Review of A. R. R. R. Roberts’ The Soddit

This is an obvious parody of J. R. R. Tolkein’s The Hobbit.  Bilbo Baggins has become Bingo Grabbings.  Gandelf is Gandef.  It goes on as such.  The characters have comedic elements added to them.  Bingo has arthritic feet, so he says ‘ow’ when he walks.  Gandef is going deaf and seems to only hear what he wants to.  Thorin or Thorri has a speech issue, a pronounced lisp.  There are several characters that are killed off making obvious and simply mistakes.  They are mourned for one paragraph and then gone from the mind. 

The characters are not long lasting like Bilbo, Thorin, and Gandelf in the Hobbit.  They are thoroughly entertaining for someone who just wants to read something that endorses a lot of fun to be had.

review of the maze runner

This book is unlike any I have ever read.  The closest approximation that can be made would be to compare it to the idea if the Lord of the Flies having taken place in a completely secluded and artificial setting with boys who had severe cases of amnesia.  It is a grand psychological thriller that starts with the same pace and feeling as when it ends.  It smacks of mystery and a sense of not coming-of-age, but more than that.

The boys have to rediscover who they are and they have to do it the fast and difficult way.  Nothing is handed to them.  They take nothing for granted and yet, the seclusion has upped their paranoia and dropped their sense of morality.  Thomas is seen as being belligerent, but he is the one that has still clung to his idea of what is important.  He is the one they pick on for wanting to be the ‘hero’ when he really just wants to do the ‘right thing’.  So, the real question here is what draws the line from a hero and decent human being?

Jeff Lemire’s The Nobody

A strange and tragic tale from the point of view of a not so whiny sixteen year old girl. A man comes into town with his face and hands bandaged and he wears goggles.  He barely eats. He doesn’t socialize.  Who is he and how did he end up the way he is?  That is her innocent curiosity while the older citizens of the small town of Large Mouth are suspicious of him.  Watch and experience the natural human curiosity and suspicion of that which is different take over a small town and sink it to its lowest depths.

review of Wells' War of the Worlds

An excellent analysis of the rise of industry I.e. the Martians and its breaking down of society. The aliens are not benevolent and their goal is not to integrate. They are machines out to kill all of the human race. The machines are used beautifully to represent the rise of industrialization within the British society. It was not the Victorian age, but it was the pivotal time in between that determined the fate of future society. The society was pulled down and the people practically and literally ripped apart from the change that is represented within the book.

review of Rowling's harry potter and the deathly hallows

Review of Rowling’s Harry potter and the deathly hallows

A beautiful end to a splendid series. The characters are fully dimensional. The plot is thick and yet, doesn't go over the head of the reader. The themes are appropriate and important for the age groups that are targeted. The main things to look at in this book are the horcruxes and the hallows. They are the representations of human vanity and vice.  They also show the goodness of people when looked at from a different angle.

The horcruxes are a diary, ring, locket, cup, diadem, snake, and person.  They each represent something great and each is something great in its own right. The diary is supposed to hold a sense of privacy and closeness to the heart. It is only appropriate that he puts a piece of his soul within it first. The diary is an item that holds thoughts and hopes.  They hold futures.   Voldemort’s diary held a part of himself as a teenager.  His hope for the future could be found within and with himself.  He knew or thought it even then.  It is ironic when Harry destroys the diary with a Basilisk fang because the snake is something that Voldemort could understand.  It is a solitary creature much like himself that is mesmerizing and yet, frightening to others. The diadem is a sign of royalty or being of a higher birth and so Voldemort using it was only logical.  The ring is an item to be worn with a sense of ownership or title. The locket is something to hold memories of those lost. The cup represents a sense of taking and receiving.

The hallows are important because they are a great morality tale for how fear should be handled. It is not death that is truly what they are trying to defeat, but fear. Fear is what drives them to choose as they do except for the last brother who is wiser than the other brothers. The first brother chose the elder wand which he wanted to use as a weapon and not as a sort of defense. The second brother chose the resurrection stone, so that he could then bring back what they see as stolen from them. The third brother chose the cloak of invisibility, so that he could hide from death and embrace it when they are prepared.

review of Shan's Zom-b Mission

B is recruited with other Angels to take some human survivors to a settlement.  She meets with an old school friend, Vinyl, who works as a guide.  They learn that the KKK have come over to England and are starting to run rampant and recruit amongst the settlements.  B realizes that the settlement that she just left is going to be attacked by the KKK when she follows a sheep dog to the Owl Man.  They head back to the settlement to intervene, but the KKK get there first.  The Angels scale the wall and go in to fight. 

review of Lane's Snakebite

This book continues the story of the young Sherlock Holmes.  He is, at this point, in deep trouble with the Paradol organization.  They plan to start wars and bring in profit for themselves.  In each book of the series, he had fouled up their plans.  They are at the point that they just want to get rid of him.

The beginning has him on a ship as a stowaway working as a cabin boy.  He acquires another teacher who is Chinese and teaches him Tai chi and Mandarin.  They dock in Singapore and Sherlock starts to put together the information to solve another mystery.  Pirates, a silver skinned man, and a snake with a broken tooth going around biting and killing certain people is the mystery and Sherlock’s just the young man for the job.

review of O'Brien's the Vault of Dreamers

Rosie Sinclair is at a special school for talented teenagers.  They are televised as a reality tv show during the day and at night they are to sleep for twelve hours.  The one night that she decides not to sleep and sneaks out is the night that changes everything.  The next day she must raise her blip ranking (popularity amongst viewers) in order to stay at the school.  She stays, but the question is whether she really wants to be there.  All of the strange things happening might make her change her mind.  She stays and she fights for what she thinks is right.  Rosie wants nothing more than to expose what really happens at the school.  She wants the world to know what Dean Berg is doing with the student’s dreams.

review of Doctor Who:Engines of War

This is the war doctor’s book.  The one where he is set on bringing down the Daleks and makes the decisions that need to be made.  He picks up a human companion who is stuck in the war.  She is a self made soldier with orange hair and a love for women over men.  She is set on the ending the Time War just as he is.  She has had to live through it and have the fear and adrenaline rule her life.

The war doctor appears and she finds hope.  He appeals to the Time Lords and the reader understands why he did not want them to make it out of the war.  They were becoming something else in the war.  They were losing who they were supposed to be.  It comes down to the war doctor and his moral judgment to save the planets that the Time Lords were planning to kill to ensure their own victory.  The Time Lords were seeing themselves as superior and experimenting on their own people.  They were planning genocide with no sense of remorse.  If the war doctor can’t make them find themselves and see the error of their ways, he can fix it himself.

review of Dashner's the Kill Order

To put it simply, this book is a prequel to the Maze Runner series.  It is best read after the series, so as not to give away the best bits of the series.  It would take away the mystery of what is happening within the series itself. 

