Book Review: Dungeon Runners Level 1: Hero Trial

Hero Trial by Kieran Larwood

Hero Trial (Dungeon Runners #1)
by Kieran Larwood (Goodreads Author), Joe Todd-Stanton (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

Kit is half-gnome and half-dwarf, making his whole family “gnorfs” – a small race of people in this magical land. In fact, only one gnorf in history has ever entered the dangerous Dungeon Runner games, but Kit is determined to put together a team and try to complete the trials so that he can compete. His teammates are a sea hag who can only do one spell, and a vegan vampire. Kit is supposed to be the fighter in their group, but he only has a useless wooden sword. Everyone laughs, thinking that this team is too small and too young to survive the dangerous competition, but Kit and his new friends discover that the Dungeon hides more surprises than anyone bargained for.

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Book Review: George Goodwin Dragon Slayer

George Goodwin, Dragon Slayer by Candace Lee

George Goodwin, Dragon Slayer: A Scouting Legend (Order of the Dragon Slayer)
by Candace Lee, Eric Newman, Bear Grylls (Foreword)

George is determined to prove that there are diamonds in the old coal mine just as his father declared before his death down in the mine. George explores the mines looking for proof, and his Boy Scout friends follow him, but they all get into trouble when they realize that an ancient dragon has been awakened in the depths of the caves. They encounter a mysterious man who claims to have knowledge of dragons and the weapons to kill them. They will need all their Scouting survival training to escape the mines with a dragon hunting them.

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Book Review: The Shadow Thieves

The Shadow Thieves by Anne Ursu

The Shadow Thieves (Cronus Chronicles, #1)
by Anne Ursu

2 out of 5 stars

Charlotte’s cousin Zee comes to visit from England, and he is terrified that a mysterious illness has followed him across the ocean to America. When their friends at school start getting sick, Charlotte and Zee are determined to find out what is wrong. Their search leads them to the evil plans of a demi-god from Hades who is stealing shadows to create an army and take over the underworld. Charlotte and Zee have to journey into the underworld and find a way to stop the shadow army before all their friends die!

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Book Review: Singer of All Songs

The Singer of All Songs by Kate Constable

The Singer of All Songs (The Chanters of Tremaris #1)
by Kate Constable

5 out of 5 stars

Calwyn has lived all her life in the cloister with the priestesses of ice, learning to sing the magical ice songs. Darrow sneaks into the cloister hoping to hide from his enemy that pursues him, and he warns Calwyn about his enemy who wants to learn every type of magic song and become the most powerful sorcerer and take over the entire land. Darrow himself is an iron chanter, and he knows magic songs that can control earth and metals. When Darrow escapes into the mountains, Calwyn goes with him, beginning an adventure that will take her to the very edge of civilization.

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Book Review: The Last Ever After

The Last Ever After by Soman Chainani

The Last Ever After (The School for Good and Evil, #3)
by Soman Chainani

Sophie and Agatha seem to have found their happy endings, but they are both dissatisfied with their results, and the truth is… they miss each other. How can they find a happy ending when they are apart? Agatha and Tedros fight their way back into the School for Good and Evil, hoping to rescue Sophie and find a new happy ending together, but Sophie has other plans with the evil Schoolmaster.

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Book Review: The Colossus Rises

The Colossus Rises by Peter Lerangis

The Colossus Rises (Seven Wonders, #1)
by Peter Lerangis, Torstein Norstrand (Illustrator), Mike Reagan (Illustrator)

3 out of 5 stars

Jack is kidnapped by a secret institution of doctors and scientists that claim he has a rare genetic marker from the heirs of Atlantis royalty. This genetic anomaly will kill him within a year if he doesn’t get special treatments, and in return the institution asks that he help a team of other teens with the gene to track down powerful artifacts from Atlantis hidden around the world. But Jack doesn’t know who to trust. Are the doctors telling the truth, or just manipulating him and the other teens so they are forced to hunt for the artifacts and unlock their power?

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Book Review: Rose Daughter

Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley

Rose Daughter
by Robin McKinley

4 out of 5 stars

When her father loses all his money, Beauty and her sisters move with him to remote Rose Cottage, where Beauty learns to cultivate the beautiful roses in the garden. Her father gets lost in the forest and meets the terrifying Beast, who demands that Beauty must come to stay in his palace in payment for a stolen rose. Beauty thinks that if she could just get the Beast’s rose garden to bloom again, the curse on the palace would be broken and she would be free. But the magic is very cunning and tricksy. Time doesn’t flow in the same manner. The space around the palace is distorted, and even the furniture and decorations in the vast rooms keep changing. Beauty must find her own inner magic before she can defeat the evil sorcery that keeps them both prisoners.

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Book Review: Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy

Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy by Jenny Nimmo

Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy (The Children of the Red King, #3)
by Jenny Nimmo

5 out of 5 stars

Charlie encounters an invisible boy, Ollie, and gets his friends to help figure out a way to rescue him from the dark attics of Bloor Academy. Ollie was made invisible by a magic blue boa snake, and imprisoned in the attics by the evil headmaster of the school. Meanwhile, Belle, a mysterious and beautiful new girl, has arrived at school. She seems to be very chummy with Charlie’s mean aunts, so Charlie knows she must be up to something evil. Charlie’s Uncle Paton leaves on a mysterious journey to “stop someone from coming”, but Charlie thinks that perhaps that someone is already among them.

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Book Review: City of Fire

City of Fire by Laurence Yep

City of Fire (City Trilogy, #1)
by Laurence Yep

2 out of 5 stars

Scirye vows revenge on the dragon that killed her sister, and she is joined in her quest for revenge by Leech, whose friend was also killed, and Bayang, a dragon disguised as a human. This unlikely crew start on the trail to find the evil dragon, Badik, and they end up as stowaways on a plane to Honolulu to track him down and retrieve the priceless artifacts he stole.

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Book Review: Alkrem

Alkrem by Marta Palazzesi

Alkrem
by Marta Palazzesi, Christopher Turner (translator)

4 out of 5 stars

On his birthday Theo discovers that he was abandoned as a baby by Alkrem wizards trying to save his life from the Archemist government who imprisoned and executed all the Alkrem years before. Theo was adopted by Chimius, who raised him as an Archemist wizard in Paris. The Archemists hate the Alkrem and blame them for the constant war against Negato monsters that roam the countryside. At midnight on his birthday, Theo’s magic animal companion appears on his doorstep, confirming that he is indeed an Alkrem wizard. His animal companion is a ferocious and powerful Fire Fox, a rare animal even among Alkrem. The Archemists get wind of an Alkrem boy in the city, and Chimius is arrested after being wounded by a mysterious wizard named only the Shadow. Now Theo and his Fire Fox travel to the secret city of the Alkrem, hoping to find the only magic item that can cure Chimius’s wounds, the legendary and dangerous Alkrexa, a weapon that also has the power to heal.

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