Sakura

I've just finished Hollow Earth. I liked it a lot, even though I still think the main characters are kinda stereotypical and nondescript. Perhaps the author was going for immersion, which would probably have worked a lot better if I where 13 again.

I avoid most regular romance, and I haven't noticed it sneaking into the fantasy YA genre yet. But I can see why it would be done a lot. When I actually was a teenager I did like to read about it. Nowadays I prefer anything that covers unusual and alternative styles of relationships. The whole heterosexual monogamy thing is just too laden with clichés for me, but obviously YA rarely dares to go beyond that.

Considering it's just YA month I don't think it's all that weird to read that as an adult. I did not mean to imply that.

I really hate people talking bullshit. I have a very hard time restraining myself from telling people when they just do not make sense. I also hate non-sequitur and everything that forces me to repeat myself besides actual trouble hearing or understanding me.

I do my fair share of baking, but since my boyfriend moved in I just haven't found the time to do much. I used to bake him treats a lot before, so cookies and muffins are my specialty. But since I don't like to be watched while baking, living together resulted in less goodies for him. I also sometimes do decorative cakes for birthdays and such. Nothing fancy, but I like to model figures from marzipan or fondant. I'm so looking forward to my new, big, shiny kitchen. I might finally have enough room to actually clad my cakes in fondant. Yesterday I decided to do some impromptu baking. Since we did not have any butter or margarine I decided on muffins. I just threw everything in that we had, which resulted in chocolate -hazelnut -lemon muffins. It sounds strange, but the lemon actually adds a nice fresh layer to the earthiness of the nuts and chocolate.

Thanks. Right now I'm playing a lot of Bindings of Isaac and Legend of Grimrock. In the evenings I also like to play Payday 2 or Borderlands 2 with friends. Generally I prefer RPGs, shooters and all kinds of puzzles. I might even have time to get back into some MMOs. I always loved DDO but didn't have a lot of time for it the last few month, and Guild Wars 2 was pretty good too.

I've just one more week of work left. I'm quite happy about that, getting about is getting a bit bothersome. At the same time we're deep into renovating our new flat. I hope the little one will have the decency to stay in till we are done and ready to move in. Not that I'm allowed to help with much of anything, sadly, but I still have to get around choosing wall colors, flooring, kitchen, furniture. And we still have nothing bought for the baby at all, though we should get enough hand-me-downs to be mostly set up. At least there will be a lot of time for reading and computer games.

That doesn't sound bad at all. I've never heard of him, but it seems he's written quite a few YA/children's books. When you're through them, Rachel, I'd like to know what you think of them. The reviews compare him to Eoin Colfer, so I'd like to know how they compare to the Artemis Fowl series. Also, can I hope for some pulp in the books? The time frame and book cover seem right for it.

I'd like to know if there actually is any good YA horror. Anything I read in that direction lands smack dab in fantasy for me. Very little of it I do find scary at all. (and I'm not very hard to scare. I usually spend horror movie night under the blanket, the sounds are enough for me )

Heh, that's probably true for Germany as well. Swearing is much more mundane here and not considered much of a taboo. The same goes for sex, to a degree. Nudity and inexplicit sex scenes in afternoon television aren't anything strange. We seem to be much more caught up with keeping our young ones from seeing violence (especially in video games) than anything else. Though I can't say I've ever heard parents complain about described violence in any books, either.

I started on Hollow Earth, and I'm already annoyed by how stereotypically teenager the male main character acts. I hope it will tune down once the action starts.

I don't have kids that age, so I might change my mind about it later,but considering that I myself was reading sexual romance novels by the time I was 14, I think sex does have its place in YA. It is a lot on teenagers minds (at least, it was on mine and most of my friends), so excluding it fully tends to make books seem white-washed and cleaned up, like the 60s girls books I read when I was a kid, unrealistic and old-fashioned. Also, I'm pretty sure it was always kids and teens favorite sport to intent as many swears as possible, so adding some fudge or hell will hardly impress them, never mind corrupt their minds, or something. In short, I always dislike books that are simplified or cleaned up, because they are for young adults.

