Divergent - Veronica Roth

Title: Divergent; Insurgent; Allegiant
Author: Veronica Roth
Published: 2012 / 2012 / 2013
Pages: 487 / 525 / 526

Since I read these books in such quick succession, one after the other, I'm going to cheat a little and review the trilogy as a whole inside of individual books. This was another series that I read on the insistence of students (it is so lovely to have kids so excited about books that they want to discuss the with you so try to read those books as soon as I can).

These books are rather popular at present, so no doubt you've heard of them or seen them (or the new movie) about, but just in case you haven't, here's the run down. The series takes place in a not-to-distant future Chicago. In this world, communities are few and rather closed in. When children reach the age of sixteen they undergo a testing procedure which determines their dominant traits and attributes and indicates which of five 'factions' they would be best suited.

Unlike a lot of other dystopian fiction that employs this trope, however, the choice is ultimately theirs, children can choose which faction, and which trait they which to guide their life - Abnegation (self-sacrifice), Erudite (knowledge), Candor (truth),  Amity (friendship), or Dauntless (daring). Children can choose to align their life with their families, or with what their testing indicates.

For those like Tris, however, testing reveals a shocking secret - she is Divergent. Equally skilled or suited to more than one faction. This way, history has shown, leads to great upheaval and chaos, not only within the individual them self, but for society as a whole. And so people like Tris are feared. And hunted out.

In choosing Dauntless, Tris takes a bold step away from her family and into a new life, but all is not entirely what it seems - and not just at the Dauntless compound, everywhere.

I enjoyed the first two books in this series - not as much as, say, The Hunger Games, but I would definitely recommend it to any fans as a similar read. The last book, however, I found disjointed and off putting as Roth employed an alternating chapter perspective change between Tris and, another main character, Four. This had not occurred in the first two books and I would often get a ways into the chapter before I realised it had shifted.

As an example of YA dystopian fiction it checks all the boxes - a young lead character with a skill above her peers, a love interest with a complication, separation from the parents, and a corrupt government. Through in some crumbling buildings and a cool zip line manned by some under-20s and you're all set to go. Not a bad read, by any stretch, just not anything out of the ordinary. 3/5

Read if you enjoyed:

• Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
• City of Ember - Jeanne Duprau
• The Giver - Lois Lowry
• Legend - Marie Lu (recommended by Lisa)
• Delirium - Lauren Oliver

Other Reviews Have you written a review for this book? I would love to include it, comment below and I'll add your link!

Percy Jackson continues

Percy Jackson and the Titan’s Curse
Rick Riordan
Published: 2007; Pages: 294

Could an Olympian parent turn against his half-blood child? Would it sometimes be easier just to let them die? If there were ever any half-bloods who needed to worry about that, it was Thalia and me. I wondered if maybe I should have sent Poseidon that seashell-pattern tie for Father’s Day after all. (92-3)

 

Since the end of Harry Potter’s reign, it seems as though every new children’s series has been scrambling to fill its void. Now I’m not crazy enough to suggest that Percy Jackson has succeeded in this goal (I have far too many Harry Potter obsessed friends all too willing to whack me over the head with their wands), but I would like to suggest PJ as a contender. Percy Jackson and the Titan’s Curse is the third book in the series and by now things are very much underway – if you haven’t already read the first two books, I highly recommend your tracking them down.

After two years of summers at Camp Half-Blood (and the life threatening quests that come along with it), Percy once again finds himself facing his once friend Luke and the plans to take over Mount Olympus. However Luke has aligned himself with formidable allies that pose more than a passing danger to Percy and his friends.

The time is getting nearer when Percy or Thalia will fulfil the prophecy laid out by the Oracle. One of them will make a choice – a dangerous choice – that may signal the end of the gods’ reign. Will one of them slip? Will they fall prey to the Titan’s curse and, in doing so, endanger everyone they hold dear? This is what lies ahead.

Percy Jackson continues to be an engaging read. There’s enough mythology to keep myth buffs happy, but is unique enough to be entertaining to the uninitiated. Percy is a likeable and relatable hero, one who does what he thinks is right, even though it often results in trouble for himself. The series is progressing in a pleasing manner, and I am looking forward to see what is coming next. 4/5

The BSC returns

The Babysitters Club Graphic Novels
Ann M. Martin and Raina Telgemeier

#1 Kristy’s Great Idea
#2 The Truth About Stacey
#3 Mary Anne saves the Day

 

How many of you read The Babysitters Club when you were younger? If you were anything like me, you had piles of them.

