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Hilari Bell

Goodreads Author

Born

in Denver, The United States

Website

http://www.sfwa.org/members/bell/

Twitter

hilaribell

Member Since

October 2010

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As far as writing is concerned, I call myself the poster child for persistence. Songs of Power, the first novel I sold, was the 5th novel I'd written. When it sold I was working on novel #13. The next to sell, Navohar, was #12, and the next, A Matter of Profit, was #9. The Goblin Wood was #6, and the first Sorahb book, Flame (later renamed Farsala: Fall of a Kingdom), will be #15. You get the picture.

My reviews: Mea culpa! I got onto Goodreads years ago, and haven't been reviewing--but I now mean to start! I should add that as writer, I tend to read a bit more critically. Or at least, when I think a book is going off the rails I usually see technical, writer problems with it. In short, any time a book stops working for me, that author becom As far as writing is concerned, I call myself the poster child for persistence. Songs of Power, the first novel I sold, was the 5th novel I'd written. When it sold I was working on novel #13. The next to sell, Navohar, was #12, and the next, A Matter of Profit, was #9. The Goblin Wood was #6, and the first Sorahb book, Flame (later renamed Farsala: Fall of a Kingdom), will be #15. You get the picture.

My reviews: Mea culpa! I got onto Goodreads years ago, and haven't been reviewing--but I now mean to start! I should add that as writer, I tend to read a bit more critically. Or at least, when I think a book is going off the rails I usually see technical, writer problems with it. In short, any time a book stops working for me, that author becomes an honorary member of my writing critique group--whether they want to or not! So I apologize in advance for any technical critiques my fellow writers may recieve.

Biography: My personal life? I was born in Denver in 1958—you can do the math. I'm single and live with my mother, brother and sister-in-law. I used to be a part time reference librarian for a mid-sized public library, but in the beginning of ’05 I achieved a writer’s dream and quit the day job. Librarian turned writer is a very schizophrenic state—when I try to urge people to buy my books, I have to beat down a lifetime of professional reflexes demanding that I tell them to check them out at the library instead.

I enjoy board gaming and fantasy gaming, both table top and live. But my favorite thing to do is the decadent version of camping my mom and I practice. We have a pop-up trailer with a fridge, a sink, a stove and (if electrical hookups are available) a space heater, heating pads and a toaster. Our motto is "No unnecessary work." We don't cook, we don't wash dishes, we don't...you name it. What we do is spend all day, every day, reading and hiking and reading some more. Camping is the only time I can get in enough reading. Well, I take that back—when it comes to reading, there's no such thing as enough. ...more

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Hilari Bell's Blog

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Published on June 22, 2011 14:09

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Hilari Bell’s books

Average rating: 3.9 · 28,633 ratings · 1,816 reviews · 87 distinct works • Similar authors

	Fall of a Kingdom (The Farsala Trilogy, #1) 3.72 avg rating — 5,377 ratings — published 2003 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Goblin Wood (Goblin Wood, #1) 3.93 avg rating — 4,005 ratings — published 2003 — 15 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rise of a Hero (The Farsala Trilogy, #2) 4.02 avg rating — 3,778 ratings — published 2005 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Forging the Sword (The Farsala Trilogy, #3) 4.10 avg rating — 3,582 ratings — published 2006 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Last Knight (Knight and Rogue, #1) 3.90 avg rating — 2,824 ratings — published 2007 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rogue's Home (Knight and Rogue, #2) 4.18 avg rating — 1,125 ratings — published 2008 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Player's Ruse (Knight and Rogue, #3) 4.16 avg rating — 950 ratings — published 2008 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shield of Stars (The Shield, Sword, and Crown, #1) 3.86 avg rating — 1,052 ratings — published 2007 — 8 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Sword of Waters (The Shield, Sword, and Crown, #2) by Hilari Bell (Goodreads Author), Drew Willis (Illustrator) 3.97 avg rating — 756 ratings — published 2008 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Wizard Test 3.63 avg rating — 756 ratings — published 2005 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Series by Hilari Bell

The Farsala Trilogy (3 books)
by

Hilari Bell (Goodreads Author)

3.92 avg rating — 12,737 ratings

Knight and Rogue (6 books)
by

Hilari Bell (Goodreads Author)

4.03 avg rating — 5,473 ratings

Goblin Wood (3 books)
by

Hilari Bell (Goodreads Author)

3.94 avg rating — 5,175 ratings

The Shield, Sword, and Crown (3 books)
by

Hilari Bell (Goodreads Author),

Drew Willis (Illustrator)

