Moist von Lipwig became the model citizen (mostly) in Going Postal. His fiancée, Miss Dearheart is out searching for golems, and he has to amuse himself, until Lord Vetinari assigns him his next task. The controlling owner of the Royal Bank is dying , and a stand-in is necessary to keep the bank out of the control of the hands of the Bank’s corrupt family. Lipwig is , of course, volunteered for the job with Vetinari’s usual style.

In an effort to rejuvenate the Bank, Moist introduces the idea of paper money and personally takes to the street to experiment with his theory. A nephew of the owner has a liquid model of the banking system which pinpoints problems or successes (and can be manipulated). An Igor assists him in his work. Mr. Bent keeps the books and supervises all bank employees. Lipwig’s interfering in his bank may be enough to topple his carefully balanced mind. Add in the expected attempts of the Bank’s family to grab control and Miss Dearheart’s golem find, and the book is as quirky as all Pratchett books.

This task turns out less successful for Lipwig than the Postal Service. With his failure will he be hanged yet again?

As always Pratchett is entertaining. There are certainly enough oddities to keep readers coming back. However, this book didn’t have quite the appeal for me that Going Postal had. Maybe because Going Postal was my first adult read of his, it was new and fresh. Maybe I was just in a different mood. I think that Making Money has less commentary; it’s solely for laughs.

In a world full of necromancers, the Abhorsen reverses their work. When he gets trapped in Death by the necromancer Kerrigor, he sends a package to his daughter Sabriel, who resides across the Wall, a barrier separating the magical Old Kingdom from Ancelstierre.

When Sabriel receives the Abhorsen’s necromancy bells and ensorcelled sword, she sets out across the Wall, unwillingly assuming the title of Abhorsen. At first determined to find her father, she fights her way through Dead Hands and Mordicants, all the way to the Abhorsen’s House. There she finds Mogget, a Free Magic elemental in the shape of a cat. Mogget, who served the Abhorsens for thousands of years, sheds some light on the strange goings-on of the raised Dead, and helps her escape the Mordicant literally waiting at the gates.

Flying a Paperwing aircraft, Sabriel and Mogget set off to find the prior Abhorsen’s body, to locate him in death. Along the way they discover the plans of the necromancer Kerrigor. In his quest for immortality, spanning over 200 years, he has been trying to destroy the Charter Stones, the monoliths regulating magic, Life, and Death. If he could destroy them, then the Charter would cease to exist, and everything would be controllable by Free Magic.

Sabriel is an interesting and different book. While reading it, I had a hard time putting it down. I’m a fantasy maniac, as some of you may know by now, and Sabriel is an exceptional work of fantasy by an innovative author.

The Amber Spyglass, the third book in the His Dark Materials Trilogy, the story continues on from the last book (which ended rather abruptly).

In The Amber Spyglass, Lyra and Will continue on their quest, taking a side trip to the Underworld. After leaving the Underworld mostly unscathed, they go to Lord Asriel.

The whole Underworld thing is a bit overused, though a few new ideas were added. Regarding the Dæmons and the Underworld, I was able to predict what would happen later in the book (with the help of a small clue). There was, obviously, a precedent happening.

With several plot-twists, and unexpected happenings, the trilogy draws to a close. Darker than the first book, the book is nonetheless enjoyable. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending, which seemed a bit…odd, but whatever. The book was good anyway.

I strongly recommend that you read The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife before reading this book.

Have you read The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman? If so, there’s no doubt that you’ll like The Subtle Knife, part two of the series.

In The Subtle Knife, Lyra leaves her world…and ends up in ours. She soon meets Will, the bearer of the Subtle Knife, a knife with two extraordinary edges. One edge can cut through any material, while the other can cut doors to other worlds into the air.

Armed with the Knife an the Alethiometer, Lyra and Will set out on an unclear mission.

This book is a great sequel to it’s predecessor; unfortunately it ends rather abruptly. There are cool tie-ins with the previous book.

I highly recommend the His Dark Materials series, though you should definitely start with the first book (The Golden Compass).

“It tells the truth. As for how to read it, you’ll have to learn by yourself.” With these words, Lyra is given an Alethiometer. Armed with this mysterious tool, which will answer any question truthfully, she sets out on what will become an adventure, determined by an ancient prophecy.

The story takes place in another world, similar to ours. Geographic locations, like Oxford and London, exist…though they are different. Packed with action and mystery, the story flows well. Once you get into the book, you’ll have trouble stopping.

I really enjoyed the book, reading it in a couple days despite my busy schedule, and I’m presently waiting for the movie, which will be released in December.
If you want a believable fantasy book, try The Golden Compass. If you like it, there are a couple sequels.

I finished my second reading of The Dark Is Rising series. The first was 4 to 5 years ago, and I remember being excited and enthralled by it. This time, looking at it more objectively, I noticed that there is an excitement building within the books similar to an orchestra rising to a crescendo. This is an impressive achievement for the author. The series is a masterful work of storytelling. It has the complexity of Tolkien without the heaviness. The language is filled with the High Magic making the reading an awesome poetical experience.

