The City of Ember (guest review) ~ 4 stars

Guest post by A.B.


The City of Ember is the first in a four book series by Jeanne DuPrau, and a book that I really enjoyed.

The story starts off on Assignment Day in the city of Ember. By order of the mayor, all citizens shall be given jobs at age 12. Lina Mayfleet hopes to be a messenger, but instead of that she draws the job of Pipeworks laborer, which no one wants because it means long hours of underground work.

However, her classmate Doon Harrow draws messenger – and afterwards, asks Lina if she wants to trade! He wants her job because the generator is underground, and Doon wants to figure out how to fix it. The enormous lights of Ember have kept the darkness back for as long as anyone in the city can remember. There is no light at all unless the electricity is on.

But now, not only are supplies in the city running low, but there have been frequent blackouts. Everyone in the city is afraid that some day, the lights will go out and never come back on.

Lina eagerly trades jobs with Doon, and the two of them go their separate ways. Until one day, Lina finds a secret message, which was inside a box buried deep in her grandmother’s closet. When she finds the message, it’s full of holes, but Lina thinks it could be something important. She shows the message to Doon, and together the two of them try to figure it out...

I liked The City of Ember partly because of the setting of the story. Ember is very different from our world in many ways. Something that was unusual there is that Ember has no animals, just insects. This means that the people do not eat meat, but they eat a lot of vegetables and canned foods. Also, there are no trees in Ember, and the only plants are in the Greenhouses, outside of the city. I also found it interesting that citizens of the city received no more education after age 12.

Of course, the fact that all of Ember depends on the electricity provided by the generator, is also strange in a way. When the lights go out, people are helpless. They can't do anything but wait, terrified, in the dark.

Another thing I liked were the main characters, Lina and Doon. They were believable, which I liked, because they’re not perfect. Their plans didn’t always work out, and they had to come up with different ideas, which is something I appreciate in a story.

Overall, I’d say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading The City of Ember. It was a clean book, with no bad language, and it was pretty well-written, making for an exciting read. I would say that it was probably written for readers about ages ten and up, and since I'm a little older than that, I think it was a little below my reading level – but nonetheless engaging and fun. I’m looking forward to reading the second book in the series, The People of Sparks!

Hank the Cowdog (series review) ~ 4.5 stars

Time for a fun review of a very fun series that’s great for just about any person of any age. I haven’t met anyone so far who doesn’t like these books, and since I love them so much, it’s high time I wrote a review.

John R. Erickson is a author from Texas who has written 65 books (and counting) about a fictional dog called Hank the Cowdog. Since I have yet to read a Hank the Cowdog book that isn’t worthy of at least 4 stars, this review will be a general one that can apply to any one of the books.

Hank the Cowdog, the narrating character, is the Head of Ranch Security on a ranch in the Texas Panhandle. Basically, his job is to keep the entire ranch running and safe from coyotes, monsters, and whatever else might pose a threat. He also barks the sun up every morning, herds cattle, helps the cowboys bale hay, and keeps his screwball assistant Drover from causing too much trouble.

Hank is a real character—you can’t always trust everything he says. Half it is exaggerated or completely made up, and the other half is the result of a garbled conversation with Drover. According to Hank, he’s a blue-ribbon, papered, pedigreed cowdog—the truth is that he’s just a ranch mutt with an inflated opinion of himself. But Hank’s adventures are not exaggerated—while he may not fight Laundry Monsters in Sally May’s front yard, he does have some narrow shaves with cannibal coyote brothers Rip and Snort. And there’s the time when he ends up in the dog pound, and the time when he’s stranded in town, and, well, you get the idea. Plus Hank thinks he’s a big favorite with the lady dogs, which adds another level of hilarity to every encounter he has with them.

Drover, Hank’s assistant, is the source of a lot of the humor in the Hank the Cowdog books. He spends most of his time daydreaming, watching the clouds, and otherwise behaving in what Hank would call a “frivolous manner.” Drover has a hard time dealing with reality, and his preferred response is to run to the safety of the machine shed until things blow over. He spends most of his time confused, and this has led to a lot of misleading conversations with Hank that have caused some pretty spectacular mix-ups. Take, for instance, the time Drover thought the world was coming to an end after Sally May went to a clearance sale in town.

There’s a mixed bag of other recurring characters in the Hank the Cowdog books that are just as important as Hank and Drover. There’s Slim, the bachelor ranchhand and Loper, his boss. There’s Sally May, Loper’s wife, and Pete the Barncat, Sally May’s pet. There’s also the buzzards, Wallace and Junior, a tribe of wild coyotes, J.T. Cluck the rooster, and a whole bunch of others. They all add up to make the Hank the Cowdog books some of the funniest books I’ve ever read. Hands down.

Why are they funny? It’s hard to explain, but John R. Erickson takes full advantage of all the screwy characters in his books and uses them to create situations that are funny in a way that makes you laugh out loud. It’s not slapstick humor, and it’s not a dumb kind of funny. Hank the Cowdog is always hilarious in new ways every time, and it’s good, clean humor that everyone can laugh at because it really is funny. Hank’s adventure’s are also just plain entertaining, and they’re just as fun to read the eighth time as they were the first time. Basically, I’d suggest you get the first five of these and start reading them. We bring them along to read aloud in the car. If you’re that kind of person, I bet you could read them to the kids before bed. And if you’ve got kids who are starting to get interested in reading, these are definitely good books to put into their hands. I really can’t recommend the Hank the Cowdog series highly enough.

This isn’t the first Hank the Cowdog review I’ve written either. I had one published in my local newspaper, and also posted a short review on my other blog, Too Hick To Be Square. But trust me, they all say the same thing. Hank the Cowdog is a great series. They’re fun, they’re funny, they are really, really good books. Enough said. Now get yourself to a library and check one out.

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

Girl with Ears and Demon with Limp — 2 stars

A couple months back I took a writing class. My teacher was, of course, an author, and over the course of the class I got interested in his books. I ended up buying his fourteen-page short story, Girl with Ears and Demon with Limp. It’s only available as an e-book, but I thought it would give me a taste of his writing so I’d know whether I wanted to read more. Plus, he’s a fairly new author, and I figured a local author would be a nice change from someone who's been published by one of the big publishing houses. Call it an experiment.

