Away!

Hello!

From tomorrow (Sunday) I will be away until Thursday, and I won't have any posts up until next week's Showcase Sunday.

Katie :)

Review: The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore

I've seen him on the news. Followed the stories about what happened in Ohio. John Smith, out there, on the run. To the world, he's a mystery. But to me . . . he's one of us.

Nine of us came here, but sometimes I wonder if time has changed us—if we all still believe in our mission. How can I know? There are six of us left. We're hiding, blending in, avoiding contact with one another . . . but our Legacies are developing, and soon we'll be equipped to fight. Is John Number Four, and is his appearance the sign I've been waiting for? And what about Number Five and Six? Could one of them be the raven-haired girl with the stormy eyes from my dreams? The girl with powers that are beyond anything I could ever imagine? The girl who may be strong enough to bring the six of us together?

They caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number Two in England.
And Number Three in Kenya.
They tried to catch Number Four in Ohio—and failed.

I am Number Seven. One of six still alive.

And I'm ready to fight.

I really wanted to read this after finishing the first book, I Am Number Four.  I saw some bad reviews on Goodreads for this though, so I really wasn't sure whether I would enjoy it as much as the first one.

I was wrong!  It was just as good as I Am Number Four.  In this book, we see events from two differant points of view - from John/Four's and also from Marina/Seven's.  The characters haven't met each other, so I expected them to meet at the end - I'm not going to say if they did or not, but the ending definately left the story open for a third book.

There was a lot more action in the book, which was one of the problem I had with the first.  It was exciting and tense, and when I was reading I couldn't put the book down!  I usually dislike books written in first person and in the present tense (I don't know why, they just seem to be a bit blunt...), but I didn't find this one like that at all.

One thing I like about the characters is that they all seem like real people, even though a few of them have powers and are from a differant planet.  I think the characters really helped the books to be so good!  I have to say I did wonder about Number Five - we've met Four, Six and Seven, why not Five? o.0

The ending was pretty unexpected, and a bit of a cliffhanger.  I can't wait for the third book.

Overall I loved this, and I was quite gripped by it.  Although it is an alien book, it's made more believable by the fact it's set in present day and on Earth, rather than in the future or on a differant planet.  Sometimes I don't like unrealistic books in this kind of setting, but it definately worked for this.

Rating: 4.5/5

Review: The Messenger Bird by Ruth Eastham

Nathan's father has been arrested. He works for the Ministry of Defence and is accused of leaking top secret information. But as he is dragged into a police car, he gives Nathan a message. It leads to a riddle, but it's not from Dad. It's from an ex-Bletchley Park employee, Lily Kenley, and was written in 1940. Nathan begins to follow the clues left behind by Lily. But how can this war-time story link to his father's fate? Hope for Dad's appeal is fading fast. He must solve the puzzle. Time is running out.

As I said in Showcase Sunday I found out about this book through an Amazon suggestion - I really had no idea what it would be like, but it looked pretty good, and interesting too.

And it didn't dissapoint!  It's very fast paced, with the excitement starting in the first chapter - but this didn't make it hard to understand at all.  I loved how Nathan, the main character, had to find and work out clues to help save his dad from prison.  It really added mystery to the book, and it made me want to carry on reading to see where the clues would lead and what they meant.  I think it was a bit unlikely how quickly Nathan solved the clues, but if it had taken weeks for him to work out what they meant I don't think the book would have been so exciting and fast paced.  The mystery of who Lily was was also an excellent part of the story.

The ending was quite unexpected, and added some action - it definately ended the book well!  This is a short review because I can't find much else to say, this book is great.  I think the book was written for younger teens, but don't be put off by that, it's still a good read.  I would also reccomend this to people who enjoy reading about World War II.

Rating: 4.5/5

Review: Agent 21 by Chris Ryan

Some authors just write about it. Chris Ryan has been there, done it, and lived to tell the tale. Agent 21 is the first in a brand-new action-packed adventure series by the real-life SAS hero.

When Zak Darke's parents die in an unexplained mass murder he's left alone in the world. That is until he's sought out by a mysterious man: 'I work for a government agency,' the man tells him. 'You don't need to know which one. Not yet. All you need to know is that we've had our eye on you. There's a possibility you could help us in certain . . . operational situations.'

Zak becomes Agent 21. What happened to the 20 agents before him he'll never know. What he does know is that his life is about to change for ever . . .

There are a lot of teen spy books around at the moment, and I have to say I love this genre.  So I was
pretty excited to read this book, as I had not heard of it before.

