Book Reviews Part 5
May. 9th, 2009 09:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kikoteiOkay, finally starting to put these books I've read up. I literally c & p'ed these out of the book blog I run for work with one of the other girls, I just don't have the energy to redo them right now, I only added where books were part of a series if it wasn't included in my review. If you wanna read our original posts plus ones for books my co-worker read you can read them here.
More coming in a bit.
M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman
A collection of short stories; some will scare you, some will surprise you. All will hold you right to the end of the book. Each story can be read from beginning to end in about 30 minutes, making the book an excellent read when you don’t have much time to spare.
One of the final stories in the book, “The Witch’s Headstone”, is actually an excerpt from the forthcoming novel “The Graveyard Book”.
Teen
Attack of the Fiend by Joseph Delaney
Thomas Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son and so highly attune to the supernatural. Having barely made it out of Anglezarke alive, Tom is looking forward to some peace and quiet, or at least as quiet as it gets when you’re an apprentice to the county Spook. Tom, the Spook and Alice are preparing for an all out assault on Pendle Hill, a dangerous area home to three extraordinarily powerful witch clans. Before they set out, Tom is told to go home and retrieve the three trunks is mother left for him. But when he gets there he finds that the witches were there first, taking the trunks and Tom’s family. Now Tom is in a race against time to rescue his family from the fortified Malkin Tower, prevent any of the local witches from opening his trunks, and stop the clans from joining together to raise the Devil himself.
This fourth installment of The Last Apprentice was a slower start that the previous books, but as always Delaney delivered the chills and scares.
Teen
Dangerous Times by L. Brittney
Sir Francis Walsingham is the Spy Master for Queen Elizabeth, it is his job to keep his eyes and ears open to all corners of the world in order to protect both Queen and Country. When one of his most skilled agents, John Pearce, introduces him to a young theater performer he may have found one of his best recruits.
Nathan Fox has lived with the theater company for many years with his sister and a yet-to-be-famous William Shakespeare. A born performer and acrobat he enjoys the work, but now that Walsingham and Pearce have approached him about working as a spy Nathan can’t help but want the excitement that comes with the new job. He accepts their offer and begins his training in all the skills he will need, from dirty street fighting to code breaking to more elegant swordplay.
With some basic training completed, Nathan and John Pearce are sent to Venice to form an alliance to help protect England from the King of Spain. Posing as a servant and master, the two must maneuver through Venetian high society without giving away their true goal. All goes well until they meet General Othello, and their carefully constructed plan begins to unravel as the two become entangled in Othello’s tragic romance with the beautiful Desdemona.
This book is an interesting and different look into the life of a spy and what it might have taken to be a successful one in Elizabethan England. Nathan is a likeable character, bright and eager to learn from others, even if he is rather naïve and easily influenced with heroic stories. The book is full of action and excitement, even Nathan’s time training with Robey makes for interesting reading.
Teen
A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce
Charlotte and Rosellen “Rosie” Miller just lost their father, and it now falls to the seventeen-year-old Charlotte to decide the fate of the family’s old wool mill. The mill has been passed down from Miller to Miller for generations, and Charlotte is loath to give it up, despite how unusual it is for a young girl to be the owner of a business. Choosing to take a chance the girls decide to keep the mill, much to the pleasure of the workers in the mill, most of whom have come to think of the Miller girls as their own family.
Just as Charlotte and Rosie are settling into their new roles as business owners the mill ‘curse’ strikes. Charlotte insists that there is not curse, merely bad luck and ill timing. But as the coincidences begin to stack up, even the ever practical young woman starts to think there may be some truth behind the stories. Especially when terrible accidents begin to happening to the mill workers and an immense loan from the bank the girls knew nothing about comes due.
In the midst of all their struggles, Charlotte starts to piece together some joys for herself when she meets the handsome Randall. Just as the mill is about to collapse under the financial burden, Charlotte meets a man who calls himself Jack Spinner. Spinner offers to help her save the mill, the same offer he’s made to all the Millers before her, but will Spinner’s price be something Charlotte is willing to pay.
While A Curse Dark as Gold may not be completely historically accurate, the story is still extremely well crafted and thought through, with all the little threads of plot winding together into an ending fitting for a fairy tale.
Teen
Hannah’s Winter by Kierin Meehan
Twelve-year-old Hannah Forrester would love to be starting high school with her friends back home in Australia, but her mother drags her to Japan instead, declaring that Hannah needs to work on her kanji and the best place to do just that is in Japan. So Hannah is left with the Maekawa’s, family friends with a little stationary shop in Kanazawa while her mother travels the country researching Japanese gardens for an article.
With Mr. and Mrs. Maekawa asking Hannah to call them otosan and okasaan (father and mother in Japanese) and their thirteen-year-old daughter Miki actually being friendly, it looks like Hannah’s time so far from home might turn out okay after all. That is, until Hannah and Miki find an old riddle in a box of odds and ends. After finding the riddle, things mentioned in each line begin coming true! From flying donuts to berserk beans to messages written in mirrors, they need to solve this mystery, if only for a little peace and quiet.
Together with their neighbor Hiro, the girls start to piece together the clues in the riddle to help a boy that lived more than 100 years ago. Following the riddle the trio visit historic sites around Kanazawa looking for the items mentioned in the riddle. As they gather the unusual things, the reasons why they must do this – especially Hannah – become more and more clear.
