Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Today's review will be about:

THE SUMMARY

TWO MEN LOVE HER
THE WHOLE LAND FEARS HER
ONLY SHE CAN SAVE THEM ALL
In a world without magic, an assassin is summoned to the castle. She comes not to kill the vicious king who rules from his throne of glass (roll credits) but to win her freedom. If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she will be released from prison to serve as the King's Champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien.
The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. And a princess from a faraway land will befriend her. But something evil dwells in the castle - and it's here to kill. When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena's fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival - and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.

MY REVIEW

I'm sure some of you are salivating over that summary like I was when I first picked this book up, and I am more than happy to say that this book is everything that you would expect and more. The competition was interesting and when the murders started happening the story shot forward and I found myself reading chapter after chapter with no concept of what was going on around me.

A fan's interpretation of Celaena's unforgettable looks.

I immediately fell in love with the main character, Celaena Sardothien. She is witty, flirty, dangerous, and has a past that we only touch on in the first book. Not only that, but she has some qualities that I would describe as feminine, even though she had spent a year breaking her back in Endovier's mines. And to top it all off, no matter what she goes through she can always get back to smiling when the dirty work is done. She is such an interesting character, and to say that she attracts the most interesting people in the palace is an understatement.

A character profile for Dorian Havilliard, or the Prince.

First, let's talk about the Crown Prince. He's set up in the beginning as the spoiled Prince Charming who only wants Celaena to compete for him to go behind his father's back. However, the more you get to know him, the less he fits into the Prince Charming mold. He speaks against his father regularly, has some very awkward moments, and is willing to put aside his duty as a prince to be a better person over all. He is nothing at all like his father, the man who kills people in his sleep (just for fun). To be honest, it's surprising that he didn't come out to be just like his parents.

Here's some pretty good fanart of Dorian and Chaol (the Captain of the Guard) by deesney

Next, we have the Captain of the Guard, who is the one who escorts Celaena from the mines and into the Prince's presence, and then protects everyone else from the assassin's threat. He is very guarded, not only of the people that he is supposed to protect, but also of his own feelings. He tries to keep the Prince away from Celaena's affections because of her dangerous nature, and yet it seems that when he is around our assassin, he lets his thoughts and feelings show more and more. This makes him more and more interesting as you go on.

Some fanart of Celaena and Elena, Celaena's spiritual protection in this book

All in all, if you enjoy a book with witty comebacks, action and suspense, mysteries to be solved, then this is the book for you. Just make sure that you don't have anything too important to do while you read it.. ;)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sarah J. Maas is the New York Times bestselling author of the Throne of Glass series: Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, and Heir of Fire, and the series' prequel The Assassin's Blade. A New York native, Sarah currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and dog.
www.sarahjmaas.com
www.facebook.com/throneofglass
@SJMaas

