Books/Series you've been reading Recently

[Metalheadz]

Finished A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

[Silver]

Oh. Right. So this summer I finally got around to reading Harry Potter. Just started Order of the Phoenix. <3 Goblet of Fire... I've heard the fifth one's not as good, but I was just so addicted to number 4 that I don't care.

CONSTANT VIGILANCE!

[Josiah]

You're only now reading them? Oh well, at least you're actually reading the books (as opposed to the people who just watch the crappy movies). Goblet of Fire is my personal favorite. Order of the Phoenix is still good (the whole series is awesome) but Harry's attitude in parts of it can be a bit annoying and its ending doesn't have as big of a plot twist as the previous ones. That's all I'll say though, so as not to spoil anything. Hope you enjoy the rest of the series!

[Saber Knight]

You haven't read them yet? I liked Prisoner of Azkaban the best, personally. They're all good, but the 5th was annoying because Harry does have emotional issues in it.

[Cheezdude]

I like the second last one. The Prince Half Blood or something. I should read them again but I have a friend who's borrowing them.

[Giga-Gar]

Hmm... My favorite is Dumbledore's Army. Yeah, it's not by J.K., but I regard it in my personal canon.

[Josiah]

I like the second last one. The Prince Half Blood or something. I should read them again but I have a friend who's borrowing them.

You mean "The Half Blood Prince". And yeah, they're great to reread. I've ready them all multiple times and I'm planning to reread the entire series soon.

[NabMaster]

A friend of the family lent me a copy of the last book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series (amusingly named The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower ), so I gotta read it before I go!

[Saber Knight]

I like the second last one. The Prince Half Blood or something. I should read them again but I have a friend who's borrowing them.

You mean "The Half Blood Prince". And yeah, they're great to reread. I've ready them all multiple times and I'm planning to reread the entire series soon.

I just re-read that one :D. Very good books. I'm planning on re-reading them again later on... when I'm less busy and stuff.

[Silver]

Yeah, I never bothered reading them before. Mostly I was waiting for the hype to die down; the whole thing seemed so over-rated right when the first movies were coming out. During the Twilight hype, most of my friends that were known fans of Harry Potter were also caught up in the Twilight fad, which I tend to disapprove of, so... more reason to avoid it.

But towards the end of the year I let a friend borrow what I have of the Percy Jackson series and in exchange she lent me Harry Potter. And, well... the rest is history.

[Josiah]

I got started on HP in a rather random way, shortly after the release of the third book. See, one of my mom's brothers lives only a couple hours away from us and his family came over that year for Thanksgiving, which happens to be right around my brother's birthday. My counsins brought him the first HP book as a birthday present. I had heard the name before (in the newspaper or on TV or something) but didn't really know much about it. Anyway, at some point after dinner my brother and cousins were off doing something. I didn't feel like joining in but I didn't really have anything else to do so I picked up the book and started reading... Finished in the next morning (read it nearly straight through, other than a break for sleep) and ordered books two and three almost immediately after. Since then I got every book on the release date and read them all pretty much straight through. HP is my favorite series of books and was a big influence in my writing as well.

On a somewhat related note, here's my thoughts on some of the more popular young-adult fantasy series.

Harry Potter: Great stories, interesting world, excellent character development, shocking plot twists, and some of the best foreshadowing I've ever seen. My absolute favorite book series.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: (Ok, it's not quite fantasy but still...) Dark, gloomy, depressing, and absolutely hillarious. Despite some unanswered questions in the end, the story is decent and the characters, situations, and especially the narration are all really funny. I really like the series and wish Lemony Snicket would stop writing short kids stories and do a sequel to tie up some of the loose ends...

Max Ride: Haven't read it yet, though I recently picked up a used copy of the first book for cheap so I'll give it a look. They've been running a graphic novel of it in Yen Plus magazine though, which I get. So far I'd say it's ok but hasn't seriously piqued my interest.

Artemis Fowl: Rather intersting world (super high tech fairies and all that) and diverse characters. Solid all around and a fun read, but not particularily gripping. I like these well enough, but I don't have any problem putting them down and there's nothing that really makes me want to rush out and by the next book in the series, especially not before the paperback version released.

Percy Jackson: Haven't read it yet, but my brother just got into it and lent me his copies, so I will soon.

Eragon: Perfectly good (though not all that original) young-adult epic fantasy, but highly overrated. It's good and worth reading, but there's plenty of better stuff out there. I've read them, I like them, and I'm kinda jealous of the author (must be nice when your parents own a publishing company, wish I had those type of connections), but I'm annoyed when people go on and on about how fantastic it is. Eragon is good, but it's not the amazing masterpiece that some people make it out to be. I've read plenty of better YA fantasy and plenty of better epic fantasy that's a lot better.

Keys to the Kingdom: Not nearly as well known as some of the other stuff listed here, but very good with an extremely unique world, interesting setup and likable characters. A personal favorite. Actually, everything by Garth Nix is good, though his books that aren't part of Keys to the Kingdom series or his earlies Seventh Tower series (also good) tend to be pretty dark.

Twilight: Fairly well written for what it is but not all that spectacular if you aren't a teenage girl fantasizing about a handsome vampire boyfriend. Some intersting characters (and some annoying ones), way too much sappy romance novel style dialogue, and a heroine who is decidedly pathetic for most of the series (see book 2, where she basically suffers a complete mental breakdown). Pretty much every shojo manga I've ever read is better.

Pendragon: Epic world hopping adventure written mostly as the main character's journal. Good characters, good plot, and some pretty neat worlds. The ending was a little strange, but still a personal favorite.

