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Maggie is a high-school teenager who loves animals (especially her dog Mongo), and doesn't like her new step-father Val. But Maggie is far from normal. For one thing, the reason she dislikes Val is not just because he's from Oldworld or dresses terribly, but because he has too many shadows that seem to move on their own, and have too many legs or hands or other appendages, and that almost no one else can apparently see. For another thing, Maggie lives in Newworld, where magic is illegal and magic-using genes were removed two generations ago, and where there is a danger of "cohesion breaks," gaps in reality that are common enough they have their own slang term, "cobeys" - which the government handles with military teams and scientific equipment; but which just might be more of a problem than the government is letting on.

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A delightful fairy tale retelling that takes the familiar story of the twelve dancing princesses and fleshes it out-- adding completely plausible reasons for just about every aspect of the story: why the princesses dance every night, whey they can't tell anyone, and even why there are twelve of them. It even adds to the mundane aspects of what life must be like if you had to go dance every night-- what if you get sick (as the oldest, Rose, does) but still had to go dance every night? And with twelve sisters, the youngest are quite young - one dancing since she could walk, and hates balls because she has had to dance every night.

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In the kingdom of Er'Rets, being a stray, with unknown parentage, means that you are lower than a peasant or a slave. Strays are forced to wear orange, branded, and given a last name from an animal. Such is the fate of Achan Cham-- he serves Poril, the cook in the house of Lord Nathak until Sir Gavin the Great Whitewolf takes an interest in him and begins to train him as a squire. At the same time, another is in hiding as a stray under the name of Vrell Sparrow-- a young girl of nobility, hiding as a boy in the lowest of places (a plan devised by her mother) in order to avoid being forced to marry Prince Gidon. Both of them are also discovering they have the gift of "blood-voicing," a kind of mind-to-mind communication that can take place even over long distances. Vrell knows at least a little bit about it from her mother, but not how to control it; Achan thinks it's a myth, but he doesn't know he's been given a tonic every day to suppress the ability. The story really starts to pick up when their paths cross. Achan has now been forced to serve as squire to the selfish and vindictive Prince Gidon, and they travel to Mahanaim where the Council will ratify Gidon as king. Vrell has been summoned by Macoun Hadar, an old, conniving master of blood-voicing who sensed her presence and ability in the coastal town where she was hiding with a friend of her mother's and summoned her to be his apprentice. Eventually the Achan and Vrell meet and become acquainted when Achan is held in prison for (supposedly) endangering the Prince's life while fighting off an attack from the Darkness, and Vrell tends to his wounds with the medicines and salves she has learned to make while apprenticing to an apothecary. It seems everyone has an agenda: Gidon wants to kill Achan and claim the throne; Macoun Hadar wants Achan for an apprentice because his blood-voicing gift is so strong; and Vrell must continue to hide her true identity for fear of discovery or being forced to marry.

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Lily Sanderson is a high school pining for the school jock, Brody-- but unlike most normal high school girls, Lily is half-mermaid. Her father only told her a few years ago that her mother was huma, and gave her the option to live with her aunt Rachel and attend high school to get some experience with the human world and the other half of her heritage. Lily has been plotting with her best friend Shannen how to ask Brody out to the spring dance, but she can't quite get up the nerve. Then, for some reason, her neighbor Quince Fletcher-- whom she hates because he is always teasing her and giving her a hard time-- decides to help her out. Naturally, things don't go quite as planned; when Quince goes to check on Lily he ends up kissing her (because, of course, he likes her). But what he doesn't know is that she's a mermaid, and merfolk have a magical mate-bond which is triggered by a kiss. Lily has to take Quince to her home, Thalassinia (where of course she is a princess) and present him to her father the king in order to ask for a ritual separation that will dissolve the bond between them. But that doesn't go quite the way she planned it, either.

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Arthur Penhaligon is the asthmatic new kid at school. He didn't know about the Monday run and doesn't have a doctor's note explaining how very bad his asthma is - so the teacher makes him run. When he's lying in in a field, collapsed and barely breathing, something strange happens that might be a hallucination, but isn't. A fragment of the Will left by the Architect has escaped the dead sun where it has been imprisoned for millennia, and manages to trick Mister Monday into giving the lesser key to Arthur, fulfilling the bare letter of the law of the Will (since Arthur is an heir and very near death).

