Book Review 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29
So...it's been a while since I've done a review and I have a lot to talk about. Onward
Title: The Last Olypian
Author: Rick Riordan
Summary: The final battle has arrived, and Percy Jackson and his friends must sacrifice much to defeat the Titan Lord Kronos, more than they had previously anticipated.
So, Percy Jackson.
I have to say I did enjoy the conclusion to this series. Not to compare two series that have been compared to death, but against Harry Potter, I have to say I favor the tighter story of PJ (there are merrits to the longer narration of HP, and I'll probably talk about that later, but not now. I will say that there was a day where I would not have enjoyed PJ as much, for the following reasons) and mostly this is because this is much more of a kid's story. The very way the book is formated (larger text and spacing between lines) even suggests lighter, children's reading. I'll talk about this a little more during The Lost Hero review down at the bottom, but let me get back to this. The story flows quickly, and that fit in very well with the story line. There's almost non-stop battle over a couple of hours (in fact I'm fairly sure the entire book takes place in about two days). But it also slows down toward the end, signifying the triumphal entry into Olympus when the demi-gods win (that is not a spoiler, you knew it was going to happen).
But I also think that the last sacrifice given is a piece of really good writing and not something to be spoiled. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I was still almost surprised at the end when it did. Riordan made a good choice in using that surprise.
Overall: Got me excited for The Last Hero (see below).
Title: Enchanted
Author: Orson Scott Card
Summary: Ivan was a normal Russian kid, until his parents decided to fake being Jewish so they could immigrate out of Soviet Russia. Right before they leave, Ivan comes across a woman on a pedistal in the woods, sleeping peacefully. Years later, when he returns, he manages to wake the sleeping beauty and start off on a completely different adventure.
So, let me say something about this book. Up until the last day, I read my standard fifty pages. And I am really glad I did that, because this was meant to be savored. It is a really imaginative story and the kind I hope to be writing some day, especially about fairy tales. I would say the best thing that Card does for his characters is that he makes them argue, and he makes them very introspective. This works in so many beautiful ways to help them interact. He also puts his characters through a little bit of suffering, though they come out before for it, and it helps the story and the characters to understand each other better.
When I got to that last day and the story went into the final peak of the rising action, I couldn't put it down and read the last one hundred and twenty eight pages no probelm.
Overall: Brilliant. I see why they call him a master story teller.
Title: Hawksong
Author: Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Summary: Danica Shardae desperately wants to end the war between her people, the hawkes and other bird kind, and the serpents. But she finds herself sacrificing her heart to do so.
This reads very differently from most alternate universe fantasy. It's almost like reading a historical novel: you take a look into one piece of history and when that parts over, then the story is kind of done, but you understand that life goes on. You understand that Hawksong takes place in some alternate version of earth where the people have the ability to turn into animals and such. Still, the narration felt strange to me, almost forced to go at the pace it did. It was very quick to resolve its problems I will say that.
But the characterization is fairly good. Danica and Zane (another focal character) do care about their people to sacrifice their choice of partner (something which is rarely done in either of their societies) and marry each other to stop the war between their peoples. Still, perhaps it is because theire is not much prose to establish a feeling of time, it feels like Zane and Danica grow to together fairly quickly, falling in love not long after making the arrangement solely for the sakes of their people.
Though I do think the brevity of events described is something to be celebrated though, because Amelia does manage to capture the full scale of events in this short time (even if it is the first in the series of five :) )
Overall: Well Done
Title: Graceling
Author: Kristin Cashore
Summary: Katsa is a graceling, who has been graced with the ability to kill, and subsiquently was controlled by her uncle for most of her life. Recently though, Katsa has sought to do much good with her Grace, but when she rescues the prince of another kingdom, a strange mystery begins to unravel. Katsa with fellow graceling and recently acquired friend, Po, begins to unravel the mystery while gaining new perspective on her grace and her own freedom.
Graceling is kind of cool, though it's one of those books that you almost have to stick with for the first hundred pages, because the introduction is a little strange, half narration and half action, and then the prose slows down. You know what? That's cool. In fact, I think the prose mirrors what's going on in the story nicely. In the first part of the story Katsa and co are trying to figure out the mystery of who captured this one neutral elderly prince and why, and the prose kind of feels like they're trying to figure something out. The prose speeds up though when Katsa and Po get out on the road and start investigating. It's even speedier when Katsa is racing to get away with someone.
I really liked the way the plot worked out. But I won't talk about that much for fear of spoilers.
Anyway, the character development was also super well done, especially with Katsa who has always been raised to be a certain way, but now that she's breaking out on her own, she so desperate to be free that I think any jolts in her character are acceptable.
Overall: it's worth the wait
Title: Geektastic
Author: Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci
Summary: A complilation of short stories by your favorite geeky authors centering around one theme: Geeks are awesome, and it's great to be yourself.
