YA – Page 17 – Destiny Cole

May 26, 2010June 29, 2013

Graceling: Kristin Cashore

I decided upon this book because Amazon told me I would like it. Seriously. How lame is that, yet how much more lame is it that I didn’t have anything else interesting to read so I bought it?!

The beginning of the book started out a bit strange. It’s a fantasy novel based on a 17 year old (you know I love my 17 year olds) who has been graced with a special talent. Her talent just so happens to be killing people.

So begins an interesting coming of age, finding herself story that I found myself completely engrossed in. It started out a bit slow, but that’s because Kristin Cashore is really defining her characters and making you know them and love them. I love it when authors do this, but then I hate it at the same time. Especially if this is a stand alone novel without a sequal or series to follow along with. (although I think she is going to keep going with this, but none are out now)
Here is the Amazon description:

If you had the power to kill with your bare hands, what would you do with it?
Graceling takes readers inside the world of Katsa, a warrior-girl in her late teens with one blue eye and one green eye. This gives her haunting beauty, but also marks her as a Graceling. Gracelings are beings with special talents—swimming, storytelling, dancing. Katsa’s Grace is considered more useful: her ability to fight (and kill, if she wanted to) is unequaled in the seven kingdoms. Forced to act as a henchman for a manipulative king, Katsa channels her guilt by forming a secret council of like-minded citizens who carry out secret missions to promote justice over cruelty and abuses of power.
Combining elements of fantasy and romance, Cashore skillfully portrays the confusion, discovery, and angst that smart, strong-willed girls experience as they creep toward adulthood. Katsa wrestles with questions of freedom, truth, and knowing when to rely on a friend for help. This is no small task for an angry girl who had eschewed friendships (with the exception of one cousin that she trusts) for her more ready skills of self-reliance, hunting, and fighting. Katsa also comes to know the real power of her Grace and the nature of Graces in general: they are not always what they appear to be.

So it’s an interesting story. An interesting world. Loved it!

5 out of 5 stars and totally recommend it.

January 27, 2010June 29, 2013

Catching Fire- Suzanne Collins

This is book 2 of the Hunger Games trilogy.

I really enjoyed the 1st book, Hunger Games, and couldn’t wait for the 2nd one to come out.

But then life happened and I never bought the second one. Then I got my Kindle and they didn’t have a Kindle version available. But then when my brother-in-law was talking about how much he loved Hunger Games, I was determined to get the 2nd installment. So the other day we were downtown and walked by an English bookstore and I ran in and they had it!

I finished it quickly and wished that it wouldn’t end.

The ending of it is definitely more of a cliff hanger than the 1st. The final installment comes out in August and I can’t wait!

So DEFINITELY recommend this series and give it 5 stars!

Amazon Description:
Every year in Panem, the dystopic nation that exists where the U.S. used to be, the Capitol holds a televised tournament in which two teen “tributes” from each of the surrounding districts fight a gruesome battle to the death. In The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, the tributes from impoverished District Twelve, thwarted the Gamemakers, forcing them to let both teens survive. In this rabidly anticipated sequel, Katniss, again the narrator, returns home to find herself more the center of attention than ever. The sinister President Snow surprises her with a visit, and Katniss’s fear when Snow meets with her alone is both palpable and justified. Catching Fire is divided into three parts: Katniss and Peeta’s mandatory Victory Tour through the districts, preparations for the 75th Annual Hunger Games, and a truncated version of the Games themselves. Slower paced than its predecessor, this sequel explores the nation of Panem: its power structure, rumors of a secret district, and a spreading rebellion, ignited by Katniss and Peeta’s subversive victory. Katniss also deepens as a character. Though initially bewildered by the attention paid to her, she comes almost to embrace her status as the rebels’ symbolic leader. Though more of the story takes place outside the arena than within, this sequel has enough action to please Hunger Games fans and leaves enough questions tantalizingly unanswered for readers to be desperate for the next installment.

January 21, 2010June 29, 2013

Review of The Curse of the Spider King- Christopher Hopper and Wayne Batson

I just finished the Curse of the Spider King and I must say, I REALLY enjoyed it!

It was one of those books that transported you to another realm and immersed you in a new and interesting world.

I love how they intertwined the history of the world within the story of the children.

It is a fantasy Christian fiction with crazy creatures, Elves, good, evil, all the counter parts to the good, well rounded story.

The only drawback for us “adults” is that it is a young adult book written for a younger audience. It gets a little “high school” at times in the rhetoric, which is obviously understandable knowing the age it was written for. But I didn’t feel it took away from the story. It was also a little short for me as well. I wish it was longer.

BUT it left me wanting more and very excited about the next book.

I am giving it 4 stars and totally recommend it!

Here is the Amazon description:
The Seven succeeding Elven Lords of Allyra were dead, lost in the Siege of Berinfell as babes. At least that’s what everyone thought until tremors from a distant world known as Earth, revealed strange signs that Elven blood lived among its peoples. With a glimmer of hope in their hearts, sentinels are sent to see if the signs are true. But theirs is not a lone errand. The ruling warlord of Allyra, the Spider King, has sent his own scouts to hunt down the Seven and finish the job they failed to complete many ages ago.
Now 13-year-olds on the brink of the Age of Reckoning when their Elven gifts will be manifest, discover the unthinkable truth that their adoptive families are not their only kin. With mysterious Sentinels revealing breathtaking secrets of the past, and dark strangers haunting their every move, will the young Elf Lords find the way back to the home of their birth? Worlds and races collide as the forces of good and evil battle. Will anyone escape the Curse of the Spider King?