I can remember, all too clearly, my memories of the BSC. I remember sitting on my bed with a pile of them and spending all day reading. I remember having to run out to my mother at the beginning of chapters because I couldn’t read the handwriting (especially Mary Anne’s cursive). And I remember the day my cousin bequeathed her collection to me – it was a rather large collection and I felt I had been handed quite a treasure.

Well the Babysitters are back. And when I saw the first three graphic novels at my library I just had to grab them – despite my sister’s eye rolling. What can I say? she was never a BSC fan.

Raina Telgemeier’s treatment of the story is absolutely fantastic, completely true to Ann M. Martin’s original books. Her artwork, likewise, is superb: not only is it wonderful on an artistic level, it completely satisfied me on a fan basis.

If you were a fan of the series – or maybe you have a child you’d like to introduce it to – I’d recommend your seeking them out. Despite my having read them many times before, I thoroughly enjoyed reading these new graphic novels. I, however, take no responsibility for any ten-year-old tendencies that may resurface as a result of reading. 4/5

 

 

Challenges

• 100+ Reading Challenge

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8

[please be aware that this review will hold spoilers for the end of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series]

BVS, Season 8; Vol. 1: The Long Way Home
Joss Whedon and George Jeanty 136 pages; published 2007

BVS, Season 8; Vol. 2: No Future For You
Brian K. Vaughn, Joss Whedon and George Jeanty 120 pages; published 2008

I visited a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago and came home with a huge back of goodies to watch/read/enjoy. In amongst them all were the first two volumes of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight graphic novels.

This are a sure hit for any Buffy fan. Volume one picks up some months after the end of season seven of the television series: all potential slayers ARE slayers, and are living and training with Buffy in a part-mansion, part-dormitory, part-army/laboratory facility.

This is the same story, just in another medium; even moreso than most novelisations or series-related books, these graphic novels bridge the gap seamlessly. The characters are spot on, the humour perfect. Even in volume two, with Brian K. Vaughn writing, you can see Joss Whedon in every page.

The art work, likewise, is superb. The characters are stylised but recognisable and unique. The colouring finds a balance between the darker palette usually attributed to Buffy and being too dark for the page.

Definitely worth checking out. 4/5

His Dark Materials, Book 1

The Golden Compass Philip Pullman
351 pages; published 1995

"We are all subject to the fates. But we must all act as if we are not, or die of despair...death will sweep through all the worlds; it will be the triumph of despair, forever. The universes will all become nothing more than interlocking machines, blind and empty of thought, feeling, life..."

The roofs and roads of Oxford are Lyra's home; she has scaled their heights in adventurous play, and mapped their length in bitter warfare against the town’s children. It is a life both endearingly simple and unendingly complex, but it is Lyra's own, and she loves it.

But, just as Lyra cannot stay a child forever, her days of raucous freedom must too come to an end. Forced to leave behind her days of dodging the educating attempts of scholars, Lyra is thrown headfirst into a world he barely recognises. A world where no one can be trusted and nothing is safe - not even a child's soul.

Lyra travels with the Gyptians over land and sea in her attempt to rescue her imprisoned uncle, Lord Asriel, but is stopped at every turn by Gobblers, clockwork beetles and armoured bears.

The Golden Compass (originally/also titled Northern Lights) is a book that doesn't diminish, but rather improves with each reading. Lyra's world is such a richly detailed one that each read surfaces something new and delightful.

It is a wonderful blend of fantasy and science fiction (a good example of steampunk for those so inclined - something the film visually represents remarkably well), using a good balance of both to establish the series.

Intended as a children's book (middle grade/YA), it is, nevertheless, one that should appeal to all ages, child and adult alike. Followed by The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy is a must read. (5/5)

Graphic series

Runaways [Vol. 1-5] Brian K. Vaughn and Adrian Alphona published 2003-2005

Every teenager, at some point in their lives, thinks their parents are evil. But what if it were true?

Mismatched teenagers Alex, Nico, Karolina, Chase, Gertrude, and Molly dread the yearly reunion of their boring socialite parents. But this dread moves to a whole new level when they see their parents murder a young girl – one not much older than they are.

Thieves, scientists, time travellers, mutants, sorcerers, and aliens, their parents make up “The Pride”, an organisation that runs the dark side of California. A group determined to destroy the world – and their children if necessary. The kids become the Runaways, falsely accused fugitives intent on staying alive and repairing some of the damage their parents have caused.

