Author Archives: Megan V.

Tokyo Ghoul by Sui Ishida

Posted on by
1

Could you become the very object you hate, without knowing how it really feels to be this kind of person?

Kaneki Ken is a college aged book loving student, and ghouls, the ones who eat human flesh both for necessity and fun, are just stories put up by the media, and he and his friend try to guess what a ghoul really looks like, not really caring. After all, ghouls aren’t human.

That was before he fell for Rize, a ghoul who tries to eat him right before finding himself falling to a lethal accident. At the the hospital, Kaneki needs an organ replacement… and the doctors use Rize because she was near him at the scene. Thus Kaneki turns into a one-eyed ghoul. And because of this, he meets a variety of characters that he both loves and hates. Kaneki also realizes that he needs to eat human flesh because human food tastes disgusting. But at times, he wishes he died when Rize attacked him.

This manga, as readers find out in chapter one, is a tragedy. There is no happy ending–so far. The characters one roots for either die, get tortured, or both. On a happier note, there is a lot of unexpected humor throughout the peaceful times. Also, it is interesting on how the author shows the sides of both the ghouls and the human investigators who want to hunt them down. Finally, Tokyo Ghoul has an excellent plot with twists and turns that one won’t expect. Any reader who likes a good plot and cares for gruesome tragedies would like this manga.

-Megan V., 10th Grade

The Map of Chaos by Felix J. Palma

Posted on by

What if you’re an author and your books can come alive?

Enter H G Wells and his wife Jane. They’re best friends with Arthur C Doyle and Murray, a very rich man. Enter another H G Wells and Jane, who are friends with Lewis Carroll. Enter a third H G Wells, who got bitten by a dog… wait. Aren’t there two too many H G Wells? Oh, and enter alternate dimensions, a man who encountered a woman who can change into a wolf, an invisible man who wants to murder people, and the map of chaos that can save the worlds. This is the story in The Map of Chaos.

Confusing, huh? But don’t worry, all will be explained when you read the book. As you can see, The Map of Chaos has a very confusing plot that won’t be explained until you have read most of the book. Additionally, science fiction is molded with adventure, comedy, and fantasy, with excellent plot twists. It is the third book in the series, but one doesn’t have to read the other two books to know what is going on so long as one reads a synopsis of both books.

Additionally, Palma gives a very comedic view on how authors really got ideas for their books. For example, it seems as though the Hound of the Baskervilles is named after a guy named Baskervilles who is scared of dogs. I really enjoyed this book, and I suggest that you would please try it out!

-Megan V.

The Map of Chaos is available to check out from the Mission Viejo Public Library.

Kamisama Hajimemashita (Kamisama Kiss) by Julietta Suzuki

Posted on by

kamisama_jsuzuki

Cinderella got her stroke of luck by meeting her fairy godmother and loosing her glass slipper. Mulan got her stroke of luck by (in the movie) taking the place of her father. Monozami Nanami got her stroke of luck by getting homeless and chasing a dog away from a god.

After a little while, she doesn’t seem to think she’s lucky. Although she did get a house after her home was confiscated because her good for nothing father didn’t pay the bills, she did get the new place from a creepy man who’s scared of dogs and hasn’t been home for twenty years. Worse yet, he made her the new land god by kissing her forehead, and with that job comes a whole lot of responsibility, chores, and a handsome kitsune (fox yokai) familiar, Tomoe. Tomoe hates Nanami’s guts because she’s human and not spiritually strong enough to do a proper talisman. Add a tengu teenage idol, a swamp koi yokai who’s in love with a human, and an evil yokai running around, and this wacky manga adventure will keep you laughing.

This manga has over 130 chapters, and continuing. Although it is a comedy, it is steeped in Japanese yokai folklore, weaving kitsune, kappa, and tanuki into the plot. There is also some famous Japanese gods, such as the god of Yomi, Azanami. Additionally, this is a heartfelt romance, with relationships such as Nanami falling for Tomoe and others. Most importantly, this is a manga where the plot will keep you wondering what would happen next.

