Ten: By Gretchen McNeil

TEN

SUMMARY

Shhhh!
Don't spread the word! Three-day weekend. House party.
White Rock House on Henry Island.
You do not want to miss it.

It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—three days on Henry Island at an exclusive house party. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their own reasons for wanting to be there, which involve their school's most eligible bachelor, T. J. Fletcher, and look forward to three glorious days of boys, bonding, and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.
Suddenly, people are dying, and with a storm raging outside, the teens are cut off from the rest of the world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn't scheduled to return for three days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?

REVIEW

So I just finished Ten, and I have to say, wow is it gripping.

Fans of horror movies will see a lot of similar themes and scares in Ten, but even so and even knowing where it might go, it was utterly gripping. I honestly couldn’t put it down even though I knew I shouldn’t be reading this at night, (as now I’m scared and have to read something happy and more carefree), but wow if it wasn’t captivating.

Ten is filled with action, death, surprises, and as mentioned before is gripping in a way that will keep readers stuck to their seats until the last page. I’m not a fan of horror movies or books, but I do recommend this for anyone looking for a shocking and captivating book, especially if you’re a fan of the horror movie genre. Perfect for the Halloween season. 

INFO

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Published: September 18, 2012

Price: $17.99

Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Ten-Gretchen-McNeil/dp/0062118781/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1350447905&sr=8-1&keywords=ten

Eve & Adam: By Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate

EVE & ADAM

SUMMARY

In the beginning, there was an apple –

And then there was a car crash, a horrible injury, and a hospital. But before Evening Spiker's head clears a strange boy named Solo is rushing her to her mother’s research facility. There, under the best care available, Eve is left alone to heal.

Just when Eve thinks she will die – not from her injuries, but from boredom—her mother gives her a special project: Create the perfect boy.

Using an amazingly detailed simulation, Eve starts building a boy from the ground up. Eve is creating Adam. And he will be just perfect . . . won’t he?

REVIEW

Do you remember the Animorphs series? That was the product of the collaboration of Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate. Since then, I’ve also been a fan of Grant’s BZRK series, so I couldn’t wait to see what these two had up there sleeves in Eve and Adam.

Eve and Adam started from a re-imagining of the story of Adam and Eve, and the two authors have done a wonderful job putting a new and fascinating spin on the old tale. Readers will be spellbound as Eve struggles with the bonds and uncomfortable disconnects of creating something as complex as a human, let alone the perfect boy.

But this story isn’t just about a girl making the perfect boy instead it’s filled with action, shocking secrets, moral decisions, and of course love.

I loved the way the book stars with a terrible car crash reeling the readers in immediately, and setting a precedent of action and adventure for the rest of the book. While the book doesn’t meet this precedent throughout the entire novel, there are plenty of action packed moments.

Besides the action, readers will enjoy the alternating POV of the different characters. My favorite character probably was Solo. He’s a strong, vengeful character, who is forced to reconsider his motivation after seeing the world through the eyes of Eve. He is likable and full of a take charge attitude that helps keep the story going at a nice pace.

Of course, while I really enjoyed the action and the characters, I did find a bit of the love triangle aspect of the book a little much. I understand that is one of the basic premises of the book, but I would have preferred it span over a longer period of time before such drastic decisions were made on these feelings.

All in all I liked Eve & Adam and can’t wait for the next book in the series. As the story leaves off with readers itching to find out more about Adam and the others. 

INFO

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Published: October 2, 2012

Price: $17.99

Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Eve-Adam-Katherine-Applegate/dp/0312583516/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349799260&sr=1-1&keywords=eve+and+adam

Jepp, Who Defied the Stars: By Katherine Marsh

JEPP, WHO DEFIED THE STARS

SUMMARY

Fate:

Is it written in the stars from the moment we are born?

Or is it a bendable thing that we can shape with our own hands?

Jepp of Astraveld needs to know.

He left his countryside home on the empty promise of a stranger, only to become a captive in a luxurious prison: Coudenberg Palace, the royal court of the Spanish Infanta. Nobody warned Jepp that as a court dwarf, daily injustices would become his seemingly unshakable fate. If the humiliations were his alone, perhaps he could endure them; but it breaks Jepp’s heart to see his friend Lia suffer.

After Jepp and Lia attempt a daring escape from the palace, Jepp is imprisoned again, alone in a cage. Now, spirited across Europe in a kidnapper’s carriage, Jepp fears where his unfortunate stars may lead him. But he can't even begin to imagine the brilliant and eccentric new master—a man devoted to uncovering the secrets of the stars—who awaits him. Or the girl who will help him mend his heart and unearth the long-buried secrets of his past.

