Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George is the first book in the series that tells the story of the girl Creel. It's told in first person by Creel herself and starts out with Creel saying she is going to be sacrificed to a dragon. Her parents died from the fever, and she's been living with her aunt and uncle who are very poor. Her aunt comes up with the perfect solution for what to do with the girl: let her get captured by a dragon and talk a knight into rescuing her, who will then have to marry her. So Creel lets herself get captured by the dragon, but she doesn't want to marry the knight who's coming to rescue her. She wants to go to the capital city and get a job sewing. That will solve her aunt's problem of caring for her, and she gets to do what she wants. So Creel talks the dragon into letting her go and into giving her something from it's hoard. What she chooses is a pair of slippers. The dragon is shocked at her choice and doesn't want her to take them, but he had promised her she could have whatever she wanted, so he lets her take them.
Creel is pleased with her new slippers and continues on her journey to the capital city where she hopes to find work sewing. When the slippers start making her feet itch, and a spoiled princess wants her slippers, Creel wonders if the slippers are worth keeping. But deep down inside, she knows that if anyone else gets their hands on the slippers, something terrible will happen. As Creel tries to figure out the secret of the slippers, she makes some new friends and some enemies, some of them from unexpected places.
This was a really good read with some very surprising things right at the end of the story that make the reader want to read the next book in the series.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
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.
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.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
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.
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.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Just Ella - 2012 Book #6
Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix is a continuation of the famous Cinderella story. It starts shortly after Cinderella has tried on the glass slipper and has been whisked off to the castle with Prince Charming. It's like a dream come true, for just a short while. Ella has escaped the clutches of her wicked stepmother and stepsisters and is now free to do whatever she likes... As long as she doesn't lift a finger to do work except for needlework, finds time to do anything outside of her many sessions with her tutors who are there to teach her everything from etiquette to religion, and never steps outside the castle. She longs for the day when she can marry the Prince and live her real happily ever after. Right now, she only gets to see the Prince for a few moments every other day with a chaperone.
Life grows boring, until the day that one of her tutors suddenly collapses. She is astounded when her other tutor Madame Bisset seems unfazed by this incident. She says that women shouldn't be told about things like that, but Ella is worried about her tutor. She finally hears news from one of the young maids that works at the castle, Mary. The following day, she wonders if her tutor is well enough to come teach her lessons. Just when she thinks she might have an hour to herself to do whatever she pleases, a young man shows up to teach her lesson. His name is Jed, and his father was her previous tutor. Jed is the only tutor who will actually talk to her like a normal person without all the "Yes, Princess," "No, Princess."
She soon grows to realize that she doesn't even like the Prince. She finds him to be boring, but how will he react if she tells him what she thinks?
This story brings an all new look to the well-known Cinderella story. After a short while of her stay at the castle, Ella is surprised by the rumors she hears about how she came to be in the castle. There are rumors of magic and a fairy godmother among other things. None of them are true. This is the story of a girl who does what she can to accomplish what she wants. This was a great new look at the story of Cinderella.
Life grows boring, until the day that one of her tutors suddenly collapses. She is astounded when her other tutor Madame Bisset seems unfazed by this incident. She says that women shouldn't be told about things like that, but Ella is worried about her tutor. She finally hears news from one of the young maids that works at the castle, Mary. The following day, she wonders if her tutor is well enough to come teach her lessons. Just when she thinks she might have an hour to herself to do whatever she pleases, a young man shows up to teach her lesson. His name is Jed, and his father was her previous tutor. Jed is the only tutor who will actually talk to her like a normal person without all the "Yes, Princess," "No, Princess."
She soon grows to realize that she doesn't even like the Prince. She finds him to be boring, but how will he react if she tells him what she thinks?
This story brings an all new look to the well-known Cinderella story. After a short while of her stay at the castle, Ella is surprised by the rumors she hears about how she came to be in the castle. There are rumors of magic and a fairy godmother among other things. None of them are true. This is the story of a girl who does what she can to accomplish what she wants. This was a great new look at the story of Cinderella.
