Fantasy Books - Page 4

The Children of Hurin

J. R. R. Tolkien

By: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd Amazon Marketplace: 5 new & used starting at $67.41

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 275 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A Dark, Gripping Tragedy 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Anyone expecting to read a happily ending Tolkien tale of Hobbits returning home at the end of a grand adventure and setting things right, will be disappointed. However, if you want to read a tragedy that is as gripping as Oedipus, then you have found your book. Tales as ancient as Oedipus have been woven into a coherent story on a Northern European canvas; Tolkien created a story loaded with hubris. It is time well spent reading a modern interpretation of excessive human pride and the damage it can create. Alan Lee has several illustrations which draw out some of the inner details of the characters.

Good, but better for hard core Tolkien fans 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I rate this book a 3 because it is a true split -- serious Tolkien fans will love it, others may not.

Readers who have delved into more than the Lord of the Rings will enjoy The Children of Hurin. It provides background to Middle Earth and gives the reader a chance to engage in some really thoughtful conversations with others.

If you are a fan only of the LotR trilogy, think before reading this. It is more dry and more compact than the LotR books.

Blood Brothers (Sign of Seven)

Nora Roberts

List Price: $26.95 By: Brilliance Audio on CD Amazon Marketplace: 5 new & used starting at $5.51

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 132 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Every seven years, on the seventh day of the seventh month, strange things happen. It began when three young boys - Caleb, Fox, and Gage - went on a camping trip to the Pagan Stone. And twenty-one years later, it will end in a showdown between evil and the boys who have become men - and the women who love them…

This modern-day legend draws reporter and author Quinn Black to Hawkins Hollow with the hope of making the eerie happening the subject of her new book. It is only February, but Caleb Hawkins, descendent of the town founders, has already seen and felt the stirrings of evil. Though he can never forget the beginning of the terror in the woods twenty-one years ago, the signs have never been this strong before. Cal will need the help of his best friends, Fox and Gage, but surprisingly he must rely on Quinn as well. She, too, can see the evil that the locals cannot, somehow connecting her to the town – and to Cal. As winter turns to spring, Cal and Quinn will shed their inhibitions, surrendering to a growing desire. They will form the cornerstone of a group of men and women bound by fate, passion, and the fight against what is to come from out of the darkness…

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

J.K. Rowling

List Price: $55.75 By: Cover to Cover Cassettes Ltd Amazon Marketplace: 5 new & used starting at $34.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2602 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Pesky Prisoner, Potions Professor Plus Puzzling Ploys Plague Potter 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Good, solid storytelling. Ms. Rowling's third installment in the Harry Potter series continues to add interesting characters and create an even more appealing magical world for the reader to escape into. Each book has shown the gradual evolution of Harry from a neglected, abused child and mentored into a honorable young man. But the character-building journey is certainly a bumpy ride for young Potter. Moral messages and the complexities of the human condition abound as each new story has been introduced to the public. One of the underlying messages of the book is that most problems in life are not simply black and white, but more complicated. To convey this point in a fun, exciting manner is the sign of great writing. There's real heart to this series and deserves a wide readership.

Harry Potter 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This series is fun for kids and adults. My son and I are reading it together!

Editorial Review:

During his third year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry Potter must confront the devious and dangerous wizard responsible for his parents' deaths.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter)

J.K. Rowling

List Price: $134.30 By: Cover to Cover Cassettes Ltd Amazon Marketplace: 1 new & used starting at $98.73

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5871 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

I say to you all, once again--in the light of
Lord Voldemort’s return, we are only as strong
as we are united, as weak as we are divided.
Lord Voldemort’s gift for spreading discord and
enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing
an equally strong bond of friendship and trust.

So spoke Albus Dumbledore at the end of Harry Potter’s fourth year at Hogwarts. But as Harry enters his fifth year at wizard school, it seems those bonds have never been more sorely tested. Lord Voldemort’s rise has opened a rift in the wizarding world between those who believe the truth about his return, and those who prefer to believe it’s all madness and lies--just more trouble from Harry Potter.

Add to this a host of other worries for Harry…
• A Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher with a personality like poisoned honey
• A venomous, disgruntled house-elf
• Ron as keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team
• And of course, what every student dreads: end-of-term Ordinary Wizarding Level exams

…and you’d know what Harry faces during the day. But at night it’s even worse, because then he dreams of a single door in a silent corridor. And this door is somehow more terrifying than every other nightmare combined.

