Across the Library

Title: The Wizards of Once Author: Cressida Cowell My Rating: 4 stars A wizard boy without magic.  A warrior girl with a secret magical object.  The two meet and fight off witches, thought to have been extinct. Will they save the day and manage to stay out of trouble? Xar and Wish are a pretty cute team up, though Xar can be a little annoying and selfish.  He does have a little bit of character growth by the end, but not much.  Wish is the true star of the team.  She is much more likeable.  The story is told by an unnamed narrator, though he/she tells you it is a character in the book.  My guess is the bird on the cover or the sprite named Squeezjoos,  but I'm still not certain. Overall, this middle grade novel is a fun magical adventure romp and the illustrations add to the exciting tale.

Title: Bone Music Author: Christopher Rice My Rating: 4 stars When she was just a baby, Trina's mother was murdered and she was kidnapped by serial killers who then raised her as their own.  When she was seven, she was rescued, but her dad exploited her story for fame and profit.  As an adult she changed her name and tried for a fresh start, but then someone she trusted gave her an experimental drug that gave her powers.  What would she do with this newfound strength? I really like Christopher Rice's writing style.  I have since I read his first book Density of Souls.  I really enjoyed that first book, and his second, Snow Garden.  So I have continued to read his books, and enjoy his style, but after those first two, there always seems to be something weird about the books.  I enjoy the style, but maybe not always the story.  With this one, it's a good story, and I did give it 4 stars, but I felt that the way the term "bone music" is used...

Title: This is Our Story Author: Ashley Elston My Rating: 4 Stars Five boys go hunting in the woods.  Only four come out.  An intern working with the assistant district attorney begins to think it may not have been an accident like the boys are leading everyone to believe.  This is a well-told mystery, full of secrets and plot twists.  I really enjoyed the writing style, and the build up.  There was however one thing that annoyed me.  The author used a variation or exact phrasing of "framed her face with his hands" over and over, enough that it was very noticeable.  I was also a little underwhelmed by the reveal of who shot Grant, but the book was so well done otherwise, that I am still giving it 4 stars. The author is actually local to my area, but I did not know much about her going in.  I had not read her work before this, but I would like to read more. 

Title:  Honor Among Thieves Authors: Rachel Caine & Ann Aguirre My Rating: 3.5-4 stars Zara is used to living in the outskirts of town, fending for herself, thieving when she has to, to take care of herself.  Then she is chosen as an Honor for the Leviathan program -- the Leviathans are a race of sentient ships that have partnered with humans to explore the expanse of space to learn about other planets.  They have helped humans survive, and have asked humans to help them with this project.  At first Zara is hesitant, but she quickly, though reluctantly, finds herself trusting Nadim, her ship, and Beatriz, her new tour partner. Together they form a cohesive team, ready to face the challenges that come. I really liked this book, but I was a little unsure about the relationship between Nadim and Zara.  I don't want to go into details because I don't want to spoil anything.  I was just a little unsure about the intimacy between a large ship and a h...

Title:  Mary's Monster: Love, Madness, and How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein Author:  Lita Judge My Rating: 4 Stars This beautiful biography of Mary Shelley is told in first person verse.  The illustrations are haunting, but lovely.  The story of her life is sad, yet told so well.  Mary Godwin was sent away from her family when she was 14, returned when she was 16, only to fall in love with a married man.  Her family shamed her, so she ran away with him, and was soon pregnant with his child.  I won't tell you the rest, because the book tells it so much better.  The back of the book has further notes on her life, as well as a summary of what happened to each of the people mentioned in the book.  It also has a bibliography.

Title: Losing Brave Authors: Bailee Madison (Actress) & Stefne Miller My Rating:  3 stars Payton was there a year ago, when her twin, Dylan, was taken, or possibly killed, but she can't remember what happened. She believes Dylan may still be alive, and now more girls, who look somewhat like her, have also gone missing. Payton is determined to find out what happened to all of them. In the beginning, Payton is pretty unlikeable, but she undergoes some decent character growth that makes her easier to stomach. However, the writing style was hard for me to stomach, especially the first 40 pages or so, but I kept going because I was interested in seeing where the story went. I wasn't exactly surprised by the story, but it did get better.  I think Madison has decent ideas, but if she truly wants to be an author, she needs more practice.

Title: Weave a Circle Round Author: Kari Maaren My Rating: 2.5 Stars I'll be honest -- I struggled to get through this book, and I think I'm going to struggle with this review. Without giving away the secrets of the plot, I'll just say that Freddy, her little sister Mel, and her step-brother Roland find themselves with strange new neighbors, Josiah and Cuerva Lachance, who have a strange house as well.  There's a strange sequence of time travel plopped into the middle that is far too abrupted.  I think iti's supposed to seem that way, but in my opinion, it is not well done, and makes the story too confusing. There were interesting bits.  I liked some of the rpg elements that were included.  I liked that there was a deaf character and sign language.  I was intrigued by Josiah, and a little bit of the secretiveness of the characters, but it just didn't play out in a satisfying way. I thought the descriptions of the three characters, Josiah, Cuerva La...

Title: The Outcasts of Time Author: Ian Mortimer This was a decent book, but not really for me. Two brothers just infected with the plague in 1348 get the chance to live out their last six days each 99 years further into the future, all while seeking redemption. They do explore a little, and learn a bit about each new era they are in, but I wanted more out of that aspect of the book.  I know they only had a day in each time period, so there wasn't much time to learn about each, but I still wanted more. That was a personal preference though, and I should have read the summary closer.  It was an interesting book though.

Title: Reign of the Fallen Author: Sarah Glenn Marsh This is a fantasy story of a world where mages exist, their powers determined by the color of their eyes.  This particular book focuses mainly on the necromancers, those who bring the dead back to the living world.  The Dead must remain completely shrouded ; if even the tiniest bit of their flesh is seen by a living person, they turn into a Shade, a monstrous creature that feeds on both the Dead and the living. The royal family has been using this method of returning to life for centuries ; in fact, the king himself has been ruling for 200 years.  Though he resists change, he is a well-liked king, as is the rest of the royal family. Our main character is Odessa, nicknamed Sparrow, and she is one of the necromancers.  She is very good at what she does, maybe to the point of being a Mary Sue character, although she does have flaws. All is going well, until one of the necromancers is killed by a Shade....

Title: Before I Let Go Author:  Marieke Nijkamp I was intrigued by the summary of this book. Two girls, best friends, living in a small town in Alaska. One moves away, and the other says she will wait for her. Just before the girl is supposed to come back and visit, her friend dies. She goes back to the town to try and find out what happened, but she is treated like an outsider. I was disappointed in the book. It felt like it was missing something. It didn't really feel like it went anywhere. Corey, the girl who moved away, did come back, and she does find out what happened to her friend, but it is rather anticlimactic. I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough to believe the townspeople, especially Kyra's parents, would be that awful. I know there are bad people in the world, but whole towns of them, like this? I don't know. I did like the fast pace of the short chapters and the writing style for the most part, though the addition of the scripts in the middle w...