Specials

Scott Westerfeld

Review By: Sasha

This is kind of a spiler if u havent read pretties...

So this book, the final in the Uglies trilogy, takes place after tally has been turned into a special. Not only a special, but a special special, called a cutter. The horrible thing about this is that she enjoys being a special and can no longer be convinced that bad things are happening to the pretties (with the lesions and all). So the specials goal is to find the new smoke. So tally and shay free whatshisnamethattallylikes and follow him to the new smoke which is a whole city.

This is a great book which will have you on edge. During the whole book I was torn. Should she stay a special, be ugly, pretty, what! So its good. Read it.

Pretties

Scott Westerfeld

Review By: Sasha

This is the second book in the Uglies trilogy. This book takes place afterTally agrees to get turned pretty in order to test the drug that removes the lesion. Problem is, her new pretty boyfriend take one of the pills too. ANd gets sick!

This is a really great book. Quite upsetting with what happens to David. But after you read this, you'll really want to read the third one. Which I will review next.

Heart of Darkness

Joseph Conrad

Review By: Shelby

Heart of Darkness is a ridiculous story about a ridiculous guy who travels down the Congo River to meet some other ridiculous english guy who lives in a jungle. The first guy (Marlow) is telling his story on a boat, to some other boat-people who are ridiculous enough to listen to him. Anyway, after he tells about Africa, he tells about going to see Kurtz's (second guy's) fiancee, in Europe. She is ridiculous because she is still waiting for him.

Anyway, it was written by a ridiculous Pole who (ridiculously) thinks he is english. Chinua Achebe called him a racist so he must be.

It was an ok story i guess but you really had to read some parts over and over again before you get the slightest idea of what Marlow is talking about. We had to read it for the katabasis theme thingy. Reading Dorian Gray was my katabasis.

Macbeth

William Shakespeare

Review By: Shelby

Anyway, Macbeth is a play about this scottish dude and some witches come up to him and they're like "hey Macbeth! You're gonna be king!" and so Macbeth thinks: Ok it's my fate... so i have to make it happen! like a dummy. So he kills the king.. and the princes flee, and Macbeth becomes king! but to keep his secret he has to kill a whole bunch of other people...

But Macbeth sucks as a king, and his wife, who was all evil before, is all weak and has gone crazy.

Then Macduff (yes another Mac... it's scotland) comes around with the old king's son, Malcolm. And they're like.. "no way man, Malcolm's supposed to be king! Macbeth's a tyrant!" so they pretty much overthrow him.

I know i gave it away but i'm just thinking probably everyone knows this story anyway. uhhhmm.....

some facts about this story:

It's really funny

When they give this play people aren't allowed to say Macbeth until it's over... it's bad luck

In Louise Rennison's Georgia Nicolson books, Georgia and her schoolmates are giving the play Macbeth. Since she can't say the name, in her diary (or whatever the hell it is) she calls it MacUseless. Which is funny, because it is.

Uglies

Scott Westerfeld

Review By: Sasha

This book takes place in a world after us modern humans nearly destory it. In this word, everyone is made pretty when they turn 16 because it lessens conflics. Or is it only te outside that matters?! (this makes sense only after you read the book)

So Tally is waiting to be pretty and meets Shay. Shay shows her fun stuff from the rusy era (our time). And then shay and tally get into an argument about shay saying she doesnt want to be pretty is childish and stuff. Then shay runs away to be ugly forever. And the Specials wont let Tally be pretty!

At first, i didnt want to read this book because I didnt want tally to stay ugly forever. I was afraid she would turn pretty. Then after what David's parents said, I was okay if she stayed ugly. But read it. The end is a cliff hanger. But its okay because there is a sequal.

It took me a while to get into the book but it's very good. Very good. I'll be reviews Pretties (the next book in the trilogy) in a few days. ^^

Beloved

Toni Morrison

Review By: Sasha

This book starts off with baby suggs being dead and the baby (not suggs) being dead. Then Paul D comes and gets rid of the ghost. So, It's a wierd book. The author uses a ton of high level words which are fine in moderation but she really packs them in there. The book is a story of an ex slave who tried to kill her children and killed one of them because she didnt want them to become slaves.

