The Siren Song

This one is the sequel to awesome hit (though not too well known by my peers) The Shadow Thieves it continues the saga of frustrated, sarcastic, and smooth talking Charlotte Mielswetski and her cousin not-so-frustrated,sarcastic,nor smooth-talking Zee who always end up taking on the Greek Gods and totally winning at that.

The Siren Song (Ursu)

Year: (2008)
Publisher:Atheneum

Plot: 20/20 (Our hero from the last book finds herself grounded due to leaving to save the world without those parents knowing,on top of that Zee hasn't been acting like himself and a strange new kid has showed up. Her parents then force her on a History-themed cruise but of course nothing goes well when there's Poseidon and vengeful Phil to deal with)

Characters:20/20 (No creepy Mr. Metos, more of the irritating parents cliche,the same vile Phil but with a twist of egotistical Poseidon and of course the same lovable main characters)

Settings: N/A (I didn't pay much attention to the settings this time,I was too busy lauging at all the humor,or slapping my face in exasperation whenever Maddy said anything)

Writing: 20/20 (It's quite scary,this book was actually as well written as the original,something incredibly rare in books)

Final: 20/20 (Ursu has actually managed to keep the series going with no evident decline in quality,of course this score might only be temporary because I need to back and pay more attention to the settings)

The Shadow Thieves

Unlike most books this book title is literally what it says.It's actually about shadow thieves but it's not quite that simple and I'll explain why soon

I came across this book when I was bored,Asm had told me about this book so i thought I'd give it a go,so I asked Asm if I could borrow it much to her delight. Now onto the review


The Shadow Thieves (Ursu)

Year: 2007
Publisher:Antheum

Plot: 20/20 (Basically you have a sarcastic,smooth talking girl who has things turn on her when a cat appears out of nowhere,then her long lost cousin from England comes over,and then everybody gets some weird sickness which is believed to be a problem from the Underworld oh yes that's right Greek Mythology isn't Greek Mythology in this book.It turns out some demi god has made an army of clay henchmen who then steal shadows to build an army to overthrow none other than Hades who rules the underworld)

Characters: 19/20 (I liked all the characters in the books, we have smooth talking,sarcastic,nerdy Charlotte Mielswetzky and a polite,calm goody-goody who goes by the name of Zee.Mr.Metos is kind of creepy though.My least favorite character is easily Hades becuase he's too lazy and he doesn't seem to care much about what happens all he cares about is keeping the throne and Persephonie. I pity Charon most of all though and maybe you'll agree when you actually read the book)

Settings: 20/20 (I love how the Underworld is depicted as a gray drabby town rather than hell or a land of ice,and the River Styx in which Charon has to ferry the dead over to underworld very nice,it's not really hot lasva like it's been usually depicted as)

Writing: 20/20 (Only a goddess could write like this,until now! OK,ok a little over-the-top but it's quite amazing style how ell everythings described and the sense of humor left in)

Final:20/20 (If all books were this good I wouldn't be able to hold a job for more than a minute. It's not my favorite book but it's certainly a good book with allusions to mythology certainly more fun than say The Odyssey)

Up Next:

Chronologically: Time Bandits (Movies)
Books: Warriorcats:The Original Set

C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia

For Christmas I got 3 DVD's,personal stuff,and a house key. 2 of those DVD's were Chronicles of Narnia namely The Lion,the Witch,and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. Those 2 movies were based off of the books by C.S. Lewis who wrote 7 books in the series. Iwatched both of them on Christmas and how appropraite considering C.S. Lewis is a Christian,you can tell by all the symbolism used in his books,the Narnia septiliogy being no exception. C.S> Lewis wrote his books in a biblical manner to because though it makes sense how it's put it doesn't work chronologically

Alright,to the point

Chronicles of Narnia(C.S. Lewis)


Year(s):(1946-1956)
Publisher:HarperTrophy

Plot:12/20 (From what I can remember I liked the most of the plots,I don't remember liking The Last Battle,The Silver Chair,or Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Book 1 was loosely symbolic of The Crucifixition,Book 2 is symbolic of both Moses and the Israelites and the restoration of a religion[And since C.S. Lewis wasn't Mormon he was probably referring to the Protestant Reformation] All I remember from 3 was only Lucy and Edmund returned then they brought along a jerk of cousin and they went on voyage. For 4 they had to rescue Caspian's son from an evil witch[not the White Witch].Book 5 was a midquel to Book 1 which I like to think is like a slave who didn't belong wanted to escape to the North to be free[Narnia].Book 6 is like Genesis in the Bible. Book 7 was like Revelation[I liked Revelattion but this really,it sucked; Lewis killed all Narnia travelers except Susan literally and mortally wounded her spiritually]Though I'd give Books 1,2,5,and 6 perfect scores,the others sucked so bad that I can't honestly give the total more than 12)

