Inheritance by Christopher Paolini

It all began years ago, when Eragon, a young farmer, stumbled across a polished blue stone in the Spine. Upon returning to his house, he realize that the stone was in fact an egg; inside was a baby dragon. Now, many adventures and 3 books later, Eragon has evolved into an accomplished dragon rider who is pledged to the cause of the Varden, and organization dedicated to the overthrow of the tyrannical ruler Galbatorix. Yet, as strong, focused, and determined Eragon has become, he readily acknowledges the monumental task ahead of him is almost impossible. With his hope waning, and his army in shambles, Eragon will have to find the motivation to step out of his comfort zone, and to readily accept everything that the god-like Galbatorix has to throw at him. But will Eragon prevail, or will his whole existence and purpose be squashed under the immense power of his enemies?

Christopher Paolini's powerful conclusion his "Eragon" series dynamically displayed the inner struggles of Eragon as a character, and helped to solidify Eragon as a realistic identity. Eragon's personal battle with love, heartbreak, and hopelessness enables me to understand why he acts and feels like he does, and also gives insight into the author's effectiveness as a writer. Eragon, with his profound love for the character Arya, battles to suppress his feelings of love which, contrary to what Eragon believes, need to be shared. Such inner conflict brings Eragon to life and helps the reader appreciate him as a person, and not as a fictional character. In addition, the feelings of helplessness that Eragon feels concerning the impossibility of his lofty goals and expectations humbles him, and makes him more human than not.

The country of Alagaesia, which serves as the setting for "Inheritance", is perhaps the most elaborate and convincing I have ever encountered. The intricate complexities woven into the background of the many scenes help to not only give the reader an idea of the context of the story, but also help to firmly place the reader inside the book itself. Such an authentic setting only serves to augment the characters and ideas so thoughtfully exhibited in "Inheritance," and enables the reader to examine the deeper themes without having to pause to collect his or her bearings.

Christopher Paolini, author of "Inheritance," successfully conceived a gripping novel that very well can be considered the best of the series. While reading the novel, I was fascinated by the unexpected twists and turns of the plot, and I found myself constantly wondering what would happen next. It is this intense anticipation that leads me to believe that this is, so far, Christopher Paolini's greatest work. The prose of the novel was dynamic, thoroughly explaining many aspects of the story, while also leaving the reader to draw his or her own conclusions for some of the more mysterious ones. Perhaps the only weakness of the book was the numerous loose ends left untied; after the conclusion of the novel I was left wondering about many issues that were not completely addressed and resolved. However, in his acknowledgments, Paolini hints this will not be the last we will hear of Alagaesia, and that hopefully some of the mysteries left unsolved by "Inheritance" will be resolved. On account of the formidable characters and settings in the book, I would most definitely recommend "Inheritance" to others, and found the novel to be very memorable and distinct.

Reviewer Age:15
Reviewer City, State and Country: Baltimore, Maryland United States

Element Keepers

Rhet, a dockworker in the land of Seatra, and his friend Peteal are mysteriously taken away from their home one day by nine magical strangers called Y'dah with the ability to weave and control the wind. According to prophecy, Rhet possesses an unimaginable power strong enough to destroy the world. Locked up and treated as a prisoner, he does not understand where he is or why he was taken from Seatra.  When one young Y'dah named Soralin discovers a hidden passage of the prophecy that explained Rhet's capture, she learns that his powers will save the world, not destroy it.  Using her wind-weaving abilities, the two flee and travel across the land and discover Rhet's true talents, while meeting some familiar faces along the way.  Will Rhet and his friends be able to stand up against true evil?

This book was very enjoyable to read.  I was hooked from the very first page.  The storyline is suspenseful and easy to follow while being told from different perspectives.  The characters are interesting and relatable.  I found myself liking Peteal the most and his struggle from slave to ruler.  The relationship between Rhet and Soralin is sweet and also a focal point in the book that I loved.  The only thing I disliked about the book was the ending, which was abrupt and left me hanging.  I would recommend this novel to anyone who likes romance, suspense, or fantasy.

Reviewer Age:13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Torrington, CT United States

Borrowing Abby Grace (eBook) by Kelly Green

Borrowing Abby Grace by Kelly Green. When Abby Grace wakes up, she is in the back of a moving van driven by two men wearing ski masks. She can’t remember anything, including her own name. After escaping from the kidnappers, she is returned to a home she doesn’t remember full of things and a father she doesn’t know. While standing in her unfamiliar room, she is approached by a boy named Will. He tells her she is a Shadow. She is inhabiting the body of a girl named Brooke and she has some sort of mission. If Abby doesn’t figure out what her mission is and complete it in time, she will be stuck in Brooke’s body forever.
This novella is not even fifty pages. The writing is mediocre. It falls under the heading of most teenage girl fluff novels. It’s not something I would recommend to a friend simply because it has no substance to it. It is too short to become attached to any of the characters or the story, and the writing is neither compelling nor exciting. The story line is average and not that interesting.

