Spell Bound

By Rachel Hawkins

327 Pages

Published by Hyperion Book CH

★★★

By Em 

 

I'm actually kind of sad to say that this book wasn't the ending I was hoping for for this series. All in all, it was pretty darn predictable. There were some nice surprises, sure, but it was a rather unexciting read and the ending in no way thrilled me. Which I am honestly quite sad about, because I was in love with the first two in the series. This one just felt dry and bland to me. 

Sophie had just gotten used to being a demon, when her powers were snatched out from under her by the Prodigium Council. Now she's powerless, and stuck with the Brannicks, a family of kick-butt women who hate Prodigium. But the Brannicks aren't the ones Sophie needs to be worried about. In truth, they know that an epic war is on its way, and their ready to fight along side her. They think she is the only one powerful enough to stop the end of the world. What does Sophie think? Definitely not that. 

So, like I said, this wasn't as good as I was hoping it would have been. But there were some elements that I liked. For one, that Brannicks. I will be the first to rave about an women who knows how to kick some serious butt. This family is so the one for me. With Aislinn, Izzy, and, my personal favorite, Finley, you have a bunch of tough chicas who are ready to take down and werewolf, vampire, or demon that stands in their way. (Which is why Sophie isn't really planning on doing that!) They live in a little compound in Tennessee, complete with barb wire and a magic mirror (with a little twist!). The addition of them was about the one real thing I solidly liked about this book.

 Beyond the occasional twist or turn in this book, I was able to predict most things that happened in this one. I'm not going to say what, for fear of ruining possible surprises for those who have yet to start this book, but some of it was, dare I say it, cliche. I really hate to use that word, but there were relationship problems and certain sections that I would not have expected from this author. I was expecting to be totally blown away by the ending of this, but my overall reaction as I closed the book was, 'Meh... Mom! Drive me to the library! I need something to read!' There wasn't much pause for me to think about what was so unbelievably great about it.

I also thought that the humor I so loved in the earlier two books wasn't very humorous at all. (The more I'm writing the more I'm contemplating my choice of three stars...) Reading other reviews, some people raved about how great the humor was, but I didn't see it at all. I thought the jokes were far and few, and when we did get one, it wasn't funny. It wasn't even corny-funny, which I will laugh at anyways. The whole humor section just passed by me. (I think there may have been one about a nun that I did like thought.)

Another thing I got form this was there were a few plot problems. The final battle. A little to easy? Yeah, I think so. I feel like a huge section of it was just lost, where Ms. Hawkins could have done a lot to make the book  more interesting. And, (Spoiler) whatever happened to the demon glass? They went and got it and then what? They in no case ever mention what they did with it, if they did anything with it at all. 

So, overall, I am sad. I think the author kind of ruined her really good series with a really crappy ending. I could have thought up something better than that! (Well, I know I could....but...I don't feel like it right now...) I just think that Ms. Hawkins should have spent a little more time on the story and really thought it through. Instead, I think she's more worried about this new possible spin-off novel she's going to work on. Save the spin-offs until you have a good ending honey! Please.

Fear

By Michael Grant

509 Pages

Published by Katherine Tegen Books

★★★★

By Em 

 

So, I have finally caught up with this series. And this final book, though strange, was really great. There were surprises and shocks, and one crazy twist at the end. Like always, going into this book, I'm going into this book thinking, 'Thing's can't possibly get any worse for these kids.' And once again, I was totally wrong. From one problem to the next, these kids face it all.

MAY BE SPOILERS FROM PLAGUE
Darkness has begun to take over. The dome is slowly being infected by black, and soon the kids will be plunged into utter darkness. Sam is leading a group of kids at Lake Tramonto, while King Caine now leads the others back at Perdido Beach. Drake and Brittney are given the challenge by the giaphage to get Diana's unborn child. Outside the dome, Connie Temple is learning that the military had been testing the strength of the wall, and that it is getting weaker. 

I enjoyed this book a very good amount. I'm not sure if I liked it more or less than Plague, but I know that I really did enjoy it. I liked the new setting of Lake Tramonto. A lot of the people get to live in boats on the lake, including Sam and the other leaders of the new settlement. (They call it The White Boat House!) With the help of Edilio, Sam has managed to deal with all of the problems they used to have at Perdido Beach; they have water and a garden for food, a place to "do their business" without contaminating their water, even a day where they get to reenact old Spongebob episodes. Life there is good for the kids.

