Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling

The first audiobooks I listened to are still my favorite - the Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling, read by Jim Dale. I've been waiting till the right time to post a review, and even now this is less of a review and more of a blog entry.

Some of my favorite childhood memories are of when I was little and my older sister and I would lay in my parent's waterbed and my dad would read to us The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I loved his voices as he read the three trolls arguing over how to cook the dwarves, as Bilbo taunted the giant spiders that had captured his friends, while he busily dispatched them with Sting, his short sword, and as he risked enchantment by dragonspeech to find Smaug's weakness. It takes me back to childhood every time I read the book, and for this reason, it will always be my favorite single work of fiction.

Well, now I have five sons, and it's my turn to carry the baton. As each successive son has reached the point where he can follow a complex story without pictures being read to him (usually around age 5) I've read the Harry Potter series to them and the next older brother has followed along for school credit. It's always so much fun for all of us. Tonight I finished reading book 7 to my now 6-year old son. As we read the part where Neville takes up Griffindor's sword, and then when Harry cast "expelliarmus" at Voldemort, my cute boy was so excited he stood up in bed and hooted and cheered.

There's not much that I enjoy more than escaping into a good work of fiction, and it is one of those choice experiences of parenting to get to share that with my kids. Thanks, J.K. Rowling, for writing such an amazing series of wholesome, rich, enthralling, and engaging books to teach our children the joys of reading.

It's so much fun to me to share this with my kids

Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey

I started reading this series of books in Middle School. The author calls them science fiction, but really I think they have a lot more in common with fantasy - it takes place on a world colonized by earth, but that lost contact thousands of years before. Without modern technology, an agrarian society with the apprentice system is set up. Dragons are basically indigenous creatures that people team with to protect from a sort of deadly rain that comes around every 200 years... Sounds strange huh? They're fun books though. Anne McCaffery was the first woman to win the Hugo award because of this series of books, the Dragonriders of Pern. I enjoy the theme of rediscovering as the characters unearth more history and background - something that always makes books more interesting to me. The characters are fun and well written, and the dragons are dang cool. You can't help but want your own. I think part of my fascination with dragons comes from these books, and they're the standard against which I hold dragons in most other fiction. Christopher Paolini appears to have been highly influenced by the dragons in these books, for example.

The audiobook is good - Average production quality, no silly special effects or anything. As far as rating where children are concerned, again, probably PG-13, though not as much as Treason, the last book I reviewed.

Treason, by Orson Scott Card

"A Plantet Called Treason" was one of the first books by Orson Scott Card, and he later went back and edited it and published it again under the title, "Treason." I read this book as a teenager, before I knew who Orson Scott Card was. Every now and then as an adult I would try and remember the title of the this weird book about a planet where scientists were abandoned to pursue their area of expertise with their families, all of whom separated into clans, and bred/developed their knowledge till the genetecist could heal like Wolverine, the geologist could mold and shape stone, the demagogue could create the illusion of themselves as other people, the physicist could control the rate of travel through time around themselves. This is the background to the book. A few months ago it came back to mind, and I rediscovered the name and author of the book, so I decided to get it.

It's been a long time. Unlike most of Card's work, this book is more adventure and action and a plot that is physically interesting, instead of the psychological drama of the Ender quartet, or the political and intellectual intrigue of the Bean quartet. This one moves along and is fun. It's also quite interesting as far as a thought study on these powers people could develop if...

There is some sensuality in the book, though not explicitly sexual - more than I would like my 11-year old son to be exposed to, so I would suggest a strong PG-13 rating as a book.

The audio production is fine - one of the people who reads the Ender and Bean saga reads the whole book, as it's told from first-person perspective. All in all, a pleasant, intersting book. I'll give it 7 out of 10.

Redwall, by Brian Jaques

I've listened to this a couple of times, and read one of the other books in the series. Honestly, it's not my favorite. It's set in a world where animals act like humans, like Wind in the Willows, though unlike most fantasy books, it doesn't really have magic of any sort in it, or mythical creatures or anything. But that's not a plus or a minus. For me, it's just not that engaging to read it. The characters aren't that interesting. The plot, though fun, is not very interwoven like the Harry Potter books, but is more a series of adventures and action scenes. Basically, despite the adult-sized text and thickness of the book, the story is geared toward younger readers - 5-7 grade or so. My son in 5th grade LOVES the series. For him, it's a lot of fun. He's not so interested in things like round characters, character development, allegory, or thought provoking storyline, which you can find in books like the Harry Potter series or Chronicles of Narnia, for example, which, though written for younger readers, are engaging for adult readers as well.

