Inkheart

By Cornelia Funke

544 Pages

Published by Scholastic Chicken House

★★★★

By Em

 

As some reviews have said, this is a timeless book. You could have read this thirty years ago, or twenty years from now, and still felt the same way about it. I find it to be a charming little book that was easy to enjoy. But you have to be a big reader to really enjoy it. Don't read it if you're someone who is all, "Reading is lame, reading is boring, I only read like one book a month!" You have to love books to love this book.

 

 Meggie's father, Mo, is a "book doctor". He fixes old, mistreated books and returns them to pristine condition. But, he is also Silvertongue, able to read things out of the pages of books. Like perhaps the dead cat from Tom Sawyer, or, you know,millions of dollars of gold. Or even some of the baddest villains to have been written; Capricorn, Basta, and, as I refer to them, their Merry Men. (Though, none of them are merry, so I don't know why I use that...) Soon, Meggie, her father, her great aunt Elinor, and the mysterious fire eater Dustfinger, set out on an epic adventure to end Capricorn's evil reign.

There are so many reasons to love this book. I adored the little book quotes that the author put in front of each of the chapters. They may not have always pertained to what the chapter was about, but it was fun to find the relation when there was one, or to just say, "Hey, Lord of the Rings, I remember that quote!" And, there were lots of quotes from The Wind in the Willows, so I can officially say "HAH!" to Cassidy. That book could have come in handy! (And if you don't know what I'm talking about, read the little blurb above the archive.)

 

The book was also originally written in German, so for a German student, that was very cool. Though, of course, I did not read this in the German form, as my skills are slightly lacking. But, thanks to a Ms. Anthea Bell, all of us non-German experts were able to enjoy Cornelia Funke's wonderful novel, known as Tintenherz in German.

 

 And, for some odd reason, I actually enjoyed the villains. They were real bad bad guys. I mean, kidnapping little children, burning down houses, um, hanging dead roosters everywhere, classic bad guy stuff! And Basta is awesome. He is just an awesomely evil dude! What with his knives and his peppermint and his odd superstitious what nots, he is just a really rich character. Capricorn, he's just a creepy pale dude, but Basta? Awesomeness! 

All in all, I think anyone could read this book and find it enjoyable. There is some many things to love, and each one of them will be different for the reader. It could be the setting, stunning Italy, or the awesome writer, Fenoglio, or just about any other aspect of the book. This is totally something I will have my children read when I'm older, because, as I've said, it is timeless.

The Project

By Brian Falkner

275 Pages

Published by Random House

★★★

By Mel

 

 I gave this book only three stars because although I loved the story line, for whatever reason I could not get myself to read this book for more that five to ten minutes at a time. This is unusual for me because I usually can sit down and read for hours! The ending did get a little bit better, and maybe it was just how the author wrote the book that didn't keep me in. But, I have a tendency to rad a book until the end unless it is completely unbearable. It's kind of ironic I said that because this is a book about the most boring book in the world which is supposed to be so boring that it will make you fall asleep in minutes. That's the kind of book I don't think I would finish. Anyways, other than that, I really don't have any complaints about the story line of the book.

 

One thing I love is how ordinary the main characters are. They are just two average teenage boys who are constantly getting themselves into trouble at school in Iowa. Luke, the main character, is a poor boy from New Zealand. Tommy, Luke's best friend, is a rich boy who has always dreamed of becoming a spy and spends his allowance on coll gadgets off the internet.

 

Their town's river has been flooding. They've had a very rainy season. The boys volunteer to help put sand bags and move the books in the library from the basement to the upper floor and out of reach of the flood waters. That's when the find the most boring book in the world. Luke had recently read about the book online. It is worth two million dollars and said to have been lost a few decades ago. and now he and Tommy know where it is and can easily get it. But that's when everything goes wrong. 

 

It turns out that the man who had offered two million dollars for the book had come here after hearing it might be in the library. This man tries stealing the book and is armed with guns, along with some other men Tommy and Luke nickname Mumbo and Jumbo. Tommy and Luke don't know it yet, but this book holds some valuable information, hidden in code, that could completely change the world as they knew it. And it's up to two ordinary boys to find out what it is and how to stop this evil man from getting this information.