Girl with Ears and Demon with Limp is about a girl with wolf ears who is thrown into a castle that has gateways to other worlds and other dimensions. Wandering through the castle, she comes across a lame madman from another worlds who knows the way out. Together, they fight their way through monsters and worse until at last they stumble through a door that leads back to the wolf girl’s home. The adventure is brief but packed with action and eventful occurrences. Emotion is running high, the pace is fast, and the story never stops or slows down for the entire fourteen pages.

Unfortunately, I had several problems with the story. Besides the fact that I was somewhat surprised to find the girl with ears was only seven years old—and killing monsters left and right—there were things about the setting and style of writing that prevented me from really getting into it.

A castle that goes on forever? Filled with doors leading to other worlds and populated by monsters and outcasts? It sounded like a really intriguing setting. In actual fact, it was kind of confusing. I had a hard time keeping track of where the wolf girl was and what her surroundings looked like. I couldn’t really envision what was going on in my head, and so to a certain extent, I felt like I was just reading words on a page. And the words themselves were probably my biggest issue. Rathke chose his words, grammar, and even punctuation to create a strong sense of surrealism that borders on meaninglessness. As far as I can tell (from sampling a few other short stories he’s written) this is just his way of writing. And for a short story, this is a great way to make the story stand out and be memorable.

Unfortunately, it was these same qualities that made Girl with Ears and Demon with Limp impossible for me to connect with. I was so distracted by the unusual punctuation, irregular grammar, and word choice that I couldn’t stay in touch with the story itself. I’m very, very used to reading books that pretty much follow the rules of English grammar and punctuation. To me, Rathke’s book was visually shocking because it looked so strange on the page. And, to be honest, I don’t really read short stories a whole lot, so I’m not used to the brevity and small scope of fictional works that size.

For those of you who enjoy books with that surreal quality, Girl with Ears and Demon with Limp or pretty much any of Rathke’s books are probably right up your alley. He writes surrealism very, very well. I will point out that his writing is all pretty adult, and even Girl with Ears is on the mature end of YA fiction. Just because it didn’t work for me doesn’t mean it was written badly, though, because it wasn’t. Rathke did an excellent job with that story—it just didn’t strike a chord with me, and I found his writing style distracting. But for only a dollar on Kindle, it was worth reading to for something that isn’t mainstream.

Link to author website: http://edwardjrathke.com/ (kinda mature)
Link to Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/edward-j-rathke/e/B00I7TS39G/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Mistborn: The Final Empire ~ 4.5 stars

Mistborn: The Final Empire is the first book in an epic fantasy trilogy by the same name, written by Brandon Sanderson. Normally I find epic fantasies to be a little too mature and just plain long for my tastes, but Mistborn was different. It wasn’t as mature as some I’ve read, and the first book was under 700 pages long, whereas most epic fantasy books that I’ve read approach 1,000 pages. With those two things going for it, as well as a plot and theme that were just plain awesome, Mistborn turned out to be the first epic I have really, really enjoyed.

The story centers around Vin, a skaa and a street urchin living with a crew of thieves in Luthadel, the capitol city of Luthadel. The skaa are the common people of the Final Empire, the peasants, the servants, the slaves, the ones who do the manual labor. They are treated like property by the noblemen, who relax in their opulent homes and casually execute any skaa who looks at them the wrong way. Vin has learned to distrust noblemen and everyone else. Then she falls in with a skaa named Kelsier, and slowly her shell of outer toughness begins to crack.

Kelsier is a man who has seen and experienced much. The scars on his arms mark him as the Survivor of what should have been a death sentence, and he has already tried once to defeat the Lord Ruler who has governed the Final Empire with a will of iron for a thousand years. Besides just being a visionary and a bold thinker, Kelsier has another advantage on his side. He is what is called a Mistborn, a person able to use Allomancy. Allomancy is the ability to harness certain powers through ingesting or “burning” metals. Unlike most of his crew, who can access one of the powers, Kelsier can use them all. And so can Vin.

When she joins his crew, Kelsier is preparing a skaa rebellion — one that he intends to be the largest skaa revolt in the history of the Final Empire. And this rebellion he intends to be a success. As he teaches Vin to use her powers, he and his friends begin the work of rousing the skaa and preparing them to fight the trained soldiers of the Lord Ruler and his ruthless killing machines, the Inquisitors. But rousing the skaa is no easy task. After a thousand years of subjection, most have forgotten what it is to feel any hope of freedom, and they have been beaten down and cowed for so long many do not dare raise their heads. Is being a Mistborn enough to accomplish all that needs to be done?

I enjoyed this book a LOT. As I said before, most epic fantasies that I’ve read have had too much mature content for my tastes. Although Mistborn does have some, it was mostly in a referring-to sort of way, and there was only a little. I was also really happy with the magic and world of Mistborn. There was detail, but not an overwhelming abundance. Brandon Sanderson is very good at creating unique systems of magic and describing them well. He also explained enough of the world for the book to make sense, but left plenty of questions unanswered. I still want to know what the kandra and koloss are, and there’s a lot I don’t know about the Lord Ruler. I am very much looking forward to reading the next two books in this trilogy.

I was also really impressed by the characters in this book. It was the characters who made Mistborn so appealing to me, actually, particularly Kelsier. It was hard not to get caught up in his vision just reading the book. And his character has many layers that are slowly peeled back as the book progresses. Vin’s character also goes through some changes as she goes from a timid, fearful, and very stubborn girl to a confident, brave, and very stubborn young woman with incredible powers. I can honestly say there was nothing I did not like about Kelsier and Vin, and Kelsier’s group of friends and allies were no less intriguing and well-written.