Reader’s should partake in this glorious book so as to understand how it all came to be.  How the Scorch hit.  The sun and then the military taking out the population.  To actually be there for it and to see how something like WICKED was seen as good.  How it was not only allowed to exist, but how desparate everyone was for it.

review of Dale Peck's Sprout

The voice of this book is iron clad and cannot be broken.  The same can be said for the protagonist Daniel aka Sprout.  He leaves his mark behind of green fingerprints of everything that he touches.  He is incredibly smart and carries around a dictionary like it’s his favorite fiction book.  Sprout is a fascinating character who draws the reader in with his quick wit and unique view of the world. 

The tone and voice of the book remind me of Chris Colfer’s Struck By Lightning.  This boy is far more lost regarding himself.  His life is worse off by far.  They are both the type of voices that people need to hear in order to understand that there are different ways of life and thinking.

review of Adams' Salmon of Doubt

Douglas Adams does it again.  He takes an idea that is ludicrous and makes us realize that it is much more than some ludicrous idea.  It is something to be desired because it inspires adventure and something to be sought after because it inspires thinking.  A personal philosophy is what Adams’ stories sell.  Not just his own personal philosophy.  He sets up a ludicrous idea/world and then has the lead character simply go with it and learn from it.  They live from moment to moment and do not get hung up on the past.  They learn to think which makes the reader learn to think since they are reading through the lead’s perspective.  A personal philosophy can be found within every Adam book.  It is not just his own, but that of the characters and readers that are discovered.

review of Knudson's Evil Librarian

This is a darkly hilarious book.  What if someone who others see as being one thing was actually something else entirely?  An innocuous librarian is sucking the life force from people.  He’s taking your best friend with him.  He’s not even human.  What if you were to find out that demons are real and sucking the souls of your classmates and faculty? 

It’s a different book premise.  A high school story of first crushes becoming first loves.  Life and death meets Earth and Hell. 

Review of harry potter and the order of the phoenix

Prophecy serves as a weapon.  Knowledge is power, but it can also be a bad thing.  It can manipulate others (Voldemort knows that Harry gets flashes of his emotions and that his mind is open to Voldemort).  The desperation for knowledge by Voldemort is the seeking of certainty and control.

Thestrals are misunderstood creatures.  They are associated with death much as the Grim that was a big part of the driving force within the third book, harry potter and the prisoner of Azkaban.  They are seen as omens or harbinger’s of death when they are, in fact, creatures that can only be seen by those that have seen death. 

Umbridge is underestimated because she is small with a high voice.  She wears a lot of pink.  She basically uses the physical, her appearance, as a shield and as an offensive tactic.   If the Minister of Magic, Fudge, cannot see how dangerous she is then she can go far in what she does for his cause.  He was going over the deep end in his paranoia, but he would have drawn the line at cruelty.  She did not have a line.  She sent the dementors to Little Whinging to attack Harry.  She abused children with her punishments.  She was even prepared to use Unforgivable Curses on students.  Her pride, cruelty, and overall prejudices are her downfall.  She would have been an excellent Death Eater.

Snape is starting to be understood a little bit more in this book.  The reveal of his old memory shows why Snape hates James Potter and therefore, Harry who reminds him of James.   James was a bully and Snape simply someone to push around.  James did actually strut about the castle and flaunt himself while bullying others.  He wasn’t malicious, but he sought out attention in the worst ways.  He just wanted to impress one girl and he made a mess of things being driven in his desperation for her attention.

Dumbledore’s Army is introduced as the Ministry of Magic’s fear of what Dumbledore is actually doing with his students.  The weird thing is that the club was only started because of how the Ministry was interfering at Hogwarts.  They made their worst fears come true by pushing for it to happen.  The preemptive strike only led to a self -fulfilling prophecy.

The order of the phoenix is a group that is fighting for what is right.  They are against the ministry who refuses to believe and goes too far to disprove them.  They are against the injustice that Voldemort wants to make common place in the world.  They are the ones who were never accepted and who found their own place without trying to take anyone else down from their own place.  The order members learn from their mistakes and use them to fight, but not promote killing.

review of Lou Anders' Thrones and Bones:Frostborn

This is coming of age in a fantastical land.  A boy who doesn’t want what he is being bred for and a girl who doesn’t feel like she belongs.  Karn doesn’t want to run a farm, but he loves his board game, Thrones and Bones.  He is clever and admirable in his wanting only to do the right thing.  His downfall is his naivety.   Thianna is half-giant living amongst giants.  Even though her father is the tallest of them all at 18 feet, she is only 7 feet.  She is half the size of those around her, but she is incredibly quick and she thinks just as quickly.  The only great fault for her can be found in how easy it is to insult her and her then take offence.  Even though it is set in a fantasy world, they read as children who are simply trying to find their way.  This book is full of humor, heart, and action.  Highly recommendable to those who are familiar with Dungeons and Dragons or new to high fantasy.

review of Swain's Hungry

Our lead character is upper class and doesn't understand what is really going on around her (with the laws).  She rebels against her family once she starts to realize the things that they are associated with.  She goes from the upper class to being wanted and on the run as a revolutionist.  There is a revolution and the end will not be easy to come by for anyone.

review of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

J. K. Rowling shows what it is to grow up and to have your own personal power and control.  She emphasizes morality and questioning the way things are around you.  She makes the reader think and feel what it is to be a part of humanity.

Harry likes Dobby for many reasons.  The main reason being that he can understand how Dobby is so loyal and wishes to be unlike the rest of his kind.  He wants to challenge the way things are as Harry does every time he accomplishes something that he should not be capable of doing.  He challenges not as Hermione does (with a faction, S.P.E.W.), but with his actions.

Firebolt-transportation which provides freedom of movement, shows natural skill and talent.  The Firebolt is a way for Harry to escape his everyday worries and focus on something that is all about his own personal abilities and control.

Portkey-transportation which is represented by the physically mundane, it is in a set place, it is wrenching, and provides freedom of movement.  It is a way to travel that is used for something good, at first, but then its quiet nature seems to bite back at Harry in the end.

Goblet- valued, coveted because of the tournament, and serves as a source of judgment.  Everyone is trying to trick the goblet because it is truly biased.  It, unlike the Sorting Hat, can be hoodwinked.

Egg- mystery, guide, provides clue.  It is something simply to fetch for a task and then it becomes a clue for the following task.  This type of evolution of purpose brings into focus how even small things can represent so much more.

