Out of the two books, I liked Magefable better than Talonridge. This book didn't catch my attention as well as Magefable. Talonridge was full of action, yet only grabbed my attention in half of the book instead of all; it was a little confusing at times. It was still a very good book, though, with lots of other good parts. I liked how well the author made the new characters fit in with the old characters. I also liked how well he developed the new characters and added finishing touches to the old ones. My favorite character is still Durbin the mouse because he is doing his best to follow in the footsteps of his father to protect anyone in need. I would recommend this book to ages 10 through 14 because there is fighting, killing, and a few tough words. Readers over the age of 14, however, might get bored.
Friday, May 02, 2014
A new student review of Talonridge by Heimdall Thunderhammer
A new student review of Pieces of Me
This novel had such a unique idea, but it was really poorly executed. Throughout the entire novel, I kept hoping that it would live up to its potential. I kept hoping that it would get better.
I guess this novel and I got started on the wrong foot. I felt like the beginning was completely unnecessary, and it was probably violating all sorts of human rights. The cheerleaders (or Skirts, as Jessica calls them, but they’re the clichéd mean girls of the story) actually, physically, cut Jessica’s hair from her head while Jess is at her locker. First of all, why didn’t she report this to a teacher instead of covering up by saying she donated her hair to charity? Second, how did the cheerleaders manage to shear the entirety of Jessica’s hair in one snip?
The beginning is just an indicator of the lack-of-subtlety and believability that’s prevalent in the rest novel. All the relationships between the characters in this novel lacked a certain sense of reality. The love storylines rang false. When I finished the novel, I had no idea why each person had such a “deep connection” with his or her respective love interest. It fell into the dangerous “insta-love” trend that is so prevalent in young adult fiction (except this novel had no excuse—it was supposed to be realistic fiction).
Additionally, the author portrays the teenagers’ relationships with their parents in a horrible light. The novel follows five teenagers’ families and lives, and in every plotline, the parents were oppressive, had a lot of miscommunication issues with their children, and written in a way that wasn’t positive. I felt that this novel would have been a lot stronger if the author could have at least shown a range of different relationships, since she does have so many main characters. I understand that she was trying to capture the teenage angst of feeling misunderstood, but really, it wasn’t done with much tack or subtly.
I also felt that the author didn’t really have a good understanding of her characters. Firstly, Jessica’s voice did not remain constant throughout the novel. Secondly, the author’s other characters only had one thing that defined them. For example, whenever the reader was in Vivian’s point of view, the only thing that characterized her voice and made her distinctive is that she kept using the Pantone palette to “color her world,” which was refreshing at first but got really annoying after a while.
The author had a really hard time figuring out what point of view to tell her story from. It was supposed to rotate points of view between the five characters, but when the author tried to describe something from another character’s point of view, Jessica’s thoughts and her feelings would bleed into that point of view and vice-versa. Furthermore, I don’t think that Amber Kizer had a good grasp on how her world worked. I was really confused how Jessica was able to switch between her organ recipients (and why there were only four of them), how she could essentially read their minds, and why she could sometimes interact with the physical world.
Overall, I felt as if I was reading the first draft, not something that was printed and bound and meant for the general public.
Thursday, May 01, 2014
A new student review of The Circle Book One of the Sidhe by Cindy Cipriano
I loved The Circle. Cindy Cipriano created a different world that is so unlike, “The realm of man.” I like how the circle draws you in by giving you so many questions, and you’re just waiting for them to be answered. My favorite character in the circle was Laurel, because she was about my age, she was friendly, and she liked to read, just like me. Cindy Cipriano painted a picture in my head, and that’s what I like most about the circle. She made the book come to life. I found myself asking in real life, “Is that a faerie circle?”
A new student review of North of Nowhere
Liz Kessler must have put a lot of time and effort into writing this book. I think this because it took me 4 days to finish it, I liked it that much! I recommend that anybody 10 and up should read this book. I let my mom read it and she liked it a ton! I hope Liz Kessler makes a second "North of Nowhere" or a book like it!
A new student review of Squish: Game On (#5)
Squish is the kind of book that you could read in a day, it is fast and easy. I think at least they should make one book like 3 of them put together. I would recommend this book to kids 10 and under, kids higher might not like it as much. They might enjoy it but not love it. I like it because it is a graghic novel.
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
A new student review of The Well's End
From the very first page, I knew this book was good. The author puts you right into the story with how he describes Mia’s surroundings. Mia herself feels like an actual person with the style Fishman writes in. Fishman delivers a wonderful science fiction, thriller and mystery bundle. I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoyed The Hunger Games, Maze Runner, or Divergent. If you read any of these books, you will find similar science fiction/thriller qualities that will keep you on the edge of your seat. This book is appropriate for young adults.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
A new student review of My Chemical Mountain
I really liked this book. I understood the characters, and I was shocked by their environment. Jason, Charlie, and sometimes Cornpup just walked into many dangerous, toxic places, and they didn’t worry about the negative impacts on them at all. I didn't think that most of the characters would be so oblivious to the obvious environmental and health detriments. Jason talks about how the air sometimes smells or the water gives him blisters, which helps illustrate how dangerous living near a landfill can be for people. Although short, this book had a well-developed plot, was suspenseful, and the ending was a surprise. The powerful story was emotional, and it got me thinking about how large chemical companies can affect people. Jason, Cornpup, and Charlie were all very brave in going up against an opponent as formidable as Mareno Chem. I would definitely recommend this book to others.
Monday, April 28, 2014
A new student review of The Problem With Being Slightly Heroic
This book is very good. I really liked the description and the rhythm of this book. It made it seem like a poem. One of the best things about the book was the description. It made everything seem real. My favorite character is the elephant named Mini. She is a very talented elephant. The other characters are super cool, and they are all a lot like me. The person who is most like me is Dini, because she wants everything to be “just so.” She is one of the main characters. One of my least favorite things about the book was that it changes perspectives so quickly, and you can sometimes get lost. All in all, this book is very good, though.
A new student review of Secrets and Spies: Treason
I really liked this book because the main character is a lot like me (in the agenda and personality part of her). I had to reread the first two pages a couple of times because it was confusing at first, but after that I couldn’t put the book down. (I enjoyed it so much that I read it twice!) I got into trouble countless times for reading the book during school time, but I think it was worth it.
I recommend this book to kids eight and up, who enjoyed Luthiel’s Song, Dreams of the Ringed Veil, by Robert Marston Fanney, and the Princess Academy series by Shannon Hale. I recommended these books because the plot and actual book seem to be directed at the same age group. (The characters' personalities also seem very similar.) This Is the first book in a series.
Sunday, April 27, 2014
A new student review of The Chronicles of Egg: Deadweather and Sunrise by Geoff Rodkey
I really liked this book and cannot wait to read book two. This is an exciting, thrilling, excellent book, although the characters are farfetched. Egg is my favorite character because he is the hero of the story. The character I think I would most likely find in the real world would be Millicent, who is rich and spoiled. I would recommend this book for ages 11 and up, because the pronunciations used at some parts in the book were kind of hard to understand, like "at for the word that, and wot for the word what." Also, it is a little violent at times. Geoff Rodkey did an awesome job on this book, because I did not want to put the book down until the last page.