A LITTLE EXCERPT

""And you're Celaena Sardothien, Adarlan's greatest assassin. Perhaps the greatest assassin in all of Erilea." He studied her tensed body before he raised his dark, well-groomed brows. "You seem a little young." He rested his elbows on his thighs. "I've heard some rather fascinating stories about you. How do you find Endovier after living in such excess in Rifthold?"
Arrogant ass.
"I couldn't be happier," she crooned as her jagged nails cut into her palms.
"After a year, you seem to be more or less alive. I wonder how that's possible when the average life expectancy in these mines is a month."
"Quite a mystery, I'm sure." She batted her eyelashes and readjusted her shackles as if they were lace gloves.
The Crown Prince turned to his captain. "She has somewhat of a tongue, doesn't she? And she doesn't sound like a member of the rabble."
"I should hope not!" Celaena interjected.
"Your Highness," Chaol Westfall snapped at her.
"What?" Celaena asked.
"You will address him as 'Your Highness.' "
Celaena gave him a mocking smile, and then returned her attention to the prince.
Dorian Havilliard, to her surprise, laughed. "You do know that you're now a slave, don't you? Has your sentence taught you nothing?"
Had her arms been unshackled, she would have crossed them. "I don't see how working in a mine can teach you anything beyond how to use a pickax."
"And you never tried to escape?"
A slow, wicked smile spread across her lips. "Once."
The prince's brows rose, and he turned to Captain Westfall. "I wasn't told that."
Celaena glanced over her shoulder at Chaol, who gave his prince an apologetic look. "The Chief Overseer informed me this afternoon that there was one incident. Three months-"
"Four months," she interrupted.
"Four months," Chaol said, "after Sardothien arrived, she attempted to flee."
She waited for the rest of the story, but he was clearly finished. "That's not even the best part!"
"There's a 'best part'?" the Crown Prince said, face caught between a wince and a smile.
Chaol glared at her before speaking. "There's no hope of escaping from Endovier. Your father made sure that each of Endovier's sentries could shoot a squirrel from two hundred paces away. To attempt to flee is suicide."
"But you're alive," the prince said to her.
Celaena's smile faded as the memory struck her. "Yes."
"What happened?" Dorian asked.
Her eyes turned cold and hard. "I snapped."
"That's all you have to offer as an explanation for what you did?" Captain Westfall demanded. "She killed her overseer and twenty-three sentries before they caught her. She was a finger's tip from the wall before the guards knocked her unconscious."
"So?" Dorian said.
Celaena seethed. "So? Do you know how far the wall is from the mines?" He gave her a blank look. She closed her eyes and sighed dramatically. "From my shaft, it was three hundred sixty-three feet. I had someone measure."
"So?" Dorian repeated.
"Captain Westfall, how far do slaves make it from the mines when they try to escape?"
"Three feet," he muttered. "Endovier sentries usually shoot a man down before he moves three feet."
The Crown Prince's silence was not her desired effect. "You knew it was suicide," he said at last, the amusement gone.
Perhaps it had been a bad idea for her to bring up the wall. "Yes," she said.
"But they didn't kill you.""

pages 9-11

Well, that's all for now!

See you next year!

~Sea-Solo

Tomb Raider: The Ten Thousand Immortals by Dan Abnett & Nik Vincent

Today's review will be about:

THE SUMMARY

IN THE WAKE OF YAMATAI'S ENDURING EVIL, LARA IS THRUST INTO A DANGEROUS WEB OF MYSTERY AND INTRIGUE.

Lara Croft wants only to put her horrifying ordeal no Yamatai island behind her. Her modest wish shatters as she's plunged into a frantic race to save Sam. Desperate for a remedy, Lara searches for anything that could help her. A wisp of hope arising from a myth gives Lara purpose: the story of an ancient and mysterious artifact that could heal her friend, and possibly help explain the supernatural events she witnessed on Yamatai.

However, Lara is not alone in her pursuit of the treasure. A nefarious magnate, a shadow society, and lethal henchmen will stop at nothing to exploit the powerful relic for their own ends. The hunt drives Lara across the globe, through a twisted web of conspiracy, suspicious contacts, and life-or-death intrigue, as she seeks salvation for her friend and the truth behind the legendary talisman.

MY REVIEW

I'm sure that many of you were in my shoes when you heard that a new Tomb Raider game was coming out; I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy! A new Lata Croft, younger than the others, with actual realistically sized boobs?! Count me in!

The first Lara vs. the new Lara. It's amazing to see how much technology has advanced!

I've been a Lara Croft fan since a very young age. I used to watch my dad play the Tomb Raider games, dodging boulders, climbing up cliffs, and even admiring the amazing scenery (when we weren't defending ourselves from bad guys and animals, that is), and I always had time to watch him discover new tombs and artifacts that held a part of Earth's history. I was beyond delighted when I played the game, finding that Lara and her adventures were almost exactly how I remembered them. (I didn't remember them being THAT intense, though.)

"I hate tombs..."
Nice little joke here... :)

It must be no secret to you now that I loved the new game, so when I heard that there was going to be a book about the time following Yamatai, you bet your bucket I ran to the bookstore to secure myself a copy.

This is from a comic book that also came out and is also about Lara after Yamatai. The art style is amazing, and it tells an amazing story.

I'm pleased to announce that this book has everything that a Tomb Raider book should; action, adventure, persistent bad guys, and an artifact that will take your breath away.
Lara's state of mind was the thing that caught me off guard when I read this book. Any loud noise could send her into a state of shock, unable to do much of anything until it passes. I guess I didn't think much about what Lara was going through after she crashed on Yamatai. Since I was only experiencing it through the screen, I wasn't able to see that the things that she was doing would make anyone go insane, let alone have PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).