So, a lot of things really vary in this set of stories. The type of geek ranges from story to story and I really admire and respect all of this. I'm not sure I can analyze it all, because they packed a lot into the four hundred pages here, but they have every kind of geek. They even surprised me with a reverse cinderella kind of geek. I love pretty much all of the authors that put this together, and being that I am a geek of all kinds, I enjoyed it thoroughly and just plain loved it.
Overall: Thanks for the suggestion, Emily.
Title: The Lost Hero
Author: Rick Riordan
Summary: Percy Jackson is not back in this latest sequel and his friends are only in it for a hot second. Instead this book focuses on Jason, son of Jupiter, Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, and Leo, son of Hepheastus, as they jet off to save Hera and stop the giants from rising.
So, though this book is well written (probably, dare I say, better written in terms of actual prose, than Percy Jackson), it needed to grow on me. In fact I am fairly sure that it still needs to grow more on me, and maybe I'll get into Son of Neptune more than I got into this one. I think it has largely to do with the fact that I was expecting the writing to be more like Percy Jackson.
I like the third person in this, but the writing is definately more scene than summary (PJ was in first person and tended to summarize more because of it, I think), and I think is much lengthier and more...Young Adult fiction. This is great, and as I said, the prose is wonderful. The trouble is, I think Mr. Riordan might have been trying to put a lot into one book. No doubt some of the pitstops in the mythic roadtrip will be necessary later on. But it seems like a lot and this book was really long, as in getting into the Harry Potter proportions (oops! Sorry, RR, did it again). I think it will make for a better story, but it's almost like culture shock, going from Last Olympian not so long ago to the very differnt style of The Lost Hero.
I think we can relate this to the fact that PJO was written for Riordan's kids. That's wonderful, and I said it in an earlier review of PJO #3 (I think?) that it definately shows. PJO are the kind of books you read the summer you transistion from fifth grade to sixth. You're ready for the more actiony action, but the text is still simpler. TLH just strikes me as a bit more grown up of a series. The characters are all fifteen and sixteen, they're much more mature and have different things on the brain than what Percy did when he started his journey. The Heroes of Olympus, this new series, I think is definately more for Riordan as the author (apparently, he has also written some dark mysteries, so the shift actually does not surprise me much), which really shows in the prose.
None of this bad, but different.
Overall: still worth the read.
But...see for yourself:
The links are being dumb...but I assume everyone will be all right using the amazon.com search engine. :)
Title: The Last Olypian
Author: Rick Riordan
Summary: The final battle has arrived, and Percy Jackson and his friends must sacrifice much to defeat the Titan Lord Kronos, more than they had previously anticipated.
So, Percy Jackson.
I have to say I did enjoy the conclusion to this series. Not to compare two series that have been compared to death, but against Harry Potter, I have to say I favor the tighter story of PJ (there are merrits to the longer narration of HP, and I'll probably talk about that later, but not now. I will say that there was a day where I would not have enjoyed PJ as much, for the following reasons) and mostly this is because this is much more of a kid's story. The very way the book is formated (larger text and spacing between lines) even suggests lighter, children's reading. I'll talk about this a little more during The Lost Hero review down at the bottom, but let me get back to this. The story flows quickly, and that fit in very well with the story line. There's almost non-stop battle over a couple of hours (in fact I'm fairly sure the entire book takes place in about two days). But it also slows down toward the end, signifying the triumphal entry into Olympus when the demi-gods win (that is not a spoiler, you knew it was going to happen).
But I also think that the last sacrifice given is a piece of really good writing and not something to be spoiled. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I was still almost surprised at the end when it did. Riordan made a good choice in using that surprise.
Overall: Got me excited for The Last Hero (see below).
Title: Enchanted
Author: Orson Scott Card
Summary: Ivan was a normal Russian kid, until his parents decided to fake being Jewish so they could immigrate out of Soviet Russia. Right before they leave, Ivan comes across a woman on a pedistal in the woods, sleeping peacefully. Years later, when he returns, he manages to wake the sleeping beauty and start off on a completely different adventure.
So, let me say something about this book. Up until the last day, I read my standard fifty pages. And I am really glad I did that, because this was meant to be savored. It is a really imaginative story and the kind I hope to be writing some day, especially about fairy tales. I would say the best thing that Card does for his characters is that he makes them argue, and he makes them very introspective. This works in so many beautiful ways to help them interact. He also puts his characters through a little bit of suffering, though they come out before for it, and it helps the story and the characters to understand each other better.
When I got to that last day and the story went into the final peak of the rising action, I couldn't put it down and read the last one hundred and twenty eight pages no probelm.
Overall: Brilliant. I see why they call him a master story teller.
Title: Hawksong
Author: Amelia Atwater-Rhodes
Summary: Danica Shardae desperately wants to end the war between her people, the hawkes and other bird kind, and the serpents. But she finds herself sacrificing her heart to do so.