I flew through the first five volumes of this graphic novel series, and am very eager to get my hands on the rest. I love a good superhero story, but the appeal of this Marvel series is that it’s not really about superheroes at all, nor the villains either. These are real kids (effects of living in the Marvel universe aside) with real issues who are just forced into a bad situation.

I did find the characters a little clichéd at the start of the first volume – the gamer, the goth, the nerd, the jock, etc – but the fact that these characters all have a true personality to go along with it makes the cliché work to the series advantage.

Comic book fans will appreciate the appearance of regular superheroes, major and minor (yes, I did have to make use of my brother’s Marvel Encyclopedia to identify one or two heroes), but for the most part they play their role and move on, in no way overshadowing the main characters.

The illustrating, both pencilling and colouring, was excellent – very Marvel, of course, but a few new touches here and there. A few edition in the later volumes were pencilled by a different artist, giving a slightly different look to the established characters, which I found a little off-putting but not to the detriment of the story.

Overall, a good graphic series aimed at Marvel fans 12-16. An excellent story with nice artwork; plenty of action but not too violent. 4.5/5

Vol. 1 -  Pride and Joy Vol. 2 - Teenage Wasteland
Vol. 3 - The Good Die Young
Vol. 4 – True Believers
Vol. 5 – Escape to New York

The Weather Fairies

The Weather Fairies [Rainbow Magic, books 8-14] Daisy Meadows
published 2000

On her last vacation, Rachel Walker met her new best friend Kirsty. Together the pair was able to save the Fairy Kingdom by restoring all the Rainbow Fairies to power and defeating the evil Jack Frost and his goblins.

Now on heir summer break, the girls once again meet up – and luckily for the Fairy Kingdom, for Jack is once again wreaking havoc. He has stolen each of the seven magic tail feathers used by the Weather fairies to set weather in the Kingdom. Rachel and Kirsty, with the help of the Weather Fairies must find and return each of these feathers before Jack Frost plunges the world into an eternal winter.

I started reading these books so that I could adequately fulfil my part as ‘Kirsty’ when my six-year-old cousin came over to “play”. But that was fifteen books ago, and I’ve now got to face the reality that I’m hooked. The books are a nice, ‘easy-to-read-yourself’ type story aimed at the 6-10 age bracket and the girls are smart characters, able to think themselves out of a whole range of problems. While I preferred the fairies from the first series, the Rainbow Fairies, I’d have to say that I think the villains (the goblins) were better written in this set – they were threatening this time around. 4/5

Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge

I posted yesterday, about the fabulous giveaway Melissa is holding over at her site… but I forgot to mention that what’s even better about it is that it’s a tie-in giveaway to BethF’s Sookie Stackhouse challenge.

I added it to my “Reading Challenge” file on my desktop – even added the first book – but just realised that I forgot to actually sign up for it! So thanks to BethF for commenting on my last post and making me realise it :)

The Rules:

1. Between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010, catch up on Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire series. No matter if you're starting with book 1 or book 8, you have a year to read all about Sookie. Read Sookie in print, listen to the audio, read an eBook -- format is not an issue.
2. Sign up using Mr. Linky. Put your name in the top box. For the bottom box, please use the URL that links specifically to your blog post about this challenge, not to your blog's home page.
3. After July 4, I'll create a post with another Mr. Linky where you can link your reviews so everyone can read them track your progress.
4. If you don't have a blog and want to join in, sign up in the comments here. Later, let us know about your progress by leaving comments on the review link page.

 

The Books:

• Dead Until Dark
• Living Dead in Dallas
• Club Dead
• Dead to the World
• Dead as a Doornail
• Definitely Dead
• All Together Dead
• From Dead to Worse
• Dead and Gone

Ex astris, scientia

Capture the Flag (Starfleet Academy, #4) John Vornholt
114 pages; published 1994

Starfleet Academy attracted only the best, the smartest, the most ambitious. They were young people who didn’t fear outer space or the unknown. They didn’t fear Romulans or Tholians. They wanted to command starships, space stations, planetary outposts, and have hundreds of people following their orders. Only failure at the Academy could stop them, and each cadet had his own secret fear about that. (1)

I don’t read a great deal of science fiction*, preferring to watch it (though I watch plenty to make up for it). I do, however, have a real fondness of Star Trek fiction. Moreso than any other genre, these are my real comfort reads. The character are already oh-so-well known to me, the world already so real. it’s something I can read for pure, stress-free enjoyment.

So this week, in between lots of naps and rushed assignment completing (fun, fun week) I picked up one that I’d been saving.