This is part of the video game. Yes, that is blood, and yes, it is disgusting.

The only thing that I didn't like about this book was the ending. It seemed to come too easily, and I think that they could have easily made another 100 pages or so (or even another book) instead of ending it. So if you are going to read this book, just keep that in mind.
In conclusion, if you are a Tomb Raider fan like me, you need to read this book. Bad ending aside, I couldn't seem to put this book down. I even missed my stop on the bus one day because I was so stuck in its world!

A LITTLE EXCERPT

"The sound came without any warning. The sharp, loud bang of a rifle firing a single shot at close quarters.
Lara knew the sound. The sudden shock of it shattered her peace of mind.
Her heart started to hammer hard in her chest. She could feel the sweat break out on her forehead and between her shoulder blades. Her throat felt constricted. Her hands began to flutter as she closed the Book. It dropped to the floor, forgotten.
"Please, no!" she said to the empty room. "Not again. I don't need this again." She got up and started to pace. She tried to swallow, but her mouth was dry. She shook out her tingling hands. Her chest felt impossibly tight.
"Damn it, Lara, breathe," she gasped. "Don't let yourself-"
Too late.
She was back on the island. On Yamatai. A hellish storm raged all around her. Lightning flashed. Thunder roared. The rain fell in sheets, hard as hail. She wove her way through the jungle. Sam was missing. All she could think of was her friend. She had to find her friend.
As she approached the monastery, a great fork of lightning lit up the corpses of dozens... hundreds of men. A thunderclap rolled in across the ocean and reached a crescendo right over Lara's head, crashing around her, deafening her, and leaving a tang of ozone in the air.
When the air shock had passed, she studied the bodies for a moment. Recent kills, still bloody, lay on top of older, skeletal remains. She tried not to think about how they had met their deaths. She threaded a path through them and entered the monastery."

Well, that's all for now!

See you next time!

~Sea-Solo

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Watch the trailer for the new (2015) Tomb Raider game!

Star Wars the Old Republic: Revan by Drew Karpyshyn

Today's review will be about:

THE SUMMARY

There's something out there: a juggernaut of evil bearing
down to crush the Republic - unless one lone Jedi,
shunned and reviled, can stop it.
Hero, traitor, conqueror, villain, savior - the man called Revan has been all of these. He left Coruscant a Jedi, on a mission to defeat the Mandalorians. He returned a Sith disciple, bent on destroying the Republic. The Jedi Council gave Revan his life back, but the price of redemption was the loss of his memories. All that's left are nightmares - and deep, abiding fear. What happened beyond the Outer Rim that Revan can't quite remember or entirely forget? One thing he's certain of: Something dark is plotting to destroy the very existence of the Republic. With no idea how to identify the threat, let alone stop it, Revan may be doomed to fail. For he's never faced a more powerful and diabolic enemy. But only death can stop him from trying.

MY REVIEW

First things first: I would highly recommend that you play the video games Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and maybe even Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords before reading this book. That way, you'll better understand the characters and the world that they live in before starting out on this particular journey with them. (Once again, I recommend it, but you don't have to if you don't want to.)
I was first introduced to this cast of characters through KOTOR, and one of the main characters (Carth Onasi) was actually my very first video game crush. I remember playing this video game non-stop for hours, wandering the many levels of Taris, trying my hand at heroism, becoming a Jedi, and eventually saving the galaxy. One of the things that made it interesting even to this day is the fact that you can carve your own path through the galaxy, choose light or dark, mold and ignore whatever relationships you like. (Of course, I always chose Carth to have the relationship with... ;) )
But this isn't supposed to be a video game review! It's a book review!
Okay, okay. We'll talk about the book now.
We start out the book where the KOTOR game left it. Revan is in Coruscant with his wife, Bastila (I fangirl squealed a little too hard when I read this), the galaxy is at peace after leaving Malak's dark clutches, and all of Revan's friends (including Canderous Ordo, Mission Vao, Zaalbar, T3-M4, Jolee Bindo, HK-47, Carth Onasi, and Juhani) are going on with their lives, but Revan can't shake the feeling that something bad is coming. Every night he dreams of a world covered in storm clouds, a dream that he's sure is a memory, one that he will have to go to the farthest reaches of the galaxy to remember.
(That really sounded like a book back summary. Wow.)
The first chapter (other than the Prologue) doesn't start with Revan. Rather, we're introduced to a new character, a full-blooded Sith named Lord Scourge. (Now, I'm not talking about the dark side of the force, oh no! The Sith are a species that originated on Korriban, with red skin and tentacles.) In the beginning of the book, he is introduced as being ruthless and cunning, unwilling to show mercy to anyone who gets in his way. Through him, you can really see into the mind of the Sith (dark side force now), and see how their society works and thrives without drawing the attention of the Republic. Though I disliked him in the beginning, his wit and determination makes him a very good character in general, despite his dark side tendencies. And, he added just enough of spice and shock to make this book good enough to eat. (Om nom nom nom)

