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Lilliana's List of Lovely Literature


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Dat alliteration doe, right?

 

Anyhow, onto the point of this topic!

 

A small detail pertaining to my background, that I may or may not have mentioned in my introductory thread: I work at a gas station. Bear in mind however, that this is a gas station that's not on a major highway or four-lane. It's a small store on a road that's relatively far off the beaten path, so business on some days can be scarce.

 

What is a girl to do to entertain herself? Read, of course! It dawned on me earlier while I was reading though, that some people may not be familiar with the books I've been reading in order to pass the time. Because of this, I have decided to take it upon myself to recommend some of my personal favourite titles!

 


 

[align=center]The Redwall Series[/align]

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[align=center]by Brian Jacques[/align]

 

[align=center]It surprises me that not many people know about this marvelous series. On par with other novels such as Watership Down and The Wind in the Willows, Brian Jacques' Redwall series takes place mostly in a place called Mossflower Wood. There books do not particularly take part in any single timeframe, but rather at various intervals throughout the entirety of the series' history.[/align]

 

[align=center]A character in a previous book may be a historical -- or even legendary-- figure in the books to follow it. Many of the characters in past installments are featured in future ones, and it is done in such a way that it permits just about any reader to jump into the series wherever s/he so chooses, and things will make enough sense to continue. Then, for future clarification the reader can, more times than not, go read the book used to describe the events in greater detail.[/align]

 

[align=center]For another bit of clarification, yes, this series' history is very wonderfully pieced together and highly consistent.[/align]

 

[align=center]The one thing that may dissuade readers from reading the series: yes, it is generally aimed at older children. They are technically considered children's fantasy novels, but I implore you: please do not let that stop you. Brian Jacques is an amazing writer. His books have kept me happy and entertained since I was in middle school, and they have the same effect on me now as they did back then.[/align]

 

[align=center]Currently, there are twenty-two books in the series. If so desired, I can post them in chronological order for everyone.[/align]

 

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[align=center]The Keys to the Kingdom Series[/align]

[align=center]NixMonday_4461.jpg[/align]

[align=center]by Garth Nix[/align]

 

[align=center]The premise of the series is relatively simple: the books chronicle the adventures of a 12-year-old boy named Arthur Penhaligon. He is chosen to become the rightful heir of "The House," or the center of the universe. The Trustees of the various houses, one for each day of the week, are the main antagonists of each book (also named after each day of the week), and attempt to stop Arthur from assuming his place as heir.[/align]

 

[align=center]While the core storyline can be relatively easy to follow, I would be remiss not to warn everyone that much of the magic and technology in the series can be difficult to comprehend at times. [/align]

 

[align=center]Then, on the same note, the storyline is complex. There are a great many characters and events that the reader needs to know as they continue, so it is strongly suggested that you start at the beginning! There is far too much to try and explain here, so if you'd perhaps like to delve a little more into the aspect, do some research into it![/align]

 

[align=center]While certainly not as well written as the series above, it's still highly entertaining.[/align]

 

[align=center]


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[align=center]The Spellwright Trilogy[/align]

[align=center]spellwright-by-blake-charlton-uk-edition.jpg[/align]

[align=center]by Blake Charlton[/align]

 

[align=center]I'll admit: back when I first read Spellwright, I'd originally heard nothing about it. I was simply flipping through my girlfriend's Kindle one day, found it, and started reading it. Let me start by saying that I was not disappointed in any way, shape, or form.[/align]

 

[align=center]The book's protagonist is Nicodemus Weal, a boy who lives in a fantastical world where spells are written into books, and then literally pulled out. As in they grab the words and pull them out of the book. How cool is that? Nicodemus was prophesized to be the Halycon, a powerful wizard predicted to stop an event called the War of Disjunction.[/align]

 

[align=center]However, there's one problem... when crafting spells, runes must be carefully put together in order to correctly form a spell. Any deviations or changes in the order are called misspells. Some can be goofy, while others can be catastrophic and lethal. Nicodemus suffers from a disability called cacography, which causes perfectly good words and spells to become misspells simply by touching them.[/align]

 

[align=center]All in all, a wonderful series that I would recommend to anyone and everyone.[/align]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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12/30/14[/align]

 

[align=center]The His Dark Materials Trilogy[/align]

[align=center]by Phillip Pullman[/align]

[align=center]119322.jpg[/align]

 

