The Key (Magnificent 12 book 3) by Michael Grant (Wonderful)

First off, I want to express how awesome Michael Grant is.  For one, he has three series going on at the same time, and the sequel is still out within a year.  Also, he manages to go from the kind of book Gone is to this book which is so completely different, but still amazing.  It was a super refreshing thing to read; I don't know if you know what I mean by that, but it's the perfect word to describe this book.

I've had The Key in my room since Christmas, but I had been putting it off because, frankly, I had forgotten how good it is.  It is the third book in a series, so if I were you, I'd look up the first two books The Call and The Trap before you read this.  I doubt it would make much sense otherwise.  But, before you leave, remember that this series is a bit kiddish, mostly because of its kind of humor, but I actually laughed out loud multiple times while reading this, so keep in mind, this isn't one of the intense books that I sometimes read.  Anyway... Hope you decide to look it up.  Here's the cover for this book.

The cover shows Mack with one of the girls (I'm thinking Jarrah) at the base of the Eiffel Tower while tornadoes cover the tower and a creepy face made out of clouds peers down on them.  The cover sums up the ending pretty nicely, not my favorite cover, but its alright.

Note: I am not spoiling anything.  It might seem like I am, but I promise you I won't.

Summary: In the Magnificent 12's search for the key they come across many, shall we say, small issues.  A fear of beards, rats, the Loch Ness monster, a text message of doom, and even a catapult ride to certain death.  Everything is falling to pieces in the Magnifica's hands and the best they can hope for is reunite eleven of the twelve before the Pale Queen takes over for good.

Review: Absolutely hilarious, but with an exciting plot that will almost certainly capture anyone who can read.  I really loved it, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone.  Basically, just go read it along with all the other books in the series.

I'm going to do a new thing where I have a phrase for each book I review just to entertain those who have already read it.  I will never spoil anything, but I'll try to start doing it on all reviews from here on out.

Anyway, thanks for reading! As always, feel free to comment.

Phrase: "Go Fighting Pupfish!"

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver (Good)

Sorry, its been so long since I posted an actual review, but I also haven't done anything but reread books lately.  Anyway, I finally made it through Pandemonium, which I started sometime near January.  Anyway, I'll go ahead and start reviewing.  The cover:

This is the sequel to Delirium.  (Click on the link to see my review of that book.)  The cover is just Lena with things found in the woods around her.  The title also should make perfect sense after reading the book, so I'm not going to go into that in detail.  *At this point there may be spoilers from Delirium*

Lena is in the wilds now.  She needs to learn the way to survive outside of "Zombieland", as the people in the wilds have taken to calling it.  In a series of flashbacks, she is both fighting starvation, etc. in the Wilds and fighting the society from the inside.  In a sudden twist, Lena is put into the middle of the action, in a way that isn't as she expects.  This event might even change the way she thinks about herself and her aim by fighting.

I liked this book, but I wouldn't say I loved it because the beginning was slow.  Do not give up.  It starts getting fast paced and exciting by at the very latest 50 pages in.  Once I got into it, I really enjoyed it.  

Every other chapter was either from "then" or "now" as the chapter heading said.  So about half the story was Lena's trip in the Wilds and the rest was the current story line.  It was kind of annoying/ confusing at first, but you warm up to it while reading it.  

Personally, I felt like *SPOILER ALERT* Lena was moving way too fast.  I mean her old boyfriend had just died and she was cuddling with some other guy? *SPOILER ALERT OFF*  The whole thing was super frustrating for me, as a reader.  And the cliffhanger was amazingly well crafted.  I'm really looking forward to Requiem, which I believe is coming out in March, now.  

All in all, Pandemonium is a great book with a bit of a slow start.  If you read Delirium, I would suggest reading it.  This book is a bit different because it is less of a love story than the first book.  In fact, the difference is sort of like the difference between Matched and Crossed if you have read those(the links are to my reviews of those books).

In unrelated news, I am very excited about Light, the next book in the Gone Series, right after Fear.  It comes out April 2nd and is the last book in the series.  Oh, and one of the four main characters supposedly die.  It sounds intense.  I'm looking forward to it, and if you haven't yet discovered the series, please, please look it up.  It's in my top three favorite series, currently at least.  

I'll post again as soon as something interesting happens book-wise or I read another book. So... probably next weekend.  Thanks a lot for reading.  As always, feel free to comment your own opinion if you would like.

Gone Characters- My opinion on them.