 

This book takes you places you would never imagine of going to. It has plenty of mystery and action. I really liked how the bad guys also spoke German because I'm taking German in school. It was kind of coll when they spoke it to be able to translate it. But don't worry; you definitely don't need to speak German to read this book. I also enjoyed the fact that it kind of had a little to do with the history of World War II. That's a subject that really interests me. Anyways, others might enjoy reading this novel a little more than me so it would be a great book to try.

(Phew, I finally got something up. Sorry for the delay, but I was at string camp for a week where we had zero access to the internet. It. Was. TORTURE! I developed a Jolly Rancher addiction because I was unable to look up Catching Fire movie news. And Mel, the viola's missed you! You're sister was there, why didn't you come?! And if your sister is reading this, HI VAL!!! <3 Em)

Divergent

By Veronica Roth

487 Pages

Published by Katherine Tegen Books

★★★★★

By Mel

All I had to read was the first page of this book in the store and I knew I wanted to buy it. This story really hooked me from the beginning and I was reading it non-stop from then on. It took me only three days to read this before I was begging my mom to drive me to the store for the second book, Insurgent.

This story takes place in a futuristic Chicago. The city is now worn down from its former glory and its new people are shut out from the rest of the world. They split up their community into five factions: Abnegation who are selfless; Amity who believe in keeping peace; Erudite the intelligent; Candor who are honest to the core; and Dauntless the brave. Everyone is born into a faction. When they turn sixteen they must chose to either stay in their original faction or leave it behind for a new one. Switching factions is a disgrace to your family and former faction. But here everyone believes you should chose “faction before blood”.

Now, the main character, Beatrice, aka Tris, is from Abnegation. She is sixteen and must choose which faction she plans to live in for the rest of her life. The day before the Choosing Ceremony Beatrice must take her aptitude test which will tell her which faction she is most suited for. After the test Tori (Beatrice’s tester) seems extremely worried. She informs Beatrice that she is Divergent. This means she got more than one result on her aptitude test. For some reason this is a big deal and Tori tells Beatrice she can’t tell anyone. She refuses to explain anymore.

The next day, at the Choosing Ceremony, Beatrice chooses her new faction. The next step for the Initiates is to pass initiation into their new faction. Every faction has their own steps every sixteen-year-old has to take to become a member of their faction. If you fail any step you become factionless; which is a terrible position to be in. You are homeless and live on the streets with no hope of ever living in a faction again. From here on you’ll have to read the book to find out what happens to Beatrice and how she does with initiation and such.

This book has plenty of action and a little romance for those who love that type of thing. It’s fast-paced with many mysteries and surprises. This book is amazing! I suggest that everyone should read it at some point. I think teens and adults would enjoy it the most. I really loved it and I might just have to re-read it. I’m definitely looking forward to whenever the third book comes out!

Hunger

By Michael Grant

590 Pages

Published by Harper Teen

★★★★

By Em

I have found a new series to go on my favorites. These are just great! It really gets you thinking about how children think. How would you rebuild society? I mean, you get to see kids fix problems that adults had to deal with a long time ago. It's just cool. Reminds me of Mel's and my social studies teacher's Living Through History project. We had to build our own government. Mel was Secretary of State, I was Secretary of War! That's right. They let Emma work with the army. Probably not a smart thing to do.

So, it has been three months since all of the adults disappeared. The kids are running out of food and living on cans of gravy and hot dog relish. And pigeons. More and more people are developing mutations, and those without them are become rebellious. And what else could happen? The Darkness is still at large, manipulating people to do it's bidding. Sam is becoming stressed, and the whole community seems to be falling apart.

I don't think I mentioned this in my Gone review, but these books are not for the faint at heart. There are some seriously disturbing parts to these stories. School Library Journal's review of this books even said, "Like Gone, this novel is not for the ...weak of stomach." I couldn't agree more. Now, I'm a rather tough chica, but there are definitely people (cough cough, Cassidy) that I wouldn't recommend these to.