Characters:12/20 (I liked all the Pevensies,except Susan she was a smart-alec,girly,goody-goody tu shus, and eventually too selfish,Eustace was a jerk,Jill seemed kind of 1D, aI liked Digory and Polly,Shasta was cool, Aravis was the perfect tomboy. Since Eustace,Susan,and Jill were terrible and Peter seemed like a smarty,bossy-pants at times,the score goes to 12,Aslan was the perfect Christ-like figure,and Jadis as Satan)

Settings: 20/20 (I lovecd the settings whether it be Telmar,Narnia,Calormen,the world of Charn was well done,but I wish Narnia lasted longer,why did Aslan destroy his own creation????)

Writing: 20/20(Easily some of the best literature out there,and easily classed in same category as Moby Dick or Jack London)

Final:16/20

Up Next:
Chronologically:The Godfather (Movies)
Books:Persepolis

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter

Not to long ago,the computer had a virus problem it was fixed and Firefox was installed thus replacing Opera and Netscape as the Browser and on my hike on Mt. St. Helena Greg and I were talking a little about Harry Potter. I have often voiced my opinion for the series and the series the talk until Twilight came along.Unlike Twilight,Harry Potter wasn't all bad. Why I put it as I did

Now honestly I used to have respect for J.K. Rowling's work,I actually didn't mind the Half-Blood Prince or Order of the Phoenix but the Prisoner of Azkaban and Deathly Hallows were atrocious.At first I decided Deathly Hallows wasn't that bad but then I read it again and decided ech! how did I convince myself it was ok?

Ok enough rambling.Oh and I'm critiquing the books not the movies


Harry Potter(J.K. Rowling)

Year(s):(1997-2007)
Publisher:Scholastic


Plot: 10/20 (Unlike Fablehaven which continued to have a good plot as my opinion went down,the plot got worse and worse in 1:It was catch the robber of an important stone which would help Voldemort[I guess that's a little bit like The Fellowship of the Stone,but that's good] 2: Save Ron's siter and stop Tom Riddle from coming to life[Quite original] 3: Help a framed guy[where's Voldemort huh? that's very unoriginal] 4: Find out how you got into a death tournament[Ech! getting worse] 5: Find out about Sirius' past and become a secret teacher to stop a bratty teacher [Sounds more like Harry Potter quality] 6: Stop Malfoy from killing Dumbledore [Unoriginal but well written] 7: Traverse through the forest to kill Voldemort and dawdle aorund doing nothing but complain [Oh please what kind of crap is this!]so as you can see the plot slowly drains to nothing)

Characters: 17/20 (Except for Harry and Hermione,most of the characters seem human and realistic. Hermione starts off as a stuck- up nerd but softens up,at the same time she looses a certain muggle gift:Common Sense(Asm would sometimes say "Why couldn't Hermione just shoot Voldemort in the head with a gun I mean Voldemort wouldn't expect that,and why didn't she think of that"[or at least something that implies that],Ron is my favorite character I like how he is smart,a little cocky,funny, and the jealous type,Malfoy is a good rival,Dumbledore was the perfect wise-person who had a dark side[Why J.K. Rowling made him gay idk why,it's not that I hate gays it's just I never imagined him to be gay and I think J.K. Rowling liked the attention,Ginny was so-so)

Setting:20/20(I love the descriptions of everything,well except the forest roamed in 7,the Dark Forest,Hogwarts,Privet Drive,Hogsmeade,Diagon Alley,the Chamber of Secrets,I could go on)

Writing:11/20(Ok the first 2 had 18/20 and 19/20,the 3rd and,4th had 15/20,the 5th and 6th,13/20,the 7th 0/20,so I can give the writing a respectable score,the final book had 200 pages in the forest dawdling the other part was Neville pleaing for help at Hogwarts,I found they were all written prettty well except that one)

Final:15/20(Harry Potter wasn't actually as bad as Asm says not remotley the series was ok until JK Rowling let the fame go to her head,the series overall is great,some of the books simply failed,I enjoyed the majority of them unlike the movies)

