The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

The perfect book for anyone who’s ever wondered about Middle-Earth’s legendary past, it has a near-perfect blend of mystery and adventure, romance and tragedy, victory and defeat. In magnificent language, Tolkien gives us a display of the epic eternal battle of light versus dark and good versus evil.

Recommended age: 14 – 16; 16 – 18; Adult

The book is divided into five parts: The Ainulindalë (the tale of the song of the Ainur), the Valaquenta (the tale of the Valar), the Quenta Silmarillion (the tale of the Silmarilli), the Akallabêth (the tale of the downfall of Númenor), and a small section entitled “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age”. The first two are mainly concerned with the creation of the world and descriptions of the Valar (powerful angels that were charged with the care of Middle-Earth).

But it’s in the Quenta Silmarillion that the real action start. The story traces the battle between good and evil, starting at the Beginning of Days. The good guys are the Valar, the Elves, and Men, but the Elves and Men make mistakes along the way. The bad guys are Morgoth (also known as Melkor; Tolkien’s version of Satan) and his various malevolent minions: Balrogs, Orcs, Trolls, Dragons, Evil Men, and a rather familiar nasty dude named Sauron (ring any bells?). In Quenta, each chapter contains a different tale or legend, but each story is connected to the whole. The tales mainly deal with the three Silmarilli (jewels of light and power) and the war over them. The fourth part, “Akallabêth,” is about the ancient island of Númenor (which some of you may remember) and its downfall. The fifth and last talks about Sauron’s rise after Morgoth’s defeat and the forging of the rings of power, and the strife that resulted, ending in the famous War of the Ring.

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 “Interworld” Series by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves

1. Interworld
2. The Silver Dream
3. Eternity’s Wheel

Yes; a fast-moving imaginative story about fighting evil.

Recommended age: 12 – 14; 14 – 16; 16 – 18; Adult

Joey is walking around town on a school assignment when he walks through a fog and finds himself in a world very much like his world, but somehow different.   Suddenly attacked by futuristic raiders, he escapes with the aid of an unusual-looking man wearing a mask.   However, his escape brings him to a world where he is already dead.  Then, before he can process this, he is captured by pirates who take him up to space.   Rescued again, he finds out that he is a Walker—a person capable of passing through dimensions.  He joins Interworld in their battle against the futuristic Binary and the evil, magical HEX pirates.  In the second book, Joey meets a Time Traveler from the Time Watch organization who intervenes in Joey’s time frustrating the plans of Binary and HEX.   In the third book, Joey leads the fight to stop Binary and HEX’s universe-destroying plans.

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Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle

An intriguing look at the Prohibition Era.

Recommended age: 14 – 16; 16 – 18; Adult.  

Ruben and his friend — two fourteen-year olds — find a dead body on the beach.  This is the heart of Prohibition rum-running.   The small-town smugglers are running alcohol, and then things get more and more dangerous as bigger and bigger gangs work on muscling their way into the lucrative smuggling.

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“Adventure Through Time” series by Ted Bell

1. Nick of Time
2. The Time Pirate

Complex and exciting time travel stories.

Recommended age: 12 – 14; 14 – 16; 16 – 18; Adult

Nick lives in a lighthouse on the edge of a British Island next to France during the days before World War II.   His father is engaged with a group of “bird watchers” who are monitoring suspicious German submarine and air movements through the channel.  Seeking to help his father, Nick discovers a new German secret submarine.   At the same time, he meets a vicious pirate, William Blood, from the early 19^th century who is after a mysterious chest that Nick had just found on the shore of his island.    In the second book, Nick continues his fight against the Germans, including using an old Sopwith Camel that he and his friend, Gunner, have restored.   Nick also goes back to 1781 to rescue his sister from Captain Blood and stop Captain Blood’s attempt to change history.

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Tregaron’s Daughter by Madeleine Brent

An interesting romance set in 1910 England.

Recommended age: 14 – 16; 16 – 18; Adult.

Caterina (Cadi) Tregaron was the daughter of a fisherman in Cornwall not long after the turn of the 20^th century. Though her father was true Cornish through and through, her mother’s mother was different.  During his travels in Italy, Cadi’s grandfather had found Cadi’s grandmother, then a young woman, stuffed in a sack and unconscious, sinking in the waters around Naples. But that doesn’t have much to do with Cadi, or so she thinks. When her father dies suddenly and she is left an orphan, she is taken into the family of Mr. Morton — a kind, relatively wealthy gentleman whose life she and her father had saved. While living with them, they discover a surprising secret of her grandmother’s past, sending her to visit Venice with her adopted family. But beneath the sunny surface of Venice there lies darkness and deceit, and Cadi is troubled by strange dreams, haunted by Mr. Morton’s mysterious nephew, Lucien Farrel.

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“Tales of Goldstone Wood” series by Anne Stengl

1. Heartless
2. Veiled Rose
3. Moonblood
4. Starflower
5. Dragonwitch

5.5. Goddess Tithe

1. Shadow Hand
2. Golden Daughter

• Draven’s Light

8.1 Poison Crown: The Smallman’s Heir, Volume 1 (Not yet published and Not Reviewed)

8.2 Poison Crown: The House of Lights, Volume 2 (Not yet published and Not Reviewed)

Excellent fantasy with strong Christian themes.

Recommended age: 12 – 14; 14 – 16; 16 – 18; Adult

In Heartless, Una is waiting for her suitors to come.  A few she rejects, some she wants but cannot have.   Only one really loves her.  In the meantime, a great dragon has been working his way from the south— ravaging nations, looking for her.   She discovers why when she learns what is really in her heart.   By then she has given up hope: her country invaded and defeated, her father and brother in danger of death.   But, there is one who still pursues her with the goal of saving her and her land. The second and third books fill out the first book from the viewpoint of a jester from the first book. The fourth book goes into the back story of two characters from the first three books. The fifth book continues the story in the fourth book. The novella “Goddess Tithe” takes place during the second book. The sixth book binds characters from both the past storyline and the future storyline together. The seventh book continues the storyline shortly after the events of the sixth book. The novella “Draven’s Light” takes place way before any of the other books.

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