[align=center]I can already hear the raucous boos and hisses of disapproval because of the total, complete failure of a movie. Hold your sneers, people! Remember the phrase about not judging a book by its cover? Well don't judge this book by its movie! ...And then there's the phrase about books always being better than their movie counterparts, and this is no exception![/align]

 

[align=center]This trilogy follows two protagonists, though the primary (and first mentioned) is a young girl named Lyra Belacqua. She's an orphaned girl who lives at Jordan College, living a carefree life until the visit of two of the most powerful individuals known in their universe: her uncle, Lord Asriel, and Mrs. Coulter, a woman whose usually kind disposition belies the sinister, evil motives behind her.[/align]

 

[align=center]Every person has something called a dæmon, external manifestations of their souls, or their inner selves, that typically take on the form of an animal. They are fully cognizant beings, who are of human intelligence and capable of human speech. They are capable of changing shapes at will while the person they are bound to is still a child, and have a connection that allows one to feel what the other is feeling, whether it be sadness, happiness, and even physical pain.[/align]

 

[align=center]Anyhow! I've droned on enough about this series! Honestly, His Dark Materials is a wonderful trilogy, and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone![/align]

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I've never read any of the Keys to the Kingdom series, but I love the Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix. :) I'll have to check it out sometime.

 

The first book by Garth Nix I ever read was Abhorsen. That was what got me into Nix, and I never regretted it once! I would definitely suggest looking into the Keys series though. Very nice! I've been re-reading Drowned Wednesday as of late.

 

Also, wow! I wasn't expecting so many replies in such a short timeframe! I'll definitely have to continue this list when I get home tomorrow! Thank you all for the replies! I'll try not to disappoint.~

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The Magicians Guild by Trudi Canavan is one of my all-time favorites, it was so good it put me off books for a while because I just wanted more of the same and the new books I picked up didn't meet that need (obviously) the series have a prequel and there's a continuation of it going on as well, I didn't read the prequel though and I've gotten a bit stuck in the continuation, regardless though, read it! 

 

The Edge Chronicles is what got me into fantasy when I was a kid and probably one of the series I secretly hope will maybe get a movie someday.. I never completed the series back then, but it's first up on my re-read list. I have some very fond memories of those books. 

 

I might check out Spellwright, if I can get it anywhere around here.

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Count me among the Redwall fans! :D Been reading the series for YEARS, from Martin the Warrior to Salamandastron and everything else in between and perhaps a bit beyond. It always baffled me that it never got made into some sort of animated series. It seems like it'd make a kick-ass anime....but if it were animated by the likes of Don Bluth.

 

But that's just me...

 

Also, I'll take up Dogberry's suggestion about that comic. Sounds like it's a thing I must have

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Redwall was my childhood! <3

 

Also, I'd like to add a few! These are a few of my favorites that I highly recommend.

 

 

One Bloody Thing After Another

by Joey Comeau

 

41XDk56n%2BhL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

 

I consider this horror-comedy novel the masterwork of Joey Comeau, author of Overqualified and the webcomic A Softer World. Normally, I'd describe the book in my own words, but I think the back of the book sells itself better than I ever could.

 

Jackie has a map of the city on the wall of her bedroom, with a green pin for each of her trees. She has a first-kiss tree and a broken-arm tree. She has a car-accident tree. There is a tree at the hospital where Jackie’s mother passed away into the long good night. When one of them gets cut down, Jackie doesn’t know what to do but she doesn’t let that stop her. She picks up the biggest rock she can carry and puts it through the window of a car. Smash. She intends to leave before the police arrive, but they’re early.

Ann is Jackie’s best friend, but she’s got problems of her own. Her mother is chained up in the basement. How do you bring that up in casual conversation? “Oh, sorry I’ve been so distant, Jackie. My mother has more teeth than she’s supposed to, and she won’t eat anything that’s already dead.” Ann and her sister Margaret don’t have much of a choice here. Their mother needs to be fed. It isn’t easy but this is family. It’s not supposed to be easy. It’ll be okay as long as Margaret and Ann still have each other.

Add in a cantankerous old man, his powerfully stupid dog, a headless ghost, a lesbian crush and a few unsettling visits from Jackie’s own dead mother, and you’ll find that One Bloody Thing After Another is a different sort of horror novel from the ones you’re used to. It’s as sad and funny as it is frightening, and it is as much about the way families rely on each other as it is about blood being drooled on the carpet. Though, to be honest, there is a lot of blood being drooled on the carpet.

