The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

The three heroes in this book are named Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, Jason, son of Zeus, and Leo, son of Hephaestus. It starts off on a field trip, where all three of them are attending Wilderness school (for “bad kids.”) Jason has no recollection of the school or Leo who claims to be his best friend and Piper who is apparently his girlfriend. They are attacked by storm spirits called venti, and their camp director, Coach Hedge, is carried away by them. Of course, Coach Hedge is a satyr assigned to keep Piper, Leo, and Jason protected, just like Grover in Percy Jackson. A girl named Annabeth takes the trio to Camp Half Blood, the only safe place for demigods. There, a lot of the characters backstories are made known. Annabeth reveals to Piper that Jason was never her boyfriend, and he used something that is used to cover up all the magic that muggles mortal humans would not understand, called The Mist. To add to that, Piper’s dad has been kidnapped by a giant who wants her to betray her friends in exchange for her father. We learn that Leo is a rare child of Hephaestus who can produce fire, as well as resist it. His mother was killed by a fire he started (as well as other things you’ll learn about later in the book), and Hera was his babysitter. Jason’s whole quest is to regain his memory, but Chiron the centaur tells him he should be dead, and he strangely knows all the gods for their Roman names rather than the Greek ones. They embark on the journey on an epic, metal, happy dragon named Festus (Festus means happy J.)  Before they leave here’s what they know: the gods aren’t communicating with any of their children and they’ve closed off Olympus, Annabeth’s boyfriend Percy Jackson is missing, and Hera has been captured by a giant. Not much to go on, but they know they need to save Hera, and Piper’s dad while they’re at it. They start off by going to see the god of the north wind, Aeolus, and later run in to all sorts of things like Cyclopes, a hypnotizing witch, King Midas, and much more.

Riordan is an amazing author! I loved the Percy Jackson series, and this one isn’t far behind. My favorite thing about him is the characters he creates. Jason’s very down to earth, very serious, but it’s because of his conflict with memory loss. Piper’s conflict adds the most suspense to the story. She’s afraid to get close to Leo and Jason because she knows she’s just going to have to betray them. Leo’s my favorite character. He adds so much humor to the story, and he’s just plain awesome. But deep inside he’s really sad because of his mom and crazy childhood with Hera as his babysitter. He describes running from foster home to foster home, making friends, and laughing it off, then running again, “Don’t stay in one place for too long. It was the only way to stay ahead of the sadness.”

It’s difficult to compare to Percy Jackson. I don’t know which one is better. Percy Jackson was funnier I think, and The Lost Hero is more complicated. The clash between Greek and Roman worlds is pure genius! But again, quite complicated and I liked how carefree-ish the Percy Jackson series was. The suspense in The Lost Hero kept me on edge wanting to read. My love for the character in both books is equal. It’s a tough comparison.

Overall, I would totally recommend this book to anyone. It’s a great read, you don’t really have to read Percy Jackson first (but it’s nice so you know Annabeth and Percy and have more knowledge on Half Blood Camp.) You also don’t need too much background knowledge on Greek and Roman gods, because it is explained in the book. A

The Mortal Instruments: City of Glass by Cassandra Clare is an incredible book written for young adults. The main idea with not only this book but, most of the books in the Mortal Instrument series, is good intentions will lead to success. Many of the characters find this easier said than done.

     
          In brief, this starts out where City of Ashes left off; Valentine is currently in possession of two of the three Mortal instruments. With the Mortal Cup and the Mortal Sword he can now raise demons and plans to destroy any Nephilim, A.K.A. Shadowhunters, that have ever interacted or consorted with a Downworlder. Clary and the Lightwoods set off for Idiris to find a potion to save Jocelyn, although, Jace has other plans in mind. When Magnus opens the portal to Alicante, the Lightwoods and Simon are attacked by hordes of demons and are forced to jump through the portal without Clary. Now with no way of joining the group, Clary must use her newly found talent and create a portal rune to take her into Idiris. When Clary jumps through her makeshift portal with Luke close behind, she quickly finds that she can't get into Alicante without authorization and instead is thrown into Lake Lyn and forced to hike to the gates.

