Herbie BrennanAnmeldelser

Hilarious, delightful, whimsical book.

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Las vacaciones de verano de Henry empiezan con un sorprendente descubrimiento: en el jardín del señor Fogarty aparece Pyrgus Malvae, el Príncipe Heredero del Reino de los Elfos, que ha huido de su tierra para escapar de un serio peligro. Con la ayuda del viejo y excéntrico señor Fogarty, los dos muchachos se enfrentarán a un difícil reto: crear un portal que permita a Pyrgus volver a su reino, amenazado por los terribles elfos de la noche y los demonios del príncipe Beleth. Mediante una sorprendente combinación de fantasía, mitología y ciencia, Herbie Brennan ha escrito una increíble historia de aventuras y suspense. Elegido en 2004 «el mejor libro para adolescentes» en Estados Unidos y traducido a 18 lenguas, El portal de los elfos es la primera parte de una trilogía. Lectura recomendada entre 9 y 12 años.

Los rumores corren y la noticia es terrible: los elfos de la noche se disponen a conquistar el reino de los elfos de la luz. Ante semejante amenaza, la valerosa reina Blue se enfrenta a un dilema del que dependerá la suerte de todos: está dispuesta a combatirlos, pero antes necesita la confirmación de los dioses. Por su parte, el príncipe Pyrgus descubre un arma formidable que puede ser decisiva en el choque que se avecina: una flores de cristal mágicas que influyen sobre el transcurso del tiempo. No obstante, Pyrgus y el guardián Fogarty quieren darle una oportunidad a la paz, y saben que sólo Henry, que se encuentra en el Mundo Análogo, es capaz de convencer a Blue de que no inicie las hostilidades. Pero cuando Henry llega, Blue ha desaparecido y el futuro del reino pende de un hilo.

Segunda parte de la aclamada trilogía iniciada con El portal de los elfos. Fantasía, mitologìa y ciencia se combinan magistralmente para ofrecer un apasionante relato de aventuras trepidantes. Cuando el padre de Pyrgus Malvae, a quien se suponía muerto, se presenta en el Palacio Púrpura, su presencia causa una gran conmoción. Además, como el recientemente fallecido Emperador Púrpura se ha convertido en aliado de los elfos de la noche y no todo va como debería en el reino, la locura se desata. Lectura recomendada entre 9 y 12 años.

Nº 2 de 8 de la búsqueda del grial. En estas historias interpretábamos a Pip, un joven aldeano elegido por Merlín para servirle a él y al rey Arturo en su búsqueda.

Full disclosure: Read these for free when the essays were available on the publisher's site.

Mixed bag.
Some essays are interesting.
Personally, quite fond of Edmund essay, and the ones about food, the little things, about being good, and the one about the gap.

Some essays - no, just no.
Light and Darkness essay actually managed to annoy the hell out of me. If I wanted a history lecture, I would have picked up a history book or memoir or maybe even hunt down a history scholar or three.
The one about Calormen was quite exasperating. There is no true way to know what was on the author's mind when he was writing. Unless you can communicate with the dead, of course. (and even then...)

One of the gripes I have is that these essays, most if not all of them, are written by women. Yes, I'm glad these are given voice. But is there not a single writer-person of male persuasion willing to admit to their admiration of Narnia?

So as I said - mixed bag.
I would only recommend this to a seasoned Narnia fan.

New Age, occultism, Aquarian Guide, alphabetic, paranormal phenomena, Great Pyramid, fire walking, Qabala, conciousness, Hidden Masters, UFOs, dreams, Aleister Crowley, Carlos Castaneda, H.P. Blavatsky, biorhythms, Annie Besant, Atlantis, astrology, C.G. Jung, I Ching, hypnosis, Arthur Koestler, Eliphas Levy, Nostradamus,

El viaje de Argos es una novela a medio camino entre la ciencia ficción y la novela histórica, en la que sus personajes nos llevan por un escenario mágico y real al mismo tiempo, un viaje que recorre uno de los capítulos más apasionantes de la historia del mundo.

