Teen Inc, by Stefan Petrucha

I may have said in my book news post that I would read the Howl's Moving Castle sequel, but I decided that I would actually give that series a break and read this book, since I figured it would be a much quicker read. And it was! I read it in just one day!

I reserved this book from the library solely because I liked the last book I read by the author, The Rule of Won, which I reviewed last month. My instinct turned out to be right. ^_^ Really a funny and smart book, the kind I can appreciate. There aren't any fantasy elements in it, so this world is similar to our own. Therefore the characters are easy to relate to.

The thing that gets you to pick up the book in the first place is that it's a story about the first kid ever to be raised by a corporation. Yep. Weird, huh? The kid, Jaiden's, parents worked for the corporation, NECorp, but they died in some sort of accident, so NECorp decided to adopt Jaiden. I know about the expression "it takes a village to raise a child" (which I've never understood in any case) but it's pretty funny to exchange village for corporation.

Anyway, even with more than 2 parents raising him, Jaiden turns out to be a well-grounded kind of guy. I'm not sure if everybody in the company loves him like a parent should, but they take care of him at least, and near the end you can pretty much pick out the characters who really act like parents should. So the main plot is that Jaiden keeps it a secret of how he was raised, and he tries to win the girl of his dreams, even when his romantic interest tells him NECorp is poisoning the waters with mercury somehow (really bad). He tries finding out whether this is the truth and, I guess for the first time ever, rebels against his "parents". The villain in this story was pretty good here, and there's an unpredictable twist that reveals his identity. Well, I didn't see it coming.

Even though the part near the end kind of worked like a movie (in fact, Jaiden and his friends are actually aware that it's like they're in a movie, only it's real life. Ha, yeah right), I think the book wrapped up really nicely. Stefan Petrucha's books are alright. ^_^ I seriously recommend taking his books out. Either the ones I read, or any more you can find, because he's good.

Book news #1

Okay, this isn't a book review, but since it's around the beginning of the month I thought I'd share about certain book news. I don't know if anyone will be interested in it, but this is really more for me than for other people.

Right now I'm reading Howl's Moving Castle. I'm almost finished with it, so you'll get a review of it probably in the next day or 2. Anyone more familiar with the Hayao Miyazaki film adaptation of Howl's Moving Castle? So far I'm liking the movie slightly better, but the book is quite good too. You'll hear more of my opinion when I actually finish it.

Down below are the library books I currently have on my shelf that will eventually be read and reviewed, most probably in right-to-left order. I hope I like them.

House of Many Ways is a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle that was published very recently (mid-2008), so I want to read that first. Teen, Inc. is another book by Stefan Petrucha, who wrote Rule of Won, which I read last month (see review). I'll follow with that, since it has the least pages. I've heard a lot of things about Leviathan. I'm going to read this next, but kind of because Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is due later. Ha ha. That should be an interesting read. I've seen a movie adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, one that had Kiera Knightley as the main character. I wonder what that story will be like with zombies thrown into the mix...

I see that on the website for my library, I have a new book ready for me to pick up, Compound, by S. A. Bodeen . It was recommended to me by the Lateiner Gang (see their review). From what Dave and family say about it, I can't wait to check that one out. ^_~

Oh, now here's something that's really awesome. You'll love this. The other day, when my mom took me to Borders to hang out, I noticed this book. Not only did it catch my eye with the wild cover art. The first thing I saw was the author's name, Jasper Fforde. I really like this guy's works. He's written some pretty great book series, like Thursday Next and Nursery Crimes. This book, Shades of Grey, seems to be a standalone novel though, and it literally just came out! Amazon says it was published December 29th of 2009, the year that we said goodbye to not so long ago. Haha. ^_^

But that's not the good part yet. I decided to research this book a little, and I found that the book already has it's own website. See? On it, I discovered that the author, Mr. Fforde, is going to be on tour in the USA, so I took a look at the schedule to see if Florida was anywhere on it. Well... IT IS!!! He's coming on January 14th to a bookstore down in Coral Gables, which is 40 minutes from my house, for a Reading/Q & A/Signing. ^__^ I'm not sure whether my parents will let me go, but the event is two weeks away, so I'll probably be able to convince them by then. *cross fingers*

Jasper Fforde is also going to be touring New York, Missouri, Illinois, Washington, California, New Mexico, Georgia and DC. If any of my readers live in these states and you've raised an eyebrow in interest of this event, you should click this link for details.

The Rule of Won, by Stefan Petrucha

This was a pretty awesome book. I found it in the YA section (very recently discovered!) of our library. Obviously, the cover just draws you in. Doesn't it just look mysterious? ^_~ I've never heard of the author, but he's definitely got a great style, and the story is one of great intrigue. Oh, okay. I'll stop being all vague and tell you a little of what it's about.

Does anyone remember when the DVD "The Secret" came along, closely followed by the book? The Law of Attraction? Anything you want is yours as long as you're thinking strongly enough about it? Money, toys, relationships, health? The universe is abundant and all you have to do is ask? Well, if you haven't heard about "The Secret," this is a great story in which a parody of that book is used to demonstrate the wrong ways this power can be used. (I don't know how you might not have heard of "The Secret". I've seen it spoofed on an episode of the Simpsons as "The Answer". A hilarious episode. ^_^)

Screech High school student Caleb Dunne is proud to be known as a slacker. He's slightly lazy, a procrastinator, easy-going, not in a rush, tries to take the easy way out as much as possible. This doesn't make him a bad guy, or even bad in school. He's actually very likable, easy to relate to, and he does well enough in class. One day his girlfriend convinces him to join this new after-school club that wants to try implementing the principles of an explosive new book, "The Rule of Won." Apparently all you have to do is think positively and repeat affirmations to yourself that what you want is already yours and eventually it will manifest in real life. For a lazy person like Caleb, this sounds like a pretty interesting idea.

However the leader of this club, Ethan, is frankly a bit creepy. He believes in the Rule a little bit too much. Still, he convinces the club that the Rule is real and actually works, urging them to try it out for themselves. Every 3 chapters in the book it shows this message board, kind of like a forum for all the club members to speak their minds about what they want. At each meeting, they pick someone's desire, or Crave, and try to "imanifest" it together by chanting and thinking positively.

For a while, this power seems to actually work. They wish for better funding for their school, and they get half a million dollars! They wish that their sucky basketball team will win them the next game, and they win! But wait, something doesn't seem right. The school was up for a grant anyway, didn't anyone see the bulletin board a month ago? And the other team came down with the flu, so of course they lost the game easy. Is the Rule really working, or is everything just a strange coincidence? Would you use the Rule to get what you want, even if it bode ill for someone else?

But it's too late. The Rule of Won has turned into a school religion. If you don't believe, you might get beat up. And the next group Crave is for everyone to pass their next Algebra test. Without studying. Because you don't have to work to get what you want. You just have to wish it, and it will happen... won't it?

That was just the first half of the book. I don't want to take all the mystery out of it, so you'll just have to read it for yourself. But the story is really cool and thought-provoking, as well as just an exciting story to follow. And it's quite rare that I read a book that doesn't have at least some fantasy element. It was stationed in as real a world as you can imagine, and I really enjoyed it. I hope you do too.