This book is part of the Starfleet Academy series (“before they became officers aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, you favourite characters struggled through the Academy…”) aimed at YA fans of the series. This was focuses on Geordi La Forge during his first year at the Academy. Having travelled the galaxy with his ’fleeter parents, Geordi’s blindness and reliance on his VISOR has never been a problem, but now at the Academy he finds that it separates him from the others, causing him to always be chosen last.

When he wins a game of elimination against the strong, athletic and very arrogant Cadet Jack Petty, La Forge is made a captain in the upcoming round of offworld war games. He picks himself an unusual team – an Andorian, a Tellarite, a Vulcan, and a Saurian – all those who are usually chosen last. They’re not exactly an imposing group, but they intend to do their best. After all, as Geordi sys, that’s the most anyone can ever ask of you.

I was very curious to read these books, interested to see how they would approach the characters for a younger audience – especially considering that, presumably, they are already fans of the show and, as such, would reject too heavy a modification.

In that regard I think Vornholt did a well. Characters, locations and procedures all stayed true to form. I was hoping for a little more of a back story (along the lines of Jeri Taylor’s wonderful treatise on Kathryn Janeway, Mosaics, or the rest of the Voyager senior staff, Pathways), but not being a writer involved in the creation of the show I can understand why this was not the case. I also would have liked to have seen more of Academy life than just Geordi’s gym class, but as this was only one part of a larger series (and not the first part at that), I imagine I can look forward to that in other installments.

If you’re an avid fan of the show(s) who likes to taste all the different avenues this universe has explored then I’d recommend the series. I did enjoy it, and found it a nice change of pace from the action of the mainstream novels. If you’re a non-obsessive fan of show (as if that exists) then I’d maybe just stick with the regular novels. The book did not have a great deal of substance and didn’t reveal anything too exciting about the characters. 3/5

*I’d like to try to change this – anyone got a favourite they’d like to recommend?

Dare to read aloud….

Inkheart Cornelia Funke
543 pages; published 2003

So Mo began filling the silence with words. He lured them out of the pages as if they had only been waiting for his voice, words long and short, words sharp and soft, cooing, purring words. They danced through the room, painting stained-glass pictures, tickling the skin. (252)

There are books, and then there are books for booklovers. Inkheart definitely falls into the second category.

Twelve year old Meggie Folchart inherited her love of reading from her father Mo (Mortimer), a dedicated bookbinder. Everything about their lives together revolves around their shared passion: reading books, talking about books, collecting books…

Until the day a strange man, with an even stranger name (Dustfinger) turns up and disrupts Meggie’s understanding of the world. Suddenly books aren’t quite as safe as they used to be, her father is not the simple man he always seemed, and villains are no longer limited to the page.

I hate the idea of seeing a movie based on a book BEFORE actually reading the book, so I’ll admit that I bought this book before I really knew what it was about – just that it was had a pretty cover and was something about books… luckily it all worked out well.

Inkheart was a very enjoyable read, a real adventure story for booklovers. The idea of people and creatures literally leaping out of a book through the power of a reading voice is an amazingly beautiful one – even if it’s uncontrollability did have dire consequences in this book. How many times have you wished the books you love could just come to live beside you?

The relationship between Meggie and Mo was heartwarming, a father and daughter with no one but each other, and I hope to see that that progresses with the rest of the trilogy, as Meggie continues to mature – especially in face of everything Inkheart puts her through.

I did feel that the book was a little on the long side, like it dragged a little towards the end, however I will own up to having spent a rather long – and interrupted – time reading it. I am very curious to see how the rest of the series unfolds in Inkspell and Inkdeath. 4/5

I do believe in fairies…

Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale Holly Black
331 pages; published 2002

A man was sprawled in the mud only a few steps from her, clutching a curved sword in one hand. It shone like a sliver of moonlight in the hazy dark. Long pewter hair, plastered wetly to his neck, framed a face that was long and full of sharp angles. Rivulets of rain ran over the jointed black armour he wore. His other hand was at his heart, clutching a branch that jutted from his chest. The rain there was tinted pink with blood.

“Was it you, girl? … [have you] come to finish me off?” (24-5)

Kaye’s mum is a unknown rockstar-wannabe, her grandmother disapproves of everything, and she hasn’t been to school in years. Her life couldn’t be less magical. It is a far cry from the happy life she enjoyed as a small child, surrounded by her fairy and pixie friends, even if no one else could see them.

When Kaye and her mother move back to town, however, her little friends are nowhere to be seen, and life just isn’t the same without them. And the friends who are around aren’t quite the same either. Even the people she meets are a little unusual. Roiben, the young man she meets in the woods is… well, he’s not human for starters.

