Book Review: The Red Pyramid

Title: The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book One)
Author: Rick Riordan
Genre: MG Commercial Fiction (Action/Adventure, Fantasy)
Rating: A+

140-Character Summary: The Kane kids go on a wild ride through Egyptian mythology to save their dad from a god of chaos and uncover the truth of their mom's death.

First 140 Characters of the Book: "We only have a few hours, so listen carefully. If you're hearing this story, you're already in danger. Sadie and I might be your only chance..." (p. 1).

140-Character Review: Told in Riordan's formulaic manner (children of gods, unknown/untapped powers, cryptic adults), readers learn about a new world of mythology.

140-Character Recommendation/Market Placement/Entry Point: As with all Riordan series, you know what you're getting: an expanded knowledge of mythology told in an action-packed style for MG readers.

Book Review: The Lost Hero

Title: The Lost Hero (The Heroes of Olympus Series, Book One)
Author: Rick Riordan
Genre: MG Commercial Fiction (Action, Fantasy)
Rating: A+

140-Character Summary: A whole new class of demigods is on the scene to finish what Percy and friends started. And they're more messed-up than the last lot.

First 140 Characters of the Book: "Even before he got electrocuted, Jason was having a rotten day. He woke in the backseat of a school bus, not sure where he was, holding..." (p.7/392, NOOK).

140-Character Review: I think Jason and his pals have better powers than the original series' heroes, and the Roman demigod angle freshens up and expands the story.

140-Character Recommendation/Market Placement/Entry Point: Fans of Rick Riordan, hop on board for another great series.

Book Review: Inkheart

Title: Inkheart (Inkheart Trilogy #1)
Author: Cornelia Funke
Genre: MG Fantasy
Rating: B-

140-Character Summary: Literary characters come to life when a "Silvertongue" reads the book out loud. (And real people get lost in the book.) Bad stuff follows.

First 140 Characters: "Rain fell that night, a fine, whispering rain. Many years later, Meggie had only to close her eyes and she could still hear it, like..."

140-Character Review: Took 100 pages to get interesting and 193 to get REALLY interesting. The "confused" rising action was frustrating. I'll read book 2 (and 3).

Hogwarts Challenge Notes:
Transfiguration (Literary Characters Become Living, Breathing People and Vice Versa)

Tweet-Style Reviews

I have a million (nay, bajillion) books that I've read recently and not reviewed. So you'll all get short-changed on the reviews. Sounds fair, huh?

To help you out in this massive review round-up, I've lumped them into two categories: "Greek Mythology-ish" and "Dairy Queen-ish". Sounds like weird categories, but just trust me on this one.

Greek Mythology-ish

1. The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book 4)
Weakest book in the series. Bad descriptions of sword play battles. If I weren't invested in the series, I'd have given up. But I didn’t.

2. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book 5)
Best book in the series. Great use of minor gods; good battle descriptions. I actually thought somebody else was the spy. Glad I finished.

3. Troy High by Shanna Norris
Modern YA retelling of Illiad. “Cassandra” was a good narrator. “Agamemnon” and “Menelaus” had their personalities reversed. “Hector” was true to the original.

4. Troy by Adele Geras
YA retelling of Illiad from woman’s POV. Different perspective on tried and true story. Great read. (Good intro to Iliad for new-to-mythology readers.)

5. Ithaka by Adele Geras
YA retelling of Odyssey from Ithaka's waiting POV. Another good work by Geras. (Good intro to Odyssey for new-to-mythology readers.)

Diary Queen-ish"

1. The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock (Book #2 in the Dairy Queen Trilogy)
I already knew (and sort of liked) the characters. Kind of repetitive (always saying, “Schwenks don’t make decisions”) with telling, rather than showing in her writing.

2. Front and Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock (Book #3 in the Dairy Queen Trilogy)
Best conflict in the series. Wasn’t sure how D.J. would decide. Glad D.J. started to stand up for herself (especially to Brian). Good resolution of the trilogy.