I'm sorry that it's been so long since I last posted.  I've been busy.  Anyway, this isn't a real post; it's just my opinion on a bunch of characters in the Gone Series by Michael Grant (through Fear anyway).  I love this series and would highly suggest it.  Click on the link to read my review of the latest book, Fear.  Anyway, I would definitely recommend it.  I will try to avoid spoilers from the latest book, but there are no guarantees.  I wouldn't recommend reading it if you haven't read the books but if you have I hope you enjoy.  Feel free to comment with any characters that I am missing or any opinions you have.  So here is the post.  Please pardon any spelling/grammar mistakes; I wrote this a while ago, late at night.

Gone characters... Why I do/do not like them:


Sam:
He's great but sucks at handling pressure and should get rid of Astrid by Fear. He tries so hard, and he is one of my favorites but... he has a few flaws like his fear of the dark, which make him a relate able character but a bit of a pushover, sometimes.


Caine:
I'm breaking Caine into sections since he changes so much. The first section he's a power hungry jerk that wants to be king and doesn't care about the consequences, but a personality that is kinda funny when you don't want to slit his throat over what he's doing to Sam. The second section is him trying to grab power while he's mostly helpless from the Darkness. The third section is his complete and epic selfishness that comes from fleeing to an island. The fourth section is his mostly selfishness but the conclusion to do good when pressured. And the fifth section is the reason he is still one of the best characters in the whole series. It's him being humiliated but still helping Sam in Fear. I'm not saying that Caine is a good guy but he is one of my favorites.


Astrid:
In the beginning she was the "unreachable" girl that you knew the main character would eventually get, just because that's how books work. Then, she became nice to Sam, and I thought that she could be a good girlfriend character. The next thing I knew she was making fun of Sam for having a nervous breakdown!  That got her on my bad side for a while but then she became better for a time, and I forgot I didn't like her. Then she became a manipulative jerk. She started of Fear like that too but there is a chance she might make it back on my good side, especially after her experience with Little Pete. Another problem was her inability to fight and actually help the cause. For example, in Gone, when Sam and Astrid were caught she became super upset because she was slapped and said something about her brother, while Sam was in the next room literally being thrown throughout the room, smashing through a basketball hoop, and tied up with a two hundred pound weight holding him down.  Not a very courageous thing to do if you ask me. However she is becoming slightly more brave as time goes on. Time will tell if she ends up being a good character or not.


Quinn:
He starts out as a nice but freaked out guy. He then turns into a turncoat, regrets it, and is eventually redeemed. Lastly, he becomes one of the most pure-intentioned people in the FAYZ. I like Quinn; he is one of the only decent ones left.


Diana:
I feel bad for Diana. She obviously knows what she is doing is wrong, she regrets it, but she keeps doing it. I like Diana, for the most part. She tries to make Caine behave, and she rarely does something wrong by herself and when she does, she's guilty about it. My only fault with her is the way she went along with it at the end of Fear...  But I'm thinking the baby was controlling her. That line were she said she wanted to stab her baby, for joy?  Maybe it was just fear or maybe even some kind of mind control, so it might have not been entirely her fault. Her personality is really kind of funny.  One of the best ones in the series.  Yet again, I mostly feel bad for her.  All in all, she's not a nice character, but she makes it onto my favorites list.


Jack:
Jack at the beginning was a computer nerd that would go to whatever side offered him more, then he started liking Brianna, and he became a bigger, better liked character. Then what seemed suddenly, he became heroic. A good character that has definitely been over a few hurdles but is still developing. (Fingers crossed on that anyway.  After what happened...)


Dekka:
She is pretty much always a tough girl who, thinking back on it, also has a nervous breakdown.  I've never thought of that before. Interesting. Anyway, she's reliable and pretty hardcore. She's one of the good guys but she doesn't have quite the personality that makes you love her character. I guess you could phrase it this way: I care about her but not as much as Sam for example. 


Drake:
I hate this guy so much. Not that the character's undeveloped or anything. That's not the case. Almost all ad guys can be felt sorry for. For example, Voldemort was an orphan, which is traumatic. However, Drake was a psychopath that tortures people for fun, and who, after what he did to Sam, I believe all the readers want to personally kill. There are no redeeming qualities. He is just pure evil. In fact, he's getting even more evil as the series goes on. He's character's beautifully written for the reader to hate him so much, so I think that is a huge accomplishment.


Howard:
He is not a good guy. That's for sure. But, his personality grows on you. He is a funny little guy. He was actually my favorite character for one part in the third or fourth book. However, things changed. You'll know what I mean if you've read Fear. I was super disappointed. Either way Howard was a witty guy who did bad things like constantly give Orc alcohol. 


Orc:
In the beginning, he was a bully. He hurt people. Then, he started drinking because of his guilt. Then the poor guy turns into a monster. He then becomes religious hoping he will be forgiven for what he's done. I don't like Orc but I definitely feel bad for the big guy. 


