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.

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.

Hero of Ages

This is the last of the Mistborn trilogy, although I do hope that Brandon Sanderson decides to write more about it.This book is fantasy, set in a world with similarities to our own. It has metal magic in it, which you would have to read the books to understand, but the main plot line is that they have had the same Lord Ruler for 1,000 years, but they killed him and now the world is coming to an end. It is very well written, with it's own mythology and everything. I can't get into more details because then I'd just confuse myself, but I would highly recommend this series. It does have some really cool fight scenes.