The theme of this book was really, really captivating, though, and is another big reason of why I was so impressed by Mistborn. In this book Brandon Sanderson brings up a very interesting question, especially when relating to books and stories, and that is: what if the good guys don’t always win? What if the bad guys come out on top? On the basis of that question alone, you can expect to find a very interesting story, but Brandon Sanderson also told a story with amazing characters, an intriguing world, and all those other things that make a book great. And for a final point in its favor, this book is less than 700 pages long, even though it’s definitely an epic. If you’re in the mood for a good, well-written fantasy but don’t have 36 consecutive hours to devote to just reading, Mistborn: The Final Empire is definitely one I’d suggest. In fact, I’d suggest the entire Mistborn trilogy, though I haven’t gotten around to reading anything but the first book yet. It was that good.

The Glass Sentence ~ 3 stars

     The Glass Sentence, by S.E. Grove, is a book that I've had on my read-and-review booklist for a month or two now. I saw it on Amazon and the little blurb about it there looked promising - some pirates, some sailing, a lot of maps, some sort of intricate setting, that kind of thing. It looked like it was going to be a really sweet story, a really interesting beginning to what could be a very interesting trilogy. When I saw that the library had gotten it, I was very excited and of course checked it out.

     The story began fairly interestingly, introducing a world that has been torn and fragmented by the Great Disruption, a devastating event which caused the Ages of the world to fluctuate and change so that all over the world people are trapped in different Ages. New Occident, previously known as the American Colonies, is home to Shadrack Elli, a world-renowned cartologist, a man who makes it is business to map the world and the Ages in it. Living with him in their home in Boston is his niece Sophia Tims. Sophia is effectively an orphan after her parents disappeared on an expedition when she was three. Raised by Shadrack, Sophia has learned a lot about maps, mapmaking, and knows more than most thirteen-year-olds about the Great Disruption and its effects. 

     When her uncle Shadrack is kidnapped by a cult seeking the location of a legendary map called the carta mayor, a map that is said to chart all the Ages of the world, Sophia is the only one who begin the search for him. Helped by Theo, a refugee from the Baldlands, Sophia sets out on a quest to track down her uncle. Along the way they are pursued by his kidnappers, because Shadrack has entrusted her with a valuable map that is key to finding the location of the carta mayor. 

     With this kind of plot, the story sounded good - very good, in fact. I was very, very excited to read it, and maybe my high expectations are part of why I was so disappointed by this book. From the moment Sophia left Boston, I grew more and more confused as to where she was, and even more importantly, what she was doing there. With all the things going on - being attacked by Sandmen, throwing in with gentlemen pirates, and running across Theo's enemies - it was hard to keep track of the main thread of the story and the reason Sophia was going where she was going. Also, because of the Ages being all mixed up and varying from place to place, the world was fractured and cultures in these different Ages were vastly different. Normally this would make for an incredibly rich setting for the story to take place in, but I felt like there was so much extra detail thrown in that the story would occasionally be derailed when some new fact of the particular Age they were in had to be explained. The story would have been simpler and easier to read if some of those extra things had been pulled out and saved for a moment when they would really be important and not just peripheral information.

     The other thing that really disappointed me in this book was the lack of a good villain. Blanca, the mysterious woman who has Shadrack kidnapped, lacked real power. Sure, when she was first introduced into the story, I expected her to be a truly terrifying villain who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted - unlimited power and control of the carta mayor. Not so. Although Blanca seemed like she would be a thoroughly heartless villain, all of her casual acts of cruelty that would have made her seem truly evil never really had that effect because Shadrack never seemed to feel really afraid. He was too much like a robot in my mind, barely touched by his emotions and forever thinking about everything without really feeling anything. S.E. Grove set her up to be a magnificent example of pure villainy, but she tore her down just as quickly by failing to make the characters react as if she were really that terrible. Because of this, Blanca never manages to be the villain who would have made the book really stand out.

     However, the part about the Great Disruption and the maps was very good, the maps in particular. S.E. Grove definitely used her imagination in concocting this setting and the numerous details of Shadrack's trade. All the different kinds of maps - glass maps, metal maps, sand maps, even water maps - add such a unique dimension to the story. Also the emphasis that everyone in this world places on time. Since the Great Disruption, time and how it is measured has become a very important part of everyone's life. That's not a concept that I've seen discussed in a lot of books, and it adds a whole new dimension to The Glass Sentence. I can definitely say that the maps and the issue of time were my favorite parts of this book.

     I also admire what S.E. Grove did with Sophia. She has no internal clock, and she finds it very hard to keep track of time. For her, hours can pass by in a matter of seconds, while a minute or two can drag on forever. In order to keep track of her own memories and life story, she has to map the events of her days, giving her a record of what has happened. In fact, its the fact that time has no hold on Sophia that makes it possible for her to do what has to be done to save the carta mayor from Blanca's clutches and keep the Ages of the world from colliding and destroying each other. 

     In the end, I give this book three stars because although it could have been really good, the lack of a strong villain character and my difficulty in keeping track of where things were taking place made this book less satisfying than I expected. However, I won't judge it too harshly, since it's just the first book of a new trilogy, called The Mapmakers Trilogy. A first book is only intended to start setting up the bigger story, so although I wasn't entirely happy with this first book, some of the issues I had with The Glass Sentence will most likely be resolved and dealt with in the two books to come. It's at least worth 3 stars, and I would definitely point you toward this book if you're interested in quest stories, imaginative settings, and fictional imaginings of the world.

The Books of Umber: Happenstance Found ~ 4 stars

I found P.W. Catanese's first book of The Books of Umber by chance. Part of the reason I checked it out from the library was the fact that Brandon Mull, the author of the Fablehaven series and The Beyonders series, had reviewed it. Our blog's motto is 'Never judge books-or people-by their covers', and I often stick to that rule. But this time I broke it. It just looks so cool!

I know I stay within my book genre preferences. I rarely ever venture out for something new. But going from author to similar author hasn't disappointed me yet, and Brandon Mull's name on this book's cover gained it access to my bookshelf. And gladly so! I was thoroughly pleased by this book. The characters were believable and relatable, though there was some tough love thrown in the mix.

Literally.

On the subject of romance, there is only about 5% out of the 100% goodness in here, and what is mentioned leaves you wanting to hear more. Yes, I said it. More romance. More details, specifically. I love the way Catanese adds mystery to the story. Every hint is subtle, but has a nuclear bomb impact on the reader. That, in my experience, is hard to pull off.

