Books from Books

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Arianna Stonewater
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Books from Books

Post by Arianna Stonewater »

One of my favorite things about Harry Potter is how much its been expanded. Not only can we read some of Harry's School Books (FBAWTFT, QTTA, etc) but we have adapted quidditch to the Muggle World, we can visit Hogsmeade and drink butterbeer....etc.

I love when this happens with other books too. Here are two books that I just finished reading that are from other series:

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1. Charlie the Choo-Choo, by Beryl Evans (a penn name used by Stephen King)

This is based on a book from The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. In the third book, The Waste Lands, we learn about Blaine the Train, who is based off this book. You can certainly read this "children's" book alone and enjoy it, but once you read The Waste Lands, you'll see it has a much darker connotation and you start to look at the illustrations in a much different light.

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2. Tak Companion Book, by James Ernest & Patrick Rothfuss

This is a book which was actually put forth by a kickstarter from Patrick Rothfuss, creator of The Kingkiller Chronicles. Tak is a game introduced in the book. Patrick put forth this kickstarter with this guide book to tell you about the history as well as the rules, and I loved reading it! In the series they just play it, they don't go over the rules or anything like that. Reading this book has made me that much more impressed by the characters who have mastered the game, and I fully intend to make my own game board some day!


What other books series have you read that produced other books which enhanced the story?
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Prof. Maxim Trevelyan
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Re: Books from Books

Post by Prof. Maxim Trevelyan »

This!

There is no science-fiction author I love more than Isaac Asimov. I actually think he's the only one? Anyway, I fancied myself that I've read all his books, so it took me by surprise to see that there is another Foundation Trilogy out there, named...Second Foundation Trilogy: Foundation's Fear, Foundation and Chaos and Foundation's Triumph. First Foundation trilogy was what drew me to Asimov's stories. Anyway, so couple of years ago I decided to give the second trilogy a try and I re-read it a couple of days ago. It's not as good as Asimov's naturally, but I love that it stays true to the universe set by Asimov. I figured that if the authors of the trilogy were approached by Asimov representative, they had to be good. And they were!

There are also other non-Asimov books set in his universe, like a couple of robot mystery books, and I do urge for any Asimov fans out there to read them. You will not regret it.
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...also a platonic soulmate and a hot mess of a human being.
Rowan Wildsmith
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Re: Books from Books

Post by Rowan Wildsmith »

The James Bond novels are another big one. Not only are there Fleming's originals (which are okay), but they've been expanding for ages. There's a Young James Bond series, and now modern thriller, action, and mystery writers have been given the chance to write for the character as well. And yet even when a series gets so big that other people are writing for it, it still can't beat the size of the Harry Potter phenomenon.
Prof. Maxim Trevelyan
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Re: Books from Books

Post by Prof. Maxim Trevelyan »

Another book from a book is Carry On: The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow by Rainbow Rowell. Not only that, it is actually a novel-within-a-novel-based-on-a-book-series that the main character from another Rowell’s book, Fangirl, is writing. Despite the tie-ins with Fangirl, Carry On is actually a standalone book and you can read it without having a clue what the other book is about.

While the story at first glance is rather clichéd, a Chosen One at a magical school (ring a bell anyone), Carry On turns this trope on its head and runs away with it. It is a rather fresh perspective on the fantasy and magic genres. It also has a lot of humor, but can be quite serious at times (really, you are going to need tissues at certain parts of the book). Not to mention it is also more inclusive than 95% of Young Adult genre.

I like that you do not need to read other books from this universe to understand what is going on. A lot of the books from books give too little information about the established universe, resulting in a very confused reader and that can impact the person’s enjoyment of the book. Carry On’s beginning is a little rushed due to this, but it evens out into a lovely and gripping story. I especially recommend it to all Harry Potter fans.
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...also a platonic soulmate and a hot mess of a human being.
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