Category: Book Review
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
(Cover picture courtesy of What’s new @ CDPL?)
Charlie Bucket’s wonderful adventure begins when he finds one of Mr. Willy Wonka’s precious Golden Tickets and wins a whole day inside the mysterious chocolate factory. Little does he know the surprises that are in store for him!
This is no doubt a classic children’s novel and both of the movie adaptations (the first one starring Gene Wilder and the awful modern one starring Johnny Depp) hardly do it justice. They don’t capture how creative the songs of the Oompa-Loompas were, the story of the chocolate factory and Willy Wonka or the hilarious caricature personalities of the children and adults.
What sets Charlie and the Chocolate Factory apart from many children’s novels is that Roald Dahl didn’t talk down to his readers. There are a lot of things children will catch onto, but there are also a lot of elements adults reading the novel will enjoy as well. How do I know? Because I read it aloud to my little sister as part of my plan to get her to love reading. She didn’t catch all of the subtleties of Roald Dahl’s writing, but we both had a good time, which is the mark of an excellent children’s book.
Charlie Bucket is an excellent character for children. He’s sympathetic and is truly good at heart, in stark contrast to the other children who win the golden tickets. The adventures he and his grandfather go on are fantastic and Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory is a very vivid world, brought to life by Quentin Blake’s wonderful illustrations (at least, in my edition) and Roald Dahl’s incomparable writing.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a popular children’s novel for a reason and I believe it will stand the test of time to go down as one of the greatest children’s novels of all time.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer
(Cover picture courtesy of the Reader Store.)
When Artemis Fowl’s mother contracts a life-threatening illness, his world is turned upside down. The only hope for a cure lies in the brain fluid of the silky sifaka lemur. Unfortunately, the animal is extinct, thanks to the money-hungry deeds of a younger Artemis.
Though the odds are stacked against him, Artemis is not willing to give up. With the help of his fairy friends, the young genius travels back in time to save the lemur and bring it to the present. But to do so, Artemis will have to defeat a maniacal poacher, who has set his sights on new prey: Holly Short.
The rules of time travel are far from simple, but to save his mother, Artemis will have to break them all…and outsmart his most cunning adversary yet: Artemis Fowl, age ten.
Ah, time travel. It’s definitely a complicated subject in fiction and very few writers can truly pull it off, but for the most part, Eoin Colfer is one of them. What’s interesting is that when Artemis and Holly travel back in time, they age differently. As a result, Artemis is suddenly older and Holly is suddenly younger, as in the human equivalent of a teenager.
If you haven’t guessed what’s going to happen already, I’m disappointed in you because it’s so typical of YA: romantic tension. When I first read The Time Paradox, I was pretty angry about Eoin Colfer forcing the tension between Holly and Artemis, but now I’m just slightly disappointed. It felt like he caved in to the demand that romance has to be part of every YA book, although thankfully things were sorted out in the end.
We learn a lot more about Artemis’ ‘childhood’ and why he was quite the sociopath when we met him in the first book. With a childhood like he had, assuming the role of man of the house at the age of ten, wouldn’t you be a sociopath too? Having the older, more human Artemis meet his ruthless younger self was one of the highlights of the whole novel. In addition to Artemis’ expanded backstory, we also get to learn more about Holly and how her mother died.
There were a few rough spots (see the aforementioned ‘romance’), but overall I enjoyed The Time Paradox. It had an excellent plot that sets up the next two books, helped expand on the backstories of main characters and showed just how far Artemis has really come since the beginning of the series.
I give this book 3.5/5 stars.
The End of Infinity by Matt Myklusch
(Cover picture courtesy of Barnes and Noble.)
All his life, people have told Jack Blank what his future holds. He hasn’t always liked what they’ve had to say, but at times he’s wondered if they were right.
As the Imagine Nation’s final battle with the Rüstov draws near, Jack and his friends will each need their unique powers and abilities to help win the war. But are they prepared to use those powers against the most terrifying and dangerous enemy of all—the one inside Jack?
The time has come for Jack to choose his path and discover for himself whether he will become the hero that the Imagine Nation—and the world—needs him to be, or the cause of its total destruction.
Matt Myklusch brings the action-packed Jack Blank adventure trilogy to a heart-pounding, surprising, and wholly satisfying conclusion.
[Full disclosure: Matt Myklusch sent me a copy of The End of Infinity to review as I saw fit after he saw I loved The Accidental Hero. There was an understanding between us that sending me the next two books in his trilogy would not guarantee him a good review.]