 

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Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

by Haruki Murakami

 

hardboiled-wonderland.jpg

 

Haruki Murakami (author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle) flawlessly combines something bold and fantastic into the ordinary everyday of real life. This is one of those novels that really took me by surprise and left a void behind when I was done with it. Hard-boiled Wonderland contains a wonderfully poignant vision of the evolution of our Information Age and one man's struggle to hang on to a simpler time, real or imagined. It's one of those books where you don't realize you're hooked until you try to put it down and your subconscious just starts screaming "Just one more chapter!"

 

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Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

by Jonathan Safran Foer

 

extremely-loud.jpg

 

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a powerful novel following a child who has lost his father to the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center and his secret adventure across New York to find the lock that belongs to a mysterious key his father left behind. Oskar Schell's journey is as heartwarming as it is heartbreaking and the novel as a whole speak volumes to our humanity and, for many readers, hits incredibly close to home. For those who haven't read the book, but have seen the movie, know that you've missed well over half the story. One of the wonderful things about reading Jonathan Safran Foer's work is that he never writes just a single linear storyline, but multiple, which blend together to truly cover the story from many perspectives.

 

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Peter Panzerfaust

by Kurtis J. Wiebe & Tyler Jenkins

 

calliance_peter_teach-you.jpg

 

(For those who enjoy comic books! And maybe even those who don't.)

You guessed it! Peter Panzerfaust is an epic retelling of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan set in Nazi occupied France after the fall of Calais in 1940. Peter, a charismatic American boy, rescues a group of French orphans and leads them across Europe to safety from the approaching Nazi armies. I picked up this comic over Christmas and I have to say, it really makes you fall in love with Peter Pan all over again.

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[align=center]Interview with the Vampire[/align]

[align=center]mmWaFco.jpg[/align]

[align=center]by Anne Rice[/align]

 

[align=center]Can't help but share the mother of all modern vampire fiction. I first read this at nine years old, and never have grown out of it.[/align]

 

[align=center]You can read it as a metaphor for suppressed sexuality, or take it at its glorious face value as the vampire Louis de Point du Lac paints a vivid picture of 1800s New Orleans and the shares with you the story of how he became a vampire.[/align]

 

[align=center]These are not the vampires of modern speculative fiction. They don't love boring human girls or sparkle, nor are they even capable of sex. Blood drives them to ecstasy (something something metaphor for sexuality something something). It's just awesome.[/align]

 

[align=center]And no one does melancholic better than Anne Rice.[/align]

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I've always been a huge fan of the fantasy genre and fiction. I won't go into super huge detail of why I love the series I love, will just post the pictures and exclaim ahead of time all of them are amazing.

 

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Just a warning: Clockwork Princess made me bawl my eyes out. Still does every single time.

InfernalDevices.jpg

 

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There's more books to the series then what's shown here, and while it's technically a collection of romance novels there's a rich story underlying everything and each book ties it together. Love, love, LOVE this series!

 

574737800d73df42d6a7f209c1844073.jpg

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Will definitely have to check out the books mentioned! :P

 

I can also vouch for The Black Magician Triology by Trudi Canavan - one of my favourite series :) Another favourite I'd like to add is The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. I've not been as enchanted by a book series for a long time. ;u;

 

[align=center]201202022054-ams111-kingkiller.jpg[/align]

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The Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind is a favorite of mine (thanks to my husband for introducing me to it!).

 

The_Sword_of_Truth_cover_designs.png

 

Confessors, Wizards, Mord-Sith, and ordinary people being extraordinary. What more can you ask for? The writing is brilliant and while I normally don't enjoy overly verbose authors, Goodkind has a way of weaving this brilliant picture that you can't help but get pulled into. His characters are extremely well developed and grow perfectly with each hardship and quest they face. Oh! and nothing he writes is simply to fill words on a page or to give you a break from the main story. Everything has a purpose. A small detail from an early book can come back to be the answer they're looking for in one of the last.

 

It's a story of a man that refuses to sacrifice his values and conform to bad people in powerful places.  It's a story of others understanding what it means to be free and that freedom is worth sacrificing for. It's a love story. The story starts out dim, fades to dark, dips into hellish yet all the while you have this hope being pumped through the story through the main characters that pulls you through and keeps you going right along with them no matter what happens.

 

Did I mention well developed characters? And the magic in these books. We all know wizards. Magic, pew-pew laser beams. Goodkind sticks to the familiarity of 'high fantasy' but in the same turn expounds upon it in such phenomenal and creative ways.

