Literature Young Adult Fiction » Mystery

Review: Spell Hunter (Faery Rebels, Book 1) by R.J. Anderson

First Mate Keira — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:34:04 +0000

Reviewed by First Mate Keira

Title: Spell Hunter (Faery Rebels, Book 1)
Author: R.J. Anderson
Format: Hardback
Page Count: 340 pages
Grade Reading Level: Grades 5-7

Summary: After the infamous Sundering, faery world is falling apart. Magics, talents, and skills once in abundance are not gone forever from the oak tree. There’s even sickness called the Silencing. As the population dwindles and life becomes more and more barren of life’s richness, one faery is determined to make a difference and to live outside of the fear facing the rest of the population. She calls herself Knife.

Why I started this book:

This book was recommended by a librarian at my local library.

Likes:

I like that Knife is a strong heroine. She learns, she grows, she fights, she hunts, she creates, she saves others, and she stands her ground. She even falls in love.
The relationship between Knife (faery) and Paul (human) is cute. It starts as friendship and grows into something more as Knife and Paul learn more about each other and bond to one another. I like that he’s trustworthy.
In fact I like that the queen faery is trustworthy too (and her previous Hunter and her steward), I thought perhaps she’d be evil (or they would be evil), but the sinister overtones are not what they appear. Good twist!

Dislikes:

There are references to suicide and drug overdose in the novel. It’s not as bad as it could be but it’s there anyway.
Are there any male faeries? Perhaps this will be answered in later in the trilogy.
The sequels are not focused on Knife and Paul… sniff. I am very sad about this. I really want to explore more into their romance now that one big mystery was handled and also too the size difference.

Buy: Spell Hunter (Faery Rebels)

Rating: 3.5 Treasure Chests

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Review: C. Y. A.: Covert Youth Agency: The Sext Crime by Jason Ancona

First Mate Keira — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:59:28 +0000

by First Mate Keira

Title: The Sext Crime: C.Y.A.: Covert Youth Agency (Volume 2)
Author: Jason Ancona
Format: Digital ebook
Page Count: 280 pages
Grade Reading Level: Ages 8-14

Summary: When senior class presidential candidate, Meredith, is blackmailed into quitting the election race, she gets her best friend and campaign manager to contact the C.Y.A. (Covert Youth Angency). Peter "Pi" Samuels and his friends (Delilah Lightman and Ben "Tollhouse" Gaw), run the C.Y.A. and in this second installment face challenges they’re unprepared to handle. Trenton High School is a hotbed of trouble just waiting to explode at the least sign of disturbance.

Why I started this book:

I was given a copy by the author.

Likes:

Ancona took a real issue (sexting) amongst teens today and plugged it successfully into his story without being pious (which would turn off kids) or flippant (which would turn off adults). He uses humor to keep things light, but points out the seriousness and consequences of participating in the act.
Lightman going shopping with the girls and finding out undercover isn’t always fun. Haha.
Pi going to the dance and playing it cool with Vera and her friends.

Dislikes:

I miss the opening from Case of Tangled Love where the characters are introduced in a stylized “Case File” summary like way. I thought that was very clever and quickly brought readers into the C.Y.A as if they were agents too.
Tollhouse is a good agent for the C.Y.A. but I’m concerned by his chameleon behavior. He caves easily to situations and suggestions to blend into the group. I hope one day he’ll join a group and change them for the better, because essentially he’s a good kid.

Last Minute Thoughts: You should read The Case of Tangled Love before starting The Sext Crime as they follow each other sequentially and The Sext Crime makes references periodically to The Case of Tangled Love. Can’t wait for round three!

Buy: The Sext Crime (C.Y.A. : Covert Youth Agency)

Rating: 3.5 Treasure Chests

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Review: Debugging Tori Redding by Jason Ancona

Review: Lost (The Magic Thief, Book 2) by Sarah Prineas

First Mate Keira — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:44:18 +0000

Reviewed by First Mate Keira

Title: Lost (The Magic Thief, Book 2)
Author: Sarah Prineas
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Greg Steinbruner
Listening Length: 6 hours and 22 minutes
Grade Reading Level: Grade 5+

Summary: Pyrotechnics and magic do not mix. They combust! Big huge explosions! The kind that get you an order of exile. But without his locus magicalicus Conn can’t communicate with the magic without literally fireworks. Nevery warns him that his experimentation will blow up in his face, but Conn doesn’t listen. There’s an evil spreading terror by turning people into stone within the city and Conn just knows that the magic knows what’s going on if only he could understand.

Why I started this book:

Because I enjoyed the first Magic Thief book so much and I wanted to read the next one.

Likes:

I like the idea of magic as a living being with magic spells being part of its inherent language. That’s pretty unique.
This story really enlarges Conn’s character. He grows up and faces tough situations and makes equally tough decisions.
Love Benet and his concern for the boy. He’s a good mediator between Conn and Nevery.
Love Greg Steinbruner as the narrator now that I’m used to him.