This was a fun and quick read, and a well done debut novel. The mystery is well crafted and shows an obvious attention to getting the cultural details right. Hannah’s little missteps as she adjusts to life in a Japanese home are endearing and add to the feeling of being far from home.
Teen
More coming in a bit.
M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman
A collection of short stories; some will scare you, some will surprise you. All will hold you right to the end of the book. Each story can be read from beginning to end in about 30 minutes, making the book an excellent read when you don’t have much time to spare.
One of the final stories in the book, “The Witch’s Headstone”, is actually an excerpt from the forthcoming novel “The Graveyard Book”.
Teen
Attack of the Fiend by Joseph Delaney
Thomas Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son and so highly attune to the supernatural. Having barely made it out of Anglezarke alive, Tom is looking forward to some peace and quiet, or at least as quiet as it gets when you’re an apprentice to the county Spook. Tom, the Spook and Alice are preparing for an all out assault on Pendle Hill, a dangerous area home to three extraordinarily powerful witch clans. Before they set out, Tom is told to go home and retrieve the three trunks is mother left for him. But when he gets there he finds that the witches were there first, taking the trunks and Tom’s family. Now Tom is in a race against time to rescue his family from the fortified Malkin Tower, prevent any of the local witches from opening his trunks, and stop the clans from joining together to raise the Devil himself.
This fourth installment of The Last Apprentice was a slower start that the previous books, but as always Delaney delivered the chills and scares.
Teen
Dangerous Times by L. Brittney
Sir Francis Walsingham is the Spy Master for Queen Elizabeth, it is his job to keep his eyes and ears open to all corners of the world in order to protect both Queen and Country. When one of his most skilled agents, John Pearce, introduces him to a young theater performer he may have found one of his best recruits.
Nathan Fox has lived with the theater company for many years with his sister and a yet-to-be-famous William Shakespeare. A born performer and acrobat he enjoys the work, but now that Walsingham and Pearce have approached him about working as a spy Nathan can’t help but want the excitement that comes with the new job. He accepts their offer and begins his training in all the skills he will need, from dirty street fighting to code breaking to more elegant swordplay.
With some basic training completed, Nathan and John Pearce are sent to Venice to form an alliance to help protect England from the King of Spain. Posing as a servant and master, the two must maneuver through Venetian high society without giving away their true goal. All goes well until they meet General Othello, and their carefully constructed plan begins to unravel as the two become entangled in Othello’s tragic romance with the beautiful Desdemona.
This book is an interesting and different look into the life of a spy and what it might have taken to be a successful one in Elizabethan England. Nathan is a likeable character, bright and eager to learn from others, even if he is rather naïve and easily influenced with heroic stories. The book is full of action and excitement, even Nathan’s time training with Robey makes for interesting reading.
Teen
A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce
Charlotte and Rosellen “Rosie” Miller just lost their father, and it now falls to the seventeen-year-old Charlotte to decide the fate of the family’s old wool mill. The mill has been passed down from Miller to Miller for generations, and Charlotte is loath to give it up, despite how unusual it is for a young girl to be the owner of a business. Choosing to take a chance the girls decide to keep the mill, much to the pleasure of the workers in the mill, most of whom have come to think of the Miller girls as their own family.
Just as Charlotte and Rosie are settling into their new roles as business owners the mill ‘curse’ strikes. Charlotte insists that there is not curse, merely bad luck and ill timing. But as the coincidences begin to stack up, even the ever practical young woman starts to think there may be some truth behind the stories. Especially when terrible accidents begin to happening to the mill workers and an immense loan from the bank the girls knew nothing about comes due.
In the midst of all their struggles, Charlotte starts to piece together some joys for herself when she meets the handsome Randall. Just as the mill is about to collapse under the financial burden, Charlotte meets a man who calls himself Jack Spinner. Spinner offers to help her save the mill, the same offer he’s made to all the Millers before her, but will Spinner’s price be something Charlotte is willing to pay.
While A Curse Dark as Gold may not be completely historically accurate, the story is still extremely well crafted and thought through, with all the little threads of plot winding together into an ending fitting for a fairy tale.
Teen
Hannah’s Winter by Kierin Meehan
Twelve-year-old Hannah Forrester would love to be starting high school with her friends back home in Australia, but her mother drags her to Japan instead, declaring that Hannah needs to work on her kanji and the best place to do just that is in Japan. So Hannah is left with the Maekawa’s, family friends with a little stationary shop in Kanazawa while her mother travels the country researching Japanese gardens for an article.
With Mr. and Mrs. Maekawa asking Hannah to call them otosan and okasaan (father and mother in Japanese) and their thirteen-year-old daughter Miki actually being friendly, it looks like Hannah’s time so far from home might turn out okay after all. That is, until Hannah and Miki find an old riddle in a box of odds and ends. After finding the riddle, things mentioned in each line begin coming true! From flying donuts to berserk beans to messages written in mirrors, they need to solve this mystery, if only for a little peace and quiet.
Together with their neighbor Hiro, the girls start to piece together the clues in the riddle to help a boy that lived more than 100 years ago. Following the riddle the trio visit historic sites around Kanazawa looking for the items mentioned in the riddle. As they gather the unusual things, the reasons why they must do this – especially Hannah – become more and more clear.
This was a fun and quick read, and a well done debut novel. The mystery is well crafted and shows an obvious attention to getting the cultural details right. Hannah’s little missteps as she adjusts to life in a Japanese home are endearing and add to the feeling of being far from home.
Teen