Book Reviews

Post by **Rusty** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 10:39 pm

I finished reading The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeanne DuPrau. It's a prequel to her earlier novels - The City of Ember and The People of Sparks. This book takes place in the near future where the country is gripped with fear and paranoia and it looks like the world is on the brink of war. a woman in North Carolina has a fiery vision of the future and is labelled as a prophet. The city of Yonwood sees an increase in religious persecution as people attempt to interpret what the prophet says. I thought the book was very good as were the two earlier novels. She paints a future that seems all too possible in some respects.

Post by **Rusty** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:34 pm

I just read Ulysses Moore - The Door to Time which is the first book (out of 4 so far) in a series by an Italian author now translated into English. The book starts out with twins Jason and Julia moving into a mansion that sits on top of a cliff in England. The former owner was a mysterious man named Ulysses Moore and the mansion appears to hold a number of secrets. They explore the mansion with a friend and discover a way to travel through time. I found the book to be very entertaining and it was a quick, fun read. It sets the table for future books with this adventure establishing the characters.

Post by **Rusty** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 2:28 pm

I just finished Charlie Bone and the Hidden King by Jenny Nimmo. I like the series, which revolves around the endowed children of a king who lived 900 years ago. The king had 10 children, 5 who were good and 5 who were bad. The descendants split pretty much evenly as well so there is a near constant struggle between the two factions. Most of the descendants are endowed with a power, such as the ability to fly or change shape or create illusions. This is the fifth book in the series.

Post by **sophiacated** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 2:51 pm

Ok here's a book that's an easy read, but so... badass. I have no other way of explaining it. I loved the book. I thought it wuld take me forever to read, but I endded up finishing it in 2 days. You know how some books are good, but you still skim over some parts, well this book you don't want to skim over any part of it. It kept you wanting to read forever. The House of The Scorpion by Nancy Farmer. I would have to say, this is my number one book!

I can't even tell you about it in ear of ruining the read. All I can tell you about it is, it's a fiction novel which is set in the maybe not so far future. It's about this powerful drug lords clone. Eek I can't say anything else. Just a really good read. I have nothing bad at all to say about this book!

Post by **Rusty** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 4:22 pm

It sounds very interesting. I'll plan on checking it out when I get done with the books I have out of the library now.

Post by **Rusty** » Mon Jun 26, 2006 6:14 pm

I just finished Revenge of the Shadow King by Derek Benz and JS Lewis. It's about 4 kids who grow up in Avalon, Minnesota and all play a collectible card game called Round Table that turns out to be more than a game. The book was pretty good, though not as good as a lot of the other fantasy books I've read over the last few months.

Post by **Rusty** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 1:39 am

I finished reading Seeker by William Nicholson. The main character is Seeker After Truth and he wants to become a Noble Warrior like his older brother, Blaze of Justice. When his brother is cast out of the Noble Warriors, Seeker goes on a quest with two others to find his brother and to try to find the truth behind a secret weapon that is being built to destroy the island of Anacrea, where the Noble Warriors live.

The book was very good and succeeds on a number of levels. It is an adventure story, but it is also a story about the search for a belief in God. The main characters are very different, but they complement each other nicely. All of the plot threads come together nicely in the end and the story is complete, but it is also the first book in a trilogy and I look forward to the others.

Post by **Rusty** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 11:29 pm

I finished reading The Big Kerplop which is the first novel and third book in the Mad Scientists' Club series by Bertand Brinley . It was originally published in the early 1970s, though it only had a small print run. This tells how the Mad Scientists' Club was formed as an atom bomb is accidentally dropped into Strawberry Lake during a practice fighter scramble. Several boys are out fishing on that misty morning and are able to roughly locate where the bomb fell, but nobody will listen to them when they try to help the Air Force recover the bomb. They take matters into their own hands to locate the bomb and force people to listen. I enjoyed the book quite a bit and plan to seek out the 4th and final book in the series soon.

Post by **Rusty** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 12:13 pm

I read Victory by Susan Cooper which was really two stories in one. The first story was about a girl named Molly who is having trouble adjusting to moving to the United States from England when her stepfather gets transferred. The other story is about a boy in 1803 who joins the navy and is part of the crew of the HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's Ship at Trafalgar. The two stories intertwine a bit and I enjoyed the book a lot. I've read a lot of naval fiction in the past, from Hornblower to Ramage, Bolitho and others and that is part of what drew me to this book. Susan Cooper has written a lot of other good books as well, including her Dark Is Rising sequence.

Post by **Rusty** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 1:58 pm

I finally got around to reading The Last Battle, the final book in the Narnia series. I took a two month break after reading The Silver Chair, but I found a couple of hours to read it last night. The Last Battle was okay, but easily the most obviously Christian of any of the books in the series and also probably my least favorite book. It seemed a little flat in comparison to many of the earlier books, but it was worth reading if you've read the other six.

Post by **Rusty** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 7:49 pm

I haven't been reading as much lately since I've been catching up on manga and doing other things, but I finished reading The Big Chunk of Ice tonight. It is the fourth and final book in the Mad Scientists' Club by Bertand Brinley and sees the club travel to Austria with a local scientist to do measurements on a glacier where legend has it that a large diamond was lost a century before. The book has a long blimp ride to and from Europe, an ancient castle, a mad dwarf, secret passages and lots of bad puns. I liked it, though not quite as much as the third book in the series, The Big Kerplop.

Post by **sophiacated** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 9:10 pm

so have you tried reading thta book yet? The House of the Scorpion yet?

Post by **Rusty** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 10:00 pm

k0rean_babi_phat wrote:so have you tried reading thta book yet? The House of the Scorpion yet?

Not yet. I have a hold on it at my local library, though, and will probably be checking it out next week. I had a lot of other books on my list ahead of it, but it is nearing the top of the list.

Post by **fluffy** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 8:33 am

I just finished Contact by Carl Sagan that this sexy math teacher sent me to read. I'm not sure if I liked it more or less than the movie!

Right now I'm reading a book called Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan which is some crazy shit about the aboriginal australian people and fascinating.

Post by **Rusty** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 4:10 pm

I finished reading Peter and the Shadow Thieves by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. This is the second book in their Peter Pan series and was excellent. In this book, a new threat emerges in terms of a creature who can bend people to his will by capturing their shadows. Peter has to return to London to help his friend Molly who is in danger. The first book in the series established Never Land, the Lost Boys, Captain Hook and the rest. This book continues the adventure. I'm definitely looking forward to the next book in the series.