But as it turns out, neither is Kaye.

Having proof that fairies are real makes life different but no less hard when Kaye finds herself the target in a battle of good and evil in the world of faerie.

It is so good to finally read a book that has been on your tbr list for so long… not so good when it’s the first in a trilogy and you don’t have the next two books (stupid, stupid). Despite that little hiccup however, it was still a pretty good read – hard to make a final judgment until I read the rest of the series.

I was a little bugged to read another ‘normal-girl-loves-supernatural-boy’ story (was written before Twilight) but got over it pretty quick because there were a few spins on it – namely that the girl herself isn’t exactly normal.

For the most part, Tithe was a good first book, it set up the world well – a somewhat intimidating world, I might add. Kaye was an interesting character, damaged enough to make you very sympathetic toward her, but curious enough to make her interesting. My only real concern was the language; it was a little strong in the first part the novel which, while somewhat confronting (and may need a warning for some readers), worked quite well within the context of the world they were setting up. 3.5/5

Rescue the Rainbow Fairies!

Rainbow Magic Series [Books 1-7]
Daisy Meadows
published 2000


This series has been a huge hit with my six-year-old cousin. She and her parents read every night and have read far into the double digits. Every time I see her she updates me on her new ‘fairies’ – she was very excited to tell my sister (Bethany) and I when she got Rebecca the Rock and Roll Fairy and Bethany the Ballet Fairy in the same set. She’s a very imaginative child and so her play has quickly come to centre on stories involving these characters and I finally had to read the books simply to keep up.

Kirsty Tate and Rachel Walker meet on the ferry crossing to Rainspell Island where their families are both going to spend a week’s holiday. Easy friends, they quickly set off exploring the island.

While in the woods they come across an old upturned pot. Trapped inside they find a small red fairy by the name of Ruby. Temporarily giving the girls wings of their own, Ruby escorts them to Fairy Land to meet the King and Queen of the fairies: Oberon and Tatiana.

Impressed with the young girls, the King and Queen charge them with the responsibility of finding and freeing the rest of the Rainbow Fairies. These fairies, you see, are being targeted by the evil Jack Frost and with them missing, so too is all the colour of Fairy Land. Kirsty and Rachel must rescue them if Fairy Land is to return to normal.

Each book focuses on the finding of a new fairy – Ruby, Amber, Saffron, Fern, Sky, Izzy and Heather – somewhere on Rainspell Island. The books are clearly aimed at a very young, almost ‘new reader’ audience but is more than your run of the mill ‘Jack and Jill go for a picnic, the end’ book. Stories, characters and locations carry over somewhat while still maintaining the clear and easy direction of the book: find the fairy, evade Jack Frost. The text was big, clear and easy to read with plenty of illustrations.

My only issue with the book was with Jack Frost and his minions. They maintained a constant presence – yet hardly ever managed to actually do any damage. I realise these are books aimed at young children, but I would have liked to have seen them as more of a threat. 4/5

Challenges:
100+ Reading Challenge
2009 Read and Review Challenge

Other Reviews
Have you written a review for this book? I would love to include it, comment below and I'll add your link!

House of Night

Marked (House of Night, Book 1)
P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast
306 pages; published 2007


So the good news is that I wouldn't have to take the geometry test tomorrow.

The bad news was that I'd have to move into the House of Night, a private boarding school in Tulsa's Midtown, known by all my friends as the Vampyre Finishing School, where I would spend the next four years going through bizarre and unnameable physical changes, as well as a total and permanent life shake-up. And that's only if the whole process didn't kill me. (6)


Zoey wants nothing more out of life than to feel like she really belongs… well, that and her vintage VW beetle. Ever since her mother married the People of the Faith Elder, John Heffer, Zoey’s life has been miserable. Her new step-father (the step-loser) is both clueless and controlling, and her mother is growing more distant every day. The routine dramas of school (the self-centred gossip of her best friend and drunken exploits of her almost-ex-boyfriend) have become her refuge in life, her only escape.

Until the day the very dead – sorry, ‘undead’ – man, a vampyre Tracker, turns up at her locker and flips her life upside down. She’s been ‘marked’. She’s now a ‘fledgling’ vampyre and, as such, has two choices: die, or move into the prestigious vampyre boarding school, House of Night, and possibly die anyways.