Now, on the other hand, I laugh at the kids who decided to stay with "King" Caine. After everything that Caine has already done to them, why in the world would they think his leadership to be good? Children get thrown in jail and some get tortured by Penny, the crazy girl who can put images of whatever scares someone right into their mind.After learning that, I'd be buying a one way ticket to Lake Tramonto. I mean, seriously? Sure, the guy helped you out a little fighting the giant bugs, but so did Briana. She probably did a lot more actually. So why would you stay with a guy who wants to name himself King of the FAYZ and do all of these horrible things to people for crimes? Sorry, but I'm just a little confused.

I think there are some really awkward scenes in this one. A lot of it revolving around Diana. I feel for Sam when he has some discussions with her and all. It's like, I'm a girl and I get what's going on with her, but we don't necessarily need to here these things. Just saying. 

Edilio does not get a very big role in this book, which made me sad, because he's my favorite character. Though, he did get to give Sam and Dekka a serious tongue lashing at one point, which I enjoyed, because we got even  more depth in his character. Most of what we saw of him was him chilling out on the White Boat House or floating out in the lake on the White Boat House. He spent a lot of time there. 

The ending was really shocking in my opinion. It was a little bit of a twist in my opinion. I'm really curious to see how this ends in the final book, Light, which comes out in April. Emma's intrigued. There are so many questions to answer, and stories to wrap up. I can't wait to see ho Mr. Grant finishes it up.

Plague

By Michael Grant

497 Pages

Published by Katherine Tegen Books

★★★★

By Em

 

For some odd reason, this is one of my favorite books in the series after the first one. Now, I know what some people might be thinking. 'Her favorite one is about the seriously disgusting disease that kills tons and tons of people?' Well, yes, yes it is. It highlighted my favorite characters through out the whole story and I think that the overall plot was intriguing.I really liked this one.

Things have finally reached a calm in the FAYZ. There are no battles, no struggles for power, nothing. There is food and water, for now, and everything is peaceful. But, they still have enemies. The Darkness has found its way into Petey's mind, as is controlling him through delusions and confusion. A seriously fatal, and dangerously contagious, disease is spreading throughout Perdido Beach. Insects that eat one from the inside out are terrorizing the children. Peoples' doubts of escaping the FAYZ are growing, and even the smallest of details are becoming hard to take care of. Water is growing scarce and Sam is responsible to find a new source. As if they all didn't have enough problems.

MAY BE SPOILERS FROM PLAGUE AND EARLIER BOOKS
Like I mentioned earlier, my favorite characters get some nice key parts in this book. Edilio has taken up the role that both Sam and Astrid have held, and quit. He's the new head honcho around Perdido beach. He's busy dealing with the water shortage and the new parasites and the deadly disease. What doesn't help, though, is that he hasn't been feeling very well himself. Dekka also gets a big role in this book. She, along with Sam and the awesome Computer Jack, were given the challenge of finding a new water source by Albert, the one with all of the real power in the FAYZ. They are traveling across the entire bubble to a massive lake which just might be the new water source they need. Except, Dekka and the others are facing a lot of big problems as well.

We also get a lot of insight on Caine in this book. It doesn't take long for us to realize that Caine needs to feel powerful. He can not just take the nice life has has on his island with Diana, and the disabled Penny, and be happy. Instead he has to worry about what is happening at Perdido Beach. He can't accept not being the one with power there. So, if someone were to come asking for help...

I think that the insect parasite things are really awesomely disgusting. They entered the body through slime that comes from the flying snakes that they call greenies. They start growing inside of your body and eventually eat their way through your skin. Yeah, gross right. And once they eat their way out of you, they grow bigger and bigger and bigger. And if having giant parasitic bugs that have a taste for human children wasn't enough, they have found a way to become immune to Sam's blasts of light. Problematic!

The disease is almost more terrifying. It's a form of the flu that is very contagious. It starts with a very strong cough, and the cough gets worse and worse. Suddenly people are coughing so hard their shaking houses and blowing themselves backwards the coughing was so strong. And then they end of breaking their back when it arches when they cough...  It's just crazy!

