(Originally posted on September 16, 2010) All those reasons I gave for liking to read YA fiction- I like to read Charles deLint for the exact opposite reasons. I read a deLint novel every couple of years. His character arcs are complex and in depth. There’s a depth to everything. It may be hard to put the book down, but you don’t fly through it. Mulengro is a dark urban fantasy. There are multiple point of view characters, including almost everyone who dies, making the senseless violence feel that much more potent, and putting everyone in danger. The ending is not surprising, but is still powerful.

(Originally posted in four parts September 4-7, 2010) I enjoyed the Song of the Lioness quartet quite a bit. If I had read the books when I was at the target age, they probably would have been among my favorites. As an adult, and a writer, I find them good, but not great. Alanna is a likeable hero. She is not perfect, but she tries and is (mostly) able to admit her mistakes. Pierce is most at home when writing action scenes. When in the midst of a fight, the reader is right there in the middle of the action, feeling every punch and clash of the swords. Pierce’s biggest…