Whoa.
I haven’t been speechless like this since I finished Mira Grant’s Blackout. And for those of you who know how much I loved the Newsflesh trilogy, you know that’s really saying something. Here’s why I’m lost for words:
There were so many times in the story that Matt Myklusch painted himself into such a tight corner I seriously had my doubts about his ability to pull things off. Obviously, he plotted out his trilogy very carefully or he would never have been able to pull off such unexpected twists. He did something that few authors have done to me: he made me very skeptical there could ever be a happy ending. Truly, he spares his characters no pain and The End of Infinity is a much better book for it.
Jack is an amazing character. He goes through so much in his short life and it’s amazing that he is still a functional human being. Is he three dimensional? Absolutely! Jack is a character everyone (even girls) can relate to, yet he’s very flawed as he tries to do everything himself. But when you look at what happened to him in the last two books, it’s not at all surprising he has trust issues, especially when he learns who his father is. Hint: it’s not who you think.
Very few series endings are satisfying for me, but Matt Myklusch managed to wrap things up nicely while still leaving potential for a sequel or even a spin-off series. This is probably one of the only series that I actually wouldn’t mind the author continuing. In fact, I’m all for it! The world of the Imagine Nation still has so much potential, especially for prequels.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
Jahanara: Princess of Princesses by Kathryn Lasky
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
December 1, 1627
My father has four wives, but I am the daughter of the one he loves most, Arjumand Banu Geum. I, too, am a Begum, a princess. My name is Jahanara, great-granddaughter of Akbar, the greatest Moghul ruler of India…
I have diamonds the size of my small toe, and rubies the size of beetles, and I have thirty servants and eight elephants trained specifically for me. I have everything except freedom. We are all of us imprisoned: my mother, my father, my younger brothers, and my younger sister. In tents hung with gold cloth, we drink from emerald-studded chalices and yet we are prisoners.
This was my first introduction to the splendor that was India and I have to say it was great! Kathryn Lasky obviously did her research and included many little details that tween readers will love, however I cannot and will not comment on the accuracy of Jahanara: Princess of Princesses. Unlike with ancient Egypt and ancient Rome, I know next to nothing about India and I’m certainly not about to pretend I do.
Jahanara herself is a very good character that many readers will look up to. She believes that women in India have no power, but eventually she is taught that she was wrong. She has family troubles, like many people do and worries constantly about the radical religious streak she sees in her older brother.
Political intrigue, romance, war and death make Jahanara: Princess of Princesses a bit more mature than many of the other books in The Royal Diaries, so I would recommend it for older tweens and young teens. However, there really isn’t all that much to worry about because the violence isn’t explicit and there is no sex (obviously).
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.
The Secret War by Matt Myklusch
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
Jack Blank is living the dream as a celebrity superhero-in-training in the Imagine Nation. Unfortunately, Jack’s dream has a nightmare lurking under the surface—a shocking connection to the enemy super-soldier Revile, and a deadly Rüstov plot he can’t tell anyone about…not even his closest friends.
When the heroes of the Imagine Nation discover that an attack by Rüstov sleeper agents is imminent, Jack is forced to trust his friends in a race against the clock to fight back mass hysteria, find the enemy spies, and thwart the Rüstov plans in time to prevent a devastating invasion.
Full disclosure: After reading my review of The Accidental Hero and seeing that I loved the first book, Matt Myklusch sent me The Secret War, the second book, to review as I saw fit.
With that cleared up, let me say that The Secret War was fascinating. Jack has grown more as a character over the year after the events of The Accidental Hero and it’s not all for the better. He finds it hard to trust people, even his friends, with his horrible secret about the Rüstov and Revile. This, in many authors’ hands, would make him completely unlikeable, but Matt Myklusch managed to pull things off by showing the reader just how much pressure Jack is under.
One of the best things about The Secret War is that we learn so much more about the Imagine Nation. Matt Myklusch takes readers on a journey outside the city itself, which was the only place we saw in the first book. This journey outside of Jack’s comfort zone was definitely interesting because it shows just how much effort was put into world-building.
With an unpredictable plot, incredible world-building and sympathetic, three dimensional characters, there’s really nothing more you can ask for in a YA novel. Well, there is one thing: it’s aimed at boys. Yes, the oft-neglected male demographic in YA can finally have a great new series to read! And the best part? Girls can enjoy this book too.
I give this book 5/5 stars.