Vampirates: Demons of the Ocean by Justin Somper
This is the first of three (so far) books that mix vampires and pirates together and surprisingly they work pretty well together, not unlike a good fluffernutter sandwich. I know what you are thinking. How could peanut butter, bananas and marshmallow creme go well together? Dude. You just have to try it. And it is much the same with Vampirates. It has the swashbuckling adventure that we all know and love from those famous Johnny Depp pirate movies. It also has creepy gothic vampires who just happen to have an affinity for the seven seas.
Grace and Connor are the children of a reclusive lighthouse keeper. He sings them old sea chanties to calm them down before bedtime. The children’s favorite chanty is about Vampirates, a sea faring vampire clan that plunder, and pillage, but also feast, on human blood. Soon the kids grow into young adults and their father passes away. Left orphaned, they turn to the sea and take off on their father’s small yacht. Suddenly a storm comes from nowhere and they are cast into the sea. Grace is rescued by the mysterious Vampirates, while Connor is saved by a gang of pirates. It is up to Connor to learn the pirate trades of sword fighting and pillaging in order to rescue his sister from becoming a vampire’s dinner. And it is up to Grace to find the truth behind the Vampirates and their reason for sailing the ocean blue.
This book is suitable for all ages, and has strong male and female main characters. It would be a good read for anyone who likes adventure, vampires, historical fiction, and suspense. Justin Somper does a wonderful job of setting the stage for a series of books without being obvious about it. One warning, Demons of the Ocean has an abrupt end so make sure you have the second book on hand so you can pick up the story right away.
August 5th, 2008
Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing With Fire by Derek Landy
If one more person’s head gets squashed like a grape this book would be even that much better. I really cannot explain how much I enjoyed this Playing With Fire. I like this one a lot better than the first one. It has more of everything, more action, more villains, more magic, more gore, and more humor. In this case more is definitely the merrier.
Skulduggery and Valkyrie find themselves facing off against Baron Vengeous, an acolyte of the Faceless Ones, and is all set to let loose the Grotesquery on the world. The Grotesquery is a Frankenstein’s monster-like creation, except it is made up of many different magical creatures, all of which are extremely lethal. And if the Grotesquery is resurrected then it will call out to the Faceless Ones who will then return and destroy the world.
Like I mentioned before the adrenaline is jacked up a few notches for this sequel. Fans of magic and horror will love this book. It is a pretty intense book, with a high body count and a good amount of gore. I really can’t wait for the third book. This is now my favorite series by far. This book is appropriate for anyone in sixth grade and up, if they don’t mind the blood and guts.
July 18th, 2008
New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
This book deserves 5 stars
This book is the sequel to the bestseller Twilight. In this story Bella Swan and Edward Cullen are madly in love. The only problem is that Bella is a human and Edward is a vampire. By being with Edward, Bella is constantly in danger because Edward thirsts for her blood. This story is quite thrilling, you won’t be able to put it down and although it seems long you’ll get through it very fast!!
June 18th, 2008
Marked by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
This is the first book in the House of Night series which chronicles the adventures of Zoey Redbird as she attends the boarding school for fledging vampires. As the novel opens Zoey is just a young teenage girl. She goes to school, dates the school quarterback, and gossips with her friends. There is a deeper side to her though. Her home life is far from perfect, with a demeaning and controlling step-father. Her one place she can be herself is with her grandmother, who owns a lavender farm and is part Native American. Zoey’s Cherokee heritage plays a big part in the novel and helps her overcome obstacles later on in the book.
Life changes for Zoey when she becomes marked as a fledging vampire. This happens one day after school and instantaneously a quarter moon tattoo appears on her forehead. This has happened before at school and always with ridicule for those who have been marked. But what is worse is that she knows that her step-father, who is extremely conservative, will totally freak out. She eventually makes it to her grandmother’s farm, all while getting increasingly sick. Those who have been marked become allergic to sunlight and will eventually die unless they make lifestyle changes. Zoey doesn’t find her grandmother on the farm, and ends up collapsing on a cliff. In her exhaustion she receives a vision of the vampire goddess, Nyx, who claims Zoey as one of her own and blesses her, and implies great things for Zoey’s future.
Fortunately for Zoey her grandmother finds her and delivers her to the House of Night. Most of the novel is spent introducing Zoey (and us the readers) to a new and different world. She quickly makes friends and gets used to going to classes at night. One major difference between vampire school and regular school is that at any moment a person’s body could reject the vampire mark, which causes them to die. And on top of this she has become enemy number one for the most popular girl in school, Aphrodite, a high priestess in training and leader of the Dark Daughters, an after school club for the most elite fledging vampires. Zoey has to rely on her heritage, her friends, and her faith in order to succeed.
I liked a lot of this book, but I disliked a lot of it too. Overall I thought it was pretty ingenious and a good mash-up of vampires and school drama. On the other hand it was very obvious that this is the first book in a series, as it is fairly light on plot (until the last 60 pages or so), and relies a lot on introducing readers to the life of a young vampire. This novel also wears its YA-ness in its sleeve. Some of the supporting characters intentionally use big words, only to have other characters define them for Zoey and the reader. (Honestly, Zoey is so worldly it surprises me that she has a rather limited vocabulary.) I do like the fact that it isn’t afraid to broach the subjects of sex and drugs, but again it goes out of its way to make sure that readers know that Zoey doesn’t do those sorts of things and in fact frowns upon them. I don’t mind the lesson in morality per se, but rather I dislike the ham handedness of it. The book at times seems to be trying to hard to be relevant to teens, instead of just telling a good story. That being said, this series is quite popular. I would recommend this book for younger girls (eighth grade and up) who have an open mind and are not put off with the frank discussions of sex, drugs, and the occasional swear word and with one caveat: Marked is great when it’s telling its story, but falls flat when it over reaches for relevance.
June 12th, 2008
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Twilight is the story of Bella Swan, the seventeen-year-old daughter of divorced parents. She leaves her mother and her home-town, Phoenix, and moves to rainy Forks, Washington, to live with her father.
There, she meets Edward Cullen, a mysterious and beautiful boy who she soon falls in love with. Too late, she discovers he’s a vampire. The book details their relationship and and adventures.
The concept of this book was both intriguing and original. I was drawn in immediately by the author’s well-written, first-person narrative. However, the beginning is the high point. The middle lags, bogged down by Bella’s worshipful infatuation with Edward’s physical beauty, poorly supplemented by plot or realistic character development. I had difficulty visualizing Edward and Bella and understanding their attraction to each other.
Before I could fully relate to the characters, the book ended in a whirl of activity. Even though the sudden blurb of action was refreshing, it came across as thrown together instead of well thought out.
With better editing, Twilight could have fulfilled the starry-eyed reviews I’ve heard from my friends.
Unfortunately, it will remain a lightweight fantasy romance high on emotion but low on content.
April 22nd, 2008
The Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer
This book deserves 5 stars
I definitely loved all three of the books. It’s so passionate and shows how involved the two main characters are. As for Bella (the human), her being so `plain’ just shows the readers that even someone as beautiful as Edward can fall in love with anyone. So basically it’s just proving that it depends on your character and I think that’s a good message to send out to people. So, if you like romances, this book is defiantly for you!
March 31st, 2008
Previous Posts
