Review: Tortall and Other Lands: A Collection of Tales

Title: Tortall and Other Lands: A Collection of Tales
Author: Tamora Pierce
Pages: 369
Publisher: Random House, Hardcover

Goodreads Summary:
This collection of fantasy stories contains all the tales from Tamora Pierce's land of Tortall. In addition to pieces previously published in anthologies, Tortall & Other Land contains two new stories. The collection encompasses stories about characters both old and new.

My Review:

Ms. Tamora Pierce never fails to amaze me with her work.

What I enjoyed most about her newest book was that it gave you another view to the Tortall World. Most importantly, it gives you what happens to Nawat and Allie after Trickster's Queen.
The short stories are just that, short. They all have the beginning, the climax and then an ending. I wish some of them could have gone on longer though! Especially the ones about characters we knew, I can never get enough of them.
The stories about the veils I found amazing! I loved seeing both sides to the stories, both points of views. It kind of gave me a new perspective about veiled women in today's world.
I really found her non-Tortall world short stories interesting too. The Artemis story was one of my favorites, even if the concept of the Pack was a bit creepy.
All in all, I give it a big thumbs up and a must read. This book defiantly keeps me wanting more and satisfied my Tortall need until Mastiff , whose excerpt is included in the end of this book, comes out.

My rating: 4 stars of 5
-Karina

Review: Trickster's Girl

Title: Trickster's Girl

Author: Hilari Bell

Pages: 289

e-book, ARC, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

(was published January 2011)

Netgalley Summary:

In the year 2098 America isn't so different from the USA of today. But, in a post-9/11 security-obssessed world, "secured" doesn't just refer to borders between countries, it also refer to borders between states. Teenagers still think they know everything, but there is no cure for cancer, as Kelsa knows first-hand from watching her father die.

The night Kelsa buries her father, a boy appears. He claims magic is responsible for the health of Earth, but human damage disrupts its flow. The planet is dying.

Kelsa has the power to reverse the damage, but first she must accept that magic exists and see beyond her own pain in order to heal the planet.

My Review:

Sadly, this book did not live up to the expectations I had for it.

It's actually a bit of a contradiction. Labeled as a science-fiction book but it has magical elements to it.

Kelsa, story protagonist, is a fifteen year old girl whose dad has just died of cancer. Her mother is in morning, her little brother Joby seems oblivious to everything and the tension between the two is impermeable. There seems to be this unexplainable anger between the two. Well, actually it is explainable, but there is no reason why there had to be so many pages on how Kelsa was ignoring her mother, how upset she was at her, how she would never forgive her. I do not actually believe their relationship played a big part in this book.

Then you meet the mysterious boy who just showed up, claiming magic is going to help heal the dying earth. This intrigues the reader, but there's nothing much to be intrigued about. He's not actually human. I actually commend Hilari Bell on her ability to make Raven seem oblivious to human nature, showing how in-human he is. By the end of the book, I was about as un-affectionate for him as he was for humans.

This book is supposed to take place in the future, 2098 to be exact. But I never actually felt that there was anything futuristic about it. It's exactly as the summary says, there is nothing diffrent about the United States then as it is now. I never go the feeling that the tough security was because of the 9/11 incident. Only when Kelsa was going on about how her therma-suite wasn't working, or that slight mention on how cars hovered did I remember this took place in the future. The pod-coms seem to be round iPhones, and the PIDs remind me of the French S.S. Vitale cards (both care around your personal information, like a credit card, with your picture.)

I do like how the book had mentions about Native American legends though. I wish it was something that Ms. Bell would have gotten more into, instead of how Raven said tarnation. There was one mention on how the Trickster part of the title played in. It got about half a page, and then it wasn't really brought up again.

Which brings me to another peeve. Instead of actually swearing, therefore making this book readable to younger children, the author just changed the vowles of those words and made them swear words, some invention made in the future. Example would be how we do it with ship and frick. (Actually, that's how we do it here in this small mid-western town. I can't speak for the rest of the dirty mouthed people :D )

I liked the idea of the story though. It's something I haven't read yet, so I was intrugied by how magic was going to save the trees. The idea that there are certain healing spots is just something I've never read about, so cuddos for the orginality. I could see the take-care-of-the-Earth message, which usually makes them pretty bad. Not this one, though. Earth-Saving was not the reason I did not like this book.

Also, this is a more biased comment, but there was no real relationship between Raven and Kelsa! It's over two hundred pages of a boy and a girl out on an adventure, alone and well seeing as it's marketed along books ceratin books makes me think there's going to be some sort of a relationship. Alas, there was nothing more than a semi-friendship and a lot of tolerance.

Yet, I'm sure this book is going to do well. With its descprition of Raven being this totally hot guy and Kelsa being an innocent young girl who manages to move on from her father's death by saving the world, there will be many readers who will fawn over Hilari Bell's newest book, Trickster's Girl.

Rating: 2 1/2-3 stars

Karina

So...

To all our readers,

Don't worry, we're still alive!

I know it has been, what a month?, since our last book review/post, but we've been in a sort of slump.

Not that it's because we ran out of books to read, because that may as well be impossible, but well one of us hasn't felt the urge to read and everyone knows that when you're not into it, it isn't as good.

The other one has a term paper to right and even though she would love to stop it all to read for you guys, she can't.

But here's an idea! If you guys have read a book and want to submit a review, then go ahead! We'll post it here and credit you. (this goes for any day, not just our slump ones.) That way, we'll keep the wheel of book sharing going!

