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SpaceWeavil
Joined: 27 May 2004
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Location: Looking at shiny things
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 Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:23 pm Post subject: |
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Reviving this old thread (was going to start a new one but then remembered seeing this a while ago).
I've been working through a lot of my old books I've had for ages and never got round to reading, and there's a couple I'd like to recommend if anyone's looking for something to read. They are both young adult books, so I don't know if you'd find them a bit childish, but I enjoyed them nonetheless;
Stravaganza: City of Masks and Stravaganza: City of Stars by Mary Hoffmann
These both involve alternate reality versions of Italian cities and so are kind of in the Phillip Pullman vein, but I found them both really enjoyable.
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Rhapsody
Joined: 11 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 1:33 am Post subject: |
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| SpaceWeavil wrote: |
Stravaganza: City of Masks and Stravaganza: City of Stars by Mary Hoffmann
These both involve alternate reality versions of Italian cities and so are kind of in the Phillip Pullman vein, but I found them both really enjoyable. |
Weren't those the books you recced to me a while ago? I know you said an author inspired you greatly for your original novel 
*adds name to the to read list * 
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SpaceWeavil
Joined: 27 May 2004
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 3:16 am Post subject: |
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| Rhapsody wrote: | | SpaceWeavil wrote: |
Stravaganza: City of Masks and Stravaganza: City of Stars by Mary Hoffmann
These both involve alternate reality versions of Italian cities and so are kind of in the Phillip Pullman vein, but I found them both really enjoyable. |
Weren't those the books you recced to me a while ago? I know you said an author inspired you greatly for your original novel
*adds name to the to read list * |
No, those I also meant to recc, but forgot. 
Those ones were also children's books, but ones I read in primary school and enjoyed again as an adult.
The Giant Under the Snow by John Gordon. This one has some really scary creatures, old British folklore, witches, big black dogs...very creepy fantasy.
The Edge of the World again by John Gordon. This one is quite hard to find except as a second hand copy on Amazon, but it's not that expensive on the UK one anyway. It's about another world existing in parallel to this one, again with a creepy, subtle feel to it that I really like.
There's also The Quelling Eye by the same author, which is all right, but the other two really stayed with me from when I first read them as a kid.
The Mary Hoffman ones I just found in a charity shop.
Oh, and Artemis Fowl which I finally got around to reading is quite a laugh as well, though it is very much a kids' book.
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Rhapsody
Joined: 11 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 4:27 am Post subject: |
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| SpaceWeavil wrote: | | Oh, and Artemis Fowl which I finally got around to reading is quite a laugh as well, though it is very much a kids' book. |
How does that book read compared to Harry Potter? I recall that it was promoted here as something alike J.K. Rowling, but a bit different.
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SpaceWeavil
Joined: 27 May 2004
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:26 am Post subject: |
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| Rhapsody wrote: | | SpaceWeavil wrote: | | Oh, and Artemis Fowl which I finally got around to reading is quite a laugh as well, though it is very much a kids' book. |
How does that book read compared to Harry Potter? I recall that it was promoted here as something alike J.K. Rowling, but a bit different. |
I didn't think of Harry Potter throughout it. The main character is of a similar age, but a lot darker in character. It also doesn't have the same sense of things thrown in here there and everywhere that I find with the HP series, as in there's a million characters and most of them I can't keep track of and remember who they are, all the former death eaters and students and whatnot, and I can never remember which house the minor characters are in and all that. This was a fairly simple storyline with a smallish cast, but had enough action and turns in it to keep it interesting. Weirdly, there's also not a huge emphasis placed on magic in the books, although a lot of the characters are trolls and fairies and such, which to me made it a bit less prone to plot devices and cop-out endings. It actually is kind of borderline SF in places.
It is very childish for a lot of it, but it was an enjoyable read nonetheless.
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sofia
Joined: 28 Mar 2004
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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if you're willing to go in the teens section, Alison Croggon's 'Pellinor' series is a good read. It has elements of Tolkien and its a very good read. The first book is the Gift (the Naming if you live in the US) the second is the Riddle, the third is the Crow and the fourth (which is not released yet) is the Singing.
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