The book begins with a young boy, just awaking, blindfolded, and seemingly alone in a dark environment. As he searches his mind he finds that he has no memory of his past, nor his present, and then someone speaks. And Catanese whisks you away into a world full of mystery and adventure! The boy Happenstance (nicknamed Hap) meets Lord Umber, Sophie, and Oates first thing after he wakes and starts a voyage across the sea on a giant whale-like friend, Boroon, captained by Nima, a part fish, part human young lady. The best bits of the book are the tiny details, and so without giving way and telling the whole story, I cannot say much else.

I will say that Umber is easily my favorite character. His boisterous mood swings, playful attitude, and fun-loving nature catch my attention. But then there are also Sophie, Lady Truden, Happenstance, Balfour...And so the rest are all equals.

I rated this book a four because it held all I was looking for, but it added a sort of cliffhanger at the end, and I know that the next books will continue the mystery. I am trying to leave higher ratings for the future, in other words.

Beyonders trilogy ~ 3 stars

     The Beyonders trilogy, by Brandon Mull, is a story of action, adventure, and courage set in a fantastical world pulled straight from the imagination of the author of the wonderful Fablehaven series. It's one of those books where a kid from our world travels to another place and finds himself the answer to prophecy. That's what Jason is: the answer to a prophecy, the hero who could save the world of Lyrian or destroy it. But he's also just an ordinary, baseball-loving teenager and at heart he's just like every one else.

     Jason comes from the Beyond - that would be our world - and his sudden arrival in a place nothing like Earth couldn't be more startling to him. Lyrian is a place like no other - you won't find another book with a world like Lyrian, and around every corner you're discovering something new about it. It's populated by humans, yes, but there are strange races living there, too, races created years ago by wizards. The food is exotic and varied, and the places Jason adventures to are as diverse as a swampy jungle full of huge frogs to the Tavern-Go-Round, a spinning tavern. All these things provide the backdrop for the story Brandon Mull has prepared.

     Jason, together with Rachel, another teen who has traveled from our world to Lyrian, are set on a quest by the Blind King to find the syllables to a magical world that can destroy the evil, tyrannical wizard Maldor, who seeks to conquer and control the entire world of Lyrian and everyone and everything in it. This quest will be dangerous enough, but no less dangerous than confronting Maldor in his fortress and speaking the word that will save Lyrian. And because of the nature of this series, I can't tell you what happens beyond that. You'll have to read them to find out.

     Now, with this fairly glowing description, maybe you're wondering why I'm only giving this series 3 stars. Here's why.

     In Lyrian, Brandon Mull created an amazingly detailed, intricate, unique world, filled with things and creatures I'd never heard of before, including wizard-born races that you will not find the like of in any fantasy novel you've ever read. Usually that's a good thing. I like to find unique worlds in books, but in Beyonders there was just too much for me to handle. I got lost in all the imagery - and not in a good way. There was so much going on in the background that I had a difficult time following the thread of the story with all these strange names of creatures and things popping up every few pages.

     Secondly, I had problems with the cast of characters in the Beyonders. As far as creating unique characters, Brandon Mull did well, especially with his wizard-born races to draw from. I do have a certain attachment to Ferrin the displacer, and I dare you to read the whole trilogy and hate him. Jason and Rachel were also great people, and the Blind King was...blind, of course, but pretty awesome. The problem for me was that there were other people who would join Jason and Rachel as they set off on each new quest, not so much in the first book, but definitely in the other two. And there were SO MANY of them, each with such a special skill-set that whenever they ran into trouble - and they did - there was always someone perfectly equipped to save their necks.

     Now, having a large cast of characters meant that Brandon Mull could regularly kill a few to remind Jason and Rachel to keep moving, but I find that creating characters and adding them to the story for a bit-part before killing them as a casual reminder isn't a mark of good writing. So between the jack-of-all-trades aspect of Jason and Rachel's ever-growing group of questers and their frequent, sudden deaths just to prove a point, I found the story lacking something. I couldn't get genuinely attached to the characters when I knew they'd be dead in 150 pages or so, only to be replaced by someone just as good or better. 

     Those are my reasons for rating the Beyonders the way I do. Despite having a brilliantly imagined world and a story premise that I loved, technicalities in how the author executed the story just didn't live up to my standards. However, there are lots and lots of people who had loved these books to an insane degree. I've read the reviews on Amazon, and there are fans out there as diehard as any fans of Harry Potter. So if you did like Fablehaven, I think the Beyonders might be worth looking into. It just didn't work for me.

     To sum up my somewhat extended review, let me just say that the first book of this trilogy has already been reviewed on Under Cover Agents by Mountain Gal, my blogging buddy. Check out her review HERE, and hopefully between us we can give a less biased assessment of these books.

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

The Dark is Rising (series review) ~ 4 stars

Review requested by Katie

     The Dark is Rising sequence, by Susan Cooper is a mix of Arthurian legends and Irish/Scottish/Welsh folktales where good battles evil in an epic battle that spans all time. Will Stanton is the youngest of the Old Ones, and he is vitally important to this fight. The three Drew children, Simon, Jane, and Barney, are also connected to the fight between the Light and the Dark in ways that even they don't understand.

     In Over Sea, Under Stone, the three Drew children are staying in the seaside village of Tressiwick with their Great-Uncle Merry, who, although he isn't actually related to them, has been a part of their family for as long as they can remember. When Barney finds an ancient map in the attic of the cottage they're vacationing in, it sets them off on a dangerous quest to recover something that will help the Light defeat the Dark forever: the grail. But agents of the Dark have learned about the map as well and they are closing in. I liked the atmosphere of this one - when I started I expected some fluffy story about three kids having a wonderful vacation on the seaside. What I got was just the tip of the iceberg of a very epic, fantastic story that just got bigger and better the further into the series I went.