Dislikes:

One of the bad guys commits suicide. A little too easy to get rid of him in that way but was written in a believable manner so the complaint is a small one.

Last Minute Thoughts: What does Wellmet’s magical being think of this evil magical being? I guess I'll find out soon!

Buy: The Magic Thief: Lost

Rating: 4 Treasure Chests

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Review: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

First Mate Keira — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:52:52 +0000

Reviewed First Mate Keira

Title: The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Author: Brian Selznick
Format: Hardback
Page Count: 533 pages
Grade Reading Level: Grades 3-6

Summary: Hugo Cabret is an orphan and he lives inside the walls at a train station in Paris. His uncle had trained him to fix the station’s clocks before he disappeared. Now Hugo runs around doing his uncle’s job and steals when necessary for food and drink and sometimes from a toymaker for parts to a mysterious invention. If he could get it working perhaps he will find one last message from his deceased father.

Why I started this book:

I saw the movie (Eep! I know movie before book! Shame on me, but it happens.)

Likes:

In the book we see that Hugo steals because he can’t cash in his uncle’s checks. The movie sort of implies that the uncle has taken them without given Hugo any.
This book is full of illustrations done in a way to imply motion picture story tabling. This makes the book great for kids who don’t normally read big books. There are 284 pictures in the book's 533 pages. Plus they help tell the story! Cool!
The typography settings and page layouts sometimes fill the whole page, but there are a lot of pages with just a little amount of text on them. Another great reason kids who don’t read big books would like this one.

Dislikes:

Hugo does not invent the invention so the title is a bit of a misnomer. He fixes an automaton his late father found in a museum.

Book vs. Movie:

(Not all differences, but some that stood out)

In the book, Hugo and Isabelle are extremely antagonistic with each other and try very hard to get the other to reveal their secrets. The movie gives them more time to become friends, but also the script has them confiding into each other willingly for the most part.
In the book, Hugo and Isabelle have an adult friend sneak them into the movies. In the movie, Hugo insists on showing her a film (something she’s never seen before) and gets them into the theater by picking a lock. They are later caught and tossed out.
In the movie, Hugo persuades Isabelle to let him use her heart shaped key to start the automaton, but in the book, Hugo steals the key from Isabelle, which leads us back to the first bullet on this list.

Final Thoughts: I like the fleshed out story in the movie over the book. It appealed to me more.

Buy: The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Rating: 2.5 Treasure Chests

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Review: The Magic Thief (The Magic Thief, Book 1) by Sarah Prineas

First Mate Keira — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:20:15 +0000

Reviewed by First Mate Keira

Title: The Magic Thief
Author: Sarah Prineas
Format: Audio Book
Listening Length: 7 hours and 32 minutes
Narrator: Greg Steinbruner
Grade Reading Level: Ages 8-14

Summary: Connwaer is a thief. He’s lived for a very long time on the streets of Twilight, avoiding his evil uncle, for all intents and purposes, an orphan. One night he pickpockets a locus magicalicus surprising the wizard who owned it for he should have dropped dead on contact. Nevery Flinglas finds the boy interesting and takes the boy on as his apprentice. The only glitch is that Conn needs a locus stone of his own or he can’t learn magic. But learning magic is almost the least of Conn’s worries because it seems even if he does find his stone, chances are he won’t be able to use it because something or someone is stealing the magic right out of Wellmet.

Why I started this book:

I can’t exactly recall what drew me to this book. I either saw it on my library’s website or on Goodreads under the recommendation section. No matter! I saw it and got it and read it in that order.

Likes:

Conn!!! He’s awesome! There should be more thief YA books!
Benet’s rapport with Connwaer. It’s cute, but real. Conn is like the annoying younger brother. Benet is a quiet cornerstone.
Conn knows what he’s willing and capable of doing or learning and what he isn’t and sticks to that with consistency. It’s refreshing. I liked that he wasn’t willing to be a servant and when it seemed that was his only option he was willing to walk away despite all the positives of staying.

Toss-Up:

Greg Steinbruner’s way of reading took some getting used to. I can’t tell if it’s his natural way of reading or perhaps how he decided or was directed to act. The accent for the speech in Wellmet could be entirely made up and thus explain why it was so weird. I got used to it eventually. Even grew to like it.

Dislike:

When Conn is kept by the city’s police in a cell and feed him tons and tons of truth potion to get him to talk. Good thing Nevery is on his side or the poor kid could have been killed by “neglect”.