The one part of this book that I didn't like was Lana. I didn't even really like her in Gone either. I tended to skip any part with her point of view. Most of the time, I felt like a parent could use her chapters as an example for little children. "This is the reason we don't do drugs!" I mean, was she using drugs, no. But they way she was through most of her chapters, it sure did sound like it. And that seriously bugged me. I like Patrick, but not Lana. She never really seems to do anything productive.

Mr. Grant also gave me a serious scare. I thought I had lost my favorite character for a minute, and that is a terrifying experience for me. Thankfully, he is okay. I won't say who it is, since I don't want to spoil anything, but it got me into my freak out mode.

What I did enjoy- Sam's touch of craziness. We all know that Emma enjoys realism in stories, and anyone in Sam's position would go a little crazy. He's the point of view that I most enjoy reading, because he knows what he is talking about. Having children starve and die under your watch, while everyone keeps asking you why you aren't fixing things, will make you go a little insane. And the fact that people ask him if they can watch PG13 movies or who gets to have which "special towel". It's hard to be the leader of a bunch of kids.

I also found the whole battle thing at the power plant rater exciting. Once again, I won't say to much and spoil things, but it was a rather interesting battle that took up a lot of the book. And the constant switching of sides with some of the characters amused me. Come on, pick a side already!

Now, one thing I can guarantee, is that the rest of the series will end up on this blog. No question. I can't wait to read the next one. Don't know when I'll have time to (I have a long list), but excited none the less.I also can't wait for Mel's review of Gone. It's on her bookshelf, if no one happened to notice. I think she'll like it! I know I did!

Out of Sight, Out of Time

By Ally Carter

294 Pages

Published by Hyperion Book CH

★★★★

By Em

Hee hee hee, oh my goodness, you should have seen my reaction when my mom picked this up from the library. I will admit, I even scared myself. It took me not even a day to buzz through this book. And like all the others, I absolutely loved it!


Cammie Morgan left the safety of her academy for two reasons. 1) To protect her friends and family. 2) To finally unravel the mystery about the Circle of Cavan and her father. And know she remembers nothing of it. After waking up in the alpines with a bunch of nuns, Cammie has no recollection of the past summer. And there are even more questions once she returns to the Gallagher Academy. 


While I would have loved a bit more comedy in this book, I got about what I was expecting. You see this in a lot of series. The first books are really fun and light, but then as the series progresses and the author gets into darker themes, a lot of that original humor is lost to the plot. And as you all know, Emma loves good plots, so it in no way bugs me that she is developing a stronger plot. No more chasing boys missions.


The whole mystery of it was great. How they slowly piece together information by the little things they find. (And a whole lot of luck, no doubt.) I also loved how Cammie was always humming this song that she didn't know and was doing things, like picking up guns and attacking teachers, without even realizing she was doing it. Now that would be really scary, no?

Bex is my favorite character, and I really didn't care for her attitude throughout a lot of the book. I understood it, just didn't care for it. I think Macey has become such a strong character, and I really love her now. Liz was Liz. though she has grown to. And Zach was mysteriously dreamy Zach, as always.

The whole story was great. I got some surprises that I was happy about, and then a surprise that totally surprised me. I should have seen it coming. I actually saw it coming a long time ago, but then dismissed it and was all like, "Nope, no way." Buy was I wrong. I can't tell if I'm happy or sad...

So Mel, I'm really sorry that I didn't get this during the school year. (See, I promised that I'd lend it to her... Stupid summer break! (She says sarcastically.)) I think that it is a great addition to the series, and now I'm all depressed that I'll have to wait all that time for the new one. There's not even an official release date. Just sometime in 2013. Could they at least give me a month or something? Seriously, the Catching Fire movie hasn't even started filming and they know when that will be coming out! Help us out a little bit Ally, we're all desperate. (Well, at least I am...)

Anyways, great book. I'm going to wrap this review up. I'm baking cookies and the smell is killing me!

