Category: Book Review
Ark Angel by Anthony Horowitz
(Cover picture courtesy of BRHS Book Reviews.)
The sniper’s bullet nearly killed him. But Alex Rider, teen superspy, survived—just in time to intercept a kidnapping of billionaire Nikolai Drevin’s son. Drevin’s been targeted by a group of deadly eco-terrorists who think nothing of killing millions to achieve their goals. Unless Alex can stop them in time…
This sixth volume in the Alex Rider series is pretty much the same as the previous five books: Alex goes out on a mission to save the world and succeeds. Again. And all at the tender age of fourteen. Throw in some cliché characters, a few plot twists and a cliffhanger at the end to keep readers hooked and you’ve got the perfect James Bond knockoff series.
Anthony Horowitz really is a talented writer, especially when it comes to writing action novels, but he seriously needs to tone down the cliché. I know that most of his audience, being tweens and young teens, does not care that the Alex Rider series is predictable, but Horowitz could at least make an effort to change things up once in a while. True, I would rather that young adults be reading something rather than nothing at all, but that’s no excuse for lazy characterization.
As for the plot, it’s incredibly fast-paced with a couple of twists and a good cliffhanger at the end. Anthony Horowitz balances description, interior monologue and dialogue perfectly for an action novel. More experienced readers will be able to predict the ending, but then again I think everyone knows that Alex is going to save the world. The main reason for reading this book is the heart pounding journey, rather than the predictable destination.
I give this book 3/5 stars.
The Eagle and the Raven by Pauline Gedge
(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)
She was the flame-haired Boudicca, Queen of the Britons, whose passion and pride lit up the mysterious world of the ancient Celts. From the valleys and mountains of still barbaric Britain to the classic grandeur and corruption of Claudius’s Rome, here is the unforgettable drama of a warrior queen torn between love and destiny.
When I read this book I was, of course, expecting it to be about Boudicca. The blurb and the cover made me expect it to be an epic saga about the warrior queen who led the doomed rebellion against Rome. Yet out of the 892 pages of my edition of The Eagle and the Raven, I would say that less than 200 of them are actually about Boudicca. Most of the novel is about Caradoc (usually called Caratacus), the man who led a failed rebellion before she did. Boudicca’s actual rebellion doesn’t start until the last 100 pages, which requires some creative pace-changing on Pauline Gedge’s part to get through all of the rebellion in such a short amount of page space.
I truly would not recommend this novel. It’s one of Gedge’s early novels, but it does not match the quality of Child of the Morning at all. She does not do as well with ancient Britain as she does with ancient Egypt, so I can certainly see why she returned to ancient Egypt after she finished this novel. The Eagle and the Raven is long and meandering, without any hint of the tension that is present in all of her other novels. I truly had to struggle to finish this novel, something that I don’t do often, no matter how boring the novel is.
The main characters in The Eagle and the Raven are very well-developed. Caradoc is believable and grows through the novel and despite her brief appearance, Boudicca develops in an incredibly short amount of time. However, secondary characters are somewhat neglected, especially Aricia, who had the potential to be a really amazing villain but ended up coming off as your cliché evil seductress. Venutius just came across as an idiotic, brow-beaten man, but there were obvious attempts to give him depth, which failed spectacularly in my eyes.
My overall impression? I’m sticking to Pauline Gedge’s Egyptian novels.
I give this book 1.5/5 stars.
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer
(Cover picture courtesy of Book Advisers.)
Artemis Fowl is going straight—as soon as he pulls of the most brilliant criminal feat of his career…
At least, that’s the plan when he attempts to sell his C Cube, a supercomputer built from stolen fairy technology, to Jon Spiro, one of the most dangerous businessmen in the world. But Spiro springs a trap—stealing the C Cube and mortally injuring Butler. Artemis’s only hope of saving his loyal bodyguard is to employ fairy magic, so once again he must contact his older rival, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon fairy police.
It’s going to take a miracle to save Butler, and Artemis’s luck may have just run out…
Despite its sad beginning, The Eternity Code is my favourite out of all of the books in the Artemis Fowl series. In the third book, Eoin Colfer has given Artemis a significant amount of character development, raised the stakes even higher than before and added just enough humour to balance it all out.
