Specials

The book “Specials” is set in the far future, after our race has been destroyed, these people live on and try to create a “better” world. In the book, Tally has become a special, along with her best-friend Shay. A special is like a “super-human.” Now instead of trying to stay bubbly, they try to stay icy. Their assignment is to stop the Smokies from giving out pills that take the “pretty” lesions out of a bubble-head’s brain, and stop the Pretties from escaping to the New Smoke. When they crash a ugly party, they learn that the situation is far worse than they thought. Smokies had already given out thousands of pills, and that meant that thousands of pretties already had minds of their own. Then Tally and Shay are amushed by Smokies, and Fausto (one of Tally and Shay’s team-members) is taken hostage.
Tally and Shay go to visit their friend Zane, who is stuck in pretty town. In order to rescue him, they have to break in to the building that holds all of the City’s army machinery and tools. While breaking in, they end up destorying most of the building weapons (by releasing “hunger” in nano form, it eats everything and also makes more of it self at every passing moment), and escape with their lives by a thread. Zane escapes, with some of his new friends, and together they all travel to the New Smoke, for Tally and Shay, because they want to destroy it, and for Zane, because he wants to live there in freedom. Tally has to decide if she should listen to the voice inside her head, or if she should do what she’s programmed to do. After that many things happen, including betrayal, doublecrossing, destruction, death, and an unexpected ending.
I really like this book! It is the 3rd in it’s series, the first two are called, “Uglies” and “Pretties.” There is also a fourth book after it, and it’s called “Extras.” Specials is an excellent book because it hooks you in right away, and keeps you feeling like you know what is going to happen, even though you really don’t!
-Natalie

Lioness Rampant

Lioness Rampant

The book that I read was Lioness Rampant, whose main character was a woman by the name of Alanna. This is the fourth and final book in Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness quartet. The world is Tortall and the neighboring kingdoms of Tusaine, Maren, Galla, Tyra, Carthak, and Scanra, during the rein of Tortalls King Roald and Queen Liane, with their son, Prince Jonathan.
Alanna of Trebond didn’t want to be a lady, she wanted to be a knight and worked at the fighting arts from the youngest age, and her twin brother, Thom, didn’t want to be a knight, he wanted to be a sorcerer and perfect his magic, but Alanna was scared of the violet power she held within her. So, naturally, they switched places. Alanna worked hard, disguised as a boy, at the palace. She became friends with Prince Jonathan of Conté, Raoul of Goldenlake, Gareth (Gary) of Naxen, and Alexander (Alex) of Tirragen, all a year older than she; she also made enemies of Ralon of Malven and in her first evening of being a knight, she vanquished the Prince’s our cousin in a duel, for she had revealed his treachery to the crown, wanting it for himself. Alanna had to not only go through the hardships of being naturally smaller than everyone else, but she had to go through the changes of a girl becoming a woman. She saved the Prince from a dreadful sickness, fought ancient demons alongside the Prince, was a squire to Prince Jonathan, fought in a war with Tusaine, getting kidnapped in that war as well, vanquished an evil sorcerer, became a member of the Bazhir, desert nomads, tribe Bloody Hawk and made peace between the Bazhir and the crown, and finally she was adopted by her long time old friend, Myles of Olau, becoming Alanna the Lioness of Trebond and Olau, Bloody Hawk Shaman, and Lady Knight of Tortall.
Now that I’ve brought you up-to-date on the first 3 books we can go to the main focus. Alanna comes back in Lioness Rampant to be on quest for the Dominion Jewel, a powerful stone with immense magic abilities; it’s also said to be a legend. She travels with her Servant-at-Arms and Blacksmith, Coram Smythessen, and her trusty, and abnormally intelligent, talking cat Faithful, heading to the frozen scenery at the Roof of the World, in search and quest for the Dominion Jewel. Along the way she gains a few companions, first it’s the flirtatious Shang Dragon, Liam Ironarm (the shang is a people that train from chidhood in hand-to-hand combat and small arms), then she meets the banished and fleeing Princess of Saraine, Thayet jian Wilima, and her bodyguard, Buriam (Buri) Tourakkam. With her companions Alanna successfully makes to the Roof and after battling an immortal demi-god and his horrible blizzard, she is deemed worthy and gathers her prize, the Dominion Jewel. So, once again, Alanna travels, she heads back to Tortall, and after meeting up with Raoul, she gets back home. But, upon coming home she finds out that her twin, Thom, has risen Duke Roger of Conté, the evil sorcerer from his grave, however he came back with no sorcery. Can this be trusted? Then there is also the matter of the new villain Claw out loose. Will Totall survive, ill Jonathan stay alive long enough to make it to his coronation as King, or will it all be over then? See, as Alanna foils evil plots once more and save the realm of Tortall.
I loved this book. I also like the first 3 too, Alanna is brave courageous, and has an interesting and fiery temper. Her determination got her through the Knight training and through saving the kingdom. Her life made her cry and rejoice, but she still stays a knight. With her morals and chivalry she saves lives and even finds love. If there was any books that I would suggest this book, and series, would be on the list. Tamora Pierce provides you with complicated plots and a brave heroine to entertain and enchant the mind.