The Demon King

By Cinda Williams Chima

506 Pages

Published by Hyperion Books

★★★★

By Em

I'm a really big fan of Cinda Williams Chima. I actually read The Warrior Heir a while back (and I will be rereading, so its review is coming soon!) and fell in love instantly. I finally got around to reading her other series, which is actually what led me to her! And boy, am I glad that I did!


Han Alister, aka Cuffs, didn't know what he was getting himself into when he stole an amulet from three wizards setting fire to the mountain of Hanalea. The amulet was formally owned by the Demon King, a wizard who nearly destroyed the entire world. Now Micah Bayar, the one the amulet was stolen from, and his family will do just ab out anything to have the amulet back in their control. Why? Because due to ancient agreements, the amulet is illegal, and the Bayars' want it for just that reason.


Meanwhile, Raisa ana'Marianna, heir to the Gray Wolf throne, is having problems of her own. She's been out of town for three months, spending time with her father in the Clans, and now has to jump right back into life at court. No more hunting, or riding, or bargaining at the markets for her.She must deal with rising war, evil wizards, and a weak mother who doesn't seem to care. Now she strives to be like Hanalea, the warrior queen who defeated the Demon King. 


The characters in the book were very cool. I liked Han "Cuffs" Alister, who was a former gang leader. He spends lots of time with the clans, who are a group of tradesmen that live up in the mountains. He transports supplies down into the town for them and a blind man who lives not far from there. He's a boy who trying to put his life back together. Raisa, I also liked, but only partially. When she was being a good princess and doing things such as donating her suitor's gifts to charity, I liked her. When she was going on and on about how she doesn't want to get married because she wants years of flirting and meeting at midnight in the garden and yada yada yada, then I did not like her. I think it's pretty clear why. 


My favorite part of this book is when the two character's stories overlapped. Most of the book they never see each other or know about each other, until about half way in. They're pretty much oblivious to who each other are, and I find that amusing. I also loved the end of the book, but I won't say anything about that, because it's the ending, and I don't want to spoil it or anything. But i found the whole story very intriguing and exciting. So many people say the beginning is a snore, but I think they're all snores, because the whole story is really exciting. And the first chapters are so important. Even if they were a snore (which they weren't), you need those first chapters so everyone knows what's going on, and I think Cinda did a wonderful job!


The writing style of Cinda Williams Chima is also great. This book fall under the "good fantasy" category that I talked about in an earlier review. She has a great writing style that makes me really feel like I'm living in that world. (Man, now I really have a craving to go to a Renaissance Fair. They are way more fun then you'd think!) The world is great, the supporting characters are great, pretty much the whole plot line is great. You have a bad guy who is so obviously a bad guy, but the main character can't convince everyone else that he's a bad guy. It's pretty much classic, but done in an amazing way. I simply love fantasy, and this one will definently top my charts. I'm already waiting for the next one!


   

Legend

By Marie Lu

305 Pages

Published by Putnam Juvenile

★★

By Em

I though I'd like this book. Honestly I did. I'd heard really good stuff about it, and it intrigued me. But nope, I did not enjoy this at all. I suppose it was an OK story, but OK is not my speed. I need amazing, spectacular, and my favorite word in the whole English vocabulary, awesome! Legend didn't fit those categories.


Where to start... Well, I love to discuss characters, so let's start there. June and Day. Nice characters and all, but their just to... to... perfect! !SPOILER ALERT! Content ahead has spoilers, proceed with caution. Both characters are equally matched in just about everything. Their like the same person! I swear, I was just waiting for them to suddenly become long-lost twins. Both received a perfect score on the Trial, and they are the only two to ever do it. Coincidence? Yeah, not really. It just seemed to... planned out.


