by Jonathan Barnes
Grade: Unfinished
Read: To page 113, plus a bit more throughout the book.
Some really creepy bits. The description of Mrs. Puggsley's place was rather disgusting. I read the end, and didn't get it at all. Is that dream thing supposed to mean something about the Somnambulist? Now of course, I didn't read half the book, so it's understandable. Then there was Barabbas. Yuck, yuck. I felt really depressed after this book, because I'd been reading a lot of books with stuff like that in it lately. I'm determined not to again for a long time.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Pagan's Scribe
by Catherine Jinks
Grade: Unfinished
Read: Skimmed all the way through it.
Bad parts: Lord Jordan's back. Isidore is not as interesting as Pagan. Some theology might be iffy. (I'm not really sure about that part, though.)
Good parts: You see Pagan from someone else's point of view. Lord Roland dies and Pagan is very sad and it's all very sweet. Catherine Jinks's style is still very much present.
Grade: Unfinished
Read: Skimmed all the way through it.
Bad parts: Lord Jordan's back. Isidore is not as interesting as Pagan. Some theology might be iffy. (I'm not really sure about that part, though.)
Good parts: You see Pagan from someone else's point of view. Lord Roland dies and Pagan is very sad and it's all very sweet. Catherine Jinks's style is still very much present.
Pagan in Exile
by Catherine Jinks
Grade: Unfinished
Read to: Page 208
I thought it was good, till Esclaramonde came in. I didn't like her. And then there's Lord Jordan... Actually, there's a good point about his presence. It proves that Roland and Pagan's relationship isn't like that, by the contrast to Pagan's reaction to his discovery about Lord Jordan. Otherwise a good book--I love Pagan and Roland's relationship, very sweet, and the writing style is still really cool.
Grade: Unfinished
Read to: Page 208
I thought it was good, till Esclaramonde came in. I didn't like her. And then there's Lord Jordan... Actually, there's a good point about his presence. It proves that Roland and Pagan's relationship isn't like that, by the contrast to Pagan's reaction to his discovery about Lord Jordan. Otherwise a good book--I love Pagan and Roland's relationship, very sweet, and the writing style is still really cool.
Monday, July 21, 2008
The Thief
by Megan Whalen Turner
Grade: Good
I enjoyed the characters--I grew to like the magus especially, I think. The gods were not as cool as in The Lightning Thief--too...pagan, I guess, as opposed to just powerful people. The twist at the end was interesting. I guessed one twist, not the other. I didn't quite get the very last bit in italics.
Grade: Good
I enjoyed the characters--I grew to like the magus especially, I think. The gods were not as cool as in The Lightning Thief--too...pagan, I guess, as opposed to just powerful people. The twist at the end was interesting. I guessed one twist, not the other. I didn't quite get the very last bit in italics.
Jimmy Coates: Killer
by Joe Craig
Grade: All right
I had much too high expectations for this one. I expected it to be as fabulous as The Lightning Thief. It wasn't. The writing style was more amateur, I think. The character might have been interesting with a different writer, but as it is, I liked none of them. Although I may have liked Mitchell if he was in it at all. I'm undecided about whether I want to order the sequal.
Grade: All right
I had much too high expectations for this one. I expected it to be as fabulous as The Lightning Thief. It wasn't. The writing style was more amateur, I think. The character might have been interesting with a different writer, but as it is, I liked none of them. Although I may have liked Mitchell if he was in it at all. I'm undecided about whether I want to order the sequal.
Year of the Griffin
by Diana Wynne Jones
Grade: Good
Boy, a lot of people got married in this one. Diana Wynne Jones, in that aspect, manages to be almost perfect--but not quite. All the romances were right, but none were quite satisfying. The only one I really liked was Callette's.
Otherwise, the group of students was lots of fun--not quite enough time spent on Felim (if that's his name). Generally satifying.
Grade: Good
Boy, a lot of people got married in this one. Diana Wynne Jones, in that aspect, manages to be almost perfect--but not quite. All the romances were right, but none were quite satisfying. The only one I really liked was Callette's.
Otherwise, the group of students was lots of fun--not quite enough time spent on Felim (if that's his name). Generally satifying.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Don't Panic: The Official Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Companion
by Neil Gaiman
Grade: Unfinished
Read to: Page 82
It just got a bit boring. And there wasn't enough about the characters and such. I suppose because there isn't all that much to the characters. Hitchhiker's isn't exactly a deep book, is it?
Grade: Unfinished
Read to: Page 82
It just got a bit boring. And there wasn't enough about the characters and such. I suppose because there isn't all that much to the characters. Hitchhiker's isn't exactly a deep book, is it?
Monday, July 7, 2008
The Lightning Thief
by Rick Riordan
Grade: Good
I LOVED it!! It was totally awsome. The chapter titles are sooo funny: "I Plunge to my Death"--how many books have chapters like that? and "I Battle my Jerk Relative"--absolutely hilarious, especially if you know who the jerk relative is. Most of the titles are funnier when you realize what they're talking about.
And the gods are so cool! Hades: "His skin was albino white, his hair shoulder-length and jet black. He wasn't bulked up like Ares, but he radiated power. He lounged on his throne of fused human bones, looking lithe, graceful, and dangerous as a panther." I love the word "lithe", just so you know. And Poseidon is pretty cool too. I've always like Poseidon (I think). Even Ares was almost cool.
