Book Reviews Part The Last (or 6)
May. 9th, 2009 09:37 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.
And that's it for now.
Creature of the Night by Kate Thompson
Bobby is a reckless young man, spending his time with his older cousin and his friends smoking, drinking and stealing everything they can get their hands on for some quick cash. His mother is no better, running up debts and spending her time avoiding the money lenders who want payment. And Bobby finds his four-year-old half-brother Dennis to be little more than a nuisance.
When his mother moves them out to the country, Bobby knows that despite her claims that she’s making the move to get them away from the bad influences in Dublin, she’s also doing it to get away from the money lenders and the incredible debt she’s racked up. But the quaint little house they moved into comes with a mysterious and dark past. First there was the sudden and unexplained death of a little girl years before, then the odd disappearance of the most recent tenant. Grandma Dooley, from the family renting the house to his mother, claims that the faeries are to blame for both incidents.
Bobby wants nothing more to get away from his mother and all the talk of faeries and back to Dublin and the things he knows, but when Dennis begins to claim seeing a ‘little woman’ in the house late at night Bobby realizes that he needs to stay and make sure his family gets out alive.
Creature of the Night is a different sort of mystery; the inconclusive end makes for a more realist story. Bobby’s life is a difficult one and many readers may find themselves wincing for his sake as he slowly grows and changes and just how hard it is for him to give up everything he’s known for fourteen years.
Teen
The Season by Sarah MacLean
The year is 1812 and the Season has begun, the fall and winter months when the Titled and aristocracy of England put on their best clothes and flock to London to attend balls and society dinners hoping to find a spouse, a socially advantageous connection, or at least have a little fun. Now seventeen years old this will be Lady Alexandra Stafford’s first season as an eligible woman, that is, if Alex cared at all for the trappings of marriage. Growing up in a house full of older brothers, Alex has had to learn how to hold her own, not the most popular thing for an aristocratic lady, but she’s not about to let a little thing like that stop her.
Shortly before the start of the Season, the Earl of Blackmoor fell to his death in an apparent accident, now the title and lands belong to his only son Gavin, long time friend of the Stafford family and practically a fourth meddling brother to Alex. When Alex and her closest friends, Ella and Vivi, begin to overhear secretive conversations, they begin to wonder if the late Earl’s death was the accident it was claimed to be. As the trio begins to see spies at every corner, they must find a way to help Gavin without putting themselves in danger. But is Alex’s heart also at risk this Season?
If you’re a fan of Austen and other classic works of the time, The Season could be of interest. MacLean follows the same path as Austen by satirizing some her characters by making them larger than life or sometimes odd and foolish to the reader. For the modern reader the customs of the upper class, particularly those that relate to romance, can be frustrating, but it’s made easier known that Alex finds her new restrictions equally as frustrating.
Teen
The Funeral Director’s Son by Coleen Murtagh Paratore
Christopher “Kip” Campbell is twelve-years-old and the last thing he wants to do is follow in the family tradition. That’s because the Campbell family has operated a funeral home in Clover, Massachusetts since 1875.
Kip really has no skills when it comes to working at the funeral home; he’s not good at consoling people like his father, growing and arranging flowers like his mother, organizing things or making people smile like his sisters, playing the organ like his great-aunt, and the idea of writing obituaries like his grandmother drives him crazy. So Kip has been relegated to parking cars and sweeping the sidewalks. Little do his family realize that Kip has been doing more to help the recently deceased than anyone, and he’s getting pretty tired of not getting any reward for all his efforts.
When one of the local fishermen dies in a terrible accident it’s up to Kip to find out what haunted the man and made him so angry for so many years. It won’t be easy as the only person who seems to have a clue is a local woman the kids call the Birdlady. But if Kip can pull this off the payoff just might be worth it.
Juvenile
The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry
One night, five-year-old Lucinda Chapdelaine’s parents leave for a ball at the palace and never return. Orphaned and penniless, Lucinda is forced to live with her Uncle and Aunt and work for them in their jewelry shop. Uncle is a nice enough man, doing his best to make room for her, while Aunt wants little to do with Lucinda, making her stay there as miserable as possible.
