Study Buddies discussion

I've always loved fantasy books, but been wary of the more political ones. This is among the ones I just couldn't put down, however. The two sequels were good, but not as magical as the first one.

My recommendations for similar works include:

"The Curse of Chalion" by Lois McMaster Bujold. A bit more serious and political, but hard to put down, and beautifully written.

Trudi Canavan's "Black Magician" trilogy-- intrigue at its finest.

Mercedes Lackey's "Heralds of Valdemar" trilogy: "Arrows of the Queen," "Arrow's Flight" and "Arrow's Fall". A little fluffier with a bit more romance, but still exquisite.

"The Thief" by Megan Whalen Turner. Aimed at a younger audience, but it has the same sort of fiercely spunky protagonist (a boy in this case) and no end of plot twists.

"Howl's Moving Castle" by Diana Wynne Jones. Incredibly funny, unique, clever, and full of mistaken identities. It's practically "Much Ado About Nothing" with magic, and I've read it over and over.

"The Glasswrights' Apprentice" (and series) by Mindy Klasky. Another tale of an apprentice overcoming incredible odds and political machinations.

Enjoy!

Ps-- I'm sure I'll keep thinking of more books to add to this list. I'd love feedback from anyone who reads any of these!

"Gifts," "Voices," and "Powers"-- a trilogy by Ursula K. LeGuin. Not as similar to Snyder as some of the stuff I've mentioned, but a gripping and lyrical fantasy series nonetheless.

Thanks, QL! I have been meaning to read Diana Wynne Jones. My husband and I have opposite tastes in anime. I like magic, adventure, fighting and robots! He likes magic, adventure, cute critters and fairy tales ^_^, so the movie version of Howl's Moving Castle is a mutual favorite. The book is definitely moving up on my list. Great suggestions; I'll get back to you soon--already own Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief--also a fave of Jane's, so I'll probably start with that.

I have a book that I haven't quite started which I think will be just excellent! The Magicians and Mrs. Quent...

I recently read Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief. It has two sequels which were also pretty good. Thanks for the other book suggestions.

How awesome are you Queenlyzard!! You are indeed Queenly!

Alethea--The Magicians and Mrs. Quent is AWESOME!

the Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop is very good--though much more 'adult advisory'.

Older books people should look up are Joyce Balou Gregorian's 'Tredana' trilogy. Sadly out of print and she is sadly deceased now, its highly intriguing. Pamela Dean's Secret Country trilogy is a bit like Narnia but if the kids stopped trying for the best outcome and wanted the worst. Hilari Bell's Farsala Trilogy is also fun quasi-political fun.

I want to read Megan Whalen Turner's books, I have heard such good things about them recently!

Turner's The Thief was really good. I read it early last year and have been suggesting it as a book report book to young boys. It always seems to rate well with moms because it's a Newbury honor book. I read the second one The Queen of Attolia, but haven't gotten to The King of Attolia yet.

I loved all of Megan Whalen Turner's books!! The Queen of Attolia is definitely my favourite of the three.
I read them in one fell swoop, and it was interesting to see how she used different voices in all of them. The Thief is written in first person POV tied to Gen, The Queen of Attolia is written in 3rd limited tied to Gen, and The King of Attolia is written in 3rd omniscient mainly tied to Costis. By the third book you know Gen really well, and then seeing him from an outside POV is really interesting because you know Gen is smart but you aren't inside his mind any longer.

But all these suggestions are great! I have SOO many books on hold at the library now! Yay.

My favorite books are by Kristen Britain. You have to read them in order - The Green Rider, First Rider's Call, and The High King's Tomb.

I have a billion other books I could recommend, but if you love female heroine books and fantasy, read those!

I think that if you are looking for a book with magic and a young female coming into her powers you should read The Naming by Allison Croggon

Is that part of a series as well?

I posted this before but here is my list=P

Tamora Pierce is great...probably one of my all time favorites! If you want to read her books in order I will post the list

Song of The Lioness Series
1-Alanna: The First Adventure
2-In the Hand of the Godess
3-The Woman Who Rides Like a Man
4-Lioness Rampant

The next four books are connected through some main characters to the first four.