This is a must read if one wants a girly manga with romance, adventure, and comedy.

-Megan V., 10th grade

Owari no Serafu (Seraph of the End) by Takaya Kagami and Yamoto Yamamoto

Posted on by
Reply

Modern Japan (and the rest of the world) has been ravaged by a virus, leaving almost everyone above the age of twelve dead.

Monsters called the Four Horsemen of John have come into the world, eating humans they cross. Vampires, afraid that their food supply would be lost, have come out and made human children as their livestock.

Yu, Mika, and the rest of the children of the Hyakuya orphanage are livestock to vampires. This has been the case for four years: living in a city made by vampires that they can’t get out of. Yu hates it, but the person that he feels like is his brother, Mika, feels that by giving his blood, his family (the orphanage) can escape. Something goes terribly wrong in the plan, and Yu is the only one who escapes, vowing to get revenge.

Four years later, at the age of sixteen, Yu trains to be in the Japanese Imperial Demon Army, made up with Japan’s last humanity that fights the Vampires. But what if he meets new friends who can become his “family”, knowing that he is haunted by his past? And what happens when he gets a demon to wield, who tells him that he is not totally human?

This manga is wrapped in chaos, fear, and mystery, making it a very good plot to follow and keep readers on the edges of their seats. Additionally, there is a lot of unexpected comic relief, so this is not a serious manga like Attack on Titan usually is. The characters in this dystopia world seem very real, as though they were people the reader would know. Finally, the drawings are amazing; both action scenes and scenes of down time (school, suspenseful scenes, etc.) are well done and very thorough.

If anyone is looking for an action manga that is not too serious, this is one to read. However, although it can be found in Barnes & Noble, it can not be found in the Mission Viejo Library.

-Megan V., 10th grade

Spintered by A. G. Howard

Posted on by

splintered_aghowardIt all started with the rabbit hole.

Of course, Alice falls down it and finds herself in the bizarre world of Wonderland. But what would happened if when she came back, something wasn’t the same?

Skip two centuries to Alyssa Gardner, the descendant of Alice Liddell and inspiration for Lewis Carroll. She just wants to live a normal life with school, artistic desires, and Jeb, a cute artist. But the curse of the Liddell family that causes their girls to go crazy (including her mom) and the strange power to hear the voices of plants and insects keeps Alyssa’s life anything but normal.

That’s when she gets a call from the boy of her dreams (literally) to help save Wonderland and fix everything her ancestor messed up. If she does, she’ll be from her family’s curse, and her mother could be saved. But Wonderland is not how it seems through Lewis Carroll’s innocent perspective.

This book, along with the other two of its series, is amazing. It’s full of humor, including the comical fights between the two edges of the love triangle Alyssa somehow gets sucked into, a sarcastic characters, and the events Alyssa has to face in Wonderland.

I actually didn’t personally like Alice in Wonderland. However, when I read this book, I liked it way better than the original. And for those of you who like horror, all I’m going to say is that one of the author’s inspirations was Tim Burton. Additionally, there are small details that lead to very interesting and well thought out plans, which made the book even cooler. And of course, the classic secret keeping, in which secrets blew my mind and were ones I didn’t figure out before. Finally, the author puts the classic story into her own words, with characters the reader will recognize by name and be intrigued with.

All in all, this is one book that should be read!

-Megan V.

