Hi guys. ^_^

Wow, has it really been almost 4 months since I posted here? I guess I have been a lot busier than I thought... Geez, does time fly!

I don't exactly read as much as I used to, but some of the stuff I've been getting into is fantastic. I got really tired of reviewing every single book I got my hands on, so from now on, I'll only give the Internet the best of my opinions.

I'm still reading the books of the Old Testament, but I'm glad I decided to stop reviewing those. (Actually, to be honest, I only picked it back up after a month of not reading them at all. Embarrassing. :P) I'm done with Samuel 1 now, so it's Samuel 2 next.

No review here, just me giving an announcement that I'm back, if you guys will have me. ^_^ But I do hope to bang out a few posts today. I've got 3 things I really want to share with the Internet that you will probably see very: The Fruits Basket series, John Green's books, and Farenheit 451.

Bye for now!
Bettina

I'm back... again. =P

Hey guys... whoever is left reading this now...

It's been a month, but I decided to come back and post here after all, for a couple of reasons.

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One: I got a blog award! It's so pretty, isn't it? ^_^ I put it on the very top of my sidebar. I don't think I've ever gotten an award like this! I've been kindly mentioned on a couple other sites in the past (which you can see very close to the bottom of the sidebar), but haven't gotten an honor like this before.

I got my "Creative Blog Award" from someone who commented on my last post (you know, when I said I was completely done with book reviewing? =P). Her name is Dierdra Eden-Coppel, and she's a proffesional author/illustrator. Here's a link to her blog.

If you read the nice comment she left me, you'll see that in addition to giving me this award, she offered to interview me as an avid reader. Can you believe it? I couldn't when I first read it. ^,^

So yeah, I agreed to the interview and have, since then, submitted my answers to her questions. Dierdra told me that she'll post my interview on her blog on July 21st. I unfortunately won't be around at that date, so you'll have to keep your eyes peeled for it yourself.

Who knows? Perhaps as I result of my interview, I'll get a few more readers on my blog.

Two: I've read a few books that I actually really want to review! I decided I didn't want to let down any potential new followers, so I'm going to try making a come-back in reviewing. Lucky for you guys, I've had my hands on some pretty good reads. ^_~ You're welcome.

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Books 3 through 6 of the Maximum Ride series = total awesomeness! This James Patterson series is truly fantastic! I couldn't rave enough about his writing. I finished reading "Fang" just today, which is why I thought it was high time I get back to book blogging ASAP, before I forgot how I felt about this series.

I am so in love with the characters! Max, Fang, Nudge, Iggy, Gazzy, and Angel are all incredible kids with full-fledged personalities that shine through-out the pages of the books. Max, the titular character, in particular, is one of my favorite bird-kids. She masterfully led me through the story, narrating most of the Flock's adventures (sometimes Patterson goes out of her head and writes in 3rd POV for the plot's benefit), and I hung onto her every word.

There's a little bit of everything in these books. Action, suspense, mystery, drama, humor, even a bit of romance. You've got kick-butt fight scenes, a love triangle (well, that was only introduced in the last book, but still), unexpected revelations, a good message about global warming, and a constant driving desire to just keep turning pages!

I wasn't able to before, but just now I reserved the next book, "Angel", from my library. Hopefully it will get here quickly! I hear it's the second to last novel in the series, followed by "Nevermore", which is slated for February of next year.

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I said in my last post that I'd wanted to read a couple of Dan Savage's other books, and I did. They were just as great as "Skipping Towards Gomorrah" had been. First I read "The Kid", which chronicled how Dan and his boyfriend Terry adopted their son. It was another fascinating look into the life of a gay person, as well as a peek into the world of adoptive parents-to-be. A wonderful true story that I sincerely recommend.

Next, I read "It Gets Better." I absolutely loved it. Dozens and dozens of touching short stories, essays, and interviews by the LGBT community (as well as a couple celebrities and politicians), assuring the reader that life isn't as hopeless as it might seem to some. True, the aimed audience is for gay teens, but I think this should be required reading everywhere, for every age. It's a truly inspiring message that I've stood wholeheartedly behind since the day I first learned about it. It's a message that I hope never, ever dies. It does get better. By the time you finish this book, I'm sure you'll believe it, too.

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So there you go. Bettina's Book Club is back in business. ^_^

Happy reading!

Blog Retiring... again

I'm sorry guys. I don't think I'll be able to do the book reviewing thing anymore. And I mean it this time. I still love reading, more than anything else, but when it comes to reviewing them... if I get lazy just once, I start getting backed up on a whole line of books! I just want to keep gobbling books! I can't keep going back into the one I just read. I'm hungry for more!

So yeah, this is pretty much what I've been reading since my last review. All really good books in their own right. ^_^

• Born Digital ~ Very educational, bringing up all the issues and boons of today's wired generation
• Maximum Ride, Books 1 & 2 ~ I am so psyched about this series! Patiently awaiting #3 from the library. I will chase down Max and the flock's adventures right to the very end, I'm sure. ^_^
• I am the Messenger ~ This was by the guy who wrote The Book Thief (see my review here). I really enjoyed it!
• Skipping Towards Gomorrah ~ ...

Okay, if I'm going to be doing a proper review on any of the books I read, I might as well do this one.

I was very surprised when I found this book on our living-room shelf! I mean, a book by Dan Savage! The guy who started the It Gets Better project! He is one of my heroes now, and my parents just happened to have a book written by him, long before he got to be famous (well, in my eyes, anyway)! ^_^ I took this to the beach and had a blast reading it.