I have to say that it is a good book because it is very well written. The beginning is very confusing but once you get used to the writing style, it makes more sense. But personally speaking, I don't agree with the sticker on the front of the book saying that it's the "best piece of fistion written in the last 25 years." It's very odd and whereas the ghost makes the story a story, it did not seem like a book that would be supernatural and the way it was presented seemed forced and it was just off.

I would say that if you had to read it, it's not a big deal and it's a good book but if you dont have to read it, than there are other interesting books out there to read.

Demian

Hermann Hesse

Review By: Sasha

Book also known as Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth . It's a german book, translated. It's about a boy named Emil Sinclair. You have got to love that name. In the book, sinclair meets a boy named Demian. Demian dramatically changes sinclair's life and makes him see the world in a different way. The book is fairly short and extreamly philosopical (I really, really did not spell that right...maybe...the i looks wierd). Anyway, read it or don't/ You probably wont like it and if you do like it, you probably still dont understand the philosophy about it.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Mark Haddon

Review By: Shelby

WOAH this book is really good! It's about an autistic kid who plays detective to find out who killed his neighbor's dog, Wellington. He does this because he cares about dogs and because they think he did it. but while he is playing Sherlock Holmes, he uncovers a bigger mystery about his family that he has to solve. It's a really nice book and the style of writting is unique because it's from the point of view from an autistic kid... it's a really good book even though this kid must be like... super high-functioning... anyway. read it it's good.

I am the messenger

Markus Zusak

Review By: Sasha

This is not only good but interesting. and yes those are two different things. This book's about a young man who stops a bank robber and then gets mysterious cards in the mail that direct him to help others. Its great. Read it.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde

Review By: Shelby

WOAH! I finally read this book (for brit lit)

By le famousse Oscar Wilde, the most famous gay dude in literature, comes The Picture of Dorian Gray. And I must say I think there is a lot of homosexual (misogynistic) tendencies in this book.

I tried to read it before and thought it was so boring I couldn't get to the 3rd page. This is really a good book though. Good story, good emotions, really good characters. The writing style just got on my NERVES though. Ok. for now: Dorian Gray is a young man who is obsessed with being youthful and beautiful. One day his friend paints his portrait, and Dorian wishes he could stay as beautiful as his portrait is, and his wish comes true. Dorian grows old and does bad things and hurts others's lives, but the effects of his age and of his sin only appear in the portrait. His portrait reflects his soul.

Anyway the book is basically good, but about his writing style! The charaters are great that they have their own histories and personalities and whatever. but ok. get over it. We know Lord Henry and anyone he chooses to converse with must be exhaustingly quick and clever but come ON do we have to hear their little wit fights/banter? It's really annoying. And also. there's this part that is basically a filler while Dorian is passing his years and not getting older. It goes into all this crap detail about his hobbies. Listing all these mythological, historical, literature-...al names... BORING BORING BORING and not to mention pointless. Then there's this part describing a book and how it was written and I swear that Wilde was writing about himself. Gosh. That is cocky and annoying.

But anyway, it got on my nerves but others may like it... it's a really good book anyway. :D do read.

Gifted Hands

Dr. Ben Carson

Review By: Shelby

Gifted Hands is like the biography of a v. well-known and well-respected neurosurgeon, Ben Carson. We read this in MD Camp. Anyway it's basically about his life and is a pretty good book. It also has some surgeries that he did that were really important. At the end of the book he has a conclusion that is like his outlook, or philosophy on life, which is THINK BIG. I think i can remember what they all stand for
T: Talent, Time-management
H: Hope
I: Insight
N: Nice
K: Knowledge

B: Books
I: In-depth learning
G: God

So that's a nice thingy. This book is really inspiring. The only thing I thought that was wrong with it was that you could TOTALLY tell it wasn't written by a writer (even though i think he did get help writing it). There are grammar mistakes... and the writing style and structure are really weird. Also he uses the word niggle way too much. That is a weird word.