Scar- connection, tie, warning.  It stands as a sort of beacon on Harry’s forehead and becomes something else by the end of the series.  It starts to hurt in the book and bring the first dream/visions.

Dragons- dangerous, angry, protective.  They are simply misunderstood creatures much like the Giants.  Why Hagrid identifies with them so easily.

Mermaid- angry, dark, territorial creatures.

Maze- mystery, full of surprise, invokes fear.

Cauldron-brewing, chaotic if unchecked, weapon, savior.  Snape said it best in the first book what a potion can do and the cauldron has been of great use for their Polyjuice Potion.  In the wrongs hands, as in this book, the Polyjuice Potion is a force for the bad.  It is the people that corrupt and not the object.

Dark Mark-death, fear, suspicion.

Unforgivable Curses- killing, torture, control, sources of power over others.

review of Brenna Yovanoff's Fiendish

Fiendish is a story of a girl who is lost and then found in the most unlikely of places.  She is a character of unquestionable morals and true strength of character.  She is stubborn and an unstoppable force when she wishes to be, but she is a good force that only wants to help others.  The mysteries surrounding Hoax County and the people within it keeps the reader engaged.  The plot is not completely predictable and the characters do not act like spoiled children.  They read incredibly real until the very end.

review of Darren Shan's Zom-b: Angels

B’s taken into another facility.  This one is run with far more morality to it and it is the one being run by a man who is a revitalized zombie.  Explanations are finally given out and a purpose is given to the revitalized/zom heads. The answers do inspire more questions to pop up though.  Origins of characters and the zom heads are explained with a clarity that is simply beautiful.  The question presented again is about religion.  Is this the work of God as the painter and now Dr. Oystein believe?  Is it actually science?  Is this what humanity has wrought upon itself only die out from it or can salvation be found?  There is one thing that any and every reader would agree on; Dr. Oystein proves that meaning can be found in death as well as in life.

review of darren shan's Zom-b: City

B’s escaped the facility she was in only to find herself in the open.  She goes back to her old streets and stays for a few days.  She realizes that nothing can really be done there.  She thinks that her mother’s dead and her father still out there somewhere.  She gets a change of clothes and prowls the streets heading from the East End to London.  She meets a group of soldiers and then a painter on her way.  He is convinced that God has saved him, so that he may leave behind his paintings of the devastation going on at the time.  A relic for humanity to focus on.  She meets a woman and party from a new religious group who are determined to prove that they are the correct religion by making it through the day of the London streets with only their prayers.  Then she comes across Mr. Dowling, the clown.  He is there to attack when the government sends in helicopters to pick up civilians who are not infected.  He creates chaos and it ends with her name being called out. 

review of darren shan's Zom-b:Underground

B’s become a zombie and is now in a strange facility with a guy throwing a bunch of flames at the other mindless zombies surrounding her.  She lashes out at him and is pulled from the group when they realize that she has her mind back and is not like the others.  The people throwing flames at her were like herself.  They were zombies with their minds and memories still.  They call themselves zom heads.  She becomes a part of the group and finds out about the strange stuff that they are being fed (duh, brains).  She refused to eat them even though she knows she will become a mindless zombie from the decision.  Her cell is wrenched open one day to reveal a clown that she never wanted to meet in the first place.  She tries to escape with the other zom heads who start to go mindless themselves.  One of the soldiers let her out and only her while throwing flames at the other zom heads.

review of Darren Shan's Zom-B

The opening starts with a sense of mystery, horror, and adventure.  The story then turns to the story of another character’s, B, home and school life.  All B wants to do is please her racist father.  This fact starts to slowly change her into a racist herself.  She says it the best herself when she calls her father the monster at the end and not the zombies.  The zombies don’t understand what they’re doing and can’t control themselves, but her father can.  He chooses to manipulate and persecute others based off of who they are and not what they do.  He is the very personification of prejudice.  He represents the true menace of the first book.  Humanity is the real monster when it goes unchecked.

review of The Death Cure by James Dashner

WICKED is supposed to be finished with the trials.  The cure is supposed to be attainable.  The race is on to find out who is the final candidate and take their brain (WICKED’s agenda).  The agenda of the Gladers and Group B is to escape from WICKED and stay away.  A bounty is out for their heads and everybody is splitting up thinking different things about where the others are and why they are even separate.

The question remains of why WICKED was accepted and allowed to happen.  Why is good?  Why is it okay for them to take all of the remaining resources and focus it on one goal?  Thomas will find out what is really happening and who he truly is and why he would have even agreed to work for WICKED without even getting his memories back.  He discovers why WICKED is good.

review of the Giver

This book shows a dystopian society that sees itself as being Utopian.  Though, these people would not understand the concept of such things.  They do not feel true pain, starvation, war, or sadness.  No one dies, instead they are simply released into the Elsewhere.  They are not individual, but a society in which every person tends to each other.   They must share their dreams and feeling together every day.  No one marries for love or bares their own children. 

The things that people see as being ordinary and every day for us would be horrible for them.  They do not struggle with dating, instead they are assigned a spouse (after they apply for one).  They do not have to worry about accidental pregnancies or not being able to feed themselves or others.  They do not have our driving forces.  They have the order of the Community and that is all that seems to matter to them. It is what could happen to humanity if we took away the individual.  If we were to assign everyone their family and job, they would become an orderly but passionless world.  So, the debate of the book is whether the order is worth the humanity that is sacrificed for it.

review of the scorch trials

The second in the maze runner trilogy and picks up exactly where the Maze Runner left off.  The very next day the boys awaken to a whole new set of rules and circumstances.  They start to mess with the Variables causing WICKED to get nasty with them, but they prevail.  Thomas proves himself to be the most capable of not only leadership, but humanity and morality.  One of the big factors/events in the scorch trials is his betrayal and yet, he passes with flying colors and manages to make a few of his own rules that contradict the rules of WICKED along the way.  He constantly defies the odds and expectations which makes him the front runner in the experiment. 

This book shows them no longer in a secluded maze.  The boys are in a wasteland referred to as the Scorch (used to be around Mexico).  They are supposed to make it across the Scorch to a certain spot which will contain the cure for the Flare (which WICKED has ensured that they all have).

 Thomas begins to remember more of what his life was before the Maze.  With the memories, he only gains more uncertainty.  His confusion only intensifies over time while his body suffers and his mind is put to the test.  WICKED is relying on their will to live and push through and yet, the focus should be on the dead morality of human kind as Thomas is bringing to the forefront through his actions.

