Literature Young Adult Fiction » 1-2 Treasure Chests

Review: Rapacia (The Second Circle of Heck) by Dale E. Basye

First Mate Keira — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:29:45 +0000

Reviewed by First Mate Keira

Title: Rapacia (The Second Circle of Heck)
Author: Dale E. Basye
Format: Hardback
Page Count: 384 pages
Grade Reading Level: Grades 5-8

Summary: Milton is back on the surface, but is having troubles maintaining the energy that keeps him together and in the present. A science experiment with a bug zapper gets him the energy he needs but also makes him jittery and edgy. He’s trying to figure out if Heck was a dream or a reality of the afterlife and is attempting to reach Damian, the bully who got him killed in the first place. Meanwhile Marlo has been transferred out of the first circle of Heck into the second known as Rapacia for all the girls and boys who like to steal. Speaking of stealing, Marlo desperately wants to please this metallic bunny and grab the Hopeless Diamonds as they’re being transferred. Can she do it? Should she do it?

Why I started this book:

I wanted to know what happened next to Milton!

Likes:

Instead of Nirvana its Mallvana – the perfect place for shoppers in the afterlife!
The Dante approach to Heck is well done.
It’s got a good balance of humor to gothic.

Toss Up:

Many witticisms reference pop culture but are bound make more sense to older readers than they do for younger readers. Some even went over my head.

Dislikes:

The Grabbit. Creepy bugger isn’t he? I don’t like his rhyming.
The beginning was exceptionally hard to get through and I’ve read the first book. I’m not sure exactly what made it difficult, but I kept putting it down until I finally got passed the opening and got to the meat of the story.

Buy: Rapacia: The Second Circle of Heck

Rating: 2 Treasure Chests

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Review: Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go (The Nine Circles of Heck, Book 1) by Dale E. Basye

Review: Disney After Dark (Kingdom Keepers, Book 1) by Ridley Pearson

First Mate Keira — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:13:20 +0000

Reviewed by First Mate Keira

Title: Disney After Dark (Kingdom Keepers, Book 1)
Author: Ridley Pearson
Format: Hardback
Page Count: 326 pages
Grade Reading Level: Ages 8-12

Summary: A group of kids tried out and landed jobs as Disney’s Magic Kingdom virtual hosts. Little did they know that they were selected for something far greater – saving Disney from takeover by its own villains. They can see what’s going on because of the cutting edge technology used to transform them into holograms. When they go to sleep they become part of both the real world and the animated world. Their only clue to stop what’s going on is a legend Walt Disney gave to the Imagineers.

Why I started this book:

Because I love Disney! This promised to be a great series and that’s even better!

Likes:

The plot of this story is great. The whole series sounded like it would be fun and action packed and very unique.

Dislikes:

I felt dropped into a story already well started. The explanations were missing or too short. I often wondered about what was really going on as I read.
The writing was choppy and rushed.
The characters were extremely underdeveloped. I didn’t know why they were chosen as Virtual Hosts and I didn’t know much about any of them, not even the main protagonist.
The magic of Disney wasn’t captured... at least not for me.
Where were the good animations trying to help stop the villains?

Buy: Disney After Dark (The Kingdom Keepers)

Rating: 1 Treasure Chest

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Review: Cinder and Ella by Melissa Lemon

First Mate Keira — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:21:14 +0000

by First Mate Keira

Title: Cinder and Ella
Author: Melissa Lemon
Format: Digital ebook
Page Count: 208 pages
Grade Reading Level: Grades 4-7

Summary: Cinder and Ella are the two middle sisters in a family of six. The family once happy fell apart when the father left after his mind was poisoned by the Prince. Things get so bad Cinder decides to the castle for a job as a maid. She quickly rises through the ranks and gets promoted to the head of housekeeping. Ella runs away to work for a nice family, but her unexplained disappearance hurts Cinder and draws the attention of a young knight who wants to help… and then the evil Prince gets involved.

