In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Rowling demon­strates that she really has been building up to this finale across all seven books, laying down material in earlier books to be picked up here.

After a brief, happy interlude at the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour, Harry goes on the run with Ron and Hermione. A coup has taken place in the Ministry of Magic. A puppet minister has been installed, with Voldemort reigning behind the scenes. Mudbloods are being rounded up. Snape is the new headmaster …continue.

At the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the reborn Voldemort finally revealed himself to the world. Harry is no longer being dogged by ill-founded claims that he is lying, making his sixth year at Hogwarts easier. Elsewhere in the magical world, Voldemort and the Death Eaters are wreaking havoc.

Dumbledore belatedly takes Harry somewhat into his confidence and reveals that Voldemort has split his soul into several pieces to assure his im­mor­tal­i­ty. Only if these fragments, which are hidden in horcruxes, are all destroyed, …continue.

Having just seen the new Harry Potter movie, I decided to reread this book and the Half-Blood Prince before the release of the final book, next weekend.

The movie omits vast swathes of plot, of course, but delivers a competent retelling of the book.

Voldemort came back to life at the end of the previous book, but only Harry Potter has seen him and few, apart from Dumbledore and the re­con­sti­tut­ed Order of the Phoenix, believe him. A tinpot dictator from the Ministry of Magic, Dolores Umbridge, is sent to …continue.

Ninth book in the Dresden Files series of urban fantasies.

Harry Dresden is a wizard who consults with the Chicago Police on weird crimes. Molly, the rebellious teenaged daughter of an old friend, leads him to a horror fiction convention where the fans are being attacked by real monsters. Given Harry's smart mouth and talent for drawing trouble upon himself, it's not too long before he's captured by a sadistic villain who tries to auction him to his many enemies on eBay. He escapes but then has to lead a rescue mission …continue.

Centuries ago, the fairies were driven north, where they lurk behind the Shadowline. They want their lands back. The humans living in Southmarch are blithely unaware that the Shadowline is drifting pur­pose­ful­ly southwards, being pre­oc­cu­pied with their own politics. The king is being held hostage by a treach­er­ous southern neighbor. The oldest prince is murdered shortly after the book opens, leaving the teenage twins, Briony and Barrick, as the regents.

Briony manages to rise to the occasion, but her half-crippled brother starts cracking under the strain. The book follows several other characters, notably Chert, a hobbit-like …continue.

Jim Butcher is best known for The Dresden Files, a noirish urban fantasy series. Academ's Fury is the second book in his straight, high fantasy series, The Codex Alera, which is set in a world at the tech­no­log­i­cal level of the Roman Empire. Many of the characters have Roman names and I expect that we'll learn in a future book that they are somehow de­scen­dants of marooned Romans. This is not Earth: there are several alien races. More im­por­tant­ly, every human can call upon one or more furies, elemental beings with …continue.

A certain subgenre has grown up over the last few years. Call it "vampire mystery" or urban fantasy or "horror fiction" or "paranormal romance". Stories set in a world that looks a lot like ours, but witches, vampires, werewolves, and other creatures exist among us, sometimes openly, sometimes not. The creatures have complex personal lives, generally sticking together with their own kind and treating gingerly with the other para­nor­mals. The hero (often, heroine) is not nec­es­sar­i­ly human and has close friends, lovers, and enemies who are vampires or werewolves or witches. In the best …continue.

It's so hard to find a good person of hench these days.

Nobody actually says that in this collection of 14 short stories, but it's not hard to imagine some of them doing so.

The cliches of evil over­lordism and Bond villain have worked their way into the Zeitgeist. From Dr. Evil to Darth Vader, everyone knows how the heroes outwit the villain and save the day.

And so do the villains, as a rule. Some have read the Evil Overlord List. Most …continue.

In The Golden Compass, Lyra Belacqua is a young girl living at Jordan College, Oxford. A ward of her distant uncle, Lord Asriel, she is rather absently looked after by the staff and scholars, but prefers to spend her time rough­hous­ing with the local …continue.

In Dies the Fire, the first book of the trilogy, the "Change" instantly and per­ma­nent­ly disabled elec­tric­i­ty, high-powered chemical reactions, and explosives, plunging mankind back into the Dark Ages. Ninety percent of the planet's population died in the first year, mostly from disease, starvation, or murder. Dies the Fire follows several groups that form in Oregon's Willamette valley, including the Clan Mackenzie and the Bear­killers.

The second book, The Pro­tec­tor's War, took place nine years later. The tyrannical Protector of Portland and his feudal barons start to provoke war against the …continue.