First off, the characters in The Eternity Code are amazing. We see the more vulnerable side of Artemis, the softer side of Holly and more of the obnoxious side of Foaly. Characters who have only made minor appearances in the first two novels, like Juliet Butler and Commander Root get a lot more page time and one of my favourite characters, the kleptomaniac dwarf Mulch Diggums is back. Mulch Diggums’ biting wit (pardon the pun) takes centre stage in the scene where he taunts Jon Spiro’s two big dumb henchmen. I love this line in particular:
“Mulch groaned. If stupidity were a crime, these two would be public enemies one and two.” (Pg 273)
A fast-paced plot, amazing characters and great humour…what more can you ask for? Well, after the cliffhanger ending, you’ll be begging for the fourth book, Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception.
I give this book 5/5 stars.
The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
(Cover picture courtesy of Wikipedia.)
Percy Jackson’s seventh-grade year has been surprisingly quiet. Not a single monster has set foot on his Yew York prep-school campus. But when an innocent game of dodgeball among Percy and his classmates turns into a death match against an ugly gang of cannibal giants, things get…well, ugly. And the unexpected arrival of his friend Annabeth brings more bad news: the magical borders that protect Camp Half-Blood have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and unless a cure is found, the only safe haven for demigods will be destroyed.
In this fresh, funny and wildly popular follow-up to The Lightning Thief, Percy and his friends must journey into the Sea of Monsters to save their camp. But first, Percy will discover a stunning new secret about his family—one that makes him question whether being claimed as Poseidon’s son is an honor or simply a cruel joke.
Filled with more plot twists than the first book, Percy Jackson fans will love The Sea of Monsters. To me, it was even better than The Lightning Thief because we see the relationships between Percy, Annabeth and Grover develop much more. And we also learn that Percy isn’t the only living son of Poseidon, which was one of the better surprises.
One of the things I love most about Rick Riordan’s writing is how he seamlessly blends the Greek myths into his novel without achieving an obnoxious level of beating-you-over-the-head-with-a-stick ‘hinting’. It gives readers who know nothing about Greek myths some background information, but it also has more subtle allusions to Greek myths. One of these is when Grover his weaving but unraveling his day’s work every night to avoid the cyclops finding out he is really a man. This is an allusion to the myth of Penelope, Odysseus’ wife who wove a burial shroud for her father-in-law, the elderly Laertes, and unraveled it every night. She had told her suitors she would choose one when she finished, but she had no intention of marrying again and chose to stay faithful to Odysseus. So there really is something in here for everyone, whether you know a lot or next to nothing about the Greek myths.
With a fast-paced plot and believable characters, I can’t find much to complain about in The Sea of Monsters. It doesn’t quite live up to all of the hype surrounding the series, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good book. And since it helps get kids and teenagers interested in reading, I’m all for it.
I give this book 4/5 stars.
Icefire by Chris d’Lacey
(Cover picture courtesy of Chris D’Lacey’s website.)
In the exciting sequel to The Fire Within, David must uncover the truth behind the mysterious clay dragons. David’s quest is to discover the link between the fire of the last known dragon on Earth and the icy regions of the Arctic. It’s a journey that will change his life forever, a journey that will bring him to the very heart of the legend of dragons and the mysterious, ancient secret of the icefire…
It’s rare that the second book in a series is better than the first, but this is one of those exceptions. Now that the story has been set up, Chris d’Lacey is able to focus more on his writing and characters. And this new ability to focus on the basics of the novel really makes Icefire an excellent read.
David is given a lot more depth than before and he also acts more like a college student than a kid in this book. We actually get to see him go to college and meet his mysterious professor, Dr. Bergstrom, who is certainly not all that he seems to be. Mix in quirky and captivating characters like Zanna and “Aunty Gwyneth” and Icefire contains a large variety of characters. The climax will keep readers on the edge of their seats as new allegiances are revealed and secrets are discovered, but it is the cliffhanger ending that will make readers eager to get their hands on the next book, Fire Star.
In addition to a higher quality of writing and better characters, we learn a whole lot more about the origins of the Pennykettles’ unusual clay dragons. This detail was neglected in the first book, but it takes centre stage here in Icefire, much to my delight. I admit that I am way too old to be reading this children’s series, but Chris d’Lacey’s series really is enjoyable for all ages because it has a surprising amount of depth, considering the age of its target audience. The books grow ever more complex as the series progresses, and for that, I tip my hat to the author for placing trust in his readers’ intelligence.
I give this book 4/5 stars.