Help a new Reader!!!

[Highlander II]

If you've been rec'd Alera, you should also try Jim Butcher's other series - The Dresden Files. Wizards and faeries and vampires, oh my!

There are sample chapters for both Alera and Dresden on Jim Butcher's website-> jim-butcher.com if you want to 'test the waters' before jumping in head first!

[ironvelvet]

Hey, lucky you to be just beginning...

I love Harry Potter too and for me that's down to the characters and the pace (cause when you re-read them after a year or two of solid fantasy/SF reading you'll see that originality is not their strongest asset).

So I would recommend Anne McCaffrey, both her Pern books, alien planet/dragons/medieval life and her science fiction Damia etc -steer well clear of Acorna to preserve your mental health.

Also, because I suspect you quite like a setting that is familiar enough to reality to add piquancy to the fantasy element, I'm going to suggest Julian May's Golden Torc series, which is incredible, both historical and futuristic, with depth and imagination and humanity.

PS. Robert Jordon will break your heart. If it is already too late then please, please get them from the library and save yourself some money. Rescue something from the wreckage

[jay220]

I'm not sure if you have ever gotten into graphic novels or manga at all, but I just finished looking at a copy of Yoshitaka Amano's new book Mateki: The Magic Flute. The story is based on an opera by Mozart called, Die Zauberflöte. It tells the story in full color illustration about a prince battling evil to rescue his princess. With this new graphic novel he wonderfully crafts a story full of his visionary artworks. This is a book that will be a classic and I would definitely recommend it to any one who is looking for a new book to pick up.