I'm so very behind on my book reviewing.
So here goes.
Pendragon 8 and 9--14 and a 5. I've mentioned over and over that I love this series. So very great. And I will tell you that the cliffhanger in book 9 is almost as good as the cliffhanger in Mistborn 2. MacHale has one book left to solve this muddle and I have no idea how he's going to pull it off and I won't know until some time next year. AAAAUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!
The Land of Elyon, books 1-4. 8 and 4. These are very simple books with a fairly heavy Christian over-tones. I enjoyed reading these. They reminded me very much of The Chronicles of Narnia for the upbeat, positive feel. I will warn you that there is a book that tells pre-story that falls in between books three and four and while you can read book four without it, it would make more sense with it. I didn't read it and while I understood the general idea of the previous book, I wish I had known about it to read it in advance of book 4.
Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynn Jones. 12 and 3 1/2. I find Jones a little strange. The premise behind this book is a bit odd. It made for interesting reading, but I didn't love it.
The Sword of Shannara series by Terry Brooks. 12 and 4. I give it a 12 because the lesson about truth in this book I think would be hard for some younger kids to really understand. I loved the ultimate lesson, but not the series in general. (Now, a rant on something that has nothing really to do with the books themselves--I got paperback books from the library. The illustrations on the cover are each a person and each of those person's are in impossibly difficult poses. It's like the person illustrating these didn't stop to think about the reality of what he was drawing. That made for an amusing 10 minutes or so while we tried to actually do the poses and laughed our heads off at the results.)
Front Porch Tales by Philip Gulley, plus two more that were very similar in style and content. These are collections of stories in a Chicken Soup sort of style. They were a nice read. Gulley is a Quaker Pastor. I give them a 10 and a 4. My only real complaint--and it ultimately becomes a complaint about myself--is the Gulley is a bit wishy-washy. He has strong beliefs about love and goodness and very little else. I do beleive there is truth, but I also know that I can see all sides of a situation and I think that I get annoyed by that in other people because I'm that way myself. Of course, the opposite bugs me too, so it's all good. (Oh dear, I sounded just like him right there!) I wouldn't mind owning all of these books and I would feel very safe with any of my children reading them. He espouses the traditional values of kindness, honesty, etc., that I find so lacking in our world today. I don't always agree with him, but I find him thought provoking in a good way.
Happy reading. Sorry no links today. I'm a bit out of it.
(I'm so very excited. Wicked the musical is coming to visit my neck of the woods and my dearest Faramir camped out last night with my sil (not really camping when you don't have a tent and in the downtown of a large-ish city) and got us tickets. Yippeee us. I love musicals and I've heard this one is amazing!)
So here goes.
Pendragon 8 and 9--14 and a 5. I've mentioned over and over that I love this series. So very great. And I will tell you that the cliffhanger in book 9 is almost as good as the cliffhanger in Mistborn 2. MacHale has one book left to solve this muddle and I have no idea how he's going to pull it off and I won't know until some time next year. AAAAUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!
The Land of Elyon, books 1-4. 8 and 4. These are very simple books with a fairly heavy Christian over-tones. I enjoyed reading these. They reminded me very much of The Chronicles of Narnia for the upbeat, positive feel. I will warn you that there is a book that tells pre-story that falls in between books three and four and while you can read book four without it, it would make more sense with it. I didn't read it and while I understood the general idea of the previous book, I wish I had known about it to read it in advance of book 4.
Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynn Jones. 12 and 3 1/2. I find Jones a little strange. The premise behind this book is a bit odd. It made for interesting reading, but I didn't love it.
The Sword of Shannara series by Terry Brooks. 12 and 4. I give it a 12 because the lesson about truth in this book I think would be hard for some younger kids to really understand. I loved the ultimate lesson, but not the series in general. (Now, a rant on something that has nothing really to do with the books themselves--I got paperback books from the library. The illustrations on the cover are each a person and each of those person's are in impossibly difficult poses. It's like the person illustrating these didn't stop to think about the reality of what he was drawing. That made for an amusing 10 minutes or so while we tried to actually do the poses and laughed our heads off at the results.)
Front Porch Tales by Philip Gulley, plus two more that were very similar in style and content. These are collections of stories in a Chicken Soup sort of style. They were a nice read. Gulley is a Quaker Pastor. I give them a 10 and a 4. My only real complaint--and it ultimately becomes a complaint about myself--is the Gulley is a bit wishy-washy. He has strong beliefs about love and goodness and very little else. I do beleive there is truth, but I also know that I can see all sides of a situation and I think that I get annoyed by that in other people because I'm that way myself. Of course, the opposite bugs me too, so it's all good. (Oh dear, I sounded just like him right there!) I wouldn't mind owning all of these books and I would feel very safe with any of my children reading them. He espouses the traditional values of kindness, honesty, etc., that I find so lacking in our world today. I don't always agree with him, but I find him thought provoking in a good way.
Happy reading. Sorry no links today. I'm a bit out of it.
(I'm so very excited. Wicked the musical is coming to visit my neck of the woods and my dearest Faramir camped out last night with my sil (not really camping when you don't have a tent and in the downtown of a large-ish city) and got us tickets. Yippeee us. I love musicals and I've heard this one is amazing!)
I want to hear all about Wicked after you see it! I could never get into the Sword of Shannara books even though they were heavily recommended. However, I haven't even heard of any of the others and I can see I am way behind on my fantasy reading. sigh . . .
It IS amazing!!!! When you've seen it, you should go back and read my blog review of it and tell me what you think...
I've seen Wicked twice and you will NOT be disappointed. So worth it!
Wicked, can I say you have a wicked awesome husband?!
That will be so much fun!!!! Can't wait to hear about it!
I will admit some jealousy on my part. I tried with some of my college roommates to get tickets, and missed out. Enjoy the show and when my turn comes, we'll exclaim over its excellence together!