Book Reviews by Genre: Fiction

Ee, Susan
5 stars = Bohemian Rhapsody Awesome!
Review:

This book takes a refreshing approach to the theme of angels vs. humans that in now way leaves you thinking you just read a young adult story. Great drama, excellently managed with great timing and suspense. A 17 year old is responsible for her emotionally challenged mother and physically challenged younger sister in a post apocalyptic era brought on by...warrior angels. The younger sister is kidnapped by two of the angels and the 17-year old has to find her while her mother deals with her emotional issues as best she can..good read.

Reviewer's Name: Pauline
Genres:
Donnelly, Jennifer
4 stars = Really Good
Review:

This was an engaging read. The parts about revolutionary France were particularly interesting. The protaganist was only mildly annoying which is good for a teen book. I also liked that it touches on music history and theory, French Revolution, and genetics. Overall, I'd recommend this book.

Reviewer's Name: vfranklyn
Brown, Dan
4 stars = Really Good
Review:

Dan Brown has done it again! In Inferno, he has blended a concoction of cultural history, shadowy power brokers, and cutting-edge apocalyptic science into an intriguing potboiler.

Our hero, Robert Langdon, is tossed headfirst into a violent, shifting conflict between European authorities and a brilliantly mad scientist who is obsessed with Dante's Divine Comedy.

Naturally, said mad scientist is bent on world destruction/domination and the key to stopping him lies in deciphering clues hidden in the medieval masterpiece and the art and architecture of Florence, Italy.

Most readers either love or hate Dan Brown's writing. If you enjoyed his signature style in the Da Vinci Code and his other novels, Inferno will be a great read. If you find a lot of art history and cultural background boring, it might seem like the Seventh Circle of Hell. The addition of some thought-provoking scientific threats that reminded me of Michael Crichton were a definite plus for me.

All in all, a worthwhile addition to the series, even though Langdon fails to save the world! Or does he? Hmmm.

Reviewer's Name: Alan
Card, Orson Scott
1 star = Yuck!
Review:

I despised this book. Although I respect Card's mastery in the sci-fi genre, this was not one of his wonder-books. He failed to capture the personality of the childrens' ages, and parts of it were beyond gruesome, especially after you realized it was a 6-11 year old participating in those actions. The time-frame was speedy; the child went from 6 to eleven years old within 100 pages. Also, the Locke and Demosthenes part was plain confusing. Not a fan.

Reviewer's Name: JBird
Westerfeld, Scott
5 stars = Bohemian Rhapsody Awesome!
Review:

This book is the best in the entire world. A mixture of steampunk, history, and mystery, it made me fall instantly in love. I loved how it took World War I and turned it into a sci-fi-ish adventure following the perspective of two teenagers from completely different backgrounds and motives. You should most definitely give this one a try!!!

Reviewer's Name: JBird
Gale, Eric Kahn
4 stars = Really Good
Review:

This book was really good. It was a fast read and was very engaging. There's even some advice to parents to ask their kids if they are being hurt or made fun of in school. Asking specifically may open the door for a hurting teen to confide. But mostly this is a great mystery for young people about bullying.

Reviewer's Name: vfranklyn
Russell, Rachel Renee
5 stars = Bohemian Rhapsody Awesome!
Review:

This book is funny and strong willed. It is a diary of a girl who has just started in a new school and she has no friends. She has to deal with a bully and an embarrassing family. I loved this book!

Reviewer's Name: Ariel
Mosley, Walter
5 stars = Bohemian Rhapsody Awesome!
Review:

Walter Mosley knows how to tell a story like no one else. He captures life in the fifties in Southern California for black folks in Watts and surrounding areas shortly after WW1. Boy Oh Boy...His books are actually stories told to him by his father when he was a young man growing up in that era. Humor and suspense await anyone who has the pleasure to pick up any of his well written books.....

Reviewer's Name: Melinda
Genres:
Bodeen, S. A.
5 stars = Bohemian Rhapsody Awesome!
Review:

When you start reading this, you can't put it down, kinda like the Hunger Games. I would recommend this to people who like to read action/adventure. This is about a girl who goes on a plane and it crashes and all she has is a raft, a total stranger named Max, and a bag of Skittles.
They have no water and there are sharks in the area and no sign of help. Will they survive?

Reviewer's Name: Rachel
Sheldon, Mary
4 stars = Really Good
Review:

This is an awesome book! I found myself laughing out loud and just couldn't put it down. Ms. Sheldon's style of writing is one that will get you caught up in the lives of mothers and daughters everywhere. Highly recommend for a great read.

Reviewer's Name: Rebecca
Genres:
Sepetys, Ruta
4 stars = Really Good
Review:

Out of the Easy follows the story of Josie, a sixteen-year-old girl living in 1950's New Orleans whose mother just happens to be a prostitute. But don't let that turn you away! This book is far from gross; it's actually really good. You see, Josie desperately wants to lose the title of "The Prostitute's Daughter", so she applies for college and tries to scrounge up all the money needed for such an endeavor. However, to find out what happens next, you'll have to read the book!

I loved this book because it really showed how strong of a character Josie is. The plot line was very well-developed and its obvious the Ruta Sepetys knows how to write! I highly recommend this book to kids older than twelve.

