Study Buddies discussion

So I love YA Fantasy and The Study series esp. What else do you love in the same wonderful action-adventure-fantasy-romance genre?

I love Graceling by Kristin Cashore, Wildwood Dancing & Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier, Stardust by Neil Gaiman, A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth Bunce.

What do you recommend for Study Lovers?

I'm glad you mentioned Graceling because that's my book group's choice for next month. I picked up a copy back in May at the Book Expo and had wanted to read it ever since, but I kept putting it off. Now I'm really excited about reading it.

It's hard for me to say anything is like Poison Study because I love it so much. Nothing really compares. Besides the obvious Twilight, I would suggest Nobody's Princess and Inkheart. Inkheart's one of my favorites. Also, if you're an adult and okay with a little sexual content, Smoke Thief might be worth reading. I'm not usually a fan of titles that are shelved as romance, but there's a lot of interesting fantastical things about this story... But like I said, nothing really compares with Poison Study, except perhaps Pride and Prejudice (far reaching I know).

Books mentioned in this post:
[image error] [image error] [image error]

I think, if you enjoyed the aspect of the Study Series that it does not focus only on romance, that Flora Segunda is a pretty good magical adventure book. I also liked, though I did not love, The Alchemyst by Michael Scott.

Friends suggested Dune and Well of Darkness, the latter of which I have not yet started. I have to say Dune was a very different experience from reading Maria V. Snyder, but I got a similar thrill!

I have not yet read it but I think The Name of the Wind would be a good post-Study book.

Thanks for the suggestions.

JANE - I'm sure you'll love Graceling. I think its the best 2008 release! It was so great I bought a signed copy in hardcover to go with my ARC. Graceling is what made me want to read Poison Study. I really wasn't into the high-fantasy genre before I read it. It's spectacular and on my re-read list!

I've been thinking checking out about Nobody's Princess & Smoke Thief. I'll be sure to add them to my reserve list along with Inkheart.

I've read the Twilight Saga and P&P. Shockingly, I'm not an Austen fan. I think I might have read it when I was too young, so I didn't get the humor & the wordiness overwhelmed me.

ALETHEA - I've never even looked into Flora Segunda, The Alchemyst, Well of Darkness, or Name of the Wind. I'll have to check them out. Thanks for the suggestion!

E., That's ok. I know a lot of people who don't like P&P, and many who do. It's pretty much 50/50. Most people I know who really like the Bronte sisters don't like Austen. I'm the opposite. I really love Austen (Northanger Abbey is my second favorite next to P&P), but I'm not a big fan of the Brontes. The only reason I suggest it is that Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy's relationship reminds me a little of Yelena and Valek.

On another note, has anyone read Princess Ben or any other Luna books? I've been thinking that they might be like Poison Study.

I enjoyed "Princess Ben" and so did my teenage daughter. I also enjoyed "Flora Segunda" and "Dune", but not "Smoke Thief". My favorite Neil Gaiman so far is "Neverwhere", but that may not be exactly in this category. How about "Princess Bride"?

These aren't young adult books necessarily, but a couple of books/series I've read that I would put in the same or similar genre to the Study books would be
The Aspect of Crow trilogy by Jeri Smith Ready---Eyes of Crow, Voice of Crow, The Reawakened
The Truth series ---First Truth, Hidden Truth, Forgotten Truth and Lost Truth---and the Princess books---The Decoy Princess, Princess at Sea---by Dawn Cook
Daughter of Exile and its sequel (can't remember the name---maybe Crown of Exile?)by Isobel Glass
They are all fantasies set in imagined worlds with lots of adventure and a touch (or more) or romance. And like Jane, I really like Inkheart as well.
Happy Reading!
Kim

I absolutely recommend Sharon Shinn's series
called The Twelve Houses. The first one is Mystic and Rider. This series has the same feel as the Study novels. In fact, all her books feel similar to the Study books and they are great world building fantasy like the Study books. She is a long time favorite of mine. Don't be put off by the Archangel series set on another planet because it is still fantasy. This is another series by Sharon Shinn.
ALso, Tamora Pierce has some series that are wonderful and have a strong female heroine.
The Song of the Lioness quartet and the First Knight quartet especially. All her series are set on the same world but at different times. She tends to write in series of four. Amazon has these in order since there are so many of them. They are great reading as well.

