fantasy

Book Review: Games Wizards Play

Posted by

0

Games Wizards Play by Diane Duane

Games Wizards Play (Young Wizards, #10)
by Diane Duane 

4 out of 5 stars

Kit and Nita are invited to be mentors to a young wizard presenting a new spell design at the Wizards Invitational Competition. But their mentee, Penn, is a flamboyant jerk and they find it difficult to be patient with him.
Dairine is mentoring a shy Indian wizard, Mehrnaz, who has a brilliant design for a spell to stop earthquakes, but Mehrnaz has very low self-esteem due to her overbearing family. Dairine encourages her to have self-confidence, but Dairine is distracted with her own problems trying to locate her missing friend, Roshaun.

Continue reading →

Book Review: Tales Before Narnia

Posted by

0

Tales Before Narnia by Douglas A. Anderson

Tales Before Narnia: The Roots of Modern Fantasy and Science Fiction
by Douglas A. Anderson (Editor)

4 out of 5 stars

This collection of short stories and poems includes works that influenced C.S. Lewis or were direct forerunners of some of his ideas. The list includes G.K.Chesterton, George Macdonald, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kenneth Grahame, and Edith Nesbit. There are also works from some of Lewis’s fellow Inklings, friends and acquaintances, such as J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Owen Barfield, Roger Lancelyn Green, and William Lindsay Gresham.

Continue reading →

Book Review: Midnight for Charlie Bone

Posted by

0

Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo

Midnight for Charlie Bone (The Children of the Red King, #1)
by Jenny Nimmo

Charlie discovers that he has a magical ability to hear voices from people in pictures and photographs. His evil aunts are delighted, because now he can attend the prestigious Bloors Academy. But Charlie is not sure his new school is a nice place. He meets some good friends, but there are many mysteries at Bloors Academy, not all of them pleasant.

Continue reading →

Book Review: Reignited

Posted by

0

Reignited by Colleen Houck

Reignited (Reawakened, #0.5)
by Colleen Houck

The Egyptian gods have many rules that bind their powers, but the most important one is that none of the gods are allowed to marry each other, because any resulting child would drain the magic from the cosmos. And yet, Isis and Osiris fall in love with such a passion that they are willing to rewrite the stars to create a way to be together. Seth, the evil god of chaos, desires Isis for himself, and as he gradually gains more power, he tests his ability to unmake even a god.

Continue reading →

Book Review: Frogkisser

Posted by

0

Frogkisser! by Garth Nix

Frogkisser!
by Garth Nix (Goodreads Author)

4.5 out of 5 stars

Princess Anya goes on a quest to de-transform her sister’s suitor after he was transformed into a frog by an evil sorcerer. She must gather ingredients to make a magical lip balm that simulates true love’s kiss to undo evil spells. Along the way, she meets other transformees who beg her to change them back to their proper forms. Traveling in the company of a royal dog and a mischievous thief transformed into a newt, Anya encounters giants, good wizards, witches, magic carpets, and a host of other odd characters.

Continue reading →

Book Review: Silver on the Tree

Posted by

0

Silver On The Tree by Susan Cooper

Silver On The Tree (Dark is Rising #5)
by Susan Cooper

In this final book of the Dark is Rising series, Will and Bran team up with the siblings, Jane, Simon, and Barney to stop the rising of the Dark. Merriman is guiding and advising them, but he can’t foresee all the tricks and devilry of the Dark. Bran must recover the legendry crystal sword from the lost land, and use the sword to cut the silver mistletoe from the tree at the very moment of its flowering.

Continue reading →

Book Review: The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen

Posted by

0

The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen by Lloyd Alexander

The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen
by  Lloyd Alexander

Prince Jen goes on a quest to the far north to find a legendary kingdom where the laws are fair and the people happy. He is charged with six wonderful gifts to take to the ruler of the northern kingdom. But along the way, he is delayed by bandits and loses his entourage and finds himself stranded with only one servant to help him. Prince Jen must continue his journey, befriending unlikely misfits along the way – an escaped slave girl who plays the flute beautifully, a mad robber with his own moral code, and a mysterious old man who appears and disappears at whim.

Continue reading →

Book Review: Bella at Midnight

Posted by

0

Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley

Bella at Midnight
by Diane Stanley, Bagram Ibatoulline (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

Bella has grown up with a poor but kind family, befriending the young prince Julian who visits his old nanny. When Bella discovers that she is actually the daughter of a nobleman, she is sent to live with her cold and haughty father and his new wife. Bella is torn from all her former friends, including her childhood friend, the prince. Three years later, a terrible plot against the kingdom forces Bella to seek out Prince Julian once more, hoping to avert a disastrous war.

Continue reading →

Book Review: The Grey King (Dark is Rising)

Posted by

0

The Grey King (The Dark is Rising, #4)
by Susan Cooper

5 out of 5 stars

Will is recovering from a serious illness, and is sent for a holiday with his aunt in Wales. There he meets Bran, a mysterious albino boy with a dog who can see the Dark wind of the Grey King. Will is on a quest to find the golden harp and use its music to awaken the Sleepers to fight against the Dark. With the help of Bran and his dog, Will stands up against the menace of the Grey King and searches for the harp, but at a terrible cost.

Continue reading →

Book Review: The Princess and the Bear

Posted by

0

The Princess and the Bear by Mette Ivie Harrison

The Princess and the Bear (Hound Saga #2)
by Mette Ivie Harrison

Chala is a hound who was magically turned into a human princess for a time. Now back in her hound form, she befriends Richon, a human prince who is under a curse as a bear. As a hound and bear, they survive together in the wild forest, until they see evidence of a terrible “unmagic” spreading through the land, sucking the life out of all animals and plants it encounters. They must go back in time in human form to fight against the unmagic in the past before it can gain strength.

Continue reading →