Friday, March 20, 2009

Becky's Monster List for Once Upon A Time III



Is this a great day, or what! I just found Carl has posted the Once Upon A Time III Challenge!!! If people gave me presents at the end, this season would be about as close to Christmas as you can get in my affections. I just love, love, love this challenge :) The challenge ends June 20th. Enter links to review on the challenge review site.

My quest of choice?

Read at least 5 books that fit somewhere within the Once Upon a Time III criteria. They might all be fantasy, or folklore, or fairy tales, or mythology…or your five books might be a combination from the four genres.

The following is my pool of possibilities.


Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary

Fablehaven: Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary by Brandon Mull
"Kendra Sorenson briskly scraped the head of a wooden match against the rough strip on the side of a rectangular matchbox."

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
"Are you still mad?"





City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
"The cold snap of the previous week was over; the sun was shining brightly as Clary hurried across Luke's dusty front yard, the hood of her jacket up to keep her hair from blowing across her face."









Witch Ember by John Lawson
"Once, Trickster Man snuck into the Circle of Wejwej and stole one of his Stones of Power."

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Dandelion Fire by N.D. Wilson
"Kansas is not easily impressed."


Foundling: Monster Blood Tattoo, Book One

Foundling by D.M. Cornish
"Rossamund was a boy with a girl's name."


Cybele's Secret by Juliet Marillier
"The deck tilted to port, and I tilted with it, grabbing at a rope to keep my balance."


Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan
"There are plenty would call her a slut for it."

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Eon Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman
"I let the tips of both my swords dig into the sandy arena floor."


The Black Book of Secrets by F.E. Higgins
"When I opened my eyes I knew that nothing in my miserable life prior to that moment could possibly be as bad as what was about to happen."


Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
"How many times I have wondered what my fate might have been had I accompanied my parents that rainy spring morning."

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Barnaby Grimes: Curse of the Night Wolf by Paul Stewart & Chris Riddell
"Have you ever felt your skin being peeled slowly away from your arms and legs?"

The Ruby Key by Holly Lisle
"The sun slid down toward the tops of the trees."


A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce
"When my father died, I thought the world would come to an end."

Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev: Book Cover

Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev (March 20, 2009)

"The fairies flew suspended on wires despite their tendency to get tangled together."

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Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception by Magie Stiefvater

"He didn't know how long he'd been clinging there."

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Nobody's Prize by Esther Friesner

"I stood in the bow of the little fishing boat and gazed at the glittering city high on the bluff ahead."


Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr: Book Cover

Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

"The Summer King knelt before her."

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Snakehead by Ann Halam

"My mother and I emerged from the tumult of rich smells, from the dark, narrow alleys of Naxos market into bright sunlight."

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The Emerald Tablet by P.J. Hoover

"When Benjamin Holt saw his mom disappear into a pinprick of light, he shouldn't have been surprised; his life was already weird."

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The City in the Lake by Rachel Neumeier

"The City is beautiful at sunset, almost as beautiful as the Lake itself."

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The Swan Kingdom by Zoe Marriott

"You probably know me already."

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The Bone Magician by F.E. Higgins

"How I have come to hate this place of evil, this city of nightmares."

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The Key to Rondo by Emily Rodda

"The day that Leo Zifkak became the owner of the music box, his life changed forever."

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Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor

"Wonderland's finest architects had designed it and overseen its fabrication."

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The Sorcerer King by Frewin Jones

"Tania stared through the arched stone window at the vast blue skies of Faerie."

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The Eyes of a King by Catherine Banner

"These are the last words I will write."

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Palace of Mirrors by Margaret Peterson Haddix

"Somewhere in the world I have a tiara in a little box."

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The Indigo King by James A. Owen

"Hurrying along one of the tree-lined paths at Magdalen College in Oxford, John glanced up at the cloud-clotted sky and decided that he rather liked the English weather."

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The Tapestry: The Hound of Rowan by Henry H. Neff

"Max McDaniels pressed his forehead against the train window and watched storm clouds race across the yellow sky."

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Thornspell by Helen Lowe

"A boy was lying on his stomach on the topmost tower of a small, square castle, basking like a lizard in the sun."

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The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem

"When Medford thought about it later, that day in Hunter's Moon was a good example of Before."

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Morbito: Guardian of the Spirit by Nahoko Uehashi

"At the moment the royal procession reached the Yamakage Bridge, Balsa's destiny took an unexpected turn."

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The Crimson Thread: A Retelling of Rumpelstiltskin by Suzanne Weyn

"Once upon a time, I believe it was 1880 or thereabouts, a young princess set sail from Ireland for a faraway land."

