City of Jade by Dennis L. McKiernam

The City of Jade is a stand alone novel in the series of Mithgar by Dennis McKiernan. It is the tale of an elf named Aravan and his true love, Aylis, as they embark on their beloved ship, Eroean. After years of fighting apart they join together, finally, to return to the thing they love most: sailing. They have no trouble acquiring forty men to sail, a war band of forty dwarves to protect and with their tiny Psyk friend, Alissa, as scout, the couple is ready to journey out into the world. There they find a strange jade statue that leads them to the mythical City of Jade, a place clouded in mystery and evil. Unknowingly, they walk into a trap that not all will survive.

When I first decided to read the City of Jade I expected to find a captivating story of danger and adventure. Unfortunately I found little of either. The City of Jade had a rather erratic plot line which did not flow continuously and had little to do with the summary. It reminded me of one of those sitcom flashback episodes, where the main characters do nothing but remember the past. Aravan and company were entertaining and slightly realistic, but carried on far too much about events that had happened in previous books. I, who has never read a Mithgar book before, found this extremely annoying. As mentioned before, there was little intrigue, except in the story of two sub-characters, the Warrows Pipper and Binkton, whose chapters narrated their Robin Hood-like escapades. I have to give McKiernan credit, however, for his attention to detail. Every scene on the Eroean was written with impressive knowledge of the ship. It felt like a sailor was describing what was going on and were the only scenes that read like McKiernan was actually talking to you.

violence and sexual content

Reviewer Age:15

Reviewer City, State and Country: Albany, New York USA

Hunter Jones Joins the Civil War by Julian Olson

Hunter Jones Joins the Civil War(Missouri) by Jinx Olson
is a book written about a young boy who is forced to grow
up physically and emotionally much greater and faster than
most kids his age. At the beginning of the novel, Hunter's
dad is shot by a gambler firing at another man. The bullet
misses the intended target, hitting his father in the
chest and sending him overboard into the strong current
never to be seen again. He is accused of being someone
just hitching a ride at that point, and when asked to show
his ticket finds that the tickets were with his father. He
is kicked off of the boat and nearly arrested by the
sheriff. He spends some time in the next few days trying
to find his father but fails and decides to set camp up in
a magnolia tree. He finds a raccoon, an orphan similar to
himself, and befriends him. A group of confederate
soldiers accidently shoot him and he is taken care of by
them. He is made to run errands for the general and make
sure his horse is taken care of. After some time, he is
given a drum and learns how to play it. While running one
of his errands he falls into a coma due to a head wound,
and lays in the hospital. His friends read the newspaper
each day, and in his coma he lives out what is summarized
in the daily newspaper, read by his friends, giving the
reader a first-hand experience of the events that took
place during the Civil War. General Lyon becomes Hunter's
new father figure.

Aside from a few editing errors, I believe this book is
well put together. The writing is good grammatically and
the story is interesting and keeps the reader wanting to
read and learn more. The books theme of wandering and
exile might make the reader think of The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn, and when you consider the facts are
historically accurate, this makes the book both fun and
informative. There is much to be learned from this story.
It makes you think about history, and think about your
inner self, what would you do in Hunter's
situation.

Reviewer Age:15

Reviewer City, State and
Country: Waterford, Michigan U.S.A.

Slipping

When 13 year old Michael's grandfather passes away, he is not extremely perturbed. Why should he be? He hasn't seen the man since he was seven years old. However, after a fight with his father about the acknowledgement of his grandfather's passing, he begins to feel his grandfather's presence near him. This leads to his seeing his grandfather, and traveling through a river of memories, the river of the dead. However, after altering the past, Michael becomes trapped in the river and has to rely on the help of his friends and father to struggle to extricate himself from it, before he remains frozen there forever.

I thoroughly enjoyed Slipping. Ms. Davitt Bell uses a great deal of description, and I could easily place myself into the story. The tone of the book was a bit dark, as all books dealing with death are, but I believe that it has the potential to become one of the best children's books of our time. This is due to, again, her great descriptions, deep characters, and a great narration. From Michael's perspective, we see the story as it is, and he is straightforward and explains exactly what is going on. This makes the storyline easy to follow, but still stimulating, and I approve greatly of the representation of his grandfather's passing on. Through the understanding of this novel, I learned a great deal about death, and established several new theories about life after death. Although I loved the book itself, I did find some shortcomings. I felt that the ending did not tie up all of the strings, and let Michael's father in a bit of a weak position. Despite this, overall, I would definitely recommend it to all audiences.