Boy proof

Cecil Castellucci

Review By: Sasha

This is about a girl who lives in hollywood and is "boyproof". She stays awayf from people and boys dont like her in a dating sense. Her mom's an actress and her dad does like...gore make up and monster masks and such. Then, a boy comes in town! (el gaspo). And he's smart like she is. And then she starts doing bad in her classes. Yes, because of the boy.

Anyway, the book is pretty cliche ish. It's very pbvious. it would be more interesting if it had eneded differently. I would give it a 3 out of 5 stars just because the boy girl relationship is in every other book...

though i must say, some bits of this book remind me of me. Mostly because it is in the same format that i write books. :)

Frankenstein

Or the Modern Prometheus

Mary Shelley

Review By: Shelby

OMG THIS IS A GREAT BOOK AND YOU HAVE TO READ IT RIGHT NOW. I mean it. go to your library. RIGHT NOW. Well. After you finish reading this >:3

This is about Victor Frankenstein, who is so interested in science etc, that he creates a monster. and once he creates this monster, it ruins his life. The hideous being of his creation kills people, who don't accept him, and threatens Victor, leading him and following him everywhere.

That's basically all this story is about. It's great tho yeah? it's suspenseful and v. deep: like the monster striving for acceptance and humanity and... like he's intelligent and he feels things but in the end he is still a horrible, ugly monster, inside and out. And Victor is battling within himself to: protect his family by being a coward and catering to the monster? or be brave and kill him, to protect everyone... it's... JUST READ IT. GO NOW.

also there's lots of nice vocab words.

next review will be Gifted Hands by Dr. Ben Carson (my frickin' idol, and I didn't even know he had books this is how much of a fule and a loser i am. that's right. fule.).

Golden

Cameron Dokey

Review By: Sasha

This is another one of those fairy tales retold. Dokey has written like...4 of the 9 in the series. This book is a retelling of repunzel and i loved it.


It is a love story and tells about a girl who was bald (and will forever be bald because she never grew or would grow hair). Because her mother could not love her the witch took her and raised her as her own daughter. Then the townsfolk didnt like witches so they had to flee...and such. I dont want to give anything away.


This book is a great adventure and love story. It has a great beginning, middle, and end. Of course i didn't want it to end but it was a satisfying end. (it is hard for me to be satisfied with endings as you'll know.


I strongly reccomend that people read this book. It's gor a twist...kind of. Well, it's not what your expecting. Or well, it wasnt what i was expecting. But even for those who dont really like reading, its a really fun book.

The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald

(possibly)

Review By: Shelby

We had to read the book for school. This is a good book, but the characters are kinda unfortunate/snobby rich people. The narrator is a guy named Nick, and he doesn't really have anything to do with anything, but his neighbor is in love with his cousin, who's married. His neighbor, the Great Gatsby, holds all this crazy parties to try to get Daisy's (the cousin) attention. There are themes of contrast like east egg, west egg, poor, rich, old and nouveau riche, bla bla bla.

This would have been better if it were just about Nick and Jordan. They should've... nevermind.

Anyway, the characters in this story are very interesting, and i'm sure the book is interesting too it's just that I didn't LOVE it or anything. Fitzgerald dedicated it to his wife, Zelda. That is so romantic. Ish.

As I Lay Dying

William Faulkner

Review By: Shelby

Yet another book we had to read for school! This book is divided up into chapters that are basically thoughts and narrations of the characters. I'll tell you right now. the only ones that make sense are Cash, Vardaman, Addie, and the people outside the family.

Basically what happens is there's this family called the Bundrens. they are poor and they are verrrry country. The father is astonishingly lazy and an underhanded subhuman. Anyway, the mom dies, and they go on a "heroic journey" to bury her. But really they have their own agendas for the heroic journey, and no one really cares about her but Jewel, and everyone thinks Jewel is weird and crazy. I don't really know what to write about.

Sometimes this book is confusing... mostly it is funny though. "dark comedy" or whatever. Darl is very "philosophical" and sometimes his chapters will be about what is and is not or wasn't and can't be is. And it's not important to know what he's talking about.

