As teenager, life is never simple to start with and Rachel Buchanan is finding it out the hard way. Her absentee parents are seldom seen and her "friends" abandoned her to be arrested for joyriding in a stolen car. Facing the judge across the courtroom, sans parents, Rachel is outspoken and full of teen attitude, which nets her a choice: either go to a private school in Pennsyvania or go to juvenile hall.
The mysterious Blakthorn Academy is run by an enigmatic puzzle called Mr. Kim, who understands Rachel better than she does herself. It is populated by geniuses, harcases and those with no place else to go. The classes are different from any curriculum Rachel has ever seen and they make her "do gym" in the form of Tae Kwon Do.
When she overhears Mr. Kim talking to an FBI agent urgently about "the Book of Seraphim," Rachel knows something is up. When the headmaster disappears and the book is stolen, Rachel roars into action. Armed with only her wits and those of three classmates, Rachel sets out to rescue Mr. Kim.
"Although the characters are not terribly complex and the plot is fairly far-fetched, the book is an entertaining page-turner. Spradlin captures the perfect teenage voice in his protagonist; she is more than just a spoiled, fashion-conscious teen from Beverly Hills–she is the Spy Goddess–witty and smart with an edge. Overall, this is an intelligent, exciting mystery that will have broad appeal," said Leigh Ann Morlock, formerly of the Veronica School District in Oregon.1
Accessed from http://www.amazon.com/Spy-Goddess-Book-One-Live/dp/0060594098/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/105-9290560-1134821?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188508517&sr=8-3 on August 30,2008.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Traces (Series) By Malcolm Rose
"Rose, a chemistry professor, makes the forensic science a gripping part of this entry in the new Traces series, set in a near-future world where Authorities raise kids in boarding school and everything is controlled by computer technology."1 The science aspect is definitely the driving force behind this series, more so than in the television based "CSI" series written by Max Allen Collins. That is not to say that the characters are not vibrant or compelling. Luke Harding is a recently graduated forensic investigator with a free-floating robot assistant named Malc, whom Luke considers to be his best friend, though the robot has no sense of humor and records and transmits information about their cases to the Authorities. Sometimes assisting him also is his cladestine musician girlfriend, Jade, whose "senior project" on spotlight sound helped Luke nab a budding serial killer.
Though the series is written for young adults, Rose doesn't mince on the science. The clues are there, but until you, like Luke, put it together, the mystery is winding. Sometimes it seems as though Rose is making a subtle commentary about govenrment control and how people have been willing to give up personal freedoms for what seems like safety. In this society, the Authorities take children from their parents, who then usually disappear from their children's lives, raise them in schools, where their academic learning and talent determines not only their future professions butalso ultimately determines who they will be "paired" with at the age of eighteen. Luke and Jade are themselves a pair that would not put together because Luke is a scientist and Jade a musician. Age is also a dtermining factor for the "Pairing Committee" who determine who gets paired.
This is a good series and fun to read. It is quick paced and anyone is fair game, even Luke and Malc don't always escape the wrath of the villain unscathed. The puzzles are as interesting as they are challenging and that makes book worth the reading. (Also at the bottom of the page is a flip motion image that travels across the page. Every time it's a little something related to the story.) Titles in this series include: Framed!, Lost Bullet, Roll Call, Double Check, and Final Lap (in that order). The next book in the series will be titled Blood Brother and be released in January 2008.
1 Hazel Rochman. http://www.amazon.com/Framed-Traces-Malcolm-Rose/dp/075345971X/ref=pd_sim_b_1_img/105-7838602-1362028. Accessed 21 July 2007.
Though the series is written for young adults, Rose doesn't mince on the science. The clues are there, but until you, like Luke, put it together, the mystery is winding. Sometimes it seems as though Rose is making a subtle commentary about govenrment control and how people have been willing to give up personal freedoms for what seems like safety. In this society, the Authorities take children from their parents, who then usually disappear from their children's lives, raise them in schools, where their academic learning and talent determines not only their future professions butalso ultimately determines who they will be "paired" with at the age of eighteen. Luke and Jade are themselves a pair that would not put together because Luke is a scientist and Jade a musician. Age is also a dtermining factor for the "Pairing Committee" who determine who gets paired.