Warning though: this book is for really mature readers. Dan Savage is very frank in his language, and he's not at all afraid to talk about things like sex-related stuff, drugs, etc. It was kinda weird for me, reading all that, (blush *,*) but it was really refreshing to get such an open and honest take on the 7 deadly sins.

I learned a lot, was taken outside my comfort zone, and enjoyed reading about Dan's many sinful adventures. I reserved a couple of his other books, because I enjoy his writing style a lot!

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There. I think that will be the last book I review here now. I'm serious this time. If I'm going to mention that I read a great book, I'll say it in passing on my home blog. I'm sure you can find yourself there without my linking to it.

Happy reading, all! ^_^

Mister Monday, by Garth Nix

This book, oddly enough, was the free paperback I'd gotten from our other library on the greatest Saturday of my life (in which I saw the films New Moon and This is it in the theater on the same day!), so I am very sorry to say that I didn't end up liking this book. ~,~ I bought the book because the prologue had been a little interesting, and I knew it had great potential (plus I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that one of my Blogger friends liked this series. Jacoby, maybe?), but the rest of the story couldn't live up to my expectations.

Basically, from what I understand, an asthmatic kid named Arthur is pushed into this wonderland place where just about anything goes and he is forced to battle evil because this strange Key chooses him. He's a regular kid, and he's not wishing for any big adventure, but it still happens to him. For no reason at all. And in my opinion, the whole premise doesn't seem to have any point to it, no morals or anything. It just doesn't make any sense.

I really didn't like Arthur, for some reason. I couldn't relate to him at all. Obviously because he's a boy, and he's younger than me, and I don't have any illness like his asthma, but still. The author could have found a way to have the main character relate to all of his readers. I just couldn't see myself being friends with this kid, unlike most other main characters in books/ series I absolutely love. He didn't even have much of a back-story. I mean, his parents are dead so he's raised by foster parents who don't have much of a play in the story, but he seemed to be pretty much over it, so I couldn't even use his orphan-ness to feel sorry for him. He simply didn't give me much of a reason to care what happened to him, so I couldn't care less about what happens in the rest of this series. I didn't care much for the other characters either.

The world that Arthur finds himself pushed into really didn't seem to go by any solid rules. There are creatures that are made of Nothing, some people fly with (removable?) wings, you can go through time by way of an Improbable Stair (improbable indeed!) and so many other confusing things. It's a bit hard to tell who are Arthur's friends and enemies. Well, I know Mister Monday is the guy that Arthur has to beat, and Arthur meets this girl who follows him around and helps him, but with most of the other characters I found it hard to place their true colors. And there didn't seem to be any set rules on what kind of magic was allowed in this story universe. This metal minute hand Arthur carries around, the Key, does anything he asks it to do in plain English. And as long as he keeps a hold on it, his asthma is cured. Just because.

Really, it isn't that often that I am forced to write a bad bad review, but sometimes it just has to be done. I can't think of anything positive to say about this book. It has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Even the writing style was clunky, and Arthur's thought process... give me a break. Don't worry though. The book that I read right after this one was able to cheer me up quite a bit.

Gone, by Michael Grant

This book was another recommendation by the Lateiners. These guys are a really great site if you're looking for some cool new reads, I got to tell ya. ^_~ Anyway, I think this book was pretty neat and I wanted to tell you a bit about it and why I liked it. So...

Well, to tell you the truth, it kind of reminded me of Maze Runner. Where kids have to act like grown-ups and survive in a new society. The difference is that it's in the "real world" where everyone knows how the world is supposed to work, as opposed to the Gladers in Maze, who all forget their former lives.

It all starts when all the adults and anyone over the age of 15 disappears off the face of the Earth. Or just off the face of Perdido Beach in California. No explanation or fireworks. Everyone just disappears and only the little kids and young teenagers are left to fend for themselves. And when you turn 15 years old, you'll vanish as well! Not only that, the Internet, cellphones and all televisions stop working, so they're cut off from the rest of the world. And there's a strange, impenetrable barrier that wraps around the city limits, so they can't even escape. Oh, and add to all of these scary facts that some kids have started to discover superpowers, and some animals are mutating in very weird ways? I think you've got yourself a very interesting story here.

I liked all the characters in the book. Nearly everyone gets a little bit of the story to tell, so you get inside their head a little bit. The personality of the main guy, Sam, kind of reminded me of Harry Potter, in that he's kind of the reluctant hero, but he's noble and shows natural leadership and tries to do the right thing. Characters like Albert and Mary are also neat, because these teens are selfless and only think about the needs of others. Albert runs the local McDonalds and feeds everyone Big Macs, while Mary runs the day care center and looks after all the children who aren't able to take care of themselves, like babies and preschoolers. These people are big heroes to me.

Some parts were... okay. Like the fact that there were a lot of mean bullies out there. And not that the bullies caused all of it, but there was a lot of blood and gore and pain in this story. There was a very interesting sub-plot about this girl Lana, who at the time of every adult's disappearance was with her Grandpa in a car on the highway in the desert, and with Gramps gone she gets into a major car-crash and nearly dies! Luckily, she discovers she has the power to heal herself, but only after a long, long time. It tortured me to read about how much pain she had to endure. Sheesh!

