Yours Truly's Book Review

Summer Reading

2009-08-06T13:34:00.002-05:00

Yep. It's that time of the year... again. Where I have to read tedious, horribly boring, or (if I'm lucky) just remotely interesting books and pay attention to what they say. This year's list is less than enjoyable, and while it gave me choices, few of them were what I really wanted to read.

Nonetheless, I did see a few of my favourite authors on the list and therefore chose them. Technically I only have to read four, but adding the fifth seemed a safe bet. Without further ado, here is the dreaded List:

-Puddenhead Wilson, Mark Twain
-Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Fannie Flagg
-The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
-House of Mirth, Edith Wharton
-Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury

Mark Twain and Ray Bradbury are the authors who made me smile and think that maybe this year's list wasn't quite so bad. After all, nothing can beat The Once and Future King in a "kill-it-dead" contest--not even 1984 or Animal Farm (though Animal Farm does give The Once and Future King a run for its money).

Reviews will be on their way. I promise.

Magyk

2009-03-17T20:10:00.002-05:00

by Angie Sage

Magyk is the story of Septimus Heap, the seventh son of a seventh son. This is a very Magykal position, as the seventh son of a seventh son has many Magykal powers.

...Okay, I can't continue. Magyk is an enormous book, where every other word is either capitalized and/or misspelled. In order for me to write a review on it, I would probably have to follow the same style, which would bother me to no end.

To be frank, the only thing that kept me reading this story was the characters. The plot rings somewhat hollow, even two books later (I'm currently reading Physik). The unconventional spelling wouldn't bother me nearly as much as it does because all the "important" words are bolded and in a different font face (a highly idiotic formatting move on the part of the editor, in my opinion). But the characters are hilarious, and they keep the story moving. Septimus (aka Boy 412)... Jenna, the not-so-regal Princess... Alther, the very helpful plot-device-character ghost... Marcia, the uptight ExtraOrdinary Wizard... Sarah and Silas Heap, and all the Heap brothers... it's crazy, but fun.

This book is a very hefty one. It's a good read, but more aimed towards those readers who love reading so much that a two-inch-thick novel does not faze them. Read it for the characters!

The Book Thief

2009-01-16T18:18:00.002-05:00

by Markus Zusak

When someone says "Holocaust novel," the first thing that comes to mind is a tearjerking story of Jews who were tossed into a concentration camp, right? The camp of choice for fictitious stories is usually the ever-infamous Auschwitz, while true stories tend to have more variation. The Book Thief is not an average Holocaust novel.

Liesl Meminger's mother has given her up for adoption. Liesl ends up living with a foster family, the Hubermanns. They are a German family: Papa (Hans) Hubermann, and his wife Rosa (aka Mama). Liesl joins the Hitler Youth, becomes friends with Rudy, a neighbourhood soccer teammate, and is generally a good German girl in the 1940s. But then a Jewish man from Papa Hubermann's history comes to the house and they have a Jew living in their basement in the midst of the Holocaust.

This story, narrated by Death, is fascinating. Instead of a typical concentration-camp story, Death follows Liesl and her life in Nazi Germany. I highly recommend this to anyone who like Holocaust fiction (and even those who don't--it's really, really good!). But start reading some time in the day, or else you won't have time to sleep at night. It's an all-night story.

...Oops...

2008-11-10T23:13:00.002-05:00

Yes, I know. This post is long overdue. And it still isn't a real post! Don't worry. Posts will happen! I just need a little more time. Current project: The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. Excellent book. I can't put it down!

My Ántonia

2008-09-13T18:18:00.002-05:00

by Willa Cather

This novel is set somewhere in the Midwest and chronicles the story of young Jim Burden. Bohemian neighbours move to America and live nearby, and My Ántonia tells of how the children grow up together. The Bohemians speak little English, so the Burdens help them, as well as aiding them in surviving the winters. Ántonia (or Tony) is Jim Burden's little friend. Tony is a few years older than Jim, but they still watch out for each other.

Quite honestly, I didn't really understand the point of this story. It was sweet, but I'd rather not have read it. Not quite as slow as Siddhartha, My Ántonia took me long enough to read as it was.

Siddhartha

2008-09-13T18:14:00.002-05:00

by Hermann Hesse

Siddhartha is a fictitious novel portraying the journey of the life of the founder of Buddha. Laden with symbolism and descriptions, this puny just-over-one-hundred-page novel is like wading uphill through molasses in the dead of winter. I actually had to read it twice just to understand it, and regretted the second read-through. Unless you really enjoy this type of novel, I do not recommend it. On a nice night, I think I'm going to burn it.

His Majesty's Dragon

2008-08-25T14:16:00.002-05:00

by Naomi Novik

As a man of the navy, Captain Will Laurence did not ever expect to come across a dragon. Moreover, he never expected to have to be the master of one. But when the dragon egg captured as a prize from a French ship hatches and takes a liking to him, he finds himself the companion of a black dragon by the name of Temeraire. At first, taking care of Temeraire is a daunting task. All he does is eat and grow and eat some more. Captain Laurence knows that as soon as they reach shore, he must take on the task of learning to be an aviator.

Within weeks, Temeraire's company begins to grow on Captain Laurence, until he is comfortable in his job as handler. Once they reach shore, Laurence is assigned to the aviator base and begins a brand-new adventure.

Temeraire turns out to be a very rare Celestial dragon from the Orient. The people at the aviation base try to assign Temeraire a new handler, but he refuses. Relieved, Laurence continues his training with Temeraire, learning to fly and becoming even better friends with his dragon. The black dragon is fascinated by battles and constantly asks Laurence to read to him tales of heroic feats and aerial combat.

