Posted by Ruth
Categories: Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Cornelia Funke, Long Read, Scary
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Meggie’s bookbinding father, Mo, has a unique talent. When he reads books aloud, the characters come to life. He first discovered this when reading to Meggie as a baby. Several characters from the book Inkheart, villainous and otherwise, appeared in their living room, while Meggie’s mother disappeared. And she hasn’t been seen since. Meggie, now twelve years old, knows nothing about her father’s ability, but a mysterious man named Dustfinger shows up to give Mo a warning. Capricorn, Inkheart‘s wicked badguy, read out from his story long ago, has plans for finding Mo and using his book-reading for evil purposes. Meggie and Mo are about to be swept into the adventure of their life.
I had seen this book quite a bit at libraries and bookstores, and I finally decided to give it a try. My conclusion? Not bad. It’s certainly not my new favorite, but if you’re looking for new fantasy-type books, you might want to give this one a try. The writing style is a bit unusual, being translated from German, but it didn’t strike me as hard to comprehend at all. It’s a long read, but I enjoyed it, and the whole “book within the book” thing is fun.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Advanced Readers, Fantasy, Fiction, Review, Science Fiction
Tags:future, Ray Bradbury, Scary
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Guy Montag is a fireman in the future. Now, firemen have a different type of job in this story. They burn things, rather than put out fires. What do they burn? Books. Why? Because if nobody reads, nobody will think, nobody will be offended by truth, and everybody will be happy. Right? No. Montag thinks his job is wrong, but what can he do about it?
A rather interesting book with a big warning attached to it. I enjoyed Fahrenheit 451 immensely, with few problems. My main complaint is that the last ten pages or so were a bit far fetched. Other than that, I highly recommend this one.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Animals, Cats, Christopher Paolini, Dragons, Inheritance Trilogy, Long Read, Scary, Seafaring
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Spoiler alert! In order to review this book, I have to give away the ending of Eragon, the previous book in the series. If you haven’t read Eragon, I recommend that you move on to the next review.
Three days after the Varden’s battle with the Urgals, a small fight leaves the Varden leaderless. Ajihad’s daughter is chosen as the new leader, and Eragon leaves to continue his training with the Elves as a Dragon Rider. However, killing the Shade Durza has left Eragon with a wound that leaves him crippled, and he despairs of ever being strong enough to fight the evil king Galbatorix.
Meanwhile, Eragon’s cousin Roran is in a desperate battle against the Ra’zac for his village of Carvahall. Together with his friends, he must convince the village to do whatever it takes to stop the evil of Galbatorix.
First of all, let me say that I enjoyed reading Eldest. That being said, I must say that for being almost 200 pages longer than the previous volume, Eldest certainly takes a long time to tell a simple story. Eragon’s training reminded me of Luke’s in Star Wars Episode V, but it had some good parts. I found myself wishing that Roran get out of the story so I could get back to Eragon’s more exciting life, but he ended up having a reason to exist at the end, so I can forgive him. Also, I have to say that I didn’t agree with a lot of the different religions, although Paolini says they are mythology. On the plus side, the second book in the Inheritance trilogy has more action than the first one. All in all, this one is worth reading, it’s just a little slow.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Adventure, Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Animals, Good Read Aloud, Indians, Quick Read, Scary, Scott O’Dell, Seafaring
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El Manta Diablo is nothing more than a scary story about a giant manta ray, right? When Ramon Salazar finds the largest pearl ever known, he is not so sure. An old Indian claims Manta Diablo will take back the pearl, and Ramon’s life.
I believe this story is a great example of why you shouldn’t be superstitious, however, the ending proves that Ramon doesn’t learn that lesson. Whatever. Scott O’ Dell has another winner, although a rather short one.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Advanced Readers, Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Bears, Binding of the Blade, Dragons, L. B. Graham, Long Read, Scary
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Whoa! Hold it! I have to warn you, before you read this review, that I have to give away the ending of the previous book, Bringer of Storms. If you haven’t read it yet, you probably want to go on to the next review.
With Valzaan gone, Benjiah must fulfill his role as Allfather’s prophet. But he’s uncertain and everybody seems to be dependent upon him. Meanwhile, Aljeron is in the northern reaches of Kirthanin on a hunch, trying to find Sulmindar, the missing father of dragons. In his place as commander, Caan takes over military movements as the army flees before Malek and his hoard. And with the Bringer of Storms still producing rain, flooding is setting in quickly, leaving them less and less place to run.
Excitement, adventure, and, uh, abrupt ending. Worth reading, but you might want to skip it until the series ends. Much too abrupt of an ending, though. Finally, we get to meet dragons for a lengthy amount of time. Wonderful!
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