I didn't love Annabeth, but Grover was funny, "even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes."
So in other words, I loved it, and REALLY hope the sequals live up to it.
Grade: Good
I LOVED it!! It was totally awsome. The chapter titles are sooo funny: "I Plunge to my Death"--how many books have chapters like that? and "I Battle my Jerk Relative"--absolutely hilarious, especially if you know who the jerk relative is. Most of the titles are funnier when you realize what they're talking about.
And the gods are so cool! Hades: "His skin was albino white, his hair shoulder-length and jet black. He wasn't bulked up like Ares, but he radiated power. He lounged on his throne of fused human bones, looking lithe, graceful, and dangerous as a panther." I love the word "lithe", just so you know. And Poseidon is pretty cool too. I've always like Poseidon (I think). Even Ares was almost cool.
I didn't love Annabeth, but Grover was funny, "even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes."
So in other words, I loved it, and REALLY hope the sequals live up to it.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Dark Lord of Derkholm
by Diana Wynne Jones
Grade: Good
Have I said that I love Diana Wynne Jones? Her books are ALWAYS interesting, and I don't ever need to love one of the characters.
I did this time, though. My favourite character was the thief, Reville. He's almost a Lewis person.
"He was a young man, think and fair and clever-looking."
"[A] shortish, fair-haired young man, who came sauntering down the stairs with an air."
And he happens to be the richest person in the world, due to the fact that he's Hereditary Head of Thieves Guild.
Grade: Good
Have I said that I love Diana Wynne Jones? Her books are ALWAYS interesting, and I don't ever need to love one of the characters.
I did this time, though. My favourite character was the thief, Reville. He's almost a Lewis person.
"He was a young man, think and fair and clever-looking."
"[A] shortish, fair-haired young man, who came sauntering down the stairs with an air."
And he happens to be the richest person in the world, due to the fact that he's Hereditary Head of Thieves Guild.
Pagan's Crusade
by Catherine Jinks
Grade: Good
Sometime's Pagan's comments seemed almost disrespectful to the faith, but I don't think they quite were. I loved the friendship between Roland and Pagan. Some sweet parts:
"(Oh, please, please, how can I explain? You've got to. I can't bear it. If he dies . . . I can't bear it. . . what shall I do?)"
"'Oh, my lord. My lord, your wound. You're hurt. . .'
He looks down at me. Blue eyes big and bloodshot in a grimy face. Suddenly very still.
'Stop crying, Pagan.'
What?
'There's nothing to cry about.' (Gently.) 'Not yet.'
But I'm not crying! Am I? Reach up. . . and there they are. The tears. Lord have mercy."
This last one is a good example of the interesting style it's written in. I like that style. More in tune with the emotions of the narrator or something.
"'My lord, how can I?' Look at me, Roland. Look at me. I might be your squire, but I'm also your friend. Can't you see that? Can't you see what I'm feeling? 'My lord, have some mercy. For God's sake, think of me. Don't you understand? You're all I have left.'"
Grade: Good
Sometime's Pagan's comments seemed almost disrespectful to the faith, but I don't think they quite were. I loved the friendship between Roland and Pagan. Some sweet parts:
"(Oh, please, please, how can I explain? You've got to. I can't bear it. If he dies . . . I can't bear it. . . what shall I do?)"
"'Oh, my lord. My lord, your wound. You're hurt. . .'
He looks down at me. Blue eyes big and bloodshot in a grimy face. Suddenly very still.
'Stop crying, Pagan.'
What?
'There's nothing to cry about.' (Gently.) 'Not yet.'
But I'm not crying! Am I? Reach up. . . and there they are. The tears. Lord have mercy."
This last one is a good example of the interesting style it's written in. I like that style. More in tune with the emotions of the narrator or something.
"'My lord, how can I?' Look at me, Roland. Look at me. I might be your squire, but I'm also your friend. Can't you see that? Can't you see what I'm feeling? 'My lord, have some mercy. For God's sake, think of me. Don't you understand? You're all I have left.'"
Howl's Moving Castle
by Diana Wynne Jones
Grade: Good
Ought to be "Really good--in fact totally excellent". I love Diana Wynne Jones.
Grade: Good
Ought to be "Really good--in fact totally excellent". I love Diana Wynne Jones.
Friday, July 4, 2008
The Mysterious Benedict Society
by Trenton Lee Stewert
Grade: Good
Good fun. First part with the puzzles was extra good fun. Wasn't quite as for the rest, but still fun. Looking forward to the sequal. Somehow didn't guess what's-her-face to be the age she was. Read it a little while ago, so forgetting what I originally thought. Talking strangely too. Just finished Doctor Who...totally excellent. Loved it. Sigh.
Grade: Good
Good fun. First part with the puzzles was extra good fun. Wasn't quite as for the rest, but still fun. Looking forward to the sequal. Somehow didn't guess what's-her-face to be the age she was. Read it a little while ago, so forgetting what I originally thought. Talking strangely too. Just finished Doctor Who...totally excellent. Loved it. Sigh.
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