 

Also.. Moth** F**king Mord-Sith. My favorite 'bad guy' ever.

 

 

Edit:

Do NOT watch the TV series they made about this book series. It's AWFUL.

(When compared to the book series... if watched as a stand alone.. meh. I liken it to Xena or Hercules minus a lot of the levity.)

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There's more books to the series then what's shown here, and while it's technically a collection of romance novels there's a rich story underlying everything and each book ties it together. Love, love, LOVE this series!

 

574737800d73df42d6a7f209c1844073.jpg

 

The Dark Brotherhood series... yaaaaaas! I really need to get caught up on it! I love smutty vampire novels and I will have no shame.

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There's more books to the series then what's shown here, and while it's technically a collection of romance novels there's a rich story underlying everything and each book ties it together. Love, love, LOVE this series!

 

574737800d73df42d6a7f209c1844073.jpg

 

The Dark Brotherhood series... yaaaaaas! I really need to get caught up on it! I love smutty vampire novels and I will have no shame.

ITS SO GOOD I CAN'T FREAKIN' STAND IT hn0rgwr8gfw

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One of my favorite recent-ish (as in recently read, not recent release) is Black Blade Blues by J.A. Pitts.

 

Not only does it write a pretty believable lesbian heroine, but it features an excellent meshing of high fantasy and modern location Easily one of the coolest fantasy novels I've read recently.

 

I also adore The Dragon's Path by Daniel Abraham, which reads like a fantasy political thriller...like the Game of Thrones series with less needless murder used as a plot device. I've gotta get more from that series.

 

Still trying to find some fun, engaging, a bit light-hearted sci-fi. All I keep running into is pedantic post-apocolyptica or some over-explained nonsense from someone trying like hell to be the next J.R.R. Tolkein in terms of writing style. >.<

 

In short: I miss Hitchhiker's Guide and Firefly and Cowboy Bebop.

 

...also I'm gonna go ahead and admit that vampiric smutty novels are fun and I don't care who knows it. I'd totally love a gay vampire smut novel. Or gay fantasy novel. I'm unashamed.

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I would like to toss my two gil worth and throw out the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. It's seven books and worth the journey even if frustrating at times. It's got all the elements you need:

 

1) A hero (and more) you can root for and actually care about

2) A villain to loathe (among others)

3) A fantastic setting with magic and fantasy dwelling among the ruins of a familair world and technology.

4) A journey

 

Please take time to read this series as it is fun and while not perfect, it's a great read. :moogle:

 

716x543http://momentumbooks.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/dark-tower-covers-1.jpg[/img]

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Do you like history? Do you like the idea of history but feel it doesn't have enough BADASS DRAGONS?!

 

Then friends, let me introduce you to the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik!

 

OK so picture the Napoleonic Wars. Lots of ships sitting in a line, firing cannons at each other. BORING.

 

Now picture the Napoleonic Wars, with all the ships of the line and stuff AND A BUNCH OF FIRE BREATHING, ACID SPITTING, VISCIOUS DRAGONS.

 

Now I know what you're thinking. Dragons are cool, but they don't make for compelling drama. HOLD UP ONE MINUTE! THESE DRAGONS ARE DRAMATIC AS HELL!

 

Each dragon is a sentient, intelligent being, and is handled by a crew of riders. The dragons will bond with one person AND ONE PERSON ONLY. Dragons outlive humans by a substantial margin. Awww. Now this isn't a matter of humans controlling some beast. The dragon picks who it wants. That person now belongs to that dragon. It will of course listen to its human. Oh it loves its precious little human like we would love a hamster, and if that hamster could talk we'd probably do what it says, too.

 

There's a whole WORLD of dragons up in these books, being all cute and dragony but also brave and adventurous and sometimes downright scary, and they're running through your history class, knocking books off your teacher's desk and writing obscene things on the chalk board because these dragons are CRAZY!

 

Temeraire series! Naomi Novik! His Majesty's Dragon!

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Ahhh I love so many of these series already!

 

My list of to reads not already mentioned:

 

1. David Eddings (He has 2... technically 4 series that I've read well over 10 times a piece)

2. Piers Anthony's Xanth series ('cause how can you not!)

3. The Banned and the Banished series by James Clemens (dark fantasy and really good)

4. and I'm seconding The Darktower series and the Temeraire books (so good)

 

 

and that's just the fantasy stuff! 

Books are the best things.

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