3.92 avg rating — 2,353 ratings

Raven Duet (2 books)
by

Hilari Bell (Goodreads Author)

3.19 avg rating — 878 ratings

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Hilari is Currently Reading

Hilari Bell is currently reading

A Discovery of Witches (All Souls Trilogy, #1)

by Deborah Harkness (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

read in March, 2018

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Hilari Bell said: " An interesting book, in a lot of ways. There are a few things that are a bit off for me, but I don't think that most readers will find a heroine who leads with her heart instead of her head at all a problem. Or that it spends a lot of time on the rom ...more "

May 19, 2018 10:29AM · see review

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Hilari’s Recent Updates

Hilari Bell rated a book it was amazing The Serpent's Tale (Mistress of the Art of Death, #2) by Ariana Franklin	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 10, 2019 08:00PM · like
Hilari Bell rated a book it was amazing Mistress of the Art of Death (Mistress of the Art of Death, #1) by Ariana Franklin	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I read a number of good books on my last camping trip—but I probably enjoyed re-reading the Mistress of the Art of Death books as much or more than most of the first reads—and if you like historical mysteries with great characters and a sense of humo ...more
Aug 02, 2019 01:19AM · 1 like · like · see review
Hilari Bell rated a book really liked it Cold Bayou (Benjamin January, #16) by Barbara Hambly (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I like all the Ben January mysteries, but this was a particularly good one. Not to gory, either, which sometimes happens with these stories. Though if you haven't read the whole series, start from the beginning. They're well worth it.
Jul 07, 2019 01:19AM · like · see review
Hilari Bell rated a book it was amazing Knife Children (The Sharing Knife #4.5) by Lois McMaster Bujold (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This short novella doesn't have a ton of plot--well, novella--but I adore the universe and the characters so much that it threw me right back into one of my all-time-favorite fantasy worlds. In fact, I'm now re-reading the first 4 books from the star ...more
Mar 23, 2019 12:37PM · like · see review
Hilari Bell rated a book it was amazing Graveyard of the Hesperides (Flavia Albia Series) by Lindsey Davis	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Feb 10, 2019 09:31PM · like
Hilari Bell rated a book liked it Time's Convert by Deborah Harkness (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I liked Harkness’ first trilogy, though the plot was sometimes a bit loose. With this book, despite interesting characters, there’s not quite enough plot there for me—but if you just want to check in with the characters you know, and learn more about ...more
Jan 05, 2019 10:35PM · 1 like · like · see review
Hilari Bell rated a book it was amazing Uncompromising Honor (Honor Harrington Book 19) by David Weber	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Cracking good book! I was a bit wary of the previous book, since so many people complained that it didn't move the plot forward--well, they can't make that complaint about this one. I won't reveal the climax, but it's outstanding. And as I said, the ...more
Nov 07, 2018 10:54PM · like · see review
Hilari Bell rated a book it was amazing The Course of Empire (Jao, #1) by Eric Flint	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This is one of my favorite SF books--the two that follow it in the series aren't as good. But the Jao are some of my favorite aliens, and the human characters match them. As the conquerers and conquered come together--despite all obstaces--there are ...more
Aug 27, 2018 08:32AM · like · see review
Hilari Bell rated a book it was amazing The Course of Empire (Jao, #1) by Eric Flint	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 26, 2018 07:14PM · like
Hilari Bell made a comment on their review of Legacy (The Sharing Knife, #2) " Hmm. No one is really up to Bujold, but have you read some of Barbara Hambly's fantasy? She's also got a really good historical mystery series, but a ...more "
Jul 28, 2018 07:24AM · see review

More of Hilari's books…

Quotes by Hilari Bell

“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people, some of the time, but you can fool yourself anytime you need to badly enough.”
― Hilari Bell, Navohar

tags: humor

45 likes

“In his opinion, working was vastly overrated. Particularly as a way to build character, for everyone who engaged in it was far too snappish and fussy, and seemed to have no manners at all.”
― Hilari Bell, Crown of Earth

tags: attitude, character, humor, work

23 likes

“Today, salute, mile, serve, deep. And I am never doing that again.-Kavi”
― Hilari Bell

tags: farsala, hilari-bell, kavi

19 likes

See all Hilari Bell's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

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Young Adult Ficti...: Fall of a kingdom By hilari bell	1	19	Oct 02, 2008 11:46AM
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TBR - To Be Referred: October TBR Listing-COMPLETED	63	34	Dec 30, 2011 10:18PM