meganbmoore: (Default)
meganbmoore ([personal profile] meganbmoore) wrote2008-07-19 07:20 pm

(no subject)

 Can anyone give me their opinions on any of the following?  Some Amazon has recced to me (but then, it also put every Twilight book in my Gold Box today...) some were in lists.  A few I saw in the bookstore but wasn't sure about. Some are recs where I forgot who recced them and what they said.  Most are YA fantasy.

Wings: A Fairy Tale by E.D. Baker
The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
A Curse As Dark as Gold by Elizabeth Bunce
Dragon's Keep by Janet Lee Carey
The Storyteller's Daughter: A Retelling of "The Arabian Nights" by Cameron Dokey
Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins by Emma Donoghue
Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle
The Hollow Kingdom by Clare B. Dunkle
Seven Tears into the Sea by Terri Farley
Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher
The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
Nobody's Princess by Esther Friesner
Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George
The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason
In The Forest Of Forgetting by Theodora Goss
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
The Princess and the Hound by Mette Ivie Harrison
Black Pearls: A Faerie Strand by Louise Hawes
The Rose Bride: A Retelling of "The White Bride and the Black Bride" by Nancy Holder
Heart of Light by Sarah A. Hoyt
Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson
The Faerie Path by Frewin Jones
Ophelia by Lisa Klein
Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier
The Swan Kingdom by ZoĆ« Marriott
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club by Kim Newman(ed.)
Aurelia by Anne Osterlund
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope
Larklight by Philip Reeve
Senrid and Inda by Sherwood Smith
Sisters of the Sword by Maya Snow
The Swan Maiden by Heather Tomlinson
The Assassins of Tamurin by S. D. Tower
In the Serpent's Coils by Tiffany Trent
Steampunk by Ann VanDermeer(ed.)*
The Night Dance by Suzanne Weyn
Snake Agent: A Detective Inspector Chen Novel by Liz Williams

*Yes, I linked to a post on it earlier this week, but I'm wondering if anyone else has read it, or seen posts/reviews of it.



Of course, most people won't even see it for a couple hours, and half the f-list is busy liveblogging the Avatar finale...

[identity profile] woodburner.livejournal.com 2008-07-20 02:18 am (UTC)(link)
I've read PRincess and the Hound! I thought the first 2/3s of the book were excellent, but the last 3rd kind of fell apart. I would still recommend it though, as it is unusual and interesting.

Larklight I just started, but the first 3 chapters have been utterly charming (though perhaps a little overdoing it on the whole "I am so victorian" front).

Haven't read the Steampunk anthology yet, but I loved the New Weird anthology. But then I am a big fan of the, uh, whatever you'd call it. The "new weird" approach to writing?

AVATAR FINALE WAS ACE MAN

[identity profile] meganbmoore.livejournal.com 2008-07-20 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
STOP TAUNTING ME!!!!

What's "New Weird"?

[identity profile] woodburner.livejournal.com 2008-07-20 02:29 am (UTC)(link)
Term that gets loosely applied to totally weird mindbending shit with a particular urban feel. It's hard to describe what it is, and a lot of the authors it gets applied to aren't really too in love with the term, but it's undeniable that there is a movement happening that kind of started with the new wave writing of the 90s that encompasses all these authors.

Ex: M John Harrison, while technically being part of new wave, is often seen as one of the heaviest and earliest influences on the movement with his collection of short stories and novellas collectively titled Viriconium.

KJ Bishop's The Etched City (poss. my favorite book ever), China Mieville's Perdido Street Station (and his other works too), most of Jeff Vandermeer's work and a lot of Jeffery Ford's work are all counted as part of the movement. A lot of Micheal Moorcock's later works are, too.

Basically if you dislike surrealism and grittiness you may not like the movement, but if you DO, then you'll probably love it. I TOTALLY RECOMMEND THE ETCHED CITY, IT HAS KICK ASS FEMALE CHARACTERS. Also, Gwynn. It has Gwynn, which is enough of a reason for me to love anything.

this is Gwynn ---->>

[identity profile] woodburner.livejournal.com 2008-07-20 02:33 am (UTC)(link)
Yes. I'm surprised I haven't frothed at you before about it. I'm kind of obnoxiously fangirly over that book. XD; Helps that author herself is pretty awesome.

http://www.amazon.com/Etched-City-K-J-Bishop/dp/0553382918/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216521152&sr=8-1

Re: this is Gwynn ---->>

[identity profile] meganbmoore.livejournal.com 2008-07-20 02:53 am (UTC)(link)
She...collects deformed fetuses because they fascinate her...

Re: this is Gwynn ---->>

[identity profile] woodburner.livejournal.com 2008-07-20 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
AHAHAHAHA, oh Raule ♥

And she is pretty much the moral center of the book. No, the Rev doesn't count, even if he is a priest.

[identity profile] woodburner.livejournal.com 2008-07-21 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
Btw, I just finished Larklight - HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT OH MY GOD

WHAT THEY DID TO THE CRYSTAL PALACE

OH MY GOD

I NEARLY IMPLODED WITH GLEE