The book gripped me immediatly with a mysterious prologue - after that, to start with it reminded me of other popular spy books, Alex Rider and CHERUB, but after the first 'do you want to be a spy?' part it was more original.  It was believeable - there weren't any unrealistic gadgets and the main character, Zak, recieved plenty of training before going on a mission, while in other books the character suddenly knows exactly what to do without any help!

It was full of action and excitement, however this did not make the book confusing at all!  The action fitted well with the story and also seemed realistic.

I liked the characters.  They were all sensible and they didn't miss hugely obvious things - sometimes I feel like shouting at character when they miss obvious things! xD We don't find out a lot about any of them, and I think it would've been nice to at least have found out a bit more about Zak, the main character, so we can get to know him better.

The ending was good - it wrapped up the book well, but still left it open for a sequel (which I will definately be reading!).

This was generally a great book, my only complaints being that it sometimes lacked original ideas and we don't get to know the characters that well.  (For some reason I thought this book was about a secret agent who was 21 years old - I have no idea why.... :S)

Rating: 4/5

Review: The Dead of the Night by John Marsden

When their country is invaded and their families are taken, eight high school teenagers band together to fight. Seventeen-year-old Ellie and her friends have survived the invasion, but two of their band are captured: Kevin is imprisoned and Corrie is alive, but in a coma. Homer and Ellie are determined to get them back and to continue their campaign against the enemy. They discover that there are other rebels out there, fighting the invaders - but who are they and can they be trusted? As the pressure grows, can Ellie work out her conflicted feelings for the brilliant, arrogant Homer and the strong, gentle Lee? As war rages, and the enemy closes in, Ellie and her friends must once again fight for their lives... but how many of their band will be left? A truly involving story about teenagers facing the incredible challenges of warfare, amid the intensity of first love. Would you sacrifice everything to save your country and your family?

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This review contains referances from my review on the first book:  http://thebookreviewlibrary.blogspot.com/2012/06/review-tomorrow-when-war-began-by-john.html

I have to say, after being a bit dissapointed with the first book, I wasn't expecting this to be any better.  When I started the book, I was glad to find that the start wasn't nearly as slow, even being a bit tense in some parts as the characters sneaked around the enemy solidiers.

There were more exciting parts in this compared to the other book, but I still found it slow paced and lacking in the action I was expecting.  As with the first book, plenty of the story was spend describing the characters gathering supplies, setting up camp and talking, which is probably quite realistic but not particularly interesting to read about - in fact I found myself skipping through boring parts.

We STILL don't find out more about the war - who are the invaders?  Why are theey invading?  Where are the 'friendly' soldiers? When the main characters join a military camp, I expected these questions to be answered - but it turned out the camp had no clue what they were doing and seemed a bit of a pointless part of the story, apart from providing some action.

There were lots of characters, which made the book get confusing after a while.  Some of them I didn't see any introduction for, and just suddenly appeared.

I think there were one or two 'innapropriate' parts in the books, which I skipped through or were in the parts I skipped as they were boring - but I don't think they were nesscerary at all.

This had a bit more action and wasn't so slow, but overall it was still rather boring at times.  The series definately has a good idea, though.

Rating: 3/5

Showcase Sunday #4

This is a meme hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea where bloggers taking part showcase their new books.

Sorry for not posting a Showcase Sunday last week, I had no new books to review!

All borrowed from the library.

Agent 21 by Chris Ryan:  I hadn't heard of this book until I saw a review of it.  I've already started it and it's great so far!

The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore:  I read the first book, I Am Number Four, a while ago and thought it was pretty good.  I'm excited to read this, hopefully it's as good or better!

The Messenger Bird by Ruth Eastham:  I found out about this book from an Amazon suggestion!  I haven't heard of it or seen any reviews before, so I'm not completly sure what to expect but it looks good.



Review: Tomorrow When the War Began by John Marsden

I haven't posted in some time, sorry! 

When their country is invaded and their families are taken, eight high school teenagers band together to fight. Seventeen-year-old Ellie Linton wants one final adventure with her friends before the school holidays are over. Packed in Ellie's parents' land rover they drive to the famously isolated rock pool Eden dubbed 'Hell' by the locals. Returning to their home town of Wirrawee, the seven teenagers realize that something is seriously wrong. Power to the houses has been cut, pets and livestock have been left dead or dying, and most alarmingly of all, everyone's family has vanished. When the hostile armed forces discover that the teenagers are lying low in the vicinity, Ellie and her friends must band together to escape, outwit and strike back against the mysterious enemy that has seized control of their town and imprisoned their friends and loved ones...

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I recived the first three in this series from Luisa from Chicklish - thank you!  Here is my review for the first (the second and third book reviews will also appear on Chicklish).

