Recommend Books
Got a book so amazingly awesome or odiously terrible you just have to share it? Curious about a book’s quality but don’t want to tackle it yourself? Send us recommendations! Right now, we’re picking up books that are a) cheap, b) free, or c) available at the library. In other words, whatever random, shiny covers catch our eyes (and are affordable that week). If there’s a book you’d like to see us read, leave a comment below with the title and author and we’ll see if we can’t get around to it.
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Seth Christenfeld said,
April 9, 2007 @ 2:37 pm
I’ll push Justine Larbalestier’s Magic or Madness trilogy (Magic’s Child, Magic Lessons, and Magic or Madness) on you, even though I haven’t read it. But her blog is cool, she’s funny, and she’s married to Scott Westerfeld.
Katherine said,
January 19, 2008 @ 9:52 pm
Dawn Cook’s Truth quartet. I read it a few years ago and really enjoyed it, but then again I’m not sure I trust my younger self’s judgment. At any rate, the first book is First Truth, and I’d love to hear what you guys think.
Destiny said,
May 2, 2008 @ 4:19 pm
Hi, love your site,I would like you to review:
Fablehaven 1-3-Brandon Mul
Percy Jackson and the Olympians1-3-Rick Riordan
Thanks!
Hope you like them!
Hannah said,
May 13, 2008 @ 12:26 pm
Hi! I would like to see if you guys could review Peter and the Starcatchers 1-3 by Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry.
Christina said,
May 17, 2008 @ 7:51 am
The Edge Chronicles are a great series. It has a great plot and the wording is fantastic!
Nikki said,
May 17, 2008 @ 11:33 am
I think you should review Diary of a Fairygodmother, by Esme Codell (if I got her name right). It’s about Cinderella’s fairygodmother. And maybe you could review Fairydust and the Quest for the Egg, and Fairyhaven and the Quest for the Wand by Gail Carson Levine, too. I liked both of them, though I liked the second one better. Thanks!
GA said,
June 8, 2008 @ 2:29 pm
Have you guys done Eragon or The Inheritance Trilogy in general? I really hate it, but I kind of want to know what other people think… You know, besides, “Wow! He wrote this when he was 18! Amazing!!”
Gothic Author
Margot said,
October 9, 2008 @ 12:40 pm
Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst
Nikki said,
October 10, 2008 @ 8:44 am
A good series to review would be the first two books of The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. I really enjoyed them.
Hannah said,
October 13, 2008 @ 4:39 pm
The Outsiders by H.E Hinton. I thought it was an awesome book and plus she wrote it when she was fourteen!!!!!
Hannah said,
October 13, 2008 @ 4:40 pm
Oops! Sorry! It’s S.E Hinton!!! My bad!
Gillian said,
March 4, 2009 @ 1:57 pm
I think you would enjoy Graceling by Kristin Cashore. I picked it up after Tamora Pierce promoted it on her blog, and was very impressed with it; especially as a first novel.
Hunger Games by Collins is very good, and I’m sure it is on your list.
You might also enjoy Jessica Day George’s and Shannon Hale’s books. Check out Hale’s Rapunzel’s Revenge.
Olive Wednesday said,
May 18, 2009 @ 3:29 pm
I recently finished “Full Tilt” by Neal Shushterman. It was incredible! The premise was a enchanted theme park which trapped its visitors by making them experience their biggest fears. On the cover it says, “a roller coaster ride of a book.” And I had my hands up the whole time.
I also suggest the other book of his that I even more recently finished, “Red Rider’s Hood”. It’s a playoff of “Little Red Riding Hood” (shocker), but instead of being a completely humorous like most playoffs, it’s more horror (though it does have a bit of humor).
Both these books are (somewhat) horror and written in the male first person.
Incase you’d rather read something of a lighter genre, I’d try “You Are SO Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah!” by Fiona Rosenbloom. It’s also in first person, and pretty funny, even if the main charactar, and most of her friends, are fairly petty (though I think it my be that whole “teenager” thing. Which I can’t seem to get, though I’m the same age. Hmm). It doesn’t seem like your type of book, though. It’s realistic fiction.
Anyway, love your blog. Enjoy!
Sophie said,
May 31, 2009 @ 10:17 pm
I’d love to see you review Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching series.
Also, more GLBTQ books would be nice, especially any involving sci-fi or fantasy.