     The Dark is Rising introduces Will Stanton for the first time, probably my favorite character. The youngest of the Old Ones, beings who wield incredible powers, Will is the last of the Old Ones, the Sign Seeker. It is his task to find the six signs that will be the second of the important tools that the Light can use to defeat the Dark once and for all. The Hunter, a fearsome champion of the Dark, has been assigned to stop Will and steal the signs for the Dark, and Will will need all his wits about him, as well as the help of the first of the old ones, Merriman Lyon. This book was the most complicated of the books. Will goes from a completely ordinary boy to something entirely different, and his journey involves a lot of far-fetched stuff that Susan Cooper somehow makes completely believable under the circumstances. This would be the book I'd reread the most times, just because so much happens.

     Book three of this series, The Greenwitch, is where Will and the Drew children meet for the first time. There's some tension at first as the four of them figure out how to work together, but they've got a very important job to do. The grail has been stolen by the Dark and they have to get it back. Also, a being that belongs to neither the Light or the Dark has possession of a clue that will help strengthen the Light. The Greenwitch is a creature of wild Magic, reborn every year by the women of Tressiwick in a ritualistic ceremony. Together will Merriman Lyon, also known as Great-Uncle Merry, Will and the Drew's have to retrieve the grail and strike a bargain with the unpredictable Greenwitch. What I liked about this book was that this time around, the Old Ones didn't hold all the answers, and the Drews played a very important part in the story, even though they were basically ordinary human beings.

     A new character is added to the group in The Grey King, a Welsh boy called Bran. Will has been sent to Wales for the summer to recover from an illness, and together he and Bran will go on a quest of their own to find a golden harp which must be used to wake the six Sleepers. In this book we get an entirely new setting with its own forces of High Magic, Light, and Dark. There were plot twists here, too, such as Bran's mysterious mother and a dog who can see the wind. What I enjoyed here was getting to see Will working mostly on his own. Merriman was busy elsewhere and wasn't able to help Will directly, unlike in the previous three books. As much as I liked having Merriman show up to save the day, it was good to see Will taking charge in this one, and really learning how to be both an Old One and an (almost) ordinary boy.

     The final installment of The Dark is Rising sequence is Silver on the Tree. In this book, the story takes a more fantastical turn as the allies of both Light and Dark start to gather. Will, Bran, and the three Drew's have a few final tasks to complete, but they are short on time and their enemies are everywhere. In this book, the adventures of Will and Bran are even more magical than before - not only are they stepping out of time, but they're also going to a new dimension in search of the crystal sword. Then the five of them, along with Merriman, have to finish what was started when the grail was found. The Dark is rising, but the Light has gathered everything they need to destroy it once and for all.

     The Dark is Rising sequence was a thoroughly interesting read. It was a pretty epic adventure, but didn't meander on for hundreds and hundreds of pages. It was to the point, which I appreciated because I could really get at the good parts of the story without having to read 2000 pages to get there. I also really liked Will, Bran, and the Drew's. Sometimes Merriman saved the day once too often, but he is the first of the Old Ones, so he has been around for basically forever and it would take a lot to defeat him. Also, the prominence of Arthurian legends and old folktales in the background of these stories was really intriguing. I've always loved mythology of any kind, and Scottish and Irish mythology isn't involved in stories as often as Greek mythology is, so it was a treat to find it here. And lets not even get started on Welsh folklore! After reading these books, I'd really like to see Wales and read some old Welsh stories.

     In other words, thank you, Katie! If you hadn't suggested this series I might never have picked it up on my own!

Link to author website: http://www.thelostland.com/works/yabooks/bk_dircollector.html

Rebellion Under the Stars ~ 3 stars

Review requested by Copper Dirt.


     Rebellion Under the Stars, by Katherine Marie, is another recent read for me. It's a story of adventure, rebellion, loyalty, and perseverance. The kingdom of Zaracor is about to be attacked by a mysterious and relentless force, led by a man driven by ambition and greed. Help must come if Zaracor is to survive the rebellion - and help is far away. An attack will soon be launched on the City, the home of the King of Zaracor.

     A varied cast of characters find themselves burdened with the task of saving the kingdom. Selena, a commoner girl, and her close friend, Prince Johnathan of Zaracor. Master Jolan, a man with many secrets, but still the closest and wisest advisor of King Charles of Zaracor. MacKenna, the daughter of a blacksmith, who has strange and frightening visions of the future. And Marzena, a powerful and mysterious woman who lives in the forest just outside the City. Working together and separately, its up to them to find out how Zaracor can be saved - or if that's even possible.

     Rebellion Under the Stars is a brand new book that was just published in December of 2014. In fact, it was self-published by Katherine Marie, a blogger and writer and now new author that I follow. The fact that Rebellion Under the Stars is a self-published book, and also the first book Katherine Marie has ever had published makes it more of a challenge to review than other books I've done, but I'll give it my best shot.

     First of all, as a self-published book, it was better than some I've seen. Often I find self-published authors to have poor spelling and punctuation or tons of typos which aren't in books published and edited by big companies. Also, I've read books where the self-published author was too lazy to make sure their formatting was consistent throughout the book - sometimes words are spaced widely in one place and indented from the page in another place. This is just confusing to read and jolts the reader out of the story. Rebellion Under the Stars had none of these problems - there were two or three typos, but formatting was consistent. 

     One other thing I noticed is that there were no chapter breaks. Instead, there would be a bit of a page break when the story switched narrators or an important event was completed. This was a bit exhausting to read after a while. I found that when I didn't have chapter breaks to mark my progress, the story would drag a little bit. Still, it was an interesting choice and gives the book a distinctive voice. But as self-published authors go, Katherine Marie did a good job making sure the outward appearance of Rebellion Under the Stars wasn't disruptive to the story.

     As for the story, I have a few comments to make about that, both positive and negative. The things that bugged me about Rebellion Under the Stars was partly the big cast of characters. In most books, there are lots of named characters, and sometimes more than one narrator. I've read books with as many as four narrators, and that can be hard to cope with. Rebellion Under the Stars had seven or more narrators, I may have forgotten one or two. With that many narrators, you have to use a somewhat omniscient style of writing, otherwise you risk blending the characters together in the story. Unfortunately, in a story the length of Rebellion, I wasn't able to connect with any of the characters very well, which is important. Primarily, though, my difficulty was that I couldn't decide who the main character was out of so many narrators.

