Et tu, Cruentus? Julius Caesar is just so quotable, no?

I know you are, Sree; I've seen your recommendations. Feel free to recommend any of your favorites to me. I'm always searching for new novels to read.

When it comes to comparing J.K.R.'s works, I do take into consideration that she is writing for children. And she did succeed on that level with 'Half-Blood Prince' and 'Deathly Hallows'; I'm quite certain children ranging from ages 8-12 enjoyed them. But as I grew older, growing up with this Series, I expected more from Rowling. And I have to say there's a bit of a difference between her writing style in 'Goblet of Fire' compared to her style in 'Deathly Hallows'. But to each his own.

 

Fixed the headline.

Seriously, when will this bitch get off the news? It's not like she's even doing anything new other than having a fucking whine.

 

The Death Gate Cycle was a good series the only problem I had with it was the main character was supposed to be a big bad ass mage and he kept getting his ass handed to him

 

Yeah, I've read The Great Gatsby. I enjoyed the way it played out. I haven't read The Stranger yet, though nor any of David Sedaris' work.

He's a comical author, huh? Now you've got me wanting to read The Devil's Dictionary and some Mark Twain. I'll always read something that's designed to make the reader laugh. Though my favorite humor is satire.

Sounds like a mixed review, Cruentus. If you go into detail of the pros and cons, I might be more intrigued.

 

It is a really interesting story. Basically in the future two types of magic users will emerge the Sarten and the Patryn who have demi god like powers and use them to kill each other in a vicious war to control the world. The difference in the two powers is that Patryns tattoo magical symbols on their body that lets them harness their enormous power and Sartens....well....sing...Anyway the Patryns were starting to win so the Sarten panicked and split the world into four smaller worlds that worked together with a device known as the Death Gate to support each other and then they went into stasis to wake up at a later time.

The Patryns were imprisoned in a little pocket world maze called the labyrinth that was supposed to just keep them contained. It was hoped by the Sarten that by the time they escaped their "blood lust" would be quelled and they would then help the Sarten put the world back together.

What really happened is somebody fucked up somewhere and the maze became a deathtrap full of vicious creatures as big as Godzilla, but with the might of a magical nuclear bomb at their disposal, like Blood Dragons, and so the Patryn just grew to hate the Sarten even more.

The story starts with the hero Haplo, a Patryn who has escaped the maze, who was given the task to travel to the four worlds as a scout and to locate the Sarten for the Patryn's eventual counter attack.

Its a good story, but my only complaint is for a supposedly uber powerful mage he seems the get his ass handed to him a lot.

 

Talk Me Pretty One Day is a really good story. I agree though you can't compare classics to JKR's work. It annoys me when people bad mouth her entire series because the first three books were awesome then it began to go downhill. As far as modern children's books go, I think the Redwall series beats Harry Potter quite easily. The author has an amazingly detailed series of characters all with their own quirks and accents. He does a much better job of planning out his stories and following through with them.

As for your recommendations, I've read them all. I'm not a fan of Shakespeare though. His plays are great to watch, but I don't like reading them. I'm going to go ahead and say the Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy is a must read. It is an absolutely wonderful series.

 

All i know is, if i was in Rowling's position, i would rigorously protect my fucking work from being stolen and used for something else by fans who have nothing else better to do.

Rowling has every right to protect her work she worked hard for...well, the first four books anyway. The fifth and sixth book could go to hell for all i care.

But anyway, if i want to recommend any books, R.A. Salvatore and with his books comes The Dark Elf Series.

Basically, a city is filled with evil dark elves that strives on Chaos. The main character is a baddass dark elf with unmatched sword skills and intelligence to boot. He's the guy who grew up around evil and ironically, he has an innocence that couldn't be gotten rid of, not to mention his father although evil, protected him so he could escape the under city and make his own destiny.

From a terrible race that puts fear into the hearts of all mortals, elves, demons and humans alike, a dark elf stands before racism, wars, love and power.

 

I have read most of the Drizzt books, I was a fanboy for a long time along with the Cleric Quintet, but sadly the series has gone down hill with the sequel to the hunters blade trilogy being made of fail and aids, but that may be because Forgotten Realms entered a new edition of D&D and totally screwed up the story.

 

That made me chuckle. This definitely sounds like a guy I'd want to meet. I'll check out his works, especially 'Holidays on Ice'.

As far as J.K.R. goes, I pretty much agree with TimeLord. Except I think 'Goblet of Fire' still had the quality books 1-3 had. Though, like Sree pointed out, you can't really compare children's books to classics, or adult fiction for that matter.

 

Woah someone who has also read the Death Gate Novels? I would recommend reading it. The way it plays out is interesting. Have any of you read The Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan? It's a short trilogy about a girl that grows up in the poor slums. Every year, magicians drive the poor away from the center of the city. This causes a riot but the young girl, Sonea, is magical. She discovers this during the riot when she accidently penetrates a magician's shield with a rock. The magicians fear a rogue wizard so they begin to hunt in the slums. Sonja enlists the help of her friend who is in the Thieves guild.

I love The Magician's Guild simply because magic doesn't require a wand.

 

I also happen to be a fan of Codex: Alera, but saying it's better than the Dresden Files is a large stretch, in my opinion. The Codex is interesting, but it's still not much more than a well done Military Fantasy. It's been improving the last couple of books, but the ultimate plot is a bit stale, in my opinion.

There are almost no original ideas in the over all plot. The Vord, the Marat, hell the Alerans. It's like he took bits and pieces from all sorts of fantasy books and spun it together. He did it skillfully, but I still can't say it overcomes the pure originality of the Dresden series. Everytime I hit the bookstore now I see books from people trying to delve into this new Noir/Fantasy Genre with mediocre to bad knock-offs.

There isn't anyone trying to duplicate the Codex. Granted, it's a more standard Fantasy, and that's kind of the point. Nothing in it really knocks me off my feat. Sure there are amazing feats of magic which make me go "Holy &#$*!" but over all it's not nearly as impressive.

As for the book discussion, I also found the Death Gate Cycle enjoyable. Too bad it's been out of print forever. Anything by Ursula K. Le guin is also highly recommended. George R.R. Martin is also one of my favorite authors, but it tends to be a hit or a miss with his works. It has Zombies in it though, so kick ass.

Magician: Apprentice, and Magician: Master were also good to me as a kid, though I dislike most of Feist's works now. Anything by Dean Koontz is a fun read. I also enjoy Jennifer Roberson immensely, though her newest books aren't as good at the old. Any Dresden fans will absolutely love her 6 book Sword Dancer series. Melanie Rawn is also excellent. I'll have to look up some more authors later.