And ducks are modern-day dinosaurs, so two of them are … wait for it … TOPICAL!

I saw he's started up the Wizard series focusing on the oldest son, but I gave the first one a chance and the magic was gone.

Ooh, right.

Sometimes librarians can be tricksy. Anything to get readers …

By junior high school, kids are probably supposed to be able to deal with more than just fluff. E.g., Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, Romeo & Juliet.

Oh, no, it was my misreading!

Hmm. I've been thinking about picking up Steelheart … I didn't think that (based on its preview chapter) was particularly 'hidden magical world', though… isn't it about a world overrun with supervillains?

Don't cross the streams!

I really disliked it. A smarminess about its 4th wall references to Narnia didn't help, but it was essentially Catcher in the Rye crossed with Harry Potter; that may have helped it catch on as almost "literary" fiction, but it felt to me like it was reliant on the cheap trick of juxtaposing alcohol, cigarettes, sex,…

You mean like a sauve private dick.

In what other fantasy series do you find any character as fond of a Mustache as Sturm Brightblade? That's honestly one of the most memorable parts of the series for me, for the novelty factor if nothing else.

That was basically my opinion, until there was a scene with Cersei and her handmaiden, which to me seemed like it had crossed a line into overwhelming gratuity. Since then, when I go back, I feel like Cersei feels much less substantial.

How did I not know about the Blair of the Month club?

Counterpoint: Cersei.

Two things bugged me about the Warlock series: the first books are so very tonally different (science fiction, connecticut yankee in king arthur's court) from the latter (complete fantasy settings). Looking at the time line, it may be as simple as the first two books were published around 1970 and the rest started…

I remember being really let down by the story, because the title is so awesome.

These pun threads have grown out of control!

I'm not sure Clark would agree.

You can change it to be oldest first. In firefox, for example, click on the monkey at the top; user script commands; [Disqus Click Automate] Configuration