The end of the book was very open-ended. I knew ahead of time that this was a series, so I know there's more to the story here. Still, I think it was a good place to end this part of the tale. I don't know how long it'll take me to want to read the sequel. Hunger, is it called? Well anyway, I think I'll take a little break from the series. I'm not that crazy about it. But it's good enough that I can recommend it to you.

The Hourglass Door, by Lisa Magum

I'd heard a lot of good things about this book in a couple places. Like, it was almost the new "Twilight" or something like that. But I didn't pay that much attention to it until my friend, Jacoby (who reviews here every once in a blue moon), wrote about meeting the author, Lisa Mangum, at the Authorpalooza a month or so ago (ooh, I wish I could've gone ~,~). He gave huge props to her book, and since I trust his taste I decided to take it out from my library.

Friends, this book is the real deal! Truly amazing! I'm so glad that I was able to read this book, because it was awwwwwe-some! (I want to sound like an aussie surfer dude when I say that, btw. ^,~)

The people were really pretty much right when they said it was like Twilight. Similarities? It was told in the first person view-point of the girl, Abby, she meets a hot guy, Dante, who is actually much older than he appears, they fall in love, and there are others of Dante's kind who want to hurt her and other humans. Differences? Well, thankfully there's a lot of those, so this story still feels pretty original.

For one thing, I'll say a big NO that this is not another book about vampires, thank goodness, although for the longest time I was truly knocking my brain to figure out what the heck Dante was, so I labeled him as a vampire temporarily. But just so you all know, he's not. Another difference is that unlike Bella, Abby actually has a boyfriend before this attractive, Italian stranger comes into her life. Obviously though, this dude is absolutely no match for Dante. There are other, smaller comparisons to be made, such as the fact that Abby's family situation is a normal one (both mom and dad + little annoying sister), she's more adventurous and not exceedingly clumsy like Bella is, and the whole story kind of centers on the subject of time travel, but I think you should know what the basic story is, so you have a good idea if you'd like it too or not. (And I dare you not to like this book! I think it's great!)

It all starts when an Italian "exchange-student" arrives in Abby's school while she's rehearsing a play, Much Ado About Nothing. (Actually, it starts when she sends an application to this really cool sounding college called Emery, but I don't think it's that important of a detail. It doesn't have a lot to do with the main story.) Despite her having a boyfriend, Jason, Abby takes an interest in Dante right away, just as he obviously takes an interest in her. Since he mysteriously knows nothing about Shakespeare's play, they meet and have breakfast in a cafe and get to know each other. Unfortunately, this guy is really secretive, and Abby can barely get a thing out of him. They hang out for what seems like hours, but when she goes back home it's as if she was only gone for 30 minutes. Definitely weird.

I won't reveal too much, since I'd like for you guys to fully enjoy it yourselves, but other plot elements in this book include an impossible invention created by Leonardo da Vinci, an awesome rock band named Zero Hour whose members don't turn out to be as awesome as all that, a couple school dances in which very strange time-related things happen, and a journey to a very surreal River Bank.

Let me also say that one of my favorite characters, besides the famous couple of this novel, is Dante's care-taker/ father figure, Leo. For want of a better word, he's very... cool. Like, he runs this neat club called the Dungeon, where teens can hang out and get drinks and listen to live music and have a great time. He's really friendly and nice to everyone, and he reminds me strongly of the head of Twilight's Cullen clan, Carlisle, who for all intents and purposes is Edward's father. They're both really great characters.

I absolutely loved the writing style of this book. It's not just that it reminded me of Twilight's style (which it did), but I am really a big fan of first person story-telling, especially if it's by a girl I can identify strongly with. But besides that, the story really did pull me in and almost refused to let me go. It was a fun, emotional, adventurous roller-coaster of a read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I hope you will feel the same way too, when you read it.

Alvor, by Laura Bingham

So yesterday something really cool happened. A friend gave me my own copy of Alvor for my 18th birthday! I thought it was super-nice of them, and that this book made a fantastic present. You may or may not know this, but I really love the author, Laura Bingham's blog. It's how I found out about her book in the first place. Actually, I found out about Laura from the great James Dashner's blog ^,^. He's awesome, possibly my all-time favorite author (sorry, Rowling >,<). Not just because he's a great writer of best-selling books, but because he's reputed as being an extremely nice guy. I believe it too, since he sent me an ARC of his new book, Maze Runner, about a month back. (Neener neener neener! ^_~)

Anyway, back to Alvor. I forget when, but I first read chapter 1 straight from Laura's blog (if you want to see it too, it's right at the bottom of her blog. Pretty conveniant, I'd say!) and I decided I was hooked after that. I knew I had to find out what happened next, and I learned it had been out for a while now, but I couldn't find it in my bookstore when I looked for it. But finally, I got it as a pre-birthday present. How awesome is that? And now I can review it and say what I think about it...

Um, this is really weird and awkward for me to say, but... I, uh... didn't exactly... like it.

I promise that I'm not saying this lightly, or with an easy heart. I've heard nothing but good things about this book. Dashner himself wrote a blurb saying how amazing Laura's debut novel is, how it leaves you thinking a lot by the end. I've read great reviews from other blogs as well as author interviews, and convinced myself that this author and her book were gold. Well trust me, I still LOVE Laura and her blog immensely, and think that she's gold, so this is absolutely nothing against her as a person. But if I'm going to be honest, with myself and with my readers, I have to admit that, for me, Alvor was not.

