Tag Archives: fantasy

Book Review: Everlost, by Neal Shusterman

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everlost_coverEverlost is a fantasy book, the first in the Skinjacker trilogy, that takes place in a dimension between life and death, populated by spirits of dead children and teenagers who failed to cross over to the true afterlife.

Main characters Nick and Allie meet when they die in the same car crash, and befriend a long-dead younger boy named Lief. The three of them travel the country and learn the rules of Everlost: they can no longer be seen by the living, objects with sentimental value can cross over to their plane, and anyone who stands still for too long will sink to the center of the earth. Allie learns the criminal practices of moving objects and possessing the living, intending to go home and visit her family, but when her friends are kidnapped aboard a ghost ship, her plans are derailed by a rescue mission.

The major strength of this book is the author’s creative ideas regarding the properties of ghosts. Spirits in Everlost are never older than fifteen or so, because adults are too focused to get lost on the way to the afterlife. Dead children arrive in Everlost wearing the clothes they died in, but after months in ghost form, their appearances can change as they forget what they looked like in life. They can easily get locked into a pattern of doing the same activity over and over until the end of time, especially if encouraged that this is their natural destiny.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes imaginative worldbuilding, adventure, and a focus on friendships rather than romance.

-Miranda C., 12th grade

Book Review: The Dream Thieves, by Maggie Stiefvater

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dream_thieves_coverIf you could take anything from your dreams, what would you steal? But what if you couldn’t always choose what you took, and you brought back a nightmare?

Ronan has this talent. As far as he knows, he is the only one besides his deceased father, who was killed by this secret. But it isn’t the only secret out there. The ley lines, a kind of energy source for spiritual activity, have awakened, so they should be stronger than ever. Why then are they weaker than before?

Any fans of Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver trilogy should definitely read this book. There is an air of mystery and magic that pulls the plot along. I liked how this is the second book in a series, yet I felt everything important in the first book, The Raven Boys, was explained well without being repetitive. If at all possible, this book was even better than the first. Although, reading the first book made me appreciate the characters’ growth more than if I hadn’t.

Speaking of characters, they were all distinct and complemented one another in their differences. Blue, the only girl, destined to kill her true love with a kiss; Adam, who feels like nothing, but has a greater importance than he realizes; Ronan, forbidden to return to his childhood home; Gansey, obsessed with an ancient Welsh king, Glendower, and will probably die within the year; and the Gray Man, the most mysterious of all, always remaining inconspicuous in order to complete his job as a hit man. The only question is: who is his target?

From the very beginning, the story had me completely hooked. It is one of those books you can’t put down and end up reading late into the night. I only had a couple of issues with this book. The first problem was there were several chapters where Blue wasn’t mentioned once. With such a prominent role, it was strange for her to go missing for chapters on end. Instead, characters who were more secondary had bigger roles, like Ronan and Adam had major parts to play. I understand they were doing important things in that time, but I would have preferred just one chapter from Blue’s perspective intermixed with those chapters. (Everything is in the third person, so you never have to worry who is talking.) Another thing was, even though it wasn’t everywhere, there was too much cursing for my taste. Ronan is the main perpetrator, so with more chapters about him, it makes sense there was more cursing than the last book. Even with those complaints, it a truly amazing read.

-Nicole G., 10th grade

Book Review: Curse of the Spider King, by Wayne Thomas Baston & Christopher Hopper

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curse_of_the_spider_kingSeven kids who live in six places different places in our world. They are all separate but they are linked by their history and race.

Curse of the Spider King is the story is about seven kids who are all thirteen and are living on this earth:  Tommy Bowman, Autumn Briarman, Johnny Briarman, Jett Green, James “Jimmy” Gresham, Kat Simonson, and Kiri Lee Yuen. In this book, they learn about the truth of their birth in another world called Allyra. The learn about the fact that they are elves of royal birth. The seven learn about the one that cause them to be taken from their home to earth and is now their enemy, The Spider King.

Curse of the Spider King  is the first of The Berinfell Prophecies trilogy. 

Curse of the Spider King has an amazing cast of well-formed characters as well as plenty of unique and cool places. This book is a great read for anyone who like adventure and fantasy. Just a warning, first time readers might find this book slightly hard to understand at first since for this particular book it tends to jump around to different places each chapter. It should be easier once you understand some of the jumps. This happened to me when I first read Curse of the Spider King. I had read books from both of the author before I read this. I know that both of them are excellent writers in their own way. This book, I found more interesting and slightly confusing due to that. There is fighting in this book as well as in the rest of the series for those who are watching out for that kind of stuff. Even so, I would recommend it to anyone. Of course, this is only what I think. Read it and decide.

-Sarah J., 8th grade

Book Review: Wake, by Amanda Hocking

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wake_coverThe Watersong series by Amanda Hocking is a fantasy series involving murder, sirens, love, and loss. The series begins with the book Wake. Gemma Fisher is a normal, pretty 16 year old who loves the ocean. She is a swimmer and longs to become an Olympic champion.

