Results tagged “series”

While waiting for the last installment in the Twilight Saga to come out, I happened across the first in Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments trilogy, CITY OF BONES. I’d seen the books around and been attracted to the flashy covers (I like shiny objects, what can I say? It’s an elemental thing.) so I finally sat down and read it.

And proceeded not to get up for the next three hours (I’m a fast reader and I do not skim, no matter what any of my friends tell you!). Clare has a way of never letting the action stop so that you HAVE to keep reading. At one point, I was literally trying to read it while brushing my teeth. This was not a successful venture, as you may have guessed.

The books revolve around Clary, a teenager living in a New York City where demon hunters exist. She’s pulled into the world when her mother is kidnapped and it turns out Clary has a much closer connection to the Shadowhunter (those who kill demons) world than she previously thought.

Suffice to say that you will enjoy this entire trilogy if you liked Twilight. There’s some forbidden romance with vampires and werewolves and other supernatural beings thrown in the mix as well.

Links:
The Mortal Instruments website

Thirty-seven years. The series is older than the characters.

In many ways, Flinx and I have grown up together, though I’m aging twice as fast as he is. On the other hand, I don’t have the fate of the galaxy resting in my hands, as Flinx does in FLINX TRANSCENDENT. My choices are easier, though helping him with his is as difficult as ever. That’s because I wanted his maturation, from street thief to adventurer to reluctant and seriously conflicted possible savior, to be as believable as that of an actual person. He has doubts, he has trouble with love, and more than anything else he just wants to be left alone.

Life, unfortunately, doesn’t leave us alone. Flinx the hermit would make for a pretty dull tale, so I’ve placed him in far more dangerous and troubling situations than the character ever would himself. If I met him in a dark alley he’d probably sic Pip on me, and I wouldn’t blame him. But I love the guy, though I wouldn’t trade places with him for all the useful pharmaceuticals on Drowning World. Being a hero is a tough business. Those who want to be heroes usually wind up dead. Flinx is a hero, but he has no martyr complex. Given the choice he’d rather head off in the other direction. Throughout the course of the series he’s certainly given it a try on more than one occasion. Unfortunately for him, at heart he’s too moral, too much of a decent human being, to run from responsibility. Not on his own behalf, but because of the friends he values and loves. That’s who, ultimately, he’s grudgingly willing to sacrifice himself for.

And that is what makes a hero.

Leading off our coverage of the 2009 Eisner Awards are the nominees for Best Cover Artist. Cover art differs from the internal art (in most cases) in that it allows for a richer visual experience in color, layout, and complexity. Cover art can range from shocking to cinematic, stylized to toned down, it can contain characters from the comic or it could be more of a mood piece. The one thing it had better be, though, is evocative of the story because comics, perhaps more so than any other medium, wear their souls on the outside as much as the inside.

Makes sense as the cover will also be competing for a potential reader’s eye on his or her favorite comics shop wall, right? And, of course, there is the potential for the art to become attached to a collectible item. But that’s another thing all together.

So who are being recognized as the stand-outs in their field this year? Here’s the list:

Of course, we could break down all their individual merits and describe the art too you…but that wouldn’t really be doing them justice. So come along as we take a look at what each artist is bringing to the table and view a sampling of their artwork. It’s a comics wall from the best of the best, coming up after the jump.

This post concerns a book that should be read by those 600 years old or over.

Or at least, that’s the recommendation made to us from the world of Nicholas Flamel, an extraordinarily old bookseller-turned-alchemist. The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel tells the story of Flamel, who discovered the book of Abraham the Mage several hundred years ago and has been using it to brew an ever-changing life-extending potion. Of course, that isn’t all he’s up to. What else is happening? Only the potential destruction of the world. You see, The Book of Abraham tells of a set of twins who will either destroy the world or save it, and Nicholas thinks he may just have found those prophesized siblings.

The Nicholas Flamel series follows the twins, Josh and Sophie Newman, and Nicholas as he attempts to safeguard them from the many parties who would do them harm (or harness them for their own purposes), train them to discover and use their magical abilities, and keep safe the Book of Abraham. That’s a lot of work for a man closing in on his 700th birthday.

More after the jump…