Buy: The Magic Thief

Rating: 4 Treasure Chests

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Review: 13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison

First Mate Keira — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:44:53 +0000

by First Mate Keira

Title: 13 Treasures
Author: Michelle Harrison
Format: Hardback
Page Count: 355
Grade Reading Level: Grade 5–8

Summary: Tanya knows that at age 13 she can no longer get away with talking to faeries or about them in front of others as both adults and kids couldn’t see them. Only her. She’d been tormented by them for years and the bullying wasn’t going to ever stop as far as she could see. When she tried to write about them in a journal, they discovered it and punished her. That punishment woke her mother which lead to more punishment… she was being sent away to live with her grandmother. The grandmother she is certain hates her and never wants her to visit. Oh and her grandmother’s place is stuffed with faeries inside and outside the house… talk about jumping from frying pan into the fire.

Why I started this book:

It looked really cute on the library shelf. Cover is very nice.

Likes:

Tanya’s and Fabian’s friendship. They work together to solve the mystery of the girl in the woods. The girl, Morwenna Bloom, had gone missing ages ago and but her disappearance was blamed on Fabian’s grandfather. The town thinks he killed her, but there’s no proof. Or is there?
Oberon is a good dog. He had a lot of personality infused in his character with just a few lines.

Dislikes:

Raven, Gredin, Feathercap, and Mizhog, the bullying faeries that pick on Tanya.
Morwenna Bloom. I just knew she wasn’t the sweet missing girl she’s made out to be throughout the story.
Another thing I didn't get was feeling bad for changelings and trying to help them.
Florence’s relationship with her granddaughter. The motivations were explained in the conclusion of the story, but it seemed rather weak to me.
The 13 treasures the story is titled after appear in the novel as a charm bracelet to go with a legend. It didn’t do anything… I kept expecting it to end up being the real treasures shrunk down, but it was just jewelry.
The concept of guardian faeries was very contradicting in terms of world-building. In the end I didn’t quite understand how if one or several of the faeries were on Tanya’s side how they could condone tormenting and torturing her. It didn’t make much sense to me.

Buy: 13 Treasures

Rating: 2.5 Treasure Chests

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Review: The Absent Author (A to Z Mysteries) by Ron Roy

CaptainYarr — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:55:18 +0000

by Captain Lyaf Yarr

Title: The Absent Author (A to Z Mysteries)
Author: Ron Roy
Format: Paperback
# of pages: 96 pages
Grade Reading Level: Ages 4 and up

Summary: Dink and his two friends Josh and Ruth Rose go to get Wallis Wallace's (a mystery writer) autograph. In the process they find out that he/she's missing and that someone kidnapped him/her. In the search to find the author will they discover the person behind the pseudonym? Will they even find the author? And why did the kidnapper kidnap the writer in the first place?

Why I Started the Book:

I read this book a long while ago when my sister offered to take me to a theme park if I read 2,000 pages during the summer. To say I was motivated is an understatement. In any case, to prove that I had really read the books that I claimed to read, she had me write up a mini book review on each book as I finished them. Here is one of those reviews. There are spoilers so beware.

Likes:

I liked when they went to the Sangrela hotel and found out that Wallis Wallace was a woman Not a man. (It was funny!)
I think that it was pretty amazing that an author would fake a kidnapping just to see if her readers would try to find her like in her books. How crazy is that? What would she have done if nobody came looking for her?

Dislikes:

I was nervous when Dink and his friends went to see the author because I knew that something bad was going to happen and I didn't know if it I was going like what happened. (Obviously when I was younger I was a worrywart and not at all sure of a good outcome, which shows how good the author was to build up the suspense I think.)

Buy: The Absent Author (A to Z Mysteries)

Book Rating: I give this book 3 treasure chests!

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Movie Review: The Princess and the Frog directed by Ron Clements and John Musker

Review: The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone

First Mate Keira — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:54:08 +0000

by First Mate Keira

Title: The Sixty-Eight Rooms
Author: Marianne Malone
Format: Hardback
Page Count: 265
Grade Reading Level: Ages 9-12

Summary: Ruthie is drawn to the famous Thorne Rooms at the Chicago’s Art Institute during a class fieldtrip. On the same trip her best friend, Jack, finds a gorgeous key. When Ruthie holds the key she begins to shrink and the two kids put two-and-two together. The key provides a way into the miniature world depicted by the multiple rooms. When Ruthie figures out how to shrink Jack too, the exploring commences in earnest and the pair must figure out how to navigate the world in a new way.

Why I started this book:

I checked the book out from the library after I saw it in a bookstore and thought it looked interesting.

Likes:

The subplots were crafted fabulously and brought another dimension to the story. Jack’s mother worries about making a living as an artist. A security guard (previously famous photographer) mourns the loss of his best work. A shop owner reconnects to memories of her past. Historical figures find new endings.
How Jack and Ruthie constructed paths to get them around the museum and to different parts of the exhibit is both entertaining and clever.
I enjoyed the fight with the water bug/cockroach.
I liked that the two kids weren’t the first to explore the tiny world. That was very cool and also connected a lot of the subplots. I liked too how Jack and Ruthie saved some of the people they found in the world by remembering enough from history class to provide warnings.

