- The Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan (books 1-11)- This series takes place in medieval times, has bits of politics, lots of action, a little bit of not-quite magic, battles and friendships and some romance. The characters are all made more real by each having their own flaws, even the heroes. Great plots, but the first one starts out a little slow. This battles for top spot as my favorite series.
- Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (books 1-8)- This series somehow manages to incorporate large amounts of science and magic without the two clashing with each other, and of course there's lots of action, a teeny bit of a love story that never turns into anything (annoying), humor, a foil-hat-wearing centaur, and much more!
- The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini (books 1-4)- Excellent series, with tons of action, interesting characters, magic, a mysterious stone, a dragon, and a boy who doesn't know what he's gotten into that is all too soon turned into a man by his journeys. The only damper on this series is that the elusive love story that was a very large part of the entire series never went beyond words. Seriously, biggest mess-up ever. The main character is about to leave FOR ALL TIME AND NEVER RETURN and he's saying bye to long-time love interest. You think they're about to at least kiss, but love interest abruptly leaves. Main character cries for all of two seconds before saying he'll get over it. He leaves, and the story is over. AAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!
- Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling (books 1-7)- Magic, a 'Boy Who Lived' and a 'He Who Must Not be Named.' Filled with action and powerful messages of friendship and protecting those you love, it's an awesome series.
- A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron (and A Dog's Journey)- A wonderfully written story about human relationships from a dog's point of view, A Dog's Purpose is my favorite book. It's counterpart, A Dog's Journey, is not a let-down like many second books are. They are both beautiful books centered on the idea that true friendship never dies.
- Marley and Me by John Grogan- A story about a man, his wife, and his life with his crazy dog- a must-read that shows you don't have to be perfect to make lives better.
- The Looking Glass by John Ringo and Travis S. Taylor (books 1-4)- This SciFi series is awesome! A giant explosion occurs at a university in Florida, and when the dust clears, a giant black orb is hanging in the crater. Not too scary, but then the aliens start falling out... humans start out with technology similar to what we have today, but quickly advance and end up with the travels of our one spaceship largely featured in the last book, Claws That Catch. The main feature is humanity's battle for survival against hostile aliens piling through the orbs- so it's pretty much an action-only book. One of the bad things is that much of the physics used in the books are explained in three or four pages, so if you don't understand that kind of stuff, your head will be spinning. The best thing to do is just skip over the technical stuff instead of putting the book down, because the series is really good beyond that.
- The Last Dragon Chronicles by Chris D'Lacey (books 1-7)- This series isn't for everyone- it has magic (awesome), dragons (awesome), mystery (awesome), some time travel (awesome), and sometimes confusing plots that can only be resolved by reading the whole book (not awesome). I know a lot of the time, if a person doesn't understand a book they won't finish it, so if you get to book 6, Fire World, you're extremely likely to stop reading the whole series. This book has an almost entirely different cast of characters, takes place on a different planet, and doesn't even incorporate many of the same ideas as other books in the series. Of course, stubborn as I am, I shoved through this book to get my explanation (which is actually in the next book) but I'm sure many people put it down and left in search of a less confusing series. Personally, I really enjoy it, but get ready for a bumpy ride if you decide to read it.
Signing off, Rachel