Brianna:
She is a reckless, naive character. She is basically the same throughout the series. 


Penny:
Penny is another evil character. She could, arguably be, the evilest character in the entire thing. She tortures people with visions and makes them crazy. You feel a little bad for her in the beginning because of her legs being broken, but then you hate her as you realize how completely rotten she is inside. She's not as completely evil as Drake, but Penny is evil, too.


Taylor:
I've always liked Taylor. She's a bubbly, gossipy girl who seems nice enough. She messes up occasionally but never enough to hate her character. I was actually sort of mad after what happened other in Fear. She didn't deserve it.

Edilio:
Edilio has always been a good guy, but since he keeps order mostly, I don't technically have a strong opinion of him. Except that I was surprised that he was gay. That didn't seem to fit into my opinion of his role very well. 


Mary:
She starts out being the mother figure character. But, she slowly runs out of pills for her disorders and...  You most likely know what she did, if not I won't let myself spoil it for you.  Anyway, it ruins Mary's legacy for me.

 
Albert:
I never was a big fan of Albert. He started out as a character to feel bad for because all of his ideas were ignored. Then he became a little too aggressive with everything, and I, being pro Sam, started to dislike him. Albert then starts doing devious things and finally runs off and I have to say "Good riddance". 


Little Pete:
I feel like he needs more guidance, and maybe he would be alright if he had it. However, if he continues messing with my favorite characters like Taylor, I take my opinion back and think he should be gotten rid of. To tell you the truth, as of the end of Fear, I have absolutely no idea what/ if anything he will become of in this series. 




Okay! So that's my opinon as of today.  It shifts slightly depending on my mood, but those are the basics. Again, if I forgot anyone, please comment.  Really, comment if you even have half an opinion on something I said. 



Thanks for reading!

The Arcade Catastrophe by Brandon Mull (Good)

Sorry that I haven't written anything in such a long time...  I've been a little preoccupied.

The author also wrote the Fablehaven series and the Beyonders.  Anyway, this book is the sequel to the Candy Shop War.  I'll be the first to admit that it sounds pretty stupid but it was a pretty nice story.  A short summary is that a couple kids get caught in the middle of a war between magicians.  They can help using magical candy that does anything from reducing gravity to convincing people that you are doing the right thing.  So that's a super brief summary.  Look it up to see if that's the kind of thing you want to read.  I read it a couple years ago so it might be slightly more kiddish than I remember.  I'll let you decide.

Okay. Back to the Arcade Catastrophe.  The Cover:

I honestly have no idea what's going on on the cover.  What's up with the Spinx?  I don't know.  I also don't know why Summer is flying and Nate is running super fast.  It doesn't make sense.  There's some kid by the base of the statue that's like a chameleon.  Which I don't think happened throughout any part of the book.  Either way, not my favorite cover.

The Summary:  Nate, Summer, Pigeon, Trevor, and their new friend Lindy hear that John and the magician police man, Mozag, have disappeared, and it all leads back to an arcade in Walnut Hills where its biggest prizes are stamps.  The kids start earning stamps for themselves to better find a way to free their friends.  The stamps are tickets for the competition of the century.  They reveal a plot that could very well destroy the entire world, lead by none other than Jonas White, Mrs. White's brother.

I enjoyed it.  It had a nice plot and characters.  It was a bit predictable, for example you could tell which group would win each contest just because of the importance of the characters.  I might have just been good at predicting but some of the things seemed a bit obvious.

Another slight problem was that two or three times there would be a page or two where the writing tone didn't quite match up, and I felt like someone was trying to teach me a lesson, which I didn't appreciate.  I wouldn't have minded but it just didn't fit in.  For example *minor spoiler. It doesn't effect the plot just an irrelevant page or two*  The characters had just done some adventurous thing and they were going to go home for the night when randomly Trevor asked what he should get his mom for her birthday.  Then they discussed how you should use a coupon book but be sure to actually be able to do the things you put in it.  It was completely unnecessary and the whole tone of that page didn't match up.  It was like they wanted to teach me how to give gifts. *spoiler off*

With all that in mind, I would still recommend this book, especially if you like the first book, since they are very similar.  It's not one of those books that if someone asked me to recommend a book to them would pop to the front of my mind.

All in all a nice book with a nice plot intended for younger kids.

Thanks for reading, as always feel free to comment if you would like.

Unwholly by Neal Shusterman (Awesome)

Okay, sorry that I am like a month late.  I just didn't get around to posting so I have a bunch of really good books to post on but not enough time.  I'll start with this one and move on if I have time before more books come out.

