Book Reviews

A month has gone by... time for another monster book review! LOL!

"Alchemist" has a lot in common with the "Children of the Lamp" series. They both feature twins, who discover that they have secret powers. They get hooked into helping Nicholas Flamel save the Codex from the evil John Dee. There are two reasons to get the Codex. One is to keep John Dee from releasing the powers of the dark ones. The other is that the recipe for the immortalitly elixir, which Flamel needs to take every month, is written in the book. If Flamel doesn't make and drink the elixir, he will be dead within the month. I really dislike authors that don't let on that it's a series until you get to the end... but in this case I forgive them. I look forward to the next one...

"Princess Academy" is the Newbery Honor book by Shannon Hale. I expected something akin to a Disney princess story, but what I got was a wonderful story about girls with character. The plot is simple... it is decreed that the next princess will be from Mount Eskel, a poor mining community. So, to ready themselves, all the girls from Mount Eskel are sent to the Princess Academy to learn how to be princesses. The prince will pick one of the graduates for his bride. The girls learn to respect each other and work together. I can't tell you too much without giving it all away, but this book is a MUST READ!

We are BIG Alex Rider fans! Anthony Horowitz has us hooked! Unfortunately we were disappointed with this latest book. Snakehead lacked the action and excitement of the previous books in the Alex Rider series. Alex teams up with Ash, an old friend of his parents, in the hopes of learning more about his parents and his parents' death. The bad guys are easy to pick out from the beginning, Alex knows he's been betrayed, but doesn't care doesn't tell anyone. Because of it all, he ends up in big trouble. Very frustrating to read. But, we are die hard Alex Rider fans... we'll be there to pick up the next book!

"Titan's Curse" is the third book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. This is another wonderful parody on mythology. Percy and his friends are on a quest... again. The enemy captures, Annabeth by the General (he's working for the Titan Kronos). The General has also captured the goddess Artemis. Now it's up to Percy and his friends to rescue the goddess, find Annabeth, and stop The General's plans before it's too late. If you have loved the first two books in the series, you'll love this one too.


I either love or hate Margaret Mahy. Her books of fantasy are definitely for the older teen audience... dark, menacing, and never seem to end with a "Feel Good" type ending. This book, "Maddigan's Fantasia", fits all three descriptions. In the world of the future, the Earth has been ravaged in what they call the "destruction." Garland Maddigan travels with a circus called Maddigan's Fantasia between the isolated human settlements bringing joy in the way of circus performance. This time their journey involves a mission. They must pick up a solar converter and return it to the city of Solis, or civilization will be destroyed; and three time travelers from Garland's future travel back into the past to help her complete her family's mission. This felt more like a collection of short stories. The stop at each city being a different story. It was an interesting book, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Hey, look!!! I read a book written for adults! This book has been on the best sellers list forever, so I had to read it and see what all the hoopla is about. I read it... I don't know what the hoopla is all about. It's sad. It's miserable. It's tragic. I don't know what the attraction is... Perhaps those interested in history and social oppression, will get a kick out of it? I don't know why else anyone would want to read such a sad book. I like books with feel good endings. That's probably why I like reading children's books.