The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan ★★★☆☆

A few quality issues

Fiction-YA/Juvenile-Medieval

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

249 pages

Publication Date: 2004 

Ranger's Apprentice #1

Literary awards: Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award Nominee (2008)

When 15-year-old Will is picked as a Ranger’s apprentice he is disappointed, but with the menace of the Lord of the Mountains of Rain and Night readying for battle he quickly learns that Rangers are the greatest protectors the kingdom can have.

The book world is very authentic, with great multi-dimensional characters and rich detail.  The writing was rhythmic and a have very few complaints other than at times it was a bit amateurish.  The book was easy to get through and kept me wanting to know what would happen next.  The prologue creates a great platform for the rest of the story to be set on.   The focus of this book swings back and forth between Ranger’s apprentice Will and Battle School apprentice Horace, two very different characters.

Okay, now the other side.  I may have been betrayed by my own expectations, but I anticipated a whole lot more suspense and excitement.  The story was fairly slow moving and not big into subtlety.  Also, I have to say Horace not showing up in the climax seemed really weird and I was disappointed not to see him.  My investment of him just didn’t give the payoff that was expected, particularly since he was such a focus in the book.

Now, while I might seem a bit negative I have to say I really do see the potential of this series and have purchased the next two in the series already.  I haven’t given up on it.

Sacrifice at Sea by Susan Wingate ★★★☆☆

Fiction - Mystery

240 pages

Bobby's Diner Series #3

I received this ARC free from the author in exchange for a fair review.

Georgette Carlisle, finally can get a little of regular life and sort out her relationship with her new man, Willard Cleary, while relaxing during her Caribbean cruise.  Just as she thinks she is finally on even footing a murder on the ship causes their vacation to turn into a life and death situation.

While I am new to this series I found it fairly easy to get acquainted with.  This book was a quick and effortless read; rich in descriptions, observations and a mostly realistic tone.  Though, I have to say the dialogue, not exactly thrilling.  The characters were superbly crafted and the story was well developed.  This is not the typical action packed mystery so be open in your interpretation of what mystery can mean.  A majority of the action and story line is focused on Georgette’s inner life and her trying to adapt to a new relationship with Will.  I also applaud Ms. Wingate for having heroine outside of the 20-30 year range.  A lot life happens beyond early adulthood and I think it should be celebrated. The cruise ship was a great setting and I felt that Ms. Wingate used it to its best potential, exploring how a new place and situations can bring out different aspects of the characters’ personalities.  I will only say one thing about the climax and then leave it at that, shocking.

I debated long and hard on how to approach this one.  I guess I just never realized how hard it is to know the author a real person.  Me being me, I constantly reevaluated my opinions to make sure they were accurate.  While I stand by the 3 stars I gave Sacrifice at Sea, I do want to add something.  In the end, even though it had almost everything going for it and I appreciated a lot of things about it, I found myself still not enjoying the story or the writing style.  I didn’t hate it or have any strong feelings connected to it and frankly, I am chalking this up to a matter of preference.  It just wasn’t for me.  On the other hand I can understand how it would appeal to other people and why they might be willing to invest time into reading the series.

Freaks by Kieran Larwood ★★★☆☆

Even freaks have a role to play.

Fiction – Juvenile – Steampunk/Mystery

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

256 pages

Publication Date: March 1, 2013

When impoverish children in Victoria London, begin to go missing, supposedly taken by a monster in the river, Sheba, the Wolfgirl, and her fellow sideshow freaks use their unique gifts to track down the crooks.

Being a parent finally pays off (you know apart from it being so very glamorous)!  My daughter’s school has book fairs; a new venue where I can purchase – for the kids, of course– new books for a good price.  Growing-up I loved the book fair and all of the amazing possibilities it held.  Most of the time I fell back on the tried and true Babysitter’s Club or the like, but just seeing the possibilities of the worlds these books held took my breath away.  It opened my closed little world to the potential, even I might have.  And frankly they still inspire those feelings.

The title, Freaks, immediately caught my attention and with the back blurb being interesting and the price great I took a chance.  I am trying to explore more books in the juvenile age now that my kids are getting close to that age, so this was a great chance to make that happen.  Also, I read a lot of inappropriate books as a kid, so I want be very aware of the books my kids are reading. 

The fun infusion of steampunk for kids with a non-glamorous look at Victorian London was great.  Plus the fun extra sections at the back about the characters and author notes about Victorian London, gave it a little depth.  Mr. Larwood starts feeding out info at a very comfortable pace and creates an entertaining story.  I liked the main character, Sheba, from the beginning, but the book was a bit too in your face about her past.  As for the other characters while each was unique in background, temperament and interest, I found a lot of holes in Monkey Boy’s back story.  But for the age group this was intended for I doubt they will see any flaws.

Shredded by Karen Avivi ★★★★☆

Action, realism and heart, a great combo.

Fiction – YA – Contemporary

314 pages

Publication Date:  2013

I received this book free from the author in exchange for a fair review.

Josie Peters is ready to take her BMX riding to the next level when she finds a chance to join a girls’ team and travel to competitions.  With some new friends and support from the old ones Josie spends the summer trying to make her dream of qualifying for the Ultimate BMX freestyle event and a possible sponsorship deal come true.  To the most of the BMX world sponsorship is a sign of success, but just when Josie might have everything she thinks she wants she has to decide for herself what success looks like.

So, first of all I know this is a story about BMX bike riding, but you don’t have to know about that world to read it.  The themes transcend the setting, (Yep, I just got all philosophical and used a big concept.  My parents like to occasionally see my college education shine through.) and things like the tricks are reasonably explained.  So don’t let that put you off.  Okay now that the BMX thing is covered we can get onto the actual review.

At the beginning I was a little nervous for the story, but quickly got over it as I fell into Josie’s world.  I mean, I read it in one day so that is always a good sign when a book can compete with the rest of my life.  The writing is straight forward with no frills and focuses mostly on Josie’s emotional journey from a first person perspective.  The story itself is very realistic from the high school experiences, online issues and complicated relationships Josie has with others and herself.  It is also exciting and action pact taking on some very unexpected turns.  The story touches on romance and sex, but neither of those are the real important focus and I loved that; a real positive message to teenage girls about putting things in perspective.

 All of the characters are carefully and lovingly crafted to have texture, depth, individuality and a nice realism – no real comic relief characters in this one.  Josie, is a real teenage girl, with normal and natural reactions.  She is emotional, but self-contained, driven to achieve her goals, and trying to grow up, amongst others expectations and even her own.  Josie fights not only against external constraints, but also against the mental blocks she puts up herself.  She has to figure out how to be strong enough to do “her own thing” and decide what is more important, her own false glory or being an encourager to others.  I like how Josie’s new teammates show how different styles of girls can still participate in and be good at sports, whether it is girlie, boy crazy Alexis or no nonsense Lauryn.  And I really like how the story lets the girls remain girls even though they are in a “boys sport”.  I also respect Ms. Avivi’s choice not to vilify Josie’s parents and keep them on the same team.  Ms. Avivi chooses to make them into real parents who are genuinely concerned and wanting the best for Josie, even it scares them or stresses Josie out.  As a parent myself I really could understand their motivation and how hard it was for them to make wise choices.  

Finishing the book all I could think about how much I enjoyed it and my wish to read more about Josie soon.  Definitely a winner!