I wanted to like it. I looked at the sample pages on Amazon... twice. It didn't grab me. I'm sure it gets more engaging later, but with a long list of things to read already, I'm not going to persevere.
Epic Fantasy and Magical Realism Recs?
- Thread starter CheG
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I'm really trying to get into The Glass Sentence, but so far, the only word I can think of to describe it is "ponderous". I'm not getting MG or even YA out of it at all.
I have no doubt that if I had begun to read with the idea that it was adult fiction, I'd be enjoying it, but knowing it's supposed to be MG/YA, I just can't.
I couldn't really connect to it either. I feel like the author spent all this time trying to build a world that she couldn't describe to me well enough for me to see, and I didn't connect well enough to the characters, except maybe the main girl and her uncle.
It's sort of that weird MG being marketed as YA market too, which makes it kinda neither.
The beginning stuff was the most interesting to me, while they were still in the New England area. I was seduced by the first chapter and the interesting cover/dust jacket.
Just read a couple of great new MGs I would classify as magical realism -- Alice Hoffman's magical tale, NIGHTBIRD, and, in quite a different & more contemporary vein, Kate Messner's ALL THE ANSWERS. Brief reviews on my blog.
I have Nightbird on my Kindle. It doesn't surprise me, as Practical Magic is the first novel I could point to and say "magical realism"
I read Nightbird as an eARC. Its tone felt really similar to that of Nest by Esther Ehrlich (even though the latter is historical, without any magical realism). I liked it, though I wasn't necessarily blown away by any of the characters.
Hmm... I know some younger readers enjoy Tolkien's The Hobbit (which is written for a younger audience than LOTR) - can't get much more epic than Tolkien.
And they're a bit older, but Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain might be what you're after. Set in a fantasy world reminiscent of mythical Wales, they read a bit dated today.
Brian Jacques's Redwall series may be about talking animals, but it has most of the earmarks of epic fantasy, and I know younger readers enjoy it. (In that vein, Erin Hunter's Warriors books - the secret lives of feral cats, who don't wear clothes or use swords like the mice of Redwall but still have myths and culture and a touch of magic about them - have a certain epic flavor.)
Tamora Pierce's books might qualify as upper MG; her Tortall books feature strong females in a magical, medieval world, and her Circle of Magic books (the original quartet, at least), are fairly decent, as well. Both establish interesting worlds and have distinctive characters.
Suzanne "Hunger Games" Collins wrote a series about Underland (starting with Gregor the Overlander), a modern, somewhat dark "other world" beneath a modern city, which is more MG than her Hunger Games trilogy.
Charlie Fletcher's Stoneheart trilogy reads like Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere for MG/YA audiences: a boy breaks a stone carving off the side of a museum, and finds himself plunged into the invisible war between London's statues and gargoyles.
I'd also recommend the Rhyme of the Willow series (first book: Shadowbloom) by the Sullivan brothers - it may only be available as an eBook, though. Twins find themselves pulled into a dark world where plants run amok... and where strange plant/human hybrids stalk the shadows.
As for magical realism... MG, YA, or adult, it's not really my thing (I prefer my fantasy to straight-up admit it's fantasy, and the little magical realism I've read likes to pretend it's not really fantasy while having fantastic elements - MHO, naturally), so I can't help there.
If you're terminally bored, hit the link in my signature for more reviews.
And they're a bit older, but Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain might be what you're after. Set in a fantasy world reminiscent of mythical Wales, they read a bit dated today.
Brian Jacques's Redwall series may be about talking animals, but it has most of the earmarks of epic fantasy, and I know younger readers enjoy it. (In that vein, Erin Hunter's Warriors books - the secret lives of feral cats, who don't wear clothes or use swords like the mice of Redwall but still have myths and culture and a touch of magic about them - have a certain epic flavor.)
Tamora Pierce's books might qualify as upper MG; her Tortall books feature strong females in a magical, medieval world, and her Circle of Magic books (the original quartet, at least), are fairly decent, as well. Both establish interesting worlds and have distinctive characters.
Suzanne "Hunger Games" Collins wrote a series about Underland (starting with Gregor the Overlander), a modern, somewhat dark "other world" beneath a modern city, which is more MG than her Hunger Games trilogy.
Charlie Fletcher's Stoneheart trilogy reads like Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere for MG/YA audiences: a boy breaks a stone carving off the side of a museum, and finds himself plunged into the invisible war between London's statues and gargoyles.
I'd also recommend the Rhyme of the Willow series (first book: Shadowbloom) by the Sullivan brothers - it may only be available as an eBook, though. Twins find themselves pulled into a dark world where plants run amok... and where strange plant/human hybrids stalk the shadows.
As for magical realism... MG, YA, or adult, it's not really my thing (I prefer my fantasy to straight-up admit it's fantasy, and the little magical realism I've read likes to pretend it's not really fantasy while having fantastic elements - MHO, naturally), so I can't help there.
If you're terminally bored, hit the link in my signature for more reviews.
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I would also recommend Brandon Mull's FABLEHAVEN series for MG epic fantasy.
Ingrid Law's SAVVY is definitely MG magical realism.
Ingrid Law's SAVVY is definitely MG magical realism.
Megan Whalen Turner's THE THIEF is epic fantasy sold on the MG shelves. It crosses over well to adult readers though, and later books in that series seem adult to me.
Someone a ways back recommended John Flanagan's RANGERS APPRENTICE books as secondary world fantasy, and it's sold in the MG aisles at my B&N. Again a good crossover.
Someone a ways back recommended John Flanagan's RANGERS APPRENTICE books as secondary world fantasy, and it's sold in the MG aisles at my B&N. Again a good crossover.
Not sure how to define Magical Realism in MG terms, but Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book might qualify.
I agree that Angela Carter's stories are amazing, but I wouldn't consider them for an MG audience. I teach high school English, and one of my juniors, who read her short-story collection for her research paper, found the sexual content and violence disturbing.
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If you go by my understanding of "magical realism" - that is, modern day stories that just so happen to have secret magical background - then the two awesome series I can't recommend enough are Artemis Fowl, and Skulduggery Pleasant 