Unwholly was the sequel to Unwind.  I LOVED Unwind.  It really made me start loving Neal Shusterman's writing.  Anyway, it was an amazing book that you should go and read.  It will sound creepy without a doubt but it's worth it.

Without further ado, the cover.

 

I'll be the first to admit this cover is downright scary.  There's a sulking multicolored teenager on the cover and that's it.  I really hated his character, as you are supposed to.  Anyway, I think they could have done a different cover that wouldn't turn people away from the book because it's not that bad.

 

The plot starts soon after the last book ended.  Conner is taking control of the Graveyard, Risa is handicapped, and Lev is under the custody of his older brother, Marcus.  Things are standing to unravel at the seems, though.  The ADR is cutting resources from the Graveyard, Risa is not as safe as she believes she is, and a tragity in Lev's life might leave him as a prisoner.  We are also introduced to some other characters such as Cam and Starkley.  Let's just say that neither will help their cause much.  And the overlying question is: When will the Juvies finally take out the Graveyard?

 

The plot thickens in this amazing sequel to Unwind.  Neal Shusterman, as always, makes a compelling, action packed story, with some very lovable characters and same very dispisable characters.

 

II would really suggest reading this book along with the first book of the trilogy.  The last book will come out eventually and I will be looking forward to it, hopefully along with you.

 

Thanks for reading this!

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan (So Beyond Awesome)

I've been excited for this book to come out for about a week more than a year.  It didn't disappoint.  In fact, I think it's my favorite book by Rick Riordan so far.  If you haven't read any of the previous books in this series before, then you are in the wrong place.  Without further ado, the cover:

 

 

It shows Percy fighting Jason with the owl, the mark of Athena, in the background.  It's an amazing cover, even if it ended up not being what I expected it would be.

 

Description:  The Argo 2 sets sail for Rome with the seven demigods on it... and a slightly violent satyr as supervisor.  While they wind their way to Rome, a feud rises between the two camps.  Annabeth is charged with the important, yet impossible task of following the mark of Athena, which has the slightest chance of bringing peace to the camps.  With monsters, ballerina-wanna-be giants, and Diet Coke-drinking gods appearing everywhere, getting to Rome might be even harder than expected.

 

This was the most amazing story that I've read in at least two years.  It was suspenseful and sweet and sort of sad and amazing and so much more.  I actually laughed out loud way too many times to count.  This was the most hilarious, touching, and exciting of all of Rick Riordan's books so far.  It was SO amazing!

 

The next book, is The House of Hades.  The title's meaning you can guess once you finish reading it.

 

You may know how there was supposed to be a cliffhanger at the end and a part that Rick "got teary-eyed" writing.  I know now without a doubt what he was talking about.  It was so freaking sweet!  The whole second to last chapter has replayed in my mind so many times since I finished reading it.  About five minutes after I finished the book, I started crying because the ending was just so so so sweet.  You'll see what I mean.

 

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who lives.  Seriously, go read it.  Read the rest of the series first and then read it.

 

On a kinda-sorta related note, I saw Rick Riordan in Charlotte, NC yesterday.  That was super exciting and I listened to him talk about everything.  I made a couple of friends with the people around me and got to be in the third row, so that was awesome.  For the record, he didn't mean for The Mark of Athena to age in its maturity level.  And I officially love his "British" accent.

 

 But, I didn't have a chance to ask my question, so if you are going to one of the events and want to ask a question but don't have one, try to ask this.  "What monster did you feel the most evil about sending after the characters?"  I bet there's a good answer to this.  Write in the comments if you do and please tell me what he said.

 

Sorry that I've been so late, lately.  I'm going to try to post a lot to make up for all of the books on my to review list, soon.

 

PS I'd love to talk about Mark of Athena with basically anyone.  Please, please comment because I don't know anyone else who has finished and I really want to talk about it! 

 

Thanks for reading!



Caught (Missing) by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Awesome)

Sorry that I haven't been posting a lot.  I'll try to get back to posting on Fridays, but right now I'm so behind that I sort of dread thinking about it.  Since I last posted, I've read The Kill Order, The Rise of Nine, Unwholly, and this book.  Anyway, Caught is the fifth book in the Missing Series.  They need to be read in order: Missing, Sent, Sabotaged, Torn, and finally Caught. They are all amazing, so you should go read the first one at least.

The cover:

 

I don't think that I could easily explain the cover.  They rode on trains for a little while, I guess, so there's the train and maybe Jonah racing to catch up?  Whatever the point, it works.  And the title, Caught.  Well, let's just say that it makes sense in more than one way.

