Review: Savage Fortress

The Savage Fortress 
by Sarwat Chadda

Book Description:
After three weeks of vacation, Ash Mistry is ready to leave the heat and dust of India behind him. Then he discovers a gleaming gold arrowhead hidden in the sands---a weapon used to defeat evil King Ravana in legend.

At least, Ash is pretty sure it's only a legend . . .

But when Lord Alexander Savage comes after Ash, the legends are suddenly way too real. Savage commands an army of monstrous shapechangers called rakshasas, who want only to seize the arrowhead and restore Ravana to power. As they hunt Ash through magnificent fortresses and brutal deserts, he must learn to work with a powerful rakshasa girl named Parvati, and find the strength within himself to fight on no matter what. Because this isn't just a battle to stop the end of the world. It's a battle to stop the end of reality as we know it.

No pressure.

Review: 

I thought that the Indian Mythology that was the background for the story was really interesting.  I had a hard time, though, because I didn't really like Ash and I couldn't connect with him as the story went on.  I felt like he made bad choices a lot.  

I think some readers will really love the action in this book. It just wasn't the book for me. 

Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
by Ransom Riggs

Book Description:
A mysterious island.


An abandoned orphanage.


A strange collection of very curious photographs.



It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

Review:
This is the perfect semi-creepy, slightly magical, but still historically set realistic story for anyone in middle school all the way up to adults.  I guarantee you will be as sucked into the story as I was, eagerly turning the pages to find the next intriguing photographs and trying to place them into Jacob's mysterious tale.

This story is mysterious, full of danger and wonder. It feels realistic, but then weird things start happening... I couldn't put it down and I'm really looking forward to seeing where it goes in the upcoming sequel.

Review: Splendors and Glooms

Splendors and Glooms
by Laura Amy Schlitz

Book Description: 

The master puppeteer, Gaspare Grisini, is so expert at manipulating his stringed puppets that they appear alive. Clara Wintermute, the only child of a wealthy doctor, is spellbound by Grisini’s act and invites him to entertain at her birthday party. Seeing his chance to make a fortune, Grisini accepts and makes a splendidly gaudy entrance with caravan, puppets, and his two orphaned assistants.

Lizzie Rose and Parsefall are dazzled by the Wintermute home. Clara seems to have everything they lack — adoring parents, warmth, and plenty to eat. In fact, Clara’s life is shadowed by grief, guilt, and secrets. When Clara vanishes that night, suspicion of kidnapping falls upon the puppeteer and, by association, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall.

As they seek to puzzle out Clara’s whereabouts, Lizzie and Parse uncover Grisini’s criminal past and wake up to his evil intentions. Fleeing London, they find themselves caught in a trap set by Grisini’s ancient rival, a witch with a deadly inheritance to shed before it’s too late.

Review:
This book is very gothically atmospheric. The characters are intriguing. The sorcery that gets blended into the story is done very well and I found myself drawn in by both the story lines and the horrific things that the children and even the adult characters were facing. 

 And yet... I found this story read very slowly. Don't get me wrong. It was beautifully written, I enjoyed the story and I was satisfied when it was done, but it also took me about five days to read and for me, that is a *really* long time. I'm not sure exactly why it was so slow, but I have a feeling readers who are only halfheartedly interested may not make it through this one...

Review: Goblin Secrets

Goblin Secrets
by William Alexander

Book Description:
In the town of Zombay, there is a witch named Graba who has clockwork chicken legs and moves her house around—much like the fairy tale figure of Baba Yaga. Graba takes in stray children, and Rownie is the youngest boy in her household. Rownie’s only real relative is his older brother Rowan, who is an actor. But acting is outlawed in Zombay, and Rowan has disappeared.

Desperate to find him, Rownie joins up with a troupe of goblins who skirt the law to put on plays. But their plays are not only for entertainment, and the masks they use are for more than make-believe. The goblins also want to find Rowan—because Rowan might be the only person who can save the town from being flooded by a mighty river.

Review:
I picked up this book originally because not only did it win last year's National Book Award, but also because as a fantasy reader at heart, the premise just sounded too good to pass up! As I read, though, I found that I was having a hard time keeping interest in this book. It has a lot of really fascinating fantasy elements - there's a tie-in to the Baba Yaga myth, goblins, masks with power - but I think it was just the storytelling itself that couldn't grab me. I was a little disappointed that I had to push myself to finish this one.

Review: Safekeeping

Safekeeping

by Karen Hesse

Book Description:

Radley’s parents had warned her that all hell would break loose if the American People's Party took power. And now, with the president assassinated and the government cracking down on citizens, the news is filled with images of vigilante groups, frenzied looting, and police raids. It seems as if all hell has broken loose.

Coming back from volunteering abroad, Radley just wants to get home to Vermont, and the comfort and safety of her parents. Travel restrictions and delays are worse than ever, and by the time Radley’s plane lands in New Hampshire, she’s been traveling for over twenty-four hours. Exhausted, she heads outside to find her parents—who always come, day or night, no matter when or where she lands—aren’t there.

