I love all of these books for different reasons, but one similar reason is that they’re awesome. I’d heartily recommend them to anyone, including those who hate YA and/or fantasy books.
10 Young Adult Fantasy Novels Everyone Should Read (Yes, Even You)*
In no particular order:
1. Coraline – Neil Gaiman
In Coraline’s family’s new flat there’s a locked door. On the other side is a brick wall—until Coraline unlocks the door . . . and finds a passage to another flat in another house just like her own.
Only different.
The food is better there. Books have pictures that writhe and crawl and shimmer. And there’s another mother and father there who want Coraline to be their little girl. They want to change her and keep her with them. . . . Forever.
2. Charmed Life – Diana Wynne Jones
Cat doesn’t mind living in the shadow of his sister, Gwendolen, the most promising young witch ever seen on Coven Street. But trouble starts brewing the moment the two orphans are summoned to live in Chrestomanci Castle. Frustrated that the witches of the castle refuse to acknowledge her talents, Gwendolen conjures up a scheme that could throw whole worlds out of whack.
3. The House With A Clock In Its Walls – John Bellairs
Lewis always dreamed of living in an old house full of secret passageways, hidden rooms, and big marble fireplaces. And suddenly, after the death of his parents, he finds himself in just such a mansion–his Uncle Jonathan’s. When he discovers that his big friendly uncle is also a wizard, Lewis has a hard time keeping himself from jumping up and down in his seat. Unfortunately, what Lewis doesn’t bank on is the fact that the previous owner of the mansion was also a wizard–but an evil one who has placed a tick-tocking clock somewhere in the bowels of the house, marking off the minutes until the end of the world. And when Lewis accidentally awakens the dead on Halloween night, the clock only ticks louder and faster. Doomsday draws near–unless Lewis can stop the clock!
Continue reading #4-10 below the jump!
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Boca Knights by Steven M. Forman
Publication: Forge Books (2009), Hardcover, 336 pages / ISBN 076531987X
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 3.5/5
Find @ Amazon
Challenges: 2009 Pub Challenge (#2)
I saw an advertisement for this on one of the Shelf Awareness newsletters, and since I thought it sounded good I decided to check it out. For a first novel, it’s not so bad!
Summary from Amazon:
In a debut novel sure to both excite passions and elicit laughter, a different kind of hero emerges in that most unlikely criminal hotbed: Boca Raton.
Eddie Perlmutter is capable of fighting with fearless frenzy, but only does so to defend the defenseless. Eddie’s career as a much-honored Boston cop has come to an end. At sixty, he’s still energetic and virile, but decades of harsh New England winters and collaring the pug-uglies of Boston’s underworld have taken their toll—especially on his knees. So what does a lonely, retired cop with arthritic knees do? Head to sunny Florida, of course.
Country-club politics and early-bird specials are a far cry from the street toughs, scuffles, and arrests of his former life. But some things never change. Instead of enjoying a relaxed, laid-back retirement, Eddie quickly discovers the darker side of Boca Raton’s endless sun and palm trees, where hate crimes, counterfeiting, and worse lurk beneath the deceptively calm surface of cushy retirement communities.
With his no-nonsense crime-fighting skills and roll-with-the punches attitude, Eddie hits Boca Raton like of a Nor’easter from Hell, fast, fresh, and unstoppable.
Miss Marple Eddie is not. If you were expecting a sweet old man solving mysteries while trying to deal with arthritis, think again. Eddie Perlmutter is a foul-mouthed hothead, and he doesn’t take nothing from nobody. The first third of the book is spent setting up the background of Eddie’s life, including the very interesting of his grandfather. Then it focuses on Eddie’s move down to Boca Raton, the history behind the place and what sort of people live there. The mystery part doesn’t show up until page 103, but even then it doesn’t play a big role. Instead, the plot meanders from Eddie’s settling down in Boca Raton to his love life, his encounters with drug dealers, Neo-Nazis, snobs, and various conversations with his penis (which has calls Mr. Johnson).
It’s an interesting book, for sure. I liked Eddie, even though he talks to his penis like it’s a separate being from himself, and I liked some of the other people living in Boca Raton. I especially liked the history of Eddie’s family; his grandfather was so fascinating! I was a little sad he was gone from the story so quickly, but I understood why.
There is, of course, the problem of the huge difference between Eddie and myself that kept me from understanding him completely– he’s a 60-year-old retired Jewish cop from Boston, while I’m a 20-year-old college student living in New Mexico (and my genitals don’t talk to me)– but from what I did understand, I liked him.
The writing was pretty good; some parts of the dialogue seemed more realistic than others, but it conveyed the events clearly and it was good enough to keep me reading. There were a lot of infodumps, though, especially in the last half of the book. I learned more about Boca Raton, Haiti, Boston, the Aryan Nation, and busing than I learned in all my time in school. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or what.
Er, anyway. Like I said, Boca Knights is a good first novel, though not so much a mystery novel (nor a thriller, as the summary says, nor a crime caper, as another reviewer said). I do plan on reading the sequel Boca Mourning– I want to see who Eddie settles down with!
Other reviews: Genre Go Round Reviews
Image by Pulpdtp.
Since this subject has been exploding the book blogs lately (see here, here, and here, for instance), I wanted to ask what you all think about it.
Publishers say that pricing ebooks significantly lower than the paper versions will damage their business. I say that the benefits of selling ebooks (no shipping fees, no storage fees, no problems with bookstores returning unsold books, plus an unlimited supply!) dampens the blow of producing one, and that selling ebooks cheaper than the paper versions will both encourage more people to start reading ebooks and generate a lot of business (well, if advertised properly) and even publicity. I’ve talked about free ebooks before, and I do think that low-priced ebooks are the next step up for publishers who want to build an ebook empire.
Now it’s your turn: How much would you pay for an ebook? More importantly, why would you pay that much? What’s an ebook worth to you? Is convenience more important than price?
[polldaddy poll=1340936]
For myself, I’ve only gotten free ebooks so far and it’s kept me pretty happy. I wouldn’t mind paying a small nominal fee, however. Orbit is selling some ebooks for $1, for instance, and I’m thinking about getting a few. The low price plus guaranteed compatibility with my ebook reader (they’re selling through a lot of different store, including the Stanza/Fictionwise store) means I’ll be more lenient on the DRM issue than I would if I was spending $5-10 on an ebook. For that price I’d rather get the paper book, yknow?
What do you think?
More about my rating guide, including the buy/borrow/bin rating system used Sept. 2010-May 2011.
What's your favorite reading snack?
Total Voters: 24
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