Why I started this book:

I saw it on Netgalley and it looked like an interesting fairytale retelling. I asked for a copy and received it. Spoilers ahead…

Likes:

The human/tree relationship is a very interesting concept. I wish the world building around it was more explained though. How does one find your tree for instance? Do the trees have magical properties? It would seem so as Ella’s lifts up out of the ground and goes to help her and the Prince’s is protected from many forms of destruction.
The Prince is a well done villain, but why did he want to “experiment”? What was the point? Just to test his control and power? Why does the King not try to stop him until the end? The King even says he has more power than the Prince but he doesn’t interfere with all the evil the Prince does because “people should try to get out on their own” and “maybe the prince will change”? Really? Why doesn’t the Prince just overthrow his father? I didn’t get that either.

Dislikes:

The writing voice divorced me from the story. I wasn’t committed or all that involved with the characters and their stories because of how removed the narrating voice was. It reads like an old style fairytale if that makes sense. It’s meant to speak to young and old readers alike but there’s loss in translation. It really killed the story for me. It was all tell and no show.
This new Cinderella story had potential, but to me the execution was severely lacking. I’ve already mentioned the writing voice but character development, pacing, and world building could have used more effort. How does Ella find the strength to go after the Prince? Why is Cinder important at all as a character to follow, other than her kindness and work ethic? She basically works and gets taken in by the Prince but she doesn’t help Ella go after him. The main heroine is Ella but I never once got into her head.
The romance between Ella and the knight was weak and could have done much to draw female readers into the story, but didn’t. Why did they like each other? Their struggles to be together weren’t there. The prison time hardly counts, because getting out wasn’t about finding a way to being together. The same for Cinder and the bodyguard. He compliments her hair but why would she be interested in him?

Final Thoughts: I feel the book is more for an adult looking for an allegorical story to pass the time with and not for young readers. I can’t really picture any of them sitting down and sticking with a story like this without school and teachers involved. There are other authors with fairytale retellings that would be more appealing: Gail Carson Levine, Gregory Maquire, Robin McKinley to name a few.

Buy: Cinder and Ella

Rating: 1 Treasure Chest

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Review: Dead Girl Walking by Linda Joy Singleton

First Mate Keira — Mon, 16 May 2011 09:54:13 +0000

by First Mate Keira

Title: Dead Girl Walking
Author: Linda Joy Singleton
Format: Digital ebook
Page Count: 312 pages
Grade Reading Level: Grade 8 Up

Summary: Amber Borden has one ambition. She wants to be a talent agent. She reads all kinds of self-help books trying to build her reputation without aiming for popularity itself. A new girl, Trinidad Sylvenski, could be her big break because Trinidad has an amazing voice. Trying to get them to a party is an effort unto itself. When she accidentally eavesdrops and hears what the in-crowd really thinks of her, Amber rushes back home… a mixed blessing. She gets great news but gets run over by a mail truck and meets her grandmother in an afterlife experience. She messes up the instructions on how to return to her body and winds up inside the school’s most popular girl’s body. Being Leah Montgomery is hell. How can she get back to being herself?

Why I started this book:

I got a free copy during a promotional release on Amazon for Kindle. I thought it sounded like a funny cute story in a similar vein to The Ghost and the Goth. Spoilers ahead… be warned.

Likes:

The relationship between Amber and Eli. Eli’s trust and belief and help gets her cynical friend to believe her, which leads to her best friend to eventually believed her.

Dislikes:

There really wasn’t any humor in the book. Amber in Leah’s body was held prisoner in her room, forced to eat/exercise by a certain regime, a scary manipulative abusive father, etc. All in an effort to show readers that life isn’t always greener on the other side of the popularity fence. Why didn’t Leah go to the police before committing a suicide attempt? I was tempted to quit before the halfway point and very nearly did except… that I wanted to know if…
Leah’s father was using her for prostitution. I wanted to confirm this and I kept hoping that I was wrong. I wasn’t. The author is very vague but gives leading information and this conclusion is accurate and disgusting. Couldn’t this have been a fun book?
Leah’s mother is an alcoholic. Her brother is troubled.
That Amber doesn’t get her life back but immediately thrust into another’s body to help out there for part two in the trilogy. Where’s the breathing space so she can get her own life back on track?

