The Ranger’s Apprentice Series by John Flanagan
This is a great series for middle grade readers. Clean content. It will appeal to boys but includes female roles, one especially strong female. The dialog is humorous and the characters well-developed if not a little stereotypical. Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small series comes to mind as a strong pairing. Kids who have enjoyed the Pendragon series or The Books of Umber as well.
With a story line that keeps things moving, kids will be eager to read on. I have finished the first four volumes and checked out the website. Lots of fans already and maybe a movie from United Artists (funding, of course, is the road block).
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney
Kinney does it again. This time our admittedly lazy hero, Greg, must mend fences with Rowley (his best friend), work off a debt to Rowley’s dad, go above and beyond to attract the attention of the community pool life guard, and become famous by creating a new comic strip for the local newspaper. All this leads to a boring vacation with Rowley’s family, a failed attempt at a V.I.P. Lawn service company, and no girlfriend or fame.
But Greg remains optimistic through it all. Incredulous at the adults around him and baffeled by their misunderstanding of his genius, he holds himself accountable for nothing and is seemingly without empathy. Of course, this results in one seriously funny book.
Greg has been holding on to a library book for a little too long. This is what he imagines will happen if he returns it.
Soulstice: The Devouring (Book 2)
This follow up to The Devouring did not disappoint. I’m only surprised that more teens at my library aren’t checking it out. I just love the cover art!
Reggie is an anomaly. With her ability to enter fearscapes and free tortured souls from Vours, she becomes a target of both the Vours and the Hunters (of which Eden is a member). It ends on a chilling note and I’m very interested to see where Holt takes the series.
I found that I didn’t recall some of the details from book one (it’s been over a year) but I found that it didn’t really matter. I got the gist and this book is about the fear, the terror. I like that Holt brought the story into the realm of science. It made it more believable.
Murder at Midnight by Avi
“There can never be enough books,” said Magnus. ” The pity is it takes years to create each one.”
“Is that true?” said the surprised boy.
“Fabrizio, a book must first be written. To do so, the writer exchanges days for words, months for paragraphs, and years for chapters – time turned into books. There’s your magic” (p 31).
I wasn’t expecting funny but this book was a hoot! Especially in the beginning. It reminded me strongly of the word play humor of R.L. Stine’s (sadly out-of-print) Space Cadets series (see Fabrizio’s misunderstanding of the truth, pg 49 – 50).
Fabrizio was a street urchin before Magnus and his kind wife took him in as a magician’s apprentice. In his extreme naïveté, Frabrizio succeeds in implicating his master in a plot to overthrow King Claudio of the Kingdom of Pergamontio, Italy in 1490. A loyal servant to the end, Fabrizio must prove his master’s innocence before the stroke of midnight or his master shall be killed and Fabrizio will become homeless once again.
Of course, there is a lot of intrigue and mystery leading to a satisfying theatrical ending. Another great book to add to OCL’s suggested reading list.
Publisher: Scholastic Press (September 1, 2009)
I have an ARC copy of this book. First person to leave a comment with email will get it!
The Shamer’s Daughter by Lene Kaaberbol
Shamers do exactly as their name implies, they shame people. They do this by using their eyes, or in the case of experienced Shamers, by using the power of their voice, to force people to look inward at the evil acts they committed. Being a Shamer’s daughter is not easy, especially not when you have inherited your mother’s gift. Dina finds it very difficult. People avoid her, she has no friends. Yet, Shamer’s are respected and greatly needed in identifying the guilty.
When Dina’s mother is called away but does not return, Dina must travel with a strange man who is unafraid of meeting her eyes. Before long, she is involved in a scandel that threatens her mother’s life and her own.
An interesting first book the has interested me in the rest of the series. Dina’s compassion coupled with her unique and often scary ability make for an excellent foundation. I’d recommend this to all middle-grade fantasy readers who have enjoyed Harry Potter and will build up to the likes of Graceling.
Chosen by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Ug! This series is delving head first into the completely predictable. Zoey is turning into a complete ho. And the authors are still using the words like ginormous and ‘rentals (refering to her parents). Now, I’ve called my parents ‘rents in everyday conversation but I do not think using words like ginormous and ‘rentals. Zoey is becoming the type of flaky girl in High School that I couldn’t stand!
The time table is all messed up. Enduring friendships are made within a month. Zoey aquires three boyfriends within less time. People and vamps are getting killed all in a matter of months. What the heck! It seems as though more time should be passing. Instead, one action sequence falls on the heals of another. Nothing marinates. Nothing simmers.
Am I going to read the next book. Absolutely.
Oh, and I love the cover art. I assume it is a pic of Zoey… and the necklace is crystal, in the style that I make. Lovely.
Betrayed: A House of Night Novel by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Well, I quickly finished book two in the House of Night series. While it unfolded exactly as I anticipated, its predictability didn’t dampen my enjoyment. No. That honor belonged to the repeated use of the ‘word’ gihugic and the overuse of the word ho. Really. Zoey makes fun of Heath, the dumb jock, and then she describes gargantuan (“That’s a polysyllabic word for something large, Zoey. Look it up.” ~Damien) objects as ginormous and gihugic. She can only describe resplendent beauty as to-die-for and the heavily overused gorgeous is ubiquitous. Ug.
There are some good ideas here. There are some well written scenes of loss, friendship, and healing. But the narrator’s internal voice is so ridiculous, I was constantly derailed and found myself skipping those long-winded passages.
But I’m going to pick up the next book, Chosen. It’s like I’m a pregnant women craving chocolate and this series is a bag of mini Reeses Cups. I just can’t stop myself from dipping back into the bag.