After several chapters of exploring the new city and meeting new people, Clary journeys to find the Book of White that Jocelyn has hidden in a brilliantly named book (that you will just have to read to find out) in the Wayland manor. She is now accompanied by the handsome Sebastian, who Clary seems drawn to in a way. So not only does Clary have to worry about her mixed feelings for Jace and Simon, but what has now become an odd love square between them and Sebastian.

As the Nephilim prepare for the oncoming war, Jace and Clary must journey into the past to find out their true heritage. Once Jace has gone in search of Valentine, Clary must find a way to lessen the tension between Downworlders and Shadowhunters and create an alliance rune so they can all truly fight as one.

Without spoiling too much, I have to say that the ending of this book was probably the best out of all three and I would definitely read it again. This book was my favorite so far and will always be memorable. Especially, Jace's and Simon's wise crack jokes. One of the big issues that this book brings up is that you should always know where you stand and even if you feel your intentions are good they may be looked down upon by the angels and other people and are not always for the benefit of others but for yourself instead. I am in total agreement with Cassandra that in order for change, everyone needs to come together and work as one. This book goes to show that there are people in the world like Valentine but that there are also people like Clary and Jace. One person can make a difference and change the world.

All in all, City of Glass is my new found favorite in the series. Don't worry; most of your questions from the previous books will be answered in this book. Even though this book didn't have a suspenseful cliff hanger, it is still compelling you to read the next. I do have to advise you that this book is mildly gory and will be slightly confusing during the process of tying everything together. Besides that, this book will make you want to sit in the corner with your blanket, teddy bear, and all the Jace you can handle. It's an excellent read and you should definitely consider cracking open this series.

(Re done feb.) Pillage, By: Obert Skye, Review by: Andrew Williams

Pillage, A Fiction Y.A. Book by: Obert Skye is about fifteen-year-old Beck Phillips is sent to live with his weird uncle he had never met when his mother dies, where he learns that his family has a curse that allows him to make plants grow on command and dragon eggs hatch. Shortly after he arrives there, he begins to noticed weird things happening. Plants move, ivy defends him and salad hurts people for him. That and the strange warnings to not go behind the house, Beck discovers his cool ability to command plants and wakes up eight dragons, without knowing it. When Beck arrives at his uncle’s mansion, an air of mystery greets him. While the house has seven floors and hundreds of rooms, Beck along with his uncles and a minimal house staff are the only occupants. As time goes on Beck learns dark secrets about his lost family. Secrets that include buried basements, forbidden gardens, an ancient book of weird family history, and most surprising of all dragons! On his long train ride, he meets Kate, who isn’t very friendly. She is his age, and is headed to Kingsplot too.

Beck wakes up from a 12 hour rest, and notices that they are the only ones left on the train. Beck thinks it’s strange, but Kate isn’t too worried about it. When he arrives, Beck meets Thomas, who drives him to his new house. Seven floors, with stables, and a huge garden. Right away, Beck is told to stay away from certain places for his own safety. Beck meets Milo who asks many questions about the house, mostly about the basement. But, there is no basement. And I thought this was like the rising action, the book started off slow but I felt after this happened this story was going somewhere. At school there are some boys who picked on Beck and Milo. Milo is new to Callowbrow, too. However, Beck can do some weird tricks with plants that makes his life easier. But, what happens with the secret is really exciting and page turning, I just kept on reading and couldn’t stop.

I really enjoyed this book. Full of exciting twists and surprises! I liked the history of Beck’s family a long the way too. A strange, but interesting history full of plants, stones, and pillaging!!

                

