Coleen
This was a pretty good book. It did have some Fault in Our Stars qualities, but still held its own and was enjoyable. I did like the idea of a drug resistant disease that we've supposedly cured. Interesting take on what a modern day sanitarium might be like too, but for people who have the money or insurance to pay for it. Likable characters and we'll written.
Just as fun as the first book The Wig in the Window. Grace and Sophie and their friend Trista are determined to solve the mystery of who killed Jim Steptoe. The police are saying it's an accident but they know it must be murder. Sophie and Grace are still friends bur of course there is jealousy when Sophie thinks Grace is starting to outgrow the fun they've always had together. So not only do they have to try and solve the mystery Sophie worries about her friendship with Grace. So there is that slight realistic fiction aspect of the possibility of your friend drifting away from you.
Fun book and fun mystery. While the mystery is a bit over the top for adults I think middle grade kids should like it. Even some adults who can appreciate middle grade fiction like I do should find it a fun read. I know I did.
I wasn't as impressed with this book as I was of the others in the series. However it was mostly satisfying end to the series. Still a lot of great adventure and the characters all grew in maturity. Would really suggest the whole series to fantasy adventure fans. Even if you're an adult this is still a good series.
I wasn't as impressed with this book as I was of the others in the series. However it was mostly satisfying end to the series. Still a lot of great adventure and the characters all grew in maturity. Would really suggest the whole series to fantasy adventure fans. Even if you're an adult this is still a good series.
This was an okay book. I liked the concept of having peple have to deliver messages to those that are going to die. However it wasn't well executed. The book in my opinion needed more story and character development. I was leaning towards 2 1/2 stars but decided to be generous today. Interesting premise, but could've been so much better.
I like this mostly realistic fiction with a touch of magic book. Ava finds a pencil that gives her all the answers, or so she thinks. It answers all the “easy” questions like what is the formula to find the circumference of a circle, however it doesn't tell her intangible answers like who the first boy her best friend will kiss or if her parents will get a divorce. Ava also suffers from anxiety so asking some of these questions make her want to ask more and more questions. Ones that she may not like the answer to.
All in all I'd say Ava and her story are relatable even if she had to use a “magic” pencil to find some answers for herself. I'd definitely recommend it to 8-12 year olds who like realistic fiction and don't mind a little bit of magic too.
Interesting book. The saddest part is even though this is a fantasy book I could see people denying rights to a group just because they're scared. It's happened in the past it is happening now all over the world including the U.S. I can imagine a scenario which leads to what happens in this book because of fear.
In this book Delilah “Lilah” is visiting a cryptid menagerie when suddenly she transforms into an unknown cryptid. There are cryptids from succuabe, oracles, werewolves, minotaurs, griffins,berserker and ones you've heard less of like werecats, ifrits etc. When Delilah changes she is arrested and the local sherriff is looking to sell her. She has spent 25 years as a human and then suddenly she has no rights and can be bought or sold like property. The animals ie dogs, research monkeys and zoo animals actually have more protections then the cryptids. This is because in 1986 there was a “reaping” Spoiler where people all over the U.S. were dead because there was a compulsion where parents or other family members killed everyone in their whole family minus a child in the house who was exactly 6 years old. It is told like the adults were compelled by these cyptids which are never identified are the 6 year old survivors. So all cryptids including human like cryptids like oracles had their rights and protections taken away. Even if they were as intelligent as 100% humans.
She is sold to the menagerie which is a traveling zoo that displays cryptids. Of course the treatment of these cryptids is so deplorable that you wonder how people can live with themselves. However you're reminded humans do a lot of horrible things as a group or individually especially when they're scared.
Warning there is some violent scenes that are more detailed and rape and of course torture both physical and psychological. However I'd still recommend it to urban fantasy fans. Interesting read.
I really thought this book was so well written. I'd read Airborn ages ago when my son read the series but for some reason hadn't picked up Kenneth Oppel since. This book sounded so interesting I gave it a try and am very glad I did. It is magical realism. Steve has a new baby brother who isn't well. The doctors don't know what is wrong with the baby but they know there are hard times ahed for Steve's new brother. Steve thinks he is dreaming about magical beings that are going to fix his baby brother. [spoiler] These turn out to be magical wasps that invade his dreams and want to replace his brother with a “perfect” baby. [/spoiler] Steve is really well written with his OCD and anxities. This book gets creppier and creepier as it goes along so be warned if your getting this for a tween if they don't like creep factor this book might be one a parent wants to read first. However, there is a great lesson taught that I think every human needs to learn which is no one is perfect.