His Majesty's Dragon takes the Napoleonic wars and inserts dragons. It is a wonderful work of historical fantasy, and I doubt my book review does it justice. I'm currently searching for the next in the series (though I have to return this one, still...)

The Twilight Saga

2008-08-02T16:00:00.002-05:00

by Stephenie Meyer

The saga begins with Twilight, the first in the series of four. Isabella (better known as just Bella) Swan is on her way to live with her dad, Charlie. All her life, she has lived with her mom, Renée. Upon arriving in Forks, her new home, she jumps right into her senior year of high school. While there, she meets Edward Cullen. Bella does some poking around and figures out that Edward and his family are vampires. Around the same time, she realizes that she is completely and utterly in love with him.

...I can't review all four of these books... I'm sorry, readers. I went to the midnight release for Breaking Dawn last night and stayed up all night reading, so I'm lucky if this is coherent. Stephenie Meyer is an excellent writer, and I highly recommend these books to anyone interested. It is a rare day when I find a romance series that I enjoy so much that I will follow it as far as it goes. Just go read them. They hold your attention.

So Yesterday

2008-07-26T21:24:00.002-05:00

by Scott Westerfeld

Ever wonder who decides what's cool and what's not? Hunter Braque is one of those people. Hunter is a Trendsetter, the second level of the "cool pyramid." Then, one day when he's out cool-hunting, he comes across an Innovator by the name of Jen. Innovators are the top of the cool pyramid, the ones who have the original ideas. They're the ones who are the first to do something new, like tie their shoelaces in a new pattern, or wear clothes too big on purpose.
Trendsetters go around looking for Innovators so that they can sell the ideas to advertisers. Jen's latest Innovation is to tie her shoelaces in a rising-sun pattern, and Hunter spots it and sends it to his boss, Mandy. While talking to Jen, Hunter gets a call from Mandy to go to a focus group for reviewing an advertisement. Hunter invites Jen along, and she startles everyone there by making an observation that nobody had made before. This couldn't be good, since Mandy wasn't happy. But as it turns out, businesses like original thinking. They are looking for new ideas and original concepts so as not to reuse the old ones over and over again.

Shortly afterward, Mandy invites the two of them to a meeting. She had something to show them, a new level of cool. But she never turns up for the meeting, and Hunter and Jen find Mandy's phone in a nearby abandoned building. Suspecting that Mandy has been kidnapped, they embark on a crazy mission to find her and rescue her. As it all turns out, things aren't what they seemed to be...

I really, really enjoyed this book. Westerfeld's creative use of capital letters to indicate importance or emphasis (i.e., Innovators, Trendsetters; at a computer-geek's house, dust and sunlight were Very Bad Things and Bad Things, respectively) is very clever and gives voice to the story. The characters come to life, with an excellent balance of action and slump, along with a dash of romance to keep things interesting. This story, though it may be small, has a little bit of everything I look for in a book. Action, character interaction, espionage, humour, seat-of-the-pants decisions... the list goes on, but it's all there. Kudos to Westerfeld, and this book gets a great recommendation!

Poison

2008-07-25T16:10:00.007-05:00

by Chris Wooding

Poison is a strong-willed, bull-headed child who lives in the marshes. She chose her own name on her nameday in order to spite her mean stepmother. Then, one day, she finds her little sister Azalea taken by the phaeries and decides that she must go rescue her. Once she reaches the Realm of the Phaeries, she goes to the Phaerie Lord and asks him for her sister back. He tells her that she must steal a dagger from another lady, the Lady of Cobwebs. Poison steals the dagger and returns to the palace, only to discover that the Phaerie Lord, Aelthar, won't give her her sister back and instead intended to kill her. With Bram, the wraith-catcher who joined her cause; Peppercorn, the girl she picked up in the house between Realms; and Andersen, the cat who was Peppercorn's companion, Poison determines to steal Azalea back. Her plan is thwarted, however, when she discovers that the Hierophant, the most powerful lord in the Realms, is writing again. To her, this means nothing--to the rest of the Phaerie Realm, it means something big is going to happen.

Poison, along with her companions, travel to the Hierophant's castle, where Poison encounters Fleet, an old friend of hers from the marshes. Fleet explains that he is an Antiquarian, someone who watches the world and records the most interesting of stories. Thus, the Hierophant is the head Antiquarian, and whatever he writes, happens. The Hierophant tells Poison that she is but a character in the fiction he is writing, and that all that has happened is just a story. Poison tries to give up, but all the people in her story begin to fade and die. She steps back onto the path just in time for someone to murder the Hierophant with the dagger she stole from the Lady of Cobwebs. The Phaerie Lord actually figured out who had done it--his secretary, Scriddle, who was originally born for the sole purpose of becoming the Hierophant. Accompanying Scriddle was the Hierophant's wife, Pariasa. It was she who did the deed and stole the book recording the Hierophant's life from the Hierophant's library. Scriddle, who had intended to become the next Hierophant, tries to kill Poison. But he can't kill Poison without killing himself, as he is merely a part of HER story. Of course, Poison is the next Hierophant, and she records her own story. Her test was the quest that the Hierophant sent her on through his writing.

As soon as I opened this book, I sensed two things. One: a very clichéd character set. Poison has purple eyes, an angsty name, and she named herself. On top of that, she is rebellious. Two: a plot-driven story. There are four main kinds of stories in the world: plot-based, character-based, both, neither. Usually I prefer the stories that are character-based and have good plotlines, falling under the category of "both." However, I can excuse a plotline if the characters are convincing enough. Poison was a little too predictable for my tastes. I knew, at least twenty pages in advance, that Poison would be the next Hierophant. I knew she would succeed at the impossible, and I had a sneaking suspicion that the girl she met in the first town would have an importance later on. If you like stories with good plots but cardboard-cut-out characters, take it. If you're more like me, pick up something else.