Now, don't get me wrong. I can certainly step back and see why most people would like reading Alvor. The story is a pretty good one, and I believe it had lots of promise and potential. I just think the way the story was told... it didn't exactly sit right with me. I also completely understand that this is only Laura Bingham's first venture as an author, which is fine! Not everyone has to be a J. K. Rowling, or a Stephenie Meyer on their first try. Still, I must admit that I was a bit disappointed with the result.

So here's the story, for those who still would like to take the chance. (And I thorougly welcome you to, so you can attempt to prove my opinions wrong.) The main characters are a pair of 15-year old boy/ girl twins, Bain and Erin, respectively. Mostly the book is from the girl Erin's view, but sometimes it goes to Bain's side too. One day, these twins go exploring and find a mysterious cottage in the woods that they're sure they've never come across before. After that, the adventure takes off from there.

There's a big underground maze of magical rooms where the twins start training with swords and magic arts. They gain different powers and gifts from these rooms, for example, Erin can tell by a person's aura whether they're telling the truth or not, and Bain can spot things that are magical that normal people don't notice. Also huge differences between the twins is that Erin discovers that she loves to fly (be it on pegasus horse or on dragon) and Bain doesn't, and that Bain seems to like sword-fighting a lot more than Erin does.

So why are they doing all this training? Because they eventually learn that if they keep it all up, they will soon turn into elves. Who tells them all this? Oh, a few fairies (or alvor), their elf teachers, a dragon and their Fairy God Mother. (Who actually used to be Cinderella's own godmother, although she points out that she certainly didn't sing "Bibbidy Bobbity Boo!") I don't know. Perhaps I'm wrong (I often am), and I don't mean to be cruel, but does that sound right to you?

A couple things that I didn't like was how strongly I was reminded of two particular books. I understand that I've said before how books I review reminded me of other books, and that this was considered a good thing. In this case, it wasn't. First off, anyone ever hear of Michael Scott's Nicholas Flamel trilogy? There's "The Alchemyst," "The Magician" and "The Sorceress." I only read the first two, and I've pretty much decided I didn't want to find out what happened in the last book. Anyway, this series is ALSO about magic boy/girl twins, with the girl being the good one and the boy being the one who's kidnapped and led astray by the bad side, and so I didn't exactly like how Alvor seemed almost to mirror that.

The other book series I am forcibly reminded of is the Inheritance Cycle, by Chistopher Paolini. Unlike the Nicholas Flamel books, I am a big fan of all the volumes released in this series so far: "Eragon," "Eldest," and "Brisingr." What Alvor reminds me of here is the fact that Erin makes firm friends with a golden dragon, named Pulsar, in a way that I've only ever associated with Eragon and his sky-blue dragon, Saphira. They can read each other's minds (even at great distances, except on certain occasions), having a dragon helps significantly boost her understanding of magic, and there is nothing that either of them like better than flying high above the clouds with Erin riding upon Pulsar's back. ALL of these things can be found pretty much in exactly the same way in the Inheritance Cycle. I have to admit, that didn't sit well with me at all!

Alright, that's all I'm going to say about this book now. I didn't mean to sound angry with the book. I'm not. But as you can see, certain plot elements did conspire to turn me off from enjoying this particual novel. Not to mention that I occasionally spotted a spelling mistake or two, and this book has already been out for awhile, so there must be thousands of copies all with these same mistakes. That usually helps put me out too. I just wish I could've had a better experience reading this book.

HOWEVER... If I happened to have a rating system in this blog, say 5 out of 5 stars or something like that, you'd be pleased to know that despite my sour attitude towards this novel, I would award the book 4 stars, and not a measly 1. This is because I truly think the author is talented and I support her wholeheartedly in polishing up her craft. I'm sure that the sequel will be a big improvement.

I hope that if Laura happens to read this review, she will not be offended or become downhearted, because that is absolutely not my goal in publishing this post. All I'm doing here is giving some brutally honest feedback and constructive criticism. If this happens to be difficult for you to accept, trust me. It was difficult for me to write, and admit. But I feel greatly relieved having gotten all this off my back, and I'm positive that you will see that my opinions are just as helpful as those who love your book unconditionally.

If you'd like to email me about your feelings on this, Laura, you are more than welcome to. You have my address. ~,~ For the rest of my readers, I greatly apologise for the length and content of this review. Feel free to comment if you'd like your feelings to be known,

Graceling, by Kristin Cashore

This book was highly recommended to me by the "Latiener Gang," who are now holding a contest for it's prequel, "Fire." You can find more info about it on their blog. I figured I'd keep an eye out for this book, since the prequel was getting so hyped up, but I had no idea I'd find it so soon after thinking about it. O_0

Anyway, this story is a great one. The basic setup is that it takes place in some medieval time when people still rode horses for transport and kings laid down the law. It's not exactly a fantasy story, like, there's no elves or dragons or anything like that. But what's special about this world is that there are some people who are blessed with special powers that give them a certain uniqe talent, different from everyone else's. These powers are called Graces, and the people who have them are Gracelings. (Hence the title of this book.)

