Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Reading Hammock’s Rating:	5 out of 5
Category:	Fiction
Fiction Genre:	Fantasy
Title:	Graceling
Author:	Kristin Cashore
Author Website:	http://kristincashore.blogspot.com/
ISBN-10:	015206396X
ASIN:	B001TODO54
Publication Date:	October, 2008
Publisher:	Harcourt Children's Books
Format:	Paperback | Digital | Hardcover |Audio
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Author Synopsis:

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.

When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone.

My review:

“Graceling” is very well written.  The author, Kristin Cashore crafted compelling three-dimensional characters and an interesting plot that includes many twists.  Also, I applaud the author’s proofreads, as I wasn’t able to find any mistakes throughout the entire 480 pages of the novel. I usually find at least one. 

I liked how easily I first connected with the main character, Katsa, and how I felt I knew her very well by the end of the book.  Cashore achieved this connection between the reader and character through her balanced use of dialogue and descriptions. 

“Graceling” also has a great number of action-packed scenes.  The story was refreshing, as there many twists in plot that I was not expecting.  Many books bore me off the bat when the expected happens.  That was not the case in this story.  When I thought the novel was over, there was an unpredictable turn in the story.  Usually novels over 400 pages drag on, but Cashore did a great job spacing out action throughout the novel, keeping it interesting.

I enjoyed every page of “Graceling” and would definitely recommend “Graceling”, especially if you are looking for Spring Break reading.    Run out and get your copy!

Shattered by Sophia Sharp

Reading Hammock’s Rating:	2 ½
Category:	Fiction
Fiction Genre:	Paranormal
Title:	Shattered
Author:	Sophia Sharp
Author Website:	http://sophiasharp.blogspot.com
ASIN:	B0056U9X20
Publication Date:	June 18, 2011
Publisher:	Dream Publishing
Format:	Digital
Amazon

Synopsis:

Laura Cubus was perfectly content with her life. A junior in high school, she felt perfectly normal. She had good friends, a great family, and did well in school. Nothing particularly exciting ever happened where she lived, and everything was stable.

But that all drastically changes when a new student arrives at Laura's school. Wild rumors swirl about his past, and Laura becomes determined to find out the truth. 

As she gets to know the mysterious student, he shares with her an ancient secret... one that may yet put both of them in grave danger.

And for the first time in her life, Laura is exposed to a completely unfamiliar world. She is swept away on an exhilarating journey that takes to a place where great destiny may yet await... and where supernatural powers run rampant. 

My review:

Sharp did an okay job with “Shattered”, the first book of the Dream Realms series.  While I found the novel intriguing, I was not as satisfied with it as were other reviewers.  For my taste, the book was not long enough to fit Sharp’s complex plot.  I do not plan on reading the other novels in this series, as I felt that “Shattered” is trying too hard to hook the reader into buying the entire series.  With a longer book, Sharp could have more fully developed all aspects of her story and hooked me into wanting to know what would happen in the next installment. 

Throughout the novel, Sharp uses the element of mystery to keep the story interesting.  While the mystery aspect worked, I felt that Sharp cheated me by not revealing enough about the characters, until the very end of the novel.  This overwhelmed the reader and made me feel that she intended to write a sequel to “Shattered”, instead of having a sequel naturally develop around the plot.  A longer book would have probably convinced me to continue reading the series instead of feeling overburdened at the end by revealed mysteries.   

As a result of the overused sense of mystery, I felt that the characters were underdeveloped.  One of the main characters, Logan was only mentioned as a mysterious person and did not seem to have any distinct personality traits.  Characters need time to develop naturally and come alive in a story. 

The novel ended in an action-packed scene, with a cliffhanger.  Usually, when I read the first book in a series, I have to immediately buy the next book.  Unfortunately, in the case of “Shattered”, I never became attached to the story’s two-dimensional characters and, therefore, will not be racing to the bookstore for the rest of the Dram Realms series.

 I would not recommend putting “Shattered” on the urgent reading list anytime soon.

"Elsewhere" by Gabrielle Zevin

 

Reading Hammock’s Rating:	3 out of 5
Category:	Fiction
Fiction Genre:	Fantasy
Title:	Elsewhere
Author:	Gabrielle Zevin
Author Website:	http://www.memoirsofa.com/
ISBN-10:	0312367465
ISBN-13:	978-0312367466
Publication Date:	May, 2007
Publisher:	Square Fish
Format:	Paperback | Hardcover | Audio | Digital
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Synopsis:

Welcome to Elsewhere. It is warm, with a breeze, and the beaches are marvelous. It’s quiet and peaceful. You can’t get sick or any older. Curious to see new paintings by Picasso? Swing by one of Elsewhere’s museums. Need to talk to someone about your problems? Stop by Marilyn Monroe’s psychiatric practice.

