Serious about Series

It can be frustrating being a book junkie these days, because it seems like every book that comes out is part of a series. Am I the only one that feels the need to reread the previous book when a new one comes out (or at least skim through it depending on the lag time between books)? Hello, every time a new Harry Potter book was published I felt compelled to read all of the earlier ones again before I could move on to the new book.

Sometimes I think that it's better to just pass on a series until it completely published. Then you can read the entire trilogy or or series from start to finish in a week, because it is so good you cannot stop. This is what my daughter does, in fact, she refuses to read a book that is part of a series unless it is completely available.

Whether you are eagerly anticipating the latest book in a series or if you patiently wait so you can read the series all at once, there are several exceptional new books at the library.

Let's start off with two new releases that are each concluding chapters to trilogies. So, if you do not like waiting here are two trilogies that are perfectly complete and ready to read back to back to back.

Burn is the final book in the action-packed Pure
trilogy by Julianna Baggott.  You may be thinking: "Ugh, not another dystopian, post-apocalyptic  sophomoric romance." However, the bleak and calamitous future created by Baggot is definitely for the more mature and discerning reader.
 

The world as we know it was destroyed in massive explosions that left the land covered in ashes and its inhabitants either dead or horrendously maimed, fused to whoever or whatever was near them during the blast. Safe from the grimy and violent world of the wretches live the Pures, those who were privileged and wealthy enough to be safely ensconced in the dome prior to the blast.

I don't want to say too much because, personally, I hate book reviews that recount the entire book. I will say that Baggott's concept is gritty and unique, and the books are beautifully written with an engrossing cast of characters.

The Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielson is fantasy fiction at it's best. There are sword fights, poisoned kings, pirates, and vengeful plots. The hero of the story, Jaron, is mischievous, sardonic, dishonest, and I think that he is one of my favorite characters ever. Read The False Prince and you will be hooked. These books are exciting, funny, and incredibly entertaining

So I have talked about an adult series and a teen series.  The next trio of books that I want to plug are swashbuckling adventures that kids and adults are sure to love, love, love (at least I hope they do because I push them on almost every kid that comes into the library). In case you have not figured it out, I am a massive fan of The Chronicles of Egg by Geoff Rodkey. I mean there are pirates, ancient treasure maps, cannibalistic natives, nefarious villains and the main character's name is Egg and his best friend's is Guts. How could any other book series top that?

Don't just take my word for it:

The best way I can describe [The Chronicles of Egg] is Lemony Snicket meets Pirates of the Caribbean, with a sprinkling of Tom Sawyer for good measure… If you like adventure novels, I highly recommend you grab a copy.

 – Rick Riordan, author of The Lightning Thief

I agree more with the author, though, when he describes his series as :  

what you’d get if you threw The Princess Bride and Raiders of the Lost Ark in a blender with a handful of pirates: an adventure-comedy-mystery-coming-of-age story starring the brave, funny, and incredibly unlucky Egg Masterson; the sharp-tongued, occasionally overly self-confident heiress Millicent Pembroke; and a one-handed, slightly insane cabin boy named Guts.

I will just add that the Rodkey's style of writing is hysterically funny and clever. He has an amazing blog and website if you want to learn more about him and his books and writing for film and TV. So please, please, check him out here at the library or on his website, http://geoffrodkey.com/, or I will hound you mercilessly next time you come to the library.


I usually avoid all of the diary fiction like the plague. Way too many authors have jumped on the Wimpy Kid bandwagon resulting in some awful books and kids that can no longer read a full page of text without speech bubbles and doodles (that was probably a bit harsh). Dark Lord: The Early Years and the recently published sequel, Dark Lord: School's Out by Dirk Lloyd (aka Jamie Thomson) are primarily narrative with only the occasional segue into the journal of Dirk Lloyd.

Also, the hilarious black and white drawings appear sporadically throughout the book with nary a stick figure in sight.

In the first of these books the Dark Lord, the Master of the Legions of Dread and Supreme Sorcerer (think Suaron from Middle Earth) finds himself cast from the  Darklands into present day earth. Not only is he stranded on a planet where his powers are useless, but he finds himself trapped in the pudgy awkward body of a twelve year old boy. How will the Dark Lord, now called Dirk Lloyd, survive this land of "do-goodery"? School's Out picks up right where the The Early Years left off and it was the recipient of the Roald Dahl Funny Prize in 2012 (that was when it was originally published in the UK; it only came out in the US this past February).  If you read this blog you are aware of how seriously I take Roald Dahl.

Moving away from humor to bizarre and creepalicious is Hollow City: The Second Novel of Peregrine's Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. Was I the only one who did a happy dance when they learned that the sequel for Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children was finally here? There were three teaser trailers for Hollow City so I put two here and the book trailer for the first book too! How do you even describe these books in words? The inclusion of the eerie black and white photographs make them completely original. The story is macabre, mysterious, and impossible to put down. I recommend reading late at night by flashlight just to up the spine-chilling effect.



Ok, the Wizard of Oz series has been around for a long time. However, all of the Baum books were recently published in wonderful new paperbacks. Each book contains 3 or four of the Oz books and if you haven't read these before you really should give them a try. Baum was such a genius and a century later the books are still adventurous and fun. Also if you have a child that has been given a very high AR book range, the Oz books are all at least a 7.0 and most are closer to 8.0 and above.