Category Archives: Fantasy

Review – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Author:  J.K. Rowling

Genre:  Fantasy

Ratings

Enjoyability/Awesomeness:  10

  • Action:  10
  • Suspense:  9
  • Boredom:  1
  • Romance:  5
  • Magic:  10
  • Thrills:  9

Recommended Age Range:  12+

  • Violence/Fear:  4
  • Mature Content:  2
  • Language:  1
  • Alcohol/Drugs:  2
  • Advertising:  1
  • Positive Messages:  9
  • Role Models:  10

Overview

The final battle with Lord Voldemort awaits!  Harry Potter is not returning to Hogwarts this year.  Harry, Ron, and Hermione are hunting the pieces of Voldemort’s soul known as Horcruxes.  On their quest, they lose many friends to the Death Eaters and Voldemort himself.  The battle draws to a close as Voldemort and his army attack Hogwarts itself, and Dumbledore is no longer there to protect them.  Who will emerge victorious in the final battle between Harry and Voldemort?  This is the final epic conclusion to the Harry Potter series.

Review – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Author:  J.K. Rowling

Genre:  Fantasy

Ratings

Enjoyability/Awesomeness:  9

  • Action:  9
  • Suspense:  8
  • Boredom:  1
  • Romance:  3
  • Magic:  10
  • Thrills:  8

Recommended Age Range:  11+

  • Violence/Fear:  4
  • Mature Content:  2
  • Language:  1
  • Alcohol/Drugs:  3
  • Advertising:  1
  • Positive Messages:  9
  • Role Models:  10

Overview

Harry Potter is taken by Headmaster Dumbledore to the home of Horace Slughorn, with whom Dumbledore convinces Horace to return as a teacher to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for mysterious reasons.  Harry himself the returns to Hogwarts after seeing Draco Malfoy enter a Dark Arts supplier, which convinces Harry that Draco is a Death Eater, a minion of the evil Lord Voldemort.  Harry now is taught about Voldemort’s past by Dumbledore, and is asked to retrieve a memory from Horace of critical importance, but evil is inside the walls…

A thrilling addition to the Harry Potter series.

Review – Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix

Author:  J. K. Rowling

Genre:  Fantasy

Ratings

Enjoyability/Awesomeness:  9

  • Action:  9
  • Suspense:  8
  • Boredom:  1
  • Romance:  4
  • Magic:  10
  • Thrills:  7

Recommended Age Range:  11+

  • Violence/Fear:  3
  • Mature Content:  2
  • Language:  1
  • Alcohol/Drugs:  2
  • Advertising:  1
  • Positive Messages:  9
  • Role Models:  10

Overview

Harry Potter is home in Little Winging before the school year when he and Dudley are attacked by Dementors, the guardians of the wizard prison Azkaban.  He is then summoned to the Ministry of Magic and is very nearly kicked out of Hogwarts.  With the help of Dumbledore, he is able to return for his fifth year to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  There, he meets Dolores Jane Umbridge, the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, who was also one of the people who wanted him expelled at the Ministry.  She refuses to teach the students how to defend themselves.  The Ministry defies Harry and Dumbledore that Voldemort, the most evil sorcerer in history, has risen again.  This leaves the wizarding world vulnerable to the shadows creeping in…

Review – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Author:  J.K. Rowling

Genre:  Fantasy

Ratings

Enjoyability/Awesomeness:  9

  • Action:  8
  • Suspense:  6
  • Boredom:  1
  • Romance:  3
  • Magic:  10
  • Thrills:  7

Recommended Age Range:  11+

  • Violence/Fear:  3
  • Mature Content:  2
  • Language:  1
  • Alcohol/Drugs:  2
  • Advertising:  0
  • Positive Messages:  9
  • Role Models:  9

Overview

Harry Potter returns for his fourth year at Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry in the (duh) fourth book in the Harry Potter series.  This year, two groups of students from two other schools have come to Hogwarts to compete in the Triwizard Tournament, a competition between the wizards and witches of the three schools.  The names of the students are selected by the Goblet of Fire, which prevents anyone younger than a 7th year from competing, or so we think…  A mysterious presence is behind the Tournament, lurking in the shadows. (Cue dramatic music…)

Review – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Author:  J. K. Rowling

Genre:  Fantasy

Ratings

Enjoyability/Awesomeness:  9

  • Action:  8
  • Suspense:  8
  • Boredom:  1
  • Romance:  4
  • Magic:  10
  • Thrills:  7

Recommended Age Range:  10+

  • Violence/Fear:  2
  • Mature Content:  2
  • Language:  1
  • Alcohol/Drugs:  2
  • Advertising:  1
  • Positive Messages:  7
  • Role Models:  10

Overview

The third in the Harry Potter series, and just as good as the others.  Harry Potter discovers he is being pursued by Sirius Black an old ally of Voldemort’s and the only man ever to escape the wizard prison of Azkaban.  Harry and friends then discover a horrifying secret which means Sirius is more closely linked to Harry than he knows.  This book is filled with excitement and more than a few plot twists.  A must for anyone who enjoyed the first two books.