Another thing that really irked me was Wooding's consistent usage of ridiculous spelling. Phaeries for fairies or faeries, magick for magic, etc. It got really irritating after a while... Regular spelling works just fine, but for some reason he felt the urge to add in the extra letters. British spelling I will excuse--I spell certain words the British way. I grew up on Roald Dahl and Harry Potter before graduating on to Agatha Christie, so it's imprinted onto my brain patterns. But adding all those different letters gave me a headache after a while and did little more than frustrate the grammar Nazi in me (who is trying to be on vacation for a little while).

Overall, Poison was not my cup of tea. I'd much rather read something with a little more imagination, but that's just my opinion.

Summer Reading List

2008-07-20T12:40:00.008-05:00

Most of the books on my summer reading list (see below) are self-assigned projects, stemming from requests or from my own interest.

The List, so far:
Poison, by Christopher Wooding
*The Ender quartet, by Orson Scott Card
*The Bean quartet, also by Orson Scott Card
-*1984, by George Orwell (already reviewed, see 2007 > June)
-Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse
-My Ántonia, by Willa Cather
Breaking Dawn, by Stephenie Meyer
So Yesterday, by Scott Westerfeld
The Temeraire series, by Naomi Novik

Starred selections are rereads. Selections with a hyphen next to them are not self- or reader-assigned. Said hyphenated selections are mandatory and will take priority over others if my summer time runs out before I complete the list. If I missed one or if you find a good book to add, comment here! I have an entire internet-free week coming up and will spend that time reading as much as possible. Prepare for a barrage of reviews upon my return!

Edited note: green selections are completed and reviewed.

Keep reading!
~Yours Truly

Apologies

2008-05-06T10:39:00.002-05:00

To my dear readers:

You have my sincerest apologies for my long dormancy. I'm afraid I have had neither the time nor patience to complete my perusal of Dante's Inferno. If I keep it out of the library for much longer, it will be long overdue and the fine will be outrageous. Perhaps another time, when I don't have as much on my plate...

In happier news, I have just finished a whole stack of new books and checked out another. At least one of them is sure to find its way out here very soon.

I hope my reviews inspire you to explore new worlds through other books.
~Yours Truly

The Divine Comedy

2008-03-12T10:32:00.002-05:00

by Dante Alighieri

I finally got my hands on Dante's complete Divine Comedy! I'm going to review them one book at a time. I've started in Hell (The Inferno) and will work my way up through Purgatorio and Paradisio. Right now I'm reading The Inferno, and since it's written in verse rather than prose, it's taking me a lot longer than expected. I also have one review still in the works and will finish it as soon as possible. Until then, sit tight and hang on because I'm on a very long trip.

The Cure

2008-03-07T18:02:00.003-05:00

by Sonia Levitin

I was browsing the library bookshelves recently and came across one that looked particularly intriguing. It had the stickers for both Science Fiction and Historical Fiction on its spine and I thought it might have been a mistake on the librarian's part. It wasn't. However, I didn't know that, so I checked it out, thinking it would be an interesting read, nothing more, nothing less. I never expected such a little book to be so spectacular.

Not even an inch thick, The Cure is light reading... or so you'd think. On the contrary, it is a truly moving story about a lesser-known historical event, as shown through the eyes of sixteen-year-old Johannes.

Perhaps to fully understand the story, one must first understand the background. It is the year 2407. In a way similar to that of 1984, the "human" has been taken out of humanity. People wear masks and consume high levels of serotonin to keep them subdued. Instead of being born at random like humans today, they are born in boy-girl twin sets, named with the same familiar name and formal number, and are genetically engineered to get along perfectly. Everybody wants to conform. The method of thinking of the people in this society is that conformity leads to harmony, which leads to tranquility. Diversity has all but been taken out of the people.

Enter Gemm 16884. He and his twin, Gemma 16884, are scheduled to become parents in a few days. Somehow, though, Gemm is struck by an urge to listen to and make music. He is no longer conforming. He loves music and wants more! It is wonderful, it is good! The Elders brand him as dangerous and disruptive. Gemm is seen as an exceptionally tricky case and given a choice: take "the cure," which will be painful but will make him not like music, or be recycled, which is a euphemism for die. Gemm chooses "the cure."

"The cure" for Gemm's love of music is to implant a memory into his brain, allowing him to live one year as another person from history while his real body is simply asleep for one day. Gemm becomes Johannes, a Jewish boy who lived in Germany during the beginnings of the Black Death.

Johannes is sixteen. He is the oldest in his family, and is therefore going to take over his father's business of money-changing and -lending in a few years. He loves music, his flute, and his neighbour Margarite, who loves him back. Life seems very good for Johannes and his village. Granted, being Jewish leaves everyone in the village open to ridicule from outsiders, but they are used to it by now and it has never truly affected them.

Word begins spreading of a horrible disease affecting and killing countless people. In need of a scapegoat, the Jews are blamed, and there are false and ridiculous stories popping up left and right about how the Jews were the cause of the whole thing. The most popular is that the Jews poisoned the well water.

From Johannes's village, men are being dragged in for questioning. "Questioning," in this sense, means, "being painfully tortured until they tell the authorities what they want to hear." Johannes's own father is taken, and while he (thankfully) came back alive, he would never be the same again.

A glimmer of hope appears in the chaos and distress--Johannes and Margarite are betrothed! Both they and their families are immensely pleased and hearts begin to rise in anticipation of their wedding in the springtime. This joyous occasion in a time of such sadness is a welcome reprieve from grieving.