This reads very differently from most alternate universe fantasy. It's almost like reading a historical novel: you take a look into one piece of history and when that parts over, then the story is kind of done, but you understand that life goes on. You understand that Hawksong takes place in some alternate version of earth where the people have the ability to turn into animals and such. Still, the narration felt strange to me, almost forced to go at the pace it did. It was very quick to resolve its problems I will say that.
But the characterization is fairly good. Danica and Zane (another focal character) do care about their people to sacrifice their choice of partner (something which is rarely done in either of their societies) and marry each other to stop the war between their peoples. Still, perhaps it is because theire is not much prose to establish a feeling of time, it feels like Zane and Danica grow to together fairly quickly, falling in love not long after making the arrangement solely for the sakes of their people.
Though I do think the brevity of events described is something to be celebrated though, because Amelia does manage to capture the full scale of events in this short time (even if it is the first in the series of five :) )
Overall: Well Done
Title: Graceling
Author: Kristin Cashore
Summary: Katsa is a graceling, who has been graced with the ability to kill, and subsiquently was controlled by her uncle for most of her life. Recently though, Katsa has sought to do much good with her Grace, but when she rescues the prince of another kingdom, a strange mystery begins to unravel. Katsa with fellow graceling and recently acquired friend, Po, begins to unravel the mystery while gaining new perspective on her grace and her own freedom.
Graceling is kind of cool, though it's one of those books that you almost have to stick with for the first hundred pages, because the introduction is a little strange, half narration and half action, and then the prose slows down. You know what? That's cool. In fact, I think the prose mirrors what's going on in the story nicely. In the first part of the story Katsa and co are trying to figure out the mystery of who captured this one neutral elderly prince and why, and the prose kind of feels like they're trying to figure something out. The prose speeds up though when Katsa and Po get out on the road and start investigating. It's even speedier when Katsa is racing to get away with someone.
I really liked the way the plot worked out. But I won't talk about that much for fear of spoilers.
Anyway, the character development was also super well done, especially with Katsa who has always been raised to be a certain way, but now that she's breaking out on her own, she so desperate to be free that I think any jolts in her character are acceptable.
Overall: it's worth the wait
Title: Geektastic
Author: Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci
Summary: A complilation of short stories by your favorite geeky authors centering around one theme: Geeks are awesome, and it's great to be yourself.
So, a lot of things really vary in this set of stories. The type of geek ranges from story to story and I really admire and respect all of this. I'm not sure I can analyze it all, because they packed a lot into the four hundred pages here, but they have every kind of geek. They even surprised me with a reverse cinderella kind of geek. I love pretty much all of the authors that put this together, and being that I am a geek of all kinds, I enjoyed it thoroughly and just plain loved it.
Overall: Thanks for the suggestion, Emily.
Title: The Lost Hero
Author: Rick Riordan
Summary: Percy Jackson is not back in this latest sequel and his friends are only in it for a hot second. Instead this book focuses on Jason, son of Jupiter, Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, and Leo, son of Hepheastus, as they jet off to save Hera and stop the giants from rising.
So, though this book is well written (probably, dare I say, better written in terms of actual prose, than Percy Jackson), it needed to grow on me. In fact I am fairly sure that it still needs to grow more on me, and maybe I'll get into Son of Neptune more than I got into this one. I think it has largely to do with the fact that I was expecting the writing to be more like Percy Jackson.
I like the third person in this, but the writing is definately more scene than summary (PJ was in first person and tended to summarize more because of it, I think), and I think is much lengthier and more...Young Adult fiction. This is great, and as I said, the prose is wonderful. The trouble is, I think Mr. Riordan might have been trying to put a lot into one book. No doubt some of the pitstops in the mythic roadtrip will be necessary later on. But it seems like a lot and this book was really long, as in getting into the Harry Potter proportions (oops! Sorry, RR, did it again). I think it will make for a better story, but it's almost like culture shock, going from Last Olympian not so long ago to the very differnt style of The Lost Hero.
I think we can relate this to the fact that PJO was written for Riordan's kids. That's wonderful, and I said it in an earlier review of PJO #3 (I think?) that it definately shows. PJO are the kind of books you read the summer you transistion from fifth grade to sixth. You're ready for the more actiony action, but the text is still simpler. TLH just strikes me as a bit more grown up of a series. The characters are all fifteen and sixteen, they're much more mature and have different things on the brain than what Percy did when he started his journey. The Heroes of Olympus, this new series, I think is definately more for Riordan as the author (apparently, he has also written some dark mysteries, so the shift actually does not surprise me much), which really shows in the prose.
None of this bad, but different.
Overall: still worth the read.
But...see for yourself:
The links are being dumb...but I assume everyone will be all right using the amazon.com search engine. :)