Review, Books for mummies and daddies(and teens!)

Okay, I've reviewed a few books for children, but while they're reading their books, YOU need something to read during these long winter nights we're going to start having probably fairly soon. (Here I go about winter and christmas again!) 
You can do two things on a long winter night 
1- Have sex
2- Read a good book.
I can't help with the first one, however I can lead you in the right direction for the latter! So, these are my favourite books that come in a series. (In no particular order)


Patrick Rothfuss - Kingkiller Chronicle
This is a fantasy trilogy about a boy named Kvothe ("Quothe", but with a 'V'). The books as divided into two different times of his life, the present, where he is telling his story in three days to 'The Chronicler), and the past, where most of the action happens! It's mainly based in the past though, of Kvothe's childhood and his university life and adventures. His childhood was with the Edema Ruh, who were wandering entertainers and were often despised. After a tragedy happens to this family he eventually ends up at the University studying a kind of magic called Sympathy and to find out more about his past. 
Although the books are not packed with action, they're extremely addictive to read, you become engrossed with Kvothe's story. There's a beautiful underlying love story that's full of drama and of course there's the evil villain you want to smack in the face.The first two books have been released:
The Name of the Wind - (Day one of Kvothe telling his story)
The Wise Mans Fear - (Day two)
and the third, The Doors of Stone,  is yet to have a release date though i'm waiting on tenterhooks! 


JK Rowling - Harry Potter series.
We all knew I was going to say it. So lets just get it out of the way! Books are always better than their movies, read these even if you've seen the movies! 


Jean M Auel - Earth's Children Series
There are pro's and con's to this series. It's set in a pre-historic time, before neanderthal's died out and begins with a five year old cro-magnon girl named Ayla. She loses her family in an earthquake, is nearly killed by a cave lion and is on the verge of death when a neanderthal clan happen across her and accept her into their family, although never fully as she looks so 'ugly' to them.  Eventually she's turned away from the clan, left to leave her son behind and find her own people again. In time she makes friends with animals and then with another cro-magnon male called Jondalar. The rest of the story is their journey back to his home and the different type of people/clans then encounter along the way. Although the story is quite entertaining, creative and very well researched, I think the series could have been cut down by about 300 pages+. So many times the author decided to tell me some facts about how the world was then and how it's changed and how it will become etc. Occasionally it's interesting, but most of the time it felt like it was besides the point. Apart from that flaw I found it a very interesting read. The books come in six parts:
The Clan of the Cave Bear
The Valley of Horses
The Mammoth Hunters
The Plains of Passage
The Shelters of Stone
The Land of Painted Caves


Trudi Canavan - Black magician/Traitor spy trilogy
Sonea, a young slum girl, discovers that she has magical abilities during the city's annual Purge, in which slum-dwellers are forced out of the outer-circle of the city and back into the slums. She tries to evade the capture of the Guild Magicians with the help of her friend Cery. However she doesn't know she's a danger to herself and the people around her and catch her they do. The story then follows her through her learning, her troubles as the only slum girl at the school and eventually a very scary invasion. There is a love story in there too, falling for the one we least expect. The book is easy reading and quite un-put-downable! 
The Second trilogy is the story of Sonea's son, Lorkin as he travels with Lord Dannyl (one of my favourite characters!) in their search for answers on the past, mind reading, gems and baron wastelands. Sonea and Cery still make many appearances in these books as they are searching for a new rogue in the new city. It's not quite the same as the first series but still extremely interesting and i'm looking forward to the next book coming out! 
In The Black Magician Trilogy:
The Magicians Guild
The Novice
The Highlord


In the Traitor Spy Trilogy:
The Ambassadors Mission
The Rogue
The Traitor Queen (comes out in 2012)


Suzanne Collins -The Hunger Games Trilogy 
If you haven't yet heard of this trilogy then you're mental and go read it! One of my favourite ever book series! 
These books are set in a post-apolcalyptic North America which has been divided into 12 different districts, with each area having a different job. Ie, Coal mining for district 12, which is where our main character comes from. With Capital being the materialistic, money mad, fashon crazy city who created an annual event to remind the districts they should not uprise against them again! Every year, a girls name and a boys name is picked from a draw, and they are sent into an arena to battle it out to the death. Katniss Everdeen, volunteers to replace her sister who's name was drawn, along with Peeta Mellark, a cute, friendly and lovable boy who's loved Katniss since he laid eyes on her. Then, all hell breaks lose!!! I don't really want to ruin it for you so i'll stop there and just say, It's amazing. And read it :)
A movie is set to be released sometime next year I think. With actors/actress' such as; Jennifer Lawrence, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Wes Bentley, Lenny Kravitz and Jack Quaid. (Yes, Dennis Ruddy Quaid's son!)
The books in Order are:
The Hunger Games
Catching Fire
Mockingjay


Phillip Pullman-His Dark Materials
You may have seen the movie for the first book from Phillip Pullman called The Golden Compass. Needless to say, the books are much better, go into a lot more depth and is much more creative and fun to read than it is to watch the movie. 
So, it's a fantasy trilogy consisting of 
The Northern Lights
The Subtle Knife
The Amber Spyglass
The books are mainly about a wild young girl, called Lyra Belaqua, as she wanders through parallel universes. There are talking animals, armored bears and a lot of sciencey stuff made simple, Thank goodness. It's a little too complicated to write a brief description while trying not to give it all away. But read these books and you will not be disappointed.


And finally!


Darren Shan Series
The Darren Shan series is now in manga form as it's so popular with younger boys, but I very much enjoyed these books when I was a bit younger (haven't read them in a while) I found them in the Teen Fiction area of my local Waterstones and found I actually quite liked it. The story is about a teenage boy called Darren Shan, him and his friends visit a Cirque du Freak (freak show) one night against his parents wishes. There, they see a man perform with a giant spider, who is revealed to actually be a Vampire. Darren gets himself into a sticky situation and ends up bargaining with the vampire. Think teen wolf for vampires. Although it seems like a very childish book, at times it can be quite gruesome, bloody and scary. I absoloutely loved the ending to this book too. Such a simple twist but I put the last book down with a smile on my face :) It's funny, realistic(kind of) and terrifying! 


So that's it! my favourite series'. Yes, I noticed i missed a few you probably love.
Christopher Paolini books
Twilight series
CS Lewis Narnia books
Game of Thrones books
Suki Stackhouse
etc etc.
But they're not my absolute favourites.


I really hope you get these books and that you enjoy them as they've certainly kept me company when i'm not 'getting any'. Enjoy!




Have I included your favourite book series? Or is there one I'm missing out on out there?
Comment below to let me know.


Books And Babies