Alas, it was not to be... all the Jews in Johannes's village were rounded up. The horrible illness was everywhere, and everybody pointed their fingers at the Jews. In punishment (and a sorry attempt to dispel their fears of the unknown), all the Jews were burned.

Gemm wakes up and no longer wants to have anything to do with music. To the Elders, he is cured. The incident left him changed for life... he remembers what it is like to feel pain, what it's like to hate and be hated... and what it's like to love and be loved.

I highly recommend this book to everybody who can find it. It expresses such meaning about the importance of the individual. I absolutely loved this story. It only took me about a day to read it, but it was so well-written and had such power that I'd be willing to read it again and again and again. I am amazed that such a little book is so compelling, but it is truly spectacular.

Airman

2008-01-11T21:56:00.000-05:00

by Eoin Colfer

Conor Broekhart loves to fly. What he and his teacher Victor Vigny want most in the world is to create a heavier-than-air flying machine. And when your family is best friends with the local royal family, an achievement of that magnitude is entirely possible.

Everything is going well--Conor loves the princess, his playmate since they were both old enough to play together, and she loves him. Conor and his teacher are on the verge of an enormous breakthrough in flying machine designs and the future is looking bright.

Little does anyone know, a man by the name of Bonvilian, whose family has worked for the royal family of the Saltees for generations, is plotting against the wise and much-beloved King Nicholas. His evil plot is a success, and Conor is thrown into the prison on Little Saltee under the name Conor Finn. A different story was told to everyone so as to manipulate them into doing whatever Bonvilian wanted them to. Conor thought that his family hated him and would kill him on sight, that they believed it was he who had killed the king. The rest of society believed it was Victor Vigny, one of King Nick's oldest and most trusted friends, who had turned traitor and was a spy for the French, who had killed both the king and Conor. Princess Isabella was being groomed to be queen, and Bonvilian thought she'd make a great puppet, even though she had more spirit than to be controlled by an evil manipulator.

Conor spends two years on Little Saltee, forging alliances and learning how to bribe. Conor Broekhart is a thing of the past: all that exists now is Conor Finn.

I totally LOVED this book. Everything in it was balanced so well... the cruel mind of Bonvilian, the intellect of Conor, the humour and lightness in the beginning with the darkness that followed. I recommend this as reading to everyone old enough to understand it because it is such an amazing story.

Coming soon: review on Airman!

2008-01-04T21:59:00.001-05:00

I finally procured a copy of Airman, by Eoin Colfer. As soon as I finish reading it, I will review it! I promise!

The Wish List

2007-12-31T00:37:00.000-05:00

by Eoin Colfer

Meg is feisty. Her mother died, so now she just lives with her demented, couch-potato stepdad who couldn't care less about her well-being. All he cares about is TV and smoking.

Since she needed to borrow a video camera from Belch for a clever plan, she has to repay the favour, and finds herself breaking into old Lowrie McCall's house with Belch and his dog Raptor. The break-in goes wrong, though, and she takes a wrong turn in her race to escape from Belch. Belch has a gun, and Meg is backed up against an old gas tank. Being an idiot, Belch decides to shoot at her, just to scare her. However, his shot misses and hits the tank. Both Belch and Meg find themselves blown to kingdom come--literally.

Funny things happen to you when you're dead. You find yourself in a blue tunnel, with two options: up or down, Heaven or Hell. Meg didn't go either way. While Belch was sucked down into a fiery red abyss, Meg ran slap-bang into the tunnel wall. She was too good for Hell and too bad for Heaven, so she had to go back and try to fix what she did wrong.

Two years (Earth time) after the explosion that killed Meg and Belch, Meg returns as a sort of ghost... a wandering spirit, more like. She ends up helping Lowrie fulfill his wish list, a list of things he wished he'd done in his life. Originally it was really long, but he narrowed it down to four that could still be done. Meg and Lowrie end up going all over Ireland to complete Lowrie's list before Meg's time runs out. Oh, and did I mention that Belch was back on Meg's tail, sent by the devil to make sure Meg failed? Needless to say, that complicated things.

THIS IS A MUST-READ. It may be a children's book, but people of all ages can appreciate it. I think that everyone in the world should read this book at least once because it's so awesome.

Boy Proof

2007-11-30T21:52:00.002-05:00

by Cecil Castellucci

Victoria--or, rather, Egg--is smart. She knows what she's doing both in school and out. Her mom is a famous Hollywood actor and her dad is one of the best costume, makeup, and mask artists in the film business. Egg (who calls herself after her favourite character from her favourite science fiction film) is cool, detached, wants and needs no friends, and wants most in the world to meet Saba Greer, the actress behind the amazing Egg. Victoria/Egg has even altered her appearance to look like Egg the character: shaved head, coloured-in eyebrows, pale face (no makeup), and a full-length cloak. All is well in Egg's world... until Max Carter enters the scene.

Max's dad is a famous PBS documentary filmmaker. Max himself has, therefore, traveled the world with his parents, learning much about history as his dad does his research. Max is able to give Egg a run for her money in history, trigonometry, and basically any other thing that Egg is the best at. Of course, this makes Egg furious and gives her reason to hate him eternally. However... maybe Max has cracked the Eggshell? She finds herself caring more about people, becoming less obsessed with Terminal Earth (Egg's movie) and more interested in the world around her. On top of everything, she's failing trig. Great.

As I read Boy Proof, I was fascinated with the character of Victoria and how she was so detached from the world. It seemed amazing to me that someone could be so obsessed and fanatical but yet a separate entity from reality. Watching her Eggshell crack and seeing her character open up is quite an experience, and I recommend this book to anyone that appreciates a good obsession... or even just a good read.

