Books I read- February

Books I've read- feb 2010

The door in time **
Baccalario, pierdomenico
An 11 yr old set of twins move to Argo Manor, a huge of mansion with lots of secrets. They, along with their 13 yr old friend Rick, attempt to discover the mysteries the previous owner, Ulysses Moore, was trying to hide.
It was just an ok read. I wanted to finish it to see what happens, but am not interested in reading the rest of series.

Stealing Death by Janet Carey
I only got 8 pages In this book before I lost interest. Firstly, it's set in old times, which I'm not a big fan of. Secondly, it uses names that are hard to pronounce, which is frustrating, and thirdly, it mimics old native American practices that I'm not versed on. It was confusing already, and not in the 'i wanna keep reading to see what happens' kind of confusion. But in the 'i just don't care enough to find out' kind of way.

The Knife of Never Letting Go ****
Book one of the Chaos Walking trilogy
By Patrick Ness
A 13 yr old boy lives in a village of all men. A germ was released when their ship landed in New World and not only killed all the women but left all the men able to hear each others 'noise'- their thoughts, their dreams, their nightmares, their lies....
Todd, the boy, has realized he's the last boy in Prentisstown and the mayor is after him for some reason. He has no choice but to run... And along the way discovers that everything he's ever been told is a lie.
This book was great. So many questions and mysteries left me not able to put it down. It ended just when it was getting started it seemed! Would love to read the second one and third which comes out in May. I also found a short prequel online on the authors website that shows us a little more about Viola before she meets Todd.

http://www.booktrust.org.uk/show/feature/New-World-intro

Raven's Gate by Anthony Horowitz
Book one of The Gatekeepers series
** 1/2
a teen has a choice- a juvenile detention center or some government foster care program. He chooses the latter and finds himself in the middle of a town full of crazy people, roads that lead nowhere and evil. He has to figure out what is going on and why the whole town seems so interested in him.
The first part was better than the second. It got a bit too weird there at the end.
Not interested in rest of series.

City of Bones ***1/2
Book one of The Mortal Instruments trilogy
By Cassandra Clare
A young girl, Clary, discovers suddenly that she can see how the world really is: full of demons and things from the Under World. She soon realizes that there are also Shadow Hunters who fight these demons to send them back to whatever evil world/ dimension they came from. When her mother is kidnapped she has no choice but to team up with these shadow hunters In order to get her mom back.
I loved this book until a nasty surprise at the very end. I wouldn't have seen it coming from a mile away and it made me look at the author's name again and say, "what were you thinking?!"
Apart from that it was a quick read and I really enjoyed it. Not sure I'll read the other two in the series simply cause of that nasty surprise, which totally affects the rest of the series. I would have given it four stars had it not been for that.

Midnight for Charlie Bone **
By Jenny Nimmo
Children of the Red King series, book one
Charlie finds out he can hear people in photographs and his grandmother is so proud, she sends him to Bloor's academy, a school for the gifted. He soon realizes that other classmates have mysterious powers too and they'll have to work together to solve the mystery of one of them.
I realized after I started this one that I'd read it before BUT since my memory is so terrible at times, I reread it cause I didn't remember what happened. It was good, but the kids started out very young- only ten. I like books meant for a little bit older audience. I checked out the second in the series so I will read it to see if the kids get older like they do in HP.

Charlie Bone and the Time Twister **
Book 2 in the children of the red king series, by Jenny nimmo
Charlie finds a relative at school- only he's from 1916. Henry Yewbean has been sent forward in time and there are some evil people at Bloors Academy that want him to disappear again. Charlie and his friends have to make sure Henry stays safe.
I'm done with the series. There are 6 more books, but Nimmo isn't a great story teller. She's not holding my attention anymore.

Watersmeet **** 341 pgs
by Ellen Jensen Abbott
A young girl is deemed an "outcast" in he village simply because her skin and hair color aren't ideal. She is berated by peers and adults on a daily basis. When the towns leader comes to convince them to rid the land of everything that isn't a blond haired blue eyed human (including the centaurs, fauns, dwarfs and all outcasts) only abisina can see him for what he really is and flees to find the father she's never met. The adventure that ensues is one of excitement, danger, friendship and the realization that everything she's been brought up to believe isn't necessarily true.
I really enjoyed this book. I had a hard time putting it down, and those are the best kind of books! There is just the right amount of detail and I rooted the main character on as I went. The author left it wide open for a sequel and I would totally read it.

I went to the library the other day! I'm 465 pages into the 703 page book, Just Henry (the fat one in this pile). It's actually taken me about a week to get this far. Not a fast read, which i prefer (i love it when i can't put one down!) but it's intriguing enough for me to keep on truckin' and find out what happens.