JohannSimm
Retinazer
I’d like to bring up Anthony Horowitz’s The Power of Five series. Anthony Horowitz is best known for his Alex Rider series, as well as the TV series Midsomer Murders and Foyle’s War, but I think The Power of Five is one of the most fascinating and unique examples of his output. I’d say it’s similar to The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (mentioned several posts ago), although the tone is several degrees darker, dipping into horror quite frequently.
The first book, Raven’s Gate, is the story of a psychic young man in foster care, who gets sent to live with a sinister guardian in a remote English village. From there on, the story turns into a globetrotting thriller; the protagonists travel from country to country, meet ancient civilizations, and recruit allies to stop the Nightrise Corporation, which is trying to bring about the summoning of the Old Ones. (While the series’ subject matter is a clear reference to Lovecraft and Lovecraftian horror, the actual Old Ones that appear in the series are more akin to Warhammer’s forces of Chaos, less unknowable horrors and more a metaphor for the worst of humanity.)
But even more than that I would recommend the Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud, as well as his subsequent series, Lockwood and Co. The first series is a story of magicians, demon summoning, and class warfare taking place in an alternate history London. (Somebody already mentioned the first book of that trilogy, The Amulet of Samarkand.) The second series is possibly the greatest story about ghost hunters ever written. Both series are superbly crafted, and I wholeheartedly recommend them.
The first book, Raven’s Gate, is the story of a psychic young man in foster care, who gets sent to live with a sinister guardian in a remote English village. From there on, the story turns into a globetrotting thriller; the protagonists travel from country to country, meet ancient civilizations, and recruit allies to stop the Nightrise Corporation, which is trying to bring about the summoning of the Old Ones. (While the series’ subject matter is a clear reference to Lovecraft and Lovecraftian horror, the actual Old Ones that appear in the series are more akin to Warhammer’s forces of Chaos, less unknowable horrors and more a metaphor for the worst of humanity.)
But even more than that I would recommend the Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud, as well as his subsequent series, Lockwood and Co. The first series is a story of magicians, demon summoning, and class warfare taking place in an alternate history London. (Somebody already mentioned the first book of that trilogy, The Amulet of Samarkand.) The second series is possibly the greatest story about ghost hunters ever written. Both series are superbly crafted, and I wholeheartedly recommend them.
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