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I really enjoyed Artemis Fowl although I probably am way far behind where the series ended up. It was legitimately funny, had a cute gimmick that I imagine might get some kids interested in cryptography and poo poo (and before that gimmick got played out) and I liked the idea of a prepubescant arch-criminal-mastermind who really just wants to find his missing dad like some kind of mixed-up version of Taken. I think I got through like 4 or 5 before I ran out of them but it was like a decade back.
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Mar 12, 2017 08:06
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coyo7e posted:I really enjoyed Artemis Fowl although I probably am way far behind where the series ended up. It was legitimately funny, had a cute gimmick that I imagine might get some kids interested in cryptography and poo poo (and before that gimmick got played out) and I liked the idea of a prepubescant arch-criminal-mastermind who really just wants to find his missing dad like some kind of mixed-up version of Taken. There's 8 of them now, but I would definitely not be in a hurry to catch up if I were you. It went severely off the rails after around book 4 and made a beautiful swan dive into total incomprehensible bullshit.
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Mar 12, 2017 10:18
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Finished Riordan's Egyptian series, the Kane Chronicles. On the whole, I didn't enjoy it as much as the Heroes of Olympus. On the one hand, I don't know much about Egyptian mythology so much of the series was new territory for me, but I think what bugged me most were the major character relationships. I liked the brother/sister dynamic between Carter and Sadie, but all of the romantic subplots creeped me out - Carter basically decided he was in love with Zia the moment they met and that was that, even when it turned out he never actually knew Zia. Sadie's relationship each with Walt and Anubis was cute, but the love triangle got weird as heck especially with the resolution I saw coming a mile away. I think the pacing was also pretty off compared to Heroes of Olympus. Just three books and each shorter than any of the Heroes books, so by necessity things were more compressed but I felt like the plot moved too fast to give much weight to anyone or anything beyond a specific handful of characters. Besides Carter and Sadie, I think Bes came off the best of the cast - he got to have some complexity to him where everyone else, even the love interests, were pretty one-note. One little bit I enjoyed, though, was the academy for the gifted in New York that most of the mages attend - and that Greek demigods also attend, both in ignorance of each other. I'll be amused if it turns out there's also Norse mythical figures there when I start on that series. I am amused by the notion of a school for the gifted where all the students and teachers are secretly figures from mythologies around the world but all are in complete ignorance of the others and think they're just infiltrating and making use of this mortal academy.
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Mar 15, 2017 14:22
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dordreff posted:There's 8 of them now, but I would definitely not be in a hurry to catch up if I were you. It went severely off the rails after around book 4 and made a beautiful swan dive into total incomprehensible bullshit. I find this happens to a large number of YA series. Also how good is the Series of Unfortunate Events TV series? I liked reading them up until the last vol which by then I lost track of events and stopped caring.
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Mar 15, 2017 17:06
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Cythereal posted:One little bit I enjoyed, though, was the academy for the gifted in New York that most of the mages attend - and that Greek demigods also attend, both in ignorance of each other. I'll be amused if it turns out there's also Norse mythical figures there when I start on that series. I am amused by the notion of a school for the gifted where all the students and teachers are secretly figures from mythologies around the world but all are in complete ignorance of the others and think they're just infiltrating and making use of this mortal academy.
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Mar 15, 2017 17:15
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achillesforever6 posted:This is basically how the Age of Mythology games worked; though it would be funny if Greek and Roman demigods were aware of the Egyptians because of how intertwined those cultures became by the time of Alexander the Great. I've started on the Greek-Egyptian crossover series now, and it does star Carter, Sadie, Percy, and Annabeth. Plot seems to deal with a god who was worshiped by both the Greeks and the Egyptians and draws strength from both mythologies making his move now that both worlds are severely weakened.