Book Review Done by: Cammie

The Wizard Heir

The Wizard Heir

Joseph McCauley never really had a family, all he had was a foster mother, and a guardian that he had never really met. Joseph is also a wizard, untrained at that. Many bad things happen around Seph in the beginning of the book. Seph is at a party, where he meets another wizard like himself, but she gives him a drink that makes his power go wild. He burns that building down, along with it one of his close friends.
The authorities ask Seph to leave the city, so Seph so called guardian enrolls him in a private school in Maine. Seph, without trying to, revels that he is a wizard to the headmaster. The headmaster, Gregory Leicester approaches Seph, and tells him that he can help train him, but only if he absolutely committed. Leicester tries to force Seph to perform a ritual that will link them together joining their magic, and basically making Seph Leicester slave. Seph flat out refuses, and in doing so he has made many enemies at his new school.
The headmaster continually tortures Seph with horrible nightmares, day and night. When Seph is just about to crack, he meets another student very much like himself. Jason Haley. Jason like Seph refused to join with Leicester, and he and Seph become good friends. Jason teaches Seph how to control, and use his magic, but he also shows him how to in essence leave his body so that he can actually get some sleep. Leicester finds out that Jason is helping Seph, so he leaves. Leicester later tells Seph that he killed Jason. Seph finds a way to send a desperate e-mail out to people.
Linda Downey comes to get him, and charms the headmaster into letting them leave. Linda is an enchanter. She takes Seph to a place called Trinity, Ohio, which has been made a sanctuary where no black magic can be performed. Seph settles into a good life there, after all that he has been through.
Despite the sanctuary Seph is still being attacked by Leicester and his Alumni, his slaves in essence, whenever he leaves the sanctuary. On a sailboat outing with his friends, a storm over takes them and Seph, convinced its after him jumps overboard into a small raft. He floats to an island where he is again capture by Leicester.
What will happen to Seph? Will he make it out alive, or will he die in Leicester’s prison? Will he ever find out who his parents are, is it really true that they are dead? You will just have to read it to find out.

I really loved the book The Wizard Heir. It was a fantastic book, and I whipped right on through it, it’s the type of book that you can’t put down. Once you start it you have to finish it. The book, to me was really interesting because it is actually the second in a series, the first of which is The Warrior Heir. I recommend both books, but also you need to start with the first one to understand this one. I’m really into the wizardry thing, and warrior thing so that is why this book was really good for me. The book itself is kind of a action, mystery type plot, so if you are into that than you would probably like this book as well. This book, I think will appeal to many different varieties of readers as it includes many different themes, and genres that a lot of people are interested in.
There are many different characters in the book, and they all in one way or another have something in common, this could be the fact that almost all of the main characters in the book have magical powers, or it could just be that many of them have had similar experiences, tragedy, and loss, ect. You learn a lot about the characters and you feel as if you are really there experiencing what the characters are experiencing. It makes me feel like I can just jump right into the book and become one of the characters, because the author, Cinda Williams Chima, gives you such an insight into the characters life, and she makes the characters seem so much more real. So if you think that this book sounds good, I highly recommend that you read it, but I would advise you to start with the first book in to series that I mentioned earlier, because it gives you a lot of background information that you will need to know to have this book make any sense to you. I highly recommend that you read this book.
Review by: Abby