Review of The Girl Who Would Speak for the Dead

This book is a not so modern coming-of-age story.  Thirteen year old twins are bored and want a new game.  They are smart and want to involve others in their game.   The girl discovers that she can make a knocking noise with her ankles without even having to move them.  The boy then decides that they will pretend to channel ghosts using the knocking to answer simple yes and no questions.  The boy then picks and chooses who they will share the spirit knocking with.  At first, it is a boy and then a group of girls and then grandmothers.  The girl twin then starts to realize more about her family and the people within it.  She wants to use the spirit knocking to help people while her brother wants to use it for fame.  They discover who they are and what they should be doing in the middle of this summer as things start to unfold and determine the rest of their lives.

review of Thor God of Thunder: The Accursed-volume 3

Malekith of the Dark Elves has been sprung from prison and has gone about the scattered tribes of his own people to massacre them.  A league is formed with Thor, a Dark Elf survivor, a Light Elf, a troll, a dwarf, and a giant.  They try to stop Malekith in the usual hacking manner which does not work.  Thor then bands them together through drink.  He employs some amazingly sneaky thinking that would have made Loki proud and this is how he then stops Malekith.  The tribes finally band together to take a king, Malekith.   The Dark Elf from their group then volunteers to take his place in the pits, so that their people can know peace amongst themselves.

Review of Thor: God of Thunder volume 2-Godbomb

Written by Jason Aaron, artwork by Esad Ribic

This graphic novel is a continuation of the story of the Godbutcher.  The back story of the villain is revealed.  His ideas of worlds without gods is finally understood and developed into something truly twisted.  The bomb built is one that will go throughout time and kill each and every god before and as they are born.  The problem is that the Godbutcher has become a god himself in the process which leads to his own destruction as he had three Thor’s (all from different times in the time stream) converge on him. 

Thor the Avenger is the one to destroy him by the dying gods seeing him fighting for their lives and praying to him; giving him the strength and energy to absorb the godbomb.  He then has to expel the bomb that he had absorbed and the Necrosworld that had been used to kill the gods was destroyed also.  

The Thor’s return to their time lines and forget of what transpired after they see that Asgard is full of gods.  The gods who do not remember what worlds they come from are sent to worlds without gods to make them their own.  The action is dynamic and the artwork brilliant, especially with the three Thor’s and his granddaughter’s.

Review of Life, the Universe and Everything (Ultimate Edition)

Adams had in down to an art on how to make something important into something trivial.  He would do it in an obvious way and then make fun of himself for doing.  He would even put it off on his heritage as on page 396, ‘Of all the races in the Galaxy, only the English could possibly revive the memory of the most horrific wars ever to surrender the Universe and transform it into what I’m afraid is generally regarded as an incomprehensibly dull and pointless game.’

He also knew how to draw on the mundane and monotonous aspects of life.  He used reverse bigotry in an immensely sarcastic tone that was undeniable as seen on page 416, ‘The past,’ they say, ‘is now truly like a foreign country.  They do things exactly the same there.’

Adams played on the idea of being aggressively absent or even passive aggressive through absence on page 417, ‘They obstinately persisted in their absence.’

To be annoyed means that a person cares and has a personal interest (hence, they care).  They have such a deep personal interest that they get to the point of being obsessive and delusional in the case of page 424, ‘It was an annoyance of epic proportions.’

He displayed over dramatization to a great degree while stating the obvious and employing the rhetoric.  The character here projects his own thoughts and beliefs about the situation to the other to induce guilt.  It only serves to confuse him further on page 428, ‘You know what you’ve done?’ he gargled painfully, ‘you’ve gone and killed me again.  I mean, what do you want from me, blood?’

He showed the power given to death by the humans who run from it.  The fear of death only leads to the fear of everything else since it is a part of the ‘cycle of life’ and is required.  This is seen on page 433, ‘He ran with the fear of death in him, under him, over him and grabbing hold of his hair.’

474-475, Marvin’s bored and depressed lullaby.

‘Now the world has gone to bed, Darkness won’t engulf my head,

I can see by infrared, How I hate the night.

Now I lay me down to sleep, Try to count electric sheep,

Sweet dreams wishes you can keep, How I hate the night.’

Review of Thor: God of Thunder volume 1 Godbutcher

Written by Jason Aaron, artwork by Esad Ribic

This graphic novel is very well written due to its pull of the past portrayals of how Thor is shown and the delving into mythology.  The artwork is beautifully done.  Each panel is a painting.  The action is conveyed with force and the stillness is full of emotion.  There is a sense of a strong story developing into a legend itself within the Nordic pantheon.  

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets review

Rowling once again goes into the coming of age story mixed with good versus evil that we all know as Harry Potter.  The wisdom of Dumbledore is unparalleled and yet, there are profound flaws.  Those will be discussed later, in the last book to be precise.  As he says on page 333, “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”  So basically, our actions outweigh our possibilities.  Just because a person is capable of becoming something does not mean that they will become such a thing.  Their environment must enforce their actions in order to become whatever is expected of them.  The fact that Harry could be the heir of Slytherin starts to break the relationships between him and the other students, the ones who do not know him as well.  The Weasley’s and Hermione stay by his side because they know him personally and that, at the time, he did not have such an ability.  All anyone else focused on was the mystery of what happened when he was a baby that turned Voldemort away.  They used to say that it was the goodness of him and then they started to whisper of the badness that must be within.  Voldemort met a greater evil in Harry as a baby and was extinguished from it.  This theory drives them away in fear not because of his actions, but because it is a possibility.

Dobby is an idea that was ingenious to include within a children’s book along with the idea of ‘Mudblood’ versus ‘Pure blood’.  The idea of tolerance and acceptance to be introduced so early on in the series is important for the development of the characters and the readers.  It becomes hypocritical with their prejudices against Snape, but that is something to go into in later books.  Dobby should represent blind obedience, but instead he represents the idea of bad being done for the ‘greater good’ of a situation.  This is something that Harry and his friends come to understand later in the series as what adults also know as ‘necessary evil’.

The author takes from mythology and lore in order to form creatures that symbolize important aspects within the books.  On page 207, Dumbledore explains something very symbolic about Fawkes. “Phoenixes burst into flame when it is time for them to die and are reborn form the ashes.” The Phoenix is a representative of rebirth and rising above from death and destruction.  He is something great coming from love and compassion.  Loyalty and courage and wisdom.  He is called at the end in the Chamber when Harry shows loyalty and faith in Dumbledore.  He heals Harry with his tears suggesting that the mourning of others through tears is in fact a healing process.

Aragog speaks to Harry and Ron on 279, “My sons and daughters do not harm Hagrid, on my command.  But I cannot deny them fresh meat, when it wanders so willingly into our midst.  Good-bye, friend of Hagrid.” He is a monster with a sense of humanity.  He feels bound to and loving towards Hagrid and yet, he is not bound by human laws and sensibilities.  He still puts the physical above all else, but he is an in between that is evolving from the cave, as it were.

