The Silmarillion - 4 stars

     The Silmarillion by J.R.R.Tolkien is a book which tells the history of Middle-Earth, the world of his well-known classic The Lord of the Rings. The story begins with the creation of Middle-Earth by the Valar, and ends only shortly after the Age of Men begins, covering a vast amount of time and taking readers on a intriguing journey through the ages.

     This book is particularly difficult for me to review because my opinion of it is subjected to a lot of bias. I love Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, so obviously that's going to taint my review somewhat. I also don't mind Tolkien' writing style, which I think many people find very difficult to read because it's rather distant and grand in word choice. Some people find it very dry and wearisome, and The Silmarillion is more of the same.

     In The Silmarillion, Tolkien tells the history of Middle-Earth. He explains how it came to be, tells the story of the Valar, and talks about the coming of the Elves and Men and their activities. The book covers a period of something like three or four thousand years in about 300 pages. For this reason, the story doesn't have one main character. In my opinion, it didn't have any main characters, and read something like a mix between the most epic of fantasies and a history book. I did find the first 50 pages of the book to be difficult, but I persevered, thinking I'd just push on so that I could say I'd read the book. But after that particularly difficult beginning, it turned out to be an extremely interesting book.

     I have a taste for epic stories that discuss huge topics - if they're well written, they're generally worth reading. The Silmarillion was certainly that. It was definitely epic, and it also rounded out the stories of many of the characters from Lord of the Rings. Most of those character were Elves, but it also told the story of the Númenóreans, something I had never considered before but found very interesting. And anyone who thought Sauron was the ultimate villain hasn't read about Morgoth, the villain he learned everything from.

     (Oops. Um...yes, there might be a few teeny spoilers in this review.)

     My opinion of The Silmarillion is very high. I didn't expect it to be much good, but was completely surprised by the depth of the story Tolkien told. For me, The Silmarillion was that book that everyone looks for after they've just finished their favorite series and want to read more. The Silmarillion was that for me with Lord of the Rings.

     If you're at all interested in giving The Silmarillion a go after reading this review, though, my advice is to first read Lord of the Rings. All of it. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure half of The Silmarillion won't mean as much. And although Lord of the Rings might be hard to read for some people, it's one of the best I've read and is still a good story. And after you've read Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion will make much more sense and hold much more meaning.

Eye of the Oracle (Oracles of Fire book 1) ~ 2 stars

     Eye of the Oracle, by Bryan Davis, is the first book of the Oracles of Fire series, a prequel to the Dragons in Our Midst series. It begins with the flood of Genesis, but continues into our time, a story involving dragons, the spirits of sorcerers, and people who serve Elohim, the Creator of the universe.

     When the flood wiped out life on earth except those who were on the ark, not all servants of Satan, a fallen angel opposed to Elohim, were destroyed. Lilith and Naamah, two sisters, hid aboard the ark, unknown to Noah and his sons, and escaped the destruction caused by the flood. When the ark reached dry land, Lilith used her dark magic to create a secret dimension for them beneath the ground where they could wait in safety and create an army to help them control the world. But two of the underborns, the beings Lilith and Naamah created, were part of Elohim's plan for the future.

     Mara and Acacia, underborn slave girls, are the Oracles of Fire, prophets of Elohim. Mara, one of the main characters, finds the Eye of the Oracle, a relic from before the flood which speaks to Mara with the voice of Elohim. The Eye of the Oracles tells Mara prophecies that warn her of trouble ahead for the world above and for the dragons.

     Makaidos and Thigocia, the pair of dragons Elohim put on the ark, were told to reproduce so that they and their offspring could protect humankind. But Satan corrupted many of the young dragons and led them astray. When Satan ordered them to attack the humans Elohim meant for them to protect, a hatred that would last for thousands of years was born between the two races. Only Makaidos, Thigocia, and a few of their children remained true to Elohim, despite the trials they knew they would face in the coming centuries.

     The story revolves around Mara's journey to discover Elohim's purpose for her as an Oracle of Fire, and the dragons' struggle for survival as they oppose Lilith's plots. An important point in this struggle occurs during the time of King Arthur, when Merlin, another prophet of Elohim, saves the dragons still loyal to Elohim from annihilation by turning them into humans. In their new forms, the dragons continue to try and stay one step ahead of Lilith as she tries to destroy them once and for all. The fight continues into our time, where the book reaches a climax as Mara fulfills one of her own prophecies to try and stop Lilith once and for all.

     Eye of the Oracle was not an enjoyable book for me, even though I may have made it sound interesting and engaging above. I usually enjoy allegories, but this one turned out to be a disappointment. The biblical foundation of the story was shaky and unconvincing to me. Elohim was a distant and rather uninvolved figure, unlike the biblical God. Also, the story only followed the basic outlines of the flood and post-flood era of the book of Genesis before it skipped to the Arthurian legends, and then skipped even farther on into our time. The huge gaps between events would normally not have disrupted the story, but I also felt the author didn't handle the personal journeys of each of the characters very well. That and the drastic change in time left me feeling disoriented.

     All in all, I found Eye of the Oracle to be a decent book for a few days of reading, but it could have been better. Because the scope of the story was so immense, I think the author wasn't able to spend enough time with each character and event to make them come to life for me. Other readers have enjoyed the book, but in my opinion, it's not worth it to buy a copy.

Link to author website: http://www.daviscrossing.com/

Beyonders Book One - 4 stars

Despite the series' author, I really did not expect to enjoy Beyonders. I was in the aftermath of reading Fablehaven book Five: Keys to the Demon Prison (review in construction), and although Brandon Mull wrote both Fablehaven and Beyonders, I felt connected to Fablehaven so acutely that I didn't think that I would connect with Beyonders.
Boy, was I wrong. And gladly so.

Beyonders book One is, in one word, original. There are not as many magical creatures, properties, talismans, or artifacts as in Fablehaven, but there are definitely unworldly characters and creatures.
I'll wager that most people have never thought of the idea of manglers, lurkers, displacers, etc. All are very real in this book.

Jason Walker is a normal teenage boy. He lives in Colorado, modern-day North America. He plays baseball, goes to school, is a volunteer worker for the local zoo, and has friends. But in this book something very abnormal happens to Jason.
After being hit on the head by a baseball during practice, Jason feels dizzy and disoriented. He arrives at work just in time to clean the hippo enclosure, and sets to work on that. But when he hears unusual music coming through the enclosure -- no, wait...it's coming from the hippo itself! -- and he decides to check it out, he finds himself in a different world.

As I've found out, the story gradually gets more engaging as you read through the book.

As far as the romance level is concerned, I would not rate this book more than a 1 out of 10. Basically, it holds no mention of anything deeper than a friendship bond. There are maybe two bits where the text insinuates something more than friendship, but they're not prolonged.

The gore rating is a bit deeper, but it does not bother me throughout the whole book. There are bloody situations, animal deaths, and torture, but nothing that would provoke any disgust on my part. I am not saying it lets every character down easy, neither am I saying that it strangulates any and every hope of health. If that makes sense at all.
Summing up, I would rate it a 3 out of 10.

Hopefully our readers will take a chance on our suggestions and reviews, and come back happy and satisfied. I'm sure that most of the time, you will.
Happy Reading!

Link to author/Beyonders website: http://brandonmull.com/site/beyonders-books