Dragon's Milk - 2012 Book #5
Dragon's Milk by Susan Fletcher was a good read. The main character, Kaeldra, has always known she was different. She looks nothing like her sisters, which makes sense, because she was adopted, but she looks nothing like any of the other people in the village either. Her hair and skin are much lighter in color than anyone's in the village, and she is much taller than the average person in the village as well; but the most distinguishing feature is her green eyes. No one in the village has green eyes.
Kaeldra lives with her adopted family which includes her two sisters, her step-mother, and her grandma. She helps watch the sheep with her sisters to provide for her family. One day, her youngest sister gets sick. She doesn't get any better, but continues to get worse. They call for the doctor, and the doctor tells them there is nothing he can do about it; no one knows a cure for this illness. It turns out that this is not true: the grandma has heard of a cure, and she tells Kaeldra a story of a girl who had the same illness many years before. Her parents left her in the mountains, expecting to never see her again. Months later, she climbed down out of the mountains perfectly healthy, as good as new. The only difference was her eyes were green. Just like Kaeldra's. The story says that the girl had been fed dragon's milk, and that afterward, she could talk to dragons. Kaeldra's grandma believes that Kaeldra is descended from this girl, and that is why her eyes are green.
Kaeldra decides to go out and try to find the dragon. She finds the dragon and makes a deal with the dragon. She will watch the dragon's babies in exchange for some milk for her sister. As she returns home with the milk, a visitor arrives. It's a young boy named Jeorg, who claims to be a dragonslayer come to slay the dragon that has been eating the villages sheep. At first, Kaeldra thinks this might be a good idea, until she realizes that her sister needs a lot more milk before she'll be fully recovered. She soon grows to enjoy spending time with the baby draagons, Embyr, Pyro, and Synge, but still fears the mother dragon.
But then, everything changes. Jeorg keeps asking her where the dragon is. Rumors are being spread about the girl with the green eyes, and Kaeldra fears for the lives of the three young dragons. Her grandma tells her of a man named Landerath, who is against the slaying of dragons. Kaeldra believes that if she can just find him, she can stop worrying about the dragons she is protecting. She doesn't know who she can trust, or how she is supposed to continually feed the quickly growing young dragons.
After Kaeldra finds the dragon for the first time, the story gets a little bit slow for a while, but then it picks up more a more as Kaeldra tries to find Landerath while she's also trying to find herself and someplace where she'll fit in.
Kaeldra lives with her adopted family which includes her two sisters, her step-mother, and her grandma. She helps watch the sheep with her sisters to provide for her family. One day, her youngest sister gets sick. She doesn't get any better, but continues to get worse. They call for the doctor, and the doctor tells them there is nothing he can do about it; no one knows a cure for this illness. It turns out that this is not true: the grandma has heard of a cure, and she tells Kaeldra a story of a girl who had the same illness many years before. Her parents left her in the mountains, expecting to never see her again. Months later, she climbed down out of the mountains perfectly healthy, as good as new. The only difference was her eyes were green. Just like Kaeldra's. The story says that the girl had been fed dragon's milk, and that afterward, she could talk to dragons. Kaeldra's grandma believes that Kaeldra is descended from this girl, and that is why her eyes are green.
Kaeldra decides to go out and try to find the dragon. She finds the dragon and makes a deal with the dragon. She will watch the dragon's babies in exchange for some milk for her sister. As she returns home with the milk, a visitor arrives. It's a young boy named Jeorg, who claims to be a dragonslayer come to slay the dragon that has been eating the villages sheep. At first, Kaeldra thinks this might be a good idea, until she realizes that her sister needs a lot more milk before she'll be fully recovered. She soon grows to enjoy spending time with the baby draagons, Embyr, Pyro, and Synge, but still fears the mother dragon.
But then, everything changes. Jeorg keeps asking her where the dragon is. Rumors are being spread about the girl with the green eyes, and Kaeldra fears for the lives of the three young dragons. Her grandma tells her of a man named Landerath, who is against the slaying of dragons. Kaeldra believes that if she can just find him, she can stop worrying about the dragons she is protecting. She doesn't know who she can trust, or how she is supposed to continually feed the quickly growing young dragons.
