Poll
Members of Nothing but Reading Challenges, please vote here for the Fantasy book that you would like to read in the month of March.
All synopsizes listed below were take from Amazon.com and Goodreads.
All synopsizes listed below were take from Amazon.com and Goodreads.
Storm Glass by Maria V. Snyder
Apprentice magician, ardent glassmaker and spunky Nancy Drew–style sleuth Opal Cowan discovers her latent mystical talents and wins the attention of three gorgeous hunks in Snyder's follow-up to her award-winning Study fantasy series (Poison Study, etc.). In classic coming-of-age fashion, Opal uses her magic powers to help her loved ones and her glass know-how to find the flaws in the Stormdancers' weather-controlling glass orbs, all amid breathless adolescent quivers of romance and jealousy. Snyder satisfyingly fleshes out her youthful main characters, including the brooding Stormdancer Kade and Opal's venomous rival, Pazia, but the two-dimensional supporting cast, especially the simplistic villains, don't bear up as well under close inspection. The wealth of glassmaking lore compensates for the quick-moving but predictable plot, which leaves abundant room for at least two sequels.
Apprentice magician, ardent glassmaker and spunky Nancy Drew–style sleuth Opal Cowan discovers her latent mystical talents and wins the attention of three gorgeous hunks in Snyder's follow-up to her award-winning Study fantasy series (Poison Study, etc.). In classic coming-of-age fashion, Opal uses her magic powers to help her loved ones and her glass know-how to find the flaws in the Stormdancers' weather-controlling glass orbs, all amid breathless adolescent quivers of romance and jealousy. Snyder satisfyingly fleshes out her youthful main characters, including the brooding Stormdancer Kade and Opal's venomous rival, Pazia, but the two-dimensional supporting cast, especially the simplistic villains, don't bear up as well under close inspection. The wealth of glassmaking lore compensates for the quick-moving but predictable plot, which leaves abundant room for at least two sequels.
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Kvothe ("pronounced nearly the same as 'Quothe' "), the hero and villain of a thousand tales who's presumed dead, lives as the simple proprietor of the Waystone Inn under an assumed name. Prompted by a biographer called Chronicler who realizes his true identity, Kvothe starts to tell his life story. From his upbringing as an actor in his family's traveling troupe of magicians, jugglers and jesters, the Edema Ruh, to feral child on the streets of the vast port city of Tarbean, then his education at "the University," Kvothe is driven by twin imperatives—his desire to learn the higher magic of naming and his need to discover as much as possible about the Chandrian, the demons of legend who murdered his family. As absorbing on a second reading as it is on the first, this is the type of assured, rich first novel most writers can only dream of producing. The fantasy world has a new star.
Kvothe ("pronounced nearly the same as 'Quothe' "), the hero and villain of a thousand tales who's presumed dead, lives as the simple proprietor of the Waystone Inn under an assumed name. Prompted by a biographer called Chronicler who realizes his true identity, Kvothe starts to tell his life story. From his upbringing as an actor in his family's traveling troupe of magicians, jugglers and jesters, the Edema Ruh, to feral child on the streets of the vast port city of Tarbean, then his education at "the University," Kvothe is driven by twin imperatives—his desire to learn the higher magic of naming and his need to discover as much as possible about the Chandrian, the demons of legend who murdered his family. As absorbing on a second reading as it is on the first, this is the type of assured, rich first novel most writers can only dream of producing. The fantasy world has a new star.
Divine By Mistake by P.C. Cast
The only excitement Shannon Parker expects while on summer vacation is a little shopping. But when an antique vase calls to her, she finds herself transported to Partholon, where she's treated like a goddess. A very temperamental goddess…
Somehow Shannon has stepped into another's role as the Goddess Incarnate of Epona. And while there's an upside—what woman doesn't like lots of pampering?—it also comes with a ritual marriage to a centaur and threats against her new people. Oh, and everyone disliking her because they think she's her double.
Somehow Shannon needs to figure out how to get back to Oklahoma without being killed, married to a horse or losing her mind….
The only excitement Shannon Parker expects while on summer vacation is a little shopping. But when an antique vase calls to her, she finds herself transported to Partholon, where she's treated like a goddess. A very temperamental goddess…Somehow Shannon has stepped into another's role as the Goddess Incarnate of Epona. And while there's an upside—what woman doesn't like lots of pampering?—it also comes with a ritual marriage to a centaur and threats against her new people. Oh, and everyone disliking her because they think she's her double.
Somehow Shannon needs to figure out how to get back to Oklahoma without being killed, married to a horse or losing her mind….
