If you've ever read any of the authors that I am currently featuring here, then you already know what the term Saga means. Sagas start out as a single novel, usually with no indication that there is going to be a next novel. This also depends on the history of the author. Have they written trilogies before? Have they created an outline that can be continued into several more books? These are important things when writing stories that are going to be drawn out over a period of several novels, some of which are almost 1000 pages long.

It's not easy writing a novel, let alone several that link to each other intricately. I do however quite enjoy them. When you are reading a Saga you learn about the characters, you end up loving or hating them, but you always need to know more of the story, about what is going to happen to them next and are they going to save the world or will it all fall down and crumble around them?

There are a few Sagas I have read that started out as Trilogies. If you have read Raymond E. Feist, who a friend got me interested in many years ago, he started out with a simple orphan boy who ended up becoming a savior to a princess, then he became a slave, and after all of his trials became one of the most powerful magicians in the known worlds. This entire saga started with one book, called Magician Apprentice. I've read the book several times, I have all but a couple of books for the entire Saga, including the Kelewan based trilogy.

I love reading Sagas because you keep in touch with those characters you first meet. The world grows around them, they confront enemies who are trying to turn everything into chaos, they find allies in one of their enemies, loved ones die and new ones continue to defend the world they know and cherish.

The best thing about Sagas is that everything is based in the same world, or worlds in the case of Feists' Magician books, and there is always something going on that catches you, pulls you in and keeps you hungry for more.

You don't have to read fantasy in order to get a good Saga. You can get an excellent saga out of the Anita Blake and Merry Genty books by Laurell K. Hamilton as well. Nora Roberts wrote a trilogy, but I haven't finished reading it yet and I don't know if there are more books to it at this time. I also enjoy Catherine Coulter's FBI thriller books. Best to be read in order but they can stand on their own as well. These are the types of stories I love to read. Sagas keep you enthralled for years, watching characters grow, live, and die, then to watch their children to do the same.

I started reading the Feist books again while back, which is why I haven't been around and posting as much. I decided to start again from the beginning after reading the latest book in the long series because every now and then I learn something new. I literally read each book within three days (24 hours if you want to talk hours not including breaks and sleeping) and doing so has renewed my interest a hundredfold.

Following Pug through his trials as a boy in Crydee to becoming the most powerful magician on a foreign world and bringing the Greater Path magic back to his homeworld is amazing to say the least. The RiftWar Saga itself has 9 books. Three from the Midkemian side, three from the Kelewan side, and then I also include the 3 Legacy books that start 10 years after the RiftWar even though they aren't exactly during the RiftWar. There are things that happened which caused them to be linked to the RiftWar itself and having those three books puts everything into perspective.

I am missing one book still, A Shadow of a Dark Queen, because I had left it over at someone's home and when I went to retrieve it they told me it wasn't there and they'd never seen it. I was pretty darn sure I had left it on the coffee table, but never questioned them and never saw the book again. Eventually I'll buy a copy so that I can have a complete set again. People find it strange that I reread books! But when an author spends as much time on such an epic like this you end up having to sometimes. I've reread these books at least three or four times over the years as more books are written and added. I end up loving them more and more each time.

The SerpentWar Saga takes you on a journey to another part of the Midkemian world that no one knew was there, they have to travel by ship for several months to reach this other portion of land and because of it being such a long trip and most ships can't hold enough supplies to go that long without land, it's never been found or never proven to exist.

This new land, Novindus, is completely different from what the people of the Kingdom know. Instead of being ruled as the Kingdom or the other known lands it is more of a City-State system and whoever has the most money to pay for mercenaries stays in control of the land they've taken. Novindus never knows true peace and there is constant suffering.

The books in this series will take you to new heights in realism. You learn about the people from the nobility to the common, you learn their ways and thoughts, they have dreams and trials. You ride with them into battle and come out with bruises. The story brings you into it and you learn to love and hate throughout the story. You become entwined with the good and the evil, get upset when someone you enjoy following doesn't live to see another day and mourn their passing with the others in the story.

