This trilogy consists of the books Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen. Sabriel is sort of a separate book, but it is necessary to explain what happens in Lirael and Abhorsen. Sabriel is about a girl called Sabriel. She is from the Old Kingdom, royal descendant (princess). The second and third books are about Lirael. An orphan, growing up in what can best be described shortly as a sort of nunnery. Her life takes quite a different turn than what she expects.

To describe the storyline is quite difficult to do without giving away much. As mentioned the world is a sort-of parallel to our own. On one side of the border is Ancelstierre, on the other side the Old Kingdom. Ancelstierre is very similar to our own modern world, while the Old Kingdom is fantasy and “medieval”. The magic is something called Chartermagic, an underlying flow of magic, and you have the Necromancers; those who possess the power to enter the realm of Death and use the seven bells to control the dead. The person who is the Abhorsen controls the bells, and use them for good.

These books are unlike any other fantasy I have ever read. There really is nothing to compare it with. Good language, excellent characters, humor, a truly unique and original setting. It’s the recipe for success. Highly recommended, a must-read if you are a serious fantasy-reader.

Recommended for:

Gender: Both
Age: 14+
Similar reads:

The story is set in an alternative to our world, in Caldwell US, somewhere outside New York. They have an enemy called The lessening society. The lessers are undead, former humans who’s got their heart taken out by the Omega, an evil entity. The war between the vampires and lessers happens in the shadows; humans do not know of either race.

The series follows the members of The Black Dagger Brotherhood. Each book is about a different Brother. The Brothers are stronger, bigger and better than normal vampires; they are soldiers and it’s they who fight the lessers. Each brother has their own dark past and story. Of course, romance is the key, and each book has a female involved…

Although there is a different main character in each book, it’s also main plot; the war against the lessers. The story is always told in third person, and jumps between different Brothers and also lessers. This gives the storytelling depth and makes it more interessting.

The books are:
Dark Lover
Lover eternal
Lover awakened
Lover revealed
Lover unbound
Lover enshrined
Lover avenged

I haven’t found the last two books yet, and Im dying to read them.

This series is a must-read. It has amazing characters, the Brothers with all their dark secrets, and some great sidecharacters. The plot, with the lessers, is new and refreshing, a different take on the modern vampire. The social classes within the vampire society (with the Glymera, the Brothers, the Doggen and so on) and the Scribe Virgin is original and interessting. I wasn’t too impressed by the language in the Norwegian version, but in English it’s good. Simple, but full of depth thanks to the vampire language the author has made up. It makes it authentic. Even though every book follow the same pattern (male meets female, male has dark past making relationship difficult, battles with lessers, big dramatic action towards the end), it doesn’t get boring, because each of the Brothers are unique and captivating. I highly recommend these books. But beware, these are for an adult audience, there are explicit sexual content and detailed violence.

J.R. Ward has started a new series, about Fallen Angels. The first book is released now in September, I can’t wait to get my hands on it!

Recommended for:

Gender: Females
Age: Adults
Similar reads: Nora Roberts’ books with more fantasy-ish plots

The only book I don’t want in paperback, is Harry Potter. Strangely enough! I’d love paperback-versions of Lord of the rings, or Narnia, but HP I need in hardcover. Isn’t that strange? I really can’t put a finger on why it is so… What’s your pereference?

Another thing I love about paperbacks, is that they often look a lot cooler on the cover than hardcovers… And Im a sucker for pretty covers! I like my bookcase to look good.

The story:
Zoey Redbird is a 16 year old girl who gets Marked as a vampyre, and must leave her old life behind and move to the House of Night, a vampyre school, to stay there while she completes the Change to a vampyre. Pretty soon it turns out that Zoey is not your usual Fledling, she’s extra blessed by Nyx (their Godess). This leads to a whole lot of special events, of course…

The main plot in these books are quite good. I couldn’t put down the books. You can’t help get involved with the characters and the story. Each book has it’s own plot, but there is also the main story that’s unravelling. So far five book are published (Marked, Betrayed, Chosen, Untamed, Hunted) and the sixth book Tempted is coming in October. As far as I’ve read, there’s supposed to be 13 books in all.

Now, here the reason I HATE these books:
The language is horrible. It seems like the authors look down on teenagers and try to make the language so simple and stupid as possible… It’s really degrading in my view. Maybe Im too old for these books, or maybe it’s because I don’t live in USA. Is really language amongst teenagers so horrible there? Anyway, the language is the biggest minus for these books. I wish the authors would rewrite them and give their audience some more credit; not all who’s interessted in these books are empty-headed teenagers who’s favourite phrase is “liek OMG he’s so hawt”.

The second big minus is the characters, some characters (like Aphropdite) has depth and more sides than first impressions, but others (like tw Twins, have no depth at all and end up being just charicatures. The boys (and truat me, there are too many boys!) are also too shallow, and it’s a big negative for Zoey as the main character that her relationship to boys are very shallow. Also, the fact that anything that’s sexual or has to do with boys are spoken of as “ho-ish” is not very positive…

I am, unfortunatley, the kind of person who has to finish a story. I know I have to read the rest of this series. The only thing that makes me feel good about that fact, is that the covers are pretty and looks nice in my bookcase… But I would not recommend these books to anyone. I think it’s a damn shame, because they have such potential for a good story going, but they ruin it.