The best characters in the book are Jewel (because he's a sexy and trouble outcast) and Vardaman (because he's a little kid and little kids are absolutely hilarious). Vardaman really warms my heart. I love him, I do. Like one time Darl was talking to him about his philosophy. it went something like this:
Darl: "Jewel's mother is a horse"
Vardaman: "but my mom is a fish so how can Jewel's mom be a horse? Darl, what's your mom?"
Darl: "i haven't got a mom. She was is so she isn't is so I am not is"
Vardaman: "But you are, Darl!"

anyway it's funny and you should read it.

the realm of possibilties

david levithan

Review By: sasha

This is a very short book which is from the point of view of about 20 different people. It takes a while to figure out who is who and there are very few words on each page. I read it in less than a day. I liked it. it was very interesting. not a gripping read but interesting. about kids in highschool. all about realtionships and stuff.

In The Shadow Of The Ark

Author Anne Provoost (translated by Jonh Nieuwenhuizen

Review By: Sasha

This book is about a girl nammed re jana. She and her father are travelling to a dessert where some crazy is building a huge boat. And they help build and stuff happenes and its a long book but its a good book. I liked it. Even though it is based on the Noahs ark thing. I dont know how true this stays to the christian story so...read it for yourself to find out.

The House on Mango Street

Sandra Cisneros

Review By: Shelby

A book we had to read for school. This book is SOOOO great. It's got to be one of my favorite books and also on the list of my favorite school-required books.

Anyway this book is a collection of little narrations that Mr. Humanities calls Vignettes. It's about Esperanza, a girl who grows up in a barrio in Chicago. She doesn't want to belong there because she doesn't want to be restricted just because she is a woman and because she's Latina. She wants to escape her little house on Mango Street, but she is destined to leave and return to her roots.

The story has a lot of symbols and motifs. Like names, windows... etc. All the women always hang out of windows because their dads or husbands don't let them leave the house (because they are male chauvanist pendejos) and that's their only way to communicate with the outside world. Esperanza doesn't want to be like them, so she tries to ignore all boys and be independent but she's growing up and starts liking boys so she has a little trouble with that. um... anyway.

This book is great...it has a great style of writing and it has classicaly powerful themes in it like gender roles and self-identity and determination. And it'll take you like a day to read it. So you'd better.

Startled by his Furry Shorts

Louise Rennison

Review By: Shelby

erlack. It looks like Rennison-sensei has once again answered the call of the horn and took a trip back to loonland. Or something. Anyway. This is the gagillionth (7th or 8th) Georgia Nicolson book and it's still funny. How does she do it?

so i'm going to be using words from teh book. yup. sorry.

In this installation of the fabby and mad world of Georgia, she is once again caught in the oven of love or whatever between the two boys: Dave the Laugh, Masimo the Pizza Eater S.G.. It is in the stars that she belongs with D the L and that he is the best male on the face of the earth and in history but since Georgia is hopelessly stupid she does not realize this and is obsessed with Masimo and his motorcycle and whatever.

Her friends are still funny. Except for Ellen, who has no reason to exist, except for saying Um, and er, and I mean for the whole population of the earth. And Georgia clearly would prefer it if she didn't. exist that is.

Also her school is putting on the play MacUseless and periodically taking away their crazy viking/bison horns.

People in England are mad crazy.


Read it because it's funny, and if you read it in public you can work on your Aurelius stoicnosity by trying not to laugh. and completely fail at it.

The Magic of Ordinary Days

Ann Howard Creel

Review By: Shelby"

Oooh Shelby has been reading! This book was really good. It was turned into a hallmark movie that they showed on CBS. Since i'm a sucker for contract/arranged marriage stories, i wanted to watch it again. That's when I found out it was a book and got the book from the library.

The story is set during World War II in .. um.. Colorado or somewhere. The protagonist, Olivia, got pregnant and so she won't shame the family, she's put into an arranged marriage with Ray Singleton, a lonely and boring farmer. Olivia is very smart and likes history and so she doesn't like being cooped up in a farm the whole day with some guy who only likes to talk about seeds and crap. She explores the farm's history and makes friends with some Nisei girls who work on the farm and live at a camp (the camp is really lax, they let them go into town and everything).