Also, don't forget to check out our giveaway section. We dont' have one yet, but we're in touch with a lot of blogs that are. Who knows, maybe you'll win!

That's all for now! Keep checking on us!

-Karina

Review: Rules of Attraction

Title: Rules of Attraction
Author: Simone Elkeles
Pages: 324
Hardcover, Walker & Company

Goodreads summary:
When Carlos Fuentes returns to America after living in Mexico for a year, he doesn’t want any part of the life his older brother, Alex, has laid out for him at a high school in Colorado . Carlos likes living his life on the edge and wants to carve his own path—just like Alex did. Then he meets Kiara Westford. She doesn’t talk much and is completely intimidated by Carlos’ wild ways. As they get to know one another, Carlos assumes Kiara thinks she’s too good for him, and refuses to admit that she might be getting to him. But he soon realizes that being himself is exactly what Kiara needs right now

My review:

Oh my goodness. Love this book!

Okay, so I wasn't expecting much of it to begin with. I loved the first one so much and I've had a history of being disappointed with the sequel. But this book, this book brings hope that squalls will once more be grand!

This is the story of Carlos Fuentes, Alex's high school senior little brother, and high school senior Kiara.

Kiara is your basic high school senior, with a slight speech problem. Carlos is your basic Mexican gang member. They would have never picked one another as someone they would go out with.

When circumstances beyond them control bring them under the same roof, they can't recognize one another.

The book is amazing. I loved it so much, and as a native Spanish speaker, it was amazingly correct. Well there was one exception, but it could actually depend on what it really means. I'm glad to say that I've learned a lot of things from this book. Due to my growing up in the States, I'm not that advanced in the Mexican slang and well reading Simone Elkeles has finally caught me up to the language of my cousins.

I personally connected with the book, and I'm thinking that's what made me love it so much. It wasn't just how well written it was, or how there was a believable romance, or how I was basically engaged into the story that when I took a break and returned to my room, for a moment I was trying to remember what channel I had been watching. That's how good it was, I could see everything playing out in my head.

I'm giving this 4.5 out of 5 stars and am recommending it to everyone who loves a romance, wants to learn Spanish or just looking for a good sequel.

-Karina

Review: Crash into Me

Title: Crash into Me
Author: Albert Borris
Pages: 257
Hardcover, Simon Pulse publishing

Goodreads summary:
Owen, Frank, Audrey, and Jin-Ae have one thing in common: they all want to die. When they meet online after each attempts suicide and fails, the four teens make a deadly pact: they will escape together on a summer road trip to visit the sites of celebrity suicides...and at their final destination, they will all end their lives. As they drive cross-country, bonding over their dark impulses, sharing their deepest secrets and desires, living it up, hooking up, and becoming true friends, each must decide whether life is worth living--or if there's no turning back.

My review:

Alright, I'll admit it. I picked up this book at Borders because it had a really cool cover. Then because it had a nice title. So cheers to publishing companies and their cover art designers, you have won another reader over.

Crash into Me is basically about a group of suicidal kids on a cross-America road trip to their final destination in California. It's a literal and figurative final destination, because that's where the Pack is going to fulfill the Pact to finally die together.

And they did.

Only it wasn't the way you would think. This book takes four strangers who only have their emotional instability/death wishes in common and takes them through the journey that everyone should take.

They find reasons along the journey that brings them closer to what they're really afraid of, what they really want to get rid off from their lives, while bringing them closer to each other.

Their journey does end in death, but not the kind they expected.

The book was actually well written. I really like reading Albert Borris. The characters do develop, and you feel for them. The flashes to the past give you insight to what kind of people they are, while reading about the kind of people they're becoming.

I give it 4/5 stars, and recommend it to everyone.

-Karina

Review: I Am Number Four

Title: I Am Number Four
Author: Pittaucs Lore
Pages: 440
Hardcover, HaperCollins publishing

Goodreads Summary:
In the beginning they were a group of nine. Nine aliens who left their home planet of Lorien when it fell under attack by the evil Mogadorian. Nine aliens who scattered on Earth. Nine aliens who look like ordinary teenagers living ordinary lives, but who have extraordinary, paranormal skills. Nine aliens who might be sitting next to you now.

The Nine had to separate and go into hiding. The Mogadorian caught Number One in Malaysia, Number Two in England, and Number Three in Kenya. All of them were killed. John Smith, of Paradise, Ohio, is Number Four. He knows that he is next.

I AM NUMBER FOUR is the thrilling launch of a series about an exceptional group of teens as they struggle to outrun their past, discover their future—and live a normal life on Earth.

I AM NUMBER FOUR.
I AM NEXT.

My Review:

Wow. Considering I tend to stay away from books on aliens, this is amazing!

I will admit, I only started reading it because it was being made into a movie with my all time favorite actor, Alex Pettyfer. But once I started reading it, it didnt' really matter.

The story lines begins basic, new boy falls in love with popular girl and befriends a nerd/loser. But the twists the story line is what makes it so great. I will admit though, the character's seem to have sort of dull personalites, and the relationship is ofcourse fluffy, yet somehow unrealistic due to their ages. (Lets just say that normal teenagers tend to get more hormonal than these two did through out the entire series book.)

I'm not sure how Lore will go on writing this, as John or as another number, but as of finishing the book, I could go with either one. I'm not say the writing was bad, it wasn't, but it wasn't something amazing. I think the thing that really makes this book shine is its plot. The plot is amazing!

But even so, this book is totally worth reading, and trust me, the ending is nothing but simply the begining.

-Karina