And Day... oh Day. He was just too good. I mean, no one seemed to really be an obstacle for him until the very end of the book. Now yes, if you go back and look at my The False Prince review, I did say that I enjoyed when characters were able to outsmart everyone. And trust me, I do. But I also enjoy realism. The fact that this kid living on the streets is able to beat every well trained military person he runs across is just so... fake. It's just fake. I can't put it anyway else. Maybe some older guy who's had a lot of experience. Maybe. You know, someone like Indiana Jones. I don't think he had training to go treasure hunting. He's a professor at a university for crying out loud! Okay, off topic, on with the review. 


The setting was... nice. but after reading futuristic Void, it was a touch of a letdown. Was I expecting flying cars, no. Skyscrapers that are literally "scraping the sky". No. But for some reason, the way she described it, I was getting total 1800 run down towns all surrounding this massive shopping center. Do not ask me why, because I don't know why either. But that was the image I got in my head for some reason, so when picturing this book, it was really, really, weird.....


This review is short, yes I know. But I'm having a hard time expressing my distaste for this book. Clearly there will be a sequel, which I shan't read, because the villain didn't die and/or go to jail. Who ends a story like that? Okay, yes, I would, but then I would write a sequel, so one is coming. And with that, I am just going to leave this book with a large amount of hatred and never go back. Let's put this one way. I didn't like it. No more explanation needed. I'm sorry if this review is a tad of a let down, but I can't put things any other way... I. Did. Not. Like. It. 

Gone

By Michael Grant

558 Pages

Published by Harper Teen

★★★★★

By Em

Michael Grant, I bow down to you! This was a wonderful book. It was creative and original and just plain out... wonderful! The plot was unique, the characters were interesting, and I literally had a nightmare about one of the villains. Well done!

Imagine sitting in class and suddenly your teacher is gone. "There. Gone. No "poof".  No flash of light. No explosion." Just gone. What would you do? Would you cheer? Panic? Pass out? I don't know what I would do. Hopefully I would inherit mutations like the characters in this book. Sam Temple, Caine Soren, Diana Ladris, they all develop special mutations near the same time all of the adults "go poof" as Quinn would put it. It may be a little X-Men like, but who doesn't love X-Men?  They can create giant beams of light, use telekinesis, and even sense if other kids have mutations. Can I admit that I'm jealous? I've always wanted to be a super hero... (As I glance nonchalantly at my shrine to Hawkeye...)

The reaction of the kids to the whole "poof" thing is also very interesting. It's exactly what you'd expect. No sudden heroics from most of the children, oh no. Most just raid all of the gas stations and steal the candy and ice cream. And they look up to School Bus Sam. Our main character Sam is probably the one and only hero among the children in Perdido Beach. He's already saved a group of children on a school bus when the bus driver had a heart attack. But, he's reluctant to take lead of the other kids, which is where Caine comes into play. Students at the Coates Academy, a big boarding school south of Perdido Beach, Caine and Diana take over the role of leader when Sam denies it. Along with their bully of a "sheriff", Drake, the children start to turn against each other. Bullies reign, and it's up to Sam, Astrid, Quinn, and friends to stop them.

Okay, favorite characters.... It's hard for me to pick favorites in this book. I love all of the characters for multiple reasons... Sam- he's a born leader and has that touch of quirkiness that a main character needs. Astrid- she's me, plain and simple. I may be a bit more kick-butt, but we have similar ethics.Quinn- Funny, bit sarcastic. He's harder to like due to certain actions he takes in this book, but he's a great supporting character that is needed in this story. Edilio- Ooh, I love this guy! He's just so sweet! And he drive's a giant backhoe. Very cool. Drake- .........................................................No comment....

Over all, I really did love this story. The plot was so interesting and kept me hooked the whole time. (Hah, Bridget thought it was boring!) The supporting characters were great to. Mother Mary and Brother John, Albert who keeps their McDonalds alive (and makes one mean bagel burger), the Coates escapees, like Dekka and Briana. They all help explain parts of the story we couldn't get from our main characters. I think that's what makes Mr. Grant such a great author. He's able to spin a story, and use all the characters he has at his disposal to tell it! I can't wait to get my hands on Hunger. (No joke. I'm about this close to calling the library and screaming at them for hoarding all of the good books. I need something to read!)