This is a good series and fun to read. It is quick paced and anyone is fair game, even Luke and Malc don't always escape the wrath of the villain unscathed. The puzzles are as interesting as they are challenging and that makes book worth the reading. (Also at the bottom of the page is a flip motion image that travels across the page. Every time it's a little something related to the story.) Titles in this series include: Framed!, Lost Bullet, Roll Call, Double Check, and Final Lap (in that order). The next book in the series will be titled Blood Brother and be released in January 2008.
1 Hazel Rochman. http://www.amazon.com/Framed-Traces-Malcolm-Rose/dp/075345971X/ref=pd_sim_b_1_img/105-7838602-1362028. Accessed 21 July 2007.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Vintage by Steve Berman
Holly Black, author of Tithe and the New York Times bestselling Spiderwick Chronicles
"A witty, shuddersome, and extraordinary book that haunts as it charms."
This is a creepy book. From its goth main character to the creepier ghost who haunts him, Berman has created a terrifically complicated book with characters who are almost living they are so complex and so simple.
A lonely gay teen, kicked out by his parents and afraid to tell his aunt why lest she reject him too, finds himself alone on a deserted stretch of road, well, not totally alone. He finds himself in the company of a teenager in vintage fifties garb and is attracted to this stranger. But he soon realizes that all is not well, because this good-looking stranger is actually the legendary ghost of a high school jock killed in the fifties. When the ghost follows him home, the teen and his friends find themselves under siege by spirits. When he falls for Second Mike, who was named after First Mike (his own brother), the teen realizes that he has to get the ghost to leave him alone.
This is a good book to read if you like realistic problems, because it is messy, but manages to instill a little hope in a situation that isn't always the easiest (i.e. coming out to a loved one). While the medium aspect is a little beyond the norm, the book is good.
Read the amazon.com blurb and book description. The author has arranged that 1/5 of the royalties from Vintage will be donated to charities helping gay teens:10% will be donated to the GSA Network, which assists Gay-Straight Student Alliances in high schools; another 10% donated to the Trevor Project, which works to prevent suicide among gay youth.
"A witty, shuddersome, and extraordinary book that haunts as it charms."
This is a creepy book. From its goth main character to the creepier ghost who haunts him, Berman has created a terrifically complicated book with characters who are almost living they are so complex and so simple.
A lonely gay teen, kicked out by his parents and afraid to tell his aunt why lest she reject him too, finds himself alone on a deserted stretch of road, well, not totally alone. He finds himself in the company of a teenager in vintage fifties garb and is attracted to this stranger. But he soon realizes that all is not well, because this good-looking stranger is actually the legendary ghost of a high school jock killed in the fifties. When the ghost follows him home, the teen and his friends find themselves under siege by spirits. When he falls for Second Mike, who was named after First Mike (his own brother), the teen realizes that he has to get the ghost to leave him alone.
This is a good book to read if you like realistic problems, because it is messy, but manages to instill a little hope in a situation that isn't always the easiest (i.e. coming out to a loved one). While the medium aspect is a little beyond the norm, the book is good.
Read the amazon.com blurb and book description. The author has arranged that 1/5 of the royalties from Vintage will be donated to charities helping gay teens:10% will be donated to the GSA Network, which assists Gay-Straight Student Alliances in high schools; another 10% donated to the Trevor Project, which works to prevent suicide among gay youth.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
The Secret Life of Samantha McGregor: #1 Bad Connection by Melody Carlson
"With more and more interest in the supernatural (such as TV shows like Medium and Ghost Whisperer), The Secret Life of Samantha McGregor series looks at supernatural gifts from a strong Christian perspective."1
Carlson's "Bad Connection" is an example of a good connection, the connection between an interesting topical issue and well-written characters that both comes off the page and pulls the reader into the page. Sam is a character who has a lot of issues to overcome a drug using older brother, a hard-working mother struggling to make ends meet and a policeman father who was killed in the line of duty.
