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[Niku]

I have not seen this newfangled movie thing, but on a whim I downloaded the first Percy Jackson book because I was feelin' like re-reading Harry Potter without actually re-reading Harry Potter.  And jeez louise

okay so yeah kid who is magic check
smart friend-who-is-a-girl check
goofy friend-who-is-a-boy check
mean rival at magical place of learning check
place of learning has house for smart people, for mean people, for everyday people check
cannot say names of powerful beings check
invisibility device check
obvious villain who is not the villain check
previous evil thought to be vanquished trying to come back check
required to stay with terrible not-real-parent every summer to stay safe check
i think that's all i can remember

It's easy to call shameless shenanigans on this shit, even with some of it just being general archetypes, except .. supposedly the manuscript was actually done in 1994, and was ready to be published in 1997.  It just didn't actually get out until 2005, making it look like the most horrible rip-off that ever ripped-off ever.

Anyway I just thought it was kind of funny, and it was an effortlessly breezy read and I am pretty amiable towards almost anything involving Greek mythology so I picked up the second one as well.  Barring some random flying off the rails I see myself just plowing through this entire series over the next several work shifts.

[Miss Cat Ears]

Have you read the Chronicles of Chrestomanci?  I really enjoyed them.

[Zach]

I read most of the Chresomanci books at one point, maybe. I just wikipedia'd them and didn't recognize much of what I read.

It did remind me of my fondness for Dianna Wynne Jones's other works though, so it worked out in the end.

[Niku]

as expected, the movie is poop.  But also, Uma Thurman.

[Miss Cat Ears]

I read most of the Chresomanci books at one point, maybe. I just wikipedia'd them and didn't recognize much of what I read.

It did remind me of my fondness for Dianna Wynne Jones's other works though, so it worked out in the end.

What's funny is, I distinctly remember reading and loving them, but when I went back to look at the descriptions online it didn't seem ANYTHING like what I remembered.


I also liked Inkheart and Inkspell so I was really excited for Inkdeath.  I couldn't get back into it, though, so I never read more than a couple of pages.

[Zach]

What's funny is, I distinctly remember reading and loving them, but when I went back to look at the descriptions online it didn't seem ANYTHING like what I remembered.

Those books are wizard-books, they are!

I also liked Inkheart and Inkspell so I was really excited for Inkdeath.  I couldn't get back into it, though, so I never read more than a couple of pages.

The Inkheart trailer caught my attention, but then the movie got a poor review and held off on checking out the books. Let's say that I'm a fan of books about precious young wizards (So, You Want to be a Wizard, Abarat, Boy Wizbo, etc.) Is the book three disappointment something personal or something in the book itself?

[Miss Cat Ears]

Um, I adore Abarat.  I wish he would write more, but I heard that they were for his daughter and now she is too old.  Sad.

Inkheart and Inkspell were really fun and iirc well written for translated novels and held my attention.  I thought the movie was actually a great adaptation, but the story itself is a book for and about people who LOVE reading, so it is better in book format.  I think the wait of a couple of years between reading the first two back-to-back and the third one being published was what kept distracting me.  I would need to reread the first two in order to remember everything that happened.

[Zach]

It sounds like Arabat has been plagued by some nasty delays, but the bottom of this page has more evidence that the books are continuing than, say, the standard Duke Nukem Forever report.

On the other hand, he looks ready to engage in a spot of murdering.

[Miss Cat Ears]

you're my hero this is the greatest news I've heard in 3.7 years

[MarsDragon]

Diana Wynne Jones is one of my favourite YA authors, though she really has trouble with endings. I can think of very few books of hers that had actual, satisfying endings. The rest of the book is usually good enough to forgive that.