Riptide, By Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

2012 Book 122: Riptide, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (8/8/2012)

Reason for Reading: It was there

My Review
Malin Hatch has avoided Ragged Island, Maine ever since he had witnessed a disaster there as a child. But when a treasure hunter finally convinces him that it’s time to delve into the mysteries of the Ragged Island Treasure once again, he signs on as the team’s physician. The team must wend their way through a booby-trapped tunnel to find the treasure. This book was a quick, light read without much substance. It’s much like Douglas and Preston’s other adventure novels (and rather like Michael Crichton)–a mixed team of scientists gathers for the “big find” and ends up with more than they bargained for. I felt that the characters made poor decisions throughout the book, but I guess gold has that effect on some people. If you like Preston&Child, you’ll probably like this book.

Inheritance, by Christopher Paolini

2012 Book 120: Inheritance, by Christopher Paolini (8/7/2012)

Reason for Reading: Fourth and final book of the Inheritance Cycle

My Review
I can’t claim to actually have READ this book. I only burdened myself with it because I wanted to know how Galbatorix was killed (assuming he was, of course). I read the first 300 pages, skimmed the next 350 pages, and skipped the last 100 pages. 🙂 I got what I wanted out of it, which is the important part. All I can really say to those of you who are interested: Paolini’s writing got significantly better in this book. Still not fantastic, but he’s got potential. He did a much better job of pacing (though it could have been shorter), and the style flowed better than the last two books–it was less pedantic. If you’re a more patient person than me and are interested in how the story ends, I think it’s worth a read. 🙂

Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson

2012 Book 117: Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson (7/30/2012)

Reason for Reading: It was one of the top 5 books in LibraryThing’s recommended list for me. 🙂

My Review
When 16-year-old David Balfour meets his estranged uncle for the first time, he is shocked by the man’s cruelty. Soon, Balfour has been kidnapped and he must rescue himself and travel back to the town of his uncle to claim his inheritance. This is an exciting little book…not quite up to scratch with Treasure Island, but still has quite an adventure. It would probably be a fun book for teenagers to read, if they like classics (or if you want to thrust classics upon them).

Rage of Lions, by Curtis Jobling

2012 Book 86: Rage of Lions, by Curtis Jobling (6/17/2012)

Reason for Reading: Second book in the Wereworld series

My Review 3.5/5 stars
In this second installment of the Wereworld series, young Wolflord Drew goes on a mission to capture his angry half-brother, the Werelion Lucas. Meanwhile, civil war is brewing in Lyssia. I was really impressed with the world-building of the first book of this series, Rise of the Wolf, so I eagerly rushed to get the second book as soon as it was published. Rage of Lions was action-packed, while thickening the plot by introducing moral dilemmas–the consequences of bad choices with good intentions. I think this book didn’t quite hold par with the first one, but it was certainly enough to keep me eager for the third installment, Shadow of the Hawk, which is coming soon. I was a little disappointed with the cliff-hanger ending. I understand that Jobling can’t tie up all his loose ends, but certainly he could have made it a little more satisfying.

Islands of the Blessed, by Nancy Farmer

2012 Book 79: Islands of the Blessed, by Nancy Farmer (5/18/2012)

Reason for Reading: Third, and final, book in the Sea of Trolls trilogy

My Review 3.5/4 stars
When an angry ghost arrives on the shores of Jack’s village, he, Thorgill, and the Bard must go on a dangerous voyage to pacify her spirit before she hurts anyone. Like the first two books of this series, Islands of the Blessed is packed with adventure after adventure, a vast array of creatures from Celtic, Norse, and Christian mythologies, and an engaging historical background. Like the second book, The Land of the Silver Apples, Farmer may have tried a little too hard to pack in extra adventures and creatures…this makes the book fun and entertaining, but it has the disconnected-wandering-adventures feel of Homer’s The Odyssey instead of the tight every-event-has-a-reason feel of Harry Potter. Overall, an excellent book for perhaps the 5th through 8th grades.

Exile, by Kathryn Lasky

2012 Book 76: Exile, by Kathryn Lasky (5/13/2012)

Reason for Reading: 14th book in 15 book series (almost done!!!)