Reviewer Age:18
Reviewer City, State and Country: New York, NY United States

Blood Sacrifice

Blood Sacrifice is a fantasy about vampires, fae, and shape shifters.  Kiera Kelly has accepted Challenge from her former lover Gideon and may lose her land because of it. Everybody involved in Challenge has to leave the land, but while they’re gone strange things are happening. The land is being vandalized, and Minerva Kelly, the clan’s leader has gone missing. Will they find her, and save their land or will Gideon take over?

This book is definitely for mature fantasy readers. I loved Kiera Kelly, she was funny and it was really easy to get into her character. Although I enjoyed reading this book, I didn’t like the ending. I was left confused and wondering what happened. I thought there could have been more of a clear explanation. It still is a book that I would recommend.
language and sexual content
Reviewer Age:13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Springfield, Ohio US

Night Mare in the Hamptons

Summary: Night Mare in the Hamptons is the second installment of the Willow Tate series written by Celia Jerome. After first dealing with a ten-foot-tall red troll, Willow has another problem on her hands. Not only does the whole town expect her to take care of three enchanted mares that are running amuck, but she also has to work with a cocky horse-whisperer along the way. At least she'll have the help of the uniquely talented locals, or more accurately, psychic, talented locals. It looks like graphic novelist Willow Tate has a lot on her hands.

Opinion: This is a book that I would read once, but it isn't really one that I would reread. The writing style isn’t one that I enjoy, but the idea of the story was what kept me reading. The subject of the book was interesting and very creative. I felt like Willow and Ty contradicted themselves a lot, so you can't get a very good read on what their personalities were. All the other characters had solid personalities, and they didn't waver on who they were. The writer gave great detail about everything, but I don’t enjoy this; I don't need to know what every surrounding town is like and where everything is.  Some people may like the book more because of this, but it was the part I had the most problem with.   I did like the humorous writing style of the author, it had me laughing out load at times, and made me smile.

Content:3  The reason I gave this book a 3 on the age content, is that during some parts of the book there were sexual themes. Anyone that reads this book should be on a mature level, if they aren't, they should put this book back.
5
Katie Campbell_IVMS
Reviewer Age:14
Reviewer City, State and Country: Fairborn, Ohio USA

The Girl in the Mirror

The Girl in the Mirror is about a girl named Lizzie. She is adopted and is searching for her birth parents. Something dramatic happens near the time she graduates; her adoptive father dies. She goes through a tough time, and she does not handle it well. She ends up hanging out with the wrong crowd and starts drinking.

The book was good, but it was not as dramatic or suspenseful as I had expected it to be.  Lizzie doesn’t get seem to experience a real crisis. There was an issue, but it wasn’t a huge problem, so it didn’t always hold my attention.  A lot of the time I had to reread the last page because it jumped and didn’t really flow as to what was happening on the page before. It was an okay read and  I liked the story behind it. I just thought it could have been a little more interesting and suspenseful.

Reviewer Age:13
Reviewer City, State and Country: Springfield, Ohio North America

The Girl Behind The Glass by Jane Kelley

Twins, Hannah and Anna were best friends, until they moved to the house on Hemlock Road, which tears their whole family apart. Is the house they’re living in temporarily haunted, or is Hannah just going crazy? Is there really a ghost haunting their house, or is it just former resident Ruth who died as a little girl in their attic? Whoever....or whatever it is seems to be talking to Hannah. Do her parents really think she’s crazy? Or do they believe her? Find out in this haunted story, The Girl Behind the Glass.

Throughout the whole book, I actually felt like I was there experiencing everything the characters were. I think the author did a great job describing everything, and getting the reader more sucked into the book, I know I was, waiting to read the next page and get more and more into the book. I thought she did a really good job with that part. It wasn’t a horror book, but it was the sort of book that had mystery and horror in a perfect combination. The author did a really nice job with the book.

Reviewer Age:12

Reviewer City, State and Country: Skokie , Illinois USA

A Million Suns by Beth Revins

It's been three months since Amy was awoken from her cryogenically frozen chamber and found herself on the spaceship Godspeed traveling to a new planet. It was tough transitioning to a world where there are always four walls surrounding her, but she had Elder to help her. However, now that Eldest is dead, Elder has become the leader of Godspeed. While he is dealing with imminent rebellion of the crew, Amy is sent on a hunt to unlock the secrets of Godspeed....before it's too late.