Buy: Dead Girl Walking

Rating: 1 Treasure Chest

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Review: Queen of the Dead (The Ghost and the Goth #2) by Stacey Kade

Review: Physik (Septimus Heap, Book 3) by Angie Sage

First Mate Keira — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 09:48:49 +0000

by First Mate Keira

Title: Physik (Septimus Heap, Book 3)
Author: Angie Sage
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 576 pages
Grade Reading Level: Grades 4-8

Summary: Septimus Heap is interested in Physik, an ancient form of healing. When he’s caught by Marcia Overstrand, his mentor, reading notes by the great Physician Marcellus Pye he gets in trouble. Physik is nothing but nonsense she says. Or is it? When Septimus is kidnapped by a 500 year old Marcellus Pye to be his Alchemie Apprentice in the past, Septimus gets the chance to find out for himself. But how will he get home?

Why I started this book:

I read the first two books in the series and am working my way through the rest.

Likes:

The time travel was fun, even if a decrepit 500 year old Marcellus is kind of scary and a little gross. Haha. Mirror time travel has been done before, but I liked that it was between connected mirrors.
The bad guy or bad situation in each book is different, though characters overlap all the time. This is pretty cool and makes the series very different from most other fantasy series which have one major bad guy.
I like newcomer Snorri Snorrelssen a lot. I think she and Nicko will be paired up as a romantic couple in the future. I also like Ullr, her transforming cat/panther.
Boris Catchpole is another character I like. He used to be in charge of the Young Army boys, but now he’s a sub-wizard. He wants to be an Ordinary Wizard, but he is terrible at Magyk.

Dislikes:

I didn’t like the focus of Sicknesse in the book. Why couldn’t the Physik be centered around healing a friend or something from a seemingly fatal accident? Why a plague-like disease? Ick. On the plus, Angie Sage didn’t really go into any details of the symptoms.
Queen Etheldredda is a good bad guy, but I would not want to meet her in person. I think I would enjoy her character better now that I’ve finished the book. Reading it, you don’t really know where she’s going. Also she murdered two of her children and was planning to kill a third one… which is awful! I don’t like her pet Aie-Aie either.
I do have to wonder what Alther Mella ever saw in Silas Heap to train him as his apprentice. The man is pathetic as wizard!

Buy: Septimus Heap, Book Three: Physik

Rating: 2 Treasure Chests

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Review: Flyte (Septimus Heap, Book 2) by Angie Sage

Review: May Bird and the Ever After by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Second Mate Embry — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 09:38:54 +0000

by Second Mate Embry

Title: May Bird and the Ever After
Author: Jodi Lynn Anderson
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 352 pages
Grade Reading Level: Grades 4-7

Summary: May Ellen Bird is a bullied 10 year old who starts seeing ghosts. Then one day in the woods a water demon drags her into the lake and May looses consciousness. When she wakes up, she is in the Ever After, the world of ghosts. She needs to get out fast not only because she's not supposed to be there but because being alive in Ever After is illegal! If she doesn't get out, she will be turned into nothingness by either Evil Bo Cleevil or the Bogey (Bogeyman). Will she escape Ever After? Will she still see ghosts after her journey?

Why I Started the Book:

I started this book because it was assigned to me as a reading assignment from my teacher.

Likes:

The story idea is a solid one and possesses some interesting elements (like how Black water from the Dead Sea is used). It has a hint of Alice in Wonderland with a fall down a watery portal to the Ever After world below. I just wish it was written more like Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.

Dislikes:

This book is the start of a series and therefore leaves some action left unfinished. I kept waiting for certain things to happen that never did.
The character May is sort of weird and very whiny. It's hard for me to relate to her because the author makes her sound like everyone hates her except her mom and her cat, Somber Kitty. I didn't enjoy this book as much as I would if she weren't such an outcast.
I'm in middle school, but this book series I feel is for a younger audience. Maybe Grades 3-5. I found it boring.

Buy: May Bird and the Ever After: Book One

Book Rating: I give this book 1.5 Treasure Chests

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Review: Debugging Tori Redding by Jason Ancona

First Mate Keira — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 09:40:14 +0000

by First Mate Keira

Title: Debugging Tori Redding
Author: Jason Ancona
Format: Digital ebook
Page Count: 282 pages
Grade Reading Level: Ages 14+

Summary: Tori Redding hates how all the girls are dating at her high school and how loose these coupled teens are with each other. On the surface it seems pretty straight forward, but I feel this intense dislike comes from the fact that all Tori wants is to stay how she was before her mother died. She wears the last clothes her mother bought her, even though she's outgrown them all. She keeps her mother's chair from being used by the family... and so on. The dating couples at school remind her of time passing and that she’s suppose to be feeling the same urges. Well she doesn’t! When a visit to the dentist gives Tori a computer like ability to process everything she’s excited to use her gifts to start the Not So Fast Club at her school. The NSF Club is dedicated to keeping kids as kids and not growing up faster than they should. Needless to say this doesn't go over well at Jefferson High. Then Missy, Tori’s nemesis at school, gets abducted and Tori must try to use her ability to help the police find her before its too late.