After Kaeldra finds the dragon for the first time, the story gets a little bit slow for a while, but then it picks up more a more as Kaeldra tries to find Landerath while she's also trying to find herself and someplace where she'll fit in.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Pendragon #9: Raven Rise - 2012 Book #4
Raven Rise by D. J. MacHale is the ninth book in the Pendragon series. The tenth book came out a while back, and I decided to reread all the other books before reading the last book, and I finally finished the ninth one. According to D. J. MacHale, it's the Penultimate Pendragon, or the next to last book in the series. In this book, the main character, Bobby Pendragon, is having a good time. He's working to help restore the island of Ibara to it's previous beauty after the disaster with the attack of the dados on the shores at the end of the previous book. Bobby, as the lead Traveler, thinks the struggle is finally over between the Travelers and Saint Dane. He destroyed the flume from Ibara, trapping Saint Dane there with him. Yeah, there was a big mess he needed to clean up from the battle that had been fought on the island, but Bobby was enjoying a rather stress-free life.
While Bobby spent a peaceful time on the beach, Patrick, the Traveler from Third Earth - which is Earth 3000 years in the future - wakes up to find the world has changed drastically overnight. The world is in disarray, pollution is terrible, buildings have fallen down, and there is a strange group called the Ravinians who identify themselves by the tattoos on the arm. The part that is most strange is these Ravinians's tattoos are the same stars as those that mark the flumes which enable the Travelers to travel back and forth between the various territories, and the Ravinians are nothing like the Travelers. After Patrick witnessed Ravinians beat a helpless old man, and light a library on fire, Patrick decides to travel to Second Earth to see if he can find out what happened in Earth's past to cause all these strange changes to happen in what used to be his practically perfect world.
Courtney and Mark are also in for a shock when they return home to find the same group, the Ravinians in their home town, where the leader of this group claims to be the Traveler from Second Earth and lives on top of the flume they use to return home.
Alder returns to his home after the adventure in the last book, to find that the Beedowans are preparing for war with another tribe that lives over the mountain, and to be accused of being a traitor. Alder is confused at how things could change so drastically in such a short amount of time. When he left, his people were living in peace with each other and the other tribes and getting used to living together with the Milago, and now they were plotting the overtaking of other tribes.
Everyone knows that it is getting closer and closer to the event that Saint Dane has been talking about through the entire series: the Convergence. The only problem is, no one really knows what that means. They only know that whatever it is, it must be bad, because it's what Saint Dane wants. As the world seems to be falling apart Patrick, Courtney, Mark, Bobby, and Alder do all they can to stop the events from happening. The question is: can they stop Saint Dane before it's too late?
This book is very fast paced and has many many unexpected things happen as the tension rises throughout the book. The ending leaves the reader with many many questions that still need to be answered, that, hopefully, will all be answered in the tenth and final book.
While Bobby spent a peaceful time on the beach, Patrick, the Traveler from Third Earth - which is Earth 3000 years in the future - wakes up to find the world has changed drastically overnight. The world is in disarray, pollution is terrible, buildings have fallen down, and there is a strange group called the Ravinians who identify themselves by the tattoos on the arm. The part that is most strange is these Ravinians's tattoos are the same stars as those that mark the flumes which enable the Travelers to travel back and forth between the various territories, and the Ravinians are nothing like the Travelers. After Patrick witnessed Ravinians beat a helpless old man, and light a library on fire, Patrick decides to travel to Second Earth to see if he can find out what happened in Earth's past to cause all these strange changes to happen in what used to be his practically perfect world.
Courtney and Mark are also in for a shock when they return home to find the same group, the Ravinians in their home town, where the leader of this group claims to be the Traveler from Second Earth and lives on top of the flume they use to return home.
Alder returns to his home after the adventure in the last book, to find that the Beedowans are preparing for war with another tribe that lives over the mountain, and to be accused of being a traitor. Alder is confused at how things could change so drastically in such a short amount of time. When he left, his people were living in peace with each other and the other tribes and getting used to living together with the Milago, and now they were plotting the overtaking of other tribes.