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By the end of Starcrossed (which I read last October), Helen has learned that not only is she a Scion, a member of a superhuman race descended from the demigods of Greek mythology, but also that she is the Descender-- a special Scion who can physically enter the Underwold and may be able to end the curse on the Houses, the blood lust incited by the Furies which forces them to kill members of other houses or any family members who are kin-killers. This book picks up shortly after that, and Helen is exhausted because she spends every night in the Underworld, stuck and and in pain; she's emotionally upset because she is still incredibly drawn to Lucas (the Paris to her Helen), even though they are apparently cousins and now they really can't be together-- since inbred Scions tend to be the dangerous kind of crazy, in addition to that whole problem of uniting two of the Houses resulting in a war. Eventually, Helen finds a new ally to help her with her quest in the Underworld: a young man named Orion.

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An introduction to the bizarre and entertaining Discworld (a world that is actually shaped like a flat disc, carried by four elephants who stand on the back of the great turtle A'Tuin). We follow the hapless (but lucky) tourist Twoflower, his semi-unwilling guide, the wizard (of sorts) Rincewind, and Twoflower's luggage made of sapient pear-tree wood, as they traipse about and see various parts of this strange world - from the seedy, greedy inhabitants of Ankh-Mopork, to a forest with dryads and a temple for an ancient, unspeakable evil, through the dry seas to the Rim of the great disk, where the waters spill off the edge of the world into space, and finally they become the unwilling guests of the Krull, who have constructed a metal fish to fly off the edge of the world and take a closer look at the great turtle.

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What could be just another run-of-the-mill fantasy novel-- with an oppressed people, and a rebellion brewing to overthrow the evil tyrant, and the obligatory orphan-waif discovering her powers -- somehow isn't. I think the biggest reason for this is the unique metal-based magic or "allomancy," which is fascinating and different from any other magic I have ever read about. There are "mistings" and "mistborns" who can burn metals for different effects, and there are also the secretive, nearly wiped out Terrismen who can use metal to store things - knowledge, power - in what they call "metalminds." The rebellion is a bit different, too-- instead of the normal, honorable rebels, the ringleader Kelsier recruits a crew of cons and thieves, which is why he thinks they might actually be able to succeed.

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Warning! This book is dangerously engrossing. I started it in the evening, thinking I would just read a few chapters before I went to sleep, and I ended up staying up much later than I intended. (I think the last book I read like that was The Hunger Games...). Helen is a teenager who lives on the island of Nantucket, and she does her best to avoid attention (attracting people's attention actually gives her painful cramps); this is difficult, because she is very tall, quite beautiful, and stronger than a girl her size should be; she is afraid that she might be a freak, but doesn't admit it to herself and does her best to keep others from thinking it. The book begins just as the school year is about to start up again, and the whole island is buzzing with gossip about a new family that has just moved to the island. Helen isn't particularly interested in them, but she has started seeing visions of three bloody women (the Furies, but she doesn't know that), and having strange nightmares that seem a little too real; and the first time she sees some of the Delos boys at school, she launches herself at Lucas with an immediate, irrational hatred and tries to kill him. Eventually, Helen discovers that Lucas and his family are special, and that she is like them--they they call themselves Scions-- and that is really only the beginning of her discoveries. Apparently, the Fates are really into re-runs, and one of their favorites is the Starcrossed Lovers.

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Another story of the adventures of the brilliant Master Li and his stout peasant assistant Number Ten Ox in an ancient China filled with myths and monsters, with a new mystery for them to unravel. A monk from the Valley of Sorrows comes to seek the assistance of Master Li, because one of the monks has died strangely (perhaps murdered), and the Laughing Prince has been seen-- a psychotic ruler of the valley generations ago who destroyed the beautiful land with his mines, and who experimented on peasant "volunteers" to learn anatomy. Part of this mystery is a strange fragment of a manuscript that the dead monk had found, which delights Master Li immensely and is what initially draws him in to the mystery-- a forgery so beautiful and perfect in form and calligraphy, but so obviously a forgery by the content, with words and phrases that the original author would never choose.

