The Serpent's Shadow

I recently finished a book, The Serpent's Shadow.  It is the third and final book in the Kane Chronicles.  The two main protagonist are Sadie and Carter Kane.  The book is written in first person and alternates between Sadie and Carter as narrators.  In the first book they discover they are descended from the Egyptian Pharos and have the ability to use magic.  They discover that many gods, goddesses, and other mythical beings actually exist.  The series is very similar to Percy Jackson and the Olympians; it uses Egyptian mythology instead of Greek mythology.  Both series are written by the same author, Rick Riordan.  I'm not the bigest fan of the book.  The characters aren't developed and are very one dimensional.  They lack complexity.  In the book protagonists are always good and the antagonists are always evil, while the line between good and evil should be thinner.  The book lacked larger themes and was, like the characters, one dimensional and didn't represent any more universal issues.  The writing was not vivid and was unable to clearly describe scenery or characters.  I wish the writing would be more concise.  I am being a little overly critical; Rick Riordan cannot compare to Ernest Hemingway.  The Serpent's Shadow is a great quick read for anybody who loves action, adventure books and has not out grown Rick Riordan.

The Old Man and the Sea

I just started reading The Old Man and the Sea.  It is written by one of my favorite authors, Ernest Hemingway.  I just finished one of his books, For Whom the Bell Tolls.  I plan to read another book by Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms, after I finish The Old Man and the Sea.  It is a very short book; it is less than a hundred pages long.  The protagonist of the book is an elderly fisherman named Santiago who lives in Cuba.  At the beginning of the book, Santiago is considered bad luck because he hasn't caught any fish for eighty-four days.  Santiago loses his young apprentice when the apprentice's parents make him sail with a more successful fisherman.  Despite being forced to leave the elderly fisherman, the apprentice remains loyal to Santiago and gives him food and talks with the fisherman.  I am just thirty pages into the book and it is already one of the best books I have ever read.  The writing is extremely detailed and is very genuine and true.  In thirty pages, the author has already created extremely deep and rich characters without spending time to give back stories about the main characters.  The characters are relatable and can relate to every human being.  The writing is descriptive, yet still very condensed; no word is unnecessary.  Few authors can compare to Ernest Hemingway.  I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read a great work of literature and has time to read eighty pages.  The Old Man and the Sea is one of the best books I've ever read.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

I am currently in the middle of a great book, For Whom the Bell Tolls.  The book takes place during the Spanish Civil War.  The book's main protagonist is Robert Jordan.  Robert Jordan is an American dynamiter, who is assigned to blow up a bridge.  He is attached to an anti-fascist guerrilla unit.  In the guerrilla unit he meets and falls in love with a girl named María.  I am roughly one forth into the book and the author, Ernest Hemingway, has done a great job developing major characters.  He has given some characters great and thorough back stories.  Despite this, many secondary characters lack development, thus far.  All the characters in the book have exceedingly genuine voices and seem very natural and real. The author does a great job at writing vividly and does a great job at capturing emotion. The book's plot has been slow and not very exiting. I hope the book will become more exiting deeper into the book, but I don't think it will be necessary. Due to the slow plot, the author has had time to vividly describe every scene; the author would not be able to do that if he had a quick and suspenseful plot.  Overall, I love this book and can't wait to read even more of it.  I would recommend it to anybody who wants to read a descriptive and great book.

Paper Towns

I have just finished a book called Paper Towns.  Paper Towns takes place in Orlando.  The book's main protagonist is Quentin Jacobson who is in love with his childhood friend, and neighbor Margo Roth Spiegeleman.  After they found a dead body in a park they went separate ways.  A few weeks before their graduation, Margo climbs through her window into Quentin's room and they spend the night driving around Orlando and pranking several of their classmates.  The next day Margo disappears.  After this, Quentin and a few of his friends attempt to find Margo using various clues she left behind.  Overall, Paper Towns is a great book.  Both Quentin and Margo are very developed and have great back stories.  Quentin is very relatable and his voice seems very genuine and real.  Despite a great main character, the whole set of supporting character are under developed and are not very relatable.  The plot is very suspenseful and fast but it is a little too fast and certain senses and events could of had more detail.  Quentin is a good narrator, but I think the book would have benefited from multiple narrators.  The book has a great setting  that is great for the book's interesting plot.  The book is very humorous and there are several great and very vivid scenes in the book.  The book has both a great introduction that will pull you in and has a great  and satisfying ending that wraps up the core ideas in the book.  The book is not one of John Green's best works, but still is a great read.

