fantasy

Three Book Reviews from Nosy Crow

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Princess Minna by Kirsty Applebaum

Princess Minna: The Giant Beanstalk
by Kirsty Applebaum (Goodreads Author),Sahar Haghgoo (Illustrator)

5 out of 5 stars

Princess Minna is called to defend the town from a giant who keeps stealing noisy animals. Princess Minna follows the giant up the beanstalk and brings the animals back, but the giant just keeps stealing more noisy animals, looking for an animal that can sing beautifully. Princess Minna will have to be very clever and kind if she can find a solution and help the giant!

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Book Review: City of Dreaming Books

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The City of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers

The City of Dreaming Books (Zamonien, #4)
by Walter Moers, J. Maxwell Brownjohn (Translator)

Optimus Yarnspinner is a dinosaur who has inherited a mysterious manuscript of surpassing genius, but he can’t find the author! He travels to Bookholm, the center of all literature and publishing, hoping to solve the mystery and find the author. Everyone in Bookholm is completely obsessed with books, and the dangerous Book Hunters explore the catacombs beneath the city, looking for rare books that have been lost for centuries. Optimus meets many different types of creatures, including an Uggly hag who can tell the future and a Nocturnomath with three brains. The mystery leads Optimus into the deadly catacombs where he runs from Harpyrs, Sphinxxxxes, massive spider creatures, cyclopean Booklings, and ferocious sentient books, in addition to the Book Hunters, who will murder anyone who gets in their way. But the most dangerous of all is the Shadow King, who rules over the dark catacombs.

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Book Review: A Crystal of Time

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School For Good And Evil #5 - A Crystal Of Time by Soman Chainani

School For Good And Evil #5 – A Crystal Of Time
by Soman Chainani

Agatha and Tedros are on the run. A false king has seized the throne of Camelot, lying to the people and claiming to be King Arthur’s true son. Sophie is caught between them, trying to find out the truth and balance her loyalty to her friends and to her new love. Agatha uses Dovey’s crystal ball to investigate the past and find who the false king really is.

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Book Review: The Worm Ouroboros

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The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison

The Worm Ouroboros (Dover Literature: Science Fiction/Fantasy)
by E.R. Eddison

2.5 out of 5 stars


The lords of Demonland go to war against the necromancer King of Witchland. The Witch King uses dark magic to carry off one of the Demon lords, Goldry Bluszco, and his brothers vow to find him. Lord Juss and Brandoch Daha travel past the inhospitable Impland to the dangerous mountains, searching for Goldry, while Lord Spitfire continues the war against Witchland at home. They fight manticores, search for a hippogriff egg, and face ghostly apparitions and enchantments in their search through the mountains to find Goldry. Several magical ladies and queens assist them in their quest, but the war is not going well for Lord Spitfire back in Demonland.
Lord Gro is a traitor from Goblinland who has joined the Witchland court and is counselling the Witch King and other Witch generals in the war. He plays against both sides, always with his own agenda to latch onto any high official and play puppet master.

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Book Review: Beowulf

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Beowulf by Talbot E. Donaldson

Beowulf: A Prose Translation
by Talbot E. Donaldson

4 out of 5 stars

Beowulf hears of a murderous monster that is attacking Hrothgar’s kingdom, so he journeys across the sea to aid the mighty king. Beowulf refuses to use a sword against the terrible monster Grendel, choosing instead to trust in his own great strength in hand-to-hand combat. He beats Grendel and tears off the monster’s arm. Grendel flees, but bleeds to death elsewhere. Grendel’s mother swears revenge against them, and attacks the next night, killing Hrothgar’s best counselor. Beowulf pursues Grendel’s mother to her underwater lair, and finds an ancient giant’s sword in the caves beneath the lake. He uses the sword to kill her, but the sword melts from the heat of her monster blood. Beowulf cuts off Grendel’s head and returns with it to Hrothgar’s court to show the proof of the monster’s death. After receiving many beautiful and costly gifts in recognition of his great deeds, Beowulf returns to his own land across the sea.

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Book Review: Quests for Glory

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Quests for Glory by Soman Chainani

Quests for Glory (The School for Good and Evil: The Camelot Years #1)
by Soman Chainani

3 out of 5 stars

Agatha and Tedros thought they had found their happy ending in Camelot, but things start to go wrong in the kingdom and all over the forest. All their friends are on quests that are failing, and Sophie is at the school, blissfully unaware of the disasters that are threatening them all. Tedros is completely embarrassed at his coronation and the people start to lose faith in him. A new villain calling himself the Snake vows to steal the crown of Camelot from Tedros, claiming to be Arthur’s eldest son. With all their quests failing, Sophie and Agatha will have to renew their close friendship if they want to save Camelot and the school.

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Book Review: Tales Before Tolkien

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Tales Before Tolkien by Douglas A. Anderson

Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy
by Douglas A. Anderson (Editor)

4 out of 5 stars

This collection of short stories, poems, and plays includes works that influenced J.R.R. Tolkien, or are similar to his fantasy style in some way. This list includes George MacDonald, Andrew Lang, William Morris, H. Rider Haggard, Edith Nesbit, L. Frank Baum, Lord Dunsany, E.A. Wycke-Smith, and David Lindsay among others.

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Book Review: Dungeon Runners Level 1: Hero Trial

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Hero Trial by Kieran Larwood

Hero Trial (Dungeon Runners #1)
by Kieran Larwood (Goodreads Author), Joe Todd-Stanton (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

Kit is half-gnome and half-dwarf, making his whole family “gnorfs” – a small race of people in this magical land. In fact, only one gnorf in history has ever entered the dangerous Dungeon Runner games, but Kit is determined to put together a team and try to complete the trials so that he can compete. His teammates are a sea hag who can only do one spell, and a vegan vampire. Kit is supposed to be the fighter in their group, but he only has a useless wooden sword. Everyone laughs, thinking that this team is too small and too young to survive the dangerous competition, but Kit and his new friends discover that the Dungeon hides more surprises than anyone bargained for.

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Book Review: George Goodwin Dragon Slayer

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George Goodwin, Dragon Slayer by Candace Lee

George Goodwin, Dragon Slayer: A Scouting Legend (Order of the Dragon Slayer)
by Candace Lee, Eric Newman, Bear Grylls (Foreword)

George is determined to prove that there are diamonds in the old coal mine just as his father declared before his death down in the mine. George explores the mines looking for proof, and his Boy Scout friends follow him, but they all get into trouble when they realize that an ancient dragon has been awakened in the depths of the caves. They encounter a mysterious man who claims to have knowledge of dragons and the weapons to kill them. They will need all their Scouting survival training to escape the mines with a dragon hunting them.

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Book Review: The Shadow Thieves

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The Shadow Thieves by Anne Ursu

The Shadow Thieves (Cronus Chronicles, #1)
by Anne Ursu

2 out of 5 stars

Charlotte’s cousin Zee comes to visit from England, and he is terrified that a mysterious illness has followed him across the ocean to America. When their friends at school start getting sick, Charlotte and Zee are determined to find out what is wrong. Their search leads them to the evil plans of a demi-god from Hades who is stealing shadows to create an army and take over the underworld. Charlotte and Zee have to journey into the underworld and find a way to stop the shadow army before all their friends die!

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