I haven't read much science fiction but I really enjoyed Across the Universe, the predecessor to A Million Suns, when I first read it. I was very excited to get my hands on the sequel, and I'm happy to say that A Million Suns did not disappoint. The story picks up right where Across the Universe left off, and even though many things were revealed at the end of that novel, there are still more secrets to be uncovered in A Million Suns. I liked watching Amy hunt for clues and thought it was a very interesting way for Amy to discover new information about Godspeed. On Elder's side, he is dealing with mutiny from the crew, who want a more equal form of government. While I understood the complaints of the crew, when reading from Elder's point-of-view, it's easy to sympathize with him. Even though he was not voted to be the leader, he still has the citizens' best interests at heart. A Million Suns was a great continuation of this trilogy, and I can't wait to read the conclusion because this book left off with a huge cliffhanger.

Reviewer Age:20
Reviewer City, State and Country: Aston, Pennsylvania United States

Color Struck by Pamela and Joel Tuck

Racial conflicts have torn families apart for centuries, whether it is as far back as the Civil War or Martin Luther King Jr.’s Civil Rights Movement. Color Struck by Pamela and Joel Tuck demonstrates the effects of prejudice in the Steele family, a problem in fifteen-year-old Renee Steele’s life to a problem color once caused for her grandmother. Renee loves her two older cousins, but as they grow older, they seem to bicker more and more. Pat, proud of her African heritage, is fed up with Cherie’s light-skinned friends and near abandonment of their culture, accusing her of thinking white people were better than they are. Cherie thinks Pat simply refuses to apply herself to her full potential. Poor Renee is caught in the middle, and she turns to their grandmother for help.


Grandma Bell is one of a kind. She is brave and loving and kind and firm. However, she didn’t get that way by accident. She had a hard time in the beginning of her marriage, the effect of her dark skin among prejudiced in-laws. Throughout the book, she tells Pat, Renee, and Cherie all about how she met their grandfather, and how she came to live with him and his parents, who hadn’t exactly taken a liking to her. In fact, they went out of their way to make things difficult. Yet Bell persevered, raising several fine children and even reaching a surprising status with her husband’s troublesome in-laws.

Color Struck was definitely an enjoyable read. Grandma Bell’s old-fashioned pluckiness makes her the most likeable character in the book, and her courage in the face of bigotry sets an example for people in a tight spot everywhere. The reader will feel like they have sat down next to their own grandmother as she recounts her younger years, instilling an almost nostalgic feeling in them, longing for their own story times with loved ones. Renee, on the other hand, felt like a bit of a weak character. She didn’t have anything to contribute to the stories and couldn’t help her cousins, nor did she have an opinion in their fight, altogether coming off wishy-washy. The other characters were also decent, though I must admit that I developed a certain fondness for Pat as well as Bell’s sister Hattie, both young girls set in their ways and daring enough to carry out elaborate plans.

The writing of the book was pleasant, although the dialect spoken by the characters was hard to follow at first. The modern day chapters seemed a lackluster, but the twists and turns of the story told by Grandma Bell made up for them in the long run. Grandma Bell’s descriptions of her life with her sisters in her younger years and of how she dealt with her thorny in-laws were particular bright spots. The in-laws were also formidable antagonists, not people one wants to meet, making it all the more impressive for Bell to deal with them so patiently. Over all, it was a nice read, nothing to rant about, but definitely a book that someone interested in historical fiction, or even just the simple triumphs of a human being, should pick up.

Content Rating: 1


Rating: 7

Reviewer Age:14

Reviewer City, State and Country: Locust Valley, New York The United States of America

Out of Breath by Blair Richmond

Out of Breath is a thrilling mystery book about a young woman named Katherine. She is a very talented competitive runner but had her foot crushed in a car accident in her senior year of high school. She recovered but lost her chance of scholarships. She runs away to her hometown of Lithia, a picturesque small town. She meets a caring couple that allows her to stay with them and as her stay goes on, she meets new people and starts learning about the darker side of this sunny town. Richmond has blended elements of adventure, romance, mystery, and horror beautifully through her vivid descriptions and realistic dialogue. I believe that Richmond definitely achieved her purpose because the writing was very realistic and descriptive. I was snatched out of my bedroom and into the story. Her writing is effective because it flows very naturally. The vocabulary was age-appropriate; I never had to stop and figure out what a word meant, nor did I feel like I had to turn my brain off in order to get through it.

This book's advantage is in the delicacy and clarity of its writing. One weakness I did find was that the plot seemed a bit predictable. I don't think this book could be the next Harry Potter because there's no real surprise. The major plot twists and climaxes in the story are heavily hinted at beforehand, which I felt was unnecessary for a teenage audience; surely we can figure it out ourselves. Other than this unfortunate detail, the book was very strong overall. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a fun read; perhaps a stress-reliever or a comfortable, curl-up-by-the-fire and read book. This is because it is very smooth as far as flow goes, and the predictability of the plot may annoy those readers who are looking for something deeper or more mentally challenging, those who want to think hard to solve the mystery.

Rating: 8
Content Rating: 1
Reviewer Age:16
Reviewer City, State and Country: Columbus, Indiana United States