Skulduggery Pleasant

By Derek Landy

 Meet Skulduggery Pleasant:

Ace Detective
Snappy Dresser
Razor-tongued Wit
Crackerjack Sorcerer
And
Walking, Talking,
Fire-throwing Skeleton.

 As well as ally, protector, and mentor of Stephanie Edgely, a very unusual and darkly talented twelve-year-old.

These two alone must defeat an all-consuming ancient evil.

The end of the world?

 Over his dead body.

 

 

Fantastic! This book is my find of the month, or probably the last few months, if not the year. I absolutely and irrefutably love love love this book.  Irish author Derek Landy has the best sense of humor I have seen in writing; very akin to Rick Riordan with dry wit and wonderful back and forth bickering between Skulduggery and Stephanie. What's not to love with a skeleton detective that does magic and makes quips?  I can't recommend this book highly enough. The themes are dark magic and horror, but the way Landy handles it is appropriate and fun. It doesn't diminish the terribleness of things, but it doesn't drag your soul through the proverbial mud either when he writes about torture and death. Strange how much I enjoyed reading about Skulduggery, who is immediately likeable but dangerous underneath it all. Stephanie isn't as interesting for me, but I enjoy all the characters we're introduced to, especially Tanith Low and China Sorrows. Another Brilliant part for me is about how everyone is born with thier True name, and then have their Given name, and if they want, they can use thier Taken name as a protection against spells. I admit I spent a great deal of time coming up with a Taken name for myself just for fun that fit me. It was that much fun. And when you read this, because I am willing you with my mind powers, you should go check out the official web site (www.skulduggerypleasant.com/us) and listen to the interview with Skulduggery. It was freaking awesome. Oh how I love these books, and hope to have them on my shelves soon. And I just found out there are like 6 of them! I don't think we have all of them in the States yet, but I'll wait less than patiently for their arrival.  This is a great series for young boys in my opinion, as there aren't many that boys react well to. Like Rick Riordan? You'll love Derek Landy. READ SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT!!!!

 

4 1/4 out of 5- Because it was above average, and I loved it so much I want to own it. That doesn't happen often.

 

This is just for fun:

 

My Boyfriend Merlin

By Priya Ardis

 

17 year-old Boston high-schooler Arriane, aka Ryan DuLac just found out the guy she’s been crushing on, hot biker Matt, is a little older than he was letting on. In fact, he is really Merlin—the Merlin, King Arthur’s Merlin, the greatest wizard who ever lived. Frozen in a cave for over fifteen hundred years, he’s woken for a purpose. But Ryan’s not impressed. Tired of being a relationship loser, she’d rather kick his legendary behind. Sure, the world has been crazy ever since the sword and the stone fell out of the sky like a meteor. But despite the gruesome gargoyles, a deadly new world of magic, and the guy driving her crazy, Ryan knows that family is everything. Will Merlin sacrifice hers to save the world? Will she be able to stop him?


Why do I do this to myself? I see a fun cover, a possibly entertaining idea, and I think 'it's probably garbage, but maybe it's not' and then proceed to read it. Now, this wasn't "garbage" but it was disappointing for me. I found myself comparing it to "Avalon High" by Meg Cabbot and that made it difficult to enjoy this spin-off arthurian tale. having loved Cabbot's version infinately more. It's all about finding the new wielder of Excalibur, and Ryan is in the middle of things when she finds out her adopted brother is a candidate to take the sword, and that might've been the only reason Matt aka Merlin dated her in the first place. She's pretty upset. What I really hate about these teen books lately is the whole otherworldly attraction that is described as fate or destiny instead of what it simply is: infatuation and a crush.  As far as writing goes, it's well crafted and the plot is diverse enough to hold the reader's attention and keep them reading into the wee-hours. I admit I was ticked at Ryan's fickleness toward Merlin, and I was uncomfortable at the making out and messing around-nothing graphic, but it was enough to make me try to loosen my invisible colar in discomfort.  It was a page-turner. Who knows, I'm half likely to pick up the next one if I can find it in a library somewhere...

I give it a 3 1/2 out of 5- Because it was really entertaining, and my beef was mostly personal taste. It really was pretty good. A little above average.

Son

By Lois Lowry

 

They called her Water Claire. When she washed up on their shore, no one knew that she came from a society where emotions and colors didn’t exist. That she had become a Vessel at age thirteen. That she had carried a Product at age fourteen. That it had been stolen from her body. Claire had a son. But what became of him she never knew. What was his name? Was he even alive? She was supposed to forget him, but that was impossible. Now Claire will stop at nothing to find her child, even if it means making an unimaginable sacrifice.


Anyone who has read "The Giver" agrees that it is an incredible book; though some people don't think it is appropriate for children. I personally would let kids read it because of the message. Well, I devoured "Gathering Blue" and "The Messenger" after I found out they were set in the same world. To my delight I just found out before it was released that "Son" is the ending of this series. Wow did it need this book! It ties things together that seemed vague or loose and I was very pleased to find Jonas and Gabe again and to get to know Claire. She is an incredible character whom I fell in love with almost immediately. Now all I want is another short story to know whether Claire was able to go back and be with the man she fell for on the island...won't spoil it for you! Claire is brave and determined to find her son, and goes through everything imaginable just to find him again. Read about her journey, you won't regret it.

I give it a 4 out of 5- Above average, and finally some answers to questions in the previous books!