Immortals
1-Wild Magis
2-Wolf Speaker
3-The Emperor mage
4-The Realms of the Gods

The next four books are connected to the first eight by some main characters

Protector of the Small
1-First Test
2-Page
3-Squire
4-Lady Knight

The nest two books are connected to this first 12 by some main characters

Daughter of the Lioness
1-Tricksters Choice
2-Tricksters Queen

Then there is a different series...

Circle of Magic
1-Sandry's Book
2-Tris's Book
3-Daja's Book
4-Briar's Book

The next books connect to the previous four

Circle Opens
1-Magic Steps
2-Street Magic
3-Cold Fire
4-Shatterglass

The next two connect with the last eight

Circle Reforged
1-The Will of the Empress
2-Melting Stones

Then there are two more books

Tortall
1-Terrier
2-Bloodhound (not yet released)

Some other books that I really like...

The Farsala Series
1-Fall of a Kingdom
2-Rise of a Hero
3-Forging the Sword
by Hillari Bell

and...

A Stranger to Command
Crown Duel
Court Duel
by Sherwood Smith

The Dragonlance books are great to

1-Dragons of Autumn Twilight
2-Dragons of Winter Night
3-Dragons of Spring dawning
4-Dragons of Summer Flame

The next four are connected to the firts four by main characters

Twins
1-Time of the Twins
2-War of the Twins
3-Test of the Twins

Then comes....

1-The Second Generation

all by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis

I fell in love with the characters in these books. They were great!!!

Meme wrote: "I think that if you are looking for a book with magic and a young female coming into her powers you should read The Naming by Allison Croggon"


If you are asking me than yes it is part of a series the Naming, the Riddle, the Crow and the singing comes out this year.

Stephanie, Thanks for all the great suggestions. I've read most of Tamora Pierce's books, but not her Circle of Magic series, are they as good as her Alanna, Immortals, and Protector series?

Just checking Meme, I wanted to know how many books I was going to get myself into reading.

Kristen wrote: "Stephanie, Thanks for all the great suggestions. I've read most of Tamora Pierce's books, but not her Circle of Magic series, are they as good as her Alanna, Immortals, and Protector series?"


The Circle of magic series sounds really good I think I will have to go and check them out too thank you Stephanie for the suggestions.

I can find all kinds of books for you if you want LOL do you like romance to?

No problem...her books are some of my very favorites. I liked they circle series a lot, it was easy to fall in love with the characters.

Stephanie wrote: "No problem...her books are some of my very favorites. I liked they circle series a lot, it was easy to fall in love with the characters."

I have look at the Dragonlance books several time but could not decide if I should read them so I guess now I will have to take a look, man I am getting more ideas than I have room for LOL

I loved the Dragonlance books..the only ones I have read are the ones I listed but there are tons of them. The ones I listed are in order. I loved the characters and I'm kind of a sucker for a long lasting series. ;)

I'll definitely have to check out the other Tamara Pierce books and eventually the dragonlance series. I'm weary to start Dragonlance because there are so many books. I think we may have a few here at our middle school library.

Do we know which one is the first in the series, that is what I hate about starting a series after several have came out. I don't know which to start and I don't like starting in the middle

Oh I know...I held off for a long time and then I went to this site called fantasticfiction and it lists them all in order. It was super helpful finding where to start. I just picked the series I thought I would like best=)

oh OK I will go there and see if I can find which one to start after I read the others on my tbr pile....ummm wonder if I will actually make it to them LOL

Its not really set up in the order that I read them but I just kept looking in the books to see where to go next. My list above is in order with all the same characters...they are really good I laughed and cried. There are more books with the same characters I just haven't made it there yet...

I didn't know there was a site like that. I usually just go to Amazon.com and look it up and hope they do the book series and number in ().

gotcha its going to take a while but when I finally get there I will let you know I'm always looking for new books and authors

Yet, you have so many you need to read! I'm the same way though so I really should be scolding you so.

yes mommy I will make sure that I get all my reading done before I start any new ones LOL

Heres a link to fantastic fiction...its a great way to see what every author has written.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/

Thanks! I'll check it out later, because I know I'll be spending too much time on it.

Oh thank you I will be looking in just a few