Re: Damn Harry Potter
Robin Mckinley used to be my favorite when I was a kid...Have you guys ever read The Hero and the Crown?
No one I knew could ever dig that book, but it was my favorite.
Re: Damn Harry Potter
Okay, I picked some books up: Thanks to NO. X, I was able to narrow my search to the quality ones.
I picked up The Last Unicorn by Beagle, and also Giant Bones by him - his books look interesting.
I also deviated from No. X's list and picked up this book Jane Reutley : Mage Heart - by Jane Reutley. And also The Squire Tale by Margaret Frazer.
I'll let you know how the books go as I read them :)
Re: Damn Harry Potter
urgh, I just wrote a review and it got erased due to the connection breaking off… 
The Last Unicorn was horrible. To make a long story short, the characterizations were poorly done, there were too many distractors and irrelevant events that happened that had nothing whatsoever to do with the theme (like the turned-on tree 
), and the resolution of the conflict was like the last half of an Indian movie. Choppy and cheap.
And according to reviews, Beagle is likened to Tolkien…yeah I dont think so.
Harry Puttar is a better written book than the crap I just read. What a waste of time.
Re: Damn Harry Potter
The Squire Tale is actually a mystery, rather than a fantasy…but its based in the 1440’s, so it had the themes of chivalry and knights, etc etc etc.
Although the characterization of the main character is off…Frazer has built a series of mysteries based in this time period - and apparently its a bestselling series…but I don’t know if I can really digest a nun who is a detective when not worshipping God in 7 prayers thru the day…
The whole novel is REALLY slow at the beginning and picks up speed later. The actually murder mystery part of it takes up like the last 5 chapters of the 21 chapters of the book…which really pissed me off.
I hate it when these authors diddle-daddle with fazool descriptions that mean nothing, and then manage to get to the point at the very end of the book.
But it was way better than The Last Unicorn.