book review

Book Review: Wizard’s Castle

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Wizard's Castle
Wizard’s Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this so much more reading it for the second time! This delightful fairy tale follows Sophie, who has been cursed by a witch to look old even though she’s only 18. Sophie ends up in the house of the Wizard Howl, where the front door magically opens into four different places.  (This book has also been published as “Howl’s Moving Castle”.)

The world-building is brilliant! The magic system is really imaginative and interesting. The characters have such great dialogue and good development. I just adore this book! Continue reading →

Book Review: Floors

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Floors
Floors by Patrick Carman

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is the story of Leo, who lives in a hotel that resembles an amusement park more than a hotel. There are secret rooms, secret elevators, and secret trains running through the in-between hidden floors of the hotel. When the owner of the hotel, Mr. Whippet, goes missing, he leaves clues for Leo to follow throughout the hotel, discovering its secrets, and saving the hotel from being torn down. But he insists that Leo take a friend with him for safety, so Leo brings the new bellboy, Remi, along for his adventures. Leo also has to bring one of the ducks from the hotel’s pond along with him as he explores the hotel, and Betty the Duck proves more useful than he expected! Continue reading →

Book Review: Stars Above

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Stars Above
Stars Above by Marissa Meyer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

All my Lunar dreams come true in this book! I loved reading the backstories of so many characters, seeing them developing and growing as children into the people we know and love in the series. And then there was the wedding!!! I was laughing and crying and smiling through my tears. All my beloved characters happy and together and prospering- I’m in reader heaven!

Most of these I had already read as the short stories came out bit by bit, and of course, I adore them all. The new stories definitely did not disappoint me either! Continue reading →

Book Review: Henry VIII

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Henry VIII
Henry VIII by William Shakespeare

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this play so much! It had a tight plot and delightfully interesting characters. I was especially intrigued with the changes that some characters went through, or the way some of them reacted under extreme circumstances.
This is the story of how Henry VIII got rid of his wife, Katherine, and fell in love with Anne Boleyn, married her instead, and had a daughter, Elizabeth. Of course, there’s a ton of political intrigue going on, and people being accused as traitors right and left. The Duke of Buckingham goes on trial as a traitor in the first scene, even though he’s innocent. Along with a bunch of corrupt Bishops and Cardinals, Cromwell is lurking in the background.
There are some really tense and emotional scenes with really powerful dialogue! Continue reading →

Book Review: Basil

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Basil
Basil by Wilkie Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I do adore Wilkie Collins’ writing, but this sad Gothic tale was seriously depressing from start to finish. In this story, the main character Basil sees a young woman in the street, and instantly falls in love with her. He meets her briefly, and learns that her name is Margaret. Later he approaches her father, and the two are married within a couple of weeks with the proviso that Margaret remain living with her family until her 18th birthday. So Basil is married in name only and can only visit Margaret with her mother as a chaperone. During this time, Basil meets Mr. Mannion, a family friend of his in-laws, but the man is so strange and mysterious that Basil can’t decide if Mannion is friend or foe.

There’s horror and betrayal and violence, insanity and disease and death; Gothic literature at its finest! Continue reading →

Book Review: The Boy Who Lost Fairyland

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The Boy Who Lost Fairyland
The Boy Who Lost Fairyland by Catherynne M. Valente

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

How to describe the delicious whimsy and melancholy of Valente’s books? It’s impossible to do, but I shall try.
It’s like spiced cinnamon tea served in a golden teacup with all the honeyed tears of your childhood heart when it first broke into pieces. No, that’s not it. It’s like cool peppermint tea in a silver chalice and all your favorite golden words at the bottom… no, no, that’s not it either. It’s like your heart and mind are at war, and when they finally call a truce they sit down for a lunch of memory sandwiches and warm library books baked with pink icing. But it’s all wrapped up in a glittering fairy story, so you don’t mind so much that your heart was just sliced open and your mind picked apart.

This fourth book in the Fairyland series is no exception! I was wary, as many were, since this book is not about September; but I immediately fell in love with the new characters, and cheered them on through their adventures.
This is the story of Hawthorne, who is whisked away to be a changeling and make trouble in the world of men. When he meets Tamburlaine, they become friends and discover that they are not so very different. The two find their way to Fairyland and are immediately roped into a quest. Continue reading →

Book Review: The Adventures of Superhero Girl

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The Adventures of Superhero Girl
The Adventures of Superhero Girl by Faith Erin Hicks

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

These comics are wonderfully clever and fun! They are set up almost like daily comic strips with little punchlines, but with a longer story line too.
Superhero Girl has some awesome superpowers, but struggles to pay her rent, buys capes at secondhand thrift stores, and suffers from insecurity because her brother is a cooler, more popular superhero. When she has to put up with snarky comments from Skeptical Guy AND battle an alien monster, Superhero Girl has to call up all her patience and superhero know-how to save the day, and get her laundry done. Continue reading →

Series Review: The Debt

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I started out really loving this series! The books are fast paced and the adventure is non-stop. There are so many mysterious elements in the story, not the least of which is the evil Debt mafia who are giving Dom, the main character, six impossible tasks to complete.  I love a good puzzle, and these books are just one enigma after another!

However, by the time I got to the last two books, I was seeing some message in the books that I did not agree with. Messages like “School is not for everyone. You can quit and get a job instead.”  Messages like “Underage drinking is okay, as long as you can handle it like a man.”  Messages like “You are in charge of your own life. You don’t need God to tell you what to do.”

Keep reading to see my reviews of each book, and you’ll see how I loved these books in the beginning and then it was a quick descent into extreme disappointment by the last book. Continue reading →

Book Review: Son

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Son
Son by Lois Lowry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the perfect conclusion to the Giver quartet. The world-building is exquisite, of course. In every book we get another glimpse of this world and understand it a little better, a little deeper. I especially have loved understanding more and more about the nature of the supernatural gifts that the characters discover in each book.

The action, the interesting plot, the suspense, the deep social themes and everything just amazed me! Everything is so beautifully balanced, and the story delves into the deepest meanings of what it is to be human, but is never preachy at all. Now that takes genius! Continue reading →