Fantasy
Eragon
(Inheritance, Book 1)
by Christopher Paolini
Here's a great big fantasy that you can pull over your head like a
comfy old sweater and disappear into for a whole weekend. Christopher Paolini
began Eragon when he was just 15, and the book shows the influence of Tolkien,
of course, but also Terry Brooks, Anne McCaffrey, and perhaps even Wagner
in its traditional quest structure and the generally agreed-upon nature
of dwarves, elves, dragons, and heroic warfare with magic swords.
Eragon, a young farm boy, finds a marvelous blue stone in a mystical
mountain place. Before he can trade it for food to get his family through
the hard winter, it hatches a beautiful sapphire-blue dragon, a race thought
to be extinct. Eragon bonds with the dragon, and when his family is killed
by the marauding Ra'zac, he discovers that he is the last of the Dragon
Riders, fated to play a decisive part in the coming war between the human
but hidden Varden, dwarves, elves, the diabolical Shades and their neanderthal
Urgalls, all pitted against and allied with each other and the evil King
Galbatorix. Eragon and his dragon Saphira set out to find their role, growing
in magic power and understanding of the complex political situation as
they endure perilous travels and sudden battles, dire wounds, capture and
escape.
In spite of the engrossing action, this is not a book for the casual
fantasy reader. There are 65 names of people, horses, and dragons to be
remembered and lots of pseudo-Celtic places, magic words, and phrases in
the Ancient Language as well as the speech of the dwarfs and the Urgalls.
But the maps and glossaries help, and by the end, readers will be utterly
dedicated and eager for the next book, Eldest. (Ages 10 to 14) --Patty
Campbell
Hardcover from Knopf
Book Published: 26 August, 2003 |
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Witch
Child
by Celia Rees
During the witch hunts of the mid-1600s, many young Englishwomen died
on the gallows, innocent victims of false or hysterical accusations of
witchcraft. But what of those women who actually claimed the name "witch"
as their own? In the pages of her secret journal, Mary Nuttall reveals
what it is like to live in a climate of mistrust and piety in which differences
are dangerous and rumors can kill, where she must hide her heritage as
a healer and pagan. With a sure hand, she describes her beloved grandmother's
trial and hanging as a witch, her own rescue by a mysterious noblewoman,
and her eventual passage to the New World and the forest settlement of
Beulah. There Mary falls under a curtain of suspicion when she willingly
chooses to explore the dark woods shunned by the fearful colonists and
makes friends with some of the spiritual native people. When several girls
in the community begin to shriek and swoon, and the same minister who damned
Mary's grandmother comes to search for signs of witchcraft, Mary is subjected
to close and deadly scrutiny.
Breaking with most historical fiction about witchcraft (such as Elizabeth
Speare's The Witch of Blackbird Pond), British author Celia Rees raises
the stakes and the tension by placing a real witch at the center of her
story. Witch Child is an engrossing, suspenseful novel that will cast a
spell over both readers of historical fiction and fans of witchcraft series
from Circle of Three to Sweep. --Jennifer Hubert - Amazon.com
Hardcover from Candlewick Press
Book Published: 13 July, 2001
Midnight
Harvest
by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Book Description From the Chronicles of Saint-Germain comes Book 16
in the long-running vampire series which brings the Dark Prince to California
during the Great Depression. Fleeing Spain at the beginning of their Civil
War, the vampire Saint-Germain arrives in California to reunite with the
older and wiser Rowena Saxon, who is considering following the Dark Prince
into an eternal life. Meanwhile, Saint-Germain is unaware that a ruthless
assassin is pursuing him--one of the most charming killers ever to grace
the page: Cenere. Unbelievably smooth and utterly inhumane, Cenere has
trailed Saint-Germain across oceans and continents, killing anyone in his
way, including those under Saint-Germain's protection. But will Saint-Germain
finally awaken to the danger that threatens him before all he loves is
lost?
Hardcover from Aspect
Book Published: 24 September, 2003 |
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