I thought this book was great. There was loads of drama and suspense that Mr. Grant always features in these books.. There was an interesting story that keeps you on your toes and worrying about your favorite characters. (I had my moments of panic attacks!) There are surprises that will leave you amazed and dieing for the next book, just as I was.  This was one of my favs in this series, and if you have a strong stomach, I think anyone can enjoy it.

The Last Thing I Remember

By Andrew Klavan

346 Pages

Published by Thomas Nelson Publishers

★★★

By Em 

 

So, this book started as a book to just kind of fill space. I was waiting for the next book in the Gone series, and this book had caught my eye when I was browsing the book stores. So I thought, 'Meh, why not?' I started it, and well, it kept my interest, so I stuck with it. It wasn't really all that bad.  

Charlie wakes up, strapped to a chair, in more or less a torture room, and all he remembers is going to bed last night, dreaming of the girl whose number is written on his hand. Now he must wonder just how long ago that was-and how in the word he is going to get out.

Now, yes, I get it. That's an insanely short and vague description of the book. But, in all honesty, that's about all the actual book cover gave me. And I was willing to give it a chance, wasn't I? In truth, the book was very interesting, and yes, those 346 pages had more than Charlie sitting there and pondering, "Now how am I going to get out of this one?" We get his life before hand fleshed out a whole lot, which is great because its not all just, "Hey there! I just woke up in this torture room and now I'm going to break out in crazy kung fu and beat up everyone and be this awesome hero guy." No, we get a real guy, in a really scary situation. Points for a bit of realism in there!

So, beyond that, the book isn't all that believable. I'm not going to lists things like I usually would, because this book is supposed to be a bit of a surprise (hence the rather vague book description) and I don't want to spoil any of it. But, there are some things that I can see being very real, and then there's that part where I'm just like, okay, yeah, right...

I did like how Charlie starts to think about the stuff that happened to him on the day leading up to the waking up in a torture room event. We get these kind of flash back chapters that explain his day, what happened and so on. And the author placed them at points where they seemed they would be relevant, which I liked. They tended to have something to do with what was happening, or tell us something we would need to know for something coming up soon. 

So, that's about all I'm going to leave you with. Like I said, I don't want to reveal to much, because this book is supposed to be one ol' big surprise! If you like suspense, I think you'd enjoy this book a lot. I recommend that anyone give this book a chance. It's unique and interesting. I'm curious to read the next one and see what other surprises are in store.

Lies

By Michael Grant

447 Pages

Published by HarperCollins

★★★★

By Em

 

So, it's been a bit since I read this, so please put up with my lack of knowledge of exactly everything that happened in this book. I'll do my best, but I actually finished this two weeks ago, and since then, I've been a busy reader. So, just put up with me. If I accidentally say something that wasn't in this one, ignore it, because I more or less likely got it mixed up with, well, the next one...

SPOILERS FROM HUNGER AND LIES
So, after seven months without adults, the kids of the FAYZ are managing. They're no longer hungry, they have water, someone to heal all of their cuts and bruises. You would think they'd be pretty well set. Nope. Astrid is battling the Town Council. The Human Crew is at large. Orsay, the prophetess, and her new companion Nerezza, are spreading the word that death is an escape from the FAYZ. And amid all of this, Caine brewing trouble, and Drake just might be back.

Now, this isn't one of my favorite books in the series. But there were certain factors that made this book good. First off, deception. The title of this book does not lie. (hee hee) Every character in the book seems to lie to someone at some point. Even the good guys-Sam, Edilio,Mary, Astrid-all tell a lie at one point. So, there are times when a character believes something, but we actually know that a character lied to them earlier, so their information is false. It creates this big web of lies and misinformation. Very interesting.

I thought that all in all, there wasn't a whole lot that I really liked about this book. We got a lot of Sam kind of wining and all about how he doesn't like not being in charge, so that was a bit annoying. And I think that Astrid is becoming a little too edgy that her character calls for. Trust me, I love a character with some edge and attitude, but when the girl wears a nightgown (what's up with that?), she can't be all that edgy. Sorry, I just don't think that's quite right...

