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Fantasy

Good Omens

November 26, 2018 by Catherine Leave a Comment

Read the Book, Watch the Movie!
Book: Good Omens
Mini-series: Good Omens
Release Date: Early 2019

The world is ending and the demon and angel from the Garden of Eden aren’t happy about it. They have come to like the human race (and the accouterments they get to experience on earth themselves) so they decide that they will simply have to work together to prevent the antichrist from bringing it all to an end. The only problem is that the antichrist was accidentally switched at birth and currently growing up in an idyllic British country village with no idea at all about his vast and unimaginable power. Don’t worry, the distant descendant of the only truly correct prophetess, Agnes Nutter is also working to track down the antichrist before everything quite literally goes to hell. Pratchett and Gaiman, two masters of both fantasy and humor, teamed up to write one of the most beloved books of our time. Now it is being translated for the screen by Amazon Prime staring David Tennant as the demon, Crowley, and Michael Sheen as the angel, Aziraphale. If you are looking for a story that will make you laugh out loud while also reminding you that the human race is full of hope, this is a truly wonderful book. Look for the mini-series in early 2019 on Amazon Prime. Find it in the catalog

Filed Under: Recommended for Adults, Recommended for Teens Tagged With: Book, Book to Movie, Fantasy, Humour

Hannah Green and Her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence

November 21, 2018 by Sara Leave a Comment

Title: Hannah Green and Her Unfeasibly Mundane Existence by Michael Marshall Smith
Format: Book
Who It’s For: Adults

Hannah Green is eleven years old and her parents are separating. Her mother is working in London and Hannah is home in Santa Cruz with her father. She misses her mother, but finds herself missing her father more as, though he is right in front of her, he seems to be lost. She goes through her daily routine – school, homework, food, bed. Her life becomes “horribly, unfeasibly mundane.” Until her father sends her to stay with her world-traveling grandfather for a while in a cabin in the Pacific Northwest and the Devil shows up. The Devil has discovered that he is no longer benefitting from the dark power usually transferred to him when humans commit bad deeds. This might have something to do with a machine Hannah’s grandfather built.

Hannah, her grandfather, the Devil, and an accident imp named Vaneclaw travel to the Behind (a version of Hell you can get to without dying) via Siberia to try to get to the bottom of the mystery. Meanwhile, Hannah’s father has disappeared and a man with bad intentions sets out toward Santa Cruz to fulfill an unknown mission. All these individuals come together at a roller coaster on the Santa Cruz boardwalk where the fate of humanity will be decided.

Reminiscent of Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, and Jasper Fforde, Smith has produced a story and characters that stick with you and leave you wanting more.

Find it in the catalog.

Filed Under: Recommended for Adults Tagged With: Book, Family, Fantasy, Humor, Magical Realism

The Adventure Zone

November 10, 2018 by Jake Leave a Comment

The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins by Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy, and Travis McElroy
Publication Date: July 17, 2018
Format: Graphic Novel
Who’s it for: Teens, Adults

A story of three brothers and their dad playing dungeons and dragons is a tale as old as time. If that time also included irreverent humor, wanton violence, and one overly dramatic elf. The hit podcast turned New York Time’s best seller has hit your local library shelf. If fantasy, bad jokes, magical jellyfish, and goblin slaying sound like your kind of fun, welcome to The Adventure Zone! 

Here There Be Gerblins starts off with our three heroes bungling their way into a rescue of their employer from a lair of goblins, and they only make things worse from there. Our champions will encounter perils such as giant spiders, the Zone of Truth, and even tea with a bugbear (heavens!) Magnus the fighter is brash and will charge into any situation, Merle is the cleric who never knew he could heal, and the Wizard Taako who’s more interested in looking good than saving the day. But don’t forget Griffin, our dungeon master as he makes things harder for our heroes, and maybe make a few puns along the way.