A photo of Lord Scourge as he appears in Star Wars: The Old Republic

Revan is, of course, still a main character (The hero of the Galaxy isn't just going to sit around and wait for wars to happen), and he travels around with T3-M4 and Canderous, in the ever-famous Ebon Hawk, trying to figure out where all of the visions he's been having were from. You get to take a step into his past, find out why he turned to the dark side, and you get a feel at the man that he used to be before losing his memory. Not only that, but you get a peek into Canderous's past as well, discovering where he came from and why he left.
The book is actually written by the same guy who wrote some of KOTOR and KOTOR2, so as you can expect, he knows his stuff. His writing really pulled me in, so I would recommend reading this when you don't have a stop to get off of at, because I almost missed mine.
 Other than all of the above, I really loved stepping back into the world that I have been (basically) obsessing over since I was in Middle School, seeing what some of my favorite characters were up to after KOTOR ended, and just having some alone time in a galaxy that I've loved since childhood. If you like Star Wars, and want to see what the galaxy was like WAY (I mean 3,954 years) before A New Hope, I would highly recommend this book. Trust me, I would write about it all day if I could. but instead I'm going to keep this one as short as I can so that you can get off of your chair sooner and go get this book at your local bookstore.
It's that good.

A LITTLE EXCERPT

"The Galactic Market on Coruscant was as busy as ever, but nobody paid any attention to Revan as he made his way through the crowds. Almost two years had passed since he had been proclaimed the savior of the  galaxy. Though the Senate had awarded him its highest honor, the Cross of Glory, in a ceremony broadcast across the HoloNet, and his name was well remembered, his ordinary and rather unremarkable features had faded from public memory. In the aftermath of the presentation he had become a reclusive hero, eschewing public appearances and declining interview requests from any and all media outlets. He had shaved off his beard, and he rarely wore his Jedi robes out in public, making it even less likely anyone would notice him.
He liked being anonymous; it was one of the reasons he had settled on Coruscant. With one trillion people it was easy to blend into the crowd. That was even truer here in the Galactic Market, the most cosmopolitan section of the Republic's capital world. Merchants and shoppers of virtually every known species gathered to conduct commerce in a kaleidoscope of colors, shapes, and sizes. Red-skinned Togrutas intermingled with blue-skinned Twi'leks; diminutive Sullustans haggled with massive Hutts; fish-like Mon Calamari shared the streets with feline Cathar. Among such a diverse and interesting group, nobody paid much attention to a lone human and his astromech droid."

Well, that's all for now!

See you next time!

~Sea-Solo

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Watch the commercial for the game KOTOR! (2003)

Wake by Amanda Hocking

Today's review will be about:

THE SUMMARY

Enter the world of Watersong, a place of breathtaking beauty,
immortal power - and terrifying secrets.
Gemma Fisher seems to have it all - she's carefree, pretty, and falling in love with Alex, the boy next door. He's always been just a friend, but this summer they've taken their relationship to the next level, and now she's falling harder for him every day. But Gemma doesn't know that her ordinary life is about to change forever.
Penn, Lexi, and Thea are strangers in town for the summer - and they've been watching her. Three sisters with mysterious powers, they invite Gemma to join their exclusive circle, and it changes her in ways she never imagined. Suddenly she's stronger, faster, and more beautiful than ever. But her new powers come with a terrifying price. And as she uncovers the truth, she is forced between staying with those she loves - or entering a new world brimming with dark hungers and unimaginable secrets.