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Belle: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast by Cameron Dokey

"I've heard it said--and my guess is you have too--that beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

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Wild Orchid: A Retelling of The Ballad of Mulan by Cameron Dokey

"When the wild wood orchids bloom in the spring, pushing their brave faces from beneath the fallen leaves of winter, that is when mothers like to take their daughters on their knees and sing to them "The Ballad of Mulan," the story of the girl who saved all of China."

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Aurelie by Heather Tomlinson

"We promised, the three of us."

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The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski

"The yellow hills rose and fell in sunny tops and valleys."

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The Faerie Door by B.E. Maxwell

"Ever so long ago, high in the treetops of her hidden city, Edwina, Queen of the Faeries, held council with her court."

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Pillage by Obert Skye

"I shouldn't have said it, but the word slipped out of my mouth as easy as air."

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The Fire of Ares by Michael Ford

"Thorakis tugged back on the leather reins, and his stallion skidded to a halt on the dusty track."

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The 13th Reality: The Hunt for Dark Infinity by James Dashner

"The boy stared at his world gone mad."

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Books of Umber: Happenstance Found by P.W. Catanese

"The boy felt as if he'd emerged, fully concious and wholly formed, out of nothing."

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Wings by E.D. Baker

"Tamisin Warner first saw real goblins the Halloween she was eleven."

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The Tapestry: Second Siege by Henry H. Neff

"Deep within a tangled corner of Rowan's Sanctuary, Max McDaniels crouched beneath a canopy of sagging pines."


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
If you're reading this post on another site, or another feed, the content has been stolen.

17 comments:

Carl V. Anderson said...

Wow! You do have a monster list to choose from! I'll be anxious to see what you get through. Knowing your ability to read, it will be interesting to see if you manage to get through them all during the challenge!

Anonymous said...

Good grief! How will you choose? But then - I wouldn't put it past you to read all of them... :) L

DesLily said...

good grief! you made me go to amazon several times to check on many of these books!.. you drive me crazy! lol.. that's some pool of books... I'd drown! You, on the other hand will swim nicely I am sure.

Robin said...

What a great list, Becky! Yes, it's a monster, but you'll have so much fun choosing, and it give us good ideas, too. Enjoy!

Molly said...

WOW -- that is an absolutely amazing list of books! So....what is your secret to reading so many books in a month? I have such great plans, but life seems to get in the way. I wish there were 36 hours in a day!

Debi said...

You called this your "pool" but I won't be one teeny-tiny bit surprised if you read every last one of those! Which means many, many wonderful Becky reviews to read. :)

Kailana said...

That's a lot of good books! I will be interested to see your reviews of many of them... Mind you, my TBR pile might not be so thrilled!

Anonymous said...

I agree with the rest, what a list! I have a warning, however. If you decide to read either of F.E. Higgins books, The Black Book of Secrets, or The Bone Magician, but not the other, you'll probably end up reading the other anyway.

These two excellent books are what Higgins calls "paraquels", meaning that they occur during the same period. Characters are shared, and there is a third book coming that interweaves these two.

Both my wife and I enjoyed these immensely and are planning to reread them to fix in our minds the interweaving of these two books. Both stand well by themselves, but they're so good, knowing that a related book exists makes it irresistible to not pursue the other.

I've reviewed The Black Book of Secrets over on my site and I'll have a review of the Bone Magician soon, as well.

Anonymous said...

WOW, you've got lots of books to choose from. Happy reading!

Robin M said...

My goodness. What an amazing assortment of books. I love the covers. I'll be bouncing back and forth to Amazon for a while. I also have Eon on my list which is here

Good luck reading all your books. I look forward to hearing about them. I'll probably be adding a few of them to my wishlist.

Ana S. said...

lol, I was just telling someone the same in a comment...this challenge is like Christmas! Happy reading, Becky :D

Melissa said...

You haven't read Curse Dark as Gold OR Princess Ben yet? Since when do I read books before you do?! (I could have sworn you'd read both...)

I'm totally with you on being giddy about this challenge. What is it about fantasy books that brings out the 9 year old in me?

Can't wait to see what you do end up reading!

Maree said...

Wow, that is some list! I don't think I've read any of those, but they all sound great.

Marg said...

That is a massive list of books! And you have reminded me that I forgot one book!

Heather said...

Wow! That is some list! How will you ever choose??

I've suddenly been seeing Cassandra Clare all over, even before OUaT started. I think I need to look her up. Wicked Lovely was pretty, uhm, wicked. I really enjoyed it. I think that is the only one I've read on your list.

Must go to Amazon now and look up a BUNCH of these! Haev fun!

Shelley said...

Fantasy books have the best covers!! Have fun with the challenge!

Beth F said...

This list is so great I'm going to bookmark it. I'll just make it my wish list too!