Wonderstruck

I recently read Wonderstruck and it was a great read.  It is written and illustrated by the author of The Invention of Hugo Cabaret.  Wonderstruck is written in a similar format part picture part words but in Wonderstruck there are two different narratives; one told in words, one told in images.  In the narative told in words the protagonist is Ben.  He lives in Gunflint Lake, Minnesota with his mother until she dies.  After going through his mother's items he discovers clues to the whereabouts of his father which lead him to running away and going to New York city in search of his father.  Ben is nearly deaf after being struck by lightning.  In the other narrative the protagonist is a deaf girl living in Hoboken fifty years before the other narrative takes place.  The deaf girl runs away from her home to New York city.  The format in Wonderstruck was good but the pictures could't show many details and I preferred the text much more.  The writing is very descriptive; the characters weren't developed enough and many secondary characters have no background information.  I wish the book was longer and I wished a larger percent of it was written instead of pictures however the desecrate style of writing and images are suspenseful.  Overall, despite its flaws, Wonderstruck was a great book.

Inheritance

I recently read Inheritance the final book in The Inheritance Cycle.  The series revolves around Eragon and his dragon, Saphira.  The books take place in a fictional world called Alagaësia.  In Alagaësia there are five main races: Urgals, Humans, Elves, Dwarfs, and Dragons.  The elves and the dragons had a long bloody war and in order to make peace they created the dragon riders; many of the dragons' eggs would only hatch when exposed to their rider and once they hatched the dragon and its rider would be able to telepathically communicate.  The humans joined the treaty between the elves and dragons and for hundreds of years, the riders governed over the dragon riders.  Then a corrupt human dragon rider named Galbatorix and several other rebel dragon riders slew every other dragon rider and destroyed every dragon egg except for three eggs.  A hundred years later a human, Eragon, discovers a dragon egg in the woods and it hatched for him.  Eragon and Saphira, his dragon, help a rebellion fight Galbatorix and the empire he had created over the last century.  The series is very well written and very descriptive and the author does a great job at creating Alagaësia.  Parts of the series are very fast paced while others are very slow and unnecessary.  Over the series, the author develops great characters and in Inheritance the author does a great job at finishing the series.  Overall, The Inheritance Cycle was a great read and I wish there were more books in it.

The Outcasts

Recently, I read a book called The Outcasts. I discovered this book because it is by the same author of one of my favorite series Ranger's Apprentice. The Outcasts takes place in the same universe as Ranger's Aprentice and revolves around a 16 year old kid named Hal. Hal lives in a nation called Skandia, which resemble medieval Scandinavia. One of the Skandian traditions is when a boy turns 16 he competes in the Brotherbands to prepare him for military service. Boys are tested in fighting, races, and sailing. Hal is not the most athletic kid but is a great inventor. Hal is put into a brotherband team with other outcasts like him and together they compete in the Brotherbands. I loved the writing in this book; it was very descriptive and developed great charecters. I also like how it took place in a farmiliar setting. The book has a great plot and is very suspenseful however, parts of it are slow. In the ending, the author did not resolve all the issues in the book and it is very open ended. This is fine as long as the author writes a sequel; I hope he does. The plot of the book is very similar to Ranger's Apprentice books and is predictable. I love how this book has a large collection of supporting characters who are also developed throughout the book.  Overall, I thought The Outcasts was a great book and I'm excited for a sequel.

You Have to Stop This

So far I love this book.  It is the fifth and final book in the Secret series.  The secret series is about three middle school students, Cass, Max-Earnest, and Yo-Yoji, who are members of Terces Society which was created to protect the secret to eternal life from the Midnight Suns which are dedicated to discovering the secret and using it for their vain purposes.  In the beginning of the book, Cass, Max-Earnest, and Yo-Yoji's class visits a museum exhibit on mummies.  The mummy that their class sees is the mummy of the Egyptian scribe who wrote the secret originally.  As they view the mummy the mummy's finger comes off.  They are blamed for it and have to work at the museum to make up for the damage they caused.  After the museum closes they try to break in and examine the mummy some more.  They find the mummy stolen and their chance at discovering the secret gone.  I love the writing in the Secret series.  Throughout the books the author Pseudonymous Bosch creates a great setting with great characters.  The book is very descriptive, suspenseful, and at times funny.  Anybody who loves a great fiction or mystery book will love You Have to Stop This.  I also love how in some characters the author talks about him/her self, the author uses a pseudonym, and by the end of the series the author develops himself/herself as a character.  I also loved the titles of the books; they are very humorous yet they hint at some details about the book.  Overall I loved reading the Secret series and You have to Stop This.

Goliath

This book is great so far.  It is the third book in the Levathina series which is an alternative version of World War I.  Instead of the war being between the Central Powers and the Allied Powers it is between the Darwanist and the Clankers.  The Darwanist geneticaly mutate animals for different purposes, in this book, the person who invented genetic mutations was Charles Darwin.  The Clankers use advance machinery.  The story is told through the perspective of the two protangonists, Aleck the prince of Austria-Hungry and Deryn Sharp who pretends to be a man to join the British Airforce.  The assasination of Aleck's parents started the Great War.  The world believes the assasination was caused by Serbians, but in actuality they were assassinated by Germans to create an excuse to start a war.  Aleck has to flee his palace with several trusted servants until he reaches Switzerland.  There he finds the Levathian, a genticaly mutated flying hydrogen producing whale.  He and his servants help repair the Levathian and end up joining the ship's crew. On the ship, Aleck meets Deryn and they develop a close friendship.  I love the writing in Goliath and it is very descriptive and suspenseful.  The characters are very developed and interesting.  I love the world Scott Westerfeld, the author of Levathian series, created.  It is a fasinating world.  I hope the series has more books.  Overall, I enjoyed reading this greatly written book.

Ender's Game

I absolutely love this book.  It has great characters and they are developed wonderfully.  You end up feeling deeply connected to the main character, Ender.  Also, I can't put this book down.  It is extremely suspenseful and I love how many plot twists that this book has.  I picked up this book because my sister recommended it to me.  She read the Ender's Game in school.  In general I pick up books because of recommendations or if I think the basic idea of the book sounds interesting.  There are some boring bits but they are very short and are followed by very exciting parts.  In general I like to read fast paced fiction novels.  The Ender's Game has great imagery and I love the battle scenes.  It also does a great job at capturing how Ender feels and all of his emotions.  In addition, Ender's Game has a great setting in outer space and I love how the author portrays zero gravity and how combat would be in the future.  Also, in the Ender's Game humanity had won a war against aliens 100 years ago due to a brilliant general.  Now, humanity needs a new general to save humanity from aliens, who out gun and out number the humans and Ender Wiggin might be that general.  I can't wait to read more books in the series and by the author.  I love reading this book.  I think anybody who loves a good, suspenseful, science fiction book would love Ender's Game.