One day when Lucinda is fifteen a lovely and elegant woman comes into the shop, requesting a new setting for her treasured gem. Aunt and Uncle are excited at the prospect of finally getting some work in the shop, until they discover that their new customer is none other than the Amaranth Witch, who has supposedly remained untouched by time for decades. Lucinda is told to take the money and stone back to the woman, but before she can the gem is stolen by a local thief known as Peter. Blamed for the theft of the stone and for allegedly stealing money from the till, Lucinda is kicked out by Aunt. The only place she can think to go is to the Witch, who goes by the name Beryl, to explain what happened and offer to get the stone back.
When it turns out the Peter has sold the stolen stone, to the Prince of all people, Lucinda must team up with the aggravating, smart-mouthed thief if she wants to make things right with Beryl, who Lucinda has come to think of as almost a friend. But getting the gem back will be harder than Lucinda could have expected and in one night she’ll go from street festival, to dungeon, to the palace ball, and if she’s lucky she’ll survive to see morning.
The Amaranth Enchantment is a charming and engaging mash up of some of the greatest fairy tale plots out there. A little The Prince and the Pauper and a lot of Cinderella and all of the little things that make fairy tales what they are.
Teen
Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
It all starts with a funeral. Stephanie Edgley’s eccentric uncle Gordon suddenly passes away, leaving her with a dusty, old house and his strange friend who tends to pop up in the least likely of places. Uncle Gordon’s friend, Skulduggery Pleasant, has an unusual secret – he’s a walking, talking, magic flinging skeleton.
Skulduggery works as a detective for the hidden magical community, investigating unusual matters and making sure that the secret stays a secret. With Gordon dead, Stephanie suspects that someone in the magical community murderer her uncle, who often turned the things he saw into stories for his popular novels. Skulduggery suspects his old nemesis, Nefarian Serpine, is behind it all and that Gordon was killed for a secret he kept even from his friend.
With the help of some new friends, including an ex-boxer turned tailor and a troll-slayer, Stephanie and Skulduggery must uncover Gordon’s secret and stop Serpine before he finds an ancient weapon that could lead to humanity’s destruction.
Sometimes a little silly, Skulduggery Pleasant was oddly enough a page turner and you’ll likely find yourself wanting to get in just one more chapter every time you sit down to read. The dialog is amusing and snappy. One unfortunate thing that might turn off some readers is that most of the characters fit too neatly into set stereotypes, leaving many of the events in the book to be too predictable.
Upper Juvenile/Teen
And that's it for now.
Creature of the Night by Kate Thompson
Bobby is a reckless young man, spending his time with his older cousin and his friends smoking, drinking and stealing everything they can get their hands on for some quick cash. His mother is no better, running up debts and spending her time avoiding the money lenders who want payment. And Bobby finds his four-year-old half-brother Dennis to be little more than a nuisance.
When his mother moves them out to the country, Bobby knows that despite her claims that she’s making the move to get them away from the bad influences in Dublin, she’s also doing it to get away from the money lenders and the incredible debt she’s racked up. But the quaint little house they moved into comes with a mysterious and dark past. First there was the sudden and unexplained death of a little girl years before, then the odd disappearance of the most recent tenant. Grandma Dooley, from the family renting the house to his mother, claims that the faeries are to blame for both incidents.
Bobby wants nothing more to get away from his mother and all the talk of faeries and back to Dublin and the things he knows, but when Dennis begins to claim seeing a ‘little woman’ in the house late at night Bobby realizes that he needs to stay and make sure his family gets out alive.
Creature of the Night is a different sort of mystery; the inconclusive end makes for a more realist story. Bobby’s life is a difficult one and many readers may find themselves wincing for his sake as he slowly grows and changes and just how hard it is for him to give up everything he’s known for fourteen years.
Teen
The Season by Sarah MacLean
The year is 1812 and the Season has begun, the fall and winter months when the Titled and aristocracy of England put on their best clothes and flock to London to attend balls and society dinners hoping to find a spouse, a socially advantageous connection, or at least have a little fun. Now seventeen years old this will be Lady Alexandra Stafford’s first season as an eligible woman, that is, if Alex cared at all for the trappings of marriage. Growing up in a house full of older brothers, Alex has had to learn how to hold her own, not the most popular thing for an aristocratic lady, but she’s not about to let a little thing like that stop her.
Shortly before the start of the Season, the Earl of Blackmoor fell to his death in an apparent accident, now the title and lands belong to his only son Gavin, long time friend of the Stafford family and practically a fourth meddling brother to Alex. When Alex and her closest friends, Ella and Vivi, begin to overhear secretive conversations, they begin to wonder if the late Earl’s death was the accident it was claimed to be. As the trio begins to see spies at every corner, they must find a way to help Gavin without putting themselves in danger. But is Alex’s heart also at risk this Season?
