Pages: 398
Rating: 10/10
Primary Conflict: Frodo Baggins inherits the One Ring of Power from his uncle, Bilbo. But when Gandalf, a wizard thells Frodo how dangerous the ring would be in the hands of the Dark Lord, Sauron, he embarks on a quest to destroy it.
Best Part: My favorite part was when the Fellowship had to travel through Moria, an abandoned Dwarven mine, because the other path trough the mountains had been blocked. After being beset by savage orcs, a cave troll and the demonic Balrog, they managed to escape Moria.
Thursday, 24 January 2008
Saturday, 12 January 2008
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
Pages: 308
Rating: 6.5/10
Main Conflict: When Gregor follows his little sister through a grate in their laundry room, he finds himself in the Underland, a mysterious world beneath the earth's surface. A place infested with much larger versions of common vermin such as rats and roaches, and most interesting of all, a race of pale skinned, purple eyed humans. His main interest is to make it back home, but then he realises that he is the overland warrior named in the Prophecy of Gray, the one who will lead the quest that will either save the Underlanders from the rats, or fail and plunge the Underland into darkness. It is also foretold he may save his father from the rats who had apparently captured him years earlier. Will he manage to save his father and the Underland, or will it fall into chaos and death.
Best Part: One of the members of the quest is a traitor, 3 are dead and the remainder are surrounded by rats. Gregor has rescued his father but it looks as if they will all die anyways. The prophecy foretells that one more member of the quest will die, and that the fate of the others lies in his hands. Gregor believes this final person to be him and runs towards the cliff, vaults over the king of the rats and jumps. The other rats and the traitor, Henry, follow like lemmings. But then Henry's riding bat, Ares, defies the laws of the Bats and the Humans and saves Gregor instead of Henry. Henry and Ares are bound together and supposed to save eachother when in need, but Ares saves Gregor. As they flew away, all Ares would say was: "I never knew, Gregor. I never knew."
Rating: 6.5/10
Main Conflict: When Gregor follows his little sister through a grate in their laundry room, he finds himself in the Underland, a mysterious world beneath the earth's surface. A place infested with much larger versions of common vermin such as rats and roaches, and most interesting of all, a race of pale skinned, purple eyed humans. His main interest is to make it back home, but then he realises that he is the overland warrior named in the Prophecy of Gray, the one who will lead the quest that will either save the Underlanders from the rats, or fail and plunge the Underland into darkness. It is also foretold he may save his father from the rats who had apparently captured him years earlier. Will he manage to save his father and the Underland, or will it fall into chaos and death.
Best Part: One of the members of the quest is a traitor, 3 are dead and the remainder are surrounded by rats. Gregor has rescued his father but it looks as if they will all die anyways. The prophecy foretells that one more member of the quest will die, and that the fate of the others lies in his hands. Gregor believes this final person to be him and runs towards the cliff, vaults over the king of the rats and jumps. The other rats and the traitor, Henry, follow like lemmings. But then Henry's riding bat, Ares, defies the laws of the Bats and the Humans and saves Gregor instead of Henry. Henry and Ares are bound together and supposed to save eachother when in need, but Ares saves Gregor. As they flew away, all Ares would say was: "I never knew, Gregor. I never knew."
Page by Tamora Pierce
Pages: 268
Rating: 8/10
Main Conflict: Suprisingly, Lord Wyldon, the training master of pages, has allowed Keladry of Mindelan to return to the palace to be trained as a page after her probationary year. But in addition to the prejudices that come from being the only female training to become a page, she begins to go through puberty, developing something like a crush on her best friend, Neal. Can she make it through training and the final exams and become a squire, while dealing with all these other problems?
Best Part: Keladry and some other pages are sent to hunt game for their fellow pages. But they find them selves attacked by a group of bandits on horseback. The odds are not good. How can 3 pages with bows, 3 with staffs, and 2 mages fight of 20 cavalrymen? Suprisingly, when the leader of the party is struck dumb in shock, everyone looks to Keladry for leadership. She has the mages blind the horseman while she leads them up a thin passageway and has the archers fire on the bandits while she calls the alarm. The reinforcements come, but by that time the bandits have been reduced to half their number by Keladry's quick thinking.
Rating: 8/10
Main Conflict: Suprisingly, Lord Wyldon, the training master of pages, has allowed Keladry of Mindelan to return to the palace to be trained as a page after her probationary year. But in addition to the prejudices that come from being the only female training to become a page, she begins to go through puberty, developing something like a crush on her best friend, Neal. Can she make it through training and the final exams and become a squire, while dealing with all these other problems?
Best Part: Keladry and some other pages are sent to hunt game for their fellow pages. But they find them selves attacked by a group of bandits on horseback. The odds are not good. How can 3 pages with bows, 3 with staffs, and 2 mages fight of 20 cavalrymen? Suprisingly, when the leader of the party is struck dumb in shock, everyone looks to Keladry for leadership. She has the mages blind the horseman while she leads them up a thin passageway and has the archers fire on the bandits while she calls the alarm. The reinforcements come, but by that time the bandits have been reduced to half their number by Keladry's quick thinking.
The Recruit by Robert Muchamore
Pages: 329
Rating: 8/10
Main Conflict: When James Chokes' mother dies, he is taken to an orphanage and his stepsister, Lauren, is taken of to live with her greedy, vicious father, Ron Onions. He is so distraught with the death of his mother and the loss of his sister, he begins to hang out with a group of boys who spend their time smoking, drinking and vandalising cars. When he is caught by the police, he wakes up the next day in a very nice looking building that appears to be an orphanange. But when he speaks with the head of the facility, Dr. Mcafferty, he discovers that this is the headquarters of Cherub, a spy organization that uses orphaned children to go on missions around the globe. After taking some tests, Dr. Mcafferty decides that James is fit to join the organization. He decides to join, but he now faces the rigors of the 100 day training session and his first mission.