Elsewhere is where fifteen-year-old Liz Hall ends up, after she has died. It is a place so like Earth, yet completely different. Here Liz will age backward from the day of her death until she becomes a baby again and returns to Earth. But Liz wants to turn sixteen, not fourteen again. She wants to get her driver’s license. She wants to graduate from high school and go to college. And now that she’s dead, Liz is being forced to live a life she doesn’t want with a grandmother she has only just met. And it is not going well. How can Liz let go of the only life she has ever known and embrace a new one? Is it possible that a life lived in reverse is no different from a life lived forward?

This moving, often funny book about grief, death, and loss will stay with the reader long after the last page is turned.

My review:

I have wanted to read this book for a while since many people in my grade have read and loved it.  When my library finally had it available, I immediately picked it up, expecting a fast paced story that would be hard to put down.  Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

One aspect of the story that I found hard to look past was the tense that Zevin decided to use.  Although I have never focused on this until now, most books I have read are written in the past tense, but Zevin made the choice to write “Elsewhere” in the present tense, which made it hard for me to concentrate on the story. 

In the first half of the novel, Zevin did a great job of showing and describing Liz’s struggle to fit into ‘Elsewhere.’  But, I felt that the bulk of the story happened quickly in the last hundred pages of the three hundred pages in this book.  I would have liked learning more about Liz’s entire afterlife and less of the over-dramatic difficulties Liz faced when she arrived.  I was disappointed with the story because it lacked in action and was overwhelmed with too many emotions. 

Despite the adulation my cohorts, I would not recommend that you pick up this novel because it has an unbalanced amount of action and drama that made the plot too complex to fit into such a short story.  

The Crystal Princess By Kimberly Norton

Reading Hammock’s Rating:	5 out of 5
Category:	Fiction
Fiction Genre:	Fantasy
Title:	The Crystal Princess
Author:	Kimberly Norton (@witchofcrystal)
Author Website:	http://kimberlynorton.tateauthor.com/
ISBN-10:	1617395471
ISBN-13:	9781617395475
Publication Date:	February 2011
Publisher:	Tate Publishing (@TatePublishing)
Format:	Paperback | Digital
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Synopsis:

Kelly lives the life of a typical teen in the suburbs of Southern California with her football star boyfriend and loyal best friend. It's her senior year, and she's looking forward to her eighteenth birthday. But her life totally changes when she's abducted by her birth family, a family she didn't even know existed. Meeting her mother and two sisters for the first time is almost too much for her to handle. Kelly learns she is a witch born from a coven of witches with special powers. She's called back to help her family fight the evil, power-hungry witch, Victoria, and the Wizard Council, who want to destroy all that Kelly's family holds dear before the Immortality Ceremony, a ceremony that will seal the girls' fate and powers for all eternity. To make things even more complicated, Kelly falls in love with an Indian named Max White Bear. But because of a longstanding tradition, their relationship is a hard sell to the chief of the Indian tribe. With the war between good and evil looming, Kelly must find the strength to harness her magical powers and summon The Crystal Princess inside her. Kimberly Norton lives in the foothills of California, with her husband and two young children. She volunteers at her children's school, and her spare time is devoted to her passion for writing.

My review:

I was very pleased to review a copy of “The Crystal Princess” by Kimberly Norton.  This story is about a typical teenage girl, Kelly, who has just started her senior year.  The day before her eighteenth birthday, Kelly’s birth family kidnap her, turning her life upside down.  It is soon revealed to Kelly that she is a witch and must learn to use her powers to fight against the evil witch, Victoria, who yearns to destroy Kelly’s entire family.

Since this is a short book, only 121 pages, Norton carefully crafted each page.  She quickly dives into the story and starts the action within the first twenty pages.  This face-paced quality is maintained throughout the story with Norton’s frequent use of dialogue.  The main character, Kelly, is a very three dimensional person, as Norton’s casual writing style brings the reader into Kelly’s thoughts.  I also loved the cover of this book, as it not only appeals to Norton’s audience of Young Adult readers but also incorporates important figures from the story, in an interesting way. 

I am looking forward to reading more great books by up-and-coming author Kimberly Norton.  I would recommend this book to everyone, especially to the readers that like fantasy and discovery novels.

iBoy by Kevin Brooks

	Reading Hammock’s Rating:	3 ½ out of 5
	Category:	Fiction
	Fiction Genre:	SciFi
	Title:	iBoy
	Author:	Kevin Brooks
	Author Website:	http://www.myspace.com/kevinbrooksauthor
	ISBN:	0545317681
	ISBN-13:	978-0545317689
	Publication Date:	November, 2011
	Publisher:	The Chicken House
	Format:	Hardcover | Paperback | Digital
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Synopsis:

Sixteen-year-old Tom Harvey was an ordinary Londoner until an attack that caused fragments of an iPhone to be embedded in his brain, giving him incredible knowledge and power, but using that power against the gang that attacked him and a friend could have deadly consequences.

