Win 2 tickets to our Game of Thrones and Geekery talk at Ayala Museum
The winners of two tickets each to our Game of Thrones and Geekery talk at Ayala Museum on Saturday are Kaye (favorite fantasy books: the Protector of the Small series by Tamora Pierce) and theidolfan (The Phantom Tollbooth). You can collect your tickets at the reception desk of the Ayala Museum on Saturday, before our talk at 3pm.
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![JZgotblast[6]](https://i1.wp.com/www.jessicarulestheuniverse.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/JZgotblast61.jpg)
Let us know what your favorite fantasy novel is, when you first read it, and why you love it.
Word count: Knock yourself out. Be epic.
Criteria: Grammar and clarity. We think of ourselves as the Grammar Watch, defending The Wall against incoherence and unacceptable usage.
We are the red pencil in the darkness.
We are the watcher of the written word.
We are the fire that burns against ignorance and illiteracy,
the light that corrects syntax errors,
the horn that wakes those whose subjects and verbs do not agree,
the shield that guards grammar.
When an editor dies, we say, “And now her/his watch has ended.” As for the rest of the oath, we observe it at least as well as Jon Snow does.
Post your answer in Comments before noon on Wednesday, 3 September 2014. The winner will be announced the following day. The tickets can be claimed at the front desk of the Ayala Museum on the day of the lecture.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
September 2nd, 2014 at 18:15
My favorite fantasy novels are Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small series. I first picked them up in high school as a baby feminist looking for stories with female protagonists who got to kick butt and have the same adventures that guys often got to have. The series revolves around Keladry of Mindelan and her journey to become the first openly female knight in the kingdom of Tortall.
Throughout the series, Kel struggles in a male-dominated field while enduring sexist and malicious gossip from misogynistic conservatives who want to discredit her and dissuade her from pursuing her shield. What I love about this series is that even though it takes place in a fantastical setting, the issues that push the narrative are issues that are relevant in real life, like class and gender inequality. Although fantasy novels are often seen as a means to escape reality, I really like that the narrative sort of forces readers to examine their own attitudes towards these issues. In the end, Kel becomes a hero in her own right, proving the conservatives wrong and surpassing her year-mates through hard work and sheer force of will, which is also a pretty great message to send young people (and older readers).
September 3rd, 2014 at 08:40
“Expectations is the place you must always go to before you get to where you’re going. Of course, some people never go beyond Expectations.”
I first read The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster in the second grade. As an 8 year old, I never understood why I had to study, which for me back then was pretty pointless. I tried asking why I had to learn mathematics or science, and the only answer I could get was so that I could get into a good school and have a stable job. This wasn’t enough for me, which is why I never studied my lessons and only read books like phantom that interested me, thus the average grades in my report cards. This would continue until college, when an “AHA” moment dawned on me while reading phantom. Phantom is my favorite book because I realize something new whenever I read it. When Milo finally rescues the princesses Rhyme and Reason, he is told that his quest was impossible, and that if he had been told beforehand, he might now have gone altogether and not discovered that many things are possible just as long as you don’t know they’re possible. As Diana Wyne Jones said, “There is no ryhme or reason to being educated, but we have to discover both all the same, and most of us do.” I couldn’t agree more. I might not have known this as a child and I wish I did, but we never stop learning anyway and I still continue to discover new things everyday.