Up Next

Chonologically:Firefox and Independence Day(1996)(Dual-Purpose)
Books: C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia

The Call of the Wild

Well so far most of books are modern fantasy books with exception of The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Sister's Grimm: Michael Buckley
Fablehaven: Brandon Mull
Warriors:*Erin Hunter
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Douglas Adams

Well this one is classic and considered one of the best by Jack London,that's right I mean THE CALL OF THE WILD

The Call of the Wild

Author:Jack London(as mentioned at least once)
Year:1903
Publisher:Macmillan

Plot: 20/20 (Wouldn't seem very original now but I bet for like 1900's that was a good original plot,basically a dog named Buck who is pampered and spoiled rich is kidnapped by his owner's gardner and sold to dog sledders in Alaska during the 1898 Klondike)

Characters: 10/20 (The character's didn't seem to developed,Buck seemed like a hard emotionless dog,not that I blame him in the North at that time life was harsh but come on still he's ok. Spitz seems like an ok nemesis,Thornton was the first real caring caharcter but the other characters like Curly or Dolly or Perrault or Francois aren't o well developed you might completely forget them unless you read the book 10,000 times over and over.Do like Buck though)

Setting: 20/20 (I like the description of the locations like how he originally lived in "The Sun-Kissed Santa Clara Valley" to how the harsh cold ice was when those inexpierienced sledders made Buck lead")

Writing: 20/20(Good writing totally excellent,perfect writing for literature,honestly I"ve never heard of a book by London or Twain that had bad writing)

Final:18/20(It would be 17.5 but I usually round it off unless it's near perfect or it fits inbetween,anway the book is solid,perfect for literature I only wish the characters had more depth)

Up next post-wise is Batman Begins in Movies and book-wise J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series that's it for now

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Well here it is a review for Douglas Adams' classic The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Might as well not much better to do before school starts and since I've done as much studying as I can til' the test at well,here it goes

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy(Douglas Adams)

Year:1978
Publisher: Megadodo Publication



Plot:19/20(Mostly original I mean the idea of a guide to the galaxy and someone not from Earth studying it that's original but come on aliens trying to demolish Earth is kind of old,but for 1978 I'm sure it did the job)

Characters:10/20(Ford seemed like a know it all,Dent seemed stupid,Zaphod seemed like a flake,but I liked Marvin the Robot,and the Vogons seeemed like politicians times two and bad poets)

Writing:20/20 (Excellent writing,it's kind of satirical and humorous like when human smarts are questioned with dolphins plus it has a good plot)

Setting:19/20(I only remember the Vogon ship and Zaphod's ship that's about it pretty well described, the weirdness of the Vogon ship was the coolest)

Final:17/20(Good book the characters left stuff to be desired but it was mostly good)

Up next in Books is....... Jack London's Call of the Wild

P.S. I can take requests mind you there is a bit of a line right now

Warriorcats Newest Bunch

Warriorcats in genreal gets a perfect 20/20 like Ender's and Lemony Snicket or Sister's Grimm or Fablehaven.No I'm still a picky reader ok

For example I was frustrated at Fablehaven 3's long amount of boringness or how Harry Potter 7 is just Grim Reaper's list of which Harry Potter characters to kill off (Seriously what did Hedwig do to deserve death,why did Lupin die,did Dobby really need a stabbing?)

So far there are 16 main books,1 stand alone,5 mangas, and 2 guidebooks.

My favorites:A Dangerous Path, Forest of Secrets, Into the Wild,Dawn,Outcast,Firestar's Quest,Cats of the Clans

Least Favorites: Rising Storm,Twilight,Sunset, The Sight,Tigerstar and Sasha,Warrior's Refuge

My problem with Darkest Hour is that all the Deputies die except for one however Tigerstar's death is a huge ironic twist of fate anyway onto................

Rise of Scourge

Year:2008
Publisher:Tokyopop

Plot: 20/20 (A little runt of his litter named Tiny is ignored and unloved by his family,so basically when Twolegs adopt his egotistical siblings and ignore him he runs to the forest where he meets Bluefur,Thistleclaw,and Tigerpaw.After being driven out he finds and old dogs tooth jabs in his collar and earns the respect he finally deserves sadly not from the right crowd and it's not friendship.)