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Mar 15, 2017 17:26
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aiight biches n hoz welcome back to the official Rick Riordan thread~ I just finished book 2 of the Trials of Apollo, The Dark Prophecy, and my immediate after-book impression is that I liked it a tad bit more than book 1, though ultimately the quality is about the same. Lotsa fun irreverence (Riordan is really good at writing talking weapons for some reason) mixed with bouts of Serious Melodrama about Serious Things. And Leo Valdez is back which maaay have biased my opinions in favor of the book 'cuz he's my favorite (except when someone else is my favorite). It's also very gay. Thank the gods! Slight warning that, apparently, if you get the physical copy of the book (lol physical copies of books! Lol.) from Barnes and Nobles, the free insert packet that comes with your purchase just flat-out spoils not only the identity of the main antagonist of this book, but also of the next one which won't be out for another year.  I dunno if Riordan had intended for these to be big mysteries or whatever, and I guess it's not particularly hard to figure out in the first place if you're any kind of ancient Greco-Roman weeaboo...but still.Oh and also the thing happened...as in, there are even more godly heritages being introduced into this world than "just" Greco-Roman, Egyptian, and Norse. Specifically, the one that got introduced was a character descended (or otherwise tied to) Yoruba gods, from west Africa. Now...I still highly doubt we're gonna get a series about west African mythology or something, and we don't even know if this character's gonna make any more appearances, but it's clear Riordan isn't shy about planting these kinds of seeds.
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May 4, 2017 10:28
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hey YA lovers. So through this thread I met Seneraio and have since been introduced to a number of books that have become favourite series A Court of Thorns and Roses series what's up. Legit meeting Scenario introduced me to a life changing book series so I'm open to lots. I'm going to be going to the hospital for a month long diagnostic test. I thoughtfully saved a number of my favourite books for "when I go back to the hospital" so I have my oldies but goldies. Looking for some more stuff to listen to while I'm there! I only read books written by women so unless it was mind blowing, recommendations written by men will be glossed over  Anybody have any recommendations for YA fiction/sci fi/fantasy written by women and really great story telling? Would love to see what you guys recommend. luscious fucked around with this message at 12:57 on May 6, 2017 |
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May 6, 2017 12:55
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millebdayskeletons posted:Anybody have any recommendations for YA fiction/sci fi/fantasy written by women and really great story telling? Would love to see what you guys recommend. Catherynne Valente. T Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon). Frances Hardinge.
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May 6, 2017 14:39
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Runcible Cat posted:Catherynne Valente. T Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon). Frances Hardinge. Thanks! Do you have favourite titles within each author? OH! I have Face of Glass in my Wishlist waiting for release, and I just added Bryony and Roses! luscious fucked around with this message at 14:54 on May 6, 2017 |
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May 6, 2017 14:49
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millebdayskeletons posted:Anybody have any recommendations for YA fiction/sci fi/fantasy written by women and really great story telling? Would love to see what you guys recommend. I'm in the middle of Flora Segunda by Ysabeau Wilce and it's pretty great, although it reads more middle grade than YA.
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May 6, 2017 15:02
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millebdayskeletons posted:Thanks! Do you have favourite titles within each author? Valente I especially love the Girl Who books; The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making is the first. Kingfisher I only just discovered myself with Summer in Orcus and her short stories, so I'm deciding which novel next for me as well. Hardinge's first novel was Fly By Night and it's still a favourite of mine - it's got kind of the flavour of Joan Aiken's Dido Twite books, if you've ever read those?
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May 6, 2017 15:43
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millebdayskeletons posted:Anybody have any recommendations for YA fiction/sci fi/fantasy written by women and really great story telling? Would love to see what you guys recommend.