My Review 3.5/4 stars
The Band is exiled from the Tree when an evil blue owl (the Striga) gizzard-washes the young King Coryn. Can The Band get rid of the Striga before it’s too late for Coryn? I was pleasantly surprised by this fourteenth installment of the Ga’Hoole series. There’s a little life left in this series after all! Like The Golden Tree (the 12th book), this installment was an allegorical critique of organized religion (this time it criticized witch hunts, censorship, and apocalypticism). I was a little disappointed at what Lasky did with the Striga’s character…he seemed so nice in The River of Wind, and since we were omniscient (and could therefore hear his thoughts) you’d think we would have noticed that he had an evil streak in him? After all, can someone go from wonderful kindness to pure evil in a period of one month? In fact, time makes no sense in Lasky’s world. But I guess that’s what I get for reading children’s fantasy. 🙂

From Darkness Won, by Jill Williamson

2012 Book 73: From Darkness Won, by Jill Williamson. (5/6/2012)

Reason for Reading: Third book in the Blood of Kings Trilogy

My Review 3/5 stars
In this final installment of the Blood of Kings trilogy, Vrell and Achan battle their adolescent romantic problems as well as the forces of evil. I was happy with the outcome of the book, but felt the story dragged a bit. Like I said in my review of the second book, To Darkness Fled, although the story is fantastic, this trilogy does not have enough plot to last three books. It could have made such a sweet standalone book! On the other hand, the characters are very well-developed and lovable (even though their adolescent vices are a tad frustrating at times). And there was a good story to it. The trilogy would appeal only to readers of Christian Fiction—the religious message gets to the point of sermonizing at a couple of points.

Zorgamazoo, by Robert Paul Weston

2012 Book 71: Zorgamazoo, by Robert Paul Weston (5/1/2012)

Reason for Reading: It was there

My Review 4.5/5 stars
Katrina Katrell suffers under the spiteful eye of her guardian Mrs. Krabone. When Krabby decides to get Katrina a lobotomy to get rid of her wild imagination, she runs away. She find Mortimer Yorgle, who is (unwillingly) on a quest to save the Yorgles of Zorgamazoo who have mysteriously vanished. They team up and have many fun adventures. This book is written entirely in rhyme—reminiscent of Dr. Seuss. It’s the kind of book that really ought to be read aloud. I was lucky enough to get it in audiobook form, which was VERY well read. Some of the rhymes were rather clever, and the book was lighthearted and silly. Very enjoyable!

The River of Wind, by Kathryn Lasky

2012 Book 53: The River of Wind, by Kathryn Lasky (3/24/2012)

Reason for Reading This is book 13 of the Ga’Hoole series which I’ve been slogging through for years. Since well before the movie came out! I’m getting close to the final book!

My Review 3.5/5 stars
Coryn, Soren, and the Chaw of Chaws discover a sixth kingdom of owls across the ocean. While they are on a diplomatic envoy, evil war-like owls make trouble back home. This 13th installment of the Ga’Hoole series is cute (like all the others), but I’m afraid some of my enjoyment has ebbed after slogging through so many books. In the first several books the plot got thicker as each book progressed, but that development ended somewhere in the middle. Now, it just seems she throws in something new and something old and mixes it together for another installment. In this book, the “new” is a previously unknown kingdom of owls who live by some Buddhist-like values. The old is spoiler but not really because it’s achingly predictable the shocking return of the evil owl Nyra who just won’t die no matter how many times you kill her. The nice thing about these books is that they’re really short and I’m SO close to the end that I can’t give up now!

Aside Really, though, if you like anthropomorphic children’s fantasy, then you would probably enjoy the first 6 of the series. It really should have stopped there, even though I did really appreciate a couple of the books after that.

The Land of Silver Apples, by Nancy Farmer

2012 Book 54: The Land of the Silver Apples, by Nancy Farmer (3/27/2012)

Reason for Reading: This is the second book in a trilogy.

My Review 4/5 stars
Jack, the Bard’s apprentice, sets off on a rescue quest when his sister Lucy is kidnapped by Elves. His companions are an unreliable slave/rightful-heir-to-the-throne and a recently freed girl-slave who worships the ground Jack walks on. They meet many magical creatures, re-discover some old friends, and have lots of exciting adventures along the way. I thought this was an excellent sequel to Sea of Trolls. It expanded the mythology of the land while developing the characters already introduced in the first book. I really appreciated the way Farmer handled the three religions that were represented by her characters in this 790AD Britain-based world. She showed the power and beauty of the Pagans as well as the Christians and subtly made the point that they all got their believers where they needed to go—but she did this without forcing the point or lecturing, which is the sign of excellent story-telling! My only quibble about this book is that most of the major plot threads were completed by page 400, leaving 100 pages for the final (and least pressing) plot thread. This is why the book got 4 instead of 5 stars.