Candle Wax

In a world where four kingdoms occupy the mysterious land of Lackanay, and a great evil waits for the right moment to emerge again, there must be corruption. C. Bailey Sims delivers this world of supernatural magic in this book shown to the left. The story starts with a sixteen year old girl named Catherine leaving her room and walking down a dark corridor in the middle of the night. She gets outside through a secret passageway in the kitchen. After that she heads to the vault, she gets the guards to open it and grabs some money and the Ancient Onyxes given to her by her grandmother. She leaves the vault, dresses as a boy to be able to leave her kingdom unnoticed, and rides a horse towards the bay of Portsland, where she will take a ship away from the mainland to start a new life. Along the way she is attacked by a 732 year old Farrier cat, a living legend. He eats her horse and she must go on a journey to help this Farrier cat, named Spelopokos, or Pokos. This is all because of the Onyxes. In the ancient land of Devona, a great evil awaits to awaken that can only be stopped by Farrier cats. Without a mate Pokos will die, and leave this great evil to take over all four kingdoms of Lackanay. They travel to a town to get Catherine new supplies where she is befriended by a kind lady who takes her in. Eventually, Catherine's father tries to locate her. She runs away from the village with the daughter of the kind woman who gave Catherine assistance, but they are then captured by the men of a power-loving ruler of one of the four kingdoms. With the help of Pokos they escape and are found by the king of Candle wax. The reason she ran away from home, she was to marry him. They group together and travel to Candle wax. Pokos and Catherine plan to run away to the land outside of Lackanay, called Cinna to find another Farrier cat as he is the only one left in Lackanay.
         They are stopped by the king of Candle wax named Cyril. Cyril and his advisor join them in their quest to find another Farrier cat. While in Cinna, they kill four Farrier cats in self-defense, encounter Cinnans and travel to their mountain fortress, join in a competition to earn their freedom, and chase after the corrupt rulers of Cinna. Pokos is shot by an arrow in the neck and almost dies. With the help of survivors of a shipwreck, they must take Pokos to his brthplace to heal, and Catherine must take the Farrier cats found in Cinna to Lackanay. When Pokos left Lackanay, the great evil awoke and started to march across the land. The other kingdoms soon start to hold back. Eventually Catherine makes it back to Lackanay, and they meet the traitor... The rest you will just have to read, because the rest of the story is too complicated and long to explain in this review. This book was really good and I recommend it to all who enjoy fantasy and made-up creatures. It was an excellent page turner. A+

FYI: If you were wondering, there will be a sequel.

The Sea of Monsters by: Rick Riordan

This wonderful fiction book is about a kid whose name is Percy Jackson. Percy, after completing the task of finding the stolen Lightning Bolt, is now faced with a new problem. Camp Half-Blood (a camp for sons and daughters of a mortal and a god) is not safe anymore. Zeus' daughter Thalia is a tree that protects the camp and now has been poisened so the borders are not protected anymore. The only cure is to retrieve the magic Golden Fleece. Percy with the help of his friend Annabeth and his step brother Tyson had to find the magic Golden Fleece before it was to late. Thalia would die and the camp would be in great danger. Also Percy's best friend is in trouble. He has been taken by a cyclops and Percy needs to save him. He keeps having dreams of Grover being held captive because Grover is sending them to him so he can also be found. In one of the dreams Grover tells Percy that he thinks that he might of found the Golden Fleece.

They travel to where he thinks Grover is and on the way their they have a lot of challenges. Right off the bat they get captured by one of their former camp-mates Luke (Luke was good and then he turned evil and wants the Titans to rule again). They managed to sneak away on a life boat one night and proceded to go on with their hard task. Bad thing after bad thing just kept happening. Next they met up with Clarisse (daughter of Ares and is a camp mate of thiers) and she had an ironclad from the Civil War. They were traveling in the right direction when they got attacked by Scylla (a sea monster that had 6 heads and always attacked sailors and boats). The crew ends up scattered except for Percy and Annabeth. They assume Tyson is dead because they thing he blew up with the boat. They don't know if the nearby islands are even safe so they can swim to them. They need to find Tyson and Grover. Hope is almost lost they need the Fleece to save Camp-Half Blood. They are running out of time and are in a time of desperate need. What will they do?

This book is a great book. I just love Rick Riordan he is such a good author and this series is great so far. I really encourage the people who read this series to study up on their Greek mythology or else you might not be able to understand it too well. I love the way how he puts Greek mythology into characters who live in modern times. He really understands how to make a good page turning book. I really liked this book and so far this series. A

The Sea of Monsters

The sea of monsters is the second book in the series of Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It is about a boy named Percy Jackson who is the son of Poseidon, the sea god, and since he is the son of a god and a human he is called a half-blood. There is a camp that is called camp half-blood that the half-bloods go to stay safe and train to become heroes.