Although Olivia is very uncomfortable at first she grows used to the farm, and being pregnant, and Ray and everyone. This is a really nice book to read. Olivia is a great protagonist, and the characters are likeable, even the ones who turn out to be assholes in the end. And even though Ray has a bald spot he is a good unlikely heartthrob type character i guess. Yup. It's a good book... read it and watch the movie too! A real nice heart-warmer...er... whatever.

The Stranger

Albert Camus

Review By: Sasha

we had to read this book in class.It's very short and translated from french. It's acharacter study of a man whose mother had just died and he has to deal with his feeling about her and things happen. At first it seems like it's going to be a pretty dull book but something BIG happens.

The book is very short and very easy to read. its a good discussion book because of what happens at the end.Without giving anything away, all i can say is that you really should consider reading this book.

The Purple Emperor

Author Herbie Brennan

Review By: Sasha

This is the sequel to Faerie Wars. Now that the emperor is dead, prygrus had to be the new emporor but he doesnt want to be. Then someone is trying to kill him. Henery tries to help but his sister stole his thing to translate...you'll understand if you read it. The book keeps you on edge. kinda. Read it if you've read Fearie Wars

Crunch Time

Mariah Fredericks

Review By: Sasha

This is a novel abot the SAT! Its about a group of kids who ditch an SAT prep class and start an SAT prep group of their own. And the book is from all of the kids points of view so you get to learn about their family life. Then *el gaspo* someone cheats on the SAT!!! Who done it?! You have to read it to find out.

This was a good book. It was kind of one of those "the people are so different from eachother you'd never expect that they'd become friends cliche type of thing but its still prett origional. I havent read another book like it, anyway. It wasnt the best book i've ever read but it was funny and anyone taking the SAT should read it.

The Frog Prince

Steven/Stephen Mitchell. I think.

Review By: Shelby

ok last part!

This book is, as expected, a retelling of the story of the frog prince. I've heard the story before "there was this frog, and a princess kissed it, and it turned into a prince, and they got married" but i thought that was it but.... this is not so.

The feeling of this story is kind of like you're invisible and you're watching the princess and frog and how their story unfolds. It's like the omniscient narrator is letting you look into his binoculars. Stalker. Anyway.

The story is nice, and the princess seems really cool (she could kick Anna Percy's arse.). However, everyone seems quite pedantic. Maybe that's the right word. Well, they seem pedantic to me. I don't get why the author felt like he had to have the narrator give all these speches about how entropy and thermodynamics don't apply to the soul and love. I've heard that kind of stuff in movies so it wasn't very appealing to me in a book. I got used to it though. It's stylistic and i bet it was hard to keep up the style like that.

read? Yeah. It's refreshing. or something.

The A-List

Zoey Dean

Review By: shelby

part deux!

This book was... well it was ok. I think i got it at a thrift store, so i didn't pay more than $1 for it, so it's ok.

The A-List, by Zoey Dean is about just that: the A-List. The main character is a girl called Anna Percy. She is skinny and blonde and rich: perfect. She moves to L.A. to live with her dad and to go to an internship. On the plane, she meets this guy, and then when she gets to L.A. she meets his friends. Who all suck. They're rich and snobby, and although one girl kind of likes Anna, she is still as much as a selfish rich kid as the rest of the troupe. In these few days, Anna gets a taste of Hollywood trash-life. She really wants to shake off her old self: perfect-little-virgin-Anna.

Well. The reason this book isn't all that great to me is because I really didn't like Anna. I thought the main character was supposed to be likeable.. or at least you're with them so much that they're significant to you. I really didn't like Anna. She was too much of a forced slag and she was mean, too. Very fake. I liked the guy from The Stranger. I didn't like Anna. Also: I don't know if it was supposed to be some sort of common thread, but everyone's dad sucked. Even Anna's--especially Anna's. Except--well that's the end but it was unbelieveable.