Why I started this book:

I was offered a copy by the author.

Likes:

The sibling rivalry portrayed between Tori and her brother, Brad, was a pretty realistic view and while some parts were exaggerated it never got to be too much. It’s also pretty true to life that while she didn’t get on very well with Brad, she got on very well with her eldest brother Steven.
Griffin (Geo) and Alex were good friends, and both had a crush on Tori. Jason Ancona depicted Tori’s emotional readiness for more or lack thereof with keen understanding of that tumultuous time teens. She knew she was too young and her feelings toward both reflected that, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she changed her mind about boys and dating sometime in the near future when she’s feeling more mature.

Dislikes:

Not So Fast Club was pretty pompous. I’m surprised Geo allowed himself to be roped into it without causing more of a fuss, even with his semi-crush on Tori. Alex is more understandable for joining because he was looking for friendship in high school which had been pretty devoid of it due to an incident early in his career at Jefferson High.
Tori’s near-constant negativity. I get it’s a defense/coping mechanism, but it got old fast. As old as NSF Club in action did. Good thing she got some therapy.
Major Spoiler… ye be warned: I wasn’t happy that Tori and the police failed to save the abducted girl from her school. What’s the point of super powers if you can’t win with them? I really didn’t like this and it ruined the whole book for me. I wasn’t expecting the girl to not be rescued in time, I went into the book believing it would have a happy ending. Had I known, I wouldn’t have requested it because the kidnapping of girls is a little to real to life and to horrible to contemplate.

Last Minute Thoughts: This was my second story by Jason Ancona and it’s clear he has a good grasp of teenagers and their thinking processes. His writing style is fun and loose. I would read more by him. In the end though, this really wasn’t a book for me because of the fallout from the kidnapping plot.

Buy: Debugging Tori Redding

Rating: 1.5 Treasure Chests

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Review: The Jumbee by Pamela Keyes

First Mate Keira — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 09:14:40 +0000

by First Mate Keira

Title: The Jumbee
Author: Pamela Keyes
Format: Trade Paperback
Page Count: 385 pages
Grad Reading Level: Grades 7-9

Summary: In the brief, The Jumbee is a modern retelling of The Phantom of the Opera set in a Caribbean high school on the island of Cariba. Esti Legard has moved there to start over with her mother and to get out from under the shadow of her famous actor father. She wants to be famous on her own talents. Esti longs to star in the role of Juliet in the Manchicay’s school production of the Shakespearian classic, Romeo and Juliet. It’s a part she just might get with the help of a mysterious tutor who directs her from the shadows of the theater.

Why I started this book:

I was offered a review copy.

Likes:

The love triangle between Alan, Esti, and Rafe. Alan is the mysterious stranger in the dark tutoring Esti for the stage. Rafe is someone from her past and the more time they hang out together as Rafe teaches Esti how to swim the more he doesn’t just want to be friends. When Esti distances herself from Alan, he’s not going to take it lying down.

Toss Up:

The Caribbean setting was rich and flavorful, but also rife with the superstitions of the culture. (A jumbee is a ghost who walks among the living.)

Dislikes:

I had a real hard time getting past the first 20 pages of the story because of the opening when Esti wishing a kid would fall off the catwalk (which he does and dies.) This show of animal magnetism in the book really bugged me. I had to put the book down and come back later because of it.
The mother drinking her grief away over the loss of the father, and Esti’s relationship with her.

Buy: The Jumbee

Rating: 2 Treasure Chests

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Review: I, Q: Independence Hall (I. Q. the Series, Book 1) by Roland Smith

First Mate Keira — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 09:49:25 +0000

by First Mate Keira

Title: I, Q: Independence Hall (I. Q. the Series, Book 1)
Author: Roland Smith
Format: Hardback
Page Count: 302 Pages
Grade Reading Level: Ages 9-12

Summary: When Quest’s (Q) mom, Blaze, marries Angela’s dad, Roger, and form an instantly famous rock band called Match, his life is changed overnight. The family decides to drive cross country to begin a year-long tour, which means tutoring and independent schooling. His first project is to build a website of their trip with Angela. Life seems perfect, until the coincidences keep stacking up.

