Anime Club
Monday December 1st
4 - 6pm

We are relaunching Anime Club. It is now every Monday afternoon at 4. Come check it out. More info can be found here.

Posted under anime club, announcement

This is just so rad. A theremin made from a Wiimote.

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The Vampire Series by David Wellington

These vampires have as much in common as Edward Cullen as kiwis have with pears. Both are fruit, or in our case vampires, both are tasty, but the similarities really end there. 

David Wellington’s vampires are the ultimate monster. They have teeth like a shark, and they don’t so much bite their victims as they rip limbs off like they were bottle caps and chug out the blood. Yeah, it’s gruesome, but in that good way. They only way to kill a vampire is to destroy its heart. The only problem is the more the vampire feeds the more impervious it becomes. Once this happens people tend to die in large quantities really quickly.

The series focuses on Pennsylvania State Trooper Laura Caxton as she gets assigned to help Special Deputy Jameson Arkeley hunt down a new generation of vampires. Arkeley had thought he had killed the last vampires many years ago, but somehow the curse has returned. 13 Bullets introduces us to how deadly vampires can be as a small coven start to leave behind a very large body count. Somehow these vampires are connected to Arekely’s past. Caxton needs to quickly uncover his secrets and learn how to survive vampire attacks or else she will end up as just another meal, or worse, a half-dead, a reanimated corpse who does the vampire’s bidding. 99 Coffins picks up soon after as a whole cave of vampires are discovered in an underground cave at Gettysburg. It is up to Caxton to raise enough troops to fight off a vampire army that have been locked away for over 100 years. Does it really need to be said that they are pretty ticked off and mighty hungry? Vampire Zero is the latest installment and the vampires just won’t leave Laura Caxton alone. Someone is hunting Arkeley’s family and killing them off one by one. There is a horde of half-deads after her and there is something different about this latest vampire. He wears a bullet proof vest.

I really enjoy David Wellington’s books. His vampire are just the right kind of monster, scary and bloody. If you gore isn’t your thing there are nicer vampire books out there. It seems to often recently vampires are treated as just superpowered people with the same concerns and worries as anyone else. Wellington redeems the vampire in his series. These vampires are monsters, they have no concern with anything other then where their next meal of blood will come from. It makes for a very fun action/horror hybrid. I would recommend it for horror aficionados 14 and up.

Posted under a librarian reads, review

Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith
5 Stars

Meliara and her brother promise their father when he dies that they will protect the people of the land from the evil king.

But even when the war is over, Meliara still has enemies to face. This book has everything to make it an exciting read: danger, magic, romance, and mystery!

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The Secret of Dragonhome by John Peel
5 Stars

This book is about a girl named Melayne who is being hunted because she has special powers. She and her brother, who also has special powers, hide at Lord Sander’s castle called Dragonhome. But Dragonhome also has secrets which Melayne must uncover.

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OMG. I cannot wait!

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Darkside by Tom Becker

I really liked this book. Jonathan Starling is one of those kids who no one seems to notice. He floats by in school, if he decides to go, and his home life isn’t much different. His mother has never been around, and his father won’t talk about why. He mostly works in his study all day and rarely speaks with Jonathan. The rest of the time Jonathan’s father falls into a near catatonic stupor, the victim of some strange disorder. And then one day someone does take notice of Jonathan, a woman with fluorescent pink hair and an intoxicating perfume, a perfume that makes him feel at ease and willing to do anything or go anywhere she wants. The problem is she wants to kidnap him to the Darkside.

Darkside is a hidden realm within London. Way back when, all the evil hooligans, axe murderers, kidnappers, and monsters that Queen Victoria could find were rounded up and imprisoned within its borders. Queen Victoria even gave control over Darkside to Jack the Ripper and his future descendants. I think you can tell it’s a pretty blood curdling place. But what does the woman with the strange hair and magical perfume want with Jonathan? He needs to find out real quick because it isn’t just his life that hangs in the balance, but his father’s too.

This book is a great introduction to the horror genre. It has gore, and enough bumps and intensity to last you awhile. I’d recommend it for anyone 12 and up, especially those who love horror, or are looking for something with a bit more bite.

Posted under a librarian reads, review