Everyone knows that it is getting closer and closer to the event that Saint Dane has been talking about through the entire series: the Convergence. The only problem is, no one really knows what that means. They only know that whatever it is, it must be bad, because it's what Saint Dane wants. As the world seems to be falling apart Patrick, Courtney, Mark, Bobby, and Alder do all they can to stop the events from happening. The question is: can they stop Saint Dane before it's too late?
This book is very fast paced and has many many unexpected things happen as the tension rises throughout the book. The ending leaves the reader with many many questions that still need to be answered, that, hopefully, will all be answered in the tenth and final book.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Raider's Ransom - 2012 Book #3
Raider's Ransom by Emily Diamand was a very good read. This book is very interesting. At first, it seems like it's a story that took place long ago, when pirates roamed the seven seas and attacked other vessels and cities to raid them for goods. But after reading for a while, it becomes apparent that this story actually takes place far in the future. The story happens in the year 2216. The world has had lots of flooding, and much of England has been destroyed. People in England believe that technology was the cause of all the terrible natural disasters that have happened in the world, and have tried to destroy them. The religion in England basically teaches that technology is bad, and if you use it, you'll be cursed. In Greater Scotland, they still use technology, but much of it has been destroyed by natural disasters and also by angry people during the time called the Collapse where people went around destroying computers and other technology.
The main character in this book is Lilly Melkum. She lives in a tiny fishing village, and has grown up without any knowledge of technology. All those things were destroyed long before she was born. She lives with her Granny and her seacat in a little hut up on a hill. She and her best friend, Andy, have always dreamed of buying a big boat when they grow up and sailing all over the place. This dream is crushed when raiders attack her village while she is away on a fishing trip.
The raiders come and kidnap the Prime Ministers daughter who was staying at their village with an aunt, and because of a rumor of a seacat in the village, they attack Lilly's house and kill her Granny. When Lilly returns, her world has been turned upside down. Her Granny is dead, and she moves in with Andy. But that's not the end of it. The Prime Minister blames the villagers for his daughter's kidnapping, and drafts most of the men, including Andy, into the army for an attack on the Raiders. The others, he holds prisoner and threatens to hang.
Lilly wants to do something to help, but she doesn't know how anyone will let her. She overhears a conversation between the Prime Minister and his sister, and also a seemingly impossible conversation between the Scottish Ambassador and an unknown person. She suddenly knows what she can do. She sets out with a stolen jewel, a letter, and a disguise on her little fishing boat with her seacat in tow to rescue the Prime Minister's daughter from the Raiders.
The other main character is Zeph, the son of the Raider Boss who has kidnapped the Prime Minister's father. His father wanted to start a war with the English, so he could wipe them out. Zeph runs into Lilly on her journey, and after a strange turn of events, they become friends. But Lilly doesn't really trust him, because he's a Raider, one of those people who killed her Granny.
Through thick mud, dangerous fog, storms, cannons, torture, ghosts, talking jewels, fake uncles, treason, capture, and treachery, it is interesting to watch how the relationship between Zeph and Lilly change over the course of the book.
There were a few things about the book that I didn't really like. The whole book is written in first person present tense. I've mentioned before that I'm not sure I really like reading books in present tense. They're a little harder to wrap your brain around what happens in what order, since everything is happening now. But the main problem was that it was written in first person from the point of view of two different people: Zeph and Lilly. While it was definitely interesting to see the story unfold from each of their perspectives, it was rather confusing to know who was speaking. They switched at new chapters, but not neccessarily every other one. I never knew who was speaking until part way through the first page of each chapter, since there wasn't anything that identified who was speaking at the beginning of each chapter.
The other thing I didn't like very much was the ending. It had a terrible cliffhanger ending. When I first saw the book, it appeared to be a stand alone book, but it turns out there's a sequel - which, luckily, has already been written.
The main character in this book is Lilly Melkum. She lives in a tiny fishing village, and has grown up without any knowledge of technology. All those things were destroyed long before she was born. She lives with her Granny and her seacat in a little hut up on a hill. She and her best friend, Andy, have always dreamed of buying a big boat when they grow up and sailing all over the place. This dream is crushed when raiders attack her village while she is away on a fishing trip.