The Diary is an object that would symbolize secrets and shame.  It is something that is made in order to hold secrets and inner thoughts.  It is supposed to bare the inner shame of our decisions.  A part of the mind and soul that is made literal within the book.  Riddle puts his own awareness and soul within it in order to be able to arise again with youth and new knowledge.  Shortcuts and impatience to be found from this approach.

The Basilisk is representative of blind obedience within the book.  He blindly (and is even blinded by Fawkes, the independent one, for his actions) obeys when Riddle tells him to attack.   This is a monster that can only be controlled by the one that can speak to it.  He speaks to it as one does to a friend who is beneath them but needed (as Draco speaks to Crabbe and Goyle).

Faith is something that could be considered to be represented by Fawkes and the sword of Godric Gryffindor.   Faith is hard to describe, but a person needs this in order to ‘grow as a person’.  Harry Potter is primarily a coming of age story and as such, he must become more.  He must have his expectations and beliefs constantly challenged (as they constantly are with Professor Snape).  The faith that Harry has in Dumbledore saves him through the appearance of Fawkes and the Sorting Hat (which sees into the inner workings of the mind, but not the soul).

In short, Rowling goes into the turning of expectations in this book.  She starts to explain that good versus evil is not so clear all of the time.  The good guy can seem like the bad guy because that is how people choose to perceive them.  Evil can be necessary for the greater good.  Faith is a driving force that conquers in a lasting manner while fear fades away.

Return of the King review

The Lord of the Rings series does some very important things for our understanding of humanity.  Tolkein was able to show us how we are as people without all of the readers being consciously aware of the fact that he was doing as such.  It was not obvious that it is his comment on the good and bad of human nature. 

The concept of overcoming our own personal pasts could be found within the character of Smeagol.  Yes, he was a warped creature who took to the possession of the Ring far too quickly for anyone’s liking.  The Ring wants to be found and returned to its master, but it does make the reader wander if the Ring meant to be found by Smeagol at all.  To someone who would kill so quickly for it and to be overcome with love for it.  That was the big difference with Smeagol.  He loved the Ring and therefore, he was cunning and insane but never truly evil.  (To be evil is just a matter of perception any way.  No one who is evil thinks of themselves as such.)  He is consumed with his love for the Ring and because love is a positive force Smeagol is not lost when Gollum starts to take form.  If there was no good left in him, there would have only been Gollum for the hobbit, Frodo and Sam, to contend with.  The results of the books would have changed drastically if that were the case.  Frodo saw not only that he could end up like Gollum (empathy/sympathy), but he saw the little bit of goodness that was left to be taken of within the creature that was Smeagol.  Another point in Smeagol’s side is that he kept and cherished the Ring (the Precious), but he did not use it.  He did not abuse its power.  It never seemed to occur to him to do as such which seems to be another sign of someone that has goodness still within them in possession of the Ring.

Tolkein also showed how we could transcend expectations with the characters of Meriadoc (Merry) and Eowyn.  They were simply a hobbit and a woman to contend with the leader of the Nazgul.  They were people who did not have much expected of them, but who were exceptional and rose above it all to do what they felt had to be done.  This action turned the tide of the war.  Meriadoc froze at first, but he acted when he was needed and he did it stealthily and without any trace of clumsiness as would be expected from a hobbit.  Eowyn knew what the consequences could be, but she did what needed to be done to avenge/save Theoden and those within the battle.  She was overcome with love and hate and these opposing forces worked together within her in order to give her the needed courage.

Smeagol was not the only one to be overcome by love.  Denethor, the Steward of Gondor, was overcome with love and regret when he saw the war not turning in his while he watched his youngest son dying.  Faramir was very much alive and fighting off the poison within his body, but because Denethor let emotions other than the love he felt take over him; he made the wrong decisions.  Pippin was the hero in this regard because he did the right thing by going against Denethor and thinking straight.  He went to the perfect people to be able to save Faramir(a man whom he knew loved and respected Faramir.)

The consumption and temptation of power was quite prevalent within the third book also.  Frodo gets to the Precious stage with the Ring while Sam watches.  Sauron and Saruman still want the Ring because to them it is power.  Frodo loved the Ring, as Smeagol did, and he only used it when he needed to. 

Another big them laid within was subservience.  Denethor had respect and fear. Faramir had respect and love.  Gandalf had respect, fear, and love.  He was the one who did not want to take charge and yet was the only one truly suited to at times.

749, 'Hope and memory shall live still in some hidden valley where the grass is green.'(Hope and memory are representatives of Utopia.)

755,‘The Darkness had begun.  There will be no dawn.’

767,‘A cage,’ she said, ‘to stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.’

789,‘We who have lived long under the Shadow may surely listen to echoes from a land untroubled by it?  Then we may feel that our vigil was not fruitless, though it may have been thankless.’

1007, ‘I will not say : do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.’

review of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Douglas Adams reviewed human nature and pointed out the strange contradictions in hilarious ways.  He played with how we think of things.  Our strange perception that limits the world around us.  He understood human nature to a bizarre degree, so he presented his knowledge in a bizarre fashion.  It could be argued that he was the savior of science fiction by making it into something comical that people who don’t like sci-fi would be able to listen to and read.

One of his many understandings of human nature could be found in the quote, ‘Life is wasted on the living.’  (The idea that people do not value what they have and take things for granted.)  People do take life for granted these days.  Since it is something that is a part of our existence, we are stuck with it.  Life is simply something to go through to us when it should be something that is lived.

The idea of being controlled is something that people also struggle with on a daily basis.  If someone feels as if another is controlling them, they start to act differently.   It would depend on the person, but it tends to lead to rebelling attitudes.  ‘I’m not going to be anybody’s puppet, particularly not my own.’  (He doesn’t want to be owned even by himself.  He doesn’t want to be something/someone to be simply used.)  We get so blinded with the idea of something such as being controlled that we don’t even consider who should have it.  We simply resist.

Regret and anger are also dealt with only a daily basis.  Especially, blaming ourselves.  The mantra in our head of ‘why did I do/say that?’  This is what makes us unsure of ourselves. ‘If I ever meet myself, I’ll hit myself so hard I won’t know what hit me.’  (Playing with the strange sayings that we use and still understanding that we make our own mistakes and go on from there.)  We are so afraid of being wrong that we can’t even risk being right at some points.

 ‘”Future Perfect” has been abandoned since it was discovered not to be.’ ( A play on grammar and the idea of time and how it is something that we try to define and live our lives by but cannot.)