Rebecca said,
June 1, 2009 @ 7:33 am
Thanks for all the recommendations, folks! I’ve read Magic or Madness on Seth’s recommendation (loved it!) and also The Lightning Thief from Destiny’s. (And our review of The Hunger Games should be up in the next couple of days, finally.) I’ll also try and get some of these books for our Readahton event!
Just a reminder for people making suggestions: this *is* a blog for scifi and fantasy, so contemporary or literary YA is a bit beyond our scope.
Elizabeth said,
June 2, 2009 @ 8:50 pm
Hey, I read about your Readahton thing and I felt bad because I couldn’t give you guys money . . . I’m broke! =(
So, I’ll just throw a lot of books at you. =)
The cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill was pretty good. It’s about a warrior princess named Thirrin who, with the help of a warlock, will have to form an alliance with Icemarks enemies, the Vampires, Werewolves and the Snow Leopards, to protect their land from an even bigger enemy.
The Last knight by Hilari Bell- There hasn’t been a Knight Errant for two hundred years . . . until know. Sir Micheal Sevenson, along with his reluctant squire Fisk, sets out to protect the innocent and right wrongs but they’re not off to a good start. They break a lady out of a tower only to find out that she’d been put there for a good reason: awaiting a trial for poisoning her husband. Now they have to find her and bring her back before they have to face the consequences.
The Child of the Dark Prophecy { Great Tree of Avalon #1} by T.A Barron- Long ago Merlin planted a seed that became the land of Avalon. Now Avalon is in peril, and its fate lies in the hands of three people: Tamwyn, a homeless wilderness expert, Elli, a slave girl turned priestess and Scree, an eagleman with a secret. One of them is the heir of Merlin, the only one who can save Avalon. Another is the child of the dark prophecy, the one destined to destroy Avalon.
The Alchemist { The secrets of the immortal Nicolas Flamel #1} by Micheal Scott – Nicolas Flamel has kept living because of the secret of eternal life found in the Book of Abraham the Mage, the most powerful book ever. In the wrong hands, it will destroy the world. And that’s exactly what Dr. Dee plans on doing when he steals the book. Now its up to Nicolas to awaken the powers of Sophie and Josh Newman, the twins of a prophecy, and train them before it’s too late.
Stinky summaries but I did the best I could.
Those are all the books I could think of but if I think of some more, I’ll tell you! =)
J said,
June 6, 2009 @ 12:10 pm
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart is a good book where 4 gifted children are chosen to become secret agents in a plot against a man who is sending out subliminal messages through TV and radio. It’s a pretty good read, and it has fun and quirky charcters.
Tobias said,
July 22, 2009 @ 9:27 pm
Any of the books in the Young Wizards series by Diane Duane would be great to review. They’re older than Harry Potter, but haven’t gotten the same amount of publicity. I’m guessing it’s because they’re not really “all ages”, the wizardry described in them is far more based on math and physics than mumbling funny words. My personal favourite is A Wizard Abroad, but that may just be because of my soft spot for Ireland.
The Children of the Red King books by Jenny Nimmo are also rather good, though they’re written for a slightly younger audience (probably 9-11). More wizardry, but this time based around old Welsh myths.
Mollie said,
August 20, 2009 @ 7:09 am
I love this site, and I’ve found that you’ve rated a lot of my favorite books 5 cupcakes.
One series I’d like you to review is the Pendragon series by DJ Machale. They’re about a fourteen year old boy named Bobby Pendragon who’s leading a normal life until he finds that he must save the world, and not just his world but all of Halla (every point in time and space). They’re wonderful books and should be available at your library.
Also, I know these aren’t scifi, but another good teen series is the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz. They’re about another fourteen year old named Alex Rider who finds out that his uncle was a spy for MI6, and now they want Alex to continue his uncle’s final mission, the one that got him killed.
Amanda said,
January 10, 2010 @ 1:45 pm
Just found your website off stumbleupon.com and really appreciated your review of Twilight! A book I highly recommend is The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. It’s not really fantasy/scifi, but has a certain amount of whimsy to it since it is narrated by Death. A beatiful, beautiful book (though sad) with an admirable young girl at its center.
Anastacia said,
March 21, 2010 @ 3:01 am
I don’t know if you’ve done this already, but I’d like a review of some Terry Pratchett books–especially the Tiffany Aching series! Also, My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison.
Hannah said,
April 19, 2011 @ 11:13 am
The Mortal Instruments series ( City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels) by Cassandra Clare was interesting and the paperbacks are only around $7.
Here’s the summary -
When 15-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder — much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing — not even a smear of blood — to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?
This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother?And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know…