Eragon by Christoper Paolini
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.
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.
Magic Study (Study, #2) by Maria V. Snyder
Family betrayal, a power-mad serial killer and a potential diplomatic crisis threaten the independent-minded heroine of Snyder's fine sequel to Poison Study (2005). With the overthrow of the royal family of Ixia, 20-year-old Yelena Zaltana, who was kidnapped as a child by the evil magician Mogkan, is now free to return home to Sitia. Her reunion with the family she hasn't seen in 14 years palls when her brother spreads rumors she's actually a spy from Ixia. At the Magician's Citadel, where Yelena enrolls to hone her prodigious magical talents, her powers raise concern that she might be a rare, powerful Soulfinder. Then a string of ugly murders reveals the presence of a rogue magician in the area. As Yelena joins the hunt for the killer, complications grow with the arrival of a diplomatic mission from Ixia—including her lover, Valek, a notorious spy and assassin, sure to be executed if anyone sees through his disguise. Snyder's lively, charming mix of romance and fantasy is sure to gain her new fans.
Family betrayal, a power-mad serial killer and a potential diplomatic crisis threaten the independent-minded heroine of Snyder's fine sequel to Poison Study (2005). With the overthrow of the royal family of Ixia, 20-year-old Yelena Zaltana, who was kidnapped as a child by the evil magician Mogkan, is now free to return home to Sitia. Her reunion with the family she hasn't seen in 14 years palls when her brother spreads rumors she's actually a spy from Ixia. At the Magician's Citadel, where Yelena enrolls to hone her prodigious magical talents, her powers raise concern that she might be a rare, powerful Soulfinder. Then a string of ugly murders reveals the presence of a rogue magician in the area. As Yelena joins the hunt for the killer, complications grow with the arrival of a diplomatic mission from Ixia—including her lover, Valek, a notorious spy and assassin, sure to be executed if anyone sees through his disguise. Snyder's lively, charming mix of romance and fantasy is sure to gain her new fans.
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, or Redwall. Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford's Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors. First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her. In this multilayered narrative, however, nothing is as it seems. Lyra sets out for the top of the world in search of her kidnapped playmate, Roger, bearing a rare truth-telling instrument, the compass of the title. All around her children are disappearing, victims of so-called "Gobblers", and being used as subjects in terrible experiments that separate humans from their daemons, creatures that reflect each person's inner being. And somehow, both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are involved.
In a landmark epic of fantasy and storytelling, Philip Pullman invites readers into a world as convincing and thoroughly realized as Narnia, Earthsea, or Redwall. Here lives an orphaned ward named Lyra Belacqua, whose carefree life among the scholars at Oxford's Jordan College is shattered by the arrival of two powerful visitors. First, her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, appears with evidence of mystery and danger in the far North, including photographs of a mysterious celestial phenomenon called Dust and the dim outline of a city suspended in the Aurora Borealis that he suspects is part of an alternate universe. He leaves Lyra in the care of Mrs. Coulter, an enigmatic scholar and explorer who offers to give Lyra the attention her uncle has long refused her. In this multilayered narrative, however, nothing is as it seems. Lyra sets out for the top of the world in search of her kidnapped playmate, Roger, bearing a rare truth-telling instrument, the compass of the title. All around her children are disappearing, victims of so-called "Gobblers", and being used as subjects in terrible experiments that separate humans from their daemons, creatures that reflect each person's inner being. And somehow, both Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter are involved.
Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L. Wilson
Once he had loved with such passion, his name was legend: Tarien Soul. Now, a thousand years later, a new threat calls him from the Fading Lands, back into the world that had cost him so dearly. Now an ancient, familiar evil is regaining its strength, and a new voice beckons him - more compelling, more seductive, more maddening than any before. As the power of his most bitter enemy grows and ancient alliances crumble, the wildness in his blood will not be denied. The tairen must claim his truemate and embrace the destiny woven for him in the mists of time.
Once he had loved with such passion, his name was legend: Tarien Soul. Now, a thousand years later, a new threat calls him from the Fading Lands, back into the world that had cost him so dearly. Now an ancient, familiar evil is regaining its strength, and a new voice beckons him - more compelling, more seductive, more maddening than any before. As the power of his most bitter enemy grows and ancient alliances crumble, the wildness in his blood will not be denied. The tairen must claim his truemate and embrace the destiny woven for him in the mists of time.
Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta
Finnikin, son of the head of the King's Guard, has been in exile for a decade, after the violent takeover of his birthplace, Lumatere, by a usurper, followed by a curse by a priestess that has effectively shut the kingdom off from the outside world. He meets a mysterious young woman, Evanjalin, who claims that Finnikin's friend Balthazar, heir to the throne, is alive, and sets in motion a complex and stirring series of events that lead Finnikin to confront his destiny. Evanjalin uses her ability to "walk the sleep" of others, or share in their dreams, as well as her own boldness and sense of purpose, to push events to a climax so that Lumatere can be freed. This novel begins at a slow burn: there are many details to absorb, and the well-drawn maps are a necessity. Then, suddenly, the action turns white-hot and the intricate plot plays out at a pace that keeps readers mesmerized.
Finnikin, son of the head of the King's Guard, has been in exile for a decade, after the violent takeover of his birthplace, Lumatere, by a usurper, followed by a curse by a priestess that has effectively shut the kingdom off from the outside world. He meets a mysterious young woman, Evanjalin, who claims that Finnikin's friend Balthazar, heir to the throne, is alive, and sets in motion a complex and stirring series of events that lead Finnikin to confront his destiny. Evanjalin uses her ability to "walk the sleep" of others, or share in their dreams, as well as her own boldness and sense of purpose, to push events to a climax so that Lumatere can be freed. This novel begins at a slow burn: there are many details to absorb, and the well-drawn maps are a necessity. Then, suddenly, the action turns white-hot and the intricate plot plays out at a pace that keeps readers mesmerized.
Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop
The prophecy of a coming Queen destined to shake the foundations of the Dark Kingdom heralds a war of intrigue and Machiavellian politics as three rivals seek control over the innocent young girl fated to ascend to greatness. Lavishly sensual and overtly erotic, Bishop's fantasy debut features a richly detailed world based on a reversal of standard genre cliches of light and darkness. Fans of Tanith Lee's Flat Earth series may appreciate this adults-only series opener.
The prophecy of a coming Queen destined to shake the foundations of the Dark Kingdom heralds a war of intrigue and Machiavellian politics as three rivals seek control over the innocent young girl fated to ascend to greatness. Lavishly sensual and overtly erotic, Bishop's fantasy debut features a richly detailed world based on a reversal of standard genre cliches of light and darkness. Fans of Tanith Lee's Flat Earth series may appreciate this adults-only series opener.
Star of the Morning by Lynn Kurland
Morgan of Melksham hates magic, but as a favor to her old friend and mentor, she agrees to deliver a magical blade to the King of Neroche. Soon after she begins her quest, Morgan is joined by a stranger, Adhemar, then by three old friends, and later by a man called Miach, who says he is Adhemar's brother. Unbeknownst to Morgan, both Adhemar, who really is the king of Neroche, and Miach, who is actually the archmage of Neroche, have been searching for the person who can wield the sword of Neroche and push back the tide of black magic that threatens their kingdom. Neither Adhemar nor Miach expected that Morgan would be the warrior they sought, nor that one of them would fall hopelessly in love with her.
Morgan of Melksham hates magic, but as a favor to her old friend and mentor, she agrees to deliver a magical blade to the King of Neroche. Soon after she begins her quest, Morgan is joined by a stranger, Adhemar, then by three old friends, and later by a man called Miach, who says he is Adhemar's brother. Unbeknownst to Morgan, both Adhemar, who really is the king of Neroche, and Miach, who is actually the archmage of Neroche, have been searching for the person who can wield the sword of Neroche and push back the tide of black magic that threatens their kingdom. Neither Adhemar nor Miach expected that Morgan would be the warrior they sought, nor that one of them would fall hopelessly in love with her.
The Poison Throne by Celine Kiernan
Atmospheric, complex, and intense, Kiernan's debut fantasy, set in a sort of alternate 15th-century Europe, mixes vengeful ghosts and talking cats into political intrigue. Fifteen-year-old Wynter Moorehawke's return to court after five years away should be joyous, but she fears for her dearest friends, the children of insane, tyrannical King Jonathan. Crown prince Alberon is nowhere to be found, and bastard son Razi is being unwillingly groomed to replace him. The king will go to any lengths to secure his throne, even unlocking the mysteries of a horrible killing device long thought destroyed. Wynter must keep her friends and family alive as she slowly pieces together the king's secrets. The beginning of what promises to be a powerful trilogy with YA crossover appeal, this epic starts strong and doesn't falter one iota, ending with a cliffhanger that will leave readers demanding more.