‘In an Infinite Universe anything can happen.  Even survival.  Strange but true.’

‘One’s never alone with a rubber duck.’

‘Totally mad, utter nonsense.  But we’ll do it because it’s brilliant nonsense.’

‘We were just about to do nothing at all for a while but it can wait.’

‘You could say I’m more differed from than differing.’

‘Please don’t hesitate to get lost.’

‘The Guide is definitive Reality is frequently inaccurate.’

‘Oh fine, if you happen to like being me, which personally I don’t.’

‘What a depressingly stupid machine,’ said Marvin and trudged away.

‘He was clearly a man of many qualities, even if they were mostly bad ones.’

‘I’m afraid you cannot leave, you are entwined in the Improbability Field.  You cannot escape.’

Murder with Puffins review

Meg and Michael try to vacation together on an island in her Aunt Phoebe’s house.  It turns out that the family is already there.  A storm hits, the dad disappears to watch the storm hit the harbor, and a murder is committed.  Once again, no one misses the dead guy.  He tended to shoot at people and electrocute the wildlife (puffins).   They cannot reach the authorities on the mainland until the weather clears.  Meg decides to investigate.  They end up with a dead puffin, nude paintings of her mother, a strange biography, and an estate developer as clues that lead in a roundabout way to the killer.

A good book to laugh at the quirkiness of Meg’s family and the island inhabitants.  The funniest of all have to be the bird watcher tourists who swarmed onto the island and pop up everywhere.

Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy book review

Douglas Adams was fundamentally a writer than wanted to create a comedic science fiction who was denied constantly at first.  Then the rise of science fiction into the mainstream allowed him to fulfill his want/dream and he created the radio play Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  It then became a book trilogy (while forgetting that a trilogy means three books), miniseries, and movie.  Adams was a man who was creating the truly unique and could not be stopped.  He essentially created Alice in Wonderland and set it in space and all around the known and unknown galaxy.

The book may seem to be nonsensical during the first read, but much meaning could be found in a lot of his funniest and darkest statements.  They are funny because they are true and therein lies the meat of the story.  For example, “As soon as Mr. Prosser realized that he was substantially the loser after all, it was as if a weight lifted itself off his shoulders.  This was more like the world as he knew it.”  Many people base their lives off of becoming the winner of anything and everything.  There is that part of nature that does tell the person in their subconscious that any one person cannot have it all.  People want to be so much more.  They lose their sense of humor and any real purpose when they base their lives off of being winners.  Having a small character, no matter how insubstantial or doomed, understand and accept that they are not a winner is a relief.  Especially in science fiction, the characters take themselves too seriously.  There is always a world that could be blown up at any minute and all of the hero’s energy goes to stopping it.  A rare moment indeed when the hero realizes and accepts that they cannot stop the inevitable and even rarer when they experience a sense of relief.  People forget that the overwhelming sense of doom and constant pressure, no matter how dire the circumstances, only mess up the person experiencing them more.  A person who can accept it and let the relief overtake them is one that gets that life is not fair.

The idea of the towel as a symbol is ingenious.  “Any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the Galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through and still know where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.”  It represents that a person is put together and knows where they are going.  It is a truly handy device to a hitchhiker.  A person who does not know where they are going or where they have been and is fine with it.  This seems to be what a good hitchhiker is to Ford Prefect.  A character who is laid back, but always searching for something more.  Someone who eats up information and observations as a lifeline.  I think the constant changes around Ford keep him sane.  He is surrounded by the different and the new and so, he is ‘on his toes’.

The most insightful statement to me was when Ford commented on the humans need to constantly state the obvious, “If they don’t keep exercising their lips,” he thought, “their brains start working.”  The question of why humans feel the need to talk about the most trivial of things to the point of never stopping is brought up here.  The need to constantly fill the silence with ourselves.  Is it our way of making ourselves more a part of the world around us?  Is it our way of connecting?  Or, is it as Ford sees it?

Basically, Adams was a very funny man.  He was this way because he observed and understood more than the rest of us are willing to admit to about ourselves.  He asked the important questions of triviality which no one else even realized needed to be asked by making jokes of them.  The man knew how to invade the subconscious and ‘tickle the funny bone’.

book review of Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philospher's Stone

The Harry Potter series is not just about a boy finding out he has magical powers.  It is about finding a place in life and a purpose to it.  It is about belonging and enjoying life to the fullest.  It is about discovering and exploring what it is to be alive and coming to terms with death.  It is not just a coming- of - age story, but a coming to life story. 

Rowling presented a magical world unlike others in that magic was used on a day to day basis for menial tasks such as Mrs. Weasley does, but it is not the solution to everything.  Hagrid to Harry on why Muggles cannot know about Wizards, ‘Everyone’d be wantin’ magic solutions to their problems.’  She understood that people would only become lazy and not advance if they always went to others to simply make their problems disappear instead of dealing with them on their own.  The personal growth of humankind would then be forsaken.

People would become lazy and continue to rely on the wizards to do everything for them.  The wizards would become the ruling class and the Muggles would become the working class and believe them to be godlike in their abilities.  The Muggles would then expect the wizards to overcome all, even death.  Dumbledore to Harry, ‘After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. . . the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them.’  Dumbledore is the voice of the wisdom in the series because he sees the long term effects of everything while others are simply looking at the next moment and how it effects themselves personally.  If the wizards became the upper class, the Muggles would then stop developing completely and no longer experience their own life, but the life that they are expected to live.  Free will would seem to disappear and with that disappearance what must follow but only hope.  Muggles would simply become a class of people who saw only physical labor and no mental growth to even consider death or experience life.  The Muggle would no longer need to debate the good and bad of the world.

Slytherin House is presented with a snake to represent which gives the reader an idea of slyness and a slippery quality.  This is where the biblical is brought in with the snake as a sign of evil or bad.  The introduction of the house to Harry and the reader is with the introduction of Draco Malfoy.  His character is instantly unlikeable with his haughty air of simultaneous indifference and disdain.  He is obviously the type of person that stays with ‘his own’ and does not understand the need or want to be otherwise.  He criticizes Hagrid without even knowing him based off what he has heard and seen of him (from a mere glance).  Hagrid then talks to Harry of Slytherin House, ‘There’s not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn’t in Slytherin.’  It is interesting how Slytherin House is seen as being a force of bad and so anyone who is accepted there must be bad themselves.  This is a bit hypocritical because they are isolated from everyone else for this and then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for them to become bad.  They must go against what all of society and their families think they should be in order to be good as is seen in the later books.