The Castaways of The Flying Dutchman

One day a boy and his dog were swimming in the Ocean and A ship came by and took them aboard. Neb was taught how to cook but through harsh circumstances. Captain Vanderdecken hung two crewmen for trying to kill him in his sleep that same day. The ship was headed for Cape Horn. They tried to get past it but never could. Vanderdecken yelled at the gods and an angel came down and made it so that the ship’s crew and Vanderdecken were stuck to the ship for eternity. The angel spared the boy and his dog and sent them to the shore where they met a shepherd. The shepherd gave them food and kept them healthy. That night there was a storm and the shepherd tried to save one of his sheep and fell off the cliff. The angel told them when they heard a bell they had to move on. Then they traveled to the train station. Ned and Den changed their names to Ben and Ned and traveled on a train to Caverly. They arrived and walked around the town. They see a group of people hiding behind bushes. They were the Grange Gang. They were throwing rotten vegetables at Winnie’s house. Ned scared them away by baring his teeth and growling at them. Winnie came out and talked with them. She let them stay in her house for a few days as long as Ned kept the Grange Gang. The next day Ben reported the Grange Gang for trespassing at Winnie’s house. The police officer found the gang throwing rotten food at her house and locked them up. A week later the gang snuck out of the jail. The gang imediately went to Winnie’s house. Read the book to find out the ending.
I liked the book because it was full of action and excitement and always kept me guessing. It is a great book because of how easily you get drawn into reading it. I liked the book because it made me enjoy reading. I liked the book because it kept my interest. I liked the book because it showed me reading can be fun.
If you like Pirates of the Caribbean you will like this book. If you like stories of the Flying Dutchman you will love this book. This book is about a young boy who escaped from the Flying Dutchman and is forced to help people in need forever. This book is for all people who like Pirates of the Caribbean.

Nick F.

Watership Down

By: Richard Adams,

This book is a really good book even though it is pretty long. I was hooked on it by the second chapter and started reading it everynight. That didnt happen usually for me to like a book that much, it has to be a good one. This book is about rabbits, yes rabbits. It is about how they think and the book makes it seem like rabbits are real people. They have their home, they talk to eachother, they fight, they need does (girl rabbits), and their survival to get food water, and just to stay alive!

First off i have to say that there is “rabbit language” that I will use so I will explain the most common ones.

Warren: House underground
Thereah: Cheif Rabbit, like the President
Stilflay: to above ground to eat

The book starts out with two rabbits named Hazel and Fiver. Fiver has a second intution, he knows when bad things are going to happen. Hazel and fiver are best freinds. Fiver knows that something bad is going to happen to their warren, so that all the rabbits will die. Fiver has never been wrong when he sees one of his “visions.” So Hazel natuarally believes him and they have to tell the Cheif rabbit. when Hazel goes to him, the cheif does not believe him. But one of the warren police named Bigwig did! So since the Thereah wouldnt beleive them they decided they would have to sneek out of the warren, because unless you have permission to leave you are not aloud, and you could be killed if you do. Hazel and Fiver try to find a few rabbits that would like to go off and make a new warren. They find a good group of rabbits but they relize that they are all males, but when they think about going back one of the other police rabbits finds them and tries to destroy Bigwig. Seeing that Bigwig was also in the police he was very strong. They got Holly (the other police rabbit) down and made a run for it. They got out saftley but they were getting tired and hungry because rabbits don’t like being above ground, at least when they are not around a hole to get back into the warren.

They keep going even though they are all hungry and afraid. Finally they come to a warren that is extremley big and like the warren the rabbits are extremley big to! But everyone is so happy because there is plenty of room for them to stay there so they do. Fiver is feeling badly about this though, he feels that something unusual is happening and he knows something bad is going to happen. He tells Hazel but, for once in his life, Hazel didnt believe him. He said that everything was fine and that he should just relax. Fiver didnt like the warren so much that he slept outside, which is very dangerous because rabbits are the prey of many animals, so Fiver was very unsafe but he felt more comfortable sleeping outside than sleeping next to Hazel!

The first night there Hazel stayed with a rabbit and his wife in there hole. His name was strawberry and all of a sudden Hazel begins to see that every rabbit in the warren is seems as if they are keeping a seceret from all of them. So they decide to leave after a couple of days but, this warren does not want them to either. But they escape, and soon relize that Strawberry, one of the rabbits had followed them and told them all about the seceret of the warren and why it was so big when there wasnt that many rabbits.