Time stops in the 21st century, and Jonah and Katherine are sent back in time because Albert Einstein is thinking about the wrong things and could mess up time forever.  The Einsteins have a missing child, Lieserl,  who is dying of scarlet fever.  The biggest problem, however, is that Mileva, Einstein's wife, knows that Jonah and Katherine are there.  How can they save time when it's as if everything is working against them?

I would recommend you to read this.  Not only once, but twice because it's that good.  I wish I could just talk abut the ending, but that would be a major spoiler.  It's so so so amazing!

I love this book and hope that you will read it.  I'll post again later.

P.S. Sorry this post's a bit choppy.  The "o" key on this computer only works when you stab it, so I've had to rewrite a bunch of words.

Sorry Everyone

Hi everyone.  In my Coming Soon page, I had Antsy Floats coming out yesterday.  It turns out that it comes out in more than a year.  I think it has something to do with the author's mom having a stroke.  Sorry if I got you all excited for nothing.

Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Great)

Here's an interesting book.  I was about a second away from returning it to the library because I didn't think I would ever get around to even reading the first sentence.  Then, of course, I felt bad.  Next thing I know, it's 1 o'clock in the morning.  So, don't give it a bad rep. because of whatever. 

Anyway, here's the cover:

                       

 

I'm not a big fan of either of the covers, so I thought I'd show both.  Just so that you'd have options.  The left is self explanatory, but I'll point out that on the right, it says "Happily Never After..." under the title.  I think it changes the whole idea of the cover.

The book is about what happened to Cinderella (Cinders-Ella) after she goes to live with Prince Charming for her happily ever after. The castle is not what she was expecting, full of strict regulations, stiff people, and even the prince isn't as perfect as he had always seemed. Even, Jed, one of her teachers, is easier to talk to than Charming. Ella soon discovers, however, that escaping the castle will be more dangerous than first appears.

This is definitely a chick book, and I wouldn't recommend it to any guys.  But, any girl who is in the mood for a light, yet kind of fast-paced, read will not be disappointed. 

It's definitely something I would recommend.  And I hope you give it a shot.

As a side note: As I mentioned somewhere above, I got my book from the library, and I was about halfway through the book when I saw a bite mark on a page in my book. A human bite mark!  I thought it was worth mentioning, if only to make you wonder why. 

Anyways, I'll probably post mid next week instead of Friday since I'm so late with this post.  Who really knows when I'll finish my next book, so until then comment or whatever else you want to do.

Special thanks to everyone who has commented so far.  I really appreciate it.





Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer (Awesome)

Sorry I'm late.  I have trouble keeping track of days during the summer.  This is the last book in the Artemis Fowl series, the eighth, I believe.  It is an amazing series, so I suggest reading it.  Guys can read it, believe me.  Even if you don't think it is, based on the description, you are wrong.  I needed to go ahead and point that out.  So, go ahead and read the rest of the series.  I'll still be here when I get back.

Here's the cover:

The cover shows part of the ending, so *GIANT SPOILER ALERT*  Artemis is standing near the gateway.  The wall is there between him and Holly/ Butler.  The cover basically shows Artemis Fowl saying his last words. *SPOILER ALERT OFF*  It's an amazing cover that really wraps it up nicely.

Anyway, I'm going to assume that you read the previous books and all, so I can do the review.

 

 

Artemis has gone to his last therapy session to fix his Atlantis Complex. When he is leaving Haven, he finds that a ransom note has been received by the LEP. The younger Opal has been kidnapped and will be shot unless they release the older Opal. (skipping a part because of spoilers) Artemis, Holly, and Butler race to stop Opal from destroying the whole human race and ruling all the fairies.

 

 

I thought this was the perfect book to end the series. It was just so right in so many ways...

 

 

As always, the humor was perfect. (It had a couple really awesome quotes that I will add to the quotes page later, so check there within a week.)

 

 

And the ending... It's the first time that I've gotten within a football field of crying while reading in a long time. But, so epically perfect.

 

 

*Note for people who have already read it*

 

 

You might not of noticed this, but the thing that Holly said at the end. The thing about how it all began. That was the exact first sentence of the series. Personally, I think that makes an amazing ending, to have the first and last sentence to be the same. *Spoiler for Pendragon* The same thing happened at the end of the Pendragon series. *spoiler off*

*End of Note*

 

 

Once again, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone.

 

 

Oh, and I was just thinking about how in the beginning of the series, I didn't like any of the main characters. And now I think they're all the best. You start to care for the guys you don't like eventually.

 

 

Again, I'm sorry I'm late. I'll probably post again next week. See you then. In the meantime, comment, click on an add, read my posts, or whatever else you want to do.