Content: 1
Rating: 9
Reviewer Age:13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Charleston, West Virginia United States

Peacekeeper by Laura E. Reeve

Laura E. Reeve's "Peacekeeper" juxtaposes regular war violence with futuristic technologies. It follows the story of a female pilot named Ari. Her crew members keep her company, whilst simultaneously ordering her around like a dog. Fifteen years ago, she was involved in a military coup in the universe, which required her to annihilate over four billion organisms and an entire section of space. In present times, she is being hunted down. Slowly, the members of her crew are killed, and she is next. At one point in the novel, she is interrogated, abused, and even sexually assaulted all because of her deathly past.

Interestingly, Reeve starts off all of her chapters with quotations from books of the future. She does this excellently and makes them so believable that readers think Ari's futuristic story is actually believable.

Additionally, religion is inserted into the book as Gaia is the one creator of the universe. She is seen as a nurturing mother and isn't really expounded on much. This makes the reader think about what religion will be in the far future. Like the war, it is just assumed and not questioned very much at all.

Overall, this book is one of action, despair, and a strong woman that will stop at nothing to protect nationalistic values she may not even wholly understand.

"Peacekeeper" by Laura E. Reeve shines a scarily true light onto warfare and the soldiers enlisted therein. Set in the future, this novel portrays technology doing most of the fighting, with the humans controlling which part of space is attacked. Even though the book is futuristic, it is easy to relate to in such a time of international conflict. After all, regardless of what time era people live in, there is always some sort of disagreement and fighting. Sadly, soldiers like Ari lose their innocence as they are propelled into fighting that they are told is right and true. In the end, they end up being tracked down and beaten to bloody pulps by extremists that belong to sects of annihilated civilizations. Also, when aliens are encountered, some have no faces and skin. This makes them entirely hard to read expression-wise. The militia can not possibly know when they are being fooled when all they see is a blank conglomerate staring back at them. Also, the novel features aspects of intimacy, but is not too graphic. Ari's relations with members of her Crew are alluded to but not necessarily described. As for the scenes when Ari is molested, those have detail but are not erotic as they relate to what truly happens to both male and female soldiers when they are captured by enemy forces. In general, this book is entertaining and akin to a futuristic movie.

Reviewer Age:17

Reviewer City, State and Country: Staten Island, NY USA

Rating: 4

Content Rating: 1

Sleep Before Evening by Magdalena Ball

Marianne Cotton is a straight A student. Her loving grandfather provides the constant support of a caring father figure while her bipolar mother flaunts around the country chasing her dream of becoming a successful artist. But when her grandfather dies of an unexpected stroke and her mother's marriage falls apart, Marianne finds her stunning academic career unraveling and her prosperous future darkening. Marianne meets an exotic street music performer, Miles, who introduces her to the lures of the lower east side. Marianne's private school scholarship becomes unimportant and her easygoing teenage life is thrown away for one of sex, drugs and murky music clubs. Through Miles' music, freedom and connections Marianne opens her eyes to the depths and shadows of New York's rugged and dangerous inner city scene.

This was a harrowing and believable book, which I actually really enjoyed! Magdalena Ball writes with such conviction and describes even the grittiest scenes with their own kind of beauty that makes this novel hard to put down. Having never read anything quite like this book before, I was dubious at the beginning. However, upon finishing the novel, I realized that I had been living as Marianne, experiencing her loss, grief and struggles. I lived the painful emotion behind the words of the narrator while sharing the experiences and feelings of Marianne; this sets the book apart. I would definitely recommend Sleep Before Evening to others but possibly to those older than myself. Throughout the novel Marianne is faced with the daunting trials of drug addiction, sex and the fight for survival in the big city. While I thoroughly enjoyed the book, I think it might be better suited to people from 16 up. The words of Magdalena Ball in Sleep Before Evening will without a doubt stay with me for years to come.

Sex
Drug Addiction
Violence

Reviewer Age: 14

Reviewer City, State and Country: Melbourne, Victoria Australia

Taken by Storm by Angela Morrison

Following the death of his parents, Michael Walden can't erase the image of his Father and Mother drowning while he swam to safety, narrowly escaping the hurricane that had suddenly consumed their boat. Now living with his grandmother, who is also stricken with grief, Michael battles nightmares and depression. He also is dealing with the desire to dive back into the waters that had once given him peace. Enter Leesie Hunt, a Mormon church-goer who longs to relieve Michael of the guilt that often interferes with their budding romance.

Although this novel is a love story, it mainly exists in the world of reality. The girl is not your typical love-struck teen and the guy is not so soft and perfect,which often happens in a young romance story. The conflict of Michael's loose morals and misconception of love verse Leesie's pledge of abstinence and own raging hormones make this novel one of interest. Still; it does fall into some the same traps of many other young adult novels. Namely, a few unrealistic moments, over use of modern slang and an obvious effort to keep everything within a PG13 rating.

