Is there a battle coming?

Torment by Lauren Kate

Lucinda Price is on the move. Daniel is moving her to a safe school in California called Shoreline. With so much baggage following her she’s excited about getting away and spending some time with Daniel, except for Daniel is just dropping her off and Luce doesn’t know what he’s up to. She wakes up to a horrible roommate, surprises with who her classmate and teachers are, and no Daniel. As it becomes clear that Luce has many enemies and she’s only made a few friends, the outlook of how her life has changed is not good. She learns about a new power that she has and decides to go against her teacher’s wisdom and starts to learn about her past lives through the Announcers. She also learns that there is something going on with Daniel and Cam, something that she doesn’t know about and Daniel won’t open up to her. Trouble doesn’t stop there, she also realizes that she really likes her new friend Miles and he likes her more than just a friend as well. Will Daniel come back and save the day? Or does Luce even want him too?

At the end of Fallen, I was upset, I had been misled and lied to by all of the blogs I follow and I was upset. I didn’t care about any of the characters and I thought the book lacked an overall depth. But, Torment was a different book all together. I couldn’t believe how much depth came into this story where the other lacked so greatly. I also cared about the characters. Kate explained more Luce’s feelings about Daniel and about how strange it was that she didn’t know him, that she didn’t have a real relationship with him, but something from their past keeps them together. She still can’t understand how or why they are supposed to be together.

There were a lot of unanswered questions in this book, I don’t see how the author can answer them in a new book, but we’ll see. I don’t think I’ll be totally in love with this series, but I was really upset at the end of Torment when it finished, I wanted to follow Daniel into that announcer and go get Luce out of the shadow. I also loved Miles. He was such a better character than the others and he also got to know Luce and spent as much time with her as he could. I didn’t get that from Daniel because he was trying to stay away from her in this lifetime.

I am looking forward to seeing how this whole life started. How did they fall in love and not only fall in love but how he fell. Which side he will choose and what is the consequence to his choice? If he chooses Luce does that mean he has to be a demon? If he chooses good does that mean he has to stay away from her forever?

Well, let me know what you think about this book, series, or my blog. Thanks for reading!

Falling for Mr. Right... Or Not So Right

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Luce, a seventeen year old girl who felt she was losing everything when she was transferred to Sword & Cross Reform School. She just didn’t realize that it was the beginning of a whole new life for her. Her first day at S & C, she meets two guys, Cam the good looking sweet guy and Daniel the broody silent type and both have motives behind knowing her. When moved she not only has to give up her best friend and family, she also has to give up her cell phone and freedom upon entry in the boarding school from hell. All her life she has been followed by shadows that have haunted her, they only seem to be more present in her life since the move. They not only bring a coldness that chills her to her bones, but they also seem to bring bad omens. As she continues her short time at Sword & Cross she gets to know her love triangle more intimately. She is happy to have the affection of Cam, but is always drawn to the dark and mysterious Daniel. She makes a few friends and a few enemies, and she finds out more than she knew was possible as the story progresses. There is another world out there that she never knew existed, or did she?

This book was very disappointing to me. I read many fabulous reviews on this book online and I have been looking forward to reading it for at least a year. There was much lacking in the story line and in details. The area of lack is in the details and description in the action of the story. I found myself having to reread sections because I was lost from not knowing exactly what was taking place. Another disappointing factor in this book was that I didn’t have a deep attachment to any of the characters. The author could have killed them all and I wouldn’t have cared, actually it could have made the story better if more people would have died. I also didn’t have a deep attachment to either of the guys in the book. I didn’t care if she ended up with Cam or Daniel. She gave me no reason to like Daniel more than Cam and therefore I didn’t care who she was with in the end.

I have decided to continue to read the rest of the series just in case it gets better. Stay tuned for more developments on the second book, Torment. Thanks for reading.

Reduce, Reuse, RECYCLE

Maximum Ride: The Final Warning by James Patterson

The American Government has tried its hardest to get the flock to come to a regular special school where they can learn more about them, but they would still have some freedom that “the school” didn’t give them, i.e. growing up in dog crates. Max and the gang quickly turn down all offers, except when Max’s new found mom offers an option to help scientists do research down in Antarctica. The flock decides to give the research a try and have a small amount of time where they don’t feel hunted or pursued in any way, of course it wouldn’t be much of a book without a little action, so they are captured once again and offered to be auctioned off. Max during this time realizes her higher purpose when saving the world, she should actually be saving the world from global warming. As she continues to work out her plans she is learning more about her purpose all of the time.

If I thought the last book had a hint of environmental propaganda, that’s all that this fourth installment is about. Max goes to congress to get things changed, which is so not like her. I hope that something changes or the end of this series is going to be a major disappointment. A flock of mutant kids running from evil scientists, that’s something I can jump on board with, but them having a mission to save the world from people not recycling, is not my cup of tea.

