The rules (Yes there are rules):
1. Don't bitch and moan about somebodies choices.
2. Provide a short synopsis about the series, but keep it short. We don't like walls of text.
3. Even so much as slight spoilers? spoiler tags.
My choice:
[img]http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/leviathanusfinalsmall.jpg[/img]
It is the cusp of World War 1, and all the European Powers are arming up. The Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their Clankers, Steam-driven iron machines loaded with guns and ammunition. The British Darwinists employ fabricated animals as their weaponry. Their Leviathan is a whale airship, and the most masterful beast in the British fleet.
Aleksandar Ferdinand, Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battle-torn Stormwalker and a loyal crew of men.
Deryn Sharp is a commoner, a girl disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She is brilliant, but her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.
With the Great war Brewing, Alek's and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way, taking them both aboard the Leviathan on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure, one that will change both their lives forever.
Yes, it may sound stupid, but it was a great book. (Note: I took this straight from wikipedia, because I couldn't think of a good enough synopsis. :saddowns:)
(One more note: You can choose more than one.)
I'm not into series as much as just reading all books by one author. Right now I'm reading the Great Gatsby By F Scott. Fitzgerald.
The Dark Tower I-VII
Oh wait, synopsis. One sec.
OK, I can't do a synopsis. Shit's wild in those books.
The Dark Tower.
Roland and his homies search for The Dark Tower. Crazy shit goes down in a very crazy world.
[QUOTE=JesterUK;19304583]The Dark Tower.
Roland and his homies search for The Dark Tower. Crazy shit goes down in a very crazy world.[/QUOTE]
Thank you sir.
and Blaine is a fucking pain
His Dark Materials
A girl named Lyra becomes apart of a huge plot to wage war against god.
CHERUB
[img]http://www.cherubcampus.com/graphics7/brigandsfull.jpg[/img]
[editline]08:07PM[/editline]
It's an organization of 10-17 year olds that go on undercover missions, in this book ^^^ James (the main character) gets a motorbike and goes riding with the Brigands MC, Dante attempts revenge towards The Furher (head of the south devon brigands) and its basically just a pretty awesome book. The last of the series comes out next year.
The Discworld Series.
WRITE a synopsis? Fuck you, I'll just grab one of the nets, I can't wrap my head around it anyway.
Oh, and if you're planning to read through all of the 37 books, don't read this, as there's a few not-really-important spoilers.
[quote][highlight]Storylines[/highlight]
To a greater or lesser degree, Discworld stories stand alone as independent works set in the same fantasy universe. However, a number of novels and stories can be grouped together into grand story arcs dealing with a set number of characters and events. For the most part, the arcs occur in real time, with a year between publications equalling a year in the story. The main threads within the Discworld series are:
[B]Rincewind[/B]
Rincewind was the first protagonist of Discworld; a wizard with no skill, no wizardly qualifications and no interest in heroics. He is the archetypal coward, but is constantly thrust into extremely dangerous adventures. In The Last Hero he flatly states that he does not wish to join an expedition to explore over the edge of the Disc -- but, being fully geared for the expedition at the time, clarifies by saying that any amount of protesting on his part is futile, as something will eventually occur that will bring him into the expedition anyway. As such, he not only constantly succeeds to stay alive, but also saves Discworld on several occasions, and has an instrumental role in the emergence of life on Roundworld (Science of Discworld).
Other characters in the Rincewind story arc include: Cohen the Barbarian, an aging hero of the old fantasy tradition, out of touch with the modern world and still fighting despite his advanced age; Twoflower, a naive tourist from the Agatean Empire (inspired by cultures of the Far East, particularly Japan and China); and The Luggage, a magical, semi-sentient and exceptionally vicious multi-legged travelling accessory. Rincewind has appeared in six Discworld novels as well as the three [i]Science of Discworld[/i] supplementary books.
[B]Death[/B]
Death appears in every novel except [I]The Wee Free Men[/I], although sometimes with only a few lines, if any. As dictated by tradition, he is a seven-foot-tall skeleton with a black robe and a scythe who sits astride a pale horse (called Binky). His dialogue is always depicted in small caps, a trait that other characters often remark upon.
The anthropomorphic personification of death, his job is to guide souls onward from this world into the next. Over millennia in the role, Death has developed a fascination with humanity, even going so far as to create a house for himself in his personal dimension.
