Comments on: You’ve read the Morm trilogy, now what?

By: Tap

Tap — Sun, 20 May 2007 01:56:02 +0000

John C. Wright’s Orphans of Chaos. Not exactly YA, but Amelia is a little like a geometry and physics version of Reason: she has no trouble visualizing general relativity and other difficult concepts that drive her classmates (or perhaps we should say “fellow prisoners”) nuts.

By: janet

janet — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 18:30:59 +0000

Weighing in late, I would recommend Suzy Charnas’s “Sorcery Hall” trilogy. My favorite is the middle book, the Silver Glove.

By: calliope

calliope — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 01:13:06 +0000

uglies trilogy. they are the best things ever and you will not be able to wait for the next one. i threatened to throttle my friend if she didn’t bring them for me (luckily, she did. i wasn’t joking).

By: lili

lili — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 00:35:40 +0000

more good girl fantasy that is not-like-justine’s-books-but-would-appeal-to-fans:

Elizabeth Knox’s Rainbow Opera duet (starting with Dreamhunter)

Isobelle Carmody’s Obernewtyn series (there’ll be another one out this year, but it will not be the last…)

The Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce.

(and I second Penni’s words about her trilogy (drift just arrived on my desk), and Kate Constable’s)

By: Chris S.

Chris S. — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 18:52:48 +0000

On the not-like-your-books-except-in-that-I enjoyed-them-hugely side of things, the ‘Gen’ books by Megan Whalen Turner: The Thief; The Queen Of Attolia; The King Of Attolia. Utterly fabulous reading.

By: Justine

Justine — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 16:04:37 +0000

Thanks everyone for so many fabbie suggestions. I sent the fan this link.

By: Penni

Penni — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 07:49:59 +0000

well...I hope justine won't mind me mentioning my own trilogy: Undine, Breathe and Drift (Drift is out in April in OZ). There are a few similarities - mainly similar aged protagonists having to deal with magic - I've seen our books compared before a couple of times, though we do approach it from very different angles and have quite different prose styles. I thought the magic was similar though, though Justine has a lot more rules! (good ones) Kate Constable's Tremaris trilogy for strong female-centric, plot-driven fantasy with an Australian flavour (first one is Singer of all Songs). Judith Clarke. I love her work. She sometimes sidesteps into the supernatural. I also agree about Garth Nix. Coraline by Neil Gaiman. I just read that and loved it so much I'm writing my thesis about it. I've got Celandine to read next.

By: kris

kris — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 05:09:01 +0000

i’d like to add the first two novels in an planned trilogy by steve augarde – ‘the various’ and ‘celadine’. mystery, magic, little people, high drama – what more could you need!

By: jenny davidson

jenny davidson — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 01:45:16 +0000

yes, and i loved holly black’s “tithe” and “valiant” also, that’s sort of your demographic, isn’t it?!?

justine’s books are great in countless ways, but what really draws me in is the alluring combination of character and voice, those are always the two essentials for me & that’s what makes them such delightful reads (the “glowy” effect, to use a better term!). there’s quite a bit of classic non-ya fiction that would be good reading in this regard also: rebecca west’s “the fountain overflows” might not be great for younger readers, but excellent for mid-teenage years; and then lighter reading like mary stewart or dick francis with those appealing main characters, even if they are all the same as each other in the end!

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 01:44:37 +0000

city of bones is out? aargh! i looked for it today, but i thought i must have gotten the release date wrong b/c it was not there. but apparently, they just didn’t have it. *gripe moan whine complain*

By: Justine

Justine — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 01:13:36 +0000

Thanks everyone! And I instantly see why I cannot play this game. Anyone saying my books are like Margaret Mahey’s Changeover which is one of my favourite books of all time—well, it just reduces me to quivering jelly. Being compared to Garth Nix and Diana Wynne Jones is just too flattering for words!

You’re all making me blush crazy amounts!

But I can recommend two books that just came out (well, one of them is about to come out)—Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones and Holly Black’s Ironside. I’m not saying they’re like my books. I’m just saying that they’re really wonderful books that you all should read.

By: Elodie

Elodie — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 22:42:53 +0000

(please don’t kill me, I want to be notified of follow up comments and like an idiot forgot to click the check on my last post. There needs to be a “no post but email me comments” function!)

By: Elodie

Elodie — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 22:42:16 +0000

I must bookmark this page! Good book recommendations!
I would make some of my own, but like the person above me said–there is nothing like yours, honestly. I could suggest books I have loved, but that’s not the same thing!
My personal recommendation is…just go to your local library, borrow as many books as you can carry, and read them. You’ll find one you adore eventually, and on the way there, you’ll read a ton that you’ll like, even if not as much. Yay books!

By: claire

claire — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 20:50:12 +0000

justine, the point is that there aren’t any books like yours.

but i second the “dark is rising” recommendation. essential. wizards, king arthur, and a bunch of kids saving the world.

“a wizard of earthsea” of course. education of a young wizard, waaay before harry potter.

“… and this is laura” is one i enjoyed as a kid which seems to have disappeared into the mists of time. but very cool. an ordinary, “talentless” girl fakes a paranormal gift, only to have weird things start happening to her.

“stormwitch” is a recent one, very very good. won the carl brandon society award. a young witch dealing with racism and hurricanes.

“zahrah the windseeker”, in a secondary world, a girl discovers her unusual powers in the jungle.

“midnight robber” isn’t exactly ya, but it is a coming of age story of a girl in a secondary world. SF, very very good, one of my favorite books.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 17:07:00 +0000

I’d have to agree with the first comment about Garth Nix’s Sabriel triology. That’s WAYY good stuff. I don’t really know what else to recommend in the way of books that deal with magic. Herbie Brennan’s Faerie Wars was a really good book, and though I haven’t read the other two of that series yet, I’d say they are probably good. Herbie is good like that. Also, Holly Black’s Tithe and Valiant are AMAZING…and Ironside comes out SO SOON!!! Plus, one can never go wrong with any of Scott’s books. Seriously.

Anyway…as a sidenote: I looked at three different bookstores last night for Magic’s Child. I came home with The Last Days, Devilish, and The Truth About Forever…but no Magic’s Child. This made me incredibly sad, and I’m sorry to have failed you, Justine!

By: jenny davidson

jenny davidson — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 15:52:50 +0000

Garth Nix’s Sabriel trilogy, for sure. These are some of my favorite books ever, I have read them again & again with great delight!

Margaret Mahy’s “The Changeover.”

Diana Wynne Jones, “Fire and Hemlock” and “Howl’s Moving Castle” seem to me perhaps the closest fit with the style-age group for Justine’s books but those Chrestomanci books are of course absolutely delightful, you cannot go wrong…

Terry Pratchett’s YA trilogy about Tiffany Aching beginning with “The Wee Free Men.”

Lots more that I can’t think of right now…

And of course there are some older books that cannot be missed. For instance, Justine, has your fan read Susan Cooper’s “The Dark is Rising” books? Those are absolutely essential. And another book that doesn’t have magic but is very “glowy” is Dodie Smith’s “I Capture the Castle.”