It was a trash novel, i guess, kinda like Gossip Girl. I still kinda want to read the sequels, just to see who Anna's going to end up with. Damn you Zoey Dean and your cliffhangers.

read? if you want, i can't stop you.

The Age of Innocence

Edith Wharton

Review By: Shelby

i might get e-yelled at by sasha for not following some sort of anal format but oh well. This is the first of three book reviews i'm going to do out of boredom and avoiding my homework.

Now. The Age of Innocence! *cue the violins*. The A of I is a novel by Edith Wharton. Its setting is in the gilded age and it's basically a classic because it's some sort of commentary on that time. The main character is Newland Archer, and basically he's a guy who can't follow his heart to save his life. He lives in high-society New York, and there are about 5 other families so those are the only people he knows. Anyway, he's supposed to get married to some chick named May. However, her cousin Ellen has just come from Europe from this divorce from some scummy Eurotrash. She and Archer predictably fall in love and oh such trouble...

We had a project on this book, and had to read some literary critics' essays to go along with it. The guy's i read said that this book is some sort of rant of Wharton's. She was mad because people were repressing change. (--this guy's name on Jeopardy is LIZARD-- ). Anyway, Edith Wharton was utterly fabulous. I read that she moved to France and wrote every morning while lying in her bed.

The girls in my group didn't like the book. Mk thought it was kinda boring, and Ad positively hated it. I think to hate this book would be the basest kind of thing a person could do.

read? yes. now.

Poison

Author Chris Wooding

Review By: Sasha

This is a very good book, it gives a great description of the setting without being nothing but descriptions. It a very nice tale and would actually make for a pretty good movie...minus the dog hide part.

This is a fantacy novel and a very good one at that. I recommend this book to people who like to read fantacy. Oh yeah, its about a girl named Posion who is on a quest to find her stolen baby sister. She meets people along the way that help her. And its kind of like a mystery because there are missing pieces to the story.

Neverwhere

Neil Gaiman

Review By: Sasha

Children beware, this one is an adult novel. It fantacy. It reminds be of the Garth Nix Keys to the kingdom books. It is set in london and they guy saves a girl and slips through the craks and no one can see him and its horrible. So he follows Door (who made him the way he is) in his Quest to get back home.

It a british novel. And the same day we discussed a brit poem in class, I read a part of the book that mentioned some evil guy that was also mentioned in the poem. Wierd. The novel is really dark but its good. I NEVER would have expected that. I mean, i knew there was a traitor but OMG. Its good.

Trickster's queen

Tamora Pierce

Review By: Sasha

This is the sequal to tricksters choice. There is much more action in this one. This book is about the begginging of a civil war to free the RAKA! And to bring a Raka Queen back on the throne. There is much more action in this one. And a love scene. O.o If you reas this one, read the first one first.

Trickster's choice

Tamora Pierce

Review By: Sasha

Ive seen hannah read Tamora Pierce books so i decided to read one. This book it think contains charatcers from her previous books (whick i have never read) but you can read it without reading the others. Because its....its a different series. Same world, different series. So anyway, this girl runs aways from becomming her moms projetc, gets captured, turned into a slave, then become a god's...servant? whatever, they (the and the god) make a deal and so she has to keep the kids in this family alive during the summer.

Its mostly talk and not a lot of action. Its really long thought it doesnt seem too long. Its a pretty fun read.

A mango-shaped space

Wendy Mass

Review By: Sasha

This book is about a girl who sees colors when she sees words or listens to music. Then she starts eigth grade and does bad in math because of the colors and tells her parents.

The book was cool because i learned that there exist people whose senses are intertwined such that they see colors and such. Another thing is that i think i boy in my writers studio has this...thing. Either that or he knows that it exists... or something...maybe i'll ask him.

It is a good book. Its a bot wierd at times. Just some things that the girl does. She seems like a good girl but then does bad things and that bothers me. But andyway, its pretty cool. read it.