Featuring the charming art of artist Carey Pietsch bringing to life these larger than life characters. They even have a section at the end of the comic dedicated to fanart to show off all the different fan perceptions of the characters from when they were a podcast. If you’re looking for a new graphic novel series to invest in, volume 2, Murder on the Rockport Limited, is already announced for next year. So roll for initiative and prepare for goofs, it’s the Adventure Zone!

Find it in the catalog

Filed Under: New for Adults, New for Teens Tagged With: Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Humor

Strange the Dreamer

October 19, 2018 by Naomi Leave a Comment

In this beautifully written book, Laini Taylor introduces us to Lazlo Strange, a war orphan with an enormous imagination. Cared for as a child by abbots, Lazlo has become captivated by the stories of the Lost city of Weep. His love of reading only grows as he does and he becomes a junior librarian but he fears his dreams of discovering the Lost City will never come true.

When an unexpected opportunity presents itself, Lazlo surprises everyone and even himself by seizing the chance to follow his dream. Along his journey, he makes friends and enemies both as he unravels the mysteries of Weep and even encounters a blue skinned goddess.

There are stories within stories, brimming with lore and myth that make the world of Lazlo Strange full, rich and one you’ll want to stay in after you’ve finished reading the book.

Find it on the catalog

Filed Under: Recommended for Teens Tagged With: Adventure, Fantasy, Mythical Creatures

Furyborn

September 26, 2018 by Mr.Eric Leave a Comment

Furyborn by Claire Legrand
Format: Book
Who’s it for: Adults and Teens

A queen screams in the throes of childbirth.

A little boy travels to another place and time with a power that is a mystery to even himself.

An angel comes to the door with an evil intent.

A young woman decides to barter her soul for her family’s safety.

Claire Legrand’s Furyborn is bursting with tales of magic, love lost, heroic deeds, and tantalizing mysteries.  It is fantasy at its absolute best, but what makes Furyborn so compelling, and unique among its peers, is how Legrand sets up her narrative.  It follows two young women, Rielle, an aristocrat who is discovered to have a magical power that could either doom or save the world, and Eliana, a young bounty hunter that will do anything to protect the ones she loves.  The twist is that Rielle’s story takes place roughly 1000 years before Eliana’s.  The chapters alternate between each character’s point of view, as well as their place in time, which results in an amazing case where one story would seem to foreshadow the next, only to surprise you in how events actually play out.

Furyborn features a world that is as deep as it is complex, with an implicit history that helps the world to feel as real as any created by J.R.R. Tolkien or Christopher Paolini.  Each chapter starts with a quote from a historical figure of its world, each adding a satisfying tidbit of lore for readers to ponder.  For readers that love to figure out the timeline of a story and how events all fit together, this is an absolute paradise.

The first book in the Empirium trilogy, Furyborn introduces and resolves enough plot points to feel satisfying, but still leaves enough mysteries for readers to theorize about in the wait before its sequel, Kingsbane, is released next year.

Recommended for: fans of young adult fantasy, strong female protagonists, magic, time travel, rich fictional histories, and action.

Find it in the catalog.

Filed Under: New for Teens, Recommended for Adults, Recommended for Teens Tagged With: Book, Fantasy, Love Triangle, Overdrive, Queens, Time Travel, Young Adult

The Night Circus

September 24, 2018 by Shannon Leave a Comment

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Format: eBook
Who it’s for: Adults

If you enjoy getting lost in a story filled with magic and mystery then The Night Circus will be a delight. Since she was a small child Celia has been bound into a competition with an unknown rival by her magician father, Prospero. The setting will be an enchanting circus that arrives without warning and only opens at night. Celia struggles through years of difficult training to harness her unique magical abilities. When Celia inadvertently falls in love with her secret competitor, Marco, the game threatens to unravel the circus and all who reside in it. Celia and Marco must find a way to end this dangerous game and save their beautiful circus home and the family of magical performers who live within it. Find it in the catalog

Filed Under: Recommended for Adults Tagged With: Adventure, eBook, Fantasy, Magic, Romance

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