With so much detail provided in the books you feel as if you could close your eyes and be there with the people you're reading about. If you enjoy a good adventure story, these books are for you. You don't even truly have to enjoy fantasy, but that's always another plus. The worlds within are much like our own world during medieval times. So take a look at Magician: Apprentice and see if you wish to continue to follow Pug and others as their lives unfold, as they fight for the world they love, as they simply wish to live day to day in peace.

I've got to admit that I had to start over reading the Wheel of Time series when I bought the newest installment Knife of Dreams because when I started reading it I couldn't remember anything from the previous book. When I decided to try re-reading Crossroads of Twilight, again that happened. So I went back to Winter's Heart. When I had issues remembering from there I decided to reread the entire series. I am currently on Lord of Chaos.

It's odd how when I start to reread a series that I remember everything from the beginning but not from the most recently read books. I don't understand how that works, but that seems to be the way of it for me.

The Eye of the World starts you on a journey with four young people from Emond's Field and takes you on an adventure with them. Another from home joins them on the journey, completely unexpected by them, but needed by the Pattern. There are dangers from every shadow and every turn of the page. In this book, people who thought things were myth learn otherwise and meet fantastical creatures and their worst nightmares. At first it's simply a battle to be able to return home and becomes so much more, a battle for sanity, a war against darkness.

The intricate details with the people involved in the book it's amazing. You truly get to know the characters you are reading about. Not just their strengths and weaknesses, but you also learn their fears, their loves and their needs. It's the absolute strength of will that keeps them from being swallowed by the Shadow and engulfed in darkness.

It's easiest to read such a long saga like this one straight through as much as possible. I have always had problems waiting for the next book to come out because by the time it did I would have to reread the previous one.

There is even a role-playing game that has been created for this series for those who wish to experience this fantastic world in another way. I've personally never played it but I know those who have. If you enjoy the saga and enjoy the different characters, you should look into it and find a group with credibility. Enjoy!

So here is a list of books that I have read that need to be reviewed:

1. Ender's Game
   
2. Speaker for the Dead
   
3. Xenocide
   
4. Children of the Mind.
   
5. Detailed reviews for World of Time series
   

So you can see that there will be a lot of posts coming soon. Thanks for being patient!

Even though I had never read any of his novels previously I knew Orson Scott Card was an amazing writer. I had bought two of his creative writing help books (Elements of Writing Fiction - Characters & Viewpoint (Elements of Fiction Writing) & How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy (Genre Writing Series)) which were great because of the way they were written and because he didn't tie you down to writing in a specific way. I've been wanting to read some of his books for quite awhile and recently we went to Paperbacks Unlimited in Santa Rosa to see if they had any that could be added to our collection of 2, previously to that we hit up Borders to buy Ender's Game and we already had Children of the Mind.

Surprisingly they had the two other books we needed to complete the original quartet. I devoured Ender's Game. I absolutely love the way Orson Scott Card writes. You simply join in with the story from a couple of different angles. One view is Ender himself, another view are the people who brought him to the Battle School hoping he is the Earth's salvation and then you get to see what's going on with his family, specifically Valentine and Peter.

The way the story goes you root for Ender to overcome his obstacles, you hope he doesn't crack and go insane under the huge amount of stress that is put on him during his years in the Battle School. He is separated from the group by just a few statements from the man that brought him to the Battle School and ends up being friendless for awhile. He does what needs to be done, what is required of him to accomplish and attempts to make friends. Everytime things get better for him they uproot him and force him to start all over again.

Finally he is given a short reprieve and returns to Earth for a few months. The officers use his sister to convince Ender to go on, to save the Earth, although she does love her brother, she also sympathizes with what he's going through. They are as close as brother and sister can be. Ender goes on to the Command School in order to learn how to command the fleet that will take out the Buggers and eliminate the threat they pose to humans.

This is where I will stop regarding Ender's Game. If you want to know more, simply grab a copy at Borders or order it from Amazon (Ender's Game). You'll follow Ender to a new colony, learn what his dreams mean and find out how he becomes the first Speaker for the Dead.