Atmospheric, complex, and intense, Kiernan's debut fantasy, set in a sort of alternate 15th-century Europe, mixes vengeful ghosts and talking cats into political intrigue. Fifteen-year-old Wynter Moorehawke's return to court after five years away should be joyous, but she fears for her dearest friends, the children of insane, tyrannical King Jonathan. Crown prince Alberon is nowhere to be found, and bastard son Razi is being unwillingly groomed to replace him. The king will go to any lengths to secure his throne, even unlocking the mysteries of a horrible killing device long thought destroyed. Wynter must keep her friends and family alive as she slowly pieces together the king's secrets. The beginning of what promises to be a powerful trilogy with YA crossover appeal, this epic starts strong and doesn't falter one iota, ending with a cliffhanger that will leave readers demanding more.
The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King
King's legion of fans are likely to find that a restrained maturity marks the differences between this stylish, successful effort at fantasy (illustrated by 21 half-tones) and his earlier, sometimes overwrought writings. Eyes details the crusade of Peter and Thomas, two princely brothers, to destroy the 400-year-old Flagg, the evil magician who threatens to control the kingdom of Delain after the death of their father, King Roland, who remained unwed until he was past 50. Flagg has imprisoned Peter, the heir apparent, on suspicion of murdering the king (actually it was Flagg who did it) and installed the profligate second son, an easier mark, on the throne. Surprisingly, Eyes is a gentle story, despite violence, gore and his standard vulgarity, because King has ingeniously interposed himself between reader and narrative as if he were telling the tale aloud, with a soothing cadence practically audible in the evocative prose.
King's legion of fans are likely to find that a restrained maturity marks the differences between this stylish, successful effort at fantasy (illustrated by 21 half-tones) and his earlier, sometimes overwrought writings. Eyes details the crusade of Peter and Thomas, two princely brothers, to destroy the 400-year-old Flagg, the evil magician who threatens to control the kingdom of Delain after the death of their father, King Roland, who remained unwed until he was past 50. Flagg has imprisoned Peter, the heir apparent, on suspicion of murdering the king (actually it was Flagg who did it) and installed the profligate second son, an easier mark, on the throne. Surprisingly, Eyes is a gentle story, despite violence, gore and his standard vulgarity, because King has ingeniously interposed himself between reader and narrative as if he were telling the tale aloud, with a soothing cadence practically audible in the evocative prose.
The Merchant of Death by D.J. MacHale
The popular fantasy time-travel series makes a smooth transition to audio with Dufris at the helm, using his upbeat delivery and believable teen rhythms to keep listeners enthralled. Bobby Pendragon, 14, thinks he's a pretty normal kid, worried about his next basketball game and his almost-girlfriend. But then Uncle Press changes everything by telling Bobby that he is a Traveler, capable of transporting through time via magical flumes. This first trip sends him to Denduron, a medieval realm in the middle of a revolution. Bobby's challenges there are dangerous and many, and he keeps his best friend at home (on "Second Earth"), Mark, apprised of his adventures with mystically relayed letters. Fans of the books will want to hear Dufris's gripping interpretation; newcomers will quickly get hooked.
The popular fantasy time-travel series makes a smooth transition to audio with Dufris at the helm, using his upbeat delivery and believable teen rhythms to keep listeners enthralled. Bobby Pendragon, 14, thinks he's a pretty normal kid, worried about his next basketball game and his almost-girlfriend. But then Uncle Press changes everything by telling Bobby that he is a Traveler, capable of transporting through time via magical flumes. This first trip sends him to Denduron, a medieval realm in the middle of a revolution. Bobby's challenges there are dangerous and many, and he keeps his best friend at home (on "Second Earth"), Mark, apprised of his adventures with mystically relayed letters. Fans of the books will want to hear Dufris's gripping interpretation; newcomers will quickly get hooked.
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Diana (Offbeat Vagabond)
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Feb 10, 2011 04:44PM
Wow this was a tough one for me. I haven't heard of some of these but they definitely made my mouth water. I would have most likely voted for all of these. God, I love Fantasy :) Thank you for the poll, can't wait to see which is the winner.
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I like the sounds of The Sound Of The Wind, Kingkiller #1. I like my high fantasy dark and difficult to predict.
I'm trying to stick with books I already own. The Golden Compass has been collecting dust for over a year on my shelf....but Name of the Wind and Daughter of the Blood are in there, too. Any of them would be great!
The Golden Compass is one of those books that people (including myself) always mean to read but for some cosmic reason never actually get around to it. This is a great selection of books though, with a lot of great titles, I'd be happy sitting down with any one of these.
I've read the Golden Compass and Eragon, but wouldn't mind re-reading either of them