Speaking of defying expectation, the analysis of what Rowling was doing with the symbols and symbolism within the series would serve to reveal what she thinks that children should be seeing subconsciously.  A big one in the first book would be the Mirror of Erised.  Dumbledore to Harry on the Mirror of Erised, ‘It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.’   A mirror causes the looker to reflect within themselves and destroys those that obsess over it (much like The Ring). Rewards those that look deeply and truly knowing what’s important (Dumbledore’s spell).  So, the wisdom within looking at one’s own reflection can be found when the looker is no longer wanting.

Another big concept to look at is power.  This is something that to a child means complete authority and a deserving authority at that.  They do not understand that power can be taken and given to those that should not have it.  To the child, it is merely a concept.  To the adult, it is what drives them every day. Professor Quirrell on Voldemort’s philosophy of power, ‘There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it.’  This brings into question if power is a force of good or evil.  Does it depend on the holder?  Is it truly abstract as children see it?

A good source of power would be with the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone.  This stone grants long life.  It represents longevity and power.  Voldemort wants it so that he may live again and continue on with his dark plans of domination and tyranny.  This small stone becomes a symbol of the possible future. A stone is but a superficial thing that is a part of nature.  It forms over time and is strong.  It has many sides and can hold a reflection. 

Last, the chess game at the end of the Sorcerer’s/Philosopher’s Stone is full of symbolism.  Harry as the Bishop is fitting.  He is a famous, leader with influence.  Much like Dumbledore, he looks at what’s truly important (big picture).  He sees that getting the stone before someone bad gets it and gives it to Voldermort is more important than the House Cup.  Hermione as the Castle/Rook works because she is an old soul who is very cautious.  She is a homely girl who is comfortable and safe much like a home is.  She is like a fortress in that she can serve as a sign of power to have with her vast intellect and unexpected action. Ron as the Knight is superb in that he is a follower and leader.  He has a code of honor and thinks of others first.  He is brave to the point of martyrdom as can be seen by the end of the chess game itself.

In short, the first book is an exploration into the effects of isolation.  The hypocrisy found within every society even the idealistic magical one.  The love of adventure and mystery within us all and the need to know every answer. 

Book review of Jason Vanhef’s Engines of the Broken World

This book is an exercise in the study of minimalist characters.  They are quite a simple people because they are the last people.  The protagonist is not even aware of what a machine looks like; they live in such a simple world.  The last war had rid the world of machines from what the book says. 

The mother dies and yet, the girl, Merciful, hears her dead mother singing to her and hears her move.  Gospel, her brother, looks over all of it, at first.  The dog or ‘it’ avoids the mother.  His hackles raise or he cowers.  The mother grabs the girl and speaks to her of a machine calling in the fog that will bring about their deaths.  They are the last people.  This girl who does not even know what a machine looks like must then find this machine and smash it to call off the fog. 

The fog is a strangely dense entity that is quickly approaching their small community.  Jenny Gone is a young woman that is found without an ear or arm on his left side(the side that went into the fog).  The effects of the fog slowly spread and bring the woman into nothingness until it reaches her heart and kills her.

The question is whether the possessed body of her mother is telling the truth or whether a mechanical animal is telling the truth.  What is more important?  What choice will she make?  Merciful can either kill the Minister machine and stop the apocalypse or she can kill the possessed bodies in the house.  A true test of character within a deeply spiritual and turning book that makes the reader wonder what they would do.

book review of Whitaker Ringwald's the Secret Box

This book is the first in a series.  It is set primarily for middle-school students.  For anyone that just likes to pick up a fast to read book it is highly recommended.  It is funny with interesting characters that are at the perfect ages to keep everything uncomplicated amongst the relationships.  The children do seem to be in a different world than the adults and that is obviously because the adults choose it to be that way.  The leading protagininsts are a pair of male and female cousins who could not be more opposite.  They adore each other and start to come into their own during the course of the book.  This book deals with mystery and mythology and whether it really is better to not answer a child’s questions in the long run.  It is fast paced and fun along with quite a bit of mystery and comedy to keep the reader going all the way into the end which leaves room for more story.

Review of The Snowmelt River by Frank P. Ryan

This book is a modern fantasy that shifts.  At first, it is a story with surreal elements to it.  It then becomes something of full high end fantasy when the four protagonists’ step into another land.  It is a place that is like a sister planet of Earth and is so well constructed with its own people in lore; I could not help but think of it reflecting the struggle and beauty within Middle-Earth.

All of the characters are separate from each other and easy to differentiate even with such a large cast of them.  They are all interesting with character arcs that come at the appropriate times.  There is a sense of underlying mystery to the children and the death of all of their parents that is hinted at later.

The book is the beginning of series and is a long adventure.  It has the feeling of one of the Young Adult books that you just don’t want to put down.  In this case, the size of it is an advantage because the reader gets days of reading from it.  I would recommend it to any Young Adult who like a well-constructed book and anybody looking for a beautiful beginning to an epic fantasy.

Donna Andrew's Murder with Peacocks book review

This book reads like a comedy at first.  It slowly unfolds into a story of a woman being the maid of honor in three different weddings all in the same summer (days apart).  The comedy is not only found in the ridiculousness of the small town (woman especially), but in the situations themselves.  It is a comedy that mixes with mystery and a touch of horror with the lengths that the killer is going to in order to cover their tracks.  This being a comedy means that something that should end in the leading protagonist or her father dying becomes something where the father drives into a bale of hay to brake his car or another man flying off of a lawnmower with the brakes cut.  It reads quickly and intimately due to the facts that the characters are quirky and hilarious and that the chapters are set up as dates (so, it reads as if the lead, Meg, is keeping a diary).  It is a cozy mystery because all of the suspects and police know each other and the victims.  It is insulated in that respect and allows the reader to ‘get to know’ all of the suspects.  This strange tale of ‘who done it’ even allows for good character development that is usually ignored in mystery novels and deemed insignificant.  I would highly recommend it to anyone with a dark sense of humor and an appreciation of the peculiar.

book review of Frankenstein

Mary Shelley’s book of the Doctor Frankenstein and his creature is considered to be a classic for many reasons.  This is something that is studied in classes and gone back to constantly because of the exploration of humanity.  The ideas of what it is to be human and alive are continually sought out by Frankenstein and his Creature. 

Frankenstein is someone that has always been looking for more.  There must be more to life and death and they must be something to be overcome.  He is a dramatic and serious character who sees the world as black and white, but fancies to see it in grey. On page 92 Victor states towards his feeling of the Creature, “For the first time, also, I felt what the duties of a creator towards his creature were, and that I ought to render him happy before I complain of his wickedness.”  He begins to see himself as a father which would imply that he saw what he did as a bad thing in the same regard that any parent who bears a serial killer would feel.  His humanity is confirmed in his love for the monstrosity that he should have never created. 