Faerie wars

Herbie Brennan

Review By: Sasha

This book is about a normal boy in a normal world and then all of a sudden his life changes. His mom is gay his parents are breaking up and he finds a faerie in his old employers back hard whilst cleaning out the garage. The book is told from the faeries and the boys point of view. The characters is the real world are a bit annoying (and MC believes that they are unbelievable). The book had a sequal that i may get around to reading soon. I didnt really want to finish the book. Not because it was bad but because i couldnt get over MC saying the charatcers were unbelievable. I dont even think about thinks like that while im reading books. I dont know if that good or not.

Mystic and rider

Sharon Shinn

Review By: Sasha

This book was about a group of people travelling on a kings errand. Its was a good book. The chemistry between the characters was good. there was of course a love interest but dont read the book for the love interest. its all talk. Small and often cut short romantic bits. It a fantacy novel (I've been reading fantacy lately). The Mystic has powers. She is technically in charge of the mission but many...most...well all of her companions basically would be happy to choose not to do what she commanded.

For such a long book it didnt end very well. Throught out the book, the Mystic (i forget her name) knows that she's going to play an important role in the upcomming badness of the world that she lives in but the book ends before any ofthat happens.

Forbidden

Judy Waite

Review By: Sasha

This book is about a girl in a cult. And then...she remebers things. And stuff happenes. And it would really be fun to have a discussion about this book with people. But no one reads these books.

The shape-changers wife

Sharon Shinn

Review By: Sasha

This is a very well written book. I did like the ending on this one even though it didnt end the way most books end. And that made it good. The book is fantacy and its about a...i think the kids a wizard but he goes to be an apprentice of the shape changer who everyone is afraid of. the shape changers wife is like devoid of emotion and for a good reason whick you find out as you read the book.

The Truth-Teller's tale

Sharon Shinn

Review By: Sasha

Review:

This book is like the safe keepers secret but it does not follor the same character. It is instead about two twin girls. One who is a safe keeper, one who is a truth teller. I immediatly hated the safe keeper. She was horrible obnoxious. This made me a bit less satisfied with the book. It was a nice tale. Predictable at times, mostly annoying the way events unfolded leaving the truth-teller look like a fool. Read it or dont. Its no big deal.

Messenger

Lois Lowery

Review By: Sasha

Have you read the Giver? And ifyou have, you may have read Gathering Blue. Gathering blue contains characters from the Giver. In this book, messenger, It talks about both characters from the Giver and Gathering Blue. Itis about another, i guess what i would call and odd world, a sort of utopia.

It is a good book.I reccomend reading the giver and gathering blue first although they are not sequals and you could read Messenger just fine without reading the first two. Again, it was a good book.But the end could be summed up in two words. But i wont tell you. read the book.

The Safe- Keeper's Secret

Sharon Shinn

Review By: Sasha

The Safe-keeper's sercret is a fantacy tale that has Dream makers that make dreams come true, truth tellers that are loud and dont lie and safe-keppers that dont tell secret until it is time (and then the truth teller will say it) The book is told from Fiona. She is raised with her mother and brother. Her mother is a safe-kepper. On the night that Damiana (fiona's mom) gave birth, another child was brought to the house. It's just a good book.

This Novel is wonderful. You think you know what its about and you think that you know what is going to happen and then it changes. And then you think you know thing but you dont really. Then you say "well i could have guessed that" and maybe you could have but you didnt but even so something else is going to happen that you didnt expecty even if it was your greatest with for it to happen! I reccomend this book for all.

Valiant

Holly Black

Review By: Shelby

Holly Black came back! She was the Author of Tithe, a Modern Faerie Tale. I forget this one's subtitle... A modern tale of Faerie, i think. lol.

Anyway this one's about Val. She shaves her head and runs away to New York and meets up with these homeless kids. They do drugs and work for Folk, which are everywhere, by the way. Val starts working for a troll named Ravus. And then the Seelie court is involved and ooh can't give too much away!

This was a really good book (of course, it was Holly Black's). It wasn't a sequel to Tithe, but i takes place in the same world. Hm... The end was kind of... unbelieveable. but that's ok. I really liked the beginning. It reminded me of the beginning of a movie. right after it would roll opening credits... ha. Read this book, don't do drugs.