The story just touches on Arthurian legend, and yet it still has a strong Arthurian feel. The books are heavily laced with a mystical and magical sense of purpose and of destiny, though a wrong turning at one point or another could change the whole outcome. Read the rest at BookAdvice.net.

Podcasting Hacks is a great book on, well, podcasts.

In case you didn’t know, a podcast is “a Web-based audio broadcast via an RSS feed, accessed by subscription over the Internet” (definition from Dictionary.com).

Podcasting Hacks teaches you to subscribe to podcasts and (mainly) how to create them. The book covers everything from microphones to recording software to podcast websites.  If you’ve ever thought “I wish I had a radio talkshow”, then you should read this book. There are other books on podcasting, but this is the most complete one I’ve seen so far.

It’s fairly easy to produce a podcast, though it takes up some of your time. For a great example of a podcast, check out PotterCast.com.

Trickster’s Choice and Trickster’s Queen are more fantasy books by Tamora Pierce. They are…different from the rest of her books, though.

In a typical book by Tamora Pierce, the main character is focused on attaining some goal, relentlessly plowing through the plotline. In these two books, however, the heroine is more easygoing…and funnier. The storyline is no less serious than any of Pierce’s other books. It’s more serious if anything. Seeing as the character, Aly of Pirate’s Swoop, is a Spy rather than an aspiring knight/mage/whatever, it makes more sense.

The two books detail the rebellion of the native people of the Copper Isles (Aly is actually from the nearby country of Tortall, though she ends up in the Copper Isles). Three hundred years previously, the patron god of the Isles was ousted, and simultaneously the Isles’ rulers were overthrown. In the present day Copper Isles, a rebellion has started…the head spy for the operation being Aly of Pirate’s Swoop.

The books are well written and interesting, though they do take longer to read than the rest of the author’s books. Tamora Pierce has improved remarkably as an author, going from the somewhat childish Song of the Lioness series to current works like Trickster and Terrier.

Cell: A Novel is the only book I’ve read by Steven King so far. So far, it’s the best book of his I’ve read.

In Cell, an odd happening called The Pulse (a wave sent through cellphones to their users). Basically what The Pulse did was erase all the cellphone users’ brains. Scary?

The book details the survival of a small group of people who weren’t Pulsed because they didn’t have cellphones. By survival I mean “running from insane ‘Phoners’.” Eventually th Phoners started to develop a sort of single mind resembling that of an ant colony. “Survival” is a broad term including most of the book.

Though a little…odd, it was a good book. Even though it’s really hard to describe (this is my third time trying to write this review), it’s still good. The book got going with the main plot really fast. There were only a few pages before the Pulse happened. Judging by what I’ve heard from other people, this must be one of his less-scary books.

By the way… I don’t have a cellphone (and neither does Steven King).

In 1968, a book by Anne McCaffrey known as Dragonflight was published. It was derived from s short story she published earlier on called “Weyr Search”. Dragonflight was followed by two more called Dragonquest and The White Dragon. Today there are over 20 books in the Dragonrider’s of Pern series, the latest two being co-written by her son Todd McCaffrey.

A brief history of Pern:

A few decades ahead of today (I want to say in the 2040s, but I don’t remember), a group of people are sent to colonize a planet known as P.E.R.N. They come in three spacecraft and settle there, with no way to return due to the fuel capacity of the ships.

Eventually trouble begins. Thread, an omnivorous fungus-type thing, starts to fall from the sky. It came from a cloud trailing an erratically orbiting planet (dubbed “The Red Star” by Pern’s inhabitants). Thread dissolves/eats pretty much anything carbon based, so the only safe places from it are caves, buildings made from non-carbon plastics, and underwater (not a good option). Fire burns the Thread, killing it. Unfortunately, Thread can’t be allowed to touch the ground. It starts eating the plant matter and animals, multiplying and burrowing into the ground as it does so.

To combat the Thread, the colonists (a large group of farmers, scientists, builders, geneticists, etc) at first use HNO3 devices in combination with “hoversleds” to char the Thread before it hit the ground. They continued to do this while their geneticists looked to a better solution.

Based off a native species known as a “Fire Lizard”, the Pernese created dragons. They were telepathic and could breathe fire after eating phosphine-bearing rocks. This proved to be the solution they needed until the Thread stopped.

The Thread did stop after a few decades, but it started again after. It turned out that the Red Star reliably passed by Pern on a regular basis.

Dragonriders of Pern is almost certainly my favorite Sci-Fi series. I haven’t yet found a Sci-Fi book, other than Dragonriders, that was this good. Dragonriders is very realistic as you read it (very believable), and unlike other Sci-Fi books it isn’t bleh. The complex storyline unfolds over the large number of books, ending in…well I won’t spoil it. Give it a try.