One day, four strange girls show up in Gemma’s town. Gemma used to think she was the prettiest girl there but now she wasn’t so sure. Lexi, Penn, Thea, and Arista, are beautiful. Their ravishing beauty awes Gemma– but it also raises her suspicions. When the four girls show up, talking and becoming closer to Gemma, four murders follow. Then, one of the strange girls disappears.

On one of her nightly swims in the ocean, Penn, Lexi, and Thea, beckon Gemma to come party with them, and they make her drink a weird concoction. She wakes up ashore, with many cuts and scratches all over her and she knows that something is wrong.

In a twist and turn of events, Gemma is forced to leave with the other sirens to protect her friends and family from getting hurt. Find out what happens next in the second book of this addictive series, Lullaby.

-Annika C., 7th grade

Book Review: Sorcerer of the North, by John Flanagan

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sorcerer_north_coverDark and cloaked, a lone figure lurks through the trees. A bow in his hands and a quiver on his back, he trudged through the marsh. A hunting eagle swoops down onto him, but the cloaked man ducks, pulls out his duel knives and fights off the bird. Then he drops his knives and pulls an arrow from his quiver. He draws his bow and fires his arrow. The bird falls from the sky and sinks into the mud before the man. This man is a Ranger.

Rangers are the most mysterious and independent people of all the land. They have the best shot with a bow and arrow, great speed, camouflage, and can block a sword blow with two small knives. These Rangers protect each kingdom from the invading Skandians and Temujai. In this book, the fifth volume in the Ranger’s Apprentice series, Will, an apprentice Ranger, goes on a quest to save a kingdom when their leader is struck with a mysterious illness.

Will goes undercover as a jongleur, who plays music at a local tavern, to find out what happened to the leader and who is behind it. Is it sorcery or could it be one of Will’s own Ranger friends?

Post a comment about what you think will happen! I really like this book so far, so I think you should read it if you are into books with a mix of medieval times, and fictional story lines and characters!

-Kyle H., 7th grade

Book Review: Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce

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battle_magicA fully qualified mage that is sixteen-years-old. His student who is twelve but has enough power to match up to many older mages. The mage mentor who is also a powerful mage. These three are an interesting pair as they travel to the fictional country of Yanjing.

Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce was not a book I just picked up from the library. This is actually a book read because Mrs. Tran, who is the manager of the site, sent out a email asking kids to review some advance copies of books she had received from the publishers. I offered to review this book and so because of this I didn’t know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised when I read this book.

The story is about sixteen-year-old Briar, his twelve-year-old student Evvy, and Briar mentor, Rosethorn. These three are visiting a mountain kingdom called Gyongxe when they are invited by the Emperor of the kingdom of Yanjing to see his gardens. During their time at the Emperor gardens, they realize the true nature of the emperor and a plot to invade Gyongxe.

When I read this book, I honestly had no clue what it was about. I have read book by this author before, such as the Protector of the Small series (see my review of the first book). This book is actually the middle of of a series as well. I was greatly surprise to find out that this book is easy enough to understand even without reading the previous books.  I loved all of the character and the story drew me in quickly.

One of my favorite parts was the characters. This was because even though most of these characters were powerful but they still have the troubles like normal person. Each character was well created and seemed to be real. Another part of the story that i like was the incorporation of Asian culture. Tamora Pierce has been one of the few authors of non-Asian descent that has parts of the Asian cultures in her story.

I don’t know if you would like it but I certainly did. Read it for yourself and find out.

-Sarah J., 8th grade

Book Review: If I Had One Wish…, by Jackie French Koller

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one_wish_coverIf I Had One Wish…, by Jackie French Koller, is a heart-warming tale about two brothers named Alec and Stevie. Alec, who is the older one, despises Stevie, who is five. One day at the mall, Alec helped an elderly “bag” lady. After helping her, the lady gave him a coin and claimed that it would grant him one wish.

Alec thought that she was crazy, but he accepted it, not wanting to hurt her feelings. The next day he was in trouble with his parents because he left Stevie alone in the arcade in the mall. Alone in his room he found the coin and said, “If I really had one wish it would be that precious little Stevie had never been born“ (58). Later in the day he was called for lunch, he realized…OH NO… Stevie was not there.  Had his wish come true? Is his brother really gone? If he is really gone, will Alec be able to find his little brother? Read the rest of the book to find out the answer to these puzzling questions.

I loved this book and I thought it perfectly showed the strong bond between siblings, no matter how much they fight. I would recommend it to anybody with a younger brother or sister.

-Anmol K., 7th grade

Series Review: The Infernal Devices, by Cassandra Clare

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infernal_devicesThe Infernal Devices is a series written by the well known and loved author Cassandra Clare. A sister to The Mortal Instruments series, The Infernal Devices captures the lives of the ancestors of the characters we know and love.