All Gracelings are easily identified by their eyes, because they're always two different colors. Every Grace is completely unique for each individual, just like everyone's special talent is pretty much unique. There are Graces for baking, or having a green thumb in the garden, for master fighting skills, or superior strength. There's even special mind-reading Graces, although everyone reads different things, depending on the Grace. (Sadly, there's no Grace for flying, or having control over the elements. That's still imposible in this world. =P)

Anyway, most Gracelings are sent to live in their respective kingdom's palace (there are 7 kingdoms in this land) because, hey, royalty's got to have the best people working for them, right? So the main character of our story, a Graceling woman by the name of Katsa (everyone has one name in this old world too), appears to have the Grace of killing. At least, that's what people think it is. Graces are sometimes hard to quantify, if they're not blatantly obvious. But she seems to know how to "bring down" a guy, so her mean uncle, who is one of the kings, uses her for some of his dirty work. (He isn't one of the nicer kings, but he's not necessarily the villain here.) Of course, when you're looking at it from Katsa's point of view, she's not really all that monstrous and scary. She's just a regular person who is just used to being feared by the people.

I don't want to bore you with all the complicated, convoluted plot elements here, but when the story starts getting real momentum, it's mostly a love story between Katsa and a Graceling prince, Po, whose Grace is also not exactly what it seems, though it does allow him to be about the only person who can hold his ground in a fight with the fierce Katsa, so that's saying something.

This book reminded me strongly of certain other stories I've come to love. Example: the powerful Gracelings, as well as the romance, reminded me of the awesome vampires from the Twilight Saga. The name Katsa reminds me of the main girl in the "Hunger Games," Katniss. (Pretty darn similar, huh? But I don't hold it against either author. Both charcters are amazing!) Finally, the ending that resulted in "Graceling" seemed, to me, to have a Jane Eyre type of feel to it. (If you've read Jane Eyre like I have, maybe you'd know what I mean by that.) Ooh, plus there's the character known as Po. Now, please tell me you didn't immediately think of the fat, pudgy panda voiced by Jack Black who couldn't do any Kung-Fu? Well you don't have to worry, because this Po is nothing like that.

This book was an absolute pleasure to read, and I can't wait to read more by the author. ^_^

Farworld: Water Keep, by J. Scott Savage.

Sorry it's taken me so long to post about this book. So many other things in the Blogosphere have been distracting me. The Authorpalooza... certain contests... other stuff...

I think I'll make this short and sweet. This series, Farworld, seems to show some promise here. I'm not sure I liked the beginning all that much, (especially the first chapter. What the heck is an ishkabiddle???) but by the end of the book I was curious about what would happen next.

The story is that a kid in a wheelchair, named Marcus, has this pretend world that he goes to in his imagination, Farworld. The animals talk and make corny jokes, magic runs rampant, and he's friends with a pretty girl there. In fact, it's a little weird, because Marcus can actually do certain magic tricks, like disappearing and knowing when certain bullies are about to attack him.

But soon Marcus is sucked into Farworld, for real. His imaginary friend, Kyja, is the only girl who cannot perform magic, and Farworld is in danger. (What kind of story would there be if the world wasn't in danger?) To save Earth and Farworld, the two kids have to go to the Elementals of Water Keep, Land Keep, Air Keep and Fire Keep for help, which is supposed to be a near impossible task because the Elementals want nothing to do with one another. In their first adventure (obviously), their mission is to find Water Keep.

I think my favorite parts were whenever Marcus and Kyja "world-jumped" to Earth. Kyja's reactions to Earth things, like cars and fast food and basketball, are pretty comical.

Despite there being 4 Keeps the kids need to go to for help, I've heard that there will be 5 books in the Farworld series. The last one will be Shadow Keep. I wonder what that's about...

The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica: Here, There be Dragons, by James A. Owen

I remember passing this book several times in the store, completely uninterested by the cover. I used to be pretty picky then, and totally judged books by their covers. I mean, look. Doesn't that look like a bit of a creepy story? But time and time again, I find that my first impressions are often entirely wrong. Thanks to Graham's recommendation, I had a reason to give this series a try.

The book starts off in 20th century England (a period and place I love reading about almost as much as modern America). The main characters are three Oxford men who are brought together because a professor of theirs dies. You don't get a clue throughout the story, but these three men actually go on to become world famous authors. Following Graham's example, however, I will refrain from revealing the characters' names so that you can read the book yourself. Anyway, these heroes have to guard this precious book, an atlas full of maps from the realm of fictional lands, the Imaginarium Geographica.

So these three English dudes are hurled into this high seas adventure of the imagination, where elements from various fantasy novels come into play around every corner. Talking animals, elves, trolls, magic rings, an army full of a unique brand of undead, and, of course, dragons. Well, you'd expect there to be some dragons in it, wouldn't you?

The book was really nice. The characters were well thought out and had lots of life in them. Each revelation uncovered in the course of the story was a genuine surprise, which was a good plus. I dislike stories where you can predict the outcome a mile away. I think the villain was okay. Though I'm a bit confused by Graham's review of the series. How does the Winter King keep reappearing? In the end of the first book, he literally gets sent off the edge of the world, so isn't he supposed to be falling down a dark, eternal abyss?

I know, I know. I have to read it for myself. And I probably will, eventually. But I'm going to take it easy with my fiction intake this month. I need to be focused enough to write more in my own novel. I haven't worked on it in ages. (Although as soon as Graham finished Pendragon 1, Merchant of Death, I'll see what I can do about getting the second Fablehaven.)

