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English 9 Book Reviews
April 2013
Second Hour:
City of Bones, by Cassandra Clare is the first book in a Sci-fi/ Fantasy series. Clary, a fifteen year old, believes she is just an ordinary, below average girl. But, all of a sudden odd things start to happen to her and she sees things that aren't normal. Clary then meets Jace, a gorgeous sixteen year old boy, who comes from a different world than hers. She starts to realize that her mom wasn’t telling her the truth about who they really are and her life isn’t at all what she thought it is. Trying to uncover the truth is just the beginning as she finds an unlikely companion in Jace, while her best friend, Simon, is unceremoniously dragged into her new life
also. Clary must find out who she should believe, befriend, and fight throughout the epic series of The Mortal Instruments. This adventurous and amazing book has demons, humor, shadowhunters, romance, and unexpected twists. City of Bones is a great book for guys and girls and is a definite must- read.
-Emily Shilts
The book Finale, by Becca Fitzpatrick, is the fourth of the chilling Hush, Hush saga. This is the last book following Patch and Nora’s love story and battle between life and death. Just when Nora Grey, a formally quiet and innocent girl, and her mysterious boyfriend Path, a fallen angel, think all their troubles have ended they are forced to make a life or death decision. Nora has to lead a band of Nephilim that her deceased, biological father left behind against a band of rouge fallen angels, which means destroying Patch. Trying to avoid a war and the rebirth of black magic they hatch a plan that involves double crossing their own sides. After the two fake a breakup and meet in secret with any newfound information, Nora finds herself enjoying her new power more than she should. Nora also finds herself drawn to her new Nephilim trainer, Dante, which forcing Patch to intervene. After Nora learns to control her thirst for power and repairs a fight with Patch, the inevitable happens; the two sides go to war. When the Archangels, the highest ranking of angels, come down to break off the fight, they threaten to chain Patch in hell for dating a Nephil. Will Patch and Nora be torn apart forever or will they get the surprise of a lifetime in the end? Discover the mysteries of the future in this wonderful fantasy book.
-Lizz Suo
Imagine “seeing” people or events without physically being there. If anyone found out you could, your life, just as it was getting interesting, would come crumbling down. This is the life of Karen Connors, a teenage physic. It is her final year of high school and she is dating the most popular guy in school, Tim, nothing could be better. Sadly, every time she closes her eyes, visions appear. She is able to see missing kids, which turns out to be a very good thing later in the book when the daycare she works at is robbed and the infants are taken. A young cop who doesn’t take no for an answer, Ronald Wilson, persuades her into helping him find the missing children, one of whom is his nephew. As she digs deeper and deeper into the physic world, her “real” world starts falling apart. She breaks up with her boyfriend, runs into wicked criminals, and fights with her parents more than ever, and loses her “friends” at school. The only thing that keeps her going is a vision she keeps having of a little girl. The Third Eye by Lois Duncan is exactly a mystery lover’s cup of tea.
-Beth Duncan
The book Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck is an exciting adventure and thrilling romance. Kelsey Hayes is a young and endearing young woman looking to get a summer job to hopefully earn her a little extra cash.After getting an unexpected temporary job at a circus that happens to be in town, shebefriending a gorgeous white Bengal tiger who she nicknames "Ren" after his original name Dhiren. When Mr. Kadam, a man from India interested in Kelsey's tiger Ren, wants to take Ren to a conservatory and wants Kelsey to travel with him she can’t help but to except. But after landing in India she gets deserted with nothing but her bags and her tiger Ren. When Ren runs off into the forest Kelsey feels she has no choice but to follow, and what she's greeted with comes as a great surprise to her. Standing in front of her is a gorgeous Indian man, who happens to call himself Ren. What Ren has to tell Kelsey is chilling. She's torn. She doesn't know whether to stay and help and possibly fall in love with this gorgeous man, or to run and get as far away as possible. In this exciting series, Ren and Kelsey are faced with tasks they couldn't even imagine possible. Throughout the whole book Kelsey battles with herself over her strong and prominent feelings for Ren. This enchanting novel will capture your attention and your heart. So beware you may just fall in love.