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May 6, 2017 22:06
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BrianWilly posted:Have you tried the Circle of Magic series by Tamora Pierce? Four books, along with its followup, the Circle Opens. Very cool setting with very cool characters. Tamora Pierce's other fantasy books apparently tend to be well-regarded as well, though I personally haven't read those yet. Her non-Circle series are pretty good too. The later ones are better written, as you'd expect, but the earlier ones are still pretty good and it's great to see the world grow and develop as time passes (the different series take place in the same world, mostly the same country, over I think about a 15-20 year span, so far). Starts with Song of the Lioness. Though I always warn people that the second series, The Immortals, includes the incredibly skeevy detail of the main character ending up in a relationship with her teacher, who is about twice her age and basically raised her from the age of 13. If you can ignore that it's great, though.
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May 6, 2017 22:35
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I finished The Selection series and it's supplementary works. I enjoyed it a lot, despite the juxtaposition of "teenage girls vie to become princess" with "people dying when the rebels attack" pulling me out of it sometimes. I feel like the writing got better with the second generation, the characters feel much more dynamic and interesting, particularly Eadlyn. Some of the supplemental stuff was particularly good, like The Favorite, and some other extras.
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May 7, 2017 05:02
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Kraps posted:I finished The Selection series and it's supplementary works. I enjoyed it a lot, despite the juxtaposition of "teenage girls vie to become princess" with "people dying when the rebels attack" pulling me out of it sometimes. I feel like the writing got better with the second generation, the characters feel much more dynamic and interesting, particularly Eadlyn. Some of the supplemental stuff was particularly good, like The Favorite, and some other extras. I feel like a lot series like The Selection etc. suffer heavily from trying to extend it out past the initial book. Which you could probably say of pretty much any modern fiction these days. The initial premise was super interesting though.
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May 7, 2017 11:28
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dordreff posted:Her non-Circle series are pretty good too. The later ones are better written, as you'd expect, but the earlier ones are still pretty good and it's great to see the world grow and develop as time passes (the different series take place in the same world, mostly the same country, over I think about a 15-20 year span, so far). Starts with Song of the Lioness. Though I always warn people that the second series, The Immortals, includes the incredibly skeevy detail of the main character ending up in a relationship with her teacher, who is about twice her age and basically raised her from the age of 13. If you can ignore that it's great, though. I loved her Lioness, Protector of the Small, and I found The Immortals to be weird/creepy even as a teen. Looking back they've not aged well at all but a nice change from you're a wizard, Harry. I tried to get into Becka Cooper's series but meh I can't recall what happened b/t the books or care enough to re-read them.
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May 11, 2017 00:31
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luscious posted:
Diane Duane's Young Wizards series has always held a place in my heart - it starts off kiddy-ish but tackles some considerably heftier material as the series goes on. It's urban fantasy with significant sci-fi elements starting from book 3 and now I'm tempted to reread the entire series.
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May 11, 2017 07:49
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ok so I basically love all of Harry Potter while also starting my re-reads at book 3 lol. Should I skip some of the earlier stuff of just stfu and read it all?
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May 11, 2017 18:46
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luscious posted:ok so I basically love all of Harry Potter while also starting my re-reads at book 3 lol. Should I skip some of the earlier stuff of just stfu and read it all? You've probably read it several times through already, so just go with what you want? If your choices are rereading Harry Potter and reading Duane's Young Wizards for the first time, read Duane's series. And then reread those instead of rereading Harry Potter (I know they're two different styles of fantasy, but I liked Young Wizards so much better). Diane Duane is also a woman, so that hits another point for you.
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May 15, 2017 04:38
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Drifter posted:You've probably read it several times through already, so just go with what you want? YAS thank you!!!
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May 15, 2017 15:33
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dordreff posted:Though I always warn people that the second series, The Immortals, includes the incredibly skeevy detail of the main character ending up in a relationship with her teacher, who is about twice her age and basically raised her from the age of 13. If you can ignore that it's great, though. I think the context helps - a mediaeval setting (young marriage is normal) the fact that the main character is incredibly proactive and autonomous, being the pursuer and not the older character. When they meet it is her, aged 14, protecting and saving him. Even before the story starts, she's gone through hell. It kind of stays subtext all the way through til she declares her feelings for him in book 3 I think she is 17/18 by then. Maybe it's just my fond memories but i felt Daine is well beyond her years throughout. Sloth Life fucked around with this message at 19:36 on May 16, 2017 |
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May 16, 2017 19:32
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tessiebee posted:This is fair but I didn't feel skeeved out at all about it. This isn't actually true. 18 as a generally accepted age for adult is newish, sure, but this was never normal.
