Showing posts with label fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fantasy. Show all posts

November 13, 2015

The Final Warning by James Patterson

Synopsis:
In this breathtaking new story from the astonishing imagination of James Patterson, a girl has to save herself from an army assembled just to capture her -- and maybe save the planet while she's at it.

Maximum Ride is a perfectly normal teenager who just happens to be able to fly, the result of an out-of-control government experiment.

Max and the other members of the Flock -- six kids who share her remarkable ability -- have been asked to aid a group of environmental scientists studying the causes of global warming. The expedition seems like a perfect combination of adventure, activism -- and escaping government forces who watch the Flock like a hawk.

But even in Antarctica, trapped in the harshest weather on our planet, Maximum Ride is an irresistible target in constant danger. For whoever controls her powers could also control the world. Maximum Ride is James Patterson's greatest character, a heroine who manages to be human and fearless at once.
Now, I must start by saying that this book was really odd to me. It seemed like a book that wasn’t part of the series, it just featured the same characters.
The storyline wasn’t entirely consistent with that has happened in the previous installments, and it just felt weird.
It seemed like this book was written just to talk about ‘global warming’ or climate change. I question whether Max’s mission of saving the world was always planned around this, or if it just took that turn when this book was written.

That said, being a young adult series, I don’t mind this book or series as a whole talking about such a big topic like that. It is a good way to educate young adults about global issues. Use characters that they have already connected with during earlier books, and they are more likely to keep reading and take in what the message is.

It wasn’t a bad book by any means. It was just weird to me and seemed out of place. I found myself spacing out a lot instead of being focused on the story. I guess this has just been one of the weakest in the series so far. I’m also not very sure what the title has to do with this book as nothing seemed very final.

3/5 stars


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November 12, 2015

Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson

Synopsis:
In MAXIMUM RIDE: SAVING THE WORLD AND OTHER EXTREME SPORTS, the time has arrived for Max and her winged "Flock" to face their ultimate enemy and discover their original purpose: to defeat the takeover of "Re-evolution", a sinister experiment to re-engineer a select population into a scientifically superior master race...and to terminate the rest. Max, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel have always worked together to defeat the forces working against them--but can they save the world when they are torn apart, living in hiding and captivity, halfway across the globe from one another?
I’m pretty sure this series just keeps getting better as it goes. I feel that there was depth added to the characters in the flock in this one, especially when they were split up.

Max and Fang are both incredible leaders, but they need to learn how to work together to lead as a team. I feel that by the end of this novel they figured that out. I hope so, at least.

We got a peak into some of the inner workings of the big, bad corporation that is trying to take over the world. I wasn’t aware that they were stationed all over the place, but we learn that they are.

The new flying creatures they created were pretty comical. They were very strong, but they were so dumb and often ended up in destructing themselves.

We finally figured out the truth about Max’s origins as well. It will be interesting to see how that plays out and if she will return to her real family at all.

This book just left me wanting to dive right into the next book in the series, so I would say that it did its job!

That said, YA novels can be so cute when they have a bunch of kids standing up for the flock. When kids read these books, they probably feel like they can achieve anything they set their mind to, and that is awesome!

4/5 stars



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September 12, 2015

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

Synopsis:
Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him -- something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn't she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd's gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is.
Sci-FI books are always interesting because each of them has their own different language that you have to decipher. It usually gets easier as the book and/or series goes along, but it still takes some getting used to. That was no different in this case. But, it was made even more difficult by the fact that the protagonist cannot read very well. So, a lot of words are misspelled, and they are spelled in the way they are pronounced. It took a lot of getting used to, and it made it sort of hard to read for a few chapters. Once you get the hang of it, it isn’t so bad though. You just have to hope you don’t actually start writing like that in your real life.

Usually, I cannot get into many sci-fi books. The stories are too out there for me, and I like more realistic story lines. But, there was something about this book that pulled me in and wouldn’t let me go. I never wanted to put it down, and it made me just keep reading to. I can’t even put my finger on exactly what it was. The story telling was unique to go along with a unique story line. I just enjoyed it thoroughly.

It was nice to read a young adult book that had a strong male and female character. They complemented each other well and with ease. It seems like the kind of book that should be required school reading. There are lessons about life, death, war and hope. It was a very complete book and could have worked easily as a stand-alone novel, but I am glad that there are two more that come after this one. I need more of Todd and Viola’s story.

Warning: (also a spoiler) The dog dies, and I was not prepared for that. I nearly cried. So, if you are someone that cannot handle that, don’t read this book.

4/5 Stars

Memorable Quotes: “It’s not so uncommon. If yer whole world is one Noisy town with no future, sometimes you just gotta leave even if there ain’t nowhere else to go.”

“Being this close to her silence is like my heart breaking all over the place. I can feel it, like it’s pulling me down into a bottomless pit, like it’s calling for me to just fall and fall and fall.”

“But a knife aint just a thing, is it? It’s a choice, it’s some thing you do. A knife takes a decision out of your hand and puts it in the world and it never goes back again.”


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