Promised

By Caragh M. O’Brien

 

After defying the ruthless Enclave, surviving the wasteland, and upending the rigid matriarchy of Sylum, Gaia Stone now faces her biggest challenge ever. She must lead the people of Sylum back to the Enlcave and persuade the Protectorate to grant them refuge from the wasteland. In Gaia’s absence, the Enclave has grown more cruel, more desperate to experiment on mothers from outside the wall, and now the stakes of cooperating or rebelling have never been higher. Is Gaia ready, as a leader, to sacrifice what—or whom—she loves most?


This book probably deserves a better review than I'm about to give it, simply because I apparently read it while I was sorta emotional....or it made me emotional or something.  Without giving spoilers suffice it to say that I was incredibly upset about the events at the end of the book, I couldn't believe how evil the people in the Enclave are to Gaia. Holy frijoles. I was so worked up when I finished, I was blinded to anything else that happened after I read the section that I got so upset with; it did end well and happy-ish. I don't know, it was a sort of dark series for me with torture and gentics and lots of invasiveness and blatant information about babies and sex and what not- it was towing the line for me about whether or not to read it. I'd be careful of letting young people read it, just depending on the sort of person you are. Like I said, some stuff upset me. It's very well written, if a little slow. That was my other beef. It felt like forever before something happened that I was truly interested in; and really most of the book I wasn't all that interested.  I dunno how to review this book. I'm certain that there will be some die-hard fans of it, and others like me who just shrug there shoulders helplessly not knowing what to think. I can't really recommend it personally, but if you enjoy the dystopian genre and aren't bothered by stolen children, werid genetics, strange customs, and references to rape, sex, etc. You might like it...

I give it a 3 out of 5- another Average. 

Daughter of the Centaurs

By Kate Klimo

 Malora knows what she was born to be: a horse wrangler and a hunter, just like her father. But when her people are massacred by batlike monsters called leatherwings, Malora will need her horse skills just to survive. The last living human, Malora roams the wilderness at the head of a band of magnificent horses, relying only on her own wits, strength, and courage. When she is captured by a group of centaurs and taken to their city, Malora must decide whether the comforts of her new home and family are worth the parts of herself she must sacrifice to keep them.

 

 

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. My main beef: it seemed to climax too soon. I got to a point where I felt it was at a high, and it still had about 150 pages left. It was downhill and not as exciting from there. Don't get me wrong, it held my attention, it wasn't drudgery to read, it just wasn't quite as good and I was annoyed at the less than exciting ending. All that being said, it was lovely for the horse information, and Malora's wildness was intoxicating at times and recalled a woman completely free and independent at the cost of sociality and conversation. The Centaurs were interesting and differently depicted than I've seen in other books, being more human-like than wild. I found that ironic that Malora was more horse-like and free than the horse-men and women were. This was a well-written novel that was rich, but I think the plotline could've been worked out better. Not sure if I'll continue it or not. We'll see if Malora finds her a love interest, I think I might pick it up again if it looked like I could get some good warm-fuzzies out of it.

 

I give it a 3 out of 5- Average.

Fallen Star

By Jessica Sorenson

 For eighteen year-old Gemma, life has never been normal. Up until recently, she has been incapable of feeling emotion. And when she’s around Alex, the gorgeous new guy at school, she can feel electricity that makes her skin buzz. Not to mention the monsters that haunt her nightmares have crossed over into real-life.

But with Alex seeming to hate her and secrets popping up everywhere, Gemma’s life is turning into a chaotic mess. Things that shouldn’t be real suddenly seem to exist. And as her world falls apart, figuring out the secrets of her past becomes a matter of life and death.


Well, here's a freebee on my Kindle that I decided looked interesting. It reminded me a bit of Neil Gaiman's "Stardust" with a girl being a fallen star. (I don't consider that a spoiler seen as how most readers would put the title and the summary together). It was interesting and a little strange. I would've liked it to be a bit more...well more. It was very much the common plotline of late: awkward girl meets new boy at school and is inexplicably attracted to him. The weird thing I was trying to figure out the whole time was that Gemma is convinced that Alex hates her, but they don't even go into why, the only explaination that is offered is that he's "moody". That was a total cop-out. As for plot though, I was okay with everything, but it didn't interest me enough to go and buy the next book in the series. If it's free again I might give it a go when I have nothing better to read. Maybe. There was an interesting vampire...sort of.  Purple eyes were cool, as the cover shows. It's got some interesting things it in, sorcery and magic, falling stars and the end of the world to avert. If you like this genre, you might like to read this; give it a go if you've got some time and a Kindle to get it for free. Who knows, you might love it like I didn't! 

2 3/4 out of 5- because it was slightly below average for me personally.

Death Comes for the Archbishop

By Willa Cather

 

This novel follows the life story of bishop Jean Latour and his work as a catholic in a new and untamed land of the Southwest.


This was the last Willa Cather book I had to read for my major authors class and it was my least favorite. Compared to Cather's other works, this one fell short for me; it felt stale and disjointed. It follows the stories in the life of Jean Latour and his hardships in the southwest and trying to firmly place Catholisism in the lives of the people. It is interesting and infomative, as well as some choice descriptive scenes by Cather, but it lacked the richness of her Prarie narratives. It was much like One of Ours, toward the end when it is set in France and less interesting; except it was through the entire book. Anywho, if you're going to read Cather, I'd suggest reading The Professor's House or O Pioneers!

I give it a 2 1/2 out of 5