The audio production is great - Brian Jaques himself does much of the narration, and there are actors and voices that make it a lot of fun as far as that is concerned, but it doesn't quite make up, in my opinion, for the plain and simple storyline. It's basically a kids book that doesn't cross over into adult levels of interest, and I find myself feeling like it's a chore to listen to it in-between more favored titles to avoid over-listening to them. Sorry, Brian Jaques.

Mistborn 3 - The Hero of Ages, by Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson did it again - not a disappointing end to the Mistborn Trilogy at all, and it's been the most exciting fantasy series I've come across since Harry Potter and Twilight. I'm usually pretty good at anticipating things, enough that a lot of stories seem predictable to me. I had lots of theories and predictions about this book, how it would wrap up the series, and they were, without exception, wrong! Which I think was awesome. The only author I've discovered who compares in his/her ability to interlink plot details, have unexpected twists, etc. is J.K.Rowling, and I can't give Sanderson much higher praise than that. Some of the things that happened gave me big AHA moments that were lots of fun.

As with the other books, the action is awesome. Allomancy is cool, and the battle sequences are awesome. You learn too about more about Ferrochemists and also about Hemalurgy, which is all unique to these books. Some of the details get a little macabre, so probably still PG-13.

I also love the characters in these books. They seem so real to me, with well developed personalities, and also with personal struggles and developments. This book especially shows Sazed and Elend as they deal with things that test their metal (haha - metal - ok so not funny unless you've read the books). As with the other books, the setting, subject matter, and way things are handled is original and amazing. Pretty much the only other thing I can think to say without spoiling anything is that you won't be left with much of anything unresolved in this one - only enough for Sanderson to someday write sequels, but they aren't needed to wrap up the series.

Top marks again for this one. Way to go, Brandon Sanderson, and thanks to Paul and Danny for recommending this series to me!

The Well of Ascension - Mistborn 2

Whoah! Yeah. Whoah. Not at all what I was expecting in The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. At all. If the first book of the Mistborn Trilogy, The Final Empire, hung on to fantasy genre stereotypes by a thread with an older mentor and an orphan hero with magical powers, that thread was cut completely as this book got going. Awesome story. As is often the case with trilogies, this is a darker story than the first, but full of unexpected twists and quite different from anything else I've ever read. The themes of betrayal, trust, love, belief, and friendship that were so important in the first book are back, the characters get more interesting (as if they weren't already so dynamic in the first book) and the things that happen, well, not at all what I was expecting.

One thing I have enjoyed a lot is the relationship/romance at the middle of this story. The romance doesn't take over the story like it kind of does in Stephenie Meyer books, or be simplified and silly like in Eragon and Eldest of the Inheritance trilogy, but is still critical to the plot, and the difficulties they have to overcome are, to me, very easy to identify with - thoughts about whether they deserve each other, each one trying to make self sacraficing decisions because of what they think is best for the other, etc. And it meshes seamlessly into the overall plot for a combined effect of me not being able to wait to find out what happens next.

As far as a production goes, I'm used to the reader now, though he's still no Jim Dale. I give it 5 out of 5 for story and 4 out of 5 for audio production for a 9 out of 10 total. The first book had some gore and violence that made me say early teen for age appropriateness. This book has a little more mature content including a libidinous bad guy so still probably PG13 or so.

Mistborn: The Final Empire, by Brandon Sanderson

I had heard good things about "Mistborn: The Final Empire and its sequels from my brothers, so I went into the experience with fairly high expectations. I think I got what I was expecting. It's not so cookie-cutter like a lot of fantasy is. Brandon Sanderson starts off with the question "what if the epic hero who was to overthrow the evil before it took over the world failed in his quest?" A thousand years later the world is not so pretty a place, and people are enslaved to the ruling class, and THEN a hero arises. That in itself wasn't enough to make a totally unique story line - it ended up kind of like Star Wars episode IV in some respects - you have an orphan hero who is awaken to latent powers the average person doesn't have, who rises from obscurity with a more experienced mentor who has suffered great personal loss to the evil ruler. So the basic framework is similar, but I was still pleasantly surprised with how it all came together. I think what made it more unique is the kind of powers this centers around - rather than your typical magic or dragons or the force or other such run-into-the-ground powers, this book centers on Allomancy - certain people can ingest metals and use powers the derive from them - some can have great strength, others hightened senses. Some can influence emotions, some can push or pull metals, and some can do all of it. That's just not something I've seen before, so it made it cool.

The audiobook production is not bad. I wasn't a huge fan of the reader at first - his tone seemed like he was trying to sound dry and witty all the time, but I got used to it pretty quickly and settled in to enjoy the story. He doesn't detract from the story like some do, but doesn't really add to it either. Still, all in all, an enjoyable book - probably 8 out of 10.