In the richest installment yet of J. K. Rowling’s seven-part story, Harry Potter confronts the unreliability of the very government of the magical world, and the impotence of the authorities at Hogwarts.

Despite this (or perhaps because of it) Harry finds depth and strength in his friends, beyond what even he knew; boundless loyalty and unbearable sacrifice.

Though thick runs the plot (as well as the spine), readers will race through these pages, and leave Hogwarts, like Harry, wishing only for the next train back.

The City of Ember

Jeanne DuPrau

List Price: $10.35 By: Corgi Yearling Books Amazon Marketplace: 14 new & used starting at $3.88

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 420 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The City of Ember 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I loved this book! Plain and simple - I loved it! From the minute I picked it up and read the introduction, I couldn't put this book down.

This book is appealing in so many ways, it has likeable characters - both Lina and Doon are normal kids but with noble spirits. It has a villain that is easy to hate - that horrible mayor! To top it all off there is a word puzzle that has to be solved to unravel the mystery of how to escape from Ember.

As an adult I thought the story was very entertaining, and I will definitely be sharing it with my son sometime soon. I can see the appeal of this book for the young adult audience, because the heroes of the book - the only ones who really know what's going on - are the kids.

Even though it is a book for young adults, it is so well written that I think people of all ages will enjoy it. I know that there were parts of the book where I had to force myself to slow down and enjoy the story, because I was so eager to find out what was going to happen to Lina and Doon that I wanted to race ahead.

I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone - it's great! Just plan on setting aside a couple of hours to read it, and don't plan on doing anything else. I know that once I started reading The City of Ember I didn't want anything to distract me from it.

Editorial Review:

Many hundreds of years ago, the city of Ember was created by the Builders to contain everything needed for human survival. It worked - but now the storerooms are almost out of food, crops are blighted, corruption is spreading through the city and worst of all - the lights are failing. Soon Ember could be engulfed by darkness-But when two children, Lina and Doon, discover fragments of an ancient parchment, they begin to wonder if there could be a way out of Ember. Can they decipher the words from long ago and find a new future for everyone? Will the people of Ember listen to them?

Backup

Jim Butcher

Amazon Price: $13.60 List Price: $20.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Subterranean Amazon Marketplace: 16 new & used starting at $12.75

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 45 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Seriously Disappointed 1 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Up til now I have really loved the Dresden books. They are entertaining with great story lines. I pre-ordered Backup because of the description and was hoping to learn more about Thomas. What a disappointment when the "book" arrived. A slim thing of less than 80 pages, I'm still trying to figure out how one could charge $13 for this. And the story was even lighter than the number of pages. This seemed to be something that should have been a chapter in a book not a stand alone story. The writing was not up to the rest of the Dresden stories - no plot, no character, no heart. I hope this isn't a harbringer of what's coming for this series.

Editorial Review:

Let's get something clear right up front.

I'm not Harry Dresden.

Harry's a wizard. A genuine, honest-to-goodness wizard. He's Gandalf on crack and an IV of Red Bull, with a big leather coat and a .44 revolver in his pocket. He'll spit in the eye of gods and demons alike if he thinks it needs to be done, and to hell with the consequences--and yet somehow my little brother manages to remain a decent human being.

I'll be damned if I know how.

But then, I'll be damned regardless.
My name is Thomas Raith, and I'm a monster.

So begins "Backup," a twelve thousand word novelette set in Jim Butcher s ultra-popular Dresden Files series. This time Harry's in trouble he knows nothing about, and it's up to his big brother Thomas to track him down and solve those little life-threatening difficulties without his little brother even noticing.

Crepusculo (Twilight, Spanish Edition)

Stephenie Meyer

Amazon Price: $10.87 List Price: $15.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Alfaguara Amazon Marketplace: 27 new & used starting at $9.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

This book is not for those false puritans... 4 out of 5 stars.
11 of 13 people found this review helpful.

Take this book for what it is: sheer entertainment. It is a quick enjoyable read and reads true to the thoughts and feeling of a girl Bella's age. This book was written with a certain audience in mind and was obviously not written for a sunday school class. As it is intended to be entertainment it should not be picked apart by religious bigots for whom it was not written in the first place. There are some books that you just read for fun. It in no way means that I will look to the characters as an example of how to live! Besides, every time a bigot creates a controversy it just means that more people will read the book and it will be that much more popular. So please keep on talking. I'm sure Stephanie Meyer will cry her way to the bank...or laugh.