There were some issues on Michael's side about him longing for sex and him obtaining that desire. Even Leesie loosened her morals which led to a several steamy make-out scenes. And the problems Michael dealt with after his parents died may be too mature for young readers.

Reviewer Age:15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Holly Springs, North Carolina United States of America

Because I Am Furniture by Thalia Chatlas

When 14 year old Anke's brother and sister are abused, she just sits in the background as a witness, like furniture. Her mother can't help them in any way, because she fears her abusive husband would kill everyone. Anke's home life continues to worsen as her brother has near-broken bones and her sister is bruised, while their father cheats on their mother. Anke wants to do something but never gets the chance, because everything she seems to do is wrong. She is filled with terror; everywhere she turns a new dilemma faces her. After Anke joins the volleyball team, she suddenly finds a voice she never knew she had; just proclaiming the word “mine” changes her life. Can she save her family and friends before time runs out?

“Because I am Furniture”, by Thalia Chatlas, is a pretty good book with a unique format and full of great description. I enjoyed the poetic form because it added a little bit of reality to the book. The ongoing dilemmas make “Because I am Furniture” a definite page turner; you never know what is going to pop up next. I think it has the possibility of becoming a bestseller, because poetic-form novels have gained popularity. I also like the way Chatlas describes her characters. She makes the reader feel like he/she is experiencing the traumatic events firsthand. I recommend this book to anyone who likes realistic drama.

Mentions of rape, drinking, violent actions

Reviewer Age:12

Reviewer City, State and Country: Osseo, Wisconsin, United States

You Are So Undead to Me by Stacey Jay

All Megan Berry wants to do is go to Homecoming. But that might not be possible, seeing how she's a Settler, and must be around to "settle" the Undead's affairs. Megan doesn't like being around dead people -- and after a freak accident a few years ago, she thought her powers were gone for good. But now they're back, and she must re-learn everything about putting the dead to rest. At the same time that Megan's getting a hang of the ropes, someone starts using black magic to turn the Undead into Zombies and she must figure out who it is before it's too late!

I really liked this book. It was an interesting take on zombies, and having the power to put the undead back to their eternal rest is kind of cool. I liked Megan as a character, though in the beginning she annoyed me. She really didn't want to be a Settler again, especially since it was ruining her dates with boys, and she would not stop complaining about it. But finally Megan accepts what she has to do and gives the reader a break from the whining. There was a lot of zombie action, especially at the end, but I didn't really like who the villains ended up being. Their motives for the black magic and awakening zombies weren't very good, and I feel like the author decided last minute who the bad guys were. Needless to say, this is a very good read and I can't wait for the sequel Undead Much to be written.

Reviewer Age:16

Reviewer City, State and Country: Aston, Pennsylvania United States

Prince of Stories by Hank Wagner, Christopher Golden & Stephen Bissette

This book is a biography of Neil Gaiman, arguably one of the best Science Fiction/Fantasy writers of the 21st century. This is a collaboration of his works such as short stories, novels, films, and comic books. This book has just the right stuff for any Gaiman fan. Journey through Neil's brain but be cautious because if you go too far in we may lose you forever.
This book didn'tgrab me like other books do. Even though there was fascinating stores, pictures, and a comic book it just didnt get to me. I have read one of his works before and it got me very curious which got him to write his books. He was the guy that got me caught on graphic novels. This is only recommended for extreme fans, people who want to get a better insights on his work, and find what he was thinking about threw his various works.
This book had some bad language in it.
Reviewer Age:15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Northport, NY USA

Jesse Bowman: A Union Boy's War Story
This historical fiction book starts out on the night of April 21, 1861. While attending a meeting, two boys, Jesse Bowman and Harlow Basset, saw the Zovare soldiers for the first time. That's when Jesse and Harlow decided they wanted to become soldiers and fight in the Civil War to help protect the Union. They went to the head desk on Darbon Street. Immediately they too signed up to join the army. They rode a train to the campsite and saw a big pine tree, which was the marking for their campsite. At first, camping out and living outside was adventurous. After a while they found out about the hardship of the war. Losing people you care about and being wounded are some of the difficulties of war. Even though becoming a soldier was not as exactly as planned. Jesse feels proud of his accomplishments.

I liked this book because it was very detailed. The descriptions made me feel as if I were right along beside them fighting in the civil war. I felt as if I could reach out and touch them. It made me wonder how I would want to be brave and stand up for things I believe in but would probably be scared and homesick, too. I love history books and this one will go on my list as a favorite. I recommend it for students in grades 3-6.

Reviewer Age:12Leopold, Mo United States of America