Synopsis: Outcast dragon keepers escort group of stunted dragons towards what they hope is their ancestral home, while threatened by dangerous lands without and traitors within. Review: Dragon Haven is actually the second half of the story begun in Dragon Keeper, and really they could’ve been just one book. (Though I do not begrudge any [...]

Share on Facebook

[Read more →]

Synopsis: Sent to a camp for juvenile delinquents, Stanley Yelnats is forced to dig holes for the duration of his sentence, but when he figures out that the Warden is looking for something, he decides to take action. Review: The reputation of Holes is well-deserved. It’s a fast-paced read with plenty of original plot elements [...]

Share on Facebook

[Read more →]

Synopsis: Four kids with immobilizing phobias are sent to a very special boarding school to cure them of their fears–if it doesn’t kill them first. Review: I really enjoyed Gitty Daneshvari’s wit in School of Fear. She has a dry sense of humor that really animates all the characters and elevates the book beyond what [...]

Share on Facebook

[Read more →]

Synopsis: The true story of a young man who gave up everything to live off the land in Alaska, only to die a painful death by starvation. Review: Into the Wild was a quick, fast-paced read that left me both satisfied and wanting to know more. Christopher McCandless’s decision to go his own iconoclastic way [...]

Share on Facebook

[Read more →]

Synopsis: A free lance after leaving Duke Phelan’s company, Paksenarrion finds high adventure and faces an evil that changes her irrevocably. Review: Divided Allegiance was much darker than Sheepfarmer’s Daughter, with Elizabeth Moon taking Paksenarrion to some very dark places. Yet Moon never loses her connection with the ideals of goodness, courage, and loyalty that [...]

Share on Facebook

[Read more →]

Synopsis: A country girl enlists as a recruit in a band of mercenary soldiers, where she excels–and may be receiving supernatural aid from a saint she doesn’t know about or believe in. Review: Oddly enough, Sheepfarmer’s Daughter reminded me a lot of Battlestar Galactica, with its preoccupations over military honor and what makes for goodness [...]

Share on Facebook

[Read more →]

Synopsis: Book two in the fantastical journey of the children who are the Lost Jewels of Anniera, a kingdom of legend, as they flee for their lives from those who would see them defeated. Review: As the name might suggest, North! Or Be Eaten is a whimsical adventure filled with inventive language and fantastical creatures. [...]

Share on Facebook

[Read more →]

Synopsis: Given the power to summon fire, a young girl finds herself torn between duty to her country and her fears that she will be consumed by magic. Review: Enna Burning is a sequel of sorts to The Goose Girl, but as far as I know it is not based on a fairy tale. Enna [...]

Share on Facebook

[Read more →]

Synopsis: A tarboy on a magnificent sailing vessel finds himself at the center of a conspiracy to start a war by magical means, and his friendship with a betrothed young Lady might be the beginnings of a plot to defeat an evil mage. Review: I’ve mentioned a million times how much I hate summarizing epic [...]

Share on Facebook

[Read more →]

Synopsis: In 1001 AD, an Irish priest travels with a famed Norse hero to Iceland, Greenland, and parts unknown, in the company of a wicked talisman that gives him the second sight. Review: West Oversea takes the tone of a saga, only with an accessibility that had me turning pages like a madwoman to find [...]

Share on Facebook

[Read more →]