     Also, each of these characters has their own story, and with seven or more to deal with, I as a reader wasn't able to discover much about their histories. By the end of the book, I was left with tantalizing hints of secrets and hidden pasts for several of the characters, but nothing concrete. However, Katherine Marie has talked about a sequel/prequel for Rebellion, so maybe another book will clear that up.

     The positive things I have to say about Rebellion Under the Stars have to do with the writing style of Katherine Marie herself, not specifically Rebellion. I enjoyed the story, don't get me wrong, but I just felt like there wasn't enough for it to be special to me. Her writing style and grasp of story mechanics: characters, scenes, dialogue, action - all the stuff that make a story stick with you - were good. She wrote scenes that made sense, she knew what her setting was and could describe it and the characters inside it. And although I doubt she had a professional editor paid to edit her story, Rebellion shows that she put the time and effort into editing herself and did a good job. If she writes more stories, which I hope she does, I'd definitely be willing to try them.

     In the end, Rebellion was a pretty good book from a first-time self-published author. It shows bravery from the author to be willing to make herself the face of her book, and not some publishing company, since she'll have to do all the footwork to get her book known (though maybe my reviews and other reader responses will help). I thought the story was interesting, and though it could have used a bit of tightening to clearly bring the plot together and showcase the characters ideally, it was a nice debut novel. Good job, Katherine Marie!

Link to author website: https://kmariecreativity.wordpress.com/
Links to Rebellion Under the Stars page: https://kmariecreativity.wordpress.com/rebellion/

Dangerous - 3.5 stars

     Dangerous, a new novel by Shannon Hale, is a book entirely different from her Books of Bayern series or her Princess Academy series, which are both fantasy. Dangerous reveals an entirely new side of Shannon Hale because it's basically a superhero story, with science and high-action, superpowers, aliens, and then the bad guys on earth trying to use our superheros for their own gain.

     Maisie Danger Brown is an unusual girl to start with, even before anything interesting happens to her. She was born with only one hand to a Spanish-speaking Mom and a biologist Dad. Besides her missing hand and habit of speaking Spanish, there are two other things that make Maisie different from your average person. She's homeschooled and she's obsessed with science and space. So when she gets a chance to attend a space camp for teens, she jumps on it. 

     But Danger is her middle name and somehow can't help attracting it. First, she and four other teens at the space camp are infected by alien technology which gives them superpowers. Maisie can make anything, anything she wants, anything she can think of. It's like a dream come true, but none of the infected kids can be sure what's going to happen next. They know for certain that the infection didn't just 'happen' to them. There was a purpose, and they can all feel it. But their powers are getting out of control, and after the death of one of the new superheroes, the group begins to break up.

     Can Maisie save the team of superheroes from breaking up and wrecking havoc across Earth? Can she figure out what the Purpose that's nagging at them all is? And can she trust her heart now that she's fallen in love? 

     Dangerous was a good book. I don't usually go in for science-fiction type stuff, but this book wasn't quite that. It reminded me a lot of The Avengers, a superhero movie. A team of unlikely people with varied superpowers come together to save the world - maybe from aliens, maybe from something else. It's an action-packed story, but Shannon Hale made it appealing with a singular heroine in the form of Maisie Danger Brown. Maisie has guts, she's smart, and through it all, she tries to do what is right - even when that's not possible to do. 

     There were a few things that keep me from being totally happy with Dangerous, though. I'm totally okay with romance in book, including teen romance that involves kissing, as long as the romance doesn't become the point of the entire story. Maisie's romance wasn't the focus of the book, but she and Wilder kissed way more than I was comfortable with. Despite that, I would have rated Dangerous 4.5 stars except for this one scene when she and Wilder almost went further in their romance than 'just kissing.' And after that, regardless of how good the rest of the story was, I dropped my rating to 3.5 stars.

     Taking an entire star from a rating is a pretty big step, so I want to provide my reasons for that. First, coming from Shannon Hale, just the sheer amount of kissing in Dangerous was kind of a surprise. If you've ever read her Books of Bayern series, you'll know that the kisses are few and far between - and I'm not saying that's a bad thing or a good thing. It's just the way those stories went. And the amount of kissing in Dangerous was just how this particular story goes. I can understand that - doesn't mean I approve of it 100%, but I can tolerate it, and it doesn't get in the way of my enjoying the story. But then there was the almost scene, and that really bothered me. 

     Without getting really deep into this, I basically felt a little betrayed by Shannon Hale for doing that. One, because it was totally unexpected from her. But every writer has a right to write whatever he or she feels like, so that's not her fault. It's up to me to either put up with it and keep reading, or decide it's too much and quite. I didn't quit, but I was more than a little disappointed that Shannon Hale decided to go there. Two, I'm not a fan of that kind of content. I can put up with it, but I don't like it and it really bothers me. The third reason I was so bothered by the almost scene goes back to the fact that Maisie is homeschooled.

     Now, maybe I'm overreacting and being really harsh in my judging here, but everyone should be entitled to their own opinion, and I'm just writing mine. I felt that early on, when Maisie first meets Wilder, she was being represented as a niave homeschooler who has no idea what people are like. Also, when she and Wilder are kissing within three weeks of having met each other, I thought it was going too fast and made Maisie seem gullible. Later, during the almost scene, the way things lined up and the way Maisie thought again felt like they were casting a bad light on homeschoolers. Please note that I don't judge Shannon Hale for writing a homeschooler. Nothing I noticed offended me really - I just smiled and shook my head. It's a fictional book about fictional events and people. I can bear if the book isn't flawlessly realistic.

     I'm also 100% certain that Shannon Hale didn't mean for anyone to have this kind of reaction to Dangerous. She talked to several homeschoolers during the writing of the book, and had people give her feedback on how she represented them. And on the whole, she did a great job. Maisie seemed just like any normal person - and that's really the problem. Homeschoolers are (except in extreme cases) just normal people. The homeschooling didn't really add anything to the story. It's a trivial detail, and the book would probably have been better if it weren't there. When you make your character distinct in some way as big as making her one-handed or homeschooled, readers expect that detail to be vital to the story (at least I do), and homeschooling wasn't. And by having that detail there, Dangerous gets judged a certain way. Maybe all this is hogwash, but its what I thought. If you read Dangerous and have an opinion about how homeschooling and almost were written, comment below - I'd love to hear from you.

