Fantasy+Fun!

Fantasy Fun!

Book Blurbs

Northen Lights: When Lyra's friend Roger disappears, she and her daemon, Pantalaimon, determine to find him. The ensuring quest leads them to the bleak splendour of the North, where armoured bears rule the ice and witch-queens fly through the frozen skies - and where a team of scientists is conducting experiments too horrible to be spoken about. Lyra overcomes these strange terrors, only to find something yet more perilous waiting for her - something with consequences which may even reach //beyond// the Northen Lights...

Lady Grace Mysteries: Gold!: Treasure and trickery! Preparations for a wedding at court are interrupted when a shipment of gold is stolen! The culprit is a masked horseman, all in black... or is it a gang of ruffians from the forest? The mysterious clues point in different directions and Grace, Queen Elizabeth's secret Lady Pursuivant, can't make sense of them. Will she be able to recover the fortune? Discover the intriguing truth in the daybooke of Lady Grace, Queen Elizabeth I's favourite Maid of Honour.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Harry Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy - until he is rescued by an owl, taken to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learns to play Quidditch and does battle in a deadly duel. The Reason: HARRY POTTER IS A WIZARD!

Fairest: In the kingdom of Ayortha, who is the fairest of them all? Certainly not Aza. She is thoroughly convinced that she is ugly. What she may lack in looks, though, she makes up for with a kind heart, and with something no one else has–a magical voice. Her vocal talents captivate all who hear them, and in Ontio Castle they attract the attention of a handsome prince – and a dangerous new queen. In this masterful novel filled with humour, adventure, romance, and song, Newbery Honor author Gail Carson Levine invites you to join Aza as she discovers how exquisite she truly is.

Artimes Foul: Artemis Foul II, the titular character, is the twelve-year-old son of an Irish crime lord, [|Artemis Fowl I]. After significant research, Artemis believes that he has confirmed the existence of fairies and decides to kidnap one. He tracks down an alcoholic sprite posing as a healer in [|Ho Chi Minh City], [|Vietnam], and travels there with his friend and bodyguard [|Butler] to obtain from her the [|The Book of the People]—the Fairy holy book that is written in [|Gnommish]. Meanwhile, [|Captain Holly Short] of the Lower Elements Police is tracking a rogue [|troll] that has managed to reach the surface of the Earth from the fairy city, deep underground. Assisted by a technically minded [|centaur] called [|Foaly] and [|LEPrecon] commander [|Julius Root], she incapacitates the troll. However, this uses the last of her magic, and Commander Root demands that she complete the [|magic restoring ritual]. Artemis decodes the Book using computerized translating software, and in the process, learns the specifics of the ritual: taking an acorn from an ancient oak tree near a bend in a river under the full moon and planting it elsewhere. Artemis and Butler track down over 100 possible locations for the ritual and start a [|stakeout]; after nearly four months, they discover Holly performing the ritual. She attempts to use the magical mind-controlling [|mesmer] to defend herself, but Artemis is prepared for this, and Butler tranquillises Holly with a hypodermic syringe. The LEP, who are immediately aware of her disappearance, send Julius Root to search for her. He traces her tracker to an abandoned whaling ship off the coast of [|Dublin], Ireland. Through an audio/visual communicator, Artemis informs Root from [|Fowl Manor] that he is holding Holly for ransom, then destroys the whaling ship remotely by detonating a large amount of [|Semtex]. A LEPretrieval team is sent to scout Fowl Manor. Using their magical [|'shielding'] ability, which allows them to vibrate faster than the human eye can follow, the team enters the manor grounds. Artemis anticipated this also, however, and installed a camera with a high frames-per-second rate, allowing him to detect the threat by freezing the image. After Butler incapacitates the intruders, Root decides to lay siege to Fowl Manor using a time-stop and enter negotiations. The ransom demand is revealed as one metric ton of 24-carat gold. Artemis uses the opportunity to reveal his knowledge of the time-stop and claims that he can escape it. The attempts to gain entry to the manor continue as an infamous criminal, the [|kleptomaniac] dwarf [|Mulch Diggums], is recruited to break in. Fairies are forbidden from entering human dwellings without permission, but Mulch has already broken this rule and is immune to the adverse consequences. He tunnels underground to reach the house while Foaly feeds a loop to the manor surveillance system, allowing Mulch to freely explore. Mulch locates a safe containing a copy of the Book, finally revealing to the fairies the source of Artemis' knowledge. The Fairy Council, deciding that nothing is working, promote a lieutenant called [|Briar Cudgeon] to Acting Commander, temporarily usurping Julius Root. He sends in a troll in an attempt to elicit a cry for help, which counts as an invitation for fairies to enter. Meanwhile, recalling that she dropped the acorn from the ritual into her boot, Holly Short cracks through the concrete of her cell using her bed and completes the ritual. Having regained her magic, she escapes into the main house. Butler, aided by the healing powers of Holly, defeats the troll, and Artemis is finally granted the ransom. The gold is sent in, and Artemis asks Holly for a wish: he wants to cure his mother's insanity - she has been living in her bedroom, driven mad by the loss of her husband. Holly grants the wish at the cost of half the gold. The LEP decides to send in a 'blue rinse' - a [|biological bomb] that kills all organic life - to eliminate Artemis and allow for the retrieval of the gold, but this fails when Artemis escapes the time-stop by drugging himself and his comrades with [|sleeping pills]. When Butler wakes, Artemis explains that by changing one's state of wakefulness in a time-stop, one can escape it, as it is only one's state of consciousness that keeps one trapped by the time-stop.