Nanatsu no Taizai (The Seven Deadly Sins) by Nakaba Suzuki

Posted on by
7deadlysins_nabakaIn a far off land modeled after early England, humans coexist with fairies and giants. One of the kingdoms of this land is called Lioness where really powerful humans called holy knights protect the land and everyone in it.
Elizabeth is the third princess of this kingdom. She has run away because the holy knights secretly rebelled and took over the kingdom, putting the king and the rest of the royal family in prison. Her only hope are the Seven Deadly Sins: a group of seven very powerful people rumored to defeat holy knights. Problem is, they’re supposedly wanted criminals who haven’t been seen in public for ten years.
That’s when Elizabeth runs into a bartender who looks like a kid and a talking pig named Hawk. It turns out that the bartender is Meliodas, the dragon’s sin of wrath and the captain of the Seven Deadly Sins, who is also looking for the other Sins after they got split up ten years ago. He offers to help her, and the journey starts a change in the country. But the biggest mystery is why Meliodas or any of the Seven Deadly Sins haven’t aged for the past ten years.
I really liked this series! It’s a still continuing manga of about 120 chapters and still has a long way to go, but I’m sure anyone would stay for the ride since it’s very good. Seven Deadly Sins is very comical with its humorous cast of characters and funny behavior. For example, there is a fairy who smells like flowers, a guy whose food looks good but tastes absolutely horrible, and a talking pig who is the chief of leftovers.
This series also has a very good plot. Plots twists and cliffhangers are always guaranteed and they put you on the edge of your seat and wanting more. For those who like romance, there are many heartfelt/comical couples in the series that many would totally support for. And finally, there is the understanding and compassion for the Sins when they are put down by others through the misunderstandings that are dramatic irony to us.
I encourage you to read this series!
-Megan V.

Shade by Jeri Smith-Ready

Posted on by

shade_jerismithreadyFrom The Encyclopedia of Shade:

Shift – a remarkable period of time that scientists can’t explain. Every baby, called “post-shifters”, born after this time has been able to see ghosts as a strange, purple hue. It happened almost seventeen years ago.

Red – the color that ghosts can’t take very well. If anyone, including a post-shifter, wears red, the ghost will stay away from them.

BlackBoxed – a new and remarkable invention that allows an entire room to be either free from ghosts or keep ghosts in. This means that if a room is BlackBoxed, ghosts can’t get in or out.

Aura– a young girl of sixteen (almost seventeen) years. There is a huge possibility that she is the first post-shifter, but it is not in solid facts yet. Her mother died from cancer and father is unknown, so her guardian is her mother’s sister, Aunt Gina. With her Aunt Gina, she helps ghosts move on to the Afterlife. After her boyfriend Logan died and she was able to see him as a ghost, she decided to also help him move on and prove to others that he didn’t know what he was doing when he died.

Logan- a ghost who died on his seventeenth birthday. He died because he was drinking, and then took drugs to stay awake and alert, not knowing that a combination of alcohol and drugs could kill him. While he was alive, he was in a band with some of his friends. However, he could become a Shade because of all the hatred he has as a ghost. He is still in love with Aura after he dies.

Zachary– a young Pre-shifter from Scotland. There is a possibility that he is the last Pre-shifter, but it is not certain. He has transferred to Aura’s school after his dad had his work transferred to America. Coincidentally, he is also Aura’s astrology partner, and has the same birth date as her.

Shade– what ghosts can become if they get too angry. They appear as all black hues, and make post-shifters sick. Unlike ghosts, they can go anywhere they want. However, they are always angry, and it is a bitter hell for them. If a ghost turns into a Shade, they cannot turn back, ever. Aura is afraid Logan would turn into one of these.

Overall view- very well written. This book will have readers off the edges of their seats as they solve spectacular mysteries, such as Aura’s father and why the Shift happened. Additionally, the characters were just like one would meet in everyday life and seem to be as real as the person who sits next to them. There is also the idea of suspense, with the readers wondering what will happen next and if the story will be a happily ever after. And when the story does reach its end, the readers will be sad that there isn’t more.

Warning- There is mature content such as drugs, alcohol, etc. Additionally, this book is the first of a trilogy, meaning that readers will be craving for the next book.