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May 16, 2017 19:56
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neongrey posted:This isn't actually true. 18 as a generally accepted age for adult is newish, sure, but this was never normal. Thank god, why won't this myth end?! Sorry, I still find age gap romances to be creepy regardless of who is interested at the time 
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May 16, 2017 20:40
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neongrey posted:This isn't actually true. 18 as a generally accepted age for adult is newish, sure, but this was never normal. Fair enough, I'm in the wrong about that.
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May 16, 2017 21:47
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Alder posted:Thank god, why won't this myth end?! Sorry, I still find age gap romances to be creepy regardless of who is interested at the time I don't mind them if everyone is an adult from the get-go, but yeah. Yeah.
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May 16, 2017 22:03
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So I found out Percy Jackson had a off broadway musical via my sister blasting it on her radio and then explaining that's why she and my mom went to NYC for a weekend. Though it was one of those weird plays where 20 years olds are playing 12 year olds.
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Jul 12, 2017 01:49
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So, what's the hot summer reads right now for YA? I need something to distract me from how awful life is.
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Sep 2, 2017 04:58
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That drat Satyr posted:So, what's the hot summer reads right now for YA? I need something to distract me from how awful life is. The Book of Dust by Phillip Pullman is out in late Oct and I've been waiting for over a decade to him to publish it It's a bit late for summer books as it finally hit fall season now but Fall>Summer imho.
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Sep 2, 2017 05:21
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Here's the books that came out this year from my reading list; it's a little rambly but it might have some distractions up your alley. I've been reading a buncha New Adult with my YA lately so there's a few of those in there, sorry: A Court of Wings and Ruin, the third and final book in the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J Maas came out. Wasn't as good as A Court of Mist and Fury, but considering how good ACOMAF was, I didn't expect it to be. The series is about a human girl named Feyre who lives near the wall separating the human lands from the lands of the fae, monstrous fairies who hunt and eat humans for fun. After she kills a fairy while hunting to feed her family, she is forced by the local lord of the fairies to live on their side of the wall as his "guest" for the rest of her life. Hilarity ensues. Second book is the best in the trilogy, but the other two are fun as well. 10 Things I Can See From Here is a lesbian YA romance book about a girl with anxiety who is spending the summer with her father while her mother is in Haiti. Sovereign: Nemesis by April Daniels is the fun sequel to Dreadnought, about a transgender girl who gains superpowers that change her body with it, and how she deals with it. It's quite a fun ride. The new Wonder Woman novel is pretty good so far, I'm a few chapters in, and the Squirrel Girl novel was fun, if skewing a little younger than most of the stuff I've posted. Beyond that, most of my reading has been generally older stuff. I've been on a LGBT romance kick lately, and read the entire works of Siera Maley in like 4 days, and read Interference by Zoe Reed twice. Reread Girl Mans Up by M-E Gerard again too. Mostly distraction reading. Beyond Interference, my favorite was Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit by Jaye Robin Brown, but I liked a lot of them. My favorite Maley book is Dating Sarah Cooper.