MY REVIEW

I actually found this series when I was shopping at Smith's with my mom. I unknowingly picked up the second book, Lullaby, which had a sticker on front that said "signed", and I really liked the back summary, so I got it. You can imagine my surprise when I figured out that I had bought the second one. One year later, and I've finally read the first book! Yay!
Like the summary above says, main character Gemma has it all. A cute, nerdy boyfriend, beautiful looks, a future career in swimming, etc. What the summary doesn't say, however, is how good this book really is. It's got mystery, romance, mythology  (you all know how much I LOVE that!), family drama, and a lot more wrapped up in a well designed spine and cover. (the picture above doesn't show this, but the cover has a layer that makes it look like rays of sun are going through the water. It's pretty to look at.)

This is what the cover looks like IRL.

Let's start with Gemma, our heroine and main gal. She loves to swim, like a LOT. Almost every night she goes down to the bay by her house and swims in the water, and every morning she gets up and goes to swim practice to train for the Olympics. Due to all of this swimming, she has that golden tan that girls would pay for, and blonde streaks through her dark hair from chlorine. Like many teenage heroines, she has a rebellious side, and she brushes aside her family's concerns about her swimming at night. She says that swimming at night is like floating in a cloud, there seems to be no border between sea and sky. I don't know about you, but reading that made me want to drive to a beach and just spend a day watching the tides come in, listen to their soft shhh as they slide along the sand...
-happy sigh- That's the life... :)

This is a poster that you can get from the hardcover version, I think.

Okay! Back to the review!
Gemma has this great older sister named Harper who reminds me a lot of myself. She went all through her school years without a boyfriend, works at a library, and is EXTREMELY protective of her sister. Since their mom got in an accident a couple of years before, Harper has been the mom of the family, from taking care of Gemma and their dad to doing the laundry and cleaning up the house. She even stops during her lunch break to give their dad his lunch that he frequently forgets. Other than Gemma, Alex, and her dad, she has a couple of people that she interacts with. One of them is a guy who lives in a boat near where her dad works, and during the book you really get to understand him better.
On to my personal favorite: Alex. He's been friends with Harper for ten years, ever since he moved into the house next door, but during this book you get to see his and Gemma's relationship really get into the next level. You'll be able to see in the excerpt below just how awkward he is, plus he's a huge nerd, which just makes me love him as a character even more. When Gemma transforms into something else, he's the one that she talks to about it, and that's because you really get the sense that he's one of those people who you can trust to just be yourself around, you don't have to put on a strong face.
All in all, I loved this book and its never-ending ties to the ocean. I'm not usually into romantic dramas or anything like that, but I would say that even if you don't like that sort of book, you should give this one a try. Trust me, it's worth every page.

And yes, I do know how perfect this book is for my blog. It's got waves and ocean, my theme's ocean.... Hahahahaha...

Well done.

A LITTLE EXCERPT

""The stupid piece of junk won't run." Gemma gestured to the rusty compact and stepped over to where Alex stood on his lawn. "I've only had it for three months, and it's dead already."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Alex said. "Do you need help?"
"You know something about cars?" Gemma raised an eyebrow. She had seen him spend plenty of time playing video games or with his nose stuck in a book, but she'd never once seen him under the hood of a car.
Alex smiled sheepishly and lowered his eyes. He had been blessed with tan skin, which made it easier for him to hide his embarrassment, but Gemma knew him well enough to understand that he blushed at almost anything.
"No," he admitted with a small laugh and motioned back to the driveway where his blue Mercury Cougar sat. "But I do have a car on my own."
He pulled his keys out of his pocket and swung them around his finger. For a moment he managed to look slick before the keys flew off his hand and hit him in the chin. Gemma stifled a laugh as he scrambled to pick them up."

Well, that's all for now!

See you next time!

~Sea-Solo

EXTRA! EXTRA!

To find out more about Amanda Hocking and the Watersong series, visit this site:
http://www.worldofamandahocking.com/

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Today's review will be about:

THE SUMMARY

IF YOU AIN'T SCARED, YOU AIN'T HUMAN
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He's surrounded by strangers - boys whose memories are also gone.
NICE TO MEET YA, SHANK. WELCOME TO THE GLADE.
Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It's the only way out - and no one's ever made it through alive.
EVERYTHING IS GOING TO CHANGE
Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever.
And the message she delivers is terrifying.
REMEMBER. SURVIVE. RUN.