Marked: A House of Night Novel by P.C. and Kristin Cast
This was one of those highly addicting but not well written vampire fatasy books that keep you up all night because you can’t put the damn thing down.
Sixteen-year-old Zoey Redbird is Marked (a blue cresent moon-shaped outline appears on her forehead) by a Tracker vampyre while loitering at her locker. In this world, it is well known that some teens are chosen and marked to become vampyres. They are uprooted from their family and friends and sent off to the mysterious House of Night, where their bodies will either accept the change, or reject it resulting in death.
I thought the exposition was well plotted. The introduction to Zoey’s life was quickly but clearly and emphatically laid out so that we understood where she was coming from before delving into where she is destined to end up.
What happens to her at the House of Night feels real: a new school, new kids, new teacher, new expectations. The trials she endures are interesting and unique. I especially enjoyed the mix of traditional vampire lore with Indian lore.
My biggest issue was with the writing. “Heath struggled against Drew, but the kid was Broken Arrow’s senior linebacker, and truly ginormous” (p 15). Did my narrator just use the ‘word’ ginormous? Gag me.
The sentence structure was often weak: “”…I said before I could freakishly talk myself out of going out with the most gorgeous guy at this school” (p 254).
It often tried for humor and missed the mark: “I’d like to know just exactly where she got her clothes. Goth ho store?” (p 278).
Much of these faults, my intuition chalks up to the young co-author, Kristin Cast. Much of this writing is adolescent, instead of reflecting adolescence.
All the same, I’ll read the sequel tonight and hope it continues to excite my interest.
Pendragon: The Merchant of Death (Book One) by D.J. MacHale
After learning many of the library teens enjoyed this series, I decided it was time to pick it up. Young, handsome, popular Bobby finds himself ‘flumed’ to an alternate world. He learns that he is a Traveler, someone who can travel between worlds to promote peace and balance. The only problem is that Bobby wants nothing to do with being a Traveler. If Bobby’s Uncle (also a Traveler) weren’t in mortal danger, Bobby would return home immediately. Instead, he is stuck in Denduron, a rustic, medievil land with a social order reminiscent of The Time Machine’s Eloi and Morlocks. Here, the Eloi are Milago, a mining society that provides for the more advanced Bedoowan (Morlocks). The Bedoowan are cruel masters who feed the Milago people to lion-like beasts called quigs in colosseum style games.
The story is told through letters Bobby sends across the void to his best friend, Mark. In return, Mark sends Bobby some everyday toys (CD player, boom box, etc.) that are later used as magical props to help Bobby achieve his goals (think A Kid in King Arthur’s Court).
Nothing out of the ordinary here. A good beginner fantasy read, but not much in the way of character development or originality.
The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare
The Mortal Instruments series is comprised of City of Bones (Book One), City of Ashes (Book Two), and City of Glass (Book Three). It follows fifteen-year-old Clary Fray as she is introduced to the demon-slaying world of the Shadowhunters and glamour-hidden world of Downworlders comprised of warlocks, werewolves, vampires and fey. Along for the ride is her best friend Simon.
When Clary witnesses three Shadowhunters murder a human-looking demon while at a club, the Shadowhunters take an interest in her. She shouldn’t have been able to see them: Isabelle, beautiful, graceful and wielding a wipe more effectively then Indiana Jones, Alec, overprotective and thoughtful , and lion-like Jace, aggressive and confident.
It is soon discovered that Clary has Shadowhunter blood but that her memories have been forcefully repressed. What follows is enough drama, plot twists, and scandals to rival a soap opera. And yet, it was riveting. When Clare takes her time in laying out the scene, allowing the characters to develop and respond to situations, the story is gripping, with shots wit and humor.
The exposition (mostly delivered though dialog with Jace) was often overly wordy (p 44) and alternately a little confusing and too explanatory (p 132). I would have preferred a less abrupt introduction to this fascinating world. But I caught up. There is a nice explanation at The Mortal Instruments.
There are some good metaphors (among many overused ones): As Clary works to pierce the magical glamour hiding objects and people, “[the glyphs] tantalized her sight the way half-heard words in a foreign language sometimes tantalized her hearing, as if just by concentrating harder, she could force some meaning out of them” (p 134).
And some humorous passages, like when Clary asks Simon about the ‘hey’ thing (p 340).
“The ‘hey’ thing that you guys always do. Like when you saw Jace and Alec, you said ‘hey,’ and they said ‘hey’ back. What’s wrong with ‘hello’?”
She thought she saw a muscle twitch in his cheek. “‘Hello’ is girly,” he informed her. “Real men are terse. Laconic.”
“So the more manly you are, the less you say?”
“Right.” Simon nodded. … “That’s why when major badassesgreet each other in movies, they don’t say anything, they just nod. The nod means, ‘I am a badass, and I recognize that you, too, are badass,’ but they don’t say anything because they’re Wolverine and Magneto and it would mess up their vibe to explain.”
What I enjoyed most, was learning that Cassandra Clare was responsible for the hilarous The Very Secret Diaries (Still not King) of the Lord of the Rings. Any fan of Tolkien’s world should read these! Clare dropped a reference in Book One to the Diaries as well as references to anime (so near and dear to my heart). It’s clear Cassandra is familiar with animeseries like Angel Sanctuary, which features avenging angels and an incestuous relationship between the two main characters. I’d love to see this series animated in Japanese style.
I highly recommend this to fantasy and anime fanatics alike, ages 14 and up.
