The Blood by DJ MacHale (Awesome)

Hey everybody!  So, this book, the last in the Morpheus Road Trilogy, came out on Tuesday.  I haven't written a review of the first two books yet, so here is a simplified version: The Light comes first, then the Black.  They are both great, but you should read them in order, otherwise you ruin the surprises.  I'm going to write this review assuming that you've read both of those but haven't read The Blood yet.  There will be no spoilers from this book though.  Here's the cover:



I'm assuming that the cover is of the Coliseum in the Blood, though I don't really get these covers.  I really couldn't tell you who that guy is supposed to be. 

Before I get too reviewy, I want to suggest to read the Author's Foreword.  This is the same author who wrote the Pendragon books (I really suggest that series by the way) and his little beginning thoughts are hilarious sometimes.  I know most of you probably skip those, so I thought I'd point it out.

My summary: Marsh needs a way to help Coop. He can't keep hiding. Cooper needs to find Damon's captives or else the good guys would loose the war. Damon wants his battle for glory. A spirit worse than Damon resides in the Blood.  And Sanger (a new guy) might just be the worst of them all.  When it comes down to the final battle, will the worst of mankind destroy the best place in the world, or will the best of mankind stop it first.

Go find this book somewhere and read it.  It was really good (even if i didn't like Marsh's attitude for a little bit, but it got better quickly).  It's definitely a book that I feel good suggesting.

There is so much that I can't write about what happens with Marsh and Cooper without spoiling anything that it's frustrating.  For example, I can't say anything about the poleax or even why the book's called the Blood. 

I do have one more thing to say, there are a couple Pendragon tie-ins, so I would suggest reading that series before this book so that you can be as excited as I was when I read it. 

In fact, I still am excited enough that I really want to talk about it, but there will be big spoilers from Pendragon and some minor spoilers from the Blood.  I would suggest not reading this if you haven't read Pendragon yet!!!

*SPOILERS FOR PENDRAGON AND THE BLOOD SECTION*

So, in the Blood, Marsh and Cooper do some things until it is revealed by a dark-skinned, quiet woman Watcher that they needed to find another Watcher who was in the Blood.  I'm not going to reveal much about the Blood (the book, not the place), so I'll just say that a couple things happened that lead them into the Blood(the place).  There they met the Watcher, who looked like "a dad... or an uncle". At the time, I thought it was a weird place to put dot-dot-dot, but it was a bit important.  Then the guy talked about how in his last time in the Light he had helped stop one of their own from changing the course of multiple worlds.  Then he revealed his name: Press.

A couple of other things happened, and the next thing you know, Press's twirling around a wooden stave that a friend gave him.  More things happen and Solara is mentioned.  A whole lot of other things happen and Press and the Watcher I mentioned above both stood together and told the group some important things.

So, what did that all mean? The dark-skinned woman was Osa.  Press was an uncle... of Bobby Pendragon.  The guy who wanted to change the course of worlds was Saint Dane.  The wooden stave was from Zadaa.  And Solara was the place that Pendragon saw his family in book 10.  There were a couple other things mentioned in the Light or the Black: Both books main characters were from Stony Brook.  Mark Diamond (about college-aged) was working in the engraving shop that Marsh worked in. 

Altogether, it was exciting to realize all of those things.  I feel like I'm missing somethings, though. If you find any other tie-in please tell me via the comment section.  Thanks for reading this really long post! See you next week!

The Shadow Club Rising by Neal Shusterman (Awesome)

Here's the sequel to The Shadow Club which I posted about a couple weeks ago.  It was really good and wasn't overshadowed by the first book at all.  Without further ado, the cover:

The story was a lot like the first book. Pranks are being played on a boy and they're getting more dangerous as they go. And throughout the whole thing, somehow the main guy, Jared, got caught up in it. It's a desperate ploy to stop the new Shadow Club. Where will it lead? I can tell you that some dramatic plot twists are in play; my favorite involves a bee. Just make sure you watch out for TSC.

This is an amazing book.  I can't really describe it to make it sound as good as it is; the voice of the whole book is what makes it. Well, that and the ending. It's one of the best endings that I have ever read.  Neal Shusterman's, the author's, endings are one of the main things that makes his books so good.

Long story short, I would suggest reading this book.

I'm still behind on books, so I'll give you a tiny review right here until I actually post about them: Seeds of Rebellion= an awesome book and Prized= a great book that I didn't know why I liked. 

Just as an update, the next book in the Morpheus Road series comes out on Tuesday. I am going to read that, and, based on the other books, I suggest you do too.

See you guys next week!

Double Identity by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Alright)

I read Double Identity and frankly, I wasn't crazy about it. Anyway, here's the cover:

The cover is pretty explanatory once you've read it, so I won't get into that. I'll do my description before I tell you about my review of it.

Bethany has a nice, cushy life until one day when her dad drops here off with a mysterious relative and then vanishes. She needs to unravel the truth of her past. There's only one thing she has to go by. A name. Elizabeth.

Before I go any farther, I want to say that I really like the author of this book, Margaret Peterson Haddix.  I particually like the Missing Series and The Shadow Children Series.  

Personally, I was very, very bored when I was reading it.  Bethany just sat around moping all the time!  Then there was a tiny exciting part, near the end, but when I was reading it, I just couldn't get very into it because I hate the character of Bethany so much.  Now, it wasn't all bad by any means. I wouldn't go as far as to advise you not to read it if you have it laying around. But, I wouldn't suggest buying it. It had a couple of all right parts, there was a plot twist (that's good in my opinion), and not everyone would hate Bethany as much as I did; I'm sure that some of you would like it if you read it, but let it be known that I warned you.

Sorry that I haven't really posted very much recently. I'm really behind on books, but i just haven't had any time! I'll try to do some more reviews whenever I can. 

Hope you all have/ had a good spring break!