Tag Archives: Epic

Fitz, the Fool, and Ann Rule

I like big books and I cannot lie This short story hater can’t deny That when a book comes in At 500+ pages My heartbeat starts to fly This week marked the release of Fool’s Quest, the second book in Robin Hobb’s Fitz and the Fool trilogy. In preparation I re-read Fool’s Assassin, the first book, and I wasn’t just info gathering knowing that Hobb will jump right in without making the reader slog through clunky backstory. I was deliciously swept away by the story,…

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YA and True Crime Together At Last

More like I am indulging in a pet genre while researching books to use in homeschool coop next year. I’ll start with YA, and two by Karen Hesse. Letters from Rifka is about a teenage girl emigrating from Russia to NYC in 1919. Great character, wonderful historical detail, and lots of emotion made it a great read. I’d love to read it with the 4th/5th graders but it’ll have to wait because last year we read When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, and there’s too much…

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Taran Wanderer by Lloyd Alexander

I have now read almost 900 pages out loud to get my 7 year old through the epic tale of Taran of Caer Dallben, Assistant Pig Keeper and erstwhile hero. In book 4, Taran Wanderer, he’s cast off his nomenclature because he doesn’t know who his parents are. And unless he’s highborn, he has no hopes of ever marrying the Princess Eilonwy, who loves him in return but isn’t free to choose her own future. While slower paced than the other books, Taran Wanderer isn’t…

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Laura Lippman, Lauren Oliver, Lloyd Alexander + more

Oh, I have had so many disappointments lately when trying to read Important Books by Important Authors that I needed to spend my spring break immersed in good genre. And even though not every book I read was entirely successful, my plan worked–consider my palate cleansed and my love for reading restored. The best of them was Hush Hush by Laura Lippman. It’s “A Tess Monaghan Novel” which should put me off, because I generally do not like series fiction with a recurring character. For…

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Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman

Synopsis: When Seraphina, the half-dragon musician, discovers that there are others like her, she tries to unify them to live in freedom from persecution, but another half-dragon with greater powers has plans of her own. Review: First of all, I want to applaud Shadow Scale for its deft handling of exposition in refreshing readers’ memories of the events of the first book, Seraphina. It managed to get me back up to speed without forcing characters to tell each other things they already know, or spending…

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The Pushcart War and not much else

This week I finished a unit on The Pushcart War by Jean Merrill, a classic that my 4th/5th graders found as fresh as I did when I was their age. It’s a small class in a homeschool coop, so to end the book I had them each take 6 chapters and make their own graphic novel adaptation. The results were simply wonderful, showcasing their engagement with the book along with letting them use their own creative gifts. They were so nervous to present them in…

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Golden Son by Pierce Brown (Red Rising)

Synopsis: The second book in the story of Darrow, a liberated mine worker who has infiltrated the highest military ranks of the ruling class governing the colonized universe. Review: I was scared that Golden Son was going to get bogged down and disappoint me. Red Rising was such a knockout of a series opener and my expectations were high. I should have reread the first book before diving into Golden Son, because Brown doesn’t waste any time on exposition. It’s a good move, but I…

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The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks (Lightbringer)

Synopsis: In the third Lightbringer book, bastard son turned full spectrum polychrome Kip Guile finds himself fully immersed in politics and war, while ex-slave Teia discovers that her seemingly obscure talent for drafting a color invisible to all but a few might in fact make her a key player in the coming of the apocalypse–or its prevention, and ex-Prism Gavin Guile’s past sins wreak their vengeance on him as he becomes a color-blind galley slave. Review: Awesome, awesome, awesome. Brent Weeks’ strongest book yet and…

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Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

Synopsis: After being hidden away for 19 years, the lawful heiress to the throne of the Tearling emerges from hiding, only to find her kingdom tarnished by an ongoing atrocity perpetuated by someone she always admired, and her life in danger from many sides. Review: Queen of the Tearling is a bold, skillful beginning to a promising series. The twist here is that the feudalism typical of epic fantasy is actually the fallout after all technology has failed. It’s futuristic and medieval all at once,…

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Fool’s Assassin by Robin Hobb (Fitz and the Fool, Book 1)

Synopsis: After bringing dragons back to the world in the thrilling conclusion of the Tawny Man trilogy, past-haunted bastard Catalyst Fitz has now retired to a quiet life under an assumed name, but when his post-menopausal wife claims she is pregnant, and a pale messenger with an ominous message dies in his holdfast, Fitz wonders if the wheel of history is bringing his beloved Fool back into his life–for better or for worse. Review: Count me among those who had a major freakout upon realizing…

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