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breyzyyin, who suggested I might like to write a review on my favourite book series. Having thought about this over the last couple of days, I've narrowed my favourite series down to three choices - so I decided to write a short review on each of them, in no particular order.
The Sevenwaters Trilogy, by Juliet MarillierThis is a fairly obvious choice for me, since my favourite genre of novel has always been fantasy and historical fiction. This series combined both. It also heavily uses Celtic Paganism and folklore, a lot of which revolves around Druidism (no surprise there; Marillier is a member of OBOD herself - The Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids). While Marillier has written a few different series, each set in a different location, this first trilogy of hers is still my favourite. They're set in ninth century Ireland, and the series as a whole covers four generations of the Sevenwaters family, with a different main character in each novel. The first novel,
Daughter of the Forest, is very loosely based on the Brothers Grimm story The Six Swans. I have to be honest here and say that these books are far more likely to appeal to females than to males, and not just because they're all told from a female perspective. The stories themselves, before being fantasy or historical fiction, are romance. They're certainly not all love and light and happy endings, but yes, the girl/guy always end up being together, just like you know they're going to. The writing style is great though, and despite the unrealism of the whole romance thing, there's something very honest about each of the stories that I can't get enough of. There's plenty of dark fantasy moments in these as well, which I'm a sucker for, and in a way, each novel progressively gets a little more edgy that way.
Tales of the Otori, by Lian HearnMore historical fantasy, with traces of the supernatural. This series started off with a trilogy, then branched off into a sequel and finally a prequel. The original trilogy is still my favourite, starting off with
Across The Nightingale Floor (the prequel is excellent too, and the sequel... I liked it, but not as much as any of the others, although a large part of that is probably only because my favourite character goes off the deep end). It's no surprise that this series is among my top favourites either, because it's set in feudal Japan. The amount of the research Hearn has done for this is enormous, and it shows; from the way people talk and behave, to what they wear and eat, to how they fight and pray... it's all there, and it's fabulous. There's a small handful of main characters, and two very major characters in the trilogy. The series takes turns telling the story from both their viewpoints, which works really well in this - partly because they're both pretty kick-ass characters, partly because it means we get the story from both a male and female perspective, and partly because the two don't actually meet up until halfway through, and then split up again later on. The two cross paths wonderfully. Briefly, the trilogy follows Takeo as he is separated from his family and formally adopted as a son by a leader of a large warrior clan. It follows his growth as he struggles to avenge his adoptive father, escape the legacy of his biological father, is trained to assassinate those in an opposing clan who murdered his family (among countless others), and of course pursues the love of his life in the midst of an epic power struggle. Go read it, it's awesome.
The Kingkiller Chronicle, by Patrick RothfussI'm cheating a little here, because so far, only the first book of this trilogy, entitled
The Name of the Wind, has been released. The second book has been put off a few times now, and has still not been published (although I'm hoping it will now be very soon). I don't expect the third book for a couple of years. However, the first book is truly awesome, and I have no doubt that the entire trilogy will be as epic. It's all-out fantasy this time, complete with swords and sorcery and demons and whatnot. Although the novel starts out a little slow, hang in there, because as soon as the main character - Kvothe - starts telling his story from the beginning (you'll see what I mean when you read it), it's pure magic, no pun intended. Out of all the books I've mentioned, this is the one that hit me hardest emotionally. It's masterfully told, and I can't wait to see how Kvothe becomes the infamous man he is when he is first introduced. Essentially, the series is the biography of Kvothe himself, who eventually becomes a famous arcanist, musician, and all-around adventurer. We don't know the whole story yet, but it's hinted that he's done fairly nefarious deeds in his life so far. At the beginning of the novel he is basically in hiding, and going by the name of Kote, which translates to 'disaster'. I dare anyone not into fantasy to dislike this novel.
There are many other awesome books, but I'll just quickly rattle off a handful of other honourable mentions: almost anything by Sherryl Jordan (but especially
The Raging Quiet and
Tanith), the Modern Faerie Tale series (dark unseelie court fantasy, starting off with
Tithe) by Holly Black, and
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (this is the book the Miyazaki film was based on, and is just as awesome, albeit in a completely different way).
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