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Sep 2, 2017 05:49
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Senerio posted:Here's the books that came out this year from my reading list; it's a little rambly but it might have some distractions up your alley. I've been reading a buncha New Adult with my YA lately so there's a few of those in there, sorry: I'll give some of these a look! I checked out some of the Tamora Pierce books suggested earlier on this page and really could not get into the writing style / I guess level they were written for. I just came off of binge reading The Dark Tower series followed by the Clan of the Cave Bear series so I want something that's... short but still got some meat to it, I guess? None of this 8 books over a bajillion pages long junk I've been on for a few weeks. That Damn Satyr fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Sep 3, 2017 |
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Sep 3, 2017 00:35
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That drat Satyr posted:I'll give some of these a look! I checked out some of the Tamora Pierce books suggested earlier on this page and really could not get into the writing style / I guess level they were written for. I just came off of binge reading The Dark Tower series followed by the Clan of the Cave Bear series so I want something that's... short but still got some meat to it, I guess? None of this 8 books over a bajillion pages long junk I've been on for a few weeks. The "A Court of Thorns and Roses" series is probably the best ones I've read in a while. The first book is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, while the second is a retelling of Hades and Persephone. I didn't so much like ACOTAR, but ACOMAF fixed all the problems I had with it.
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Sep 3, 2017 14:43
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I have started reading(well listning) to the redwall books again, mostly because my girlfriend loves them still and wanted me to read a bunch of them. the 1st one is still so far the best and it amuses me how horrifically violent it can be(i know thats horrific violence is big in YA fantasy/sci fi, but poo poo i didnt remember most of the poo poo, like when cluny tries using sapping and tunneling and the one dude gets boiled alive and a ton are crushed to death, or the part where the token love interests accidentally lights a siege tower on fire and it graphically describes the rats burning to death or killing each other to get out or falling and braking their spines. i read the next two which are ok i guess and then i kinda picked at random. they kinda get samey fast.
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Sep 4, 2017 23:32
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Always relevant: http://www.somethingawful.com/news/bargain-book-bin-3/
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Sep 5, 2017 21:08
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cptn_dr posted:Always relevant: http://www.somethingawful.com/news/bargain-book-bin-3/ so loving true its not even funny. i will say one thing, brian jaques had a wonderful reading voice.
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Sep 8, 2017 02:45
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I bought my friend Sabriel as a peace offering for telling her that her script sucks and why (it does). I figured it might be nice for her as her bread and butter is stuff like Sarah J. Maas or Victoria Aveyard. Anyone read Truthwitch? I am a bit interested because the cover is pretty nice for once (I'm not usually a fan of modern YA covers), and I'm looking for stuff I could gift her.
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Oct 3, 2017 10:51
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Schneider Heim posted:I bought my friend Sabriel as a peace offering for telling her that her script sucks and why (it does). I figured it might be nice for her as her bread and butter is stuff like Sarah J. Maas or Victoria Aveyard. I have not read it but booktube seemed to love it and they also love everything by Sarah J Maas so it's probably up her alley.
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Oct 7, 2017 21:32
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The third and final book of Rick Riordan's Magnus Chase series came out last week and it's a real fun read. I don't really love Riordan's take on this mythos as much as his other franchises, but his character work and interactions are still second to none. There's a section of this book, dealing with Hearthstone, which is easily some of the best material from any of his series. But ultimately I wish this series had more than just three books because I'm not sure the overall arc got as much time or attention as it deserves, even though a lot of great things came from it. It even all ends with Magnus going "Yeah so there's still a lot of stuff I have to do and a lot of things to resolve someday, but let's just table all that for now" and I feel like Riordan fully intends on resolving those things eventually...but this whole Norse series is over now, so when and where is he going to continue Magnus' storyline? I feel like even Riordan doesn't really know.
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Oct 10, 2017 03:42
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The new John Green book, Turtles All The Way Down, is out. Anyone given it a look? I liked Paper Towns when I read it just out of my teens, but found The Fault In Our Stars extremely middling.
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Oct 10, 2017 22:59
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Escobarbarian posted:The new John Green book, Turtles All The Way Down, is out. Anyone given it a look? I liked Paper Towns when I read it just out of my teens, but found The Fault In Our Stars extremely middling. I've ordered it. I agree, despite it being his biggest hit I found TFIOS his weakest novel for me.
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Oct 11, 2017 01:20
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