Her cell phone is dead, her credit cards are worthless, and she doesn’t have the proper travel papers to cross state lines. Out of money and options, Radley starts walking. . . .

 

Review:

This was a super-quick read. Once you get past the first small section, almost every page has a picture on it. The pictures, taken by Hesse herself, add to the story, propelling the reader more deeply into the wilderness and Radley's desperate situation.

 

This was a book that gave me the shivers. It was one that was very realistic and had such potential to actually occur that I found myself wondering what I would do if our government suddenly went into a military lockdown! I'm pretty sure that I would just end up hiding and hoping for the best. I don't think I'd be as brave as Radley, walking all the way to Canada!!

 

The only issue I had with this book was that Radley's situation seemed just a hair unrealistic at the end. Once she gets her life back under control, there is nothing then stopping her from doing what she chooses to do. While the entire book had been about Radley overcoming horrific obstacles to do what she felt was right and to survive, suddenly it seemed just a bit too easy.

Review: Home is Beyond the Mountains

Home is Beyond the Mountains

by Celia Barker Lottridge

 

Book Description:

Samira is only nine years old when the Turkish army invades northwestern Persia in 1918, driving her family from its tiny village. They flee into the mountains, but the journey is so difficult that only Samira and her older brother survive. Beginning with a refugee camp run by the British Army, the children are shunted from one temporary home to another, finally ending up in an orphanage where it seems that they will live out their childhood. Then the new orphanage director, Susan Shedd, decides that she will take the 300 refugee children back to their home villages — a journey of 300 miles — through the mountains, on foot. Samira embarks on the journey with wonder and fear. Even if they make it, will there be anyone in her old village to take her in?

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Review:
I was surprised how easy this book was to read.  It's written in very simple sentences and goes very, very quickly. I think I read the whole book in about 2 1/2 hours.  I had not really thought I would enjoy this one that much (thanks in part to a yucky cover :/) but it turned out to be pretty interesting.

I honestly know like nothing about the middle eastern area in history and so this story was pretty much all knew to me.  Some themes from history are all the same, though, so this story of children who become orphaned in a foreign land did not feel so foreign that I couldn't relate to it.  This was a heartbreaking and yet, still hopeful story. 

Review: Tiger Lily

Tiger Lily

by Jodi Lynn Anderson

 

Book Description:
Before Peter Pan belonged to Wendy, he belonged to the girl with the crow feather in her hair. . . .

 

Fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily doesn't believe in love stories or happy endings. Then she meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan in the forbidden woods of Neverland and immediately falls under his spell.

 

Peter is unlike anyone she's ever known. Impetuous and brave, he both scares and enthralls her. As the leader of the Lost Boys, the most fearsome of Neverland's inhabitants, Peter is an unthinkable match for Tiger Lily. Soon, she is risking everything—her family, her future—to be with him. When she is faced with marriage to a terrible man in her own tribe, she must choose between the life she's always known and running away to an uncertain future with Peter.

 

With enemies threatening to tear them apart, the lovers seem doomed. But it's the arrival of Wendy Darling, an English girl who's everything Tiger Lily is not, that leads Tiger Lily to discover that the most dangerous enemies can live inside even the most loyal and loving heart. 

Review:
Though I LOVED the concept for this book and found the way that Anderson twisted the story to be really interesting, I had a really hard time connecting to the characters.  This story is actually told by Tinker Bell and so you are watching Tiger Lily, Peter Pan, and the lost boys from a distance. It makes it easy to see everything that's happening, but it made it hard to really understand everything that Tiger Lily was feeling. 

If you are a Peter Pan fan, I would recommend giving this a try.  See if it works for you, or if you have the same problem I did... This reimagining of Neverland is worth reading anyway.

Review: Fever

Fever

by Lauren DeStefano

The Chemical Garden Trilogy, book two



Book Description:
Rhine and Gabriel have escaped the mansion, but they’re still in danger. Outside, they find a world even more disquieting than the one they left behind.

Determined to get to Manhattan and find Rhine’s twin brother, Rowan, the two press forward, amid threats of being captured again…or worse.

The road they are on is long and perilous—and in a world where young women only live to age twenty and men die at age twenty-five, time is precious. In this sequel to Lauren DeStefano’s harrowing Wither, Rhine must decide if freedom is worth the price—now that she has more to lose than ever.

Review:
I actually enjoyed this sequel better than the original Wither, mostly because it got Rhine out of the mansion and into the real world, where she had a chance to take charge. DeStefano's world is beautiful and crumbling... a devestating and destructive place. I think it's super creepy having to imagine that I would already be dead in this world.  I don't always think the romance is really believable, but in book two it gets a little better.  I think Rhine becomes more of a real person in this book.  Not just a tragic heroine, though...she never really gets out of that horrible stereotype either because of her horrible situation. I loved the setting more than the story I think, but I will definitely be reading book three. I have to find out how it ends!