Most of the Amazon reviews I saw for this book told me it was exciting and full of action.  I knew it was about a war, but not much else.

It started very slowly, with the main character, Ellie, randomly organising a camping trip and seemed to invite everyone she knew - even if she didn't know them that well.  This part of the story didn't really capture me - nothing exciting happened, it was just a group of teens going camping for a few days, although we get introduced to the other main characters and find out a bit about them.

The story picked up when the characters arrived back from their trip and found out that there was something odd happening in the town.  There isn't much of an explanation as to why Australia was invaded so suddenly, why everyone else was captured/kidnapped/put in prison (I can't remember if it ever said), or even who invaded, which might be revealed in the other books but I think should've been mentioned in this one. 

There wasn't as much action as I expected - most of the book was about the group avoiding the war and planning on how to survive.  I was quite surprised they were never spotted or discovered at all during the book, and at some parts it hardly seemed like an action/war story.  I wasn't really sure where the story was going at all, apart from the general idea of 'survive and don't be caught'.

I didn't have a favourite character.  I found there were quite a few characters who were in Ellie's group, which got a bit confusing, and we didn't really find out a lot about them.  I wasn't a huge fan on Ellie, especially when she was talking about boyfriends - it seemed to me as if she was always desperate for one.  She mentioned that she hardly knew Lee, but within a few chapters she decided she was in love with him....I'm not hugely into romance so maybe it's just me but those parts of the book didn't seem to fit.  We don't even find out much about Ellie.

Even though it wasn't action packed, I didn't think it was too slow paced after the first camping trip part.  Overall, it was ok.  It wasn't hugely exciting, and I didn't like Ellie and the romance didn't fit (in my opinion).  I have to say if I didn't have the next two to review, I would not bother continuing this series.

Rating: 3/5

Review: Witch & Wizard by James Patterson

The world is changing-the government has seized control of every aspect of society, and now kids are disappearing. For fifteen-year-old Wisty and her older brother Whit, life turns upside-down when they are hauled out of bed one night, separated from their parents, and thrown into a secret compound for no reason they can comprehend. The new government is clearly trying to suppress Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Being a Normal Teenager.

Imprisoned together and condemned to death, Wisty and Whit begin exhibiting strange abilities and powers they never dreamed of. Maybe there is a reason they were singled out. Can this newly discovered witch and a wizard master their skills in time to save themselves, their parents-and maybe the world?

**Contains SPOILERS**

When I picked up this book in the library, I had no idea what it was about, apart from the fact it might include magic, as it didn't have any blurb on the back!  When I was about to read it I looked at it on Amazon and thought it looked ok.  I think it's set in the future.

As soon as I started the book I was pulled into it - it was certainly fast paced, with so much happening all through the book.  It was quite exciting too, and wasn't too predictable, however I was a bit unsure of what the characters were trying to acheive apart from freeing the kids from prison.  Were they trying to find out what their enemies were planning?  Or was freeing the kids the whole point of the mission?  Either way it was still a good story and and I definately wasn't left feeling that it was a pointless book.

Even though the book was exciting and had a good story there was something I wasn't too keen on, but I can't put my finger on it...argh!  At some points I thought it was a *little* childish, with enemy names like 'The One Who Is The One' which I at first thought was a nickname thought up by the main characters, and also when the characters say things along the lines of  'kids are better than adults, we will run the world better than them'.  Also calling adults 'grown ups', which I think is a quite childish description, and using words like 'abracadabra' for their spells sounded very young too.  I don't know if the book was written for younger teens/kids though.
It was also confusing at times, and despite being taken in by the book at the start I wasn't so gripped by it later on.  Although I think this book is in the adventure genre, there was a lot more it, not just magic and adventure - it also had dystopian/futuristic and supernatural themes in it, which was what I think made it confusing.

Overall this book was exciting, fast paced and some of the narrative by Whit and Whisty was quite lighthearted, but there was just SOMETHING about it, along with what I've put.  Hmm. This most definately was not one of the best adventure books I've read.

Rating: 3/5

Showcase Sunday #3

This is a meme hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea where bloggers taking part showcase their new books.

Borrowed from the library:

Witch & Wizard by James Patterson:  I have had this sitting around for about a week!  I didn't know anything about it until I googled the book - looks good.  I like some of the Maximum Ride series, but some of them are a bit....meh so hopefully this will be more like the good ones.

Sent to me (!!):

Tomorrow When the War Began, The Dead of the Night and The Third Day, The Frost by John Marsden:  Eek!  The first books I have had sent to me! :D  Thank you to Luisa from Chicklish for sending me these books.  I am guest reviewing the second two for Chicklish, and I will post reviews for all three here.  They look pretty good!