"PENDRAGON Prequel 1" review

First of all, this book is a toughie to name. It's officially listed as PENDRAGON: Before the War-- The Travelers Book One, but that's a really, really, REALLY stupid title. So in this review, I'll just call it Prequel 1. It makes things easier. It's the first of three Travelers books, and just came out this week. Now it's only 250 pages long, so it didn't take long to read.

Prequel 1 shows a glimpse of Halla before the events of the PENDRAGON series, before Uncle Press took Bobby Pendragon on that fateful motorcycle ride the day of Bobby's big basketball game (try saying that three times fast). In fact, it's the only book in the series where the protagonist and title character is absent.

Kasha, a klee from Eelong, is on the brink of finging her plade in the world. She's good at her job, and a talented player on the Wippen court. But she is challenged to see things a different way after a gar named Press talks to her father and tells him of something greater than himself. What if the gars really do have feelings? Will she bring her team down in her attempts to make wippen easier for the gars?

Gunny Van Dyke, who works at a hotel in First Earth Manhatten, has just become a part of something dangerous. A friend of his was gunned down, and another friend is being accused of committing the murder. Now Gunny has to watch over the deceased friend's teenage son, as well as find out who really killed his friend. He just has to hope the search doesn't kill him.

Vo Spader, who just graduated from the aquaneer academy on Cloral, has gotten a choice assignment: working on the ship Grallion. But there are some problems. First, he has to work alongside a rival student in his new job. And those conflicts are hurting him in his job. Worse still, Grallion gets attacked by raiders, and he and his rival are the only ones left. Talk about a tum-tigger!

Prequel 1 wasn't actually written by D. J. MacHale, for he is still hard at work making sure The Soldiers of Halla is ready for release on May 12. Each prequel was written by a different author-- this one's was Carla Jablonsky, who I've never heard of or read anything by before. But she does a very good job of channeling MacHale, keeping the style consistent, adding to the world while carefully making sure that characters act as they should. Prequel 1 was a pleasure to read, and I'm looking forward to the release of Prequel 2, set to come out late February.

My rating: 8.5/10

"Deadfall" review

Robert Liparulo is one of those writers I wish I'd found a long time ago. But I'm getting closer to being caught up on his works. I've only got two published ones left: Deadfall and Comes a Horseman, his debut novel. Now, the Barnes & Noble I went to only had the former of these titles, so I've gotten to read it first. Here we go:

Deadfall is the story of John Hutchinson, known to his friends as Hutch. Hutch and his friends decide to go camping up in the beautiful Canadian wilderness after a long year of troubles: divorce, depression, job loss, etc. They're going to spent their 10 days hunting and living on the land (easier than you might think, since cell phones don't work up there). No distractions.

That is, until Hutch is attacked by a group of people in a yellow Hummer who are testing the ultimate weapon-- which I'm not going to tell you about, since its full implications are something the reader needs to uncover. All I'll say is that it lends itself to some truly explosive scenes.

Hutch and his friends run for the nearby town of Fiddler Falls for safety, but there they find that the townspeople are being kept hostage. Some have already been killed. So now it's up to Hutch and co. to rely on their survival skills to liberate Fiddler Falls without becoming just a smudge on the map.

Liparulo's writing is great, with realistic characters and dialogue set in intense and surreal conditions, and it makes the nearly-500-page-long book go by in a heartbeat (Well, okay, several heartbeats. By the end, your heart is beating pretty fast.) He can be welcomed into the highest company of suspense writers, alongside Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti. I loved it!

On and there's a sequel coming out in March. It's called Deadlock. I can't wait. I guess I'll find a way to wait somehow (*cough* Comes a Horseman *cough*).

My rating: 9.5/10

Tattoo Reviews

When I was at my local bookstore, I perused the clearance section and found a couple of hardbacks for $4 each. Needless to say, this was a deal too good to pass up. So I bought them. The Black Tattoo by Sam Enthoven and Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling by D.M. Cornish will now be reviewed right here, so you can see which Tattoo to get (no pun intended).

The Black Tattoo: Jack knows his friend Charlie is the embodiment of cool, even though he's going through some tough times (his dad's having an affair). So when Charlie gets a moving black tattoo on his back, causing him and Jack to be recruited into a secret organization whose goal is to fight the demon Scourge, he's just all the cooler. Especially since the tattoo gives him magical powers and the ability to do kung-fu like a master. But the tattoo seems to have a darker side, so he, Jack, and the members of the Brotherhood must find a way to stop the Scourge from bringing Hell on earth-- literally.

Now I have to hand it to Sam Enthoven. For a first-time author, he's got a lot of creativity, and the writing is brisk, fun, and easy to get sucked into. But the book just got a little, well, odd, for my taste, and I'm not entirely sure I'd read a sequel if there was one. It was worth reading once, and it was worth the $4 I spent on it.

My rating: 6/10

Monster Blood Tattoo: Foundling: The first in a massive trilogy, Foundling plunges readers right into the Half-Continent, a world just out of reach from our own, a world filled with interesting characters and escapades. Cornish started fleshing out his world in 1993, so the idea's about 16 years old now (give or take a few months). And it's good. The story starts with Rossamund, a boy with a girl's name, who is finally about to leave Madam Opera's, the foundlingery where he's lived all his life. He's been told that being a vinegaroon is the perfect occupation, but instead he gets chosen to be a Lamplighter. However, the journey to even start his new career is beyond difficult, and he meets bizarre and captivating characters along the way, such as Europe and the villainous Poundinch.

A telltale sign of how big the world is can be found in the 100+ page long Explicarium in the back of the book, which also contains eight pages of maps. The Half-Continent is HUGE, and we've only just started to explore it. And, thanks to Cornish's excellent writing, that's a good thing.