Characters: 15/20 (The potrayal of the most important characters was excellent,sadly the minor characters not so much Bluestar[then Bluefur] is seen as a character who only just has compassion rather than a caring character like she really is,Thistleclaw fared better but he is seen as angry rather than arrogant,Tigerstar[then Tigerpaw] is seen as a character like Darkstripe rather than a ruthless,power seeking apprentice)

Setting: 20/20(One word:Excellent)

Writing: 12/20(It wasn't well written because it doesn't need to be after all it's a graphic novel)

Pictures:18/20 (Amazing drawings,only Marjane Starapi can do better ok ok and Shaman Kings)

Final: 17/20(Like Mario Kart 64 and Super Mario Kart my score is based on average my true opinion would be a perfect but the lack of writing,and not quite perfect characters made the average different from truth,Tigerstar was killed by Scourge in The Darkest Hour which is quite ironic because Tigerstar tried to kill him earlier when he was a wee little cat,and obviously Tigerstar forgot who he was.Scourge is a bit like Puppetmon from Digimon season 1 in the fact that he didn't have to be evil,he simply fell in with the wrong crowd both simply needed friends but never got any)

Now onto the newest of the main..............

Eclipse

Year:2008
Publisher:HarperCollins

Plot:20/20 (Basically,the 3 main characters Jaypaw,Hollypaw,and Lionpaw return from the mountains and leave Stormfur behind when Cinderpaw's leg gets renched naturally she gets depressed so Jaypaw hepls her exercise it by swimming and it helps her leg heal after Honeypaw and Poppypaw get their new warrior status a strange loner comes by and predicts an eclipse and of course it happens hence the title right when things between WindClan and ThunderClan tense up to the point where a battle forms. After hearing that Sol predicted an eclipse and StarClan failed to warn them Jaypaw starts to doubt StarClan's power as does Blackstar of ShadowClan)

Characters:10/20(All characters have made a turn for the worse,Squirrelflight isn't hard,Leafpool is a giver-uper,Hawkfrost is seen as a gossiper rather than a power-seeker,Millie has kits which to me is an inside betrayal,Onestar gets even more paranoid.and Jaypaw lets the knowledge go to his head however some things are kept like Berrynoses' stuck-up nature,Tigerstar's hate for Firestar, and Cinderpelts ambition to become a warrior)

Setting: 20/20 (As usual the setting is top-notch and well described)

Writing:20/20 (Like the redeeimng figure in lower ranking Warriors books,it is so well written)

Final:18/20(The book is a complete and utter betrayal of the first book,in the first book there is a clear hero and antagonist and StarClan's power is unquestioned Graystripe was still in love with Silverstream,it was simple but plot-driven,this book questions StarClan there is no clear antagonist and Graystripe has started a new family,but it is a good book has a good plot and is well written if it wasn't Warriors it might have actually made perfect)

Fablehaven

As a critique of Books, Movies, Video Games, and Video Game Consoles and Web Browsers I must balance it out.

So far I have done altogether on this blog

3 Movies(Matilda, The Pacifier, and Wild Wild West)
3 Consoles(GameCube, Nintendo DS, and Sega Saturn)
4 Video Games[I end to cluster into series for these things](Yoshi's Island DS,Sonic the Fighters, The 3D Mario Games, and The Super Smash Bros. Franchise)

yet all I've done on books is The Sisters Grimm which I gave a perfect score but that's it and since I only just came up with idea of reviewing web browsers I need to catch up on books before I do Web Browsers

anyway I'll start off with Fablehaven

For a while I couldn' t stand the idea of Fablehaven,it seemed to girly and I didn't like fairy's much(believe me I still don't) but then while I was at music camp this year I noticed Mom packed that book Anna nagged her to read.I was bored one day and said heck with it and read it.
At first it was excellent,it was original pretty much perfect but as I wen up in the series it went from excellent to repetitive and too much boring stuff(like the 200 pages of Woods in The Deathly Hallows or the Death list)

Fablehaven(Brandon Mull)

Year: 2006-
Publisher:Shadow Mountain

Plot:20/20(Excellent plot,I mean the idea of 2 teens being sent to there gandparents house where it turns out the estate[which is huuuge] is a magical preserve holding thousands of magical species from fairies to fauns[called satyrs in the book] from centiaurs to malicious water nyphs[called naiads] and then there granfather is kidnapped and they must set off to save Fablehaven from destruction)

Characters:14/20( Kendra seemed too much like a goodie-goodie[like Susan from Narnia],but Seth was perfect he started off curious and learned his lesson,by the 4th Book he hardly seemed like the stupid daredevil and seemed more and more like the one with foresight and courage [like Edmund from Narnia and also like Tai from Digimon],Vanessa seemed perfect for the role of an unpredictable person and the Sphinx too,but Gavin seemed boring,the Grandparents were too strict at the wrong times and open at the wrong times,I'd say I like the satyrs the most.)