Informing her parents of her fate didn’t go so well and, feeling abandoned yet again, she heads to her Grandmother’s lavender farm for comfort. While there she falls and hits her head, during which she sees a vision of the goddess Nyx, beloved goddess of the vampyres. She tells Zoey that she has chosen her to be her eyes and ears in the new world she is about to enter.

Coming to, she finds herself at her new school, her new home. How well is she about to fit in a new school where she knows nothing about the students?


Do vampyres play chess? Were there vampyre dorks? How about Barbie-like vampyre cheerleaders? Did any vampyres play in the band? Were there vampyre Emos with their guy-wearing-girl’s-pants weirdness and those awful bangs that cover half their faces? Or were they all those freaky Goth kids who didn’t like to bathe much? Was I going to turn into a Goth kid? Or worse, an Emo? I didn’t particularly like wearing black, at least not exclusively, and I wasn’t feeling a sudden and unfortunate aversion to soap and water, nor did I have an obsessive desire to change my hairstyle and wear too much eyeliner. (3)


Things are made all the more difficult when Zoey realises that the mark indicating her new vampyre status indicates that of a fully-fledged vampyre, not of a fledging. She’s a freak amongst freaks.

Turns out that the House of Night isn’t all that unusual, however: dorms, cafeteria (oops, ‘dining hall’), weird teachers, dorks, cool kids… but if everything’s so ordinary, what is it that Zoey’s supposed to be keeping her eye on? and what is it that makes her so special?

I picked up P.C. and Kristen Cast’s Marked, the first in the House of Night series, as I was leaving the library last. They had a ‘If you like Twilight…’ display in the YA section and the cover looked interesting (tsk, tsk, cover picking). When I started reading it, the first couple pages repelled me instantly – it was full of teenage jargon, all gossipy friends and football boyfriends drinking on the back of a pick up truck. And then the vampire turned up, all imperial and old-world threatening in his speech and I started to gag. There was no way I was going to get through this book. Giving it the benefit of the doubt, however, I decided to keep going to the 50-page mark. Next time I looked up it was 3:30am and I was about 200 pages in. Wait? What just happened? Apparently I was hooked and I read it all in one sitting (well, lying, I was supposed to be asleep, after all).

Vampire books are all the rage at the moment, so when reading (yet another) one, I’m really on looking at three things: the writing, the characters, and something that makes it different.

Written by a mother/daughter team, the authors have created an attention-grabbing Twilight-meets-Harry Potter world. As the first book, Marked introduced an interesting – if somewhat clichéd – set of characters, and setting (the school) that should pave the way for the next few books. Their treatment of vampyres (spelling aside) had great potential – a genetic process bought on by the hormones found in a teen body, one that not everyone survives – but could have benefited from more than just a couple throwaway paragraphs. I hope they look into it further in the succeeding books.

All in all, Marked was a good FIRST book, it set up a lot for the series and left me wanting to read the next one. 3.5/5

Purchase Marked here.

Other Reviews
Have you written a review for this book? I would love to include it, comment below and I'll add your link!

Twilight Saga

I'm having a bit of a slow week, blogging wise; the reading's getting done, but I'm falling down on the reviewing side of things. The problem is that this week I read Stephenie Meyer's New Moon and Eclipse... how do I write a review for books that practically everybody in the entire world (or at least the reading/blogging world) has already read and reviewed themselves?

Well I've decided to simply not.*

I liked the books, and enjoyed New Moon best of the three (haven't read Breaking Dawn yet). By now you've probably already made up your mind as to whether or not you're going to read the Twilight saga, and don't really need me to sway you either way.

Happy reading!


*I feel like such a cheater.

Storm Front

Jim Butcher

341 pages; published 2000

My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. I’m a wizard. I work out of an office in midtown Chicago. As far as I know, I’m the only openly practicing professional wizard in the country. You can find me in the yellow pages, under ‘Wizards.’ Believe it or not, I’m the only one there. My ad looks like this:

HARRY DRESDEN – WIZARD

Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations.

Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates.

No Love Potions, Endless Purses, Parties, or Other

Entertainment.

You’d be surprised how many people call just to ask me if I’m serious. But then, if you’d seen the things I’d seen, if you knew half of what I knew, you’d wonder how anyone could not think I was serious. (2-3)

When I come across a review of a book I find interesting it goes on a list (one that gets a little on the long side from time to time) until I can it down. As such, a lot of the time I borrow a book from the library no longer remembering why it was I wanted to read it in the first place – Storm Front, the first book of Jim Butcher’s ‘Dresden Files’ series, was one such book.

As soon as I started reading however, it came swooping back.