The raiders come and kidnap the Prime Ministers daughter who was staying at their village with an aunt, and because of a rumor of a seacat in the village, they attack Lilly's house and kill her Granny. When Lilly returns, her world has been turned upside down. Her Granny is dead, and she moves in with Andy. But that's not the end of it. The Prime Minister blames the villagers for his daughter's kidnapping, and drafts most of the men, including Andy, into the army for an attack on the Raiders. The others, he holds prisoner and threatens to hang.
Lilly wants to do something to help, but she doesn't know how anyone will let her. She overhears a conversation between the Prime Minister and his sister, and also a seemingly impossible conversation between the Scottish Ambassador and an unknown person. She suddenly knows what she can do. She sets out with a stolen jewel, a letter, and a disguise on her little fishing boat with her seacat in tow to rescue the Prime Minister's daughter from the Raiders.
The other main character is Zeph, the son of the Raider Boss who has kidnapped the Prime Minister's father. His father wanted to start a war with the English, so he could wipe them out. Zeph runs into Lilly on her journey, and after a strange turn of events, they become friends. But Lilly doesn't really trust him, because he's a Raider, one of those people who killed her Granny.
Through thick mud, dangerous fog, storms, cannons, torture, ghosts, talking jewels, fake uncles, treason, capture, and treachery, it is interesting to watch how the relationship between Zeph and Lilly change over the course of the book.
There were a few things about the book that I didn't really like. The whole book is written in first person present tense. I've mentioned before that I'm not sure I really like reading books in present tense. They're a little harder to wrap your brain around what happens in what order, since everything is happening now. But the main problem was that it was written in first person from the point of view of two different people: Zeph and Lilly. While it was definitely interesting to see the story unfold from each of their perspectives, it was rather confusing to know who was speaking. They switched at new chapters, but not neccessarily every other one. I never knew who was speaking until part way through the first page of each chapter, since there wasn't anything that identified who was speaking at the beginning of each chapter.
The other thing I didn't like very much was the ending. It had a terrible cliffhanger ending. When I first saw the book, it appeared to be a stand alone book, but it turns out there's a sequel - which, luckily, has already been written.
The Last Girls of Pompeii - 2012 Book # 2
The Last Girls of Pompeii by Kathryn Lasky was a very interesting book. I really like historical fiction, because it helps the reader see what might have happened in historical events. It helps people realize that those things happened to real people and see what those people might have felt or been experiencing at the time.
The two main characters in the book are a girl and her slave. The girl was born with a crippled arm, and she always feels that she needs to hide her arm when around other people, especially ones that she doesn't know. Her slave is actually more like her best friend. They've been together since the girl was born, the slave being just four years older than the girl.
From the title, I knew that the volcano had to erupt somewhere in this story, and the anticipation for that built up the further through the book I got. It actually was the main reason I didn't want to put the book down. I knew what was coming, and I didn't know how it was going to affect the characters I had been reading about.
I think this book has a lot of good historical facts in it. The reader can really learn a lot about what life was like in ancient Roman times. They learn a lot about how marriage worked back then, since the main character's sister was planning her wedding, and also learn a lot about how people born with disabilities were viewed in that day as well. The book also includes some about the gladiators, since the girl slave's brother was a gladiator. Also, there is quite a bit about mythology in the book as well, since it was a part of people's daily lives in that it was their religion that they had at the time. I think the book was very educational as well as a good read.
However, I thought the ending was terrible. I guess I shouldn't have expected much better, since I knew the volcano was going to erupt sometime. Other than the very ending, the book was great.
The two main characters in the book are a girl and her slave. The girl was born with a crippled arm, and she always feels that she needs to hide her arm when around other people, especially ones that she doesn't know. Her slave is actually more like her best friend. They've been together since the girl was born, the slave being just four years older than the girl.
From the title, I knew that the volcano had to erupt somewhere in this story, and the anticipation for that built up the further through the book I got. It actually was the main reason I didn't want to put the book down. I knew what was coming, and I didn't know how it was going to affect the characters I had been reading about.
