Published in 2004, this book is the largest of the series by a good 130 pages. (Yet, was the 2nd shortest movie…) In this book, Harry and friends know “You-Know-Who” is back but the Ministry of Magic is suppressing that information. Things start going awry when they start interfering at Hogwarts.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
My Thoughts
Again, a great read. We are becoming a little bit older along with Harry as he starts having love interests and grappling with the subtleties of what is right and wrong.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was published back in 2001. The 3rd book in the Harry Potter series, it introduces the infamous Sirius Black, a man convicted of murder who broke out of the wizard prison Askaban. How will Harry and his friends make it this time?
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
My Thoughts
As with all Harry Potter books, I have read this book several times. This time around, I was reading it with my youngest son who is new to the series. Highly enjoyable.
Released in 2006, Tempest is the third book in the Legacy of the Force Series. Jacen Solo continues down the path of the dark side while under the influence of the Dark Lord Lumyia. She tempts him to kill so he can balance the force.
Tempest
My Thoughts
This was a fun bit of mind candy watching everything fall apart. At this point in the series, no one trusts anyone and Luke lives up to his whining nature. There was plenty of action but at times I lost thread as to what was going on.
Published in 2006, Bloodlines is the 2nd book in the Legacy of the Force – Legends series. It is not be confused with Bloodline which was published in 2016.
In this book, we learn about Boba Fett and his family while witness Jacen Solo slowly be seduced by the dark side of the force.
Bloodlines
My Thoughts
Much like the last book, Bloodlines stayed true to the feeling of Star Wars. I enjoyed it.
Recommendation
If you liked the first one, you will like this one even more…
Published in 2006, “Betrayal” is the first book in a series set in the Star Wars universe by Marc Thompson. This is set approximately 20 years after Return of the Jedi when Luke, Leia, Han, and so on are dealing with the next generation. Jacen Solo and Ben Skywalker are featured in this “non canonical” fan fiction.
Betrayal
My Thoughts
Not a bad read. The feel was pretty on point of a Star Wars experience. It’s too bad the movies went the other direction in that Ben Skywalker and Jacen Solo merged and became Ben Solo. I may follow this series forward…
Recommendation
I’m on the fence at the moment. It wasn’t a bad read but I don’t like it wen the characters differ from the “official” line.
Published in 2011, A Dance with Dragons is the 5th book in the “Song of Fire and Ice” series otherwise known as the Game of Thrones series. It was originally packaged with the previous book until the publisher told the author that 2000 pages would be a bit to unwieldy.
At a mere 1016 pages, it is a little longer than the former A Feast for Crows. This version follows Bran, John, Tyrion and others not mentioned in A Feast for Crows as the author didn’t split the books chronologically. Rather he split them by each of their stories.
A Dance with Dragons
My Thoughts
It’s a great book for a long memory. We knew a good deal of the story so we were waiting for it to unfold by the perspective of the next character. The ending included several great cliffhangers.
The author has been at work on the next volume for the last 8 years. I have no idea when it will come out but I’m sure there will be a media storm around it and I’m sure it won’t be short. I guess I will wait.
Recommendation
I was glad I read it but I don’t know I would have read it if I knew the series wasn’t complete. I hate the feeling of waiting for the next thing, particularly when it is 8 years ago. (At least I haven’t been waiting since then…)
Published in 2007 and at a mere 753 pages, A Feast for Crows is the fourth book in the Game of Thrones series. It was the first of the series to reach number one on the The New York Times Best Seller list and was orignically tied together with the next book in the series A Dance of Dragons. The original manuscript was so long that the publisher asked the author to split it into two books. Rather that split them chronologically, they were split by the character story lines. These two books make up the basis of a few seasons of the HBO series and even touch into season 6.
A Feast for Crows
My Thoughts
I didn’t know the narrative was split but it makes sense in retrospect. I’m currently reading the next book at the time of this review and it is filling in a lot of the gaps about the characters who were missing from the last book. I also just learned that the author has been working on book six for the last 8 years and is planning to have book seven come out at some point. Yikes! I’m glad I just found out about it. I don’t know I would have started reading it. Like the Wheel of Time series, I gave up because it didn’t seem like it was ever going to end.
Recommendation
I’m not certain I would read it again. However, I did enjoy it.
Published in 2010, Keys to the Demon Prison is the final book in the Fablehaven series. The Society of the Evening Star has all the artifacts and holds all the cards. Will they open the demon prison and release them all into this world?
Keys to the Demon Prison
My Thoughts
This book is almost 600 pages and yet it flew by. I was excited to get to the end and to see what happened.
Published in 2008, Grip of the Shadow Plague is the third book in the Fablehaven series. This time around, Fablehaven is being threatened by a plague which turns everyone into a nightmare version of themselves.
Grip of the Shadow Plague
My Thoughts
This was a great transitional book. It sets the scene for most of the things to come and didn’t quite feel as tacked on as some.
Book four of the Fablehaven series and published in 2009, Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary takes our heroes gain another of the artifacts they need to oppose the Society of the Evening Star.
Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary
My Thoughts
Another fun read. We get to learn about dragons in this book and even meet a very special dragon. The book is set up for young readers so Seth and Kendra are the main characters. They are starting to learn how special they are and people are falling like flies around them. Seriously! The author doesn’t have any problem with bumping folks off in these books. It has sort of a Disney level of disproportion here. Worse than death can happen to folks at any time and the others seem to get over it a little too quickly… But that’s just a thought.
Recommendation
Great books. I will likely read them again at some point.