So the pack moves on and decides to make a new warren. They find a nice spot where they can see everything. Hazel is very worried though, theystill don’t have any females in the warren! which, as we all know you have to have females to survive. As they are all worrying about this two rabbits from the old warren come to them looking terrible and beaten up. It is Holly and Bluebell. They told what happened to their warren and how it was destroyed and they were the only survivors! So group of them decides to go out looking for a warren with females that they could take back and they thought surley they would sucseed. So Holly leads the group and come back with no sucsess. But they did say there is a terrible warren named Efera. They nearley escaped without getting killed. Holly was so beat up. He said they had to fight of a bunch of the strongest rabbits he had ever met!

Hazel decides, since they voted him cheif rabbit, that another group, stronger and bigger, would go back to Efera and bring back some mothers!

I could go on and on about this book and I could tell you the ending but you will have to read it! So no that is not the ending. I will tell you thisbook is one of the tops of my favorite books. It is suck a good book and I erge you to read it!

I really liked this book because it is so different and you never really think that rabbits could be like that and that they could do all that they did in this book!

My favorite character was Bigwig. He was the strongest out of all the rabbits and he seemed really nice and in order. Read the book and see what i am talking about!

~Maggie H.

The Ultimate Escape

This is a story about a kid named Matt (kid from the first book “Virtual Vandals”) who works for the Net Force. One day he gets a call from Captain Winters, who is a captain of the Net Force, and tells Matt that Julio Cortez is moving away. Captain Winter said, that he was our best pilot and we will miss him. Later that week, Julio Cortez is in his house in a simulation and figures out that there is a battle going on. Julio rushes to help out, but he appears there and figures out that it is a fake battle. Julio calls for help, but it was to late. Julio and his family are taken Hostage and it is up to the Net Force to find Julio and his Family. Matt and Megan (girl from “Deadliest Game”) Goes into the Virtual world and finds out that Julio Cortez is closer then they expect. They soon found out that there was a warehouse with people guarding it. They knew that they were in there. Matt went sneaking in and saved the Cortez’s family, but found out that his sister was not with him. They started to escaped, but the people found them and they rushed and found bunches of aircrafts. Time was running out and they flew out before they could see them. At Julio’s house the family relaxes and Julio’s mom and dad are saved. Julio joins the Net Force again and tries to find his sister, but Julio still wonders if he will ever see her sister again.

This book is a really good book because, it has a lot of detail in mystery. The first book Virtual Vandals inspired me to read more of the series. So I did. This book is my second favorite because the charaters from the old books join up again to find Julio. I was suprised what happend and the end of the story and I think you will to when you read the whole book.

The characters in the story also had a big role in the story. Matt from the first book was very shy and not so brave. In “The Ultimate Escape” he is very brave in all parts. Megan from the third book has a big role too because she and Matt work together to find more clues as toward what happened. Julio in the story is one of the best pilots and is very brave, but is very mysterious. All of the characters in the story have a big part

Nick C.

Being

The book “being” is about a teen named Robert Smith. He is an orphan and never is living with foster parents. He arrives at the hospital alone for a routine endoscopy (a test where they put a tube down his throughout and see how his stomach is doing). They put him to sleep with anesthesia, but Robert finds himself awake but unable to move. He listens as he hears the doctors claim that his insides aren’t human. He wakes up and uncontrollably starts ordering them around. He gets out of the hospital, but finds that he is charged for murder in the local News paper the next day. He is confused by what he is and scared to get caught by these mean men. Conveniently the one person Robert runs to is Eddi, the ex-girl of an acquaintance’s brother. She not only takes him in but is an expert in creating fake IDs. She makes him a whole new person and takes him to Tejeda. There they find a whole new life, but will the police ever find him?

I think the mood of this story is drama and suspense. It is very intense when he is getting operated on, and when he trying to find out what he is. You wonder what he is and you never know what he is going to do because sometimes his body takes over and he does stuff you wouldn’t expect him to do. It really keeps you on your seat.

I liked this book. The characters in the book were well described and really fit the book and what was happening. I thought the plot was different and captivated you it wasn’t a regular sci-fi book. It wasn’t my favorite but if you like sci-fi and interesting things this is a book for you.

~Bridget N.