeat]
    I'd like to rec something that seems a bit out of the norm.

    The book is called Brief Gaudy Hour, and it's by Margaret Campbell Barnes. It's about the life of Anne Boleyn, the most infamous of Henry VIII's six wives.

    It was written in the 1940s, before some of the more definitive Boleyn biographies were written. However, don't let that turn you away from reading the book if you're a fan of Tudor history.

    The author manages to make Anne, who has never been the most well-thought-of one of Henry's wives, into someone who is both sympathetic and tragic. Yet the author also doesn't sugar-coat Anne's burning ambition; she's presented as having all the faults and flaws that she's known for, but still comes off as a likable woman.

    I was also impressed with the way that the author really seemed to dig into Anne's personality; she's seen as a multifaceted person, and the book nicely balances her bad side (overambition) with the good (her love of music and literature, and her patronage of the arts).

    It's only recently come back into print, after being unavailable since the 1980s, and when I found out that it was back in print I immediately went to Barnes & Noble for a copy. If you're into Tudor history, it's well worth having in your collection. A classic of its kind.

    Current Music: More Than This / Roxy Music
    Friday, April 18th, 2008
    7:14 pm
    [red_day_dawning]
    Any ideas on an appropriate fantasy novel to give a 16 year old boy?
    Anyone have any brilliant notions on an appropriate (possibly YA) fantasy-type book to give a boy turning 17? His reading skills are quite advanced. As I understand it, his reading abilities are easily equivalent to most adults, although the book's contents should not be too graphically sexual.
    He has enjoyed the Harry Potter books, as well as Lord of the Rings. He loves David Gemmel's novels, but has read them all. Likewise with Raymond E. Feist books (including the Empire series written by Feist and Janny Wurts.)

    Edit: Today I bought the two books: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and Sabriel by Garth Nix.
    THANKS to all for your help.
    Saturday, April 12th, 2008
    10:48 am
    [graculus]
    Rec: The Braided Path trilogy (fantasy)
    My rec today is for a trilogy of books by Chris Wooding, who's better known in the UK for writing YA books, collectively known as the Braided Path series: The Weavers of Saramyr, The Skein of Lament and The Ascendancy Veil. Personally, I've read the first book of too many trilogies where the others haven't been published yet and either they take forever to get in print or they disappoint when they arrive: well, all three books in this series are in print and they're excellent!

    Click here for more about these books )

    Thursday, April 10th, 2008
    9:27 pm
    [graculus]
    Sabriel (Young Adult)
    Sabriel by Garth Nix - this is the first book of the Abhorsen trilogy, and after reading it I was left wondering why I'd put off getting around to it for so long.

    Click for more )

    12:03 pm
    [robynsummers]
    New book by Philip Pullman
    Once Upon a Time in the North's genre is fantasy. I would recommend this book for those who are fans of His Dark Materials or looking for a quick adventure story based in another universe.

    My thoughts on Philip Pullman's Once Upon a Time in the North. It's such a beautiful book! I also wrote a review for it on Amazon.com :)

    I pre-ordered the book and finished it in a few hours on Tuesday. It's not surprising considering it is a very compact book (I haven't read Lyra's Oxford yet so I didn't expect the book to be the size it was) but it was so engrossing I probably would have stayed up to finish it. I had planned to write about it Wednesday but I got sick. I'm proud Once Upon a Time in the North was manufactured in my home country! Woohooo! (Ahem, I believe cheaper materials and labor. *cough cough*) It's a beautifully made book and I do think if I had a choice between a paperback version or the hardcover version, I would still choose the hardcover one, though it would be more expensive. There's also a boardgame included, where aeronauts compete to be the last remaining one in the sky. I haven't played it yet (they say the minimum is four players) as I and my friends have been too busy, but some of the "Hazards" are pretty amusing.


    I really adored this book and I'm glad Pullman wrote it. I hope he writes one for Serafina one day.

    Cross-posted.



    Current Mood: calm
    Saturday, March 29th, 2008
    10:47 pm
    [graculus]
    Rec: The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray (Young Adult)
    The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding - because I've been enjoying his adult fantasy novels (I've read The Weavers of Saramyr and The Skein of Lament so far, with the third book of that series, The Ascendancy Veil, waiting to be read and then probably recced...) I thought I would check out some of his other work. Click here for more )
    Monday, March 24th, 2008
    11:07 am
    [graculus]
    Darkland (science fiction? fantasy?)
    Darkland by Liz Williams - initially, I think I picked this book up because I'd been looking on Amazon at some others by her (the Detective Inspector Chen series, in case you're wondering, which starts with Snake Agent) and was curious as to what else she'd written. I admit that my seeing Liz Williams compared to Ursula Le Guin on the cover blurb got my goat a little, because it smacked a little of token-comparison-to-other-female-sci-fi-writer and Le Guin is probably one of the most famous of those to the more sci fi-oriented amongst us.

    Click here for more )
    5:23 pm
    [red_day_dawning]
    Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay
    A brilliant and extraordinary book -- Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay.

    With Ysabel, GGK returns to contemporary fantasy.  The main protagonist, 15 year old Ned, a Canadian on holiday in Provence in France, stumbles on.... well, it's hard to explain - he stumbles straight into the world of the myths that make history - the myths that have formed history, or are formed by history. 

    12:22 am
    [robynsummers]
    The Orphan's Tale: In the Night Garden

    I finished a most fascinating book! It's The Orphan's Tale: In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente.

     



    Current Mood: chipper
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