What Would Harry Read?

Harry #7 - InterWorld

Neil Gaiman is considered one of the top writers in fantasy today, while Michael Reaves won an Emmy for his science-fiction screenplays. Take the two authors and put them together and we have the great new book InterWorld. Who would not love Neil Gaiman? Readers young and old can open the pages and be taken to imaginary worlds with thrilling characters and edge-of-your-seat adventure!  InterWorld is
no exception.

Harry would love this book. I picture him discovering Gaiman when he was living with his evil relatives in a closet, squirreling the books away to read by the light of his flashlight, visiting places and having adventures that he would never have been able to have before. By now, Gaiman would have become a  staple of his reading diet, so he has to get the new book for when he is on break from having his own adventures!

In InterWorld, we have Joey, a young boy about the same age as Harry, who stumbles upon a most intriguing secret.  He has the ability to travel through dimensions, and the InterWorld is one such place that he will find himself at during his adventures.  He is called a Walker, and the discovery of his powers puts things in motion that he might be the only one to stop.

The Walkers are a very small group of people, so if one dies in battle, it is a very bad thing.  When one of their groups of enemies threatens everything, they find themselves having to save the world, they being Joey and five other walkers.  Oh, and then there is the multidimensional creature that I most people should love, even if Harry might not.

In Harry's world, he is usually defending himself or other people against evil magicians.  In Joey's world, he is battling against people that want to take the Walkers, melt them down, and use their power for
their ships.  They have been successful with some in the past, but now they have a larger plan and Joey finds himself right in the middle of it.  Like Harry, he is out to save the day.  This book is actually a
very intelligent read, using science and things that we in our own part of the dimension do not even understand, and since Harry is pretty intelligent you can see him being intrigued by the ideas that this book throws around.  It also has magic, and what is Harry without magic?

Harry #6 - Bec

Soooo scary.

Darren Shan's Bec scared the pants off of me, and as no stranger to danger himself, I'm sure that's what would appeal to Harry about this book. I mean, how easy would it be to imagine demons making their home in Gryffindor? What about feeling like he's battling some demons in his own right, because he who shall not be named is quite, well, evil, isn't he? So there's a lot Mr. Potter might find he can relate to in Darren Shan's The Demonata series.

In this particular book, Shan tells the story of a young priestess named Bec who lives in the time where the Picts and the Celts roamed the plains of the UK. The novel introduces some familiar characters (Lord Loss and his two minions, Artery and Vein) while showing that the history of demons on earth didn't just start with the 20th century. As a small group leaves the comfort of their homes to find a way to either stop the demon attacks, Bec finds herself on a journey that will either save society as she knows it or destroy it forever. Oh, and in the process, she'll discover a lot about herself (she's an orphan, just like a certain wizard we know) as well as find powers she didn't even know she possessed.

It's a really engaging read, told in Shan's stream of consciousness style, and while it frightened the pants off of me, I also felt that Bec herself was a character I wanted to know more about. So, please, Mr. Shan, more!

Harry #5 - Lord Loss

For those nights when Harry’s real-life adventures don’t already scare the pants off of him, I’m sure he’d be first in line to pick up Darren Shan’s Lord Loss. With Book One in his increasingly popular Demonata series, Shan’s created a world that goes beyond kind of spooky to seriously scary. Grubbs Grady is like any normal kid: he plays practical jokes, laughs a lot, hates it when his parents force him to play chess, and gets into all kinds of trouble. But nothing in his normal adolescence prepares him for Lord Loss, a demon who comes from another world to terrorize Grubbs and his family—for very good reason.

You see, Grubbs Grady and his family are different, and that’s something Harry himself could understand with being an extra-special wizard and everything. While it’s one thing to know you are different from the very start of your life, like Harry with his damnable scar, it’s clearly another to sneak home one night when you’re supposed to be staying with your stodgy aunt and find Lord Loss and his two pals, Artery and Vein, doing serious damage to your family in your house. In the wizard world, Harry battles with he-who-shall-not-be-named, in Shan’s world, Grubbs deals with Lord Loss, and all the implications that go along with fighting a demon.

First off, no one believes you—no one except your own demon-fighting awesome uncle Dervish who teaches you a thing or two about Lord Loss and his cohorts. Next, you’ve got a whole other-world to contend with, and it’s way harder to be a teenager when demons are involved. Trust me. Lastly, you’ve got to grow up in ways you never would have imagined in your life pre-Lord Loss, and luckily for Grubbs, he’s strong-willed, smart and serious when he needs to be.

Well written in Shan’s signature stream of consciousness style, Lord Loss gets your heart racing, your pulse jumping, and keeps you checking your closets before bed. Oh, and if this book doesn’t startle you into a keen interest in chess, I don’t know what will! Why would Harry read this book? Well, he’s got his own demons to battle, sure, but I think he’d find some solace in the story of Grubbs Grady and his family. And no one can resist a good fight, especially when it involves fire, brimstone and all kinds of other ooky-spooky things…

Harry #4 - Airborn

Of course Harry would read Kenneth Oppel's Airborn. In Matt Cruse you've got a hero Harry would have been pals with: one who is eager to achieve his own lofty dreams, who is tortured by the death of a loved one whose steps he follows in, and who has a mischievous and sometimes reluctant disregard for the rules. If there's one slight difference between Matt and Harry, it's the fact that his adventures are less magical and far more swashbuckling. In Airborn, Oppel has written a book that could easily be read right alongside Jules Verne or Treasure Island with its completely believable (but imaginary) past where giant airships rule the sky and pirates roam the airways.

