Hush, Hush

Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick Not sure what I was expecting with this book, but it was hilarious. Patch was really well written, I loved his sarcasm and his harassment of Nora was very well written. Nora is a very uptight high schooler with a slightly insane best friend who has been forced to sit next to Patch in biology. He drives her nuts because she can't get him to tell her anything about him. She starts seeing things and gets the feeling that someone is trying to kill her. She has great interactions with the police (as in the police think she's completely nuts). I thoroughly recommend this book, especially for those who like darker books but are sick of vampires.

Dragonsong

This book is also set in Pern, running about the same time as the Dragonrider series. This book focuses on the Harper part of Pern. Instead of sending kids to school everyday to learn to read, do math, etc., they get sent to the Hold Harper who teaches them the teaching songs which teach them about the history of Pern and their duties to the Weyr and their Lord Holder.
Menolly is the youngest daughter of many. Her father is the Lord Holder at Half-Circle Sea Hold and is a very strict man with no sense of humor and very little tolerance for change. Menolly is probably the most talented musician in Pern, but because she's a girl she is considered a disgrace. After getting beaten for playing part of a song that she had written herself and cutting her hand open and handicaping herself, she runs away from the safety of the Hold and lives in the wilderness for a couple of months. While she's out there she Impresses nine fire lizards, which are basically small lizards. Kind of like the difference between a tiger and a house cat. She is eventually found by a dragonrider and sent to the Weyr and finally gets to meet the Masterharper of Pern. He convinces her to go to the Harper Hall and we are left wondering what next? I love these books and I need to go find the second of the series, Dragonsinger.

Dragonriders of Pern

This is set on another planet called Pern. For 50 years every 200 years Thread falls from the sky at regular intervals. Thread burns and destroys everything living that it touches, very not good. To protect themselves from the thread, the original settlers bred Dragons to fly and destroy the threads. These three books take place after a 400 year interval of no Thread. Everyone believes that Thread is gone permanently and because of this dragons and their riders are viewed as parasites on humanity and there are hardly any dragons left. Go figure, thread starts falling again and they aren't prepared, but F'lar and Lessa come up with ways of dealing with the situation.

In the first book, F'lar finds Lessa and eventually they become Weyrwoman and Weyrleader, and it's up to them to convince people that thread is coming and that people need to be prepared for it. After thread starts falling, the two of them realize that they are horribly unprepared for it, so Lessa jumps back in time 400 years to get more dragons to help fight thread. Yay!

In the second book, Thread starts falling randomly instead of regularly and it causes major stress. The oldtimers that came forward in time in the last book aren't adjusting well to the times and manage to get themselves banished to the southern continent.

The third book is focused on the White Dragon who was impressed by Jaxom who is the Lord Holder of Ruatha Hold. His dragon is much smaller than the other dragons, the wrong color, and he can't be a real dragonrider because he has to be a Lord Holder. It's a very difficult situation for the poor boy.

I love these books and I think I'm going to track down the rest of them.

Dreams Made Flesh

This is a book of short stories based on the Black Jewels Trilogy. It contains the story of how Lucivar met and married his wife, the beginning of Jaenelle, how Saetan completely obliterated an entire country because of the death of one of his children, and what happened with Daemon and Jaenelle after the third book of the trilogy. I really enjoyed these stories. The one about Jaenelle's beginning was confusing, but other than that they were very well written and enjoyable. I think that Anne Bishop did a good job with these 4 stories

Black Jewels Trilogy

This trilogy is set in a world where darkness reigns, but not in the way you'd think. There are three realms: The realm of light (which is the most corrupt of the three), The Shadow Realm (where the dead and the living can mingle) and Hell (where the demon-dead live). All three are mirrors of each other and you have to go through a special gate to get from one to the other. If you are of the Blood (magic) then your strength is determined by the color of your jewel. The darker your jewel, the more powerful you are. Queens rule, and males serve the queens (protectors, whatnot). In Terrielle (light realm) the ways of the blood have been perverted and powerful women are being destroyed in order for a lighter jeweled priestess to take over the land. Every dreams and wishes that one day Witch would come to save them from this corruption, and one day she does.

The first book is about how she survives her childhood, barely, and the men that love and teach her.

The second book is about her teenage years, dealing with the aftermath of her almost being killed and is basically the gathering of all the major players.

The third book is when things start going down hill and Jaenelle (Witch) has a choice of either letting the realms go to war and all her friends being killed, or sacrificing herself to destroy the corruption.

These aren't a happy, feel good read. They're rather dark and in some places really gruesome. There is a sexual theme to them, but it doesn't dominate the books. I really enjoy these books, they are very intruiging and the characters are very well written.

Howl's Moving Castle

Holy crap I love this book! As much as I love Hayao Miyazaki's films, this book is so much better. It just cracks me up. Sophie gets turned into a 90 year old woman by the Witch of the Waste (bad guy) so instead of freaking out she packs a bag and wanders out into the wild and runs into Howl's moving castle. She bullies her way in, declares herself the cleaning lady and chaos ensues. It's a very entertaining book and a relatively quick read.

Lost Years of Merlin

This is the first in T.A. Barron's Merlin series. It's about Merlin's childhood. He washes up on the shore of Wales when he's about 8 (I think) with a lady who claims to be his mother, magical powers, and no memory of his childhood. After recovering from a horrible accident he goes to find his home and his memories. Eventually he recovers his memories, loses a great friend and destroys a spinning castle. I'm excited to read the other books. Barron does a good job with fantasy and seems to have a fascination with Merlin. He also wrote the Merlin Effect and the Great Tree of Avalon.

Brisingr

These books make a wonderful series. Christopher Paolini does a great job weaving the three books together. Read them in order if possible, otherwise you will end up really confused. There isn't nearly as much self-pity in this one, which is a definite plus. The Varden (human rebels) and the elves are finally going to war, and the underlying politics behind everything isn't overwhelming but it is interesting to watch unfold. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys fantasy books.

Eldest

I liked Eragon more than Eldest, but I think that's just because it drives me nuts when books randomly switch perspective. I really like Roran in this book, but I think that between him and Eragon there's a little too much self-pity going on. Eragon finally reaches the elves to continue his training but has to leave before it's finished because there is an epic battle elsewhere. (a little star warsish if you ask me) We also get to find out what happened to all the people Eragon left behind in the first book, and we learn a little more about Brom. Even though he's not in this book, he's still my favorite character, go figure. Overall I really enjoyed this book.

Eragon

The movie made me forget what a good book this was. I think the movie would have been great if it weren't for John Malcovich's acting in it. It was very disappointing. I love the way this book is written. It has so many parts to it that I didn't remember. I think that Brom is my favorite character. This book is about a boy that finds a stone that turns out to be one of the 3 last dragon eggs in the world. It hatches into a dragon called Saphira. It's Eragon's job to raise the dragon and keep it safe from the empire. I really like this book and am excited to read Eldest and Brisingr.