Max and Fang are still not together, I have high hopes for the fifth book, I hope I’m not disappointed. I don’t have much to say about this one. I have since taken a break from the Maximum Ride and moved on. With the sixth installment coming out later this year, I’ll read Fang (currently at the Texarkana Library) and Angel, to come out in February 2011, whenever I get a chance. Because of this book, I'm in no hurry. What do you think? Is this story the best you've ever read or is it slowly dying a slow painful death?

You’re reading Fang’s Blog. Welcome!

Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson

Max and the flock have missed death and miserable science lab lives once again, they now have another member in the flock, Total, the talking dog. In this third book of the Maximum Ride series, there’s trouble in paradise and the flock breaks up. Max and Fang get into a huge fight and decide to go separate ways. Max, Nudge, Angel, Total, and Ari (the Eraser with an expiration date) decide to follow a lead to Europe, while Fang, the Gasman and Iggy go to the West Coast to see what they can make happen with Fang’s blog. As his popularity gains advancements, he believes that kids can take down these evil corporations and live a normal life.

In this particular book the reader will start to pick up on the hints of Environmentalism. One thing I do not appreciate is a preachy book. I didn’t realize that this series was headed in that direction, and it made me sad. Adults are ruining the world one aluminum can at a time. Well the action and the story are still good, so I will keep reading.

During the split up, Max realizes quite a few things about herself that she may not have been able to learn with the whole gang together. She knows now that nothing should separate them, the flock should always be together. Also, some of the flock members are mutating and getting a new power, which is interesting, they are not only flying bird kids, but now they can do extra-ordinary things. You’ll have to read the series to know what I’m talking about.

This was a great book, kept the story going, still loving Max and Fang and look forward that that story continuing the develop. There is a lot of give and take and I love watching the characters grow and mature in their part of the story. So far all three books have taken less than 6 months, but it’s been an interesting ride.

Schools Out for Now...

Maximum Ride: School’s Out-Forever by James Patterson

Now that Max and the other avian/human children have saved Angel from the school, they are on a mission. They want more than anything to find their parents, get some answers, and find out why they grew up in dog crates being poked and prodded by evil scientists in the school. As they get closer to the answers they are looking for, they also are closer to danger. With Erasers showing up at every turn and good things turn bad at each step, Max, Fange, Iggy, Nudge, the Gasman, and Angel have more hard times coming for them.

School’s Out-Forever was an exciting second edition to the Maximum Ride series, we find out a little more about the kid’s past even things they don’t want to know. Fang and Max have started to get closer and realize things about each other that they haven’t thought before.

I did like the Eraser Max and the Max II, Maximum learned a lot about herself in this book and she continues to find out who she is not only as the leader of the flock, but also as her own individual person.

Fang starts a blog about their travels and exactly what the school and the institute, other evil corporations are up too. I like Fang’s blog and within the series it’s good to see his point of view. There is a book later in the series that is called Fang and I’m excited about reading his story.

Genetic mutants or World Heroes?

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson

Growing up in a cage can be hazardous to a person’s developmental health. Somehow the six, winged bird children that grew up in cages at “the school” made out ok. They were rescued by Jeb Batchelder who adopted Max as a child of his own, thought to be dead the flock has lived without adults, rules, and cages for some time. All goes horribly wrong when the flock is attacked by Erasers and Angel the youngest is taken back to the school. The flock including Maximum Ride, Fang, Iggy, Nudge, and the Gasman devise a plan to rescue Angel from most certain death.

The first book of the Maximum Ride series was great. The characters are easy to care about. I enjoyed Max and the others. The one character that I had a great time reading about was Fang. I think that throughout the series there will be a lot more coming from him. He’s a great character and I’m excited to see what develops between him and the other characters. I also enjoyed Max’s changing perspective of Fang and how Fang surprised the others with things that he said.

That raptor just ate him!

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

Can you imagine reading this book before watching the movie? I have seen the movie multiple times, probably more than 20, and I was still on the edge of my seat at the end. I loved that they changed the details from the book to the screenplay. It made reading the book even more enjoyable. While reading this book I kept reaching for Simon and asking him why they didn’t put certain scenes in the movie. They were incredibly suspenseful and exciting. There were also characters that lived in the movie that died in the book. I thought that was very interesting.

Based from a screenplay that Michael Crichton read, this book is about genetically recreated dinosaurs. The question that this book rises is not whether humans can do things, but should they? Ian Malcolm a mathematician that was brought onto the project of Jurassic Park to give his theory about the outcome of this experiment. He states that when things seem to get better, that is when the bottom is going to fall out. The mathematical chaos theory is what this whole book is about, that and humans trying to escape an island before they become a carnivore’s meal. When scientists think that they can do anything and don’t look into the end result of those decisions, then there will always be consequences for actions either of the scientists themselves, or the people they bring into the picture.

The book was well written and enjoyable. The characters were easy to love or hate. It was a great book that I highly recommend.

Thanks for reading!