Dislikes:

The necessary contrivance of tricking the parental units into thinking the kids were places they were not. I dislike clueless parents or parents willing to be hoodwinked. I find it hard to believe, mostly because my own parents would never in a million years ignore the signs of mischief Jack and Ruthie gave off like flashing beacons.

Buy: The Sixty-Eight Rooms

Rating: 4 Stars

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Review: C. Y. A.: Covert Youth Agency: The Case of Tangled Love by Jason Ancona

First Mate Keira — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 07:10:02 +0000

by First Mate Keira

Title: C.Y.A.: The Case of Tangled Love (A Covert Youth Agency Novel, Book 1)
Author: Jason Ancona
Format: Digital ebook
Page Count: 258 pages
Grade Reading Level: Ages 8-14

Summary: The Covert Youth Agency (C.Y.A.) is the brainchild of Peter "Pi" Samuels (sophomore), a kid born on March 14 (which explains the math nickname 3.14). He and his two friends, Delilah Lightman aka "Lightman" (a freshman) and Ben "Tollhouse" Gaw (sophomore), are the club’s only members. Together they use their skills to solve the problems of Trenton High School Students. Their newest case is one of tangled love, where Vera, Pi’s crush, wants to know if her boyfriend Jack "JackO" Orton cheated on her at a party.

Why I started this book:

The author offered a review copy.

Likes:

All three main characters are fun, quirky, and intelligently drawn. I don’t always agree with the vernacular used (on the rag) but I find their thoughts, narration, and communication funny.
Pi in particular is very noble. I am proud of his final decisions regarding The Case of Tangled Love and Operation Jack Attack.
Ancona’s updated high school stereotypes: PDAs – Prescription Drug Addicts, Duhs - Diligent Underachievers, Big Sticks – Jocks (lacrosse and hockey in particular), Noble Nerds – The Underdogs, Indies – Independents, Reality Show Wannabes – Popular Girls.
The C.Y.A. spy techniques and adventures. Super cute and occasionally filled with disasters that require some epic strategizing to pull off… I’m thinking of the golf cart here. Haha.

Dislikes:

The party crowd/scene. How are they getting access to that much alcohol? Or the PDAs and all those "legal drugs"? I was disappointed in Tollhouse for succumbing to peer pressure to fit in and drink to the point of vomiting. Gross.
Deeks and the jocks hazing of the nerds. Yikes! Here’s hoping the C.Y.A. nips that in the butt and soon. I smell a new case.

Final Thoughts: The use of pop culture will make the books accessible for kids now, but might limit and date the books in the future.

Buy: C. Y. A.: Covert Youth Agency: The Case of Tangled Love

Rating: 3.5 Treasure Chests

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Review: Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

PirateYarr — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 20:50:30 +0000

by Silence, guest reviewer

Title: Angel's and Demons
Author: Dan Brown
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 572
Grade Reading Level: Ages 15+

Summary: Robert Langdon is contacted by scientific research facility CERN to discern the meaning behind the mysterious murder of one of their scientists. Upon seeing the victim, Langdon realizes he's been branded with the ambigrammic (reads the same normally and from another view point) word Illuminati. This starts an intriguing adventure that unravels the deepest secrets of both the Catholic Church and the Illuminati.

Why I started reading this book:

Interestingly enough, despite what Hollywood would have you believe Angels & Demons came out prior to The DaVinci Code. However I read The DaVinci Code first, liked it, and was obligated to steal Angels and Demons from my sister afterward. I don't think she's read it, I should probably return it to her...

Likes:

Again Dan Brown has me questioning some of my base beliefs allowing me to explore a world of open minded thought and mystery. However it's a book of fiction and proclaims itself as such so don't get confused.
I felt very involved in the mystery, Brown has a way of making you feel almost as if you were solving the puzzles along with him despite not having his wide array of knowledge.
Carlo Ventresca as well as a few other people found within the church that had mindsets that I found wonderful to learn about. It took a risk and explored something that hit close to home for me.

Dislikes:

Carlo Ventresca, Dan Brown simply obliterated any attachment I had to him in a way that I honestly felt was painfully random and uncharacteristic.
There were times that I felt Brown was almost throwing information at me to show me how intelligent he was. There's at least one time in memory that he stated something interesting only to have it become irrelevant in the same paragraph.
The Hassassin. As I stated this book arrived before The DaVince Code, however since I read it after the whole idea of a hit man who wasn't the mastermind felt rehashed.
The fact that the whole idea of an Illuminati resurrection is based off of the idea that the ambigram brands have proven impossible to reproduce. It's hard to suspend belief when the book itself displays the words.

Buy: Angels & Demons

Rating: 4 Treasure Chests

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