Recommended for:

Gender: Girls
Age: Shallow teenagers
Similar reads: Twilight

He has written children books, like The day I swapped my dad for two goldfish, books that are ment for kids but are enjoyed by an adult audience too like Coraline and The graveyard book, and “normal” fantasy-novels that are set everywhere from modern America, parallel-London and fictional fantasyrealms. Gaiman writes with passion, with humor and some moral. His stories are always complex, original and surprising, the language is great, but simple enough for the average reader. He enjoys to play with his language. The characters are always deep, interesting and captivating. I cannot praise this writer enough; Neil Gaiman is a genius.

On his website neilgaiman.com you can find info on all this books and other works, plus loads of neat stuff. There’s short stories, interviews, a journal, essays and lots of other things.

My personal favorites and recommendations are:

Anansi Boys – Just read this! First book I read personally, and it got me hooked.
Good Omen (written together with Terry Pratchett) – read this first if you like TP’s Discworld and NG’s Sandman
Stardust – read this first if you like “traditional” fantasy
Coraline – read this first if you like little dark, twisted children-stories like Alice in wonderland
Neverwhere – just read this!
American Gods – read this first if you like a bit of action
The Graveyard Book – read this first if you want a cute, bizarre book
Mirrormask (movie) – just see it. It’s beautiful.

Recommended for:

Gender: Both
Age: All ages, depends on the book
Similar writers: Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams

The story:

Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy. Humans become hosts for these invaders, their minds taken over while their bodies remain intact and continue their lives apparently unchanged. Most of humanity has succumbed.

When Melanie, one of the few remaining “wild” humans is captured, she is certain it is her end. Wanderer, the invading “soul” who has been given Melanie’s body, was warned about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the glut of senses, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn’t expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Wanderer probes Melanie’s thoughts, hoping to discover the whereabouts of the remaining human resistance. Instead, Melanie fills Wanderer’s mind with visions of the man Melanie loves—Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body’s desires, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she has been tasked with exposing. When outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off on a dangerous and uncertain search for the man they both love.

This novel is meant for an adult audience (in comparison to Twilight, which is a young adult novel), and the theme, story, characters and feelings involved are a lot more adult. This is written great. You cannot put this book down!

The story will seem very simple, and you will find yourself thinking “Oh, I know how it’s gonna end” a lot of times. But you don’t know… The story progression is surprising, with a lot of unexpected turns. I thought that you were supposed to root for Melanie, but amazingly it’s Wanderer that catch your sympathy. You find yourself hoping for the happiness for both of them, and spending endless hours pondering how that may happen.

Some rumors say that there is a second book coming. I actually hope for it. I want to keep following this story. Other rumors speak of a film, but I think this is higly unlikely. It’s a too difficult storyline for that, I suspect and hope.

What makes this book so good? I am not sure, because I cannot put my finger on it. The language is good and it flows nicely, but there is nothing extraordinary about it. The story is original, the characters interesting. And yet it has something extra. That extra that has made Twilight the sucsess it is, despite clichés and flaws. But in The Host, it’s grown greater and deeper. After this book, Im looking forward to seeing new things from Stephenie Meyer.

Recommended for:

Gender: Both
Age: Young adults and adults
Similar reads: Animorphs

Taken from the website:

The series features fourteen-year-old Will Burrows, who life is turned upside down when his father suddenly goes missing. With the help of his friend Chester, Will discovers a tunnel under his house, and it brings him into contact with a hidden city called the Colony, and the terrifying and brutal race of people who rule it. These people are called the Styx, and they want to take control of the surface. If you thought you were safe, you’d better think again.

This story is friggin brilliant. As with most books that feature characters this age, the characters act far too mature for their age. But that’s just how it goes. Will is a sympathetic character that you soon start to care for. What makes these books so very good, aside from the great story, is all the different sidecharacters. The authors never forget a loose end. Every person gets followed up, and sometimes in very suprising ways. They twist and turn the story and every time you think “my god, how can they possibly come up with more stuff now?”, something more fantastic, dangerous, sad or outrageous happens.

I read Tunnels and Deeper in Norwegian, since I got them as a gift, but Freefall I ordered myself in English. The language is easy to read, in my opinion, it flows good and the authors are very good at creating images with their words. They can use very few words, and yet still give you a complete picture of how a place looks, smells and feels like. The language is colorful and varied and suits the story. The Norwegian translation is okey, but I think it is a bit more childish, making the books seem like they are for a younger audience only.

Following Wills journey down underneath the surface of the Earth (and much, much deeper than he’d ever thought…) is an amazing journey, filled with action, friendship, fear, danger, courage and fantastic places. The people who are good are always very good, like the bad guys are just bad. But this black and white point of view works very well. Will has his flaws, he is a deep character with many layers. Other great characters are Chester, Uncle Tam, Bartleby, Martha, Ms. Burrows and the Styx twins.

Tunnels is a serie that needs more recognition! This is brilliance, a serie that might very well deserve the title “The next Harry Potter”. For everyone who loves a good fantasy-serie, this is a must-read. A movie is also in the making, but I think we’ll have to wait a couple of years for that.

Recommended for:

Gender: Both

Age: 12 years and up

Similar reads: Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl.

This will be a blog about books. What I think about the books I read, more precisely. It will be mostly fantasy, as that is 99% of what I read…

Time to start a post about Tunnels then!