Thursday 19 June 2008

Once Upon a Time challenge wrap-up

Okay, well, it's time to wrap-up a challenge and it's Carl's Once Upon a Time II.



What a lot of fun it's been. Not only reading my own books but also reading other people's reviews and adding recommendations to my 'keep an eye out for' list. In fact I found one of those at the library this morning - River Secrets by Shannon Hale. I know a lot of people were very excited about her writing during the challenge so I'm really looking forward to trying this author's work.

Anyway, as usual I'm digressing. This is the quest I was attempting for the challenge:

Quest the First:

Read at least 5 books that fit somewhere within the Once Upon a Time II criteria. They might all be fantasy, or folklore, or fairy tales, or mythology…or your five books might be a combination from the four genres.

The books I read were:

The Wee Free Men
A Hat Full of Sky
Wintersmith

All by Terry Pratchett of course.

Assassin's Quest - Robin Hobb
Dragons of Autumn Twilight - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

These five were from my list of nine but I also read two extra books which were:

Fragile Things - Neil Gaiman
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents - Terry Pratchett

It seems I had a bit of a Terry Pratchett fest and I'll admit it, I did. But it was great, I loved it. It was so nice to discover that a series of his that I thought was not for me was, in fact, fantastic. The truth is I loved all of the books I read but if I had to choose *one* favourite it would have to be Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb.

I'd like to thank Carl for hosting this challenge, and I'm already planning what to read for the RIP challenge in the Autumn - it can't come quickly enough!

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Yes, Shannon Hale is fantastic! However, River Secrets is the third in a series. You might want to start with The Goose Girl first.

DesLily said...

congrats on finishing!! (I had no doubts!) Because of you and a few others I finally got a copy of Anne of Green Gables! Plopped it in the TBR pile with all the others lol...

Ana S. said...

Congratulations on finishing the challenge! And what could be better than a Terry Pratchett fest?

About Shannon Hale, like Luli said, River Secrets is the third book in the Bayern series. I think the story would work well enough on its own, actually, but the problem with reading it first is that it will spoil the endings of the first two books.

Cath said...

Hi Luli. I feel really stupid because I just grabbed that SH book and ran, not thinking to check if it was part of a series. I thought it was a stand-alone. *sigh* Never mind, I'll check the library catalogue for The Goose Girl. I know they have Enna Burning but it's out at the moment.
Do you have a blog I can visit?

Thanks Pat! Oh, I think you'll like Anne of Green Gables. It's so charming and the setting of Prince Edward Island so lovely. It's just a gorgeous read. I must get to Anne of Avonlea soon too. Currently reading Eragon and loving it.

Thanks Nymeth. Yes, I feel pretty silly about River Secrets. I saw that beautiful cover and nabbed it. LOL. I'll get hold of a copy of The Goose Girl and Enna Burning asap. I've enjoyed my Terry Pratchett fest so much that I think it made the challenge special for me. I have a couple more Pratchetts lined up to read soon, including Monstrous Regiment and Truckers. :-)

DesLily said...

oh I read Eragon and Eldest.. i think I'm one of the few who enjoyed it lol.. I had a few minor problems in it but overall I liked both books and will get the 3rd book when it comes out this september.

Obviously I think I'll like Anne of Green Gables too lol..I really don't think I read much as a kid but I may have seen the old movie of it.

Anonymous said...

Great selection of books! Nothing better than overdosing on Pratchett.

I read Shannon Hale's The Goose Girl last year, and adored it. Am hoping to read more by her soon.

As you already know, I loved Assassin's Quest too. Great book, I'm really looking forward to the next two in the trilogy.

DesLily said...

cath: go leave a comment on carl's blog that you completed the challenge!

Cath said...

Thanks for the heads up, Pat. I didn't know whether you were supposed to let Carl know or not, so I did that yesterday.

Still enjoying Eragon, even though I'm not that far into it yet. Will borrow Eldest from my daughter at some stage. Have you seen the movie of Eragon. Pat?

Hi Quixotic! I clearly need to get The Goose Girl before I read River Secrets. There was me thinking I'd been really clever. ;-)

You won't be disappointed by the next two in the Assassin trilogy, I can promise you that. I actually think my favourite was the last one.

DesLily said...

yes, my brother has the movie.. it was good... i didn't especially like how they did the dragon though. (personal taste)

Robin said...

Congratulations on finishing this Challenge, Cath! Carl made it really a lot of fun this year, and I loved reading all the reviews -- so many of them!!

Cath said...

Hi Pat, I'll check out Amazon to see if I can get a good deal on the movie... might even check the library as they have a lot of films for hire.

Thanks, Robin. I must say this is one of the most enjoyable challenges I've done. Lots of new ideas for authors to try. Wonderful.