Harry Dresden is a professional wizard, hiring himself out as a private detective and police consultant to pay his rent and make his way in life. At the start of the book, Harry is somewhat lacking on the monetary front and takes in two assignments – one tracking down a quiet wife’s missing husband, and another consulting on magical murder case with the Chicago P.D.

It is with the murder case that most of the book is concerned, especially when Dresden himself becomes a suspect.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish – attracting many a strange look for my outright laughter. Told entirely in the first person, Harry’s voice is frank, honest, and downright hilarious.

Paranoid? Probably. But just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that there isn’t an invisible demon about to eat your face. (9)

I did feel, in parts, that this book was trying to set up a lot for the future books, and as such didn’t guy into the depth I would have liked – but as there are several books to follow, this is natural and forgivable.

Purchase Storm Front (Dresden Case Files) here.

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Remembering the Babysitter's Club

Whenever anybody asks me what my favourite books were to read as a kid, I never even hesitate: Little Women, Heidi, A Little Princess and The Secret Garden ... but maybe I remember these so strongly as my favourites because I enjoy them still. They're favourites that have endured. However there was also a whole stack of books that I read over and over that rarely get a mention, and I can only assume that it's because they're not books that I read today. These are, of course, Ann M. Martin's The Babysitter's Club and Babysitter's Little Sister series.

Yesterday my mother saw me updating my book records and, after a brief round of light teasing, asked if I had included all the Babysitter books I had read when I was younger. The fact is, I had never even considered adding them. Little Women was there, for sure, as was Heidi and a whole range of childhood favourites. I don't even hesitate to add any child or young adult books that I read today, so why ignore all those books that I had read then?

My day today (never let it be said that I don't use my holidays productively) was spent reading through the complete lists of books in the Babysitter's Club and Little Sister series, to see just how many I remembered and which ones I felt secure in adding to my list ... who would have thought I would remember so many of them?

Reading these lists, I was flooded with memories of reading these books: feeling so lucky when I was allowed to order new ones through the school book club; taking my little clipboard to the public library and ticking off the numbers I was borrowing (yes, I was a list freak even then); sitting propped up in bed reading through a pile of them and running out to my mother at the start of every chapter because I couldn't read the cursive journal entries.

One of my favourite memories however is sitting down in the corner of of my older cousin's room (who I remember as being just so cool! and she had so many books!) and running my fingers along the bottom rows of her bookshelf where she kept her own collection of these books. I remember so vividly the day she bequeathed her collection to me. I can actually see the piles of books sitting in stacks under my bed - it was so exciting!

What surprised me most about today's activities is just how much of the details I remembered from all those years ago. Character's names, families, the tiniest details just hit me. I remembered Mary Ann (who was always my favourite) receiving a mustard seed necklace, I remember Claudia's oh-so-cool high top sneakers and Kristy's ever present jeans. I spared a laugh for Mallory's notebook carrying (what can I say, I'm more impressionable than I realise), and one for myself when I remembered how grown-up and important these thirteen-year-old girls seemed to me when I was young.

I've ended my day with a real desire to reread these books, to see how I would view them now. I may just have to head off to the library tomorrow ... I wonder if I can find my old shiny green clipboard?

Ender's Game

Orson Scott Card

226 pages; published 1977

"I am your enemy, the first one you've ever had who was smarter than you. There is no teacher but the enemy. No one but the enemy will tell you what the enemy is going to do. No one but the enemy will ever teach you how to destroy and conquer. Only the enemy tells you where he is strong. And the rules of the game are what you can do to him and what you can stop him from doing to you. I am your enemy from now on. From now on I am your teacher."

After two invasion strikes from an insectoid alien race, the "Buggers", Earth's reluctantly allied nations and militaries are fearful of the next, and likely final, strike to come. Their best chance of success, they feel, is in the training of a whole generation of amazingly gifted children.

And so it is that, at the age of six, Andrew "Ender" Wiggins is removed from his home (his parents signing him over to the government) and taken to Earth's orbitting Battle School, never to step foot on Earth again until the age of sixteen. Unlike the rest of his extraordinarily peers, however, Ender has caught the eyes of those in charge. He's not just another would-be soldier; in Ender is the potential for so much more. The potential to plan, the potential to lead ... the potential to win.