Jane - So funny that mention Austen vs. Bronte fans. I'm Bronte all the way.

Lee Ann - Princess Bride is a classic and a true favorite.

Kim - I'll have to investigate your suggestions. I also love a series, so your suggestions really hit home! There's just more to love.

Pumpkin - Archangel is in my to be read pile. And I'm glad to see your Tamora Pierce recommendation. I almost bought that one yesterday, but decided to wait until I knew more about it.

A more contemporary series with a great, well constructed female protagonist is the Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Biggs. I'll have to check out Graceling.

A girl named Jeannie (yes, she has light brown hair, like the ol' song) recommended Anne Bishop's Black Jewels series to me! I ordered a used copy of the omnibus version (just the first trilogy) because I didn't like the individual covers. They have old school fantasy artwork! I think I might design new covers for some of my books, like the Dragonlance Chronicles... I think I am going to change one of my previous topics to Book Covers, since I can go on about that subject for-ever!

I have to agree with those who suggested Tamora Pierce, I reallylike all of her books. In fact those books are the reason I picked up the Study Books. I would also recommend Alison Croggon' Pellinor series with three books out now and fourth due in March.

Oh, I forgot about Nina Kiriki Hoffman. We read A Fistful of Sky for our Sci/fan group. So very good. I have a bunch of hers listed but have not read anymore yet.

I would really recommend Garth Nix. His Abhorsen Trilogy is amazing. Very strong female leads and a very interesting world. The first book, Sabriel was my favorite. Book two, Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr does not have exactly the same characters in it. The Sabriel characters are all much older and the main character is now Lirael. Then in Abhorsen, the final book, all the characters come together. It is YA fiction, but every adult I know who has read them loves them. I will warn though that there is little on the romance side. There is a tiny romance, but it's more of the Harry Potter variety, chaste and very secondary to the main story.

I also really like The Veil of Gold by Kim Wilkins. It's a really good story that weaves Russian folklore into modern day St. Petersburg.

I haven't read all of Tamora Pierce's books. But I did read Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen. I really enjoyed them.

I loved Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. I also loved Stardust. Both books are excellent.

I would also recommend The Eight by Katherine Neville. It's a fantastic story about a mysterious chess set. It flips in and out of Revolutionary France and 70's New York and Middle East. I understand Katherine Neville is writing a sequel to this book coming out in October called The Fire.

Oh, and Quietus by Vivian Schilling is also an excellent book. It's a bit macabre but excellent nonetheless.

A series that came to mind when i read Poison Study was 'The Guardians of Time' Trilogy, by Marianne Curly. It's not exactly the same type or anything, the writing is just similar.

an author that i would recommend is Michelle Sagara she wrote the Chronicles of Elantra, and the first book in the series is Cast in Shadow. I enjoyed these books emensely. I'm currently reading the third book, and I can't wait for the fourth one to come out!

I don't think that anyone has mentioned Court Duel and Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith yet. They are YA fantasy. I loved them and they sort of have some of the same elements as the Study books.

I didn't look through all other posts yet but try Ugly/Pretties/Specials by Scott Westerfield (those are three different books). They are more futuristic but good. As with the Study series, I found the first book to be the best and then gradually decreasing in "goodness" for me in book two and then three. But I still enjoyed the series.

I've also heard good things about A Great and Terrible Beauty (that is the first book). Sorry I don't know author.

Libba Bray--I haven't gotten around to her yet, but she's on my list.

I enjoyed A Great and Terrible Beauty but not the sequels

I can't seem to get past the first chapter of Scott Westerfeld's books. Too much high school slang for my taste.

I really love Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. It's a time-travel romance. The book starts off a little slow, but is a great read!

Oh my gosh, now that you mention Outlander, I can't believe I went this long without gushing about The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger--although very much outside of what most fantasy authors write about (it's set in modern times), there is a very distinct sci-fi/fantasy type of mythology to it. It's beautifully written and heartbreakingly sad.

In comparison I think I enjoyed Poison Study all the more after reading TTW because of the potentially heavy themes (rape, oppression, corruption, murder, betrayal, etc.) which end up getting tempered by the humor and adventure parts.

Michelle, I'll definitely bump Outlander up a little higher on my to-read list!

Mindy - I love the Abhorsen Trilogy, too. Nix is a genius. It was very different from anything I've ever read. Necromancy - who would have thought? The Eight has come off and on my to-read list a couple times. I keep going back and forth with it. It sounds like I need to shut up and commit. Thanks for the recommendation.