MY REVIEW

I've got to be honest, I went into this book with A LOT of skepticism. I'd heard about The Maze Runner from some of my friends, but I didn't think it was all that interesting, or that I would even be interested...
I've never been so wrong.
True, I didn't like the book in the beginning (it was a little slow to start), but as soon as Thomas entered the Maze the first time, I knew I was hooked. I was hooked BAD. What started as "Oh, I'm just going to read this so that I will know if I want to see the movie" quickly turned to "I NEED THE SECOND BOOK."
The Grievers were the thing that shocked and interested me the most about the Maze. I've got this thing about monsters and bad guys, and these ones were good! I'm dead positive that I would be like everyone's favorite character, Chuck, and I would just avoid the Maze and Grievers altogether. NO WAY I would go inside that thing without an extreme need to.

A glimpse of a Griever... wicked little fella!

Not only that, but the book was filled with (what I consider) clever curse words, and clever names for things in general. Poo is klunk, the sleeping/farming/eating area is the Glade, and shuck is commonly used to describe someone (Ex: you shuck-face!). The characters were well-written, they had some dark pasts and you could tell (even if they sometimes didn't know it themselves). Added to that is the mystery of the Maze and the boys that live in it. Why these boys? Why the maze? Who made all of this? Who would be sick enough to do this? The questions, I'm pleased to say, are mostly answered with only a couple left unanswered to continue the story. (Oh how I love the complexity of series plot lines!)
All in all, I liked this book very much, and I cannot wait to see the movie that comes out today (September 19th)!

A LITTLE EXCERPT

"He began his new life standing up, surrounded by cold darkness and stale, dusty air.
Metal ground against metal; a lurching shudder shook the floor beneath him. He fell down at the movement and shuffled backward on his hands and feet, drops of sweat beading on his forehead despite the cool air. His back struck a hard metal wall; he slid along it until he hit the corner of the room. Sinking to the floor, he pulled his legs up tight against his body, hoping his eyes would soon adjust to the darkness.
With another jolt, the room jerked upward like an old lift in a mine shaft.
Harsh sounds of chains and pulleys, like the workings of an ancient steel factory, echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls with a hollow, tinny whine. The lightless elevator swayed back and forth as it ascended, turning the boy's stomach sour with nausea; a smell like burnt oil invaded his senses, making him feel worse. He wanted to cry, but no tears came; he could only sit there, alone, waiting.
My name is Thomas, he thought.
That... that was the only thing he could remember about his life."

Well, that's all for now!

See you next time!

~Sea-Solo

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Watch the official trailer for the movie that just came out! :)

Visit The Maze Runner website to get some WICKED goodies!:
http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/mazerunner/index.php

{A Blast from the Past} Emily the Strange: The Lost Days by Rob Reger and Jessica Gruner

Today's review will be about:

THE SUMMARY

13 Elements you will find in the first Emily the Strange novel:
1. Mystery
2. A beautiful golem
3. Souped-up slingshots
4. Four black cats
5. Amnesia
6. Calamity Poker
7. Angry ponies
8. A shady truant officer
9. Top-13 lists
10. A sandstorm generator
11. Doppelgängers
12. A secret mission
13. Earwigs

"I want YOU
to leave me alone"

MY REVIEW

In true Emily the Strange fashion, I have decided to make a top 13 list instead of my regular routine. So, without further ado, here it is:
1. Black cats
2. A cafe called El Dungeon
3. Golems
4. Cool black rock
5. A traveling magic show
6. Amnesia
7. Easy to read
8. Cool drawings
9. An awesome van
10. Doppelgängers
11. Strange town names
12. Mystery
13. Top 13 lists

But in all seriousness, this book is really fun to read whether you're a little girl in elementary school or a older teen with a love for J.R.R. Tolkien. You will fall in love with the character Earwig, and follow her as she tries to figure out who she is and why she is in a little town called Blackrock.
I am myself a black cat girl, so I loved the cats and the adventures that they led Earwig to, and I also loved all of the "romance" that happened between Raven (the waitress at El Dungeon) and the guys from the traveling magic show.
I'm going to admit something: I envy the kids of today. They have stuff like Monster High, that show that it is okay to be different and like black cats and all of that stuff. When I was growing up, we had Tamagotchi (I think mine's still around my room somewhere) and Barbies to play with, and while the Tamagotchis were fun to play with (and still are), Barbie seemed to teach little girls that loving pink and wearing fancy dresses are the only ways to go in the world. I'm loving all of the different stuff that's coming out, but not to the level of the Bronies.
This book is great for girls (and guys) that are around middle school age and older. :)

"Spring Spring
go away!
I want some rain
so I can Play..."