I've finished Broken Homes. I like the twist a lot. Too many series just take a book or two to establish status quo and then keep that up for fear of changing a working formula.

I thought The Thief of Always was pretty good, but being YA it might not be what you're after. I also red the Damnation Game, but I found it pretty strange and scrambled.

Two good YA fantasy series come to mind. For one Skulduggery Pleasant about a young girl and her friend the magician detective skeleton out on various adventures. It has fantasy, horror and detective story elements. I'd say it would be good for 10+, cause it has it's dark and dangerous moments. For a bit younger readers I'd recommend the Demonkeeper series. It's about a young boy who inherits a house full of mischievous demons from his mentor. It's more funny and a bit slapstick-y with pretty easy language. I'd say for 8+, though it has some romance elements that seem to suggest it was intended for a more teen-aged audience.

I would just like to put Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series in here. Of my favorite fantasy authors he seems to be the least know.

I liked the Long Earth a lot, and bought Long War, too, even though I'm not sure yet it will be quite as good. The blurb sounds more like it would cover social, economical and political themes, which I don't like at all. But we'll see. I have to agree that Long Earth does not sound typically Pratchett. But in all books where Pratchett went cooperative, I found his style to be rather subtle. He is very distinct alone, but I actually like that he is more subdued while working with other authors, cause I don't think it would work otherwise. I have to admit though, that this book did not make me want to read into Baxter's work the same way Good Omens made me discover Neil Gaiman. It rather reminded me a bit of Pratchett's very early Sci-Fi books.

For the most part I think it just advertised itself horribly. The blurb makes it seem like something completely different. I was looking forward to some mature, horrific fantasy. Instead I got a kids book. On the scary side, as kids stories go, but still a book very much for kids.

I've finally finished The Ocean at the End of the Lane. I still feel very meh about it. It's not exactly a bad story, but I'm just not into it. It's not one of his best works.

Personally I love a mix of mundane and strange. That's why I'm into low fantasy. Any kind of alternate reality in our world is great. Bonus points for contemporary or Victorian settings. I very much like magic in my books, as well as magical creatures or beings, but I really prefer it if the author manages to bring some new twist into how magic works, or how the magical creatures look, function and interact. I also like it if my protagonists are about as normal as they can get. Not overly flawed, not especially powerful, just your regular guy or girl, finding themselves in a world that's a lot stranger than previously imagined. Also, I really wish there'd be more stories that contain alternative styles of relationships. I don't need any romance in my fantasy, but most authors seem to disagree, and there's at least a slight undercurrent in a lot of them. But would it be so much to ask to see something else besides heterosexual monogamy?

Hm, that doesn't surprise me much. I mean, it's very Mary-Sue erotic fiction, exactly what I would expect from someone quiet and shy. Hell, I am shy and quiet and I wrote a lot of romantic fanfiction when I was younger (never Mary-Sue, though, strictly slash).

I just started on Breaking Homes. Don't you hate it when you reach the last released book in a great series and know you have to wait for a few month or a year to read more?

I've finished the Book of Lost Things and I love it. I like the use of old fairy tail material and it's a very moving story. I was just slightly annoyed that nearly a third of the book is not part of the story but explanation and origin of several fairy tails.

I loved Dresden Files, but for the love of it, I could not finish Changes. I'm not sure why. Some of the plot was pretty darn random, but that was not it. Might be the fact that my friend couldn't stop hinting around without actually spoilering me.

I've started on the Book of Lost Things. I enjoy it so far, even though it's set a little earlier than I usually like (I usually hate the WW eras). I also noticed that, when starting the Alex Verus series I managed to get my hands on the second book instead of the first. Strangely, I did not noticed at all until after I actually got the other parts delivered.