So Percy has been to camp half-blood and when he goes for his second summer he finds out that it isn't safe anymore. So he goes out on a quest because someone has poisoned the tree, also know as Thalia daughter of Zeus, which has been keeping the camp safe and he knows where to find the cure. The cure for the poisoned tree is a Golden Fleece that is somewhere in the Sea of Monsters. Percy, Tyson (Percy's cyclops brother), and Annabeth (Percy's friend) all set out on their journey to find the Golden Fleece and bring back their friend Grover as well. As they are on their journey they run into some problems with monsters, Luke an old friend that has turned evil, temptations and more. They have to work together and put away their differences to defeat these trials to get their camp restored to the safe place it used to be.

I really liked this book and I give it an A. It was full of action and it was intense. I think one of the points the author was trying to get at was that we should be accepting of everyone, and we shouldn't judge people right away, because they can turn out to be really good people. This book was fun to read and so far the series has been good. I would really recommend this book if you like cliffhangers, because it has that, and it just makes you want to get the next book right away and keep reading.

The Lightning Thief by: Rick Riordan

This fascinating book "The Lightning Thief" is a great fiction/Greek Mythology/fantasy type of book. Rick Riordan (the author) in my opinion is one of the best authors ever. This book is is so intriguing and entertaining.

Oh no! Zeus' master lightning bolt has been stolen! Who would steal it??? Of course they would choose the poor innocent guy who doesn't know the first thing about Greek Mythology... Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon (Poseidon is the god of the sea and the brother of Zeus). Percy Jackson is just a regular guy, besides the fact that he is a delinquent, until the day he is told that he is the son of Poseidon, Zeus including all of Mount Olympus thinks he stole Zeus' master lightning bolt, and that he has ten days to bring it back and find out who did it. Pretty tough for a guy who probably didn't believe what they were saying at first. Anyway, he and his best friend Grover (which he met at a regular school and Percy just found out that he is a saytr) get sent to a place called "Camp Half-Blood" to train for the mission ahead. So to shorten things up he leaves and goes on this crazy adventure that includes chopping of Medusa's head, eating burgers with Ares, and fighting Hades. Its not looking good for him and his friends but Percy's life pretty much depends on finding this lightning bolt. Can they find out who actually stole Zeus' bolt? Can they do it in ten days?

This is literally one of the best books I have ever read. It kept me up all night reading and reading and reading. It was so good. I don't think I would've changed anything in that book although you might want to study up on your Greek Mythology because it gets really hard to remember all of the names of the gods and goddesses. I really like how the author put this in modern day times instead of the 70s or 80s or something like that. I think that it was a great idea and it couldn't of been any better than it was. A+

The Lightning Thief

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is about a boy named Percy Jackson. He just thinks he is a normal boy but soon finds out that he's not. He goes through 6th grade learning about the Greek and Roman Gods to be a myth just to find out that they weren't and that he was the son of one. He was the son of Poseidon, the God of the Sea.

Percy finds out that he is Poseidon's son when he is at a camp for Half-Bloods and they are playing a game of capture the flag. Percy goes into a creek and Poseidon claims him as his son. After Percy finds out that Poseidon is his father he gets a quest. His quest is to find Zeus's master lightning bolt to stop World War III from happening. There was going to be a war if he didn't find the master bolt and return it to Zeus because Zeus was blaming Poseidon for taking it even though Poseidon did not take it. Percy goes on the quest with two of his friends Grover and Annabeth, they run into monsters and other Gods. They need to figure out who took the master bolt and where to find them with just a little amount of time so they use teamwork to stop the idea of World War III.

I really liked this book because it had adventure, and had a sort of a mystery to it so that you’re trying to figure out before Percy does. The book seemed to bring up pollution a lot and so I think the author thinks that people of this day and age seem to pollute the world all over. Even though this book had more to do with the Greek and Roman myths he still brought up pollution. I would give this book an A because it was good but at first I had a hard time getting into it. Also this book was made into a movie!

The Red Pyramid By Rick Riordan

First things first, Rick Riordan is the author of the Percy Jackson series BUT this book has nothing to do with that series at all. Instead of ancient greek mythology this is egyptian mythology. Also if you aren't really familiar with egyptian mythology you might want to study up on it or you might get bored or confused with this book. It explains most things but you would be able to understan it sooo much better if you knew your egyptian mythology. It is also kind of cool how the author wrote it. Two people tell the story about themselves and switch off but start from where the other person ended.