REVIEW

Rarely do I read a book that is written with such advanced skill as to evoke images of great poetry, while at the same time possessing a level of ease allowing even the most reluctant of reader to be swept into the story.

All of this leaves only one word to describe Jepp, Who Defied the Stars.

Magical.

Now because you probably want more from a review than just one word I’ll say a bit more about the book. Jepp, Who Defied the Stars is one of the best written books I’ve read in a long while. It is full of beautiful written scenery and descriptions, yet gripping. It is filled with three dimensional characters that you see the faults in, yet still understand there decisions, as they’ve been built as humans not stick figured characters. And it moves at a startlingly quick pace for a book that spends so much time describing the surrounding world and characters in such in-depth detail.

Jepp is a fantastic character. He is smart, likable, and fallible. Of course this ability to make mistakes and be swayed by emotion is one of the reasons readers will love Jepp, as they will commiserate with his journey and growth, getting chocked up at the low points and feeling elated at the high. He is a well crafted character who is just a kid learning as he’s forced into impossible situations away from home.

Of course, besides making Jepp a wonderful character, Marsh also does a fantastic job recreating the world and situations of the 15 and 1600s. My personal favorite fact based location/character was Tycho and Uraniborg, which I found fascinating, reading as Tycho mapped the stars with nothing more than math they discovered and rudimentary materials. Absolutely fascinating.

As you can probably tell I very much Enjoyed Jepp, Who Defied the Stars. I thought it was well written, gripping, original, and balanced story building with plot development very well. All in all I would easily recommend this book to ANYONE I happen to come across, adult or teen. Go buy it. 

INFO

Publisher: Hyperion Book CH

Published: October 9, 2012

Price: $16.99

Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Jepp-Defied-Stars-Katherine-Marsh/dp/1423135008/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349759308&sr=1-1&keywords=jepp+who+defied+the+stars

Three Parts Dead: By Max Gladstone

THREE PARTS DEAD

SUMMARY

A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring Him back to life before His city falls apart.
Her client is Kos, recently deceased fire god of the city of Alt Coulumb. Without Him, the metropolis’s steam generators will shut down, its trains will cease running, and its four million citizens will riot.

Tara’s job: resurrect Kos before chaos sets in. Her only help: Abelard, a chain-smoking priest of the dead god, who’s having an understandable crisis of faith.

When Tara and Abelard discover that Kos was murdered, they have to make a case in Alt Coulumb’s courts—and their quest for the truth endangers their partnership, their lives, and Alt Coulumb’s slim hope of survival.

REVIEW

The first thing I have to say about this book is wow.

From the 1^st page to the last I was absolutely riveted. Even now having finished the book, the first thing I did after reading the last page was look up the authors website and see when the next book he’s writing is coming out. If that’s not a sign of a good book, I don’t know what is.

Three Parts Dead has a fantastic combination of characters. All the characters are compromised, all them are filled with histories filled with shadows, and yet you find yourself rooting for these broken characters. I know you’re supposed to love the protagonist, but in this case I really did. Tara is strong, smart, and full of piss and vinegar. Her history is almost as interesting as the back-story to the world here (which I personally could have read an entire series on and loved (not just a book but an entire series.))

That brings me to the second thing I absolutely loved about Three Parts Dead, the rich history of the God Wars and the system of magic that encompassed the book. As I mentioned before I could read an entire series about the God Wars, what was mentioned about this worlds history sound fascinating and thrilling. Gods battling against craftsmen and women (basically human magicians), and the transformation that occurs to these craftsmen over time, changing them from their human bodies, to something of the stars, all in all this whole history and back-story was fascinating. As for the system of magic, as a law student I loved the fact that Gladstone created an entire system of magic based on and for lawyers. Magic is based on contracts and agreements, with the craftiest and sliest being those with the most power. Those who are not in law school may be tripped up by terms such as law of perpetuities, but it is not a huge part of the story, but something that will bring a smile to those who do understand.

All in all I loved Three Parts Dead and can’t wait for the next book by Max Gladstone. It had great characters, plenty of action, and is filled with fascinating back-story and system of magic. Definitely recommended for fans of a darker sort of magic.

INFO

Publisher: Tor

Published: October 2, 2012

Price: $24.99

Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Three-Parts-Dead-Max-Gladstone/dp/0765333104/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349549017&sr=8-1&keywords=3+parts+dead