A LITTLE EXCERPT

OK.
I think I better take some notes, cuz something super strange is happening to me, and I don't know
1. my name
2. anyone else's name
3. where I am
4. how I got here
5. where I live
6. how old I am (am I a kid or just short?)
7. anything I've done since I was born
8. whether I'm a cat person or a dog person
9. whether I actually believe people are either cat people or dog people
10. what might have been written on the eleven pages that were torn out of this notebook
11. why this happened to me
12. how long it's going to last, or
13. what I should do next.

Well, that's all for now!

See you next time!

~Sea-Solo

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Visit the official Emily the Strange website to check out more art, buy some merch, and other cool stuff!:
http://www.emilystrange.com

{A Blast from the Past} Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Today's review is on:

THE SUMMARY

Amy is a cryogenically frozen passenger aboard the spaceship Godspeed. She has left her boyfriend, friends - and planet - behind to join her parents as a member of Project Ark Ship. Amy and her parents believe that they will wake on a new planet, Centauri-Earth, three hundred years in the future. But fifty years before Godspeed's scheduled landing, cryo chamber 42 is mysteriously unplugged, and Amy is violently woken from her frozen slumber.

Someone tried to murder her.

Now, Amy is caught inside a tiny world where nothing makes sense. Godspeed's 2,312 passengers have forfeited all control to Eldest, a tyrannical and frightening leader. And Elder, Eldest's rebellious teenage heir, is both fascinated with Amy and eager to discover whether he has what it takes to lead.

Amy desperately wants to trust Elder. But should she put her faith in a boy who has never seen life outside the ship's cold metal walls? All Amy knows is that she and Elder must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets before whoever woke her tries to kill again.

A map of the interior of Godspeed.

MY REVIEW
I had already read this book once before and loved it, and the second time around was no different. I was once again swept away into the world of Godspeed with Amy, Elder, and Harley. This book will take you on a wild chase, making you think about who could've done something so horrible as unplug a frozen person when they have no way to get out, to survive. The answer will shock you, just as it shocked me, even the second time around.
There are a lot of things that are shocking about the "utopia" that is created on Godspeed. The most shocking thing about it, however, is the amount of lies that the leader, Eldest, spins to keep the ship "running". It seems that he has absolutely no qualms about murder or even allowing a person to think that they are crazy, when they are the sanest person on the ship. The web of lies never ended, even when the book ends. I'm really glad there are two other books that will probably go deeper into the deception on the ship.
The scene in the beginning with Amy's parents makes me dead sure that I never want to get cryogenically frozen. It's terrifying what happens during the procedure and after. The entire time I was thinking about how it would sort of be like a coma, but instead of growing older, you just stay in the same state you are when you are frozen, and the world goes on without you. That's a frightening thing to think about. Everyone you loved that wasn't frozen with you would be gone, and there are only two ways to look at that; you could cry about it for a while, or you could do what Fry did in Futurama: WOOHOO!
When reading, I started to think about what would happen if I was in Amy's spot and had to live on a ship after being violently waken up and shoved into its crazy society. I realized that I would fit in more than Amy would. True, I do have a very light complexion, but I also have very dark brown hair and brown eyes, so I wouldn't stick out as much as Amy did. I'm not saying that I would want to live on Godspeed, but  at least I would fit in better with the dark skin, dark hair, and dark eyed world that is Godspeed. Amy, however, with her red hair, fair skin, and green eyes, sticks out from the very beginning as a freak, and you can't help but feel sorry for her.
I also loved the importance of art in this book! Harley, one of the main characters, is a fantastic painter who specializes in pretty much anything. He loves painting koi the most because of his past, which is shown in more detail later. Elder said that in one of Harley's paintings, he "used these amazing colors - colors no one else would think of". In a world inside a metal bubble, art is important.
WARNING: This book has some mature content such as rape and suicide. I wouldn't recommend this for people who are too young to understand such concepts, because even for someone as old as me, it was shocking.
This is a book that I would definitely recommend! Though perhaps you should read it when you don't have schoolwork to do...

