A post I made in a Tumblr Drama thread accidentally caused the whole thread to devolve (evolve?) into a discussion about books we read as kids and other stuff, so here's a thread to officially discuss these things! I believe the latest topics of conversation were Artemis Fowl, Septimus Heap, Keys to the Kingdom, and Charlie Bone. Is there any way for mods to move that conversation over here?
I was going to add once this thread existed that I also memorized the Artemis Fowl fairy alphabet. It didn't stick in my head long-term as well as Futhark, though. :::PPP
i recall there also being some kind of animated series on tv for deltora quest at some point in time? i never watched, but i'm pretty sure it happened
Hi, all the young adult book posts in that drama thread have filled me completely with nostalgia. Well heck, thanks for reminding me this series was a thing y'all, now I have to finish it. I don't remember the becoming the new architect deal, I just remember all the magic being really conceptual and BS, and the situation being horribly unfair.
Oh man.... I'm about to try to sleep but this thread is calling to me Super nostalgia series: Magic treehouse goosebumps Deltora quest septimus heap the Wayside books Uhh anything by gordan korman The royal diary books!! man I devoured those when I was wee okay. okay it's 2am time for SLEEPING
Deltora Quest was the shit and yes it had an anime. The anime was pretty ok from what I recall? I was always surprised there even was one because it's not like it was that big of a series from what I recall? Some of my favorite books were those choose your own scare Goosebumps things. Especially the latter ones. There was one about like a museum or something. It had a map and there were like lists of tools you could pick up and such through the book. I was also really found of A Series of Unfortunate Events as a kid. I really loved the narration in those books and I loved learning new words. I also loved the confusing nature of the time period it takes place in? A Series of Unfortunate Events has a very surreal sort of anachronicity to it that I like a lot. I think one of my favorite things though was the bleak but humorous tone of the books. I had an abusive childhood full of lots of moving and untrustworthy or neglectful adults, so the books meant a lot to me as a kid. Sometimes it felt like all I really had was my brother.
Oh man, can I just talk about Septimus Heap for a second? Like, I don't know how Angie Sage did it, but I distinctly remember picturing the city perfectly, and it was like those gritty movies where they desaturate the color to give it a darker feel to it? (I mean now I know that's what it was, at the time I just thought they looked grim) Well I have no idea how, or why, but every time one of those books ended, it was like the color saturation got a bit brighter. I've never felt as satisfied as I did when they made this massive spell that undid a million tiny little problems in everyone's everyday life that were all caused by this evil sort of miasma that you felt like you've been trudging through yourself as you were reading it and they just cleaned it out. It was so refreshing, just. WOW. Or maybe I was an overimaginative kid. Either one, really.
SCREECHES Pendragon was my jAM not even gonna lie, I love finding other people who have read them because it feels like the series is way more unknown than it should be? I just. Love them so much. And I gotta give them serious props for having a villain that actually scared the shit out of me. Evil shapeshifter that could be pretending to be your best friend? NO THANKS NOPE NOPE Ahhhhhhh anyways, as for other books... I was super into Warrior Cats too. Like, to the point where I was part of a Warriors Roleplay guild on Neopets. Which I eventually ended up leading. I was a super nerd. sometimes I still catch myself accidentally typing "meowed" instead of "said" in RPs, and my girlfriend will never let me live down the one time I didn't fix it in time Was the bat series you were talking about the one about prehistoric bats or was that a different one? Because there was one about prehistoric bats and it was super cool. I also really love the Bartimaeus trilogy. It has a snarky demon(? I can't remember if he was actually a demon or if he was a djinn) who, because he was non-human, could think multiple thoughts at a time, but the only way to convey this was through footnotes. Which he complained about regularly. It was great. He was so, so snarky. Hrmmm... I can't remember any other books that I really loved off the top of my head, other than Harry Potter which obvs has its own thread...
OH GOD whenever at the end of a book the character you had learned to trust the most and the character you most hated were both Saint Dane? And you NEVER saw it coming?! Creepiest, most terrifying villain. Ever. Like, there was a point where I was legit wondering if Mark was Saint Dane.
Towards the end of the series I got pretty good at guessing who Saint Dane was, but. Man. Black Water messed me up because of that exact reason. I did not see that one coming and it killed me, oh my god. Saint Dane is the single reason that Shapeshifters freak me the fuck out. Every time I see anything going "shapeshifting would be such a cool power!" I'm just like. No. Nooooooooo Do Not Want. Man, if Mark had been Saint Dane, though. That would've been awful. You mentioned the books getting preachy at points, though? I'm just curious, I never picked up on those points, but that might've been because my gauge for "this is preachy" is a bit... skewed... thanks to my family--but anyways, what points sounded preachy?
there's one book in the silverwing series, the series with bat hell, about prehistoric bats so i think it is. and yes, bartimaeus trilogy! :D:D:D
Which one was Black Water again? *Googles* Oh. That one. I didn't remember the title for some reason. *shudders* Anyway yeah, The Quillan Games I felt was specifically anti-capitalistic preachy, where Blok was clearly based off of Wal-Mart. The others were okay. Except for maybe Reality Bug, where it could be interpreted as a version of "kids need to go outside more!" but that's... a stretch. (Speaking of Quillan... Nevva. Just, Nevva.) EDIT: I really liked the message at the end, where Spoiler: spoiler for the final book at the end of Warriors of Halla, what ultimately defeats Saint Dane is the fact that humans, no matter how privileged or how much they're taught to feel superior to those around them, are just naturally kinder people than what he thinks they are. That ending changed my entire outlook on humanity.
oh my god yes, i loved this series. it was like, the best kind of meta with the whole books being about books that make you travel wherever the writing makes you imagine until the story's over. i also really liked these as a kid: the narnia series (especially the magician's nephew) junie b jones the devil and tom walker and other short stories ( i was a bit weird as a kid) the star wars: xwing series the han solo trilogy (great series, do recommend) captain underpants astrokids treasure island the lost world ... i started fading out of reading stuff that wasn't fanfics at about 12-13, so most of my most nostalgic stuff is from younger than that. that said, i was a really early reader so even when i was like 7 i was already reading "grownup" stuff (like classic literature and star wars series). i actually didn't start reading things that should have been for my age group at 7 until i was 11 or 12. s' kinda funny i suppose.
I still have the entire Pendragon series on the shelf next to my computer. I love Saint Dane as a villain. I haven't seen that level of sheer paranoia fuel in anything since. The different worlds were also great. Young Wizards, Artemis Fowl, Series of Unfortunate Events, Animorphs, Harry Potter and Redwall were the defining series of my childhood. I still fucking love Young Wizards and Animorphs.
YES HI HELLO I LOVE THAT SERIES SO MUCH HOLY SHIT Spoiler: spoilers even if the ending pissed me off intensely >8/
Yesss that's Unwind all right. And the main character was shipped off for being a rebellious little shit but there was also a kid who was sent as a tithe and that's the one that really freaked out my mom.
Also I was actually really into Pony Pals at one point. Completely seriously and in no relation to Homestuck, which didn't even exist yet.