This was a good middle grade realistic fiction but not the best I've read. I did feel like the parents were written oddly. I know if it was my kid who accidentally caused the death of another child I would think the signs that the little bit of counseling he got wasn't working since my child was acting out the way Trent did in the book. I did think Trent was an interesting character and I liked Fallon. Although I do think a lot of middle graders who this book was written for would be annoyed by the fact that Fallon who hints at the terrible ways she got her facial scar,none of them true, finally goes to tell the real story and the audience doesn't find out. As an adult I can appreciate that knowing what caused someone to be scarred like Fallon is wouldn't change how I felt about her,but I'm betting some of the middle graders who read this book don't understand that and will be disappointed not to know.
Overall a decent book with well written main character.
Okay this book just throws you right in the deep end and expects you to swim in the weird. I'm liking it though and I'm a great swimmer. Review to come when I finish this, but so far this book is great!
And done! This book is not for the faint of heart. There is A LOT of violence and torture. Be warned.
I can't really explain this book. I've tried, while I was reading it, to explain it to my husband a VERY smart man and he was confused because I would try to add details from the book but he wouldn't get them because he hadn't read the book. The best I can come up with is it's a myth story and a human story. Carolyn and her fellow librarians are humans with all their flaws and foibles. At least that is how they used to be before Father. Now they're something else still human but they know so much more and have experienced so much more in their lives then any normal human wouldSpoilerPoor Margaret given the catalog of death and having to die herself many times would drive anyone mad. Not that the rest of the children who become adults get off much lighter but I really felt extraordinarly bad for that character.. I really enjoyed Steve and Erwin too who are 100% human but somehow get sucked in to this whole situation somehow.
I'm not going to try and explain it but say I enjoyed it. Will pick up the next thing by Mr. Hawkins if it sounds as interesting as this.
I did like the underlying story which I felt was about science to help humans ends up hurting humans. I did like that Tamaya felt true to herself and tried to be who she was but was confused because she is at that stage in life where you're not sure if being true to who you are as a person is for the best socially and it's confusing. I feel if Sachar had just focused more on Tamaya this would have been a better book for middle grade, but as it is I don't think the characters or the story are enough to REALLY grab that age range's attention. Over all it was an okay story but I'm not sure if I'd suggest it as a must read.
This was my first Naomi Novik book and I will be checking out her other works too after this because I really loved this story.
I loved the story of the Dragon, the Wood and of course Agnieszka. The magic was wonderful. Agnieszka was glorious in the discovery of herself and the Dragon (magician) as a real person not just some figure she has learned to love for the protection he brings to her village but also fear because he is so reclusive.
Spoiler The queen and Kasia's trial after they had been “corrupted” by The Wood. I get the Wood is evil and it leads to an exciting climax but just like Agnieszka in the story I was just waiting for something to happen and it was a tad too long of a wait.
Recommend to fantasy and magic lovers
All I want is to read the next book! So very good. I was very interested in Jess' story. I can only imagine living in a world like the one written here and it makes me sad. I love me my books. I was reading the black archive artifex (incendiary writings against the Library) and wondering how many author's works this world stifled and hid, or even destroyed outright. Shudder.
I love how Jess is written, interesting character, and now I'd like to know how he is going to change the Library when someone more connected to the Library's power couldn't, but I'm hopeful it will be an exciting journey in the next book to see him try. Recommend this to all!
Didn't like this as much as 14 the “side-quel” to The Fold. It was still an interesting book with great sci-fi aspects. I liked Mike but wished “the ants” were mentioned a bit less. I also felt supporting characters could have been a little better but it's a small qualm. I did like the ending few chapters especially. That of course is where everything hits the fan in an exciting way.
Where was this book when I was young? Excitement and mystery and magic! Loved it admittedly when I was 10 (1982) I wouldn't have understood anything about what Tyler (older brother character) was doing with the technology but otherwise I'm sticking with I would've loved this book when I was 10. So I'm giving it 5 stars from my inner 10 year old.
Miriam is a total bad as A crazy bad who is a walking Machine of Death. She touches someone and she sees how they're going to die. She accepts this as inevitable nothing to do about it. Then she finds someone who's future death haunts her. She doesn't want to care because fate has made it's choice, but she does in spite of herself. Part urban fantasy, part horror and all thrilling action. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
Unfortunately I'm jumping on the review bandwagon and saying the second half of this story really drags the whole book down. A monster, isolation,snow screams The Thing which I actually enjoyed both the original and some of the “prequel”. So I was all in and then time jump different and much more boring story dragged the whole book down.
Thinking I would get a fictionalized mystery story of the real life mystery of the infamous Mary Celeste I picked up this book eagerly. I did however found a book with a disjointed story and characters who weren't interesting. Even Arthur Conan Doyle famous author and Spiritualism couldn't make this an interesting story. I did finish this in hopes that at some point the story could turn around but in my opinion it never did.