Looking for Alaska

Recently, I have just finished a great book called Looking for Alaska.  The book's main protagonist is Miles  Halter.  Miles lives in Florida and is about to start his junior year of high school at a boarding school, Culver Creek Preparatory School, in Alabama. Miles goes to Culver Creek because he wants to get away from his boring life and have an adventurous one.  At Culver Creek, Miles meets his roommate Chip "The Colonel" Martin.  The Colonel gives Miles a nickname, Pudge, which is ironic because Miles is very skinny. Later he meets Alaska Young, who is the Colonel's friend and located down the hall from their room.  Pudge develops a crush on Alaska.  The story is told through Pudge's perspective.  The book's plot is generally suspenseful, though parts can be a little slow.  Even though, the book is suspenseful it is not rushed and the book has time to develop characters and their back story.  Throughout the plot of the book the book's author, John Green, creates very relatable characters who are very developed.  The book has a few scenes that are explicit.  The books characters' voices seem very genuine and real.  The book is a good length, though I wish it was longer.  Also, I wish the book had multiple narrators; it is in first person.  Despite the book's few flaws is a great read that will make you laugh and cry.  I highly recommend it to anyone seeking a great book.

The Son of Neptune

  In this blog entry, I am going to write about a book I read earlier this school year,  The Son of Neptune.  The Son of Neptune is the second book in the Lost Heroes series.  The book's main protagonist is Percy Jackson who was the main protaganist of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians.  In the beginning of the book, Percy goes to Camp Jupiter, a roman equivalent of Camp Halfblood in the previous books, after fighting the Gorgan sisters and having amnesia.  At Camp Jupiter, Percy meets Frank Zhang and Hazel Levesque.  Frank is a son of Mars, and Hazel is the daughter of Pluto.  After joining the camp, Percy joins the Fifth cohort which is unlucky due to the loss of a golden eagle statue.  At Camp Jupiter, they are then given a quest to free Thantos, the guardian of the doors of death.  Through out the book,  Rick Riordan, the book's author, does a great job at developing his characters and making them very connectable.  The new world that is introduced ties in well with his previous books and develops the protagonist in The Lost Hero even more.  The book's first person narration with multiple narrators makes the book very suspenseful and a great page turner.  I do wish the book used more advanced vocabulary.  Overall,  I loved this book and can not wait for the next book in the Lost Hero series, The Mark of Athena.

Gone

This week I am going to write about a book I read earlier but did not get a chance to write about called Gone.  In Gone the book follows Sam Template, the protagonist of the series, when every single person over 15 disappears from Pedro Beach.  Around a 25 mile radius of the town's nuclear power plant there is a wall, that appears to be made out of energy, that kids call the F.A.Y. Z., fallout alley youth zone.  Within the F.A.Y.Z. some children begin to develop odd powers and animals appear to mutate.  Also, when ever a child turns 15, he disappears.  At the start of the book, Sam and his friends, Astrid and Quinn, look for a way out of the F.A.Y.Z.  At the same time Cain, the main antagonist and a stutent at the nearby boarding school, Coates Academy, atempts to control Pedro Beach.  Gone has a very suspensful plot.  Throughout the book the author creates great charecters that develop throughout the other three books in the series.  One of the issues I have with this series is that throughout the rest of the series the author introduces new characters who he doesn't develop a back story for.  Another issue I have with this  book is that the writing is not very descriptive and parts of the book seem rushed.  Despite its flaws, Gone and its sequals  have a great and suspenseful plot and a  few great characters, which help it make a great read.