-Sarah Sylte
Unwind, by Neil Shusterman, is an exciting, thought provoking read. It is a science fiction book about the United States in the future when life is protected until the age 13, and then the teenager can be unwound, a technique where their bodies are taken apart, and every part is then given to someone who needs it so the teen doesn’t technically die. There are three main characters, Lev, Connor, and Risa. They each were going to be unwound for different reasons but escaped. Lev is from a family whose religion requires them to give up one child to be unwound, Connor has some behavior problems, and Risa lives in a state-run orphanage that is too full. Completely by coincidence, they run into each other as they are escaping on their way to the unwinding camps, and they decide they would have a better chance of surviving if they stuck together. Staying away from police officers and others who might hurt them proves to be difficult as the book continues, but they find safety in surprising places. Captured by the police, the protagonists are taken to an unwinding camp during the climax. Nobody has ever come out of there alive. Read the book to find out if they will be the first.
-Emma Burns
Lisbeth Salander, a fierce fighting, mousy, tattooed girl takes on yet another adventure of a lifetime alongside ‘friend’ Mikael Blomkvist. Hiding her deepest secrets will finally come back to bite her. Stieg Larsson’s creation The Girl Who Played with Fire, the second book in the Crime Fiction Millennium Trilogy, is certainly not something you want to miss. This eye-opening, thrilling, heart-stopping adventure will engulf you with suspense every time you turn the page.
Millennium magazine hires freelance journalist Svensson, who is working on the story of the year; sex trafficking. Just days before the book is to be published, horror strikes and Svensson and his partner, Johansson, are killed in their home. Fingers point towards Blomkvists past lover of whom he hasn’t spoken with in over a year, Lisbeth Salander. Salander, fleeing to hiding, does nothing to suggest her innocence. She enforces the mentally deficient, threat to public safety girl plastered all over town. Blomkvist however refuses to believe Lisbeth’s accusation, alone he will conduct his own investigation and he will uncover the one thing he has been searching for since meeting Lisbeth. Buckle in for the ride as readers finally find out that long awaited question from book one; what really is ‘all the evil’?
-Libby Blattner
Living in pre-World War II Japan, future famed geisha, Chiyo, is just a fisherman’s daughter. Chiyo, always categorized as different with her stormy gray eyes, shares a house with her parents and older sister Satsu. Soon though, her mother falls ill and passes away, leaving the entire family not only devastated, but poverty stricken as well. Chiyo’s father then makes the decision to sell her and her sister to local businessman, Mr. Tanaka. With Mr. Tanaka, they travel to the great city, Kyoto, to find their new lives. It isn’t what they we’re hoping for. The two sisters are separated, Chiyo going to a geisha house, and Satsu’s whereabouts unbeknownst to younger sister. Chiyo quickly realizes this life is the same as her old, just a different struggle. She finds herself lost in an uphill battle, torn between two dreams. One part of her longs to see her sister again, find her somewhere in the city and run off together, homeward bound. Yet another part of her admiringly looks upon the beautifully painted faces of the famous geisha, noticing the intricate stitches on their kimonos, wanting that glamorous life. Living with one of the top geisha of the time, Chiyo sees just how perfect that life can be, yet she refuses to forget Satsu. We follow Chiyo as she strives at her dream of becoming a great geisha, luck against her, yet never believing it can’t be done. Memoirs of a Geisha is a consuming tale of family and fame, hardships and glamour, and what it takes for a young Japanese girl to get through it all.