The Creature, who is never named, is the most human character.  His arc is one that is inevitable.  There was only one way that a creature such as himself would be perceived in the world and of that time.  He starts much like Frankenstein, someone who wants knowledge. On page 108 the Creature speaks of the family and what he learned from their conversations, “To be a great and virtuous man appeared the highest honour that can befall a sensitive being; to be base and vicious, as many on record had been, appeared the lowest degradation, a condition more abject than that of the blind mole or harmless worm.”  He later craves companionship once he learns more of the world by family within the cottage.  The feeling of love is awakened with them, especially when the old man plays his violin. 

The good feelings are overshadowed by the bad eventually when he is rejected.  Like all children he must find his way and react according to his true nature.  It is revealed that his nature is to be wrathful.  The Creature like a fallen angel begins to embrace the darkness that he sees all around him and that has been hiding within himself on page 129, “I too can create desolation; my enemy is not invulnerable; this death will carry despair to him, and a thousand other miseries shall torment and destroy him.”  The Creature knows only wrath and scorn the same as his depressed father/creator.

Two Towers book review

The middle of the Lord of the Ring series shows much for the characters of the series and introduces new ones who are just as important.  The bravery and guilt of Boromir is what the reader is first met with along with his death.  He does seek and achieve redemption in his death.  He represented the modern man because he believed in the tangible and not in the potential of a thing (the Ring).

Sauron is a true being of evil to Gandalf and Elrond because they have been intimately associated with his doings.  They were there for the destruction that he had wrought, so he is very real to them.  To the others he is a fairy tale figure.   He is a boogeyman coming to get you.  They only know what they have been told of him and have not personally experienced the desolation that he gave out in his time.

 The fellowship has broken into three groups which merges and separates again within the book.  Each of their stories connects and contributes to the others in a fundamental way.  Merry and Pippin evolve from sweet and home loving Hobbits to those that understand the need for war and even urge for it in the case of the Ents.  Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli pursued the young Hobbits and ended up meeting Gandalf the White.  He helps the King of Rohan to be free of the power of Saruman through the sly Wormtongue.  Saruman sends his Orcs and Urak-hai to battle with the Rohans.   The Ents attack Saruman’s tower when his army is attacking in Rohan.

430, “There are some things that it is better to begin than refuse, even though the end may be dark,” Aragorn.

590, “It’s my doom, I think, to go to that Shadow yonder, so that a way will be found.  But will good or evil show it to me?  What hope we had was in speed.  Delay plays into the Enemy’s hands-and here I am: delayed,” Frodo.

book review of David Almond's the True tale of the monster Billie Dean telt by hisself

This book is hard to read at first.  It is worth the effort as is all good literature.  I do believe that this book should become a piece of great and classic literature when time has gone by.  It tells a tale of a child who grows before the reader.  His mind develops in a fascinating manner.  He is a child of nature who understands light and dark so perfectly because he only knows what it is.  He does not know everything, but he is capable of almost anything.  His mind and body are taken over by and possessed by the dead and his hands can heal.  He does not pray as others do, but his view of the world is beautiful in its childish qualities and simplicities.

Susan Vaught’s Insanity book review

This is the rare type of book that pulls the reader in instantly.  It starts with a snap of mystery that morphs into suspense.  It abruptly shifts to another character’s perspective (sever times within it) and brings something new with each person.  They are all good people who are Unforgiven for the crimes/sins done by their ancestors.  They must atone or at least that seems to be why they are cursed to see ghosts and have odd abilities.  There is a touch of romance without becoming soppy which is a relief.  The romance adds to the character developments without changing them into fools.  It is a realistic approach that is much appreciated and incredibly rare, especially in a Young Adult book.

 This book mixes genres from the paranormal, fantastical, mysterious, suspenseful, and even a dash of the thriller.  I would highly recommend it to the reader who loves to fall into a world that takes time to put together completely.  

The Lost Planet by Rachel Searles book review

The book starts with a bang.  The reader is thrust into the world in the same manner as the protagonist.  He has amnesia which means that he learns along with the reader of the world around him, so no one is left out.  Everything has to be explained which means that like all good high science fiction; it all has a purpose.  There is a sense of discovery and I would openly say that this is a coming of age mystery thrown into a futuristic setting.  The reader has to see through Chase’s eyes, but still be empathetic enough to understand other people at least on a basic level as he would. 

The author is very good at not excluding anyone.  She is detailed without bogging everything down and making the reading denser than it has to be.  The pace of the story is astoundingly achieved.  There is suspense, mystery, adventure, and a strong sense of seeking and finding that is never lost.  It is left open for more, yet the ending is realistic in its complexity.  It does have a clear ending that implicates that what transpired in the book is only the beginning.

review of Andrew Lane’s Rebel Fire/ Red Leech

Sherlock spends a third of the book, the middle of it, trying to get back his kidnapped friend Matty with the help of Mr. Crowe and his daughter Virginia.  The reader learns more about Mr. Crowe as Sherlock does himself.  It turns out that Sherlock’s tutor was a man of importance who worked alongside the Pinkerton’s in America in order to take in war criminals.  The war criminals of the time would have been men of the Confederate Army.

Sherlock unmasks another plot to cause havoc to Britain.  He stops it in a manner that even the “bad guys” would not even have to lose any men.  The baddie of this book, Duke, does not understand or appreciate the sentiment.

This book is advisable to read because it has Sherlock Holmes coming into his own.  He kills and comes to terms with what that means for the first time.  He puts others before himself and yet, never stops being who he is while discovering what that is simultaneously. 

Review of Lane’s Death Cloud

A young Sherlock Holmes must stay with his Uncle Sherrinford and Aunt Anna instead of going home.  He is assigned a tutor by Mycroft and befriends a young homeless boy in Farnham.  His tutor is a big American who is a stickler about information and making every experience into a lesson.  Mr. Crowe, his tutor, is obviously the influence on Sherlock that makes him into a person capable of solving mysteries by the most mundane details.  He even shows Sherlock how to evade attention and question without anyone being the wiser.  He makes the young man into the consulting detective that we all know.

The mystery of Death Cloud is not something that even as a reader is presented in a frivolous way.  There is nothing more frustrating and condescending than an author that lets the reader know what is happening behind a mystery and yet, the protagonists are left in the dark.

The solution is not only plausible and eloquent; it allows for Sherlock to develop a lifelong fascination of his.  His obsession with bees is born within this book and a hint of the future drug addict is even hinted at, in the end of the book.

This book is good to read because it allows the readers of Sherlock Holmes to theorize about how he became the man he was in a valid format.