Now, it's not like I'm giving this book a bad review. It got four stars, and it wouldn't have if I hadn't liked it. I love the series, so I think I just went a little easy on it. I loved the little teaser that they give us for the next book. If you know the title of the next one, I think you know what I'm talking about. But other wise, I think that the book was decent, but it didn't really add a whole lot to the overall story of the FAYZ. I think that they gave the Human Crew an interesting role in this story, and I think the new characters have a nice family relationship that I respect. There are some parts about their story that's a little convenient (cough cough, helicopter) so that was a little sketchy. So, you know I'm very much on the edge about this book.

What I am excited about is that Melanie is reading Gone, so I can't wait to see her review on it. (That is, once she catches up on everything else she has read...) What I'm not so happy about, is that Morgan started Gone and then decided that it was "boring". How in the world is this book boring? All of the adults disappear and they are living in a giant bubble? Boring? Puh-lease! Plague review on its way.

The Legacies

By Pittacus Lore

351 Pages

Published by HarperCollins

★★★★★

By Em 

 

Phew! So, here I am! I finally have some time to breath, and I am taking it quite happily. Volleyball season has just ended (until November when club starts up...), and I'm easing in to high school, so I can finally spend some time catching up. (Mel promises she will try to too.)  And though I did read this back about a month ago, I am so excited to get to write about it! Like I've said countless times, I LOVE this series, and this bonus material was outstanding! We got a recap of some things we knew, and a lot of things we had only imagined before. It was a great read giving great content and unexpected points of view.

Quick heads up, but there may be a few spoilers! The first story was Six's Legacy, where we got a little more info on what happened with her and her Cêpan. We were actually told this story in an early book, but we got more of a front row seat to everything Six had to go through. From responding to the online cry for help, to being hunted down by Mogs, to seeing Katarina, her Cêpan tortured and murdered in front of her very eyes. It adds some nice depth to what happened before Paradise.

The next story was Nine's Legacy, which was filled with a few more surprises. Everyone who's read the books knows that Nine is arrogant and hot-headed, a little vicious, and has obviously experienced some pain in his life. Now we know just why he is like that. Nine was a lot different that what he's like when John finds him in the caves. Nine and his Cêpen Sandor had taken a very different approach to the "blending in" tactic. They had been living in a penthouse in the John Hancock Center in Chicago for a long time. Nine has trained and trained, and thinks he's ready for anything. Sandor disagrees. So Nine trains, and trains, and, then, gets a touch of reality, when he falls head over heels for a girl named Maddie. But, it's natural for trouble to follow a Loric. Nine's in for more of a fight than he ever thought he was ready for. 

I found this story to be really, really sad. Now, I don't let my emotions out very often when I read (if I did, every book would have me bawling when my favorite characters always die), but I honestly got really sad at the end of this one. You remember Nine being a certain way in the second and third book, and then you read this, and finding out how different he was and what made him the way he is now? It's a sad tale. But an interesting one at that.

The third story was by far my favorite. It was called the The Fallen Legacies and we got a LOT of info. The story I was expecting was going to be the first three Lorics and how they lived and how they were captured and killed. WRONG! ( I know! Isn't Emma always right?) This story was actually told from the point of view of a Mogadorian named Adamus, Adam for short, who is the son of General Andrakkus Sutekh. The General and the many other Mogadorian who live in their small Mog neighborhood are the ones who originally killed One. But, once they have killed One, a scientist by the name of Dr. Lockam Anu melds Adam's and One's memories, so Adam can experience everything One did. And, once he does, he begins to question everything that his people stand for, and all that he has ever learned. 

Now, it actually took me a lot longer than it should have to realize that this was from a Mog's point of view. I probably should have caught on when Adam was talking about how someday he was going to rule all of the humans, but honestly, I didn't. So, mild confusion for Emma for a while. But I was really intrigued by how Mogadorians worked and how they searched for the Loric. I was also interested by all of One's memories that we got to relive, and how Adam interacted with numbers Two and Three. Ir was a very surprising installation to the Lorien Legacies story.

So, after doing a little bit of Wikipediaing these books to make sure I got the names right, I stumbled upon something else... In December, there is this lovely little book called The Lost Files: Search for Sam. I nearly fell off my swivel chair! A whole book dedicated to Sam! I feel like I'm dreaming. And I can't wait for that to come out. And then the fourth book sometime next year. I'm very excited, and sad that authors are such slow writers! Until December!