Alethea & Peanut - I recommend The Gemma Doyle Triology by Libba Bray. I think the writing is great & the characters are interesting. At times it's far-fetched, but it was easy to look past. I also really enjoyed the ending. It was HEA, but not exactly - I love that. I read where someone said that the two sequels are not as good as A Great and Terrible Beauty - I agree, but it's a compelling enough story to make you continue with the series. As a series I give it 4 stars.

Michelle - I've always heard people rave about Outlander and it's on my to-check-out-from-the-library list. :o) I'm sure I'll love it. It sounds right up my alley.

I am in so much trouble after reading these, How am I going to explain buying all these books to my hubby?

As for the books, I love INKHEART but I have yet to find a book that I have read as much as Poison Study.

love these books and just got the 4 can't wait to read it (Cast In Fury)

Meme - that's really funny. I'm on a book buying freeze from my husband too. The next book I can buy is Beedle the Bard in December! Really, I have enought to keep me busy until then, so I can't complain.

Thanks for the great suggestions. I have already started reading some of them. I love books that have strong female protaganists. I liked the Gemma Doyle Trilogy that was mentioned earlier. The first book was the best. I really like Robin McKinley's modern retellings of fairytales.

I really like Jane Yolen's pit dragon series and Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest. Both are chock full of magic, mythical creatures and characters its fun to love (or hate, depending on the character!)

I hope my hubby never reads this thread! He may start to think it's ok to press the pause button on my book-buying habit ;) He is already starting to notice the second layer of books forming behind the ones that are pulled out to the lip of the shelf... darn Ikea shelves with open sides!

I have already picked up Curse of Chalion, the Black Jewels trilogy and Book 1 of Sharon Shinn's Twelve Houses... right after my next art history test, I'm going to read, read, read!

Tina - I really love the Enchanted forest series too! Cimonerene is a great protag. I've only read the 1st 2, but my box set is coming this week and I can't wait. They're middle grade reading, but I still love them.

Alethea - I've started Shinn's Samaria series (and if half.com would deliver the rest of the books, I'd be glad to finish it). Anyway, I love her style & characters. I'll have to check out Black Jewels.

PS - I've started hiding all of my mass market paperpacks under the bed. He never looks there. :o) Some gals to shoes, some gals to purses, I do books (I think it's more economical).

Try the E-books you can fit more in them and they never know, on one card you can fit 160 books, it very nice.

I have already ordered INKDEATH (the last in the INKHEART series, and Beetle the Bard from the book store, maybe he won't notice a couple more, (hope there not to big)

Another series that I love though not the same as poison study are the CODEX ALERA series by Jim Butcher.

I'll also have to check out the Enchanted forest series (see y'all are getting me in more trouble, what is a girl to do.)

I can't believe I didn't think of suggested the Libba Bray books before! I really like those, although it can be hard to relate to the characters sometimes
I like Scott Westerfield's first two books, but two months after I started, I still haven't finished the third, so...
Those of you who are trying to hide books, ask for a digital book for Christmas. They often come with a gift card for buying e-books to load onto it, so you get a bunch of books right off the bat. Plus your "books" fit into your purse. no hiding needed.

I know, my hubby has this techie thing against buy first-generation electronics so I'm hoping the 3rd-gen (I think this is the 3rd coming out soon) Sony Reader will pass muster with him! I have my heart set on a chocolate-brown or hot-pink cover too ;)

Of course he's also got his eye on the next-gen iPhone... maybe it will be an even trade for Christmas!

Jennifer Rardin's Jaz Parks books are really great. There are currently four out(in order):
[image error] [image error] [image error]

I second the Elantra series, Black Jewels, and any Tamora Pierce (I enjoy the Magic Circle Books thebest however).

Princess Ben was okay, as was Curse Dark as Gold. The Gemma Doyle Books (A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels and The Sweet Far Thing) were...good, but I think I wanted a happy-happy ending. Some of the 'outtakes' on the author's LJ however were hilarious fun.

Shannon Hale is fun and I really do enjoy Sharon Shinn's Twelve Houses books. Another one that is good is Dagger-star by Elizabeth Vaughan . But that's not much like Poison Study, just enjoyable fun XD

Lexie - I've though seriously about grabbing the Jaz Parks books, but I have prejudice against bad names – Jaz is a bad/trite/terrible name. (Digression – I almost screamed out loud when Edward called Jasper Jazz in Breaking Dawn – Really!)