Why I started this book:

I saw a poster for this book at my sister’s school for a book club.

Likes:

Q with his magic tricks was a fun character. I liked him a lot.
Angela wasn’t bad either but she was a little more dry I feel, despite her dead mother’s background and wanting to be a spy.
Boone – is he an affable roadie with a funny look dog, Croc? A mega-spy? Someone you can trust? Someone you can’t? Who knows!

Dislikes:

I didn’t like how the parents were dead set against separating from the kids but did it anyway. It creates the needed space to insert the adventure, but I didn’t like it.
I didn’t like the kids being watched by creepy Israeli Mossad Agents. Scary.
Spoiler: Malak (Angela’s mom) being alive and keeping this information from Angela and Roger.

Last Minute Thoughts: In the end the story was just a little too young for me. My sister says kids are really enjoying this book at her school so I think with the right age group it'd be a better fit.

Buy: I,Q: Independence Hall

Rating: 2 Treasure Chests

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Review: Tempted (House of Night, Book 6) by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast

First Mate Keira — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 09:32:51 +0000

By First Mate Keira

Title: Tempted (House of Night, Book 6)
Author: P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 319
Grade Reading Level: Grade 9+

Summary: Let the head-hopping commence. Tempted splits into multiple points of views to follow separate storylines. Zoey is concerned about Stevie Rae hiding the “bad” red fledglings and Kalona. Stevie Rae is concerned with her fledglings and a Raven Mocker. Everybody else is concerned with one or the other of them except Darius who wants to be Aphrodite’s Warrior.

Why I started this book:

The House of Night books are seriously awful but because they are such quick reads I find myself glomming my way through them. I kind of think of them as junk food you don’t really care for but eat anyway because it’s there.

Likes:

I like two of the three main boys: Stark and Heath. Stark is Zoey’s Warrior and a red vampyre like Stevie Rae. Heath is Zoey’s Imprinted human and only blood donor. Both boys even get along somewhat well with each other, recognizing why the other’s in Zoey’s life and even if they don’t like it are willing to make it work.
Rephaim. He’s interesting. I do hope the results from the Imprint switch will mean that Kalona's firstborn, the Raven Mocker Rephaim, will become a whole man and/or regain his humanity. Otherwise, what’s the point?
The A-ya storyline. It’s all about free will vs predestination. Zoey’s weakness for hunky guys is going to get her into serious trouble with Kalona.
Kalona crying over Zoey’s dive off the cliff in dream world and his story as Nyx’s once upon a time Warrior. I’m not 100% convinced it wasn’t entirely faked (the crying, not the Warrior part) for the purpose of manipulating her in a manner similar to Loren Blake but I wouldn’t mind seeing him also go through a transformation back to goodness.

Dislikes:

It didn’t make much sense for a series devoted until this book entirely to Zoey’s POV to suddenly have several: Stevie Rae, Rephaim, etc. There had to be another way to bring in Stevie Rae’s actions with Rephaim and the red fledglings other then the head hopping. In fact the writing duo had already done so by making Aphrodite Stevie Rae’s Imprinted human.
On that note, why is it so easy to break an Imprint? This makes no sense to me because by the very definition of the word, imprinting can’t be undone. There should be cases for multiple imprints at once, not multiple one at a time deals.
The High Priestess Council in Italy and the meeting there between Neferet, Kalona, and Zoey was anticlimactic. Is the Council stupid? Seriously, these women are supposed to be the most connected to Nyx and they’re considering the bull about Kalona as Erebus and Neferet as Nyx to be true? Arg!
MAJOR SPOILER: WHAT HAPPENS TO HEATH! NO! NO! NO! He’s one of the major reasons I kept reading this book series. Why oh why did he have to die? I’m giving the authors one chance to bring him back. If he’s not still in the series in a romantic ghost like way or whatever in Burned, I’m quitting the books.

Buy: Tempted (House of Night)

Rating: 1.5 Treasure Chests

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