I didn`t get to read the frist book, so it took me awhile to tell whoes who. One I got that though it good book. Move at a fast paced and short chapters.
There one question I want to know; do the faires have wings?
Maybe it answers in book one. Guess I has to track the first book down.

Sequel to Faerie wars

Reminiscent of Artemis Fowl books, YA technofantasy. Fun, not too thoughtful. Lots of imagination.

Sequel to Faerie Wars, and very similar. Technology and fairies, a lot like the Artemis Fowl books. I enjoyed it, although a bit too much plot and not quite enough fun.

Great Editon to the collection. Recommended

Troubled by family problems, Henry finds his life taking a whole new dimension when he and his friend, old Mr. Fogarty, become involved with Prince Pyrgus Malvae who has been sent from the faerie world in order to escape the treacherous Faeries of the Night.

This book. (!!!!)

I read it when I was younger and I just absolutely loved it. I read it when I was about 13, and I liked that it was a little bit grittier, a little bit more serious than most fantasy books. The protagonist seemed to be making some quite serious decisions throughout the story, which I appreciated as well. There are quite a few 'mature' themes, but to be honest, it's fiction. I'm... more or less happy, as a teacher, when I see kids reading.

ANYWAY.

I loved Brennan's British/Irish wit, dry, dark and clever.

I can't remember much of the plot (apparently there are some twists that I totally forgot about!) but I loved the writing style, I loved the voice of the narrator. It was one of the books that I stayed up all night reading, which was rare for me to do when I was that young.

... I don't normally read YA and children's literature (unless it's for a class), but I'm tempted to reread this book. Hmm.

(Coincidentally, the author loves a holiday spot in Ireland where I've been a few years ago. I love it too! That's so weird.)

I read half, and just couldn't develop enough interest to go on. I wanted to know more about Henry's family - what an intriguing teen realistic novel that could have been. But we spent so much time in the run-of-the-mill 'faerie' world, focusing on adventure and the duties of the Purple Emperor, his heir, and the sister who could probably have run the 'Wars' better than the whole male clan, that I just got bemused and bored.

Didn't work me.

I definitely enjoyed it. It was a very good mix of scifi, fantasy, and real life similar to Artemis Fowl but still different.

I was not expecting Henry's personal life problems, but they added so much more to the story. It made Henry very real. His return to real life at the end, with just a bit more confidence, is very nice as well.

Henry is my favorite character, but he spends a surprisingly small amount of time in the story. It's a little odd, since he is set up as the main character in the first few chapters, only to be cast aside in favor of Pyrgus and Blue. Pyrgus is okay, but I'm not fond of Blue. Every time they had a scene, I was mostly just hoping Henry would be next.

The plot itself is very interesting, if a little complicated. I got the three villains all mixed up, which made the plot twists a little confusing. They were also all very stereotypical villains, with none of the depth given Henry or Mr. Fogarty.

I'm also not entirely sure what age group this is for. The stereotypical villains and the age of the main characters make me think it is for pre-teens and maybe young adults -- and yet there is a lot of stuff directly referencing sex. No explicit sex scenes of course, but there are quite a few references -- from Henry's parents's problems to Henry seeing Blue in the bath. And yet the story itself does not seem complex for or written for young adults.

Despite all of this, I really did enjoy it, and definitely recommend it.½

I really enjoyed reading this

I really enjoyed the first four books in the Faerie War Chronicles and was excited to see another book be released in the series. I didn’t enjoy this book as much as previous books in the series; probably because it’s been so long since I read the other books in the series (it was five years between the publishing of the fourth and fifth book...then it took me another few years to get around to reading it).

This book takes place 15 years after the last Faerie Wars Chronicles novel and focuses on Henry and Blue’s daughter Mella. Mella is determined to meet her human grandmother and causes a number of issues in doing so. This wouldn’t be that big of a deal except that Lord Hairstreak is up to his shenanigans and determined to take over the throne.

This was an okay book. Given the long time between the publishing of the fourth and fifth book, I had a bit of trouble remembering all of the characters. I also didn’t enjoy Mella as much as Henry and Blue. This was a fun little story set in the same world as the previous books and there are cameos by all the main characters in those previous books; but there just wasn’t anything here that was really engaging to propel the story forward.