This is what I imagined one of Harley's paintings to be like.

A LITTLE EXCERPT
Something's happening.
No, no, no. Nothing's happening. Nothing ever happens. It's that nightmare again, that same nightmare. Ed/Hassan will unfreeze me, and I will be like now, and they'll throw me back in. Or the ship will crash, and I'll be stuck here, forever, never unfrozen. Or maybe this is the nightmare where-
Thunk.
-where they forget to unfreeze me at all, the ship lands and everyone's so excited they just leave me behind, and-
Something is happening.
No. The nightmares are getting more real, and they'll be so much worse because of it. I think I hear something. I can't hear anything. It's all in my mind. It's not real. Think about something better. Think about Jason. Think about Mom, about Daddy, think about-
Click.
No. I did not hear a click. A click did not vibrate through the ice. That did not happen. It's just the nightmares... it's another nightmare. It's as simple as that.
If I could, I would squeeze my eyes shut. Instead, I try to focus my mind, like I used to be able to focus my eyes in and out when I looked at something really close. Memories. Memories always kill nightmares.
My mind's eye flashes images, a slide show of memories. Hiking the Grand Canyon. The middle school trip to the beach. Gymnastics when I was a kid. The first time I drove. The first time I scratched the car (same day) and Daddy yelled at me, but got me ice cream afterward anyway, and we pinky- promised not to tell Mom. Baking Christmas cookies with Mom and Grandma the year before she went to the nursing home. Cross-country meets. Marathon training.
I feel something. I feel something. Warmth in my stomach. And I hear... the hum of electricity. I realize I hear it because it is coming from the tubes down my throat.
My body slips. Just a fraction of a millimeter, but it slips.
The ice is melting.
Oh, God.
Thump.
My heart.
Thump-thump.
Water leaks onto my left eye's lash-line. I twitch involuntarily. The yellow crust that has sealed my eyes for who knows how long cracks as - for the first time since I was frozen - I move.
OhGodohGodohGod.
(pages 68-70)

Thanks so much for reading!
See you in the next one!
~Sea-Solo

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Take a tour of Godspeed and more on the trilogy's website!:
http://www.acrosstheuniversebook.com

Confessions of a Murder Suspect by James Patterson

Today's review is on:

The back reads:

You couldn't kill your parents...

could you?

Tandy Angel is a whip-smart prodigy and a magnificently wealthy heiress.

She's got secrets - some even she doesn't understand.

She's damaged, the product of her parents' impossible demands.

But she couldn't have killed them...

could she?

This book is about Tandy and her brothers' (Matthew, Harry, and Hugo) fight to try to figure out who had killed their parents, even if it was one of them. Gotta say, the ending took me completely by surprise. I was still trying to figure it out when they revealed who had killed Malcolm and Maud Angel. It blew my mind!

(^Can't stop watching this lol)

The other thing I loved about this book is that it really showed how many secrets we can keep from family over time (A LOT!). The web of lies never stopped! Even after the book was done, there still was things that weren't completely explained! That makes for a good series, readers.

I also liked how they didn't make it sound like this was just a book that an author thought about one day in the shower, but made it into a sort of journal with confessions in between mind-gripping chapters.

My favorite part? (page 8):

"... I quickly tamped down the screaming voice inside my head and collected my wits, along with a few available facts.

One: My parents had died in some unspeakable way.

Two: Someone had known about their deaths and called the police.

Three: Our doors were locked, and there had been no obvious break-in. Aside from me, my brothers Harry and Hugo and my mother's personal assistant, Samantha, were the only ones home."

OOH. Chills!

In the end, this book was a page-turner mystery that held on to you even after you finished reading. The only bad part about this book was that the sequel hasn't come out yet!

Well, that's all for today! Catch you in the next one!

~Sea-Solo out!

Currently Reading:

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

and

Insurgent by Veronica Roth