I think this book has a lot of good historical facts in it. The reader can really learn a lot about what life was like in ancient Roman times. They learn a lot about how marriage worked back then, since the main character's sister was planning her wedding, and also learn a lot about how people born with disabilities were viewed in that day as well. The book also includes some about the gladiators, since the girl slave's brother was a gladiator. Also, there is quite a bit about mythology in the book as well, since it was a part of people's daily lives in that it was their religion that they had at the time. I think the book was very educational as well as a good read.
However, I thought the ending was terrible. I guess I shouldn't have expected much better, since I knew the volcano was going to erupt sometime. Other than the very ending, the book was great.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Stravaganza: City of Ships - 2012 Book #1
The first book of the year was City of Ships by Mary Hoffman. This is the fifth book in the Stravaganza series. This is a series of books about two parallel worlds that are hundreds of years apart. Children from Earth in England are "chosen" to be stravaganti who can then stravagate between their world and the parallel world called Talia, which is very similar to Italy in the late 1500s.
In this book, the girl who was chosen as the new Stravagante is Isabel. She has a twin brother named Charlie, who, Isabel believes, is amazing at everything. He's really popular in school, he gets really good grades, and he's the captain of the swim team. Isabel only has a few friends, tries to make herself kind of invisible at school, gets pretty good grades - but not as good as Charlie's - and is afraid of the water. She is always comparing herself to her twin, and thinks of herself badly because of it. Then, one day, she finds a red bag with tesserae in it - the tiny pieces that are used to make mosaics. Isabel loves art and is fascinated by the bag. She falls asleep holding the bag, and finds herself in Talia where she is immediately welcomed by Flavia, her Stravagante in the city of Classe.
The next day in school, one of her classmates asks to talk to her, and asks about her last night. He had known about her finding the bag and wondered if anything had happened. She learns that a handful of other students at her school are Stravaganti who have visited Talia as well, and soon becomes great friends with them.
Things are going well for Isabel when she finds out about an impending war on the city of Classe. The di Chimici have allied with the Gate people and are planning an oversea attack on Classe. Isabel doesn't know what she can do to help with this situation, but she tries to be involved as much as she can. It doesn't make it any easier for her when her brother stars to wonder why her sister is acting so differently than she used to.
The only problem I had with reading this book was the fact that it has been awhile since I have read the first four books of the series. In the book, it kept referring to things that had happened in the previous books, and I wasn't always entirely sure what it was reffering to all the time. Overall, I thought this was a great book to read to start off the year.
In this book, the girl who was chosen as the new Stravagante is Isabel. She has a twin brother named Charlie, who, Isabel believes, is amazing at everything. He's really popular in school, he gets really good grades, and he's the captain of the swim team. Isabel only has a few friends, tries to make herself kind of invisible at school, gets pretty good grades - but not as good as Charlie's - and is afraid of the water. She is always comparing herself to her twin, and thinks of herself badly because of it. Then, one day, she finds a red bag with tesserae in it - the tiny pieces that are used to make mosaics. Isabel loves art and is fascinated by the bag. She falls asleep holding the bag, and finds herself in Talia where she is immediately welcomed by Flavia, her Stravagante in the city of Classe.
The next day in school, one of her classmates asks to talk to her, and asks about her last night. He had known about her finding the bag and wondered if anything had happened. She learns that a handful of other students at her school are Stravaganti who have visited Talia as well, and soon becomes great friends with them.
Things are going well for Isabel when she finds out about an impending war on the city of Classe. The di Chimici have allied with the Gate people and are planning an oversea attack on Classe. Isabel doesn't know what she can do to help with this situation, but she tries to be involved as much as she can. It doesn't make it any easier for her when her brother stars to wonder why her sister is acting so differently than she used to.
The only problem I had with reading this book was the fact that it has been awhile since I have read the first four books of the series. In the book, it kept referring to things that had happened in the previous books, and I wasn't always entirely sure what it was reffering to all the time. Overall, I thought this was a great book to read to start off the year.
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