From: Steven Engelfried <sengelfried>
Date: Sat, 6 May 2006 20:54:28 -0700 (PDT)

I've read (or started) plenty of decent-but-not-great fantasy books in the past several years. Some are popular with young readers, but I can't help hoping they will lead them to something even better. My pet peeves include unnecessary lengthiness, one dimensional characters, and an inconsistent narrative voice. Some authors do a good job of storytelling in a tongue-in-cheek voice that can be lightly humorous, but if it's overdone it makes it too hard to get truly involved in the action. The newer titles that stand our from the pack for me are ones that really seem like something new, whether it's in style or content. Stroud's "Bartimaeus" trilogy has three elements I particularly appreciate: Original, distinct narrative style (not just the footnotes trick, but the different viewpoints are also done excellently); Strong characters (we're still learning new things about Bartimaeus and Nathaniel up to the final pages of the third book); and A real ending (I enjoyed
 the series, hated to see it end, but the conclusion was a very satisfying completion to a long story that progressed and developed consistently towards that end). Catherine Fisher's "Oracle Prophecies" introduces a very different world, but has those same strengths (although I don't know about the ending yet, but I just heard book three is out in June...).
   
  - Steven Engelfried, Beaverton City Library
    12375 SW 5th Street
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    sengelfried at yahoo.com
   

                
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Received on Sat 06 May 2006 10:54:28 PM CDT