-Emily Miller
A truly exciting and extremely thrilling novel, Burned, is all about making new friends and learning to deal with the past, no matter how hard and painful it is to forget. All Aria, Spencer, Emily, and Hannah want to do is find a way to escape their malicious and revenge seeking stalker. It's spring break in Rosewood, Pennsylvania and the Pretty Little Liars are very much looking forward to a well needed vacation. Taking a cruise to the Caribbean is all they could ever imagine, until they find out their stalker is on board too, watching their every move and waiting for the perfect moment to strike again. The girls attend their volunteer classes and make plenty of new friends, all while their saucy little stalker keeps a close eye on them. Throughout the book, the four girls learn new clues as to who their stalker could be. Receiving texts that are always signed with a little letter ~A, they begin to think it's their old best friend Ali. Only Ali would know about the terrible things they have done. The only thing is.... it can't be Ali because she died last year. But what the girls don't know, is killing them. They want so bad to forget the memories of what they did the past summers. But A doesn't want them to forget. She wants them to rot miserably in hell. And she won't give up until they have been punished for all they have done. The events and thrilling adventures in Burned kept me reading, and I couldn't bring myself to put the book down!
-Alexis Alexander
Delirium is a suspenseful dystopian romance that takes place in the future. It was written by Lauren Oliver and has a Lexile level of 920. It is also the first book in the Delirium trilogy. In the book, love is a disease. At age 18 everyone gets “cured” of this retched disease that they refer to as the deliria. The main character, Lena finds herself counting down the days to her procedure, all she wants is to be cured; until now. When she was being examined to find out who her match would be, something unexpected happens. Alex happens. Alex is the security guard who has more secrets than he should. He and Lena end up meeting more than a few times, and in very unexpected places, like government-banned parties. One night at one of these parties, the regulators came and raided the place leaving Lena hurt and no one to help her but Alex. After that party they kept meeting up more and more, infecting each other and falling in...Love. But the days to Lena's procedure are lurking around the corner. She and Alex hatch a devious plan to escape from the terrible place that Lena has learned to call home. In the end, Alex has to make a choice that could be life or death. What would you do for love? After all, “Love: it will kill you and save you both.”
-Hallie Kaczmarski
Animal Farm is a book written by Eric Blair, with pen name George Orwell, in 1946. After his experiences in the Spanish Civil War, he wrote many stories openly opposing both capitalism and communism. Orwell wrote this book based on the negative aspects and results of Totalitarianism. The genre of Animal Farm can be described as fiction, due to the events never actually occurring, and satire, by the close connection to Communist Russia. Throughout the book, farm animals realize the cause of their harsh treatment and rebel against their human owners. After running out the farmer, the animals are left to themselves to run the farm and stay alive, and quickly form a new government, Animalism. A strong dispute between two dominant characters hinders the advances and success of the animals. Bringing their new government closer and closer to the recently escaped Totalitarianism, the intelligent leaders of Animal Farm, the pigs, become more and more like humans as the story progresses. Many political figures and groups from Russian history are portrayed through the animals and their actions. The comedy of an animal run farm and the play on a failed government make Animal Farm an interesting book to read.
-Bailey Wilson
A roller-coaster of events and emotions, Strange Angels is a fun, wild adventure. Dru Anderson, a fierce and independent teenage girl, has the ability of what her grandmother calls the “touch.” Living with her father, Dru has a very unique, yet strange task. Both she and her father hunts down and kills zombies, ghosts and other creatures from the Real World. But when her father gets killed and turns into a walking zombie after going on a task alone, Dru is forced to find out how special she really is and to figure out who, or what, is hunting her. Along the way she comes face to face with two guys who are hungry for her affection. Now Dru will have to battle her way and hopefully make it out alive. Throughout the beginning I was a bit unsure about this book, if I wanted to continue reading it or not. But with the plot starting to thicken it was hard to put this book down. Dealing with everyday problems of being a teenage girl, especially since Dru feels awkward in her body, it relates well to some girls out there. A suspenseful, thrilling book, Strange Angels will have you on the edge of your seats.