-Megan V., 10th grade

Shade is available for check out from the Mission Viejo Public Library.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Posted on by
In a world where most people are loners comes a tale of two marvelous friends and the obstacles that cross their paths. It’s 1930’s California in the Salinas Valley. Most men who come through are looking for one thing: work. All of them travel from farm to farm, working alone.
This is not true for George Milton and Lennie Small. After being kicked out of Weed because of something Lennie did, they travel together on to the next farm with hopes and dreams of money to buy land: a few acre land with a small house and freedom from the bosses and a little patch for Lennie’s rabbits (he’s really obsessed with rabbits). There on the next farm they met people with hopes and dreams, and learn the basis for reality: dreams will get crushed.
This story is far by one of my favorites. Although (spoiler) the ending is quite sad, there are times when I laughed hard. By the way, the mice part is a metaphor: there is only one mouse, and it’s dead. The title comes from the poem “To a Mouse, On Turning up her Nest with a Plough”: “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men” go astray, saying that we have hopes and dreams, but something shatters them (which describes the book very well).
Steinbeck worked on a farm once, so he knows, and describes very well, the life on a farm in 1930 or so. At times, it’s also a little hard to read because of the Californian accent. However, some good advice is to say it out loud. For example, “purty” is actually “pretty”. Even so, I encourage you to read this book! After I read it, I gave it a two thumbs up. Interestingly, the characters talk about a “cat house” a lot. It’s meaning is actually something different in modern times.
-Megan V., 9th grade

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

Posted on by
Who’s heard of Of Mice and Men? I don’t mean the band; I’m talking about the famous John Steinbeck book set in the life of the farmers who worked in California in the 1930s.

If you do of who I’m talking about, and also like Of Mice and Men, then you’re in luck. John Steinbeck wrote multiple books about people living in California including one of my personal favorites, Cannery Row.
This book is about the life of the people who lived along the streets of Cannery Row in Monterrey: drunks, a famous doctor, the Chinese man who owns a successful grocery store, even the gopher looking for a mate.
Most of the book talks about how each person goes about their life, but the main story is about a humorous group of men who travel from job to job, their plans to throw the famous doctor a party, and what goes wrong.
Along with a simple, no evil guys, slice of life story, there is comedy and a real life example of how people lived in the 1940s after the war. There are also themes of loners, but there is the lesson that someone is always there to support you.
It’s a little hard to read, but I found this book amazing and encourage you to read it.
-Megan V., 9th grade
Cannery Row is available for check out from the Mission Viejo Public Library. 

The Ghost and the Goth by Stacy Kade

Posted on by

ghostgoth_staceykade

Alona Dare is the most popular girl in the school, and everyone “supposedly” loves her. When she dies in her gym clothes after being run over by a bus of band nerds (such horror), she starts to blame her mom for her death. Unfortunately, she also finds out that her boyfriend was cheating with her best friend when they started kissing the day after her funeral.

Because her “life” is ruined, she starts to cry in the middle of her old school. And that’s when Will Killian, the weirdest guy in school, starts to laugh out of nowhere. But Alona realizes that he might be laughing at her, and that he could probably see ghosts…

Will Killian is crazy, or so his mother and therapists say. Only he and his dead dad knew that Will could see ghosts. Problem is, the day that he laughed at a ghost (which is not a good thing to do) was the day that all the ghosts in his school found out that he could see them and drive him crazy with their last wishes. And who is to save him but the ghost of Alona Dare, who has a few wishes of her own. Problem is, in order to save him, she has to become his spirit guide, which means helping Will take the requests of the dead (one at a time, of course), and saving him from a vengeful ghost (who may or may not be his dad).

This book provides some very insightful views into the spirit world. There are some things we know from stories, like last minute wishes of the dead, but there are also some clever views Kade puts in, such as what happens when your wish gets fulfilled. When I read this book, I was sad when it was over. I was very excited to learn about each of the character’s backstories, including some of the ghosts. There is also some comedy, and the overall love stories involved in the plot.

This book was very good, and is recommending for those who are looking for slight mystery, paranormal activity, and a small yet sweet love story.

-Meagan V.

The Ghost and the Goth is available for check out from the Mission Viejo Public Library and Overdrive.