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I haven't felt very "into" Harry Potter in a while-- I think that maybe after I finished reading the last book, I felt like I was done; I found it to be a satisfying conclusion to a good series. When "The Deathly Hallows Part 1" movie came out last fall, I wasn't excited about it and I didn't actually end up seeing it until just a few weeks ago. But I guess the enthusiasm of other Harry Potter fans and seeing a few of the later movies again was contagious and got me back into it. So, I decided to re-read the last two books in the series, leading up to seeing the last movie, and I'm glad that I did. This is the book where we, with Harry, learn who Voldemort really is, and how the boy Tom Riddle became the fearsome Lord Voldemort. And we also get to see a bit more human and vulnerable Dumbledore.

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dogs·bod·y: A person who is given boring, menial tasks to do; naval slang for someone of very little importance.

Like the title, this book works on so many levels; it is well worth repeat readings. The luminary of the dog-star Sirius, as punishment, is sent to Earth where he is born as a half-breed pup. So, he is literally born into a dog's body, but in the process, he's also given a pretty low status, especially for someone who used to be something like an angel. I've lost track of how many times I've this book, but I still had new insights into the book this time around. When I first read of Diana Wynne Jones' death, my first thought was that I should re-read my favorite of her books as a kind of memorial, and this was the first favorite DWJ book that came to mind (although then I remembered the Chrestomanci books, and Howl's Moving Castle...).

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This is Diana Wynne Jones' hilarious skewering of the many tropes and clichés of fantasy fiction. It is structured as a guidebook written for a traveler, to help them make sense of or prepare for their journey through Fantasyland. The book, after an initial intro, is ordered into alphabetical sections, each of which starts with a "gnomic utterance" and has entries for places, features, or stock characters in the many worlds of Fantasyland. Throughout, the entries refer to things that "the Management" may or may not do (the managers organizing your tour through Fantasyland, of course-- i.e., the authors), and many of the entries have italicized phrases of words marked with "OMT" to indicate an "Official Management Term" (for those phrases or adjectives that somehow seem to always get used in Fantasy novels).

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An intense, complicated book with a large cast of characters, and plenty of political maneuvering and betrayal. This is the kind of world where children who wander around the castle, climbing walls or trying to catch cats (as children do), are likely to see or hear something that could get them killed. The book is narrated in the third person, but each chapter follows the perspective or events around a different person, so the story starts with Eddard Stark and his family in the northern part of the kingdom, but the story ranges out as members of the Stark family travel, and as we get the stories and perspectives of other characters, such as Daenerys and Vyserys, the exiled children of House Targaryen, which formerly held the throne of the Seven Kingdoms.

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While going about his usual business, Death notices that something is wrong - that the Hogfather (the Discworld equivalent to our Santa Claus, with a sleigh drawn by huge pigs or boar named Tusker, Snouter, Gouger, and Rooter) is in danger, in fact very near to whatever the equivalent of death is for an immortal being. At the same time, a group of the Auditors has come to the Assassin's guild in Ankh-Morpork with an unusual request: end the Hogfather. But they offer enough money, and there happens to be an unusual member of the Assassin's guild who as a hobby has considered how one might end the Hogfather, the Tooth Fairy, or even Death-- so Mr. Teatime undertakes this request. In the meantime, Death decides to fill in for the Hogfather-- leaving footprints and presents and removing the treats left for the Hogfather (his assistant, Albert, is along with him eating the goodies and helping Death to be more jolly), in order to help instill belief in the Hogfather to help him survive. As he's doing his rounds (dressed in a red suit with a pillow and a fake beard), Death stops by the house where his granddaughter Susan works as a governness-- and warns her very carefully that she shouldn't get involved, of course knowing full well that this will result in her doing exactly that.