Fabelhaven, by Brandon Mull

Okay, so I guess Pendragon # 10 was not the last thing I'd review this month. And neither is this book. I'm still reading another recommendation of Graham's, Here, There be Dragons, but I promise that that will be the final review. Reading is fun, but I definitely need to get back to my own book writing.

I discovered that after awhile, for some reason, I grew tired of reading Elantris. I decided that Brandon Sanderson wasn't necessarily for me, so I returned that and Mistborn to the library. I also returned Epic, but I kept Fablehaven and Here, There be Dragons. I think it's partly because I want to get through my reading load quickly, but mostly I believe I've got a special taste in what I'm willing to try reading. I think I didn't want to read Brandon Sanderson's works or Epic because the stories are about completely imaginary worlds that have all kinds of rules that the author invented, and I'm not quite that willing to learn a whole new set of rules for the sake of enjoying the story set in front of me. Fablehaven and Here, There be Dragons, however, are novels that start off in a familiar way. The main characters are humans who live in a normal world and have regular, mortal concerns in life. They just happen to be thrown into unusual circumstances by the time the story starts for them. I like that, because then we all start on the same level. The reader, as well as the confused protagonist, has to have time to learn the ropes in order to save the day. At least, that's my theory about it, anyway. That's how I'm writing my book.

Anyway, back to the regularly scheduled review. Fablehaven seems to be quite an interesting start to a series. It reminded me a bit of The Spiderwick Chronicles, only this was better, I believe (I really didn't like the Spiderwick movie made by Nickelodeon, despite the fact that Freddy Highmore was in it. It very much soured up my opinions for the book series). Two young kids, a cautious girl and a mischievous boy, get dropped off at their grandparents' house while their parents go away on a cruise. The kids later find out that the grandparents are caretakers of a large, magical preserve for mythical creatures. Sounds like fun, huh? Well, as the children discover, fantasy isn't always so fluffy and suger-coated.

I think the book was really good. The characters were memorable and well thought out, and Mull's magic rules seem valid enough too. It's mostly based on the common sense that if you don't bother the magic creatures, they won't bother you. But if you cause any mischief, whether on purpose or on accident, they can punish you really bad.

As much as I enjoyed reading Fablehaven, though, I don't think I'll get into the series. It'll just be another distraction for me. Besides, it's a great standalone novel. But I still happily recommend the series to kids who like stories about magic, like my brother Adam.
Coming up: Here, There be Dragons, from the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica.

The Fire Eternal, by Chris D'Lacey

I'm not really sure what to say about this book. I looked forward to reading it very much, because I liked the 3 books written before it, The Fire Within, Icefire, and Firestar. Though they're rather big books, I read them all very quickly last year, which is a pretty good sign that I rabidly enjoyed them. It had squirrels, clay dragons that came to life, a guy in college who becomes a writer, polar bears, all these spiritual, magical adventures, and an enviromental message.

I liked it a lot. But when I read this, I somehow got turned off from it. All the magic stuff kind of goes over my head, especially near the end. And the main character, David... I have no idea how he came back to life when he was supposed to have died in the previous book. It didn't give a good enough explanation.

I'm not sure where the author went wrong, but I think he should have left the series as a trilogy. Worse, the ending he wrote smacked of the possibility of another sequel. There were too many things that I didn't get, too many unresolved plot elements... Ah yes. I just checked out Wikipedia, and it seems there is a sequel on the way. Darkfire. Appropriate, I guess. It'll be released this summer. I'm not sure whether or not I'll pick it up, when I have the opportunity to. I am quite curious whether D'Lacey redeems himself with the next book, but I pretty much doubt it'll be worth it.

The Battle of the Labyrinth, by Rick Riordan

Facts: I read this in about 2 days. It was published in 2008. It had 360 pages, or 20 chapters. I suppose the chapters don't really matter though. Then again, neither does how long it takes me to finish a book. The only time I'm excited about my reading speed is when I finish a really good book in one day. I'll let you know when that happens.

My Opinion: This Percy Jackson book was a pretty good one. Sometimes it's hard keeping track of so many characters, but I can handle it. I still enjoy reading about all the different Greek legends and gods and monsters. You can unwittingly learn a lot of stuff reading this way. Like the story about Daedalus inventing the labyrinth. You know, I also used to remember the myth about a Greek man and his son escaping a dungeon by making temporary wings with feathers and wax, and the son flew too high so the sun melted the wax and the boy dropped into the sea. I didn't know that that guy was Daedalus too. Some things like that just connected in my brain.

The story was exciting, and from the end I can tell that the final show-down will be in the next book. It has to be. I mean, Percy turned 15 and the prophecy revolves around him turning 16. Plus Kronos is in Luke's body and there's definitely going to be a big Olympian war. Another thing I enjoyed was reading about Percy's kinda messed up love life. Like, he seems to like Annabeth and she must like him, since they've known each other through all the books and saved each other a hundred times. But there's a human who can see through the magical Mist, Rachel, who Percy seems to also have a semi-crush on. It makes me really wonder who he'll end up with when the world is saved and it's all over. Well, hopefully the world will be saved. That's all up to Rick Riordan, though.

I have a feeling that I won't be reading an awful lot this week, since I need to work hard on my SAT studies. So don't expect any book reports until after the 14th. If something does happen to turn up on this book club blog, I sure hope it's a book that Jacoby's read. (Please don't make me do all the work around here.)

*Edit* BTW, Q, I thought of you every time Percy's sword/pen Riptide was mentioned. I'm still confused about how it came to be in your possession. Think you can clear it up for me?

