Power Chord (By: Ted Staunton) Book Review May 22, 2019
(Read at the request of Mr. Sahota)
Power Chord by Ted Staunton is a book that does not belong to a series. Its genre is purely fiction, as it's a made up story about ordinary boys starting a band. This book actually does not mention where it takes place, but the story predominantly occurs in school and Ace's house, who is the main character. Ace (whose name is actually not Ace, but everyone calls him that. His real name is Davey) is the most genuine character I find throughout this story. His honesty near the end was respected, and he found a new passion on the way of starting this band. He put effort into his band, and he realized that music was perhaps something he wanted to continue with, whether or not as a hobby or something serious. However, the band did not start with genuine feelings. Ace's friend, Denny, suggested the band while they themselves were watching people perform because he saw that girls liked musicians, and Denny wanted to be able to talk up some girls. Ace agreed, and Pigpen (that name is a nickname that their school used. It's a joke because he's actually a huge clean freak. His real name is Jared) joined their band to play the drums for them. The problem is, is that they find that the band was sort of falling out, because for the contest they were joining, they had to write two original songs. Denny had done something Ace did not particularly like, and so that caused a slight feud. It all ends well, of course, but perhaps each individual had a different approach to music after the contest... Personally, this book was not my kind of book, at all. It could be because it was a story at a lower reading level, but I also did not really enjoy the plot, and I thought the story was... honestly boring. The events were kind of choppy for me. It was as if I was reading a list of events in order, instead of a seamless story. The ending was actually one I liked, however. Overall, to tell the truth, I did not enjoy this book. In my opinion, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else, either. I would rate this book a 3/10. Evidently, as you can see, this story was not my thing. I hope Ace succeeds in his new approach to music, though!
Cinder: The Lunar Chronicles (By: Marissa Meyer) Book Review May 19, 2019
Cinder: The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, was an enthralling book, to say the least. This novel is the first part to a series of four that is called The Lunar Chronicles. The novels within this series are loosely based off of fairy tales that we all know very well. Cinder is loosely based off of Cinderella, as I think you could've guessed. It contains two genres: sci-fi (science fiction) and young adult fantasy. This story takes place in New Beijing of the Eastern Commonwealth, which I thought was an interesting choice. The time is set in the future, not said to be in any exact period of time. Our main character is named Linh Cinder, who is a gifted mechanic and a cyborg. She is quite an assertive and strong person, fighting for what she wants, despite her insecurities of being a cyborg, which is kind of frowned upon where she lives. In New Beijing, at the current time of the story, a disease called Letumosis, or more commonly known/said, the plague, is spreading across the land. The doctors and royal family are attempting to find an antidote, but it still hasn't been discovered as of yet. As Cinder meets Prince Kai, an adored prince by mostly, well, the girls, because of his request for her to fix his android, she starts to get sucked into something much more. When she is forced to visit the doctors to sacrifice herself for the testing of potential antidotes (for Letumosis) that fail 99.99% of the time, she begins to uncover more of her forgotten past, a past that she has no knowledge of... until now. Cinder begins to see that she isn't exactly who she thought she was this whole time... This book was honestly right up my alley. I loved the concept of the cyborgs, and that little fairy tale twist, as I love fantasy novels! However, it was mixed with a whole lot of events and concepts that it was kind of difficult to follow, despite how interesting it was. I felt that the mixture became a little too muddled later on as well. Some parts were predictable, but it didn't feel cliche when I had read it. All of my statements are, after all, just my opinion, though. Overall, I would rate this book a 8.5/10, and would recommend it to anyone else who loves the idea of fantasy mixed with sci-fi.
The Boundless (By: Kenneth Oppel) Book Review May 5, 2019
The Boundless by Kenneth Oppel is a novel, a book that is not part of a series. Its genres are a mix, which are adventure fiction, historical fiction, and fantasy (if you can consider it that, since the book includes sasquatches, which are under question for their existence). The setting of this story isn't exactly set, as it is a huge train (which is called The Boundless) that will pass places, but the most important ones would be Canada as The Boundless throughout the story is travelling across it, and Craigellachie, where The Last Spike of The Canadian Pacific Railway was driven through. The time period of this tale is the 19th century. Our main character is a boy named William Everett (Will for short), who has a huge passion for art and creates lots himself, which are often just well made sketches. This trait plays a long term part in the story, which I won't reveal. At the beginning of our story, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) has just been completed, and Will alongside Cornelius Van Horne (who is not a fictional character, as he was the president of the CPR) rode a train to Craigellachie for Will to see his father and to witness the huge event of The Last Spike being driven through. However, an avalanche occurs, and in short, James Everett, Will's dad, saves Mr. Van Horne, who chooses Will's dad to be the one to expand his project before he eventually passed, ultimately promoting him to a very, very high position from his original low one, which was an ordinary worker as a steel layer in the work of the CPR. This was seen as a thanks to James Everett. Time has passed and Will and his father (who are now quite rich) opens The Boundless up to the public, their ride across Canada starting immediately after. What exactly is the problem in this novel? When the train stops for a break, passengers are allowed off for a bit to purchase things or try an attraction, and William steps off. He finds he needs to let out his business and doesn't want to walk to the washrooms as they are farther than the forest, which is where Will goes instead. However, a trip to the forest turns out to be more than he expected. William witnesses a murder, and now holds something that the murderer is looking for, who will stop at nothing to get it. Now William is being chased on The Boundless (which he luckily gets back on, as well as the murderer), and he needs to find a solution to get out of his predicament, while his father will have no clue he's missing because he's working on the locomotive for several days. The Boundless has certainly kept me on my toes, as I do love a historical fiction, and have always loved the idea of a murder on a train. It's oddly specific, but the concept of it has always intrigued me, and this book is the embodiment of it. The characters had distinct personalities, and the action scenes did not make me disappointed. I would rate this book a solid 8/10, and would recommend it to anyone else who also enjoys a historical fiction with some thrilling action.
The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: 14 Amazing Authors Tell the Tales Book Review February 27, 2019
The book The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: 14 Amazing Authors Tell the Tales is a collection of stories written by several different marvelous authors who have strung together words to create their own universes from illustrations made by a man named Harris Burdick, someone who had mysteriously disappeared after giving said drawings to Peter Wenders, all of these stories being based on short captions paired with the pictures. This book contains a wide variety of genres, ranging from comedy to creepy and haunting. For example, one short story called “The House on Maple Street” is more of a mystery, taken place at, as anyone could guess, the house on Maple Street, and is one that I have to say I enjoyed quite a bit more than the others. The main characters Melissa, Brian, Laurie, and Trent Bradbury are siblings, and are all quite sharp eyed and quite the little detectives. Melissa, the youngest of all the siblings, catches something with her eyes in the house after the Bradbury family returned home from summering in England, and reports it to her brother and tells him to swear not to tell anyone about it, even though he ends up doing so anyways and word gets around to only their siblings. The children begin investigating this strange discovery their youngest had found, since it was unusual and seemed dangerous, and while reading, I was excited to figure out what it was as well. This collection of stories have certainly been a pleasure to read, as the authors have worded their sentences wonderfully in my opinion, and certainly thought up of interesting interpretations of the captions with the illustrations, and on a side note, the drawings were magnificent as well. I definitely was not disappointed with this book, and I would definitely recommend this book to others, especially those who enjoy a little dose of each genre, but even now, I’m still wondering… Where’s Harris Burdick?