Review – The Silmarillion

Author:  J.R.R. Tolkien

Genre:  Fantasy

Ratings

Enjoyability/Awesomeness:  7

  • Action:  7
  • Suspense:  6
  • Boredom:  5
  • Romance:  7
  • Magic:  8
  • Thrills:  4

Recommended Age Range:  15+

  • Violence/Fear:  6
  • Mature Content:  2
  • Language:  1
  • Alcohol/Drugs:  1
  • Advertising:  1
  • Positive Messages:  3
  • Role Models:  4

Overview

This is the prequel (in a fashion) to The Lord of the Rings, providing background to the Elves, Sauron, and Middle-Earth.  There is a lot of information packed into this book for true LOTR fan(atic)s, but be warned: this book is not for the easily bored.  J.R.R. Tolkien’s typical third-person style is difficult to follow for many, but persevere and the secrets of Middle Earth will be revealed.  As a side note, reserve at least a few weeks to read this book, you will need frequent breaks.

Review – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Author:  J. K. Rowling

Genre:  Fantasy

Ratings

Enjoyability/Awesomeness:  9

  • Action:  9
  • Suspense:  7
  • Boredom:  1
  • Romance:  3
  • Magic:  10
  • Thrills:  7

Recommended Age Range:  12+

  • Violence/Fear:  5
  • Mature Content:  1
  • Language:  1
  • Alcohol/Drugs:  3
  • Advertising:  1
  • Positive Messages:  8
  • Role Models:  9

Overview

Harry Potter returns in the second title in his series.  This year at Hogwarts, mysterious attacks begin as soon as Harry arrives.  Students (and a certain cat) are found petrified in hallways, literally scared stiff.   He and his friends Ron and Hermione must track down the culprit before the school is forced to close.  For the full list of books in the series, see the review of the original:  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Review – Artemis Fowl

Author:  Eoin Colfer

Genre:  Sci-Fi and Fantasy

Ratings

Enjoyability/Awesomeness:  8

  • Action:  7
  • Suspense:  6
  • Boredom:  2
  • Romance:  1
  • Magic:  6
  • Thrills:  4

Recommended Age Range:  12+

  • Violence/Fear:  3
  • Mature Content:  1
  • Language:  1
  • Alcohol/Drugs:  2
  • Advertising:  1
  • Positive Messages:  6
  • Role Models:  7

Overview

Artemis Fowl is your average child genius.  His father went missing when he was little, his mother fell deep into depression because of it, so he basically was raised by his bodyguard named Butler.  Yes, Butler.  Artemis’s family was one of those which made it big illegally, and Artemis is well on his way to continuing the family industry.  His plan: to kidnap and ransom a fairy.  Yes, a fairy.  Unfortunately for Artemis, the fairies aren’t without defenses….

The books in the Artemis Fowl series are: Artemis FowlThe Arctic IncidentThe Eternity CodeThe Opal Deception, The Lost ColonyThe Time Paradox, The Atlantis Complex, and The Last Guardian.

Review – The Accidental Hero

Author:  Matt Myklusch

Genre:  Fantasy

Ratings

Enjoyability/Awesomeness:  8

  • Action:  7
  • Suspense:  5
  • Boredom:  2
  • Romance:  1
  • Magic:  9
  • Thrills:  4

Recommended Age Range:  12+

  • Violence/Fear:  3
  • Mature Content:  1
  • Language:  1
  • Alcohol/Drugs:  1
  • Advertising:  1
  • Positive Messages:  8
  • Role Models:  8

Overview

Jack Blank is the classic unknown hero.  He’s an orphan, living in a run-down orphanage, with cruel guardians, around whom strange things seem to happen often.  He always believed that he was more than what people told him he was, and is proven right when an evil character from one of his comic books, a Robo-Zombie, pops out of nowhere and attacks him.  When the robot is miraculously destroyed by an exploding generator, Jack is taken by a mysterious guardian named Jazen to the island of the Imagine Nation, where superheroes and supervillans are the norm.  The other two books in the trilogy are: The Secret War and The End of Infinity

Review – Magyk

Author:  Angie Sage

Genre:  Fantasy

Ratings

Enjoyability/Awesomeness:  9

  • Action:  8
  • Suspense:  8
  • Boredom:  1
  • Romance:  5
  • Magic:  10
  • Thrills:  7

Recommended Age Range:  12+

  • Violence/Fear:  2
  • Mature Content:  2
  • Language:  1
  • Alcohol/Drugs:  3
  • Advertising:  1
  • Positive Messages:  8
  • Role Models:  7

Overview

A man named Silas Heap’s son is born, who he names Septimus, but he is proclaimed dead by the midwife soon later.  Silas soon finds a baby girl, seemingly abandoned, who he raises as his own.  They later learn she is the princess, daughter of the assassinated Queen, and is being hunted by the Queen’s successor, the Supreme Custodian.  Jenna (the princess) then goes on the run with a few friends, including Boy 412, a member of the Young Army led by the Supreme Custodian, who she rescued from freezing to death in the snow.  Little do they know how large a role this buy has to play in the future…

The Septimus Heap series is a fantastically written story for fans of fantasy.  The books in the series are:  Magyk, Flyte, Physik, Queste, Syren, Darke, and Fyre.