The 39 Clues ~ The Maze of Bones, by Rick Riordan

Facts: I lost track of when I started this book, but I think it only took me around 2 days. It was published in 2008. It's only 220 pages long, with 20 chapters. This is a series that I believe will be written by various authors. I was interested because Rick Riordan wrote the first one. This 39 Clues thing has a whole website for playing games and looking for clues of your own. I'm registered already as FloraSunnair. It's an okay site, but I doubt it's as fun as Jacoby's 100 clues game is going to be. Besides, the prizes and stuff that they apparently hand out (I never believe those things) are only elegible to under 14 year-olds. Maybe Brian or LouMac could try out for winning. Here's the website, if you feel so inclined to join, but before you do you should read the book first.

My Opinions: I like the book a lot better than I like its site. The story is that a grandmother dies and she leaves a sort of treasure hunt for her relatives  in her will. This family is apparently the most powerful family on Earth, with a bunch of famous people distantly related to them. The 39 clues should lead someone or some group to a great treasure or something that will make them have a very strong hold over the human race. Something along those lines.

The main characters are young and smart, so they're my kind of people. Amy and Dan Cahill, 14 and 11 respectively. You know, when I read about some of Amy and Dan's competition, Ian and Natalie Kabra, I was somehow reminded of the rivalry between the characters in the Spy Kids series. Remember in the 2nd, Gary and Gertie Giggles? They were who I thought of when I read about Ian and Natalie. So after that I thought of Amy and Dan as Carmen and Junie. I know, this is all probably confusing if you've never seen Spy Kids, let alone read the 39 Clues. You'd have to have done both to appreciate the comparison.

If you don't care for joining the website, that's completely fine. It's not the kind of site where you make friends. It's a lonely search for the clues. You need to play silly games to get them anyway. But if you'll just read the book, you'll find a neat little clue right in it's pages. Hint: Pay special attention to the page numbers, especially near the end.

Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness, by Kaza Kingsley

I have finished the 2nd Erec Rex book. I should remember to tell Kaza later. It had 345 pages and, if you count the prologue and the epilogue, 27 chapters. Not much bigger than the first book, I believe. It was published very recently, in 2008. That probably means it'll take a while for the next book to come out. It took me 2 days to read. The 16th and the 17th. I finished it last night. Okay, here's what I have to say about it.

I think I liked this book just as much as the 1st one. You told me I wouldn't catch any H.P. similarities, Kaza? Well, I think I did, but maybe only because I was looking for them. Like, all the angry mobs saying that both Erec and King Piter aren't fit to be their rulers and that the Stain brothers and Baskania are? That reminds me of the Order of the Pheonix, when no one believes Harry or Dumbledore when they say Voldemort has returned. Also, Balthazar Ugry still reminds me of Severus Snape. I really can't tell if he's a good guy or a bad guy. He does good things, but he hates Erec. I think in the epilogue it appears that he likes Erec's mom or something?...

Anyway, my favorite part of this story was the new character Tina. Of course, because my name is Bettina. If I hadn't known that you'd published this book long ago, I would've thought you'd added me in on purpose. But I only "met" you about a month ago, so it's just a normal coincidence. So moving on, Tina is cool. After the first note, I looked forward to Erec reading her letters because she sounded so sweet. See, Tina has a crush on Erec and she writes him fan-mail, because where she comes from he's a hero. Erec has no idea who this girl is, but he humors her by writing back replies. Her crush elevates. She even writes a good song for him. Then near the end, Erec finally meets Tina and she is not how he expected her to look, especially since she never supplied a picture of herself. She is, in fact, the creature standing behind them on the cover. I was pretty taken aback when I realized that with Erec. All along, I thought that monster was another character that was described as a green, reptile-like thing, Rocso Kroc. Hey, it might have been.

I thought that part of the book was the most interesting. I think I used to have a crush named Eric, but I never would've been brave enough to write him letters, even if I knew his mailing address. It also reminds me of certain correspondences I share with my Blogger friends, except I know from their pictures that they are certainly no Hydras. And everyone knows that I'm not one either! You can see my picture quite plainly! Um, but not here, that is. On my regular blog you can. For some reason my profile doesn't show anymore.

The Titan's Curse, by Rick Riordan

Title: The Titan's Curse

Author: Rick Riordan

Published: 2007

Pages: 312

Chapters: 20

Pages per Chapter (on average): 15+

Date Started: Jan. 18-----Date Finished: Jan. 19

My Reading Speed: 156 pages a day, or 10 chapters a day

The Main Characters: Percy Jackson, son of the sea god Poseidon, plus his friends Grover, a satyr, and Thalia, daughter of Zeus.

My Brief Synopsis: Well, this is the third book in this particular series, so people who haven't read the previous 2 probably won't be able to follow. But Thalia, the demigod who used to be the tree guarding Camp Half-Blood, becomes a big character because Annabeth, as well as the goddess Artemis, gets kidnapped by the Titans, so Percy, Thalia and Grover have to go on a quest to save them before the Winter Solstice.

The Conflicts: As usual in this series, there are a bunch of fights and cool, dangerous monsters, if you're into that sort of thing. Luke, a son of Hermes being manipulated by the titan Kronos, is the guy you'd label as the villain. There are also a couple of new demigods, Bianca and Nico di Angelo, who are introduced to the scene. Bianca becomes a Hunter, and both she and her brother have a mysterious past.