Hogwarts Challenge Notes:
Percy Jackson Books 4 & 5 - Both are Care of Magical Creatures (Lots of Magical Creatures in these books)
Troy and Ithaka - Both are Defense Against the Dark Arts (War)
Troy High - Muggle Studies (The war is too metaphorical, in my taste, to be "Defense...")
Dairy Queen Books 2 & 3 - Both are Muggle Studies books

Book Review: The Titan's Curse

Title: The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Book Three)
Author: Rick Riordan
Genre: Middle Grade, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Rating: A

Summary: The story of Percy Jackson continues in this third (of five) installment of the Olympians series. Percy now has to contend for (actually, try to shrink from) the spotlight (actually, the prophecy fortelling doom) with Thalia, another child of "the big three."

First Line: "The Friday before winter break, my mom packed me an overnight bag and a few deadly weapons and took me to a new boarding school."

Review: I'm not sure quite how to keep reviewing these books in this series independently. It seems as if I'm saying the same thing over and over.

(Read Book #1's Review Here; Book #2's Review Here)

This book continues the upward trend of this series. Riordan retains his humor and good characterization of tweens/teens/young adults, and further ratchets up what we want to see. Specifically, the quest in this book is more harrowing (with some full-fledged carnage) and the god/mortal interactions continue to develop. We also get a deeper peek into the god/god interactions (which is what I've been clammoring for).

Based on some hints that my nephew has (infuriatingly) dropped, I'm sure there are even more good things to come in this series. If you've read this far, keep trucking on, my friend.

Book Review: The Sea of Monsters

Title: The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book Two)
Author: Rick Riordan
Genre: Middle Grade, Sci Fi/Fantasy
Rating: A-

Summary: Percy Jackson gets reunited with old friends, old foes, old fathers as he learns more family secrets and proves that he isn't your average, run-of-the-mill Olympian. [Read my review of Book #1 in the series here.]

First Line: "My nightmare started like this."

Review: I got my wish, well one of my wishes, a little bit. The challenges that Percy (and crew) face in The Sea of Monsters were much more harrowing than in The Lightning Thief. Percy is starting to show that he is the son of Poseidon--and so much of this book takes place in/around water, that his lineage comes in pretty handy.

Also, we find out more about Percy, his family, and the his dad (whom I am quickly forming an opinion of as the coolest Greek god known to man).

There is still a lot to be explored in these books, and they keep getting better--more action, tons of laughs, deepening relationships and bonds. It's enough to keep me reading to the end (barring a huge "tanking" in one of the subsequent three books).

Book Review: The Lightning Thief

Title: The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book One)
Author: Rick Riordan
Genre: Middle Grade, Sci Fi/Fantasy
Rating: B-

Summary: Percy Jackson has always had trouble in school--bad grades, bad experiences, being kicked out of one right after the other. When, the summer after sixth grade, he and his mom and his best friend (who Percy quickly discovers is half-goat) are attacked by a giant bull, Percy quickly figures out that his life isn't normal. He's an Olympian--son of Poseidon--and he has to go on a quest with some friends (including the goat/boy) to save Zeus' master bolt and thwart World War III.

First Line: "Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood."

Review: I read this book in preparation to see the movie (which comes out this President's Day). I also read the book at the vehement urging of my nephew. Background on my nephew: he's 15, a reluctant reader, was only required to read the first book in this series, and has now read them all (voraciously). So, I went in expecting to get something that he'd like... which wasn't necessarily something I'd like.

And, although this book was far from perfect, it was really pretty good.

Some good things include the humor of the book (Riordan's writing is, at times, down-right hilarious), the use of mythology (I love books that cleverly are teaching young readers... and it inspired me to brush back up on my Homer), and the complex relationships.

Many of the Olympians don't know who their Deity parent is, and even those who do are rarely treated to interaction with the god (because the gods aren't allowed to show favoritism). I liked that Percy had that level of ambiguity, some bitterness, some healthy respect, and a whole lot of confusion. I'm looking forward to how the god-parent/child relationship will further develop.

I'm also looking forward to the plot developing in future books. This one was pretty light on challenges--Percy, as a son of one of the "Big Three" gods, should have been challenged a little more. Here's to hoping that he has to prove his mettle a little more in future installments in the series.

Also, some of the god-god interactions were briefly touched on in this book, but those should be more fun to read about as the series progresses. I, personally, love reading about the gods--they bring the drama and, coupled with their crazy powers, this makes for many fun-filled stories.

Recommendation: It's hard to recommend anything else because I haven't seen a lot of MG authors using mythology really well. At work, I've been recommending this series to HP fans, and I've been encouraging teens (usually girls) who enjoy it to read Troy High if they want to stay on the Greek train.