When a former friend goes missing and rumors abound, Sam McGregor begins having disturbing visions of girls in trouble. A strong Christian, Sam worries that her visions, which she has had since childhood might be getting her into more trouble than she can handle. Sam contacts her father's former partner, now a detective working the missing girl's case and is pleasantly surprised when she is taken seriously, though it is kept a secret. As Sam's visions grow more and more disturbing her relationship with her mother and her friends change and grow stronger.
This is a good book and the first in a series from an accomplished and experienced Christian author. I have already read the second in the series "Beyond Reach" and can't wait for the third, which is due out later this year.
1 http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=526929&event=ECF
Carlson's "Bad Connection" is an example of a good connection, the connection between an interesting topical issue and well-written characters that both comes off the page and pulls the reader into the page. Sam is a character who has a lot of issues to overcome a drug using older brother, a hard-working mother struggling to make ends meet and a policeman father who was killed in the line of duty.
When a former friend goes missing and rumors abound, Sam McGregor begins having disturbing visions of girls in trouble. A strong Christian, Sam worries that her visions, which she has had since childhood might be getting her into more trouble than she can handle. Sam contacts her father's former partner, now a detective working the missing girl's case and is pleasantly surprised when she is taken seriously, though it is kept a secret. As Sam's visions grow more and more disturbing her relationship with her mother and her friends change and grow stronger.
This is a good book and the first in a series from an accomplished and experienced Christian author. I have already read the second in the series "Beyond Reach" and can't wait for the third, which is due out later this year.
1 http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=526929&event=ECF
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Wizard Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
A sixteen year old orphan wizard without a teacher finds himself at a school for troubled teens (and teen wizards). Sounds a touch familiar doesn't it? Harry Potter-ish perhaps? Well, the premise is sort of the same. Seph McCauley has no one to train him, the only parent he ever knew (his foster mother) has died and strange things keep happening around him. His magical abilities are growing out of control from the first. When one of his teenage friends dies after a discharge of magic, Seph's guardians, a law firm places him at the Havens, a school for wayward boys, some of whom are "weir" and some "anaweir." Weir means magical and anaweir means muggle, oops, non-magical.
Like Harry Potter, Seph faces more challenges while he is at school, but unlike Harry, Seph has landed in a nest of vipers. Tortured from the onset of school, Seph makes his plans to escape, makes a new friend and loses an ally. But the story really begins when he is rescued from the school by his legal guardian, who just happens to be an enchanter. The bad guys don't give up the chase, however, and soon Seph is hiding in plain sight in Trinity, Ohio, with a cool cast of weir friends.
While the premise is very familiar, the language of the book is written more for teens than for children. Though some characters in the book are killed, it is not always as simple as it seems. "Chima is a talented storyteller. She keeps her large cast of sorcerers, seers, enchanters, warriors and wizards from becoming fuzzy, and executes no cheap magical moves - although a certain "unnoticeable charm" smacks of another child wizard's invisibility cloak." 1
1 Welch, Rollie. "Author's good vs. evil sequel is a sterling heir to the original" The Plain Dealer. Sunday, May 13, 2007. Last accessed on May 15, 2007 at http://www.cleveland.com/bookreviews/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/117895877437400.xml&coll=2.
Like Harry Potter, Seph faces more challenges while he is at school, but unlike Harry, Seph has landed in a nest of vipers. Tortured from the onset of school, Seph makes his plans to escape, makes a new friend and loses an ally. But the story really begins when he is rescued from the school by his legal guardian, who just happens to be an enchanter. The bad guys don't give up the chase, however, and soon Seph is hiding in plain sight in Trinity, Ohio, with a cool cast of weir friends.
While the premise is very familiar, the language of the book is written more for teens than for children. Though some characters in the book are killed, it is not always as simple as it seems. "Chima is a talented storyteller. She keeps her large cast of sorcerers, seers, enchanters, warriors and wizards from becoming fuzzy, and executes no cheap magical moves - although a certain "unnoticeable charm" smacks of another child wizard's invisibility cloak." 1
1 Welch, Rollie. "Author's good vs. evil sequel is a sterling heir to the original" The Plain Dealer. Sunday, May 13, 2007. Last accessed on May 15, 2007 at http://www.cleveland.com/bookreviews/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/117895877437400.xml&coll=2.
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