Best Part: James and his partner, Kerry Chang, are at the very end of their training. All that stands in their way, is the 4 day trek through the rainforests of Malaysia. They must deal with a Boa Constrictor in their boat, legions of parasitic mosquitoes, the scorching of the sun, and must try to navigate the rapids in a boat planted with a bomb. And at the end, they must cope with the pain of putting their hands in a bucket with a jellyfish for an hour. A very difficult task, but in the end, they make it through.
Rating: 8/10
Main Conflict: When James Chokes' mother dies, he is taken to an orphanage and his stepsister, Lauren, is taken of to live with her greedy, vicious father, Ron Onions. He is so distraught with the death of his mother and the loss of his sister, he begins to hang out with a group of boys who spend their time smoking, drinking and vandalising cars. When he is caught by the police, he wakes up the next day in a very nice looking building that appears to be an orphanange. But when he speaks with the head of the facility, Dr. Mcafferty, he discovers that this is the headquarters of Cherub, a spy organization that uses orphaned children to go on missions around the globe. After taking some tests, Dr. Mcafferty decides that James is fit to join the organization. He decides to join, but he now faces the rigors of the 100 day training session and his first mission.
Best Part: James and his partner, Kerry Chang, are at the very end of their training. All that stands in their way, is the 4 day trek through the rainforests of Malaysia. They must deal with a Boa Constrictor in their boat, legions of parasitic mosquitoes, the scorching of the sun, and must try to navigate the rapids in a boat planted with a bomb. And at the end, they must cope with the pain of putting their hands in a bucket with a jellyfish for an hour. A very difficult task, but in the end, they make it through.
Friday, 11 January 2008
Drowned Wednesday by Garth Nix
Pages: 389
Rating:8/10
Main Conflict: It is now Wednesday, and Arthur has received an invitation to a luncheon with Drowned Wednesday, Ruler of the Border Sea. He has broke his leg in the process of defeating Grim Tuesday, and a ship shows up to carry him to the luncheon, despite the fact his town is miles from any body of water. Unfortunately, his friend, Leaf, is visiting when the ship comes. Now, not only does he need to find the third part of the Will from a small island in the stomach of a 126-mile long whale, he needs to rescue his friend.
Best Part: Arthur and Leaf find themselves inside the giant whale, and in combat with the pirate, Feverfew. But Feverfew has been twisted with sorcery and the mysterious and destructive substance called Nothing, that he can no longer be called a human. How to cope with an enemy armored with defensive enchantments and with the ability to reattach his head? Eventually though, they prevail. Arthur beheads him for the second time and then Leaf kicks his head into a lake of nothing laced scalding mud.
Rating:8/10
Main Conflict: It is now Wednesday, and Arthur has received an invitation to a luncheon with Drowned Wednesday, Ruler of the Border Sea. He has broke his leg in the process of defeating Grim Tuesday, and a ship shows up to carry him to the luncheon, despite the fact his town is miles from any body of water. Unfortunately, his friend, Leaf, is visiting when the ship comes. Now, not only does he need to find the third part of the Will from a small island in the stomach of a 126-mile long whale, he needs to rescue his friend.
Best Part: Arthur and Leaf find themselves inside the giant whale, and in combat with the pirate, Feverfew. But Feverfew has been twisted with sorcery and the mysterious and destructive substance called Nothing, that he can no longer be called a human. How to cope with an enemy armored with defensive enchantments and with the ability to reattach his head? Eventually though, they prevail. Arthur beheads him for the second time and then Leaf kicks his head into a lake of nothing laced scalding mud.
Grim Tuesday by Garth Nix
Pages: 321
Rating: 7/10
Main Conflict: Arthur Penhaligon doesn't think he'll need to return to the strange house he nearly died in, in which resided the 7 days of the week. One of which, Mister Monday he defeated and stole one of the Keys to the Kingdom, a weapon which enables possesion of one of the days of the week. But the new day brings new enemies. Grim Tuesday, the supplier in material goods to the other days of the week, is requesting payment for all the items he crafted for the old Mister Monday, from Arthur, the new Monday and everybody in his world. He must defeat Grim Tuesday and win his Key to save Earth from Grim Tuesday's servants.
Best Part: To find the second part of the Will, which tells that the Keys are to go to the rightful heir, Arthur, he and his friend Suzy Blue, must ride a sunship to the center of the sun. After fighting through a legion of vicious sunsprites, they find the second part of the Will, the power of which they use to retrieve the second Key to the Kingdom from Grim Tuesday.
Rating: 7/10
Main Conflict: Arthur Penhaligon doesn't think he'll need to return to the strange house he nearly died in, in which resided the 7 days of the week. One of which, Mister Monday he defeated and stole one of the Keys to the Kingdom, a weapon which enables possesion of one of the days of the week. But the new day brings new enemies. Grim Tuesday, the supplier in material goods to the other days of the week, is requesting payment for all the items he crafted for the old Mister Monday, from Arthur, the new Monday and everybody in his world. He must defeat Grim Tuesday and win his Key to save Earth from Grim Tuesday's servants.
Best Part: To find the second part of the Will, which tells that the Keys are to go to the rightful heir, Arthur, he and his friend Suzy Blue, must ride a sunship to the center of the sun. After fighting through a legion of vicious sunsprites, they find the second part of the Will, the power of which they use to retrieve the second Key to the Kingdom from Grim Tuesday.
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