Characters that often appear with Death include his butler Albert; his granddaughter Susan Sto Helit; the Death of Rats, the part of Death in charge of gathering the souls of rodents; Quoth, a talking raven (a parody of The Raven); and the Auditors of Reality, personifications of the orderly laws of nature. Death or Susan appear as the main characters in five Discworld novels. He also appears in the short stories [I]Death and What Comes Next, Theatre of Cruelty[/I] and [I]Turntables of the Night[/I].
[B]The Witches[/B]
Witches in Pratchett's universe are largely stripped of their modern occultist, Wiccan associations (though Pratchett does frequently use his stories to lampoon such conceptions of witchcraft), and act as herbalists, adjudicators and wise women. That is not to say that witches on the Disc cannot use magic; they simply prefer not to, finding simple but cunningly applied psychology (often referred to as "headology", or sometimes "boffo") far more effective.
The principal witch in the series is Granny Weatherwax, who at first glance seems to be a taciturn, bitter old crone, from the small mountain country of Lancre. She largely despises people but takes on the role of their healer and protector because no one else can do the job as well as she can. Her closest friend is Nanny Ogg, a jolly, personable witch with the "common touch" who enjoys a smoke and a pint of beer. The two take on apprentice witches, initially Magrat Garlick, then Agnes Nitt, and then Tiffany Aching, who in turn grow on to become accomplished witches in their own right, or, in Magrat's case, Queen of Lancre.
Other characters in the Witches series include: King Verence II of Lancre, a onetime Fool; Jason Ogg, Nanny Ogg's eldest son and local blacksmith; Shawn Ogg, Nanny's youngest son who serves as his country's entire army; and Nanny's murderous cat Greebo. The witches have appeared in numerous Discworld books, but have featured as main protagonists in seven. They have also appeared in the short story [I]The Sea and Little Fishes[/I]. Their stories frequently draw on ancient European folklore and fairy tales, and also parody famous works of literature, particularly by Shakespeare.
[B]The City Watch[/B]
The stories featuring the Ankh-Morpork City Watch are urban-set, and frequently show the clashes that result when a traditional, magically run fantasy world such as the Disc comes into contact with modern technology and civilization. They centre around the growth of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch from a hopeless gang of three to a fully equipped and efficient police force. The stories are largely police procedurals, featuring crimes that have heavy political or societal overtones.
The main character is Watch Captain Sam Vimes, a haggard, cynical street copper who finds himself swept up in history as his inept cadre of law enforcement officials (petty thief Nobby Nobbs and perennially lazy Sergeant Colon) grows and takes on new recruits, particularly from the Disc's "minority groups", such as dwarfs, trolls, and the undead. As his influence grows, Vimes' social standing also grows from Watch Captain to Commander and eventually to Duke.
Other main characters include Carrot Ironfoundersson, (possibly) the rightful heir to the throne of Ankh-Morpork; his girlfriend Angua, a werewolf; Detritus, a troll; Cuddy, a Dwarf who appears in [I]Men at Arms[/I]; Golem Constable Dorfl; Cheery Littlebottom, the Watch's forensics expert, who is one of the first dwarfs to be openly female; Sam's wife, Lady Sybil Vimes; and Havelock Vetinari, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork. The City Watch have starred in eight Discworld stories, and have cameoed in a number of others, including the children's book, [I]Where's My Cow?[/I] and the short story [I]Theatre of Cruelty[/I].
Pratchett has stated on numerous occasions that the presence of the City Watch makes Ankh-Morpork stories 'problematic', as stories set in the city that don't directly involve Vimes and the Watch often require a Watch presence to maintain the story -- at which point, it becomes a Watch story by default.
[B]The Wizards[/B]
The Wizards of the Unseen University (UU) have represented a strong thread through many of the Discworld novels, although the only books that they star in exclusively are the [I]Science of the Discworld[/I] series and the novel [I]Unseen Academicals[/I]. In the early books, the faculty of UU changed frequently, as rising to the top usually involved assassination. However, with the ascension of the bombastic Mustrum Ridcully to the position of Archchancellor, the hierarchy has settled and characters have been given the chance to develop. The earlier books featuring the wizards also frequently dealt with the possible invasion of the Discworld by the creatures from the Dungeon Dimensions, Lovecraftian monsters that hunger for the magic and potential of the Discworld.
The wizards of UU employ the traditional "whizz-bang" type of magic seen in Dungeons & Dragons games, but also investigate the rules and structure of magic in terms highly reminiscent of particle physics. Prominent members include Ponder Stibbons, a geeky young wizard; Hex, the Disc's first computer; the Librarian, who was turned into an orangutan by magical accident; the Dean; and the Bursar. In later novels, Rincewind also joins their group.
