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.

Garden Spells

I completely forgot that I had read this. I guess that doesn't say much for the book. It's by Sarah Addison Allen. It's about a weird family that has magic in modern times. Not an immense amount, but some. These two estranged sisters haven't seen each other for over 10 years and then one day the younger sister shows up with a daughter of her own, running away from her extremely abusive husband. The best part of the whole thing is the apple tree in the back yard. It has a mind of it's own and likes to throw apples at people. It's not a bad book, but it isn't that earth shattering. It's a very simple read, with some rather gruesome bits (the abuse had a major ick factor).

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.

Melting Stones

This book is about Evvy and Rosethorn from the Circle of Magic series. After Briar, Daja, Tris and Sandry go to visit Sandry's relatives, Rosethorn and Evvy go to the Battle Islands (which used to be infested with pirates!) to investigate the dying trees. Turns out the island they are on is a valcano and it's going to explode and kill them all. Go figure. I really like this book, it's much better than I though it would be. The characters are realistic and entertaining. It would help if you read the other books in the series first. This is the tenth in the series.

Tamora Pierce

In order to explain Melting Stones, the book I just read, I have to explain the Tamora Pierce books. There's two different universes, the Tortall universe, and the Magic Circle universe. The magic circle universe is about 4 kids that have ambient magic. Tris is a weather mage, Briar is a plant mage, Daja is a metal mage and Sandry is a weaving mage. they can't control their magic, so they're sent to the Winding Circle Temple where they live with Lark and Rosethorn. After they become fully trained mages (as teenagers) they each go on seperate journeys with their main teacher, except for Sandry who gets stuck at home. Briar goes with Rosethorn to Yanjing where they discover Evvy, who is a stone mage. They take her with them and start training her to be a mage.

Wide Sargasso Sea

In order to get this book you have to be familiar with the story of Jane Eyre. It's the story of Mrs. Rochester, the crazy lady in the attic. It's written in first person like Jane Eyre, but the first part is from the view of Antoinette (Mrs. Rochester) as a child and then when she becomes an adult it switches to the view of Mr. Rochester. If you enjoy detesting the crazy lady then I would advise against reading this. It definitely makes you more sympathetic towards her and answers a lot of questions. I think it was well done and really enjoyed it. It was also a really quick read.