[NabMaster]

I got into Harry Potter when my aunt gave me a copy of the third book - not knowing it was the third book at the time, I read it and thought it was horrible, starting a series so strangely and all. A while later I discovered it was actually the third book and got the first book, liked it, and read on from there.

[Kaida]

I did something similar Poik, except I read the second Harry potter book first, but I knew it was a second. Only because the library didn't have the first one at the time. I read the first four and then the fifth when it came out, and then I kind of lost it. I kind of had a grudge against JK at the time because she killed off one of my favorite characters in the fifth book. I tried reading the sixth book a few months after it came out but didn't make it past the first chapter and it's the only book in the series I don't own. And I kindda forgot about it until the seventh book was close to being released, so I borrowed a copies off a friend and read it and then I could be bothered waiting on the library's list of +1000 to borrow the seventh book so I just bought it. And I'm still very annoyed.

Why! Oh Why! Did She Have To Kill Off Practically All Of My Favorite Characters!!!

[Saber Knight]

Max Ride: Haven't read it yet, though I recently picked up a used copy of the first book for cheap so I'll give it a look. They've been running a graphic novel of it in Yen Plus magazine though, which I get. So far I'd say it's ok but hasn't seriously piqued my interest.

Artemis Fowl: Rather intersting world (super high tech fairies and all that) and diverse characters. Solid all around and a fun read, but not particularily gripping. I like these well enough, but I don't have any problem putting them down and there's nothing that really makes me want to rush out and by the next book in the series, especially not before the paperback version released.

Percy Jackson: Haven't read it yet, but my brother just got into it and lent me his copies, so I will soon.

Eragon: Perfectly good (though not all that original) young-adult epic fantasy, but highly overrated. It's good and worth reading, but there's plenty of better stuff out there. I've read them, I like them, and I'm kinda jealous of the author (must be nice when your parents own a publishing company, wish I had those type of connections), but I'm annoyed when people go on and on about how fantastic it is. Eragon is good, but it's not the amazing masterpiece that some people make it out to be. I've read plenty of better YA fantasy and plenty of better epic fantasy that's a lot better.

Twilight: Fairly well written for what it is but not all that spectacular if you aren't a teenage girl fantasizing about a handsome vampire boyfriend. Some intersting characters (and some annoying ones), way too much sappy romance novel style dialogue, and a heroine who is decidedly pathetic for most of the series (see book 2, where she basically suffers a complete mental breakdown). Pretty much every shojo manga I've ever read is better.

Pendragon: Epic world hopping adventure written mostly as the main character's journal. Good characters, good plot, and some pretty neat worlds. The ending was a little strange, but still a personal favorite.

Max Ride: I read the first book and really liked it, but I keep forgetting to go get the rest. My friend says it's her favorite series.

Artemis Fowl: I read the first book a while ago and liked it, but not an extreme amount. Tango really liked it, andeneded up reading a few more of the sereis.

Percy Jackson: I loved the first book. Especially since I'm a huge Greek Mythology fan. Working on getting my hands on the rest.

Eragon: I thought the first book was good, but not as fantastic as everyone else said. The second book was meh, but the 3rd book was better. I liked the last 150 pages or so of it the best (I'm not saying that like, "oh, the book sucked, I was happy when it ended." It just got good near the end).

Twilight: I just don't get it. The first book was okay, but.... then I read the second.... it wasn't good. I stopped after that. The main character is pathetic in the 2nd book.

Been meaning to read Pendragon for a while.

Other series I think are good.

Fablehaven: I read the first a while ago, and I wanted to get my hands on the second, but my dad was reading it, and then he had to give it back to the library. It was a really good book. A modern day world where mythical creatures are hidden away in little havens to protect them. I really wanted to get the sequel, but I was also distracted by....

Ranger's Apprentice: ...these books. I read the first book of this series right around the same time as Fablehaven, so I read the next few. I've read the first 4 I believe. My dad told me not to read the 5th because it is a huge cliffhanger and the 6th isn't in America yet (though it is in Australia, where the author is from). Eagerly awaiting that book....


Oh, and I started on Harry Potter when I was in 2nd grade and the 1st movie was coming out. My dad said he'd take me to the movie (he'd already read the first few books that were out at the time), so I decided to read the book. I read the first half or so, then saw the movie, then read the second half I've re-read the book since then.

[Kaida]

Max Ride: I've read halfway through the 1st book, I should probably finish it some time time and read the best. I do like it but I'm not really into it.

Artemis Fowl: I've been told to read this series, so I tried borrowing what I thought was the first book from the library, turned out to be a comic (I booked it cause someone else had it at the time). And now I'm just avoiding the library because I owe them money.

Percy Jackson: ... I haven't even heard of it till now.

Eragon: See I'm a bit strange with this cause I love it and yet at the same time I just like it. he I love some of the characters and the world its set in. I know the story's really cliche, if anything it made me think of a mixture of the Pern series and Lord of the Rings.

Twilight: I haven't read it and I don't think I want to from what I've heard of it.

Ranger's Apprentice: Saber; do you really only have up to book 5? We have up to 8 here. But yeah the 5th book has a cliffhanger at the end and so does the 8th. I really like the series, considering it apparently started out as a just a story the author wrote for his son so he didn't feel bad about being short when he was a kid.

Pendragon, Keys to the Kingdom, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Fablehaven I haven't read, some I haven't heard of, but will hopefully read one day... I should probably pay the library that money so I can go there again...