Written in the first person, Airborn feels like the real diary of Matt, a cabin boy destined for great things, but who still struggles in his own skin, much like every adolescent. Harry would probably feel as if he was reading his own journal in many cases, including the jealousy Matt feels for a teenage rival, the thrill of Matt's first kiss, and the breathless climax that rivals anything the young wizard himself survived. Oppel's imagination is staggering and there's no wonder why he's so popular both among young readers and award committees. Airborn is just a terrific read—for young readers and adults—and Oppel's uncanny ability to mix fantasy with reality makes the action believable, the characters easy to relate to, and the story even that much more exciting.

Matt is the Harry of the skies: daring, loyal, brave and selfless. I expect Airborn would be endlessly passed around the Gryffindor common room.

Harry #3 - Sabriel

Late one night at Wyverly College (for young ladies of quality), eighteen-year-old Sabriel receives an ominous delivery—her father’s tools of the necromancy trade. That can only mean that her father is either dead or being held hostage somewhere in the realms of death. Luckily Sabriel has spent years studying magic and necromancy so she bravely takes his bells and sword, and then plunges into the terrifying Old Kingdom to find her father.

“Death? Necromancy?” you say? Now don’t be scared yet, it only gets worse!

In Sabriel, the first of Garth Nix’s Abhorsen trilogy, an Abhorsen is a powerful mage who uses dangerous free magic and the more benevolent charter magic to bind the dead—that is, he makes sure the dead stay dead. In the Old Kingdom, where Sabriel was born, free magic abounds and the dead often roam free, sometimes as zombie-type creatures called “Shadow Hands.” To bind the dead, an Abhorsen must enter Death, a creepy underworld realm with many levels, where one misstep could spell disaster with a capital D!

Upon receiving her father’s sword and his bandolier of bells, Sabriel makes the dangerous trek to the Abhorsen’s cottage deep in the Old Kingdom. Once there she encounters the white cat Moggett, a potentially dangerous being kept in-line only by the magic collar he wears. Sabriel is cautioned to never remove this collar! Hmmm…do you think she listens to this warning?

On their journey to find the Abhorsen, Moggett and Sabriel meet up with Touchstone, who has been imprisoned in the wooden figurehead of a ship for more than two centuries. After he is freed he continues with them on their journey. Touchstone has some secrets and hidden shame that make him very mysterious and somewhat irresistible.  The mysteries of his past are tied to the Greater Dead Kerrigor and the disappearance of the Abhorsen.

Harry would definitely read Sabriel. He would identify strongly with the character of Sabriel as both are faced with an undeniable destiny. They must confront their fears to fight evil and protect the ones they love. The scenes in the underworld of death are reminiscent of Harry’s tri-wizard tournament adventures, something he might not want to remember, but again something he could relate to!

If you think you're brave enough to enter the Old Kingdom, check out the chapter excerpt here.

Harry #2 - Predator's Gold

Sometimes bad things happen to bad guys—the trouble is that karma isn’t always so smart; good things don’t always follow the goodies.

In this follow-up to Philip Reeve’s thrilling first novel, Mortal Engines, main characters Tom and Hester are safe, happy and living a sweet life. Travelling around, picking up work, and having a lovely time with each other. So lovely that you just KNOW that it’s gonna end. And it does. Big time. They land on a mysterious city, meet mysterious new friends, and get pulled into, dare I say it, a mystery!

Tom, now an adventurer, finds himself drawn back into the life of a historian. And Hester feels left out. It doesn’t help that there’s a lovely, but lonely, princess on-board who has her eyes on Tom.

So why would Harry read Predator's Gold? Because the first one was so freaking good! Why stop with the first book in a perfectly wonderful series? Will Tom and Hester mend their relationship? Will they figure out what’s happening on the weird Ice City? Or will they be sucked into the intrigue and doubt swirling around this new rolling city. You'll have to crack the spine to find out the answer to these questions.

But if you wanted to wet your whistle, here's the first chapter.

Harry #1 - Mortal Engines

Okay. So Tom Natsworthy is an apprentice in the Guild of Historians—which is, basically, like working in a museum. Sounds like it could be fun, or it could be boring. The only thing is—Tom’s city, London, isn’t on the ground anymore. It’s on wheels. And it eats other cities.

Wait. I think I’m going too fast. Let’s start from the beginning.

In Philip Reeve’s amazing adventure, Mortal Engines, all of the cities have changed. A big war (Reeve is pretty vague, but I have a feeling we’ll learn more in the upcoming books) changed the geography of the world, and cities were forced to get on wheels and move around. And to feed themselves, cities prey on other, smaller, weaker cities. They catch the cities, take their technology, and take their people. Tom’s job is to keep track of all of the “old-tech” the historians discover. And what is the old-tech? Computers, disks, DVD players—you know, all of those things we use all the time. But to Tom and his fellow Londoners they’re just old, weird artifacts.

Then Tom meets a hero, and then a villain, only to find that neither is as good or as bad as he thought they were. Of course—what Harry would like about this book—is that nothing is as it seems. Sort of like his world before the wizards invaded.

Oh, and you can read a sample chapter here.