This series is about a young woman named Tessa Gray, a New Yorker who moved to England to meet her brother. Tessa is on a mission to find her true identity, and find the truth about the life she lived before coming to England. Tessa also falls into a love triangle in which she must choose between the overconfident yet charming Will Herondale, or the sweet and caring Jem Carstairs.

The reader takes an adventure through Tessa’s Victorian England and falls in love with each and every one of the characters. Through clockwork angels and partying with demons, the books contain adventures in every chapter. Not to mention that we get to see what the well known Magnus Bane (from The Mortal Instruments) was like when he was still hanging with the Lightwoods before Alec and Isabelle.

Overall, I would definitely say this is my favorite book series I have ever read, and Cassandra Clare never fails to please her fans with her spectacular writing.

-Sara S., 10th grade

Book Review: Eragon by Christopher Paolini

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eragon_coverDragons, magic, elves, dwarfs, and war are all common elements of many stories. Eragon was one of the first I have read that has a dragon that is actually a main character not a main supporting character. Excellent read for anyone who likes the things I listed above.

Eragon is the first book of a currently four-book series called The Inheritance Cycle written by Christopher Paolini.

 The book is about a boy named Eragon. Eragon has always believed he was just a normal farm boy with a normal birth. He knows nothing of his mother nor nothing of this father. He was raised by an uncle of his and lived with his uncle and his uncle’s son on their farm. Eragon lived a kind of shelter life from most of the outside world since the valley that he lived him was rarely visited from the outside. One day he finds a polished blue stone. This stone would bring him out of his simple life and the valley in which he lived. This stone would bring a dragon into his life that will lead him to magic, elves, and a whole host of other creatures and humans.

Eragon is a very well-written story. The story is very well planned out and detailed– not in the way that bores people but holds their interest. Each character seems to have some sort of mystery behind them that makes the reader want to discover more. The main character, Eragon, still makes mistakes like a normal person and admits that he does them. This makes him feel more like the reader. Another thing that is interesting in this series is the diverse amount of species in the story. There are not only plenty of different sort of humans but there are also things like Urgals (Read the story to find out more about these creatures).

In the end, this book is amazing. Well, at least for me. It has plenty of adventure and excitement for both male and female readers. This book and the complete series itself, I personally would recommend it to older or more advanced readers. The reason is that some of the more emotional side of the story can be hard to understand and take in some of the time. This series also deals with a lot of fighting, war, betrayal, and other slightly more mature things. This review is only my opinion. Really it is up to you. Have Fun!

Extra Note: If you would like to learn more about the author of the Inheritance Cycle series, check out Phillip X.’s post about Christopher Paolini.

-Sarah J., 8th grade

Book Review: Teardrop, by Lauren Kate

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Whenever I pick up a book with a gripping plot, action-packed adventure, and a swirl of romance, I feel like I’m in book heaven. That’s why I thought Teardrop (which is set to be published on October 22) would be an excellent book. Unfortunately, it fell short of my expectations.

Teardrop centers around a seventeen-year-old girl named Eureka who hasn’t cried since she was nine years old. When her mother dies in a car accident, Eureka turns emotionally unstable and suicidal. She misses her mother terribly and her only comfort is her best friend, Brooks. All she has to remember her mother by is a locket that is rusted shut, a special waterproof rock called a thunderstone, and a book written in an indecipherable language.

Eureka is followed by a mysterious blond enigma named Ander. He tells her that she is in danger. She decides to get her book translated by a woman who identifies the book to be about the lost island of Atlantis. The story tells of a heartbroken girl who cried until Atlantis was underwater. Eureka finds that the story is strangely relatable to her own life. To add to the unfolding mystery, Brooks begins to act hostile towards Eureka.

The puzzle pieces only begin to fit together after Eureka and Brooks suffer a near death experience and Brooks vanishes. Ander finds and tells her that she has the power to raise Atlantis with her tears. He also tells her that a previous inhabitant of Atlantis has possessed Brooks. Eureka is faced with life-changing choices as she is confronted and attacked by the Seedbearers, who will stop at nothing to keep Atlantis from rising again.

Although the idea of this book was extremely intriguing, I don’t think it was carried out very well. The plot launched into several promising directions, but didn’t follow through with most of them. However, there are a few pleasant qualities of this book. The characters are all very realistic, and the romance is electric. But the author spends too much time with minute details, and the bulk of the action is shortened to a few pages at the end of the book.

After reading Lauren Kate’s fantastic Fallen series, I expected Teardrop to be stellar as well. Admittedly, I may have set the bar too high. While Teardrop was only an adequate read, the rest of the series has great potential.

-Rabani S., 9th grade

This review was based on an advance reader’s copy generously provided by the publisher.