hedgeknight said:
Currently, on my "to read" shelf are:
- The Runes of the Earth - Stephen R. Donaldson (first book in the final series of the Land)
- Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister - Gregory Maguire
- Witch Child - Celia Rees
- Inkheart - Cornelia Funke
- Mammoth Cheese - Sheri Holman (author of the incredible book The Dress Lodger)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
- The One Kingdom - Sean Russell
- American Gods - Neil Gaiman
- Eyes of God - John Marco
- The Golem's Eye - Jonathan Stroud (2nd in the Bartimeus Trilogy)
Whew! Can you see the difficulty I'm having? HELP!
-g-
Well looks like you're in luck as I've read most of the books on your shelf...
Witch Child is an historically based novel following the fortunes of a young girl trying to evade the Witchcraft mania hitting Massachusetts circa 1659 but stil prior to the infamous Salem Witch Hunts. This book is writen for a young audience and never really manages to stay coherent except it does still manage to have some riveting scenes. I'd say an above average effort but nothing startling.
Inkheart is the kind of book that has a decent storyline but seems to fall over from its own weight mainly because the author doesn't seem to have the necessary skill to keep all of the parts moving together. Sad really because her other book
The Thief Lord was a promising effort and the better book IMO. Both are YA.
Runes Of The Earth Well you're a Donaldson fan I take it so expect more of the same. A little slow to move into things at the beginnnig but still a highly enjoyable read. You may want to start with this...
Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Well in a word this book and author is brilliant, so if you've not yet read this classic you'll probably like what you see. Along with the oreginal Dune another SF book of the few I've read which rates highly in my eyes.
American Gods. This is the first Gaiman book I've started to read but so far I'm impressed. Certainly different and quite the engaging read actually. Recommended.
One Knigdom. Well coincidentally I've just finshed reading this trilogy by Canadian Sean Russell. Book 1 that you have is possibly the best of all three books. As Kelpie suggests it certainly has its share of EPIC elements and it's non-generic fantasy in the sense it doesn't deal with Elves, Dwaves etc..but is replaced with the undead and plenty of magic set within a medieval style world complete with Knights. Russel's prose is solid and he certainly knows how to construct a plot but I found after the first book that the storyline did become a littlre repetitve in terms of the central themes explored. Nevertheless the final book did pick up the slack somewhat and overall I'd say it's a decent read but nothing mermorable.
Eyes Of God. I've read everything by John Marco and his current series IMO is a fairly pale imitation of his highly enjoyable military style fantasy
Tyrants and Kings I know you've read. The storyline itself is fairly standard fare although it does try to deal with specific moral issues, so credit where it's due. Critics seem to be suggesting Marco has improved as a writer and as far as the prose and plot construction goes perhaps they're right but for me the gritty realism of his original trilogy is somehow lost here in a story dripping with oversentimentality. Looks like his hard-edged approach has been sandpapered down somewhat...
I've heard of
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister but can't comment on this and the books by Johnathon Stroud appear to have received some positive feedback. There's some discussion over at the YA forum on this author at the moment if you want to check it out.
Mammoth Chesse rings very vague bells but I know nothing about this book, sorry...
I'd say in conclusion that I'd go with either Douglas Adams, Stephen Donladson, Neil Gaiman and perhaps for YA the Stroud books plus as Klepie suggested for something different the tale about the Ugly Stepsister.
Hope this helps...