Skybreaker

2007-11-30T21:52:00.001-05:00

by Kenneth Oppel

Matt Cruse has returned, but now he's not working, officially: he's learning. Matt is enrolled at The Academy, where many wannabe pilots and airship officers train before they are given a ship. Matt doesn't think too highly of all the theory that is taught there, but he continues to work hard, his tuition paid through by Miss Kate de Vries. While on board a crummy old airship with a rash, impulsive captain (it's part of his internship for the Academy), they come across an old airship, too high up to make out its name. The captain immediately bets that it's the Hyperion, a sort of sunken treasure in airship lore, and wants to go after it. The ship is cruising at an extremely high altitude, buffeted this way and that by the winds. It's too high above the oxygen layer for crew members to be able to breathe comfortably, and much too cold for human life to survive, but the captain of the ship pulls rank and says to go after it. The Flotsam, for that is the name of the ship that Matt is on currently, does what is called a "homesick angel": a steep climb that moves quickly and covers a lot of altitude in a short amount of time. Of course, this turns out to be a very, very, very bad idea, and the crew gets airsick very quickly. Matt seized his chance (he was younger and in better health than the rest of the crew, and so had more of a resistance to altitude sickness) and took the Flotsam down, crash-landing it at a port. Now the Flotsam had no cargo (they jettisoned it all to go after the Hyperion), one of its engines crumpled because of the pressure change, and at least one of the hydrium tanks were ruptured. Matt is lectured by his professor but knew he did the right thing.

Later, Matt tells Kate de Vries about the discovery, and discloses to her a secret: he remembers the coordinates of the Hyperion. She immediately sets out on a mission to find someone who can take them to find it. Along the way, Matt meets a gypsy girl who has the key to the Hyperion's treasure trove. Matt, Kate, and Nadira set off on the quest with Hal Slater, the owner and pilot of a new type of ship called a skybreaker, whose engines are pressurized so they won't explode at high altitudes. A slow descent and a clever navigator set them on the right course, and soon they find the Hyperion. However, pirates have been tracking them and everyone meets up aboard the Hyperion in a climactic battle for the treasure.

All ends well, but if I write much more, I'll ruin the story. Skybreaker is a very good read, providing more in-depth characterization of Matt and Kate and adding a whole new dimension to their world in the sky. I recommend reading both Airborn and Skybreaker to anyone who has even the remotest interest in aeronautics.

Airborn

2007-11-10T18:42:00.000-05:00

by Kenneth Oppel

Matt Cruse works aboard the beautiful skyship Aurora. It is a luxury passenger liner, with a captain who guides his crew well and a crew who knows their jobs. Matt is the cabin boy, and excels at what he does. His father worked on the Aurora before he died, so Matt carries on his father's work. One day while transporting passengers and cargo, the ship comes across a balloon in distress. There seems to be no pilot, but they hook onto the unnamed hot-air balloon and attempt to salvage it. Matt, who is the smallest and lightest of the crew, gets assigned the task of checking for passengers and cutting the balloon loose from the basket. The pilot, an elderly man who is gravely ill, is successfully rescued, but dies shortly after being brought on board ship. Matt is hailed as a hero and taken into consideration for a promotion.

Three years later...

Rumour has it that the job of assistant sailmaker is going to be open soon. Matt is ready to leap at the opportunity, but the captain has the last word. Then the son of the owner of the Aurora takes the job instead of Matt, much to the captain's regrets.

Enter Kate de Vries and her chaperone Marjorie Simpkins. Kate is on a scientific exploration, looking to see what her grandfather saw. Her grandfather was the man rescued by the Aurora three years back, and apparently he discovered an entirely new species. When the Aurora is knocked off-course by pirates and a storm, Kate and Matt find cloud cats, the new species, on an uncharted island. But the island is home to Viktor Spirzglas, one of the most formidable air pirates of the time, and Kate and Matt end up caught.

I really liked this book because it held my interest quite well. Ships that fly are utterly fascinating to me, and I'd like to hopefully live long enough to see a giant zeppelin that can carry hundreds of passengers. I recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure stories, complete with pirates and battles and the like. The characters are very well-built-up and the storyline is so well-written that you never know what will happen next.

Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen

2007-11-06T19:44:00.001-05:00

by Tamora Pierce

Aly is the daughter of Tortall's spymaster and King's Champion. She has picked up everything she'd ever need in the spying field--lockpicking, lipreading, the ability to put things back into a room exactly where they were... yet her father, the spymaster, will not let her go into the field. It's too risky, he claims, so Aly takes matters into her own hands. She decides to go on her own little adventure, but gets captured by slavers. By some twist of fate, Kyprioth, the trickster god, takes her under his wing and assigns her a task: to keep a particular family of nobles alive for the summer. Not too hard, right? It just so happens that this particular family has somehow gotten on the bad side of the current reigning king, who (as everybody knows) isn't exactly right in the head.

Once the summer is up and Aly can return to her family, she is too attached to the place to leave and carries on with her task. She has a group of crows that serve as messengers, and a secret network of spies that are spread all over.

Everything ends happily, but I shan't ruin it for you readers by telling you what happens... just go read it yourself.

I really enjoyed these two books. They were good reads, well worth the time I put into them (though the measure of time itself isn't very large). I highly recommend them to anyone else who likes Tamora Pierce.

In dire need of suggestions

2007-11-06T19:34:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody, if you still keep up with my blog! As you may have noticed, I haven't been all too active lately. That's simply because I've been reading so many books that I can't keep track of all of them! I'll post a review on some more Tammy Pierce books, since I can actually remember the title and author.

However, I'm working my way through the school library at a pace that astonishes even myself. If you've got any recommendations, please, speak up now! I'm listening...er, rather, reading. I'll review your suggestions right here as soon as I've gotten my hands on them, so go ahead and start suggesting, please!

Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War

2007-10-20T09:20:00.000-05:00

by Clive Barker

The second Abarat book, Days of Magic, Nights of War, is just as spectacular as the first. Complete with hundreds of full-colour illustrations and a lot of storyline, it is again an intimidating read. Christopher Carrion is still chasing after Candy but you don't know why. On the other hand, his grandmother, Mater Motley, is also chasing Candy, but the evil old lady wants to kill her. Candy and her geshrat friend Malingo get separated quickly after eight weeks of travelling together, so Malingo goes on a search to find her. Candy's not an ordinary girl, but she definitely still needs help finding her way around the Abarat.

Remember Henry Murkitt, from the first book? He's a ghost now, haunting his sorrowful little Room Nineteen, and has realized a change in the balance of the world. His wife, Diamanda, who was one of the three magical women stationed in the tower on the Twenty-Fifth Hour, gets killed while trying to help Candy and returns to Chickentown to visit her husband and spread the warning: "Get to higher ground!" Both sense the coming of the Izabella Sea, the magical sea that separates the Abarat from the Hereafter (our world).

I really liked this book, too, and again, it is a childrens' book, so almost anyone with a lot of patience and time on their hands can read it. If you don't have a lot of time, then I'd suggest not starting until you do... these books get really addicting.

Abarat

2007-10-16T17:54:00.000-05:00

by Clive Barker

Candy Quackenbush lives in the most boring town in the world: Chickentown, Minnesota, USA. Their main "crop" is chickens (obviously), and the only thing even remotely interesting about it is a tale that hasn't even been confirmed, about a man whose family name was originally the name of the town, and was so devastated by its name change that he committed suicide.

One day, bored out of her skull, Candy wanders off, outside of the borders of the small town, and discovers a new, amazing, utterly different world: the Abarat. Teaming up with a master thief and his seven brothers (who are all just heads, attached to his head on antler-like protrusions), all named John, Candy begins her discovery of the world of the Abarat. In the Abarat, there are twenty-five islands, one for each hour in the day and the last a mysterious place.

The Lord of Midnight, Christopher Carrion, is after Candy for some reason. He wants her captured and brought back to his island, Twelve Midnight, also called Gorgossium. He sends his main henchman, the Criss-Cross Man, Otto Houlihan, to retrieve her, along with an endless supply of the bewitched rags called stitchlings. Candy is constantly on the run, learning as she goes along... and yet it all seems very familiar to her. Has she been there before? If so, when?

I really liked this book. It, unlike a lot of the other books I've reviewed lately, is a children's book, though it's quite a hefty read. Clive Barker also did all his own illustrations, to accompany the text. It's amazing, really, just how much work Mr. Barker put into one book alone--and there are at least two Abarat books, both in the same style of illustration and writing. I recommend them for someone who has a lot of time on their hands and loves a good adventure story. A word to the wise, though: if you carry it around for too long, your arms will get tired. It's a big book.

The Protector of the Small Quartet

2007-10-14T20:54:00.000-05:00

by Tamora Pierce

Whew! Finally finished. It's quite a read, definitely. For those of you that haven't read it yet but would like to, here's the order:
First Test
Page
Squire
Lady Knight
I'll do a review on all four at once.

Keladry of Mindelan has nerve. She wants to be a lady knight. Now that girls are allowed to become pages, which is the first step to becoming a knight, she goes to join the ranks of the boys and train to be a true knight. However, Lord Wyldon, the training master, puts her on probation for a year since she's a girl, so she has to be even better-behaved than the boys. Life's tough when you're trying to be a pioneer. The well-written quartet views Keladry from ages ten to eighteen, growing up and experiencing life as The Girl in an all-male world.

I began the series and thought that it would be a good read for anyone around the age of twelve or so, but as it goes on, it becomes... questionable. I can see why it's in the young adult section of the library, now that I've finally finished all four. Since it's utterly addicting and makes you want to keep reading, I'd recommend it to female audiences around fourteen or so. That way, anything questionable is understood.

The first two books were amazing, but, in my opinion, they sort of went downhill from there. I really enjoyed First Test and Page, though I think First Test was the best one. The only reason I kept reading is because I wanted to know what happened to Kel, and was hopeful that maybe the books would get better and equal in quality to the first one. While First Test may be the smallest, it is by far of the highest quality and definitely worth reading.

Catch-22

2007-10-13T18:21:00.000-05:00

by Joseph Heller

Okay, I read this one partially on recommendation and partially because it caught my eye. I'd like to establish, first of all, that it is NOT a children's book and should be filed with 1984 and Animal Farm.

Captain Yossarian is a pilot in the military, and is currently stationed overseas. His unit commander is weird, and he keeps raising the number of missions the men must fly before they can go home to their families. You, the reader, meet an assortment of individuals amongst the motley crew that is their unit: Major Major Major Major, who is forever a major and will be neither promoted nor demoted; Orr, who shares a tent with Yossarian and enjoys methodically taking apart and reassembling anything; Milo, the enterpreneur, who creates a black-market smuggling business on both sides of the war; Doc Daneeka, a physician who spends his time moping and thinking he's ill, and many more that I simply don't remember right now. Different as they may be, they share a common goal: complete their missions so they can be done.

Catch-22 is absolutely hilarious, following Yossarian through his struggles as a pilot and a squadmate who cares for few people but himself in the world. As time goes on, however, he begins to develop what could be called a conscience, though you'll have to judge that for yourself.

I really enjoyed this book, though a lot didn't make sense, since there are so many different storylines to follow. A character that you see only briefly in the beginning could very well end up becoming their own storyline, so keep your eyes peeled!

Summer Reading List--Done!

