The Dead of Night - 2012 Book #9

The Dead of Night by Peter Lerangis is the third book of the Cahills Vs. Vespers series, the follow-up series of The 39 Clues. In this book, Amy and Dan Cahill are searching for a stale orb to trade to Vespers to keep their kidnapped family members safe. Dan's best friend, Atticus, has been kidnapped, and he is determined to save him. Atticus's older brother Jake has decided that the Cahills are in something much deeper than he had first suspected and declares his intentions to help them rescue his brother and find what they are looking for. To add to the confusion Dan is already feeling, while on their search he keeps receiving text messages from someone who calls themselves by the initials of his father, who he had believed had died when he was really little. Was it possible that his father was alive? And if he was, why hadn't he tried to contact them before now? This book is packed full of action as Amy and Dan run from one place to the next searches for clues that will save their family. All the action keeps the reader engaged and wanting to keep reading to find out what will happen next.

One thing that bugged me about this book, though, was that it kept changing which character's point of view the scene was seen through. This alone wouldn't bother me; I do that a lot myself when writing. What bothered me was that it did it in an overlapping way several times throughout the book. It would tell the beginning of a scene as it was perceived by one character and then tell the ending part of the scene as it was viewed by another character, but not starting at the point where the first part ended. It overlapped by a few things that happened. It was confusing what was going on when they kept switching, and, at one point, I reread the two segments three times and still couldn't figure out what had happened exactly. The two seemed to contradict each other.

Other than that, this book was a really good, easy read.

Janitors - 2012 Book #8

Janitors by Tyler Whitesides was a fun, quick read. The book has many exciting twists and turns that keep the reader interested and engaged and curious to know what will happen next. This book is the story of a sixth grade boy named Spencer. He is a new kid at a new school, and sixth grade is the worst time to be a new student at school. He is trying to get used to his new school and make friends, but he is not having much luck. One day, the classroom bully draws on Spencer's face with permanent marker after he falls asleep in class. Spencer goes to the bathroom to wash it off. He uses some soap that was sitting on the counter that burns his face but does get the writing to come off. When he goes back to class, he sees a strange bird-like creature in the classroom. No one else seems to be able to see it, and no one believes he really saw it either. He begins to see other creatures around the school as well. A girl known as Daisy "Gullible" Gates may be the only person who might believe him, unless she thinks he's trying to trick her as well.

This book has many unexpected things that happen. Just when you think you know what's going on, something happens that changes the way you see things. This book also shows through Spencer's experience some important life lessons that readers can learn from this book. This was a great read.

The Fire of Ares - 2012 Book #7

The Fire of Ares by Michael Ford was a lot different than what I was expecting. I saw on a list of books labeled, "If you liked Percy Jackson, try these!" Because of that, I was expecting it to be similar to the Percy Jackson books. It's not anything like the Percy Jackson books. The only similarity is that they both talk about things that happened in ancient Greece and mention some Greek gods and goddesses. The Fire of Ares actually takes place in ancient Greece. The main character is a twelve-year-old boy named Lysander. He has lived his whole life as a slave to the Spartans, the ruling class of Sparta. His mother is ill, and he has spent his days trying to get extra grain in the fields to help pay for medicine to care for his mother in their little shack. He has been training secretly with his friend in the mornings in hopes that one day, he can join the rebel slaves and take over the Spartans to gain their freedom.

His life changes drastically, when one day, a noble sees an amulet Lysander has had since he was born - the one thing of value that he owns. Lysander gets the chance to train as a Spartan. He decides to do it, mostly because his amulet had just been stolen, and he believes it was stolen by someone in the barracks. He brings his friend with him to help him and starts the harsh training of a Spartan warrior.

He is treated differently from the start since many of the boys know that he used to be a slave and aren't sure how he got to be there to train as a Spartan warrior. Many of the boys think he is some sort of spy, and Lysander feels sort of like a spy to. He still feels like he is not a Spartan, and often relates better with the slaves in the barracks. As Lysander struggles to find where he fits in in his new life, he also frantically searches for his missing amulet, and in the process, begins discovering other things as well. Things that he maybe shouldn't be discovering.

What I thought was going to be somewhat of a fantasy ended up being a historical fiction book, which is fine by me, since I really enjoy those as well. There is a lot to learn from this book about how life for different people was like at this time in history. This was a great read, and I look forward to reading the sequel.