Editorial Review:

When Isabella Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks and meets the mysterious, alluring Edward Cullen, her life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With his porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural gifts, Edward is both irresistible and impenetrable. Up until now, he has managed to keep his vampire identity hidden, but Bella is determined to uncover his dark secret.

Description in Spanish: Cuando Isabella Swan se muda a Forks, una pequena localidad del estado de Washington en la que no deja de llover, piensa que es lo mas aburrido que le podi­a haber ocurrido en la vida. Pero su vida da un giro excitante y aterrador una vez que se encuentra con el misterioso y seductor Edward Cullen. Hasta ese momento, Edward se las ha arreglado para mantener en secreto su identidad vampirica, pero ahora nadie se encuentra a salvo, y sobre todo Isabella, la persona a quien mas quiere Edward...

Batman : The Dark Knight Returns

Frank Miller

List Price: $13.95 By: Warner Books> C/o Little Br Amazon Marketplace: 31 new & used starting at $5.79

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 338 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

If any comic has a claim to have truly reinvigorated the genre, then The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller--known also for his excellent Sin City series and his superb rendering of the blind superhero Daredevil--is probably the top contender. Batman represented all that was wrong in comics and Miller set himself a tough task taking on the camp crusader and turning this laughable, innocuous children's cartoon character into a hero for our times. The great Alan Moore (V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing, the arguably peerless Watchmen) argued that only someone of Miller's stature could have done this. Batman is a character known well beyond the confines of the comic world (as are his retinue) and so reinventing him, while keeping his limiting core essentials intact, was a huge task.Miller went far beyond the call of duty. The Dark Knight is a success on every level. Firstly it does keep the core elements of the Batman myth intact, with Robin, Alfred the butler, Commissioner Gordon, and the old roster of villains, present yet brilliantly subverted. Secondly the artwork is fantastic--detailed, sometimes claustrophobic, psychotic. Lastly it's a great story: Gotham City is a hell on earth, street gangs roam but there are no heroes. Decay is ubiquitous. Where is a hero to save Gotham? It is 10 years since the last recorded sighting of the Batman. And things have got worse than ever. Bruce Wayne is close to being a broken man but something is keeping him sane: the need to see change and the belief that he can orchestrate some of that change. Batman is back. The Dark Knight has returned. Awesome. --Mark Thwaite

Slaughterhouse Five

Kurt Vonnegut

Amazon Price: $25.95 List Price: $25.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Caedmon Amazon Marketplace: 21 new & used starting at $6.76

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 708 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

One of the best 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. If you have a room temperature IQ it may be a confusing novel, but other wise it is a true master piece.

Editorial Review:

Kurt Vonnegut's absurdist classic Slaughterhouse-Five introduces us to Billy Pilgrim, a man who becomes 'unstuck in time' after he is abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore. In a plot-scrambling display of virtuosity, we follow Pilgrim simultaneously through all phases of his life, concentrating on his (and Vonnegut's) shattering experience as an American prisoner of war who witnesses the firebombing of Dresden.

Slaughterhouse-Five is not only Vonnegut's most powerful book, it is also as important as any written since 1945. Like Catch-22, it fashions the author's experiences in the Second World War into an eloquent and deeply funny plea against butchery in the service of authority. Slaughterhouse-Five boasts the same imagination, humanity, and gleeful appreciation of the absurd found in Vonnegut's other works, but the book's basis in rock-hard, tragic fact gives it unique poignancy -- and humor.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

J.K. Rowling

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5176 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Goblet Gives Gryffindor Gang Great Gobs of Guesswork, Goosebumps 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Ms. Rowling apparently had a lot to say in this next installment of the series. Coming in at nearly twice the length of the previous story, the bulkiness does not detract from the good, solid storytelling. The author seamlessly brings new readers up to date in the life of Harry Potter by interjecting, throughout the book, facts from the previous three books. However, you will not truly appreciate the development of this wonderful wizardly world without reading them in sequence. Other reviewers have felt the need to list their favorites in this series, but the exercise is unnecessary. The first four books were very fun and easy reads. This stuff isn't meant to be Shakespeare, folks. Many, many adults and kids have gushed to me about how much they enjoyed all seven novels. Nothing in Ms. Rowling's books have soured me from soon reading the fifth installment. Sit back, relax and enjoy.

Editorial Review:

Fourteen-year-old Harry Potter joins the Weasleys at the Quidditch World Cup, then enters his fourth year at Hogwarts Academy where he is mysteriously entered in an unusual contest that challenges his wizarding skills, friendships and character, amid signs that an old enemy is growing stronger.