Ender's days at the Battle School are filled with trial after trial, each worse than the one before as the ones in control hack away at his childhood, sculpting him into the war commander they need him to be. The war commander they need to save Earth. 4/5

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Dead Until Dark
Charlaine Harris
326 pages; published 2004

For a second I felt ashamed at calling Bill to rescue me: I should have handled the situation myself. Then I thought, Why? When you know a practically invincible being who professes to adore you, someone so hard to kill it’s next to impossible, someone preternaturally strong, that’s who you’re gonna call. (255-6)

Sookie Stackhouse lives in the small town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. Her life is ordinary – she lives with her grandmother, works at the local bar, and has a brother who lives nearby. Problem is, despite her lifestyle, Sookie herself is anything but ordinary. Ever since she was a young girl, Sookie has had the ability to read the minds of those around her.

Normality never sticks around for very long though – at least not with a character like Sookie in the lead. Bon Temps starts to wake up with the revelation of the reality of vampires (they’re “coming out of the coffin”). With the development of a viable synthetic blood, vampires no longer have to feed on humans to survive, and many are seeking a more human lifestyle.

When one such vampire, oh-so-scarily named "Bill", moves to town and, incidentally, next door to Sookie, her life suddenly gets turned upside down. Bill is tall, dark and handsome - and definately dangerous - but, most appealing of all, Sookie cannot hear his thoughts. Around, she does not have to endure the aching strain required to simply afford people their privacy. She is free to just relax.

But when a local woman dies under suspicious circumstances, Sookie finds herself dating a prime suspect. At what cost does her freedom come?

Vampire romances are a dime-a-dozen at the moment. Everywhere you turn you find yet another one creeping up behind you. Despite this, I found Dead Before Dark, the first of the Sookie Stackhouse series, to be an enjoyable light read. While still maintaining the romantic coupling of the moment - a (relatively) normal human girl with the dark scary vamp - it does mix it up a bit by ensuring that she herself is not entirely normal. Sookie doesn't belong in Bill's world ... but she doesn't really fit in her own either.

Harris' writing was a little slow in places; I felt like I was wading through it at times to get to the next part. Having said that, I would still recommend it to fans of the genre. Harris' humour comes into play quite strongly, leaving the book with a slightly oddball air to it, only to be effectively cut down when some of the darker elements come to the surface.

A fun read, the sequel of which I'm looking forward to reading. 3.5/5

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• Lightheaded at Everyday Reads
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• Trisha at Trisha's Book Blog

The Eyre Affair

Jasper Fforde

384 pages, published 2001

Book 1 in the Thursday Next series

Though I have read The Eyre Affair in the past, I thought I'd reread it since I bought the rest of the series in a recent book buying binge... wait... I wasn't going to admit to that... can I take it back?

Okay let's start again: I have never read this book before and there is no rest of the series sitting on my book shelf and there was no book buying whatsoever. I am firmly sticking to my (stupidly) self-imposed "no new books" policy and as such there was no book binging whatsoever ... now if you'll excuse me, I just have to go and revive Bethany who has collapsed in disbelieve.

On with the review.

Thursday Next, experienced operative in the London LiteraTech (Literary Detective) divison, is somewhat bored with her life: she is tired of her job, can't remember the last time she saw her time travelling father for more than five minutes, and lives alone with her pet Dodo. What she doesn't know, however, is that her world is about to be turned upside down when she is assigned to the investigation of the theft of the original manuscript of Charles Dickens Chuzzlewit. Far from an ordinary case, Thursday meets her arch-nemesis - criminal mastermind Acheron Hades, a man gleefully free of morals and who doesn't pull back from his threats to remove (and forever kill) long beloved literary characters, right off the page.

Though her encounter with Hades is a complete disaster, Hades still feels the need to increase the stakes in their relationship by threatening the integrity (and the live) of a more beloved book/character - Jane Eyre. Without the heroine, the novel will be destroyed forever. Will Thursday be able to save Jane? Can she restore her rightful place? And will she be able to all this and still manage to escape Hades herself? 5/5

Georgia Nicolson Series

Angus, Thongs, Full-Frontal Snogging

On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God

Knocked Out By My Nunga-Nungas

Dancing in My Nuddy Pants
Louise Rennison

Being the dedicated, hard-working student that I am, I'm reading as many teen books as I can get my hands on ... what, you didn't buy the part about being dedicated and hard-working? Yeah, okay, i probably wouldn't have, either. To be honest I was drawn in by the titles of this series a few months ago, so when I saw them in Penrith Library today I picked up the first two. I read the whole thing this afternoon - and had to read the bits I kept laughing over to Bethany. It was extraordinarily crude but definitely funny. Almost like an updated Secret Diary of Adrian Mole. If you like to read the whining of a teenager who is somewhat insane, then give this one a go. 3/5