If you’re a fan of Austen and other classic works of the time, The Season could be of interest. MacLean follows the same path as Austen by satirizing some her characters by making them larger than life or sometimes odd and foolish to the reader. For the modern reader the customs of the upper class, particularly those that relate to romance, can be frustrating, but it’s made easier known that Alex finds her new restrictions equally as frustrating.
Teen
The Funeral Director’s Son by Coleen Murtagh Paratore
Christopher “Kip” Campbell is twelve-years-old and the last thing he wants to do is follow in the family tradition. That’s because the Campbell family has operated a funeral home in Clover, Massachusetts since 1875.
Kip really has no skills when it comes to working at the funeral home; he’s not good at consoling people like his father, growing and arranging flowers like his mother, organizing things or making people smile like his sisters, playing the organ like his great-aunt, and the idea of writing obituaries like his grandmother drives him crazy. So Kip has been relegated to parking cars and sweeping the sidewalks. Little do his family realize that Kip has been doing more to help the recently deceased than anyone, and he’s getting pretty tired of not getting any reward for all his efforts.
When one of the local fishermen dies in a terrible accident it’s up to Kip to find out what haunted the man and made him so angry for so many years. It won’t be easy as the only person who seems to have a clue is a local woman the kids call the Birdlady. But if Kip can pull this off the payoff just might be worth it.
Juvenile
The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry
One night, five-year-old Lucinda Chapdelaine’s parents leave for a ball at the palace and never return. Orphaned and penniless, Lucinda is forced to live with her Uncle and Aunt and work for them in their jewelry shop. Uncle is a nice enough man, doing his best to make room for her, while Aunt wants little to do with Lucinda, making her stay there as miserable as possible.
One day when Lucinda is fifteen a lovely and elegant woman comes into the shop, requesting a new setting for her treasured gem. Aunt and Uncle are excited at the prospect of finally getting some work in the shop, until they discover that their new customer is none other than the Amaranth Witch, who has supposedly remained untouched by time for decades. Lucinda is told to take the money and stone back to the woman, but before she can the gem is stolen by a local thief known as Peter. Blamed for the theft of the stone and for allegedly stealing money from the till, Lucinda is kicked out by Aunt. The only place she can think to go is to the Witch, who goes by the name Beryl, to explain what happened and offer to get the stone back.
When it turns out the Peter has sold the stolen stone, to the Prince of all people, Lucinda must team up with the aggravating, smart-mouthed thief if she wants to make things right with Beryl, who Lucinda has come to think of as almost a friend. But getting the gem back will be harder than Lucinda could have expected and in one night she’ll go from street festival, to dungeon, to the palace ball, and if she’s lucky she’ll survive to see morning.
The Amaranth Enchantment is a charming and engaging mash up of some of the greatest fairy tale plots out there. A little The Prince and the Pauper and a lot of Cinderella and all of the little things that make fairy tales what they are.
Teen
Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
It all starts with a funeral. Stephanie Edgley’s eccentric uncle Gordon suddenly passes away, leaving her with a dusty, old house and his strange friend who tends to pop up in the least likely of places. Uncle Gordon’s friend, Skulduggery Pleasant, has an unusual secret – he’s a walking, talking, magic flinging skeleton.
Skulduggery works as a detective for the hidden magical community, investigating unusual matters and making sure that the secret stays a secret. With Gordon dead, Stephanie suspects that someone in the magical community murderer her uncle, who often turned the things he saw into stories for his popular novels. Skulduggery suspects his old nemesis, Nefarian Serpine, is behind it all and that Gordon was killed for a secret he kept even from his friend.
With the help of some new friends, including an ex-boxer turned tailor and a troll-slayer, Stephanie and Skulduggery must uncover Gordon’s secret and stop Serpine before he finds an ancient weapon that could lead to humanity’s destruction.
Sometimes a little silly, Skulduggery Pleasant was oddly enough a page turner and you’ll likely find yourself wanting to get in just one more chapter every time you sit down to read. The dialog is amusing and snappy. One unfortunate thing that might turn off some readers is that most of the characters fit too neatly into set stereotypes, leaving many of the events in the book to be too predictable.
Upper Juvenile/Teen