     In the end, the almost in Dangerous bugs me, but besides that I really enjoyed it. It had great characters, great action, and a great plot. I discovered I have a thing for superpowers, and these were really cool! Plus the aliens were obviously not a rip-off of something that had been written before. In a genre full of science-fiction-alien-invasion stories, I think Shannon Hale has carved out her own niche with superheros and a brand of bad guys that no one has thought of before. If you're really picky about the content you're getting in a book, the almost might be too much for you, but the rest of the book is very good. I'm not a big sci-fi reader, but I liked it. The romance was stronger than suited me, but the plot itself was captivating and gives a good example of how talented Shannon Hale is. She wrote a book outside of her normal fantasy genre, and came up with something very distinct and interesting.

     As a final note to a really long review - I apologize, I had no idea I'd go on this long! - I want to share this statement I found on Shannon Hale's website:  

Dangerous is a "novel that asks, How far would you go to save the ones you love? And how far would you go to save everyone else?" A big question for just one book to deal with, but Shannon Hale does a good job of it.

Link to author website: http://www.squeetus.com/stage/main.html
Also, there's a post on Hale's blog where she talks about Dangerous and the main character, Maisie Danger Brown, which you can find HERE if you're interested in hearing more.

The Screaming Staircase - 4.5 stars

Second edition cover

     The Screaming Staircase by Johnathan Stroud is another new book I picked up recently. Johnathan Stroud wrote the Bartimeaus Sequence - I reviewed the first book in that series earlier. I've liked most of what I've read from Stroud. A few of his stand-alone novels didn't appeal to me much, but I've always liked the Bartimeaus Sequence, so when I saw he was writing another series, I gave it a go.

     The Screaming Staircase is the first book in the Lockwood and Co. series. It could be only a trilogy, which would be a shame, but since it's not finished yet - the second book in the series, The Whispering Skull, only came out September 2014 - I don't know. But so far, I've really enjoyed the first two books, so I'm probably going to be getting myself any sequels he comes up with.

     This story is set in London. A sinister Problem has been troubling the world for nearly fifty years now. All manner of ghosts and spirits have begun to appear in rapidly increasing numbers, and they don't appear to be friendly. Unfortunately, only young people have the ability to perceive these spirits. Many different agencies have sprung up, employing hundreds of adolescents and children to find and destroy these Visitors, as the spirits are called.. Lucy Carlyle is a brave and talented young agent with the ability to hear the Visitors. When she teams up with clever, charismatic Anthony Lockwood and his mildly repulsive assistant George, they all have hopes that the agency is about to make its mark on the world.

     Unfortunately this is not to be, and after their latest case ends disastrously with a house going up in flames, Lockwood and Co. face the possible end of their new agency. To save it, they must brave the most dangerous haunted house in London, perhaps in all of England. Combe Carey Hall has a reputation of spirits and hauntings that stretches back several centuries - long before the Problem really began. Can the three intrepid agents survive the horrors of the Screaming Staircase and the Red Room? Can they put an end to the haunting of Combe Carey Hall, or will they be the next three lives the forces of that house have taken?

     The Screaming Staircase was definitely a page-turner. Stroud balanced the comfy relationship of the three-person agency with a lot of fast-paced action and really dangerous situations. I was also really captivated by the originality of the plot. The story is set in slightly post-modern London, but it wasn't sci-fi at all. Something else that I found was interesting was the fact that agents use rapiers to fight Visitors - what's not to like about some dashing teens with flashing, silver-coated blades? Furthermore, there was definitely a mystery element to this story, and although the clues were there, I was kept deliciously guessing the entire time. I think you can agree that that's a mark of very good story-telling.

First edition cover

     As for the characters of The Screaming Staircase, they display Stroud's trademark sarcasm and humor. If you're like me and couldn't get enough of Bartimeaus in the Bartimeaus Sequence then the characters in Lockwood and Co. have a taste of that same sharp wit and irresistible, careless charm. Lucy is a very plucky and extremely admirable young lady. I didn't expect her to be my favorite, but she is, hand's down. It's also hard not to be charmed into liking the irrepressible Lockwood, and though I still have my doubts about George, he turned out to be a good egg after all. 

     Another mark of Stroud's ability to write very, very good stories is the Visitors. The descriptions of ghosts, spirits, and other things not quite of this world that stem from the Problem are incredibly riveting, and though I really should say 'realistic' that's what I'm going to go with. I honestly wished I hadn't started to read the climax after dark, because what they encountered in the Red Room was actually pretty scary stuff. If you've got a problem with getting emotionally involved with a book and getting as freaked out as the characters are, then you'll probably want to save The Screaming Staircase for strictly daytime reading.

     Other than that, The Screaming Staircase was a captivating and fun read from an author I know and trust to write good, high-quality material and tell intriguing stories. I'm actually really impatient for the next book to be published.

Link to series website: http://www.lockwoodandco.com/

The Grimm Legacy ~ 3 stars

     The Grimm Legacy, by Polly Shulman, was a spontaneous read for me. I've never heard of Shulman before, or read any of her writing, but when I stumbled across the book on Amazon, I thought it looked interesting, particularly the cover. The description also said that it involved the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales, like Hansel and Gretel, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, and lots of the more obscure ones - ever heard of Jordina and Joringel? That one isn't exactly a bedtime story, I can tell you that. But I like fairy tales - even the obscure ones - so I decided to give The Grimm Legacy a go.

     The Grimm Legacy starts out like some sort of modern day mystery-and-magic story, with an ordinary teenage girl called Elizabeth going to an ordinary high school and having ordinary crushes on -- well, not on ordinary guys, but you get the idea. The story quickly takes a turn in a very interesting direction, however, when Elizabeth is hired to work at a library/museum call the repository. The repository contains the largest collection of items in the world. And not just any collection. Not only do they have one of nearly every kind of shoe, household item, tool, article of clothing, and even book that has ever been created, there are also special vaults that hold certain, important, powerful items.