Reviewer's Name: Lily
Genres:
Joyce, Rachel
3 stars = Pretty Good
Review:

Setting: Modern day, southern coast of England. Quite unexpectedly, after twenty years, Harold Fry receives a letter from Queenie Hennessy (a former co-worker), who informs him that she is dying of inoperable cancer and is in hospice in Berwick-upon-Tweed, located in northern England. He writes her a note and sets off to post it. Along the way he meets a young woman who tells him that knowing someone cares can mean all the difference to a person with cancer. Harold hadn't known he would walk the 600 miles to Queenie, but after that short conversation, he phones the hospice (he has left his mobile phone at home) to tell Queenie to "hold on. I'm walking to you." He just kept walking, buying her souvenirs and sending his wife postcards along the way. He endures blisters, hunger, sleeping outside, and publicity-seekers. As he walks, he remembers his parents, his job, his wife and his absent son. And his wife remembers him. It's a simple story, but also extraordinary.

Reviewer's Name: Vickie
Genres:
Palahniuk, Chuck
5 stars = Bohemian Rhapsody Awesome!
Review:

This is one of Chuck Palahniuk's best novels. It's everything you love about any of his other books, but it's nothing you'd expect. It's written in an interview-esque style, detailing the life of Buster "Rant" Casey, one of the most notorious and mysterious serial killers. It's funny, it's shocking, it's utterly mind-blowing. One of those novels you'd hate to ever put down.

Reviewer's Name: Cassie
Sakurakōji, Kanoko
5 stars = Bohemian Rhapsody Awesome!
Review:

the black bird series has fifteen books so far and they are really good i have read them over and over again. the sixteenth one is coming out on may 7th. i would suggets reading them if you like romance.

Reviewer's Name: Cecilia
Durbin, Frederic S.
5 stars = Bohemian Rhapsody Awesome!
Review:

I first read The Star Shard in my sister's Cricket magazines. It was a ten part issue with fantastic drawings and a writing style so unlike what I had read in the other short stories in Cricket. We couldn't wait till the next issues came out. Then a year or so later when we heard it was being made into a book, we bought it right away. It was even better than what we saw in the magazine.

The story is about a young girl named Cymbril who lives on a massive moving city-like wagon, called the Thunder Rake, where she is enslaved to a rich man named Rombil. As the Rake moves from town to town, she must sing at the markets to attract customers and gain money for her master. Since she is Rombil's slave and even her clothes are owned by him, her only true possessions are beautiful hair clip from her mother and a smooth turquoise stone from her father. When Rombil one day buys another slave named Loric, her life is changed. She finds that Loric is one of the Fae, a race of elvish magical people. Loric tells her that she is half-Fae and even her hair clip and stone have magical properties. Her stone is a fragment of a star that fell in Fae lands. Now, with this knowledge in her mind and her parent's gifts close, Cymbril promises herself that she will sacrifice everything to grant she and Loric freedom.

Although not too well known, I ask that you give this book a try. You will be surprised. It is a very charming and beautiful book.

Reviewer's Name: Margaret
Genres:
Lancaster, Jen
2 stars = Meh
Review:

It was okay. The author kind of annoyed me with all the cutsie footnotes. But I did read it fast and it did remind me of a friend of mine, so there's that.

Reviewer's Name: vfranklyn
Semple, Maria
4 stars = Really Good
Review:

Not bad. I liked Bernadette and Bee's voices. I also liked that while Bernadette seemed unhinged, she really just needed something spectacular to create in order to function. I liked how the author resolved that need. I'm not familiar with Seattle or Microsoft, but the book made me feel like I was there. I liked that Audrey was not a two dimensional character. Overall, I enjoyed the book

Reviewer's Name: vfranklyn
Genres:
Hiaasen, Carl
4 stars = Really Good
Review:

I really enjoyed this book. It was textbook Hiaasen, which is a good thing. It's aimed toward younger readers and I plan to give it to my nephew for his birthday.

Reviewer's Name: vfranklyn
Landy, Derek
5 stars = Bohemian Rhapsody Awesome!
Review:

Skulduggery Pleasant throws you into a magical universe where the classic fight between good verses evil is exercised. Thrown into a new world, Stephanie learns to adapt and explore magic with the help of her mentor Skulduggery Pleasant, a dry humor irish detective skeleton.
It's simplistic enough that a 12 yr old can understand but advanced enough for a teenager to enjoy as well. Kept me laughing all the way.

Reviewer's Name: Kyoya
Genres:
Yep, Laurence
2 stars = Meh
Review:

It was alright- especially in the beginning. I thought that is was interesting with all the fantasy with San Francisco a few decades ago. The main characters have to go and leave San Francisco after they are attacked and travel across the sea to avenge the deaths of certain people who were very important in their lives. They are attacked even more and come up against a lot of roadblocks. Laurence Yep incorporated a Hawaiian goddess who was crazy and nice. Yet, I thought the story was just a little undeveloped, maybe because it was the first book in a trilogy. I felt like it was trying to wrap up everything while introducing new ideas and plot twists at the same time. I didn't connect with the book, but that it just my opinion. It is good for the ages eleven to twelve or thirteen.

Reviewer's Name: Carli