Witch Dreams

Vivian Vande Velde

Review By: Shelby

yeah I know Sasha already did this one but hey. whatever. I just got to read it this week.

Witch Dreams is about a girl named Nyssa. She lives during the medieval times and is the daughter of a woodworker. Oh yes. And she's a witch who can see people's dreams. And nobody likes her.

The book takes place when she's sixteen, and working in someone's house as a maid. But earlier in her life, her parents were killed, and during the book she's trying to figure out who kills them.

I thought this book was nice... too short though...there should have been more to the story!! It's like the whole thing happened in three days. There is a "romance" type bit (yes, there is a boy), but I didn't like it because it was too quickly developed... and obvious. But there is a twist that i really didn't see coming, but makes sense when you think about it. I had two suspicions about whodunnit and the book kind of hints at people... not enough for the truth to be a twist, like the other thing. anyway, it's a good book, and it's V.V.V., so read it. What's that other one i read by her? the one about the vampire dude. yeah that one was good too.

The bone collectors son

Author

Review By: Sasha

This is about a chinese boy in Canada. His father had a job of collecting bones. the two don't get along very well. Its kinda of like a mystery book...I guess.

It's an okay book. I didnt like it when i first started reading it but then it got better. Lots of little sotries though. Its like.."blah blah blah, now let me tell you a story someone told me about ghosts"

The Foretelling

Alice Hoffman

Review By: Sasha

This book is by the same author of Green Angel. Green Angel was kind of wierd and so was this. These books take a while to get into, and they are not like you're regular books. these books dont fit into the same formula. This is a good book, but might not be apriciated by those who are not devoted readers.

This book is about a girl how lives in a tribe of only women. This girl's name is rain. She is the Queen daughter and the heir. These women are warriors. Always fighting. Rain's mother doesnt like her.

Witch Dreams

Vivian Vande Velde

Review By: Sasha

Remember vivian vande velde? The awsome author. I think i was doing book reviews when i read the majority of her young adult books. This book is just like all her other awsome books. Its as great as the ones before it, and yes shelby, there is a boy.*inside joke*

Thid book is about a girl in the olden days and she can see people's dreams! the book is about her uncovering the mystery to her parents deaths. And there's a twistr too! I t\kinda of knew but then i was like oh and then i was like darnit i should have seen that comming. So yeah. good book. Read it.

Inventing Elliot

Graham Gardner

Review By: Sasha

This one i believe took me two days to finish. It's about a boy who is switching schools. He used to be beat up a lot but at this new school, he wants to reinvent himself so he wont get picked on. He doesnt want to be noticed, but if he's not noticed in a good way, he'll be noticed in a bad way. And boy is he noticed at this new school.

Good book, good read. A little too much advertising of George Orwell's 1984 but i saw the movie so i knew what they were talking about. Though you dont need to read or see 1984 to get the book. The guy reminded me a little of me. Except i'm lucky enough to have gotten through school thus far without any physical abuse.

The Night Dance

Suzanne Weyn

Review By: Sasha

Do you remeber the awsome reviews of titles such as Spirited and Sunlight and Shadow? Well, all of those books come from the retold fairy tales books. I suppose it's like a prompt or something but they are by different authors, all the same publishing company, same book format, the previous books are advertized on the back of this book and well anyway, they are all great fairy tales...retold.

This particular book is a sort of King Arthur tale. A man marries a mysterious lady, has twelve daughters in less than 6 years (Twins, you see) and then she dissapears. (OOH) So the girls grow up confined in their castle because the dad doesnt want them to dissapear. Then one girl escapes! and see sees a vision of a man in battle. He is the last living knight of the round table and sent on a quest. He has to return Excalibur to the lady of the lake.

Really it is a really good book. I was worried sometimes that it would fall too much into well...the way other books go, i cant really explain what im talking about. This book is very well written. I read it in one day. I lost sleep because i wanted to finish the book. I kept saying to my self, i'll just read to the end of this chapter and then the book was almost over and so i looked at the clock and say oh well, i can just finish it now. :) Read it. Now. Go. Shoo!