     Items that appear to come straight from the pages of the Grimm Brothers' fairy tales. And when Elizabeth is allowed to work in these vaults, she learns that some of them are actually really magical, just like in the stories. These magical items, along with anything else in this enormous collection, can be borrowed. But some of the magical items are losing their power or being replaced with fakes! It's up to Elizabeth and her coworkers, Anjali, Marc, and Aaron, to solve the mystery and return the items - without getting themselves caught, fired, or turned into statues by the thief. 

     For the first five or six pages of The Grimm Legacy, I was wondering if this was going to turn out to be another middle-grade level story about problems in school, witches and wizards, and teen romances. I've read a few of those, and they've never struck me as particularly interesting, or well-written. But The Grimm Legacy isn't one of those - it's amazingly unique. Although it does have elements of a middle-age story about a girl in high school with crushes on boys, it also has a dash of magic that spruces up that otherwise dreary concept and makes it something that's actually very entertaining to read.

     I was, however, a little disappointed by the romance. Elizabeth starts the book with a crush on Marc, a basketball player for her school's team. She also gets to know Aaron, who works with her at the repository. For most of the book, I was never sure which guy she'd end up with, because Marc sometimes seemed to be dating Anjali, who Aaron had a crush on. I know, confusing. And that was part of what turned me off. But the romances were also a little cookie-cutter - a little too perfect. Maybe that's just me, but they didn't really detract from the story.

     In the end, I liked it enough to be interested in how it ended, and I may check out the sequel, The Well's Bequest. It's not a book I'm going to reread frequently, but it was fun while it lasted. And it was a pretty well-written story, with an interesting plot, and just enough characters to be fun, without getting over-complicated. It's not really a boys' book, but my younger sister is reading it now, and I think she's going to like it at least as much as I did.

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

Ever After High: The Storybook of Legends--3 Stars

This particular story was intriguing to me. It wasn't too deep, but it drew me in because I wanted to read what happened. I enjoy books like that, especially when it includes fantasy.

Shannon Hale, the author of these stories, is one of my favorite authors in my book. She always makes me feel like I'm on a first name basis with her characters, and although The Storybook Of Legends gave a younger-reader vibe, I had no trouble feeling that way with this book.

I will continue this series out of curiosity, I think, but honestly, this series was initially geared toward the interests of, say, my little sister. It was amusing to read Madeline Hatter's energy as she talked and played with Raven Queen.
Raven has but one friend in her whole school, Ever After High, which is run by the brothers Grimm. Due to her mother's reputation for poisoning Snow White in her story, no one likes Raven, and everyone ignores her. Except when they feel threatened by her; then they run around screaming and panicking.

Apple White, on the contrary, is the most popular girl in school. Beautiful, smart, and heiress of the perfect story, everyone that runs from Raven runs to Apple. Her destiny and story is entwined with Raven's, so to her it is very important that Raven does everything right. But when Raven refuses to accept that her destiny is to be evil, the stories are mixed and it is up to the girls working together to fix them.

There is not one account that I can remember that included deep gore, and so that was a plus for me. Again, I believe it was geared toward younger children and their interests. I'll have my sister read it and see what she thinks as well!

Snow White and Rose Red ~ 4 stars

I’ve been a Patricia C. Wrede reader for several years now. She wrote a few Star Wars novels and I've also enjoyed her Enchanted Forest Chronicles. I’ve always liked the spicy, distinct characters in her books, so when I saw she had also written a retelling of the old fairy tale about Snow White and Rose Red, I thought I’d give it a go.

It wasn't quite what I expected from Patricia C. Wrede. I was used to reading her more recent publications, but Snow White and Rose Red was one of the first stories she had published, and her writing has changed a lot since then. Snow White and Rose Red follows the original fairy tale closely enough that I could see where the parallels were, but the characters had changed enough that the story was obviously "wearing new clothes" as I like to put it. It had been fleshed out and made more intricate. All the leaps of logic, typical of old fairy tales, had been ironed out and explained.

Patricia C. Wrede's Snow White and Rose Red is the story of two beautiful sisters, Blanche and Rosamund, who live with their widowed mother near the border of the world of the fay. When a half-fay, half-mortal man called Hugh is subjected to human magic and forced to take the shape of a bear, kind Blanche and Rosamund try to do everything they can to return him to his original shape. This means taking the considerable risk of being discovered and tried as witches by suspicious neighbors. In the end, they need the help of Hugh's brother John, another half-fay, to break the spell. In so doing, they discover that Hugh's transformation was the result of a plot to tear the human world and the world of the fay apart. 

The story concludes with the classic fairy tale ending: the fair maidens wed their new sweethearts, the half-fay Hugh and John. Usually I don't like these kinds of endings, because it makes the romances very unrealistic, but Patricia C. Wrede did an admirable job of making the relationships between the characters real enough that I could see them getting married.

I found Snow White and Rose Red to be a fairly entertaining story. It was written with a more reserved, strict style than other fairy tale retellings that I’ve read. It doesn't have the very personal style that most novels published in the past 5 or 6 years have, but this is mainly because Snow White and Rose Red was published in 1989, before that style of writing became popular. In fact, the style of Snow White and Rose Red is great for that story, because it makes it read more like a fairy tale and adds grace and elegance to it. I also enjoyed the way the original fairy tale was restructured for Wrede’s retelling, and I think that her revision of it added a lot of appeal to the story.

The biggest thing that I noticed about Snow White and Rose Red was the language. Wrede uses ‘thee’ and ‘thou’, in addition to the usual ‘you.’ Other changes to the language, such as some of the more archaic forms of words (forsooth, seemth), and even the use of ‘an’ in the place of 'if' in some cases, all make the language a little more challenging to less experienced readers. To me, these things just added to the unique style of the book, since it hearkens back to an older way of speaking. But for other, less patient readers, this might make it too difficult to be interesting. My twelve-year-old sister Jo also read Snow White and Rose Red, and although she enjoyed it, she did say that the language was sometimes an impediment.

So, in the end, I would just say this.

"An thou can read and understand it, thou’lt know why I sayeth that it seems a goodly book."

Link to author website: http://pcwrede.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