Setting: 20/20(The setting is excellent,Lost Mesa and Fablehaven are excellent, Fablehaven is a huge fores with cliffs, a lake, a boathouse and a shack but it's marvelously described. Lost Mesa is also excellent basically a desert preserve in Arizona with cliffs,a cave, and gravestones for zombies.Wyrmroost is described so well with all the castles and cliffs that it actually made me shiver for a few seconds)

Writing:16/20(The first Fablehaven and the 2nd were well written so that they would be top-notch and five star,but the 3rd book is like the 6th Harry Potter or Eldest or Lord of the Flies it had it all set but everything was badly described[except Lost Mesa and the girly dragon],repetitive and falt out boring at parts. But the end of Fablehaven 3 somewhat made up for it. Book 4 was really well wriiten,everything in perfect detail all the right quotes,but it wasn't what the first was however it managed to take the wind outta book 2)

Final:18/20(Overall the series is great despite the writing setbacks)

The Sisters Grimm

Before I begin I mention the 10 Poisonous Video Games That Make Better Toilet Paper

10.Sonic Shuffle(Sega Dreamcast,2000)
9.Bubsy 3D(PlayStation,1996)
7.Superman 64(Nintendo 64,1999)
6.Altered Beast(PlayStation 2,2005)
5.Fight for Life(Atari Jaguar,1996)
4.Captain Novolin(SNES,1992)
3.Kabuki Warriors(Xbox,2001)
2.Custer's Revenge(Atari 2600,1983)
1.E.T. the Extraterrestrial(Atari 2600,1982)

further commentary in" The Monkey World of Tom"

alright onto better stuff

and no Twilight is not going to be reviewed because I have no intentions of reading it.

The Sisters Grimm(Michael Buckley)

Year(s):2005-
Publisher:Harry N. Abrams Inc,


Ok so basically when I first saw These Sisters Grimm books, I thought they'd be dopey takeoofs on The Brothers Grimm,when I read the first book I was astounded by the characters and the plot and of course Puck's(yes the mischeivous fairy from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream)

Plot: 20/20( 2 sisters that just happen to have the surname of Grimm are pulled out of an orphanage and go through thousands of despicable guardians,but are then dumped off with there Grandma who claims hey are descendants of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and that the Grimm's Fairy Tales atre historical documents.Naturally and 11 year old girl like Sabrina wouldn't believe such a thing,until of course a giant kidnaps Granny.From then on The Sisters Grimm vow to become fairy tale detectives.Can you call that unoriginal?)

Characters: 20/20 (Ok we have 6 characters of worth in all the series,they are Sabrina and Daphne Grimm,Puck,Granny Relda, and Mr. Canis[aka The Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs] and their magic-addicted Jacob"Jake" Grimm Sabrina is the main character and the adult[the one who doesn't trust and not curious],Daphne Grimm,though 7 she acts like she's 11[mature for her age but still innocent and naive,but the voice of reason when Sabrina goes off the edge],Puck is the Tricksters King who likes to think of himself as the villain[and of course hates books,despite calling himself a villain he has often been found lecturing Sabrina not to do something stupid or saving the others kesters],Granny Relda is the guardian and the person who acts the most like a detective[I wouldn't want her driving though], and finally Mr. Canis,an old man constantly fighting The Big Bad Wolf in him[and assisting Relda to her every need] Jake is completely addicted to magic and a little bit on the reckless side,however you can see he's one that tries to please everybody)

Setting:20/20(Ferryport Landing is described as a sleepy little town that isn't so sleepy,I don't see how a town could run when Jack the Giant Murderer,Rumpelstiltskin, Little Red Riding Hood demented,and The Queen of Hearts are on the lose,I like to picture the town as St. John's,Arizona gone creepy)

Writing: 20/20(A doomed book can be good simply by how it's written like Island By Gordon Korman or ruined to pieces like Eldest by Cristopher Paolini,these books thank goodness are so well written I cannot describe it)

Final:20/20