The writing is humorous and snappy; but a bit silly too. The book switches between a lot of different points of view and in this case that just broke up the story too much and made it flow poorly. Pacing was a bit off at times too and there were parts that were just plain boring.

Overall this is an okay addition to the series, but I would only recommend if you are a huge fan of this series. Even though this is a full length book, it feels more like a quick and fun story set in the same world as the previous four books. The story is mostly forgettable; despite the fact that this book is a bit of a dud...I would recommend the first four books in this series as excellent middle grade fantasy reads.

Hubert wants to see the circus that's coming into town more than anything, but unfortunately, he has no money, and no chance of getting it from his father. When he learns the human cannonball quits, he decides he will become the replacement. With the help of his friend Slider, the two build a rocket, one that shoots him into the wrong garden shed. The new, mysterious, and intimidating neighbor, Mrs. Pomfrey-Parkinson, is hiding more than just garden tools away in the shed. Hubert accidentally finds himself in an alien spaceship, and learns of Mrs. Pomfrey-Parkinson's reason for being on Earth, to take it over.

This book makes me laugh, but it's not entirely a joke. There's some useful information in this book, but it's presented in a lighthearted manner. I love that it doesn't take itself too seriously.

This is the most unusual, and perhaps the oldest, book I’ve read about the astral plane.

I found the book somewhat, in fact exceedingly, abstruse, and the author’s information about the astral plane differs from that of other authors whose books I have read or dipped into. He concludes that the astral plane is not a place but seems to be one. He states that he was told by someone who should know that the “Astral Plane” is an old term for the “realm of the visual imagination”. He declares that “dreams are a function of the Astral Plane”.

He repeats that the astral plane is a “level of the mind”. Inner worlds are thought of as unreal, but this does not mean that no dangers lurk there. We are informed of several doorways we can use to enter the astral plane, something I have not encountered in other books.

We are warned about the dangers of using some of these doorways.

There are five elemental doorways to the astral plane. To work with these you will need to prepare cards with the various symbols of Ether/Spirit, Air, Fire, Water and Earth. You can choose one of these symbols and visualize it as a doorway in front of you. It all sounds very tricky and hazardous, not to mention unbelievable, but eventually you will be able to pass though this doorway.

The author describes some attempts to pass through an Elemental doorway by some of his friends, where they became ill. This is not a procedure that I myself would consider trying out. There is also mention of Guides encountered through entering such a doorway.

Also the Trumps of Tarot cards can be used as astral doorways. These doorways produce “lively visions” according to the author.

There are chapters about “Qabalistic” and “Oriental” doorways, which I found difficult.

The book includes chapters on hypnosis and the astral, the “hypno-astral experience”, the “objective astral”, astral entities and an “astral credo”.

One of the author’s subjects had a realistic astral experience under hypnosis where he apparently travelled to the Middle East and later found his experience to fit in with physical reality. I didn’t understand how conditions on the astral plane could correspond to physical reality.

He distinguishes between the etheric and the astral body, the etheric body being “something you are equipped with in the natural course of things”, and which “belongs to the physical plane”. In certain circumstances it can be projected out of the physical, and when this happens, “it can carry your consciousness virtually anywhere on the physical plane”.

For the average person, the astral body is used only on the astral plane, whereas the trained occultist can use it on the physical as well.

According to the author you need to build your astral body and this is “explained” in an Appendix. This is the first time that I have heard this postulate, and am not convinced of the veracity of this information.

To sum up, I found the book to be filled with sometimes conflicting and confusing information, not clearly explained, and feel inclined to say that I didn’t understand a word of the book, though this would be an exaggeration. At any rate, I found it hard reading. On the front cover it is stated that the author’s methods are “clear, easy-to-understand” and “safe, simple and effective”. But personally I have found no other book on the subject to be as confusing, and the author himself insists that the methods are not “safe” but in fact can be dangerous.

So I would not recommend that you read the book, but have given it three stars since some of the information contained is quite interesting, e.g. about the possibility of using Tarot cards etc as astral doorways.

unlikeable/uninteresting characters, vaguely misogynistic.