I just bought Tamora Pierce’s Daughter of the Lioness duology. Can’t wait to read it.

Thanks for the recommendations. I love exhausting a genre!

Oh! If you're going to read Daughter of the Lioness, you have to read the rest of the stories! Tamora Pierce is such a good author, I love her books.

E--I understand where you're coming from, the name 'Jaz' is like the name 'Buffy' to some folks--how do you take that seriously? To the book's credit she is also called 'Jasmine' half the time (mostly by her partner Vayl) as well as a number of insults by the bad guys XD

Also I heartily reccommend reading the 'Protector of the Small' series when you are done with the duology. The heroine is a pupil (of sorts) of Alanna's and quite awesome. The Magic Circle books will always be my favorites however.

I love Tamora Pierce's Alanna series and the rest that deal with that world. I have not read the Magic Circle books though. I really am loving the Inkheart Trilogy: Inkheart, Inkspell, and Inkdeath. Also, my other favorite books are by Kristen Britain - Green Rider, First Rider's Call, and The High King's Tomb. I also love the Vlad Taltos series by Steven Brust. You can read them in any order and the combined books are not in chronological order. I started the series by reading The Book of Jhereg.

I have the Inkheart Trilogy waiting to be read, I read part of the Green Rider, but I remember it not being interesting (though I read it so many years ago my tastes have changed so I should give it another shot). I've been on a real 'older' fantasy series kick. I'm reading Darkchild right now (with Book 2:Bluesong and Book 3: Starsilk on order), Joyce Balou Gregorian's Tredana Trilogy was read a few months ago (Book 1:The Broken Citadel, Book 2: Castledown and Book 3: The Great Wheel), I'm trying to find all of Karen Ripley's Slow World Books (Book 1:The Persistence of Memory, Book 2: The Warden of Horses and Book 3: Alchemist of Time, hilari Bell's Farsala trilogy (Book 1:Fall of a Kingdom, Book 2: Rise of a Hero and Book 3: Forging the Sword) is good political fun and Pamelda Dean's Secret Country Books are always fun(Book 1: (Book 1:The Secret Country, Book 2: The Hidden Land, and Book 3: The Whim of the Dragon).

Another random book I remember loving... is called A Brother's Price by Wen Spencer. I also love the Kim Harrison books - the first one is called Dead Witch Walking. A little bit of a different genre, but it's a great, funny series.

The Hunger Games is a must read. Imagine Yelena hiding in a tree and expand that scene 20x, then add some deaths here and there-- That's Hunger Games. More serious, but not TOO serious.

I'll have to check it out!

OK I am going to have to quit reading this group because my NOT to by least is getting very long and some is going start noticing it before I DON'T go out and buy them.

Have any of you read the War Prize by Elizabeth Vaughan?

Yes I love Dagger-star, got it not long after it came out.

I'm with Meme. If I keep reading this thread, I'm going to have 1000 good books waiting to be read. It's so good to have good suggestions, but do bad for my productivity otherwise.
I already have Hunger Games on hold at the library and have only read good reviews of it. I can't wait until it filters down to me. I'm #5 on the list. sigh.

Meme I'm lucky enough to be part of a reviewer group so I got dagger-star as a review and was like 'NEED MORE PLEASE' the next book, White Star, is due out I think in first quarter 2009.

I need to get the first trilogy however!

lol my amazon wishlist is literally 1000 books strong and as soon as I subtract 12 I add another 20 XD

I'm a little behind on the bookshelf, guys! Do me a favor, if you know how to edit your post, and if you didn't already put the "book:" tags in there, please do so--it makes it a bit easier for me to spot the book titles when you mention them in your posts. If you already did, thanks! That's awesome!!

If you look at your post and you need to add the book: link, look on the lower right of your post and there should be a little link that says "edit | delete". Click "edit" and it will let you change what you wrote.

To use the book link, click the link below right of the editing box that says "add book/author" and search for the book or author. Then hit the button that says add! Ta da!

XD Alethea let me tell you how happy I am that I marked all those books above then. I had a half hour of nothing to do at the time, but oiy the patience! I fall in and out of patience much too easily.