My General Comments: I wasn't very sure if I wanted to continue this series at first, but I actually liked this book. It was good and fast-paced, and even after a couple of years of being a hero, Percy still finds something new to learn about being a demigod every once in awhile, therefore allowing us, the readers, to learn as well. That's what I think a good hero should be in this kind of series. Humble, and always learning, never assuming to know everything about his/her world, unlike their arrogant foes.

My Favorite Part: I like the parts where Percy meets an Olympian God or Goddess, to see how these figures of celestial power are described and what their characters are like. When all the gods are together, as in the Winter Solstice meeting and the Olympian party, it's pretty cool.

My Favorite Things About the Book: I enjoy reading about all the allusions to greek mythology. Most of my knowledge about greek gods and stuff I got from the Disney movie Hercules, so it's fascinating learning about all the names and the myths. Pretty smart of Mr. Riordan to fuse that kind of education with these cool adventures.

A Personal Shout Out to Rick Riordan: Kudos to you, Rick. You must've spent hours studying your Greek Mythology literature. You created such a cool and original world, I can almost believe that the gods are still around and kicking.

Here's the link to The Titan's Curse's Wikipedia Article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Titan's_Curse

Also the series' Wikipedia Article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Jackson_and_the_Olympians

Below is Rick Riordan's website:

http://www.rickriordan.com/

What is your favorite part? If you haven't read this book, sorry for all the spoilers, but you can comment and say if this book review was helpful. If you have read this book, please give me a comment or email me so we can discuss it. This would be the closest I've ever gotten to a book club, you know.

Edit: There's now going to be a movie of the original Percy Jackson book, The Lightning Thief. Here's a trailer:

Erec Rex: The Dragon's Eye, by Kaza Kingsley

Title: Erec Rex: The Dragon's Eye

Author: Kaza Kingsley

Illustrator: Melvyn Grant

Published: 2007

Pages: 340

Chapters: 25

Pages per Chapter (on average): 13+

Date Started: Jan. 13-----Date Finished: Jan. 15

My Reading Speed: 113+ pages a day, or 8+ chapters a day.

The Main Characters: Erec Rex, a 12 year-old boy with funny hair and a glass eye, and Bethany Evirly, an girl who's good with numbers.

My Brief Synopsis: When Erec's adopted mother goes missing, his search leads him to an entire other world full of unusual magic. Because the 3 rulers of the magic lands Aorth, Ashonaand Alypium are old and want to retire, contests for kids are being held to decide who will be the next 3 successors. Erec decides that entering this competion can't hurt, and with lots of help from his friends he gets closer and closer to maybe becoming a king.

The Conflicts: It's not going to be that easy, however. There are kids who cheat a lot, and the contests seem rather dangerous. Someone is also driving competitors away with various incidents. A minotaur runs loose, attack fleas makes everyone itch like crazy, swamp gas invades the dormitories. One of the king's AdviSeers, Balthazar Ugry, is a suspicious character, always around when something bad happens. Erec later discovers that his mom is trapped in the dungeon of King Pluto and he has to steal various ingrediants for a blasting formula. And on top of all that, it seems that there's a plot to take over the magic realms using the 3 royal scepters, and Erec's mother keeps hinting that someone might be out to get him.

My General Comments: As I read this book, I couldn't help but think that Kaza drew a lot of inspiration from the Harry Potter series. The whole plot almost seems to be an attempt to mix the plots of Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix, with all the contests and breaking into dungeons. Balor Stain very much reminds me of Malfoy, and Ugry definitly has a Snape-ish air in my imagination. I can tell that Springball was trying to be another Quidditch. It's got really complex rules, none of which involve broomsticks. I can't say I'm very scared of Baskania. He's no Voldemort. I liked the book, but I think it was a little funny how quickly the kids accepted all the weird things about the magic world. It's like, "Oh, would you look at that? That's not normal. But I guess it's normal here, so I'm good."

My Favorite Part: I guess I liked the parts with the contests in them. There are 6 of them, I think, and it's like American Idol. The group of competing kids is always reduced after each task is completed. The games seem fun. I think I'd have stood a chance of winning them if I was a character.

My Favorite Things About the Book: I enjoyed the semi-closeness to Harry Potter. The main characters reminded me a lot of Harry and Hermione. It's a shame there couldn't be a kind of Ron in there. I really liked the illustrations at the beginning of each chapter, by Melvyn Grant. His style is incredibly close to J.K.'s illustrator, Mary Grandpre. I like that Erec has different colored eyes, because in the book I'm writing my villain has a green and blue eye, so when I saw the cover up close I thought it was cool. It's not referenced a lot in the book, though. I also thought it was funny how Bethany sounded a lot like Bettina to me.

A Personal Shout Out to Kaza Kingsley: This book sounds like an interesting start to a series. I'm not sure what else is going to happen to Erec, but it sounds cool. I hope you don't take it the wrong way about how close your story is to Harry Potter. Did you get a lot of inspiration from it, I wonder?

Here's the link to Erec Rex's Wikipedia Article. It doesn't say much right now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erec_Rex

Below is the Erec Rex website:

http://erecrex.com/

What is your favorite part? If you haven't read this book, sorry for all the spoilers, but you can comment and say if this book review was helpful. If you have read this book, please give me a comment or email me so we can discuss it. This would be the closest I've ever gotten to a book club, you know.