2007-09-22T18:01:00.000-05:00

Now that my summer reading list is completed and reviewed (which took longer than I would have liked, I'm afraid), I can review tales on a whim, however I please. There's no list, no structure, nothing but whatever book I'm reading at the time and would like to recommend.

Oh, and if you've got time to kill and a computer that you can easily access, I highly recommend the fanfiction known as Eloze. Do a Google search, it should come up at Northcastle, I belive. It's fantastically written and still going, so once you've finished reading what's there, check back later for more!

The Hobbit

2007-09-22T17:57:00.000-05:00

J.R.R. Tolkien

Bilbo Baggins is a homely little hobbit who likes his quiet life, with predictable happenings, tea every morning, multiple square meals a day, and absolutely no adventures whatsoever...

Oh, come on. I'm not reviewing the greatest book in the world just so you can skip reading it. Go to the library or the bookstore or wherever you get your books, get your hands on a copy of The Hobbit, and read it for yourself. It's definitely worth your while I promise.

An epic tale of adventures, quests, treasures, and battles, The Hobbit is one of the best books ever written, a true classic.

My Name is Asher Lev

2007-08-26T22:41:00.000-05:00

by Chaim Potok

A Ladover boy, Asher Lev, discovers at a young age that he has a gift: he is an artist. Millions of people can draw, but Asher Lev is a true artist, a diamond in the rough. As a small child, he enjoys doodling aimlessly, pictures of his family, his friends, his street. For a time the gift hid itself, only to return again, stronger and more insistent than before. But is the amazing talent a gift from Ribbono Shel Olom, the Master of the Universe, or the sitra achra, the Other Side? Some feel, at first, that it is a harmless gift, one granted by Ribbono Shel Olom to make the world sacred, while others like Asher's father feel strongly that it is from the sitra achra and should not be used. After a while, many believe that it is a sacred gift, and Asher is sent to train with Jacob Kahn, also an artist, but a cut-and-polished stone rather than one yet uncut. As you follow Asher through his life, his struggles, his victories, his failures, you discover that a life as an artist is no easy task, especially for a religious Jew such as he.

I first heard that this book was assigned and dreaded reading it. Some time previously, I had attempted to read The Chosen, another novel by Chaim Potok, and utterly despised it. It had failed to hold my interest and reading it was a struggle, like slogging through thick mud up to my waist. Thus, I was not too big on the idea of reading another book by the same author. However, upon reading even the first chapter, I was utterly and completely hooked. My Name is Asher Lev is a powerful and moving novel, one that I may reread years from now and find different meanings in it than I do now. I highly recommend it, but also for older readers, simply because it's very deep and younger readers may not understand it quite as well nor appreciate it nearly as much. I fear that a reader who is not mentally mature enough for such a journey will end up much like I did trying when to read The Chosen--frustrated and bored, never wishing to read it again.

The Once and Future King

2007-08-22T11:01:00.000-05:00

by T.H. White

The Once and Future King is the story of King Arthur, beginning with Arthur as a child known as the Wart and telling his tale through his life until he is an old man. It is subdivided into smaller books, the first of which is The Sword in the Stone. I think that the first minibook is the best and it is my favourite... after that, the story gets longer and less interesting. The beginning is awesome--adventure after adventure, with Merlyn turning the Wart into all sorts of different creatures. As the story goes on, however, Mr. White gets wordier and wordier, dragging on the smallest points and taking a roundabout route to return to the actual plot. Since libraries and bookstores do carry just The Sword in the Stone all by itself, I'd recommend it, but not the whole book.

The Once and Future King also falls under the same category as Animal Farm and 1984: not for younger children. The original tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table tends to be a bit graphic at times, and also contains some things that people under the age of twelve don't really need to know. Otherwise, it's an interesting story, though I'd suggest reading only The Sword in the Stone.

When I saw that this was on my summer reading list I had no idea what it was. Upon opening it, I found that the first section was a story that I knew and loved, The Sword in the Stone. I fully expected the rest of the novel to live up to the same standards and was bitterly disappointed to see that it did not.

Musings and Explanations

2007-07-26T23:45:00.000-05:00

If you've actually been keeping up with my blog and how infrequently I post, you might be wondering why it's taking me so long to post each review. Here's my reason. It's not that I don't read fast: on the contrary, I read quite quickly! It's that I get sidetracked from my basic list and read others and simply forget to review them. Plus, I just want to finish my list before I tackle any more reviews, since some of these posts take a lot longer than I expected.

So... expect a lot of reviews coming soon: I have to finish my summer reading list before school starts!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

2007-07-26T22:55:00.000-05:00

by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter has had a long and trying seventeen years of life. His parents were murdered by Lord Voldemort when he was a baby, he was raised by his aunt and uncle who seemed to despise his very presence, and at the age of eleven was told by a half-giant that he was a wizard. He then spent six years at the wizarding school Hogwarts while fearing the thing (that once was a man) who has styled himself Lord Voldemort. Harry's headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, helped him through those six years but was killed by his colleague Severus Snape. However, before Dumbledore faced his fate, he and Harry had been on an expedition, searching for something called Horcruxes, belonging to Voldemort. A Horcrux is something that is used to store a piece of one's soul; and the only way to break a soul is to commit murder. Voldemort created multiple Horcruxes--six, as Dumbledore supposed, and he rarely supposed incorrectly.

End synopsis, begin review of book seven.