Oh, and don't forget to wear your hat.

My rating: 9/10

Best Books of 2008 (in my humble opinion)

Best Debut: Mistborn-- The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson*

Runner-Up: House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo*

Best Title: PENDRAGON: Raven Rise by D. J. MacHale*

Runner-Up: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins*

Best Series Starter: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Runner-Up: House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo

Best Fantasy World: Mistborn-- The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

Runner-Up: Leven Thumps and the Wrath of Ezra by Obert Skye*

Best Whimsy: The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling*

Runner-Up: Children of the Lamp-- The Eye of the Forest by P. B. Kerr

Best Christian Fiction: Sinner by Ted Dekker*

Runner-Up: House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo

Best Movie Adaptation: The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black**

Runner-Up: Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis**

Best Fight Scene: Isle of Fire by Wayne Thomas Batson*

Runner-Up: Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke*

Best Penultimate Novel: Brisingr by Christopher Paolini*

Runner-Up: PENDRAGON: Raven Rise by D. J. MacHale

Best Finale: Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke

Runner-Up: Artemis Fowl-- The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer

Best "To be continued..." Moment: PENDRAGON: Raven Rise by D. J. MacHale

Runner-Up: TIE!!!

Gatekeepers by Robert Liparulo* and The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan*

Book I'm Looking Forward to Most Next Year: The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

Runner-Up: TIE!!!

PENDRAGON: The Soldiers of Halla by D. J. MacHale and Erec Rex: The Search for Truth by Kaza Kingsley

Author of the Year: Patrick Rothfuss (read his blog and you'll understand why)

Runner-Up: Brandon Sanderson

Book of the Year: Sinner by Ted Dekker

Runner-Up: PENDRAGON: Raven Rise by D. J. MacHale

Honorable Mentions:

Adam by Ted Dekker*

Charlie Bone and the Shadow by Jenny Nimmo

The Indigo King by James A. Owen*

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson*

Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, and Chaos (The Lost Books) by Ted Dekker*

Watcher in the Woods by Robert Liparulo*

*denotes true literary merit

**denotes a really good movie

Merry Christmas!... and some reviews for you!

The day has come, at long last!

Here are a few quick reviews:

Germ by Robert Liparulo: A deadly strain of Ebola has been modified so it will target specific people. Be very afraid. Highly recommended.

My rating: 9/10

Dreamhouse Kings-- House of Dark Shadows by Robert Liparulo: The old Victorian fixer-upper the King family moves into turns out to have a few mysterious (and dangerous) secrets. Even better than Germ.

My rating: 9.5/10

Children of the Lamp (whole series) by P. B. Kerr: John and Phillipa Gaunt find out they're djinn, and many exciting adventures follow. It gets better and better as it goes along. Definately worth a read if you loved Harry Potter (as I did).

My ratings:
The Akhenaten Adventure: 7/10
The Blue Djinn of Babylon: 7.5/10
The Cobra King of Kathmandu: 8/10
The Day of the Djinn Warriors: 8.5/10
The Eye of the Forest: 9/10

And Don't Forget...

I'll be posting the 2008 2nd Annual Writer's Notebook "Best Books of the Year" post early January 2009!

This was a great year for books, and there were some great award opportunities I saw when reading. I'll be reading a couple more books before 2008 ends for my own consideration. We've had everything from PENDRAGON's penultimate volume, to Artemis Fowl's final adventure, to high-profile books like Brisingr anf The Tales of Beedle the Bard (yes, I've read it). There will be categories as follows:

Best Debut (this includes if I'm reading the first book I've read from the author, and it was published in at least one edition this year)

Best Title

Best Series Starter

Best Sequel

Best Fantasy World

Best Whimsy (yes, I know)

Best Christian Fiction

Best Movie Adaptation

Best Fight Scene

Best Penultimate Novel

Best Finale

Best "To be Continued..." Moment

Book I'm Looking Forward to Most Next Year

Author of the Year

Book of the Year

Don't forget! Watch the skies... or something like that.

"Mistborn: The Well of Ascension" review

Before I dive into this review, let me warn you of this: the review of Well of Ascension (from now on referred to as WoA) will go deep into spoiler territory from Book 1, entitled Mistborn: The Final Empire,or Mistborn if you're short on time.

WoA picks up a year after where FE (heh, iron, metal joke) left off and where most fantasies end. The Ocean's 11-esque scheme worked exactly as Kelsier intended, including the death of a major character, and Vin, a Mistborn girl herself, killed the Lord Ruler and ended his thousand-year reign. Now she and Elend Venture, the man she loves, can rebuild the world, better than it was before.

Only it's not so simple.

Suddenly, three different armies attack the city of Luthadel, one of which is led by Elend's father, Straff. Not only that, but Elend begins to realize that giving power to the people just might not be the best thing just yet, especially since he isn't acting very king-like. And Vin starts to see phantoms in the mist-- one, an enemy Mistborn, and the other made entirely from mist.

The mists are starting to come out in the day now. And they kill people at random. Vin is on the verge of believing that the Lord Ruler may have been doing something right. And she, not he is the Hero of Ages. That's a lot on everyone's respective plates.

Maybe killing the Lord Ruler was the easy part, after all...

WoA pulls itself out of the muck that is normally reserved for the middle volumes in trilogies to deliver a sequel that is every bit as good as the first. In fact, some things are better. The book is bursting with action, suspense, romance, intrigue, and revelations, and I've just scraped the surface of the plot for this description. It's a satisfying read on all counts, and while it doesn't end as completely as FE, it gives enough closure to make it feel less cheesy and to make the wait for the time when I'm able to sink my teeth into The Hero of Ages, Book 3 in the trilogy, slightly more bearable.

My rating: 9.5/10