My review:

I began reading iBoy because I was intrigued to learn about Tom Harvey, the book’s protagonist, who obtains brilliant powers when the pieces of an iPhone lodge into his brain.  The concept for this book is fascinating.  Tom’s newfound powers drew me into the novel but, unfortunately, the plot let me down because I never felt fully immersed in Tom’s life.  In my opinion, great novels cannot rely only on a great concept—they also need a great plot.  In iBoy, the plot was not as spectacular as the idea behind it. 

I particularly liked how Brooks decided to incorporate the modern day item of an iPhone into his story.  We can all relate to the iPhone and this opens up a world of opportunities, which I felt Brooks did not use this to his advantage.   The plot simply did not work with the concept because the author did not give us more moments when Tom is actually using some of the capabilities of an iPhone, such as texting and searching the web. 

In sum, I generally liked Brooks’s refreshing concept but found, to my disappointment, that he did not adequately carry it through.  I would recommend this novel to readers who enjoy fantasy and technology but warn them not to have high expectations.  

"Legend" by Marie Lu

	Reading Hammock’s Rating:	5 out of 5
	Category:	Fiction
	Fiction Genre:	Dystopian
	Title:	Legend
	Author:	Marie Lu
	Author Website:	http://marielu.org/
	ISBN:	039925675X
	ISBN-13:	9780399256752
	Publication Date:	November 29, 2011
	Publisher:	Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
	Format:	Hardcover | Paperback | Digital | Audio
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Synopsis:

Born into an elite family in one of the Republics wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a military prodigy committed to her country.

Born into the slums of the Republic’s Lake Sector, fifteen-year-old Day is the country’s most wanted criminal.  From different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths—until the day June’s brother, Metias, is murdered.  And Day becomes the prime suspect. 

Now, caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family’s survival while June tries to desperately avenge Metias’s death.  But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together and the sinister lengths to which their country will go to keep its secrets. 

My review:

  

I am pleased to say that this is another one of the novels that I was able to bring home from the Book Expo of America (BEA) in May.

“Legend” revolves around a dystopian America where one’s fate lies in a test, called, the ‘Trial’, that every child is required to take at the age of ten.  June was the first and only individual to ace the Trial and was moved into the Republic’s best college four years ahead of her cohorts. 

Meanwhile, another character named Day failed the Trial and became the most infamous criminal in the Republic.  Adding onto the mystery surrounding Day is that no one even knows what he looks like. 

One of aspect of the novel that I like the most is the fact that the main characters, June and Day, differ in background but still share similarities, such as their ability to find ways to get into trouble.  I also loved how the author, Lu, bounced between the perspective of Day and June each chapter.  This really works in “Legend” because it adds a whole new dimension to the story and allows the reader to really see the lives of the two main characters.  The changing between characters in this novel helps the reader imagine Day and June’s starkly different lives without any explanation or narration.  In other words, Lu shows us the story of “Legend” as opposed to just telling the story, making this a vivid read.  Very often, I stop reading a book when there is too much ‘telling’ and not enough ‘showing’.

I absolutely recommend this novel to everyone and I think that it deserves to be a best seller.  If you are still not sure if you want to pick up this book, I think “Legend” is a perfect match for people who have enjoyed reading dystopian other novels such as “Divergent” by Veronica Roth (see my earlier review http://readinghammock.blogspot.com/2011/10/divergent-by-veronica-roth.html.)

Divergent By Veronica Roth

Reading Hammock’s Rating:	4 ½
Category:	Fiction
Fiction Genre:	Science Fiction
Title:	Divergent
Author:	Veronica Roth
Author Website:	http://veronicarothbooks.blogspot.com/
ISBN-10:	0062024027
ISBN-13:	9780062024022
Publication Date:	May 2011
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Format:	Paperback | Hardcover | Digital | Audio
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Synopsis:

In a future Chicago, 16-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

My review:

I have been reading this novel on and off for a couple of weeks but I barely finished a small portion of it.  Whenever I picked it up, it didn’t spark my interest to keep me reading.  Yesterday, I picked it up again and I finally got into the story.  The story beings very slowly.  The author allows the reader to look into Beatrice’s dystopian world, filled with five factions—Abnegation, Candor, Dauntless, Amity, and Erudite.  Beatrice has lived with her family for 16 years in the Abnegation faction-- the faction of selflessness.  However, at the age of 16, she considers her options at the Choosing Ceremony, and betrays her family by picking a different faction than she was born into.  Beatrice chooses the Dauntless faction, the faction of bravery and fights for one of the ten spots available in this faction. If she fails, she may become an outcast, and a person that does not belong to any of the five factions. 

After patiently chipping away at the beginning for weeks, I finally grasped enough of the story that made this book “unputdownable.”  Roth uses vivid descriptions to help the reader understand Beatrice’s world.  Although the beginning is slow, it sets up the story for the rest of the novel and is vital to understand the roles of each character and faction. Once you pass beyond the initial breaking of the ice, “Divergent” is a heart-racing story that builds deep tensions to keep the reader wondering what will happen next.  However, be warned, you may be unsatisfied with the ending since you’ll have to wait until its sequel comes out next May to see how Roth continues the story.