The Wizards have featured prominently in nine Discworld books and have also starred in the [I]Science of Discworld[/I] series and the short story [I]A Collegiate Casting-Out of Devilish Devices[/I].
[B]Tiffany Aching[/B]
Tiffany Aching is a young apprentice witch and star of a series of Discworld books aimed at young adults. Her stories often parallel mythic heroes' quests, but also deal with Tiffany's difficulties as a young girl maturing into a responsible woman. She is aided in her task by the Nac Mac Feegle, a gang of blue, 6-inch tall, hard-drinking, loudmouthed pictsie creatures also called "The Wee Free Men" who serve as her guardians. Both Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg have also appeared in her stories. She has, to date, appeared in three novels. Major characters in this series include Miss Tick who discovered Tiffany, Annagrama Hawkin, and Petulia Gristle.
[B]Moist von Lipwig[/B]
Moist von Lipwig is a professional criminal and con man to whom Havelock Vetinari gives a "second chance" after staging his execution, recognising the advantages his jack-of-all-trades abilities would have to the development of the city. After setting him in charge of the Ankh-Morpork Post Office in Going Postal, to good result, Vetinari ordered him to clear up the city's corrupt financial sector in Making Money. A third book, in which Lipwig is ordered to organise the city's taxation system, is planned. Other characters in this series include Adora Belle Dearheart, Lipwig's acerbic, chain-smoking lover, Gladys, a golem who develops a strange crush on Lipwig, and Stanley Howler, a mildly autistic young man who was raised by peas, and becomes the Disc's first stamp collector.
[B]The History Monks[/B]
The History Monks are a group of vaguely Taoist-like monks who have taken on the job of ensuring that history passes smoothly. They perform their task in two ways: first, their monastery is home to the History Books; 20,000 ten-foot long, lead-bound volumes that record every event of historical relevance as it occurs. Second, they manage and control the flow of time, pumping it from the places where it's wasted (the sea or the desert) to places like cities where there's never enough time. The principal History Monk in the novels is Lu-Tze, nominally the monastery's sweeper but in fact one of the highest ranking monks in the establishment. The History Monks have appeared in three Discworld novels to date.[/quote]
[quote]...Stanley Howler, a mildly autistic young man who was raised by peas, and becomes the Disc's first stamp collector.[/quote]
Love that one.
[QUOTE=JesterUK;19305116]and Blaine is a fucking pain[/QUOTE]
Blue's for girls.
[IMG]http://hottopop.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/city-of-bones.jpg[/IMG]
its about gay warlocks and gay demon hunters and awesome incest
[QUOTE=Mac2468;19306022]Favorite series?
[img_thumb]http://showbritz.debritz.net/files/hhg.jpg[/img_thumb]
[/QUOTE]
Reading for the fourth time now, how could I forget to add that?
Favorite book series of all time must be The Belgariad series by David Eddings. ([url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Belgariad[/url])
[editline]10:04PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=slbobo;19305524][IMG]http://hottopop.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/city-of-bones.jpg[/IMG]
its about gay warlocks and gay demon hunters and awesome incest[/QUOTE]
Hahaha.
I read the cover as "City of Boners", then read your description.
I woke up my family because I laughed so hard.
The great war series:[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_War_(Harry_Turtledove[/url])
Gaunts Ghosts:[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaunt's_Ghosts[/url]
1984: Winston! WINSTON!! NOOOO!
Pendragon books. No contest
[img]http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n50/n250459.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n35/n179642.jpg[/img]
[quote=tv tropes]Night Watch is set in Moscow, 1998-2007 (book timeline)/circa 2004 (movie timeline). The world is pretty much the gritty ex-Communist concrete-a-thon we know and love, with a major difference. There are Others. Others are non-humans, born by humans and have special abilities. Vampires, shapeshifters, wizards, prophets, warlocks... All Others. What distinguishes Others from humans is their innate ability to manipulate "The Twilight", a "mirror-world" of magical energy. Others come in two flavours, Light and Dark, and the Light and Dark have been conflicting since the beginning of time. In the 12th century or so, the Others from both sides realized that conflicts between others, due to their vast power and influence over humans, could destroy the world. So they wrote and signed the Treaty, which basically states that each side is allowed to form a Watch to monitor the activities of the other side from becoming overly excessive, in turn monitored by a joint Inquisition. The Treaty has held up well, and all fighting between Light and Dark has moved into the shadows.[/quote]