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This story begins with a wizard being killed, which apparently is quite difficult to do safely. In this case, the people were given very specific instructions: don't spill his life-blood, don't let him speak a curse, don't let him use his hands to work magic. However, there was one thing they didn't account for: as he is bound and dying, the sun comes out and this wizard casts some unspoken spell to free his shadow. Some time later (years, perhaps), a traveling peddler named Crocken passes near the spot where the wizard dies, and he is persuaded/coerced/bargained/threatened into taking on this shadow and carrying it with him to the far-off country of Armyn.

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When Sunshine is getting ready to go into battle with Con, and expecting to die (for about the third time in this book), she thinks about what to do with the two days she has left-- and one of the options that crosses her mind is reading:

Reread your favorite novel, the one you only let yourself anymore when you're sick in bed. I might have enjoyed this more, since I'm never sick, if death didn't seem like a very bad trade-off.

This caught my eye because I was actually sick in bed re-reading Sunshine. I don't know if that makes it my favorite book (it is definitely up there), but this book was such a wonderful, complete distraction from my own misery to escape into Sunshine's crazy world (and in particular her humorous, self-deprecating attitude that comes through in the narrative as she provides commentary). It feels like such a full, real world too-- populated with fascinating characters, and details of slang and history and myths, and since we get everything filtered through Sunshine's perspective, we don't know which myths are true and which aren't. Sunshine lives in a dangerous world that I'm not sure I'd want to visit-- I'd love to sample her cinnamon rolls and crazy decadent desserts at Charlie's coffeehouse, but I'm not sure I'd want to navigate the dangers of Old Town to get there.

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Mirasol was a beekeeper and woodskeeper until the Master and Chalice of the Willowlands were both suddenly and violently killed, without heir and apprentice. The land chose Mirasol to be the next Chalice, and so she had to step into the official role, second in the Circle, without any training or apprenticeship (and to the apparent dismay of the remaining members of the Circle). The Chalice is a magic user and a cup-bearer who mixes drinks to bind, or connect, or help make decisions, and is part of many rituals of the ruling of the demesne, and who works with the Master of that demesne to protect the land and the people. But the Master that Mirasol must learn to work with is the younger brother of the dead Master, who was sent away to become a Fire Elemental Priest six years ago. The Grand Seneschal sent for him out of desperation, and he returned out of loyalty and responsibility to the land; but he had gone far enough into the priesthood that he is no longer quite human, and certainly looks and moves very strangely, with blackened skin and reddish eyes. However, Mirasol is also different than any other Chalice; usually their magic runs in wine or water, or occasionally milk (and, in ancient, more violent times, occasionally blood); but the power of the Chalice manifests itself in Mirasol's honey and her bees.

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Every night in the small harbor town of Sealey Head, just as the sun goes down, an invisible bell tolls. It's happened every day for as long as any of the inhabitants can remember, and most of the inhabitants don't even notice it anymore. But a few of the younger people are fascinated, or perhaps even obsessed with it-- Judd Cauley, the innkeeper's son; the merchant's daughter, Gwyneth Blair, who sits at her little desk in the attic and writes story after story trying to make sense of the bell; and even a visiting scholar from the city, Mr. Ridley Dow. Emma, who works as a scullery maid at Aislinn House, also knows there is something magical about the place-- ever since she was a child, sometimes the doors in the house open onto a castle in some other place, where she sees a girl near her own age, a princess named Ysabo.

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The sequel to Dealing with Dragons, this story starts with Mendenbar, the young king of the Enchanted Forest, out for a walk when he discovers a patch of forest that seems to have been burned, and all the magic sucked out of it.  A little investigation and a consult with Morwen shows that someone is trying to frame the dragons for this destruction, and perhaps provoke war between the dragons and the Enchanted Forest, so Mendenbar sets off to meet with King Kazul (although he's a little dismayed to hear the dragon has a princess, as he prefers to avoid silly, hero/husband-hunting girls).  When he arrives, he meets Cimorene (not at all what he expected from a princess), who is just about to head out to try to find Kazul, who seems to have gone missing.  Since it seems to involve his kingdom as well, Mendenbar joins her.  Along the way, they sup with giants, ride on a broken-down magic carpet (decorated in pink with teddy bears!), meet Rumpelstiltskin's descendant Herman, as well as a scholar-magician named Telemain, before they face the nefarious wizards and, of course, fall in love.

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