Review of Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett

In Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett the Death of Discworld finds himself out of a job when the powers that be fire him for developing a personality. Death is now mortal and must live out the rest of his numbered days among humans until the new Death arrives to take him away. With the Disc temporarily without a Death things can't die properly and a huge amount of excess life force accumulates causing some very strange things to happen. This is a very hilarious book. I enjoyed it immensely and highly recommend it.

"Just because something is a metaphor doesn't mean it can't be real."

 ~Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man

"People have believed for hundreds of years that newts in a well mean that the water’s fresh and drinkable, and in all that time never asked themselves whether the newts got out to go to the lavatory."

 ~Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man

Review of The Neverending Story by Michael Ende

The Neverending Story by Michael is an exciting fantasy adventure story about a young boy who comes across a magical book. As he starts to read the book he begins to suspect that there is something very strange about it and the more he reads the more he quite literally gets sucked into the story. This is one of my favorite books of all time and I think I enjoy it only slightly less as an adult than I did as a child. What I love about this book isn't just the story, but the book itself which is a work of art. The book is printed in two colors to help differentiate between what is happening with the main character and what is going on in the book he is reading. There are also beautiful illustrations at the beginning of each chapter. I know some editions are in black and white so I would recommend finding a color version to get the full experience. This book is geared towards children/young adults but I think other adults will enjoy it as much as I did especially if they enjoy stories such as Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and The Chronicles of Narnia.

"When it comes to controlling human beings there is no better instrument than lies. Because, you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts."

 ~Michael Ende, The Neverending Story

Review of The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley is one of the books in her Avalon series. The story is set during the Roman occupation of Britain about a generation after the uprising of Boudicca. Much of the story is centered around the Forest House, which is the sanctuary for the Druid priestesses that was established after the destruction of the Druid complex on the isle of Mona by the Romans, and the woman who serve there. All of the books in this series have elements of romance, but it is a particularly strong theme in this book and a major plot point is the forbidden love between Eilan, a Druid priestess of the Forest House, and Gaius, a half-Roman soldier. The story follows their lives parallel to each other and the few times they are able to meet. Although they can never truly be together, in their own ways they both work to try to keep the peace between their two peoples as certain British factions vie for revenge against the Romans for the atrocities they committed years before.

This book takes place after Ravens of Avalon and I would strongly suggest reading that book before reading The Forest House. Ravens of Avalon provides much of the background story for The Forest House and I definitely felt less confused about events mentioned in The Forest House on this read than on previous reads before having read Ravens of Avalon(despite some minor inconsistencies between the two books). You might also want to read The Fall of Atlantis before reading this book in order to understand certain references, but it's not wholly necessary. I wouldn't say that The Forest House is my favorite book in the series, but I did enjoy it and would recommend it to other fans of the series and to people who enjoy British history.