Harry has just a short while longer before he comes of age in the wizarding world. Wizards come of age at seventeen, and his birthday is looming quickly on the horizon. The Order of the Phoenix has concocted a plan to transport him safely from his aunt and uncle's house to their headquarters, The Burrow. Harry, Ron, and Hermione have planned to depart The Burrow (Ron's house) after Bill and Fleur's wedding. However, something at the wedding goes amiss and they are forced to leave early; thankfully, Hermione has been ready to go in a pinch. The trio end up camping out all over, digging into both Harry's and Voldemort's past, learning more about Dumbledore than they thought they'd ever know, and discovering the existence of something called the Deathly Hallows--some three things, actually: the Elder Wand, which is said to overpower all other wands; the Resurrection Stone, which can bring back the dead but only as a shadow of their former selves; and the Cloak of Complete Invisibility, which can deflect spells thrown at it and will always render the wearer invisible.

Now Harry, Ron, and Hermione have TWO quests: find and destroy the rest of Voldemort's Horcruxes (there are four left), and find and most likely utilize the Deathly Hallows. Ron, at one point, got quite irritated with Harry and left for a time. But he later rejoined forces with Harry and Hermione and together they traced and destroyed all Horcruxes but two: the diadem of Ravenclaw and the snake, Nagini. The search for the diadem brought the trio back to Hogwarts, where the final battle took place. Many died, on both sides, but ultimately, Lord Voldemort was vanquished.

Nineteen years later...
Harry and Ginny are married and have three kids: James, Albus, and Lily. Albus is entering Hogwarts as a first-year, the second in the family after James. Lily still has two years to wait, but she's very eager to go. Ron and Hermione are also married and have two kids, Rose and Hugo. Rose is a first-year as well, while Hugo still has to wait a couple years before he gets to go to Hogwarts, too. And...(drumroll, please) some poor, crazed girl fell in love with Draco Malfoy and they got married! They have one kid, Scorpius.

And here is where the great adventure of Harry Potter finally ends.

I really, really, really loved this book. For a time I was worried that it wouldn't be all that it had been made out to be, but it was better. It went totally above and beyond the call of duty and makes me want to go back and relive the whole adventure again, transporting myself to that way-back time when Harry Potter was still young and innocent, and following his path as he grows up. For those who haven't read the series, I will say begin! This final installment would make the rest worthwhile, though I do think that the other six were also amazing. For those who have read the series but not gotten around to this one, I say good luck, my friends, for this has been a long and amazing journey with Harry and to see the end is bittersweet.

Animal Farm- a Fairy Story

2007-07-15T10:03:00.000-05:00

by George Orwell

Animal Farm is an intriguing but yet disturbing story. It tells of a group of animals who live on a farm called Manor Farm. One night, an old and revered pig who was known as old Major calls a meeting of all the farm animals to tell them of a dream he had. Before he tells the dream, he gives a speech: someday there will be a rebellion, the animals will revolt against the humans who enslave them, and they will be free beasts. The animals leave the meeting enlightened, though old Major did warn them that it may not come as soon as they wished.

The opportunity arose some time later, as their farmkeeper, Mr. Jones, had fallen on hard luck as of late and was more than a little lax in his farm duties. Finally, the hungry animals took it upon themselves to get their own food and ended up chasing Mr. Jones and his farmhands off the farm. Now the animals ruled the farm, and they laid down the Seven Commandments:

1. Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
2. Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
3. No animal shall wear clothes.
4. No animal shall sleep in a bed.
5. No animal shall drink alcohol.
6. No animal shall kill any other animal.
7. All animals are equal.

These seven summed up quite nicely into a simple motto: "Four legs good, two legs bad." It demonstrated the power of animals and that they were their own masters. Gradually, the pigs began to develop as the clear leaders, since they were clearly the cleverest. And steadily, a couple of pigs slowly took over the farm, ruling it as they saw fit and not according to the Seven Commandments.

I found this story somewhat disturbing in that those who worked for the pigs brainwashed everyone else, even when they remembered and positively KNEW that this was not the way things were supposed to be. The eventual stupidity of the entire society was extremely frustrating, and a lot of it didn't make sense to me as Orwell had implied that more than one species of animal had intelligence close to that of a human.

Overall, I didn't really like it, though its insights were invaluable to anyone interested in the workings of different governments. I'd recommend this book, again, to fourteen and older, as there are some things that are rather deep and younger children have a better chance of missing.

1984

2007-06-14T16:41:00.000-05:00

by George Orwell

1984 is a fictitious society created by Orwell and portraying his view of what would happen after WWII. It is set in the year 1984, which to his time period was far in the future but to us has now past. The story follows a man named Winston Smith, a member of this futuristic society. He's more intelligent than most others, and soon realizes just how messed-up his world is. The society operates entirely on propaganda and a concept known as doublethink, where someone tells you a lie, you tell yourself the lie, and you believe it all within an instant. There is an appropriate quote that has embedded itself into my brain and I think it basically sums up the purpose of this society: "He who controls the past controls the future; he who controls the present controls the past."

However, the tale has some truly questionable content. I'd suggest it for readers of a maturity level of at least fourteen or fifteen, probably older, but definitely not much younger. It is a very good tale, though, and interesting to see the perspective of someone who thinks that the portrayed society would be the future. Personally, I think the entire society is depriving mankind of its humanity, but you'll just have to read it for yourself, I suppose.

Renewed and Revamped!

2007-06-05T17:02:00.000-05:00

After a long time of dormancy, I am back! I've cleaned out all the old reviews and posts and am starting anew, on a clean slate. Well, relatively clean. Anyway, just comment with what you want me to read this summer and I'll see if I can work it in! I've already got a bit of a list but I think it'll be shortened in a couple weeks. ;P
Here's what my list is so far:
-1984 {check!}
-Animal Farm {check!}
-Harry Potter 7 {check!}
-The Hobbit {check!}
-My Name is Asher Lev {check!}
-The Once and Future King {check!}
[EDIT: Added my summer reading list books.]
It's sorta lengthy but really shouldn't take me too long to knock out a bunch of 'em.