Ok so the two main characters in this book are Carter and Sadie Kane (brother and sister). Carter is 14 and lives and travels the world with his dad. His dad is a brilliant egyptologist and his job requires him to travel the world. Their mom died when he was only eight years old and he and so they were separated. Carter went to live with his dad while Sadie, who is 12 unfortunately had to live with their grandparents in London. Sadie and Carter are only allowed to, see each other twice a year. Once in the Summer and once in the Winter. So as the winter day arrives their father takes them both to a museum in London and doesn't let them know why they are going there (usually they do some super cool thing because they only have one day together). Anyway so they arrive at the museum and their dad is acting like somebody is following them. So they get in the museum and their dad goes and takes the Rosetta Stone (a stone that is supposed to be like the stone of languages). Carter and Sadie are very surprised and don't know why their dad just took the Rosetta Stone from the display case. Just imagine if your dad did that. So anyway all of the sudden he starts to summon some egyptian gods which is very forbidden within the people who know egyptian mythology is "true". Then all of a sudden one god appears and puts their dad in a coffin (he isn't dead by the way) and pulls him underneath the ground with himself.

Carter and Sadie don't know what just happened because they tried to stop him but were knocked out. As they wake up they find themselves in the museum office and are eventually taken to Sadie's house. They really think their dad is dead and that is the closest family member they had. They will do anything and I really mean anything to get him back...

I really thought this book was pretty good. It is kind of cool to imagine Egyptian mythology is real. It also would be very weird to have it be real. Also this is one of those books that really follow the Heroes Journey. I noticed that it was the heroes journey right after I read the second page. I still think it was an ok book. It was pretty slow and confusing in the first five to ten chapters. I don't think this is a "must read" but I do think it is a "should" read. Also I wish they changed they beggining because I wish Rick Riordan wouldn't have let the Dad "disappear" in the beggining because the kids didn't know what was going on and they didn't know who their dad really was. It could've been a lot better of a book. B+

The Son of Neptune - By: Rick Riordan

I told you I would read the second book in the "Heros of Olympus" series. All I can say about this book is... WOW! It was packed with adventure, comedy, action, and a little romance. It was perfectly written without a flaw.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!

The book starts out with Percy Jackson, whom can't remeber anything about his past life, running away from some gorgons (monster ladies) who are trying to kill him. He stumbles upon an old lady who is really the goddess Juno, and gets to a secret roman camp called Camp Jupiter. There he meets some other demigods who are outcasted by their peers. There names are Frank and Hazle. Hazle is like a 95 year old woman trapped in a 13 year old's body. She is the daughter of Pluto, and has control over gems and metal. Frank is an Asian- Canadian. He is very bulky, strong, and is a master at the bow. He thinks himself to be a son of Apollo, but turns out to be a son of Mars, the war god. Anyway, Percy and his new outcast friends are part of a big prophecy and must embark on a dangerous quest to save the world.

Overall this book was great. There were just a few phrases and things I didn't understand. One of those things was how the gods have more than one personality. I didn't quite get the thought or concept of it. Another part that was kind of weird, was that death was an actual person or god. So, if I refer to Death, I mean an actual physical being who can talk and fly. I highly recommend you study Greek and Roman mythology before reading this or any other Percy Jackson book.

Another interesting thing about this book was all the mystery and secrets kept from people. For example, Frank's life depends on a piece of wood. If it is burnt all the way through, Frank will die. Also, Hazle isn't very comfortable about telling everyone that she has come back from the dead and has the ability to control precious metals and gems. One of the other secrets that was bothering me was that Nico di Angelo (a character from the original Percy Jackson series) wasn't helping Percy piece together his past. You'd think an old friend would help you recover from memory loss. Anyways, at the end, everyone reveals their secrets to eachother and Percy recovers his memory. So, it was a general happy ending. The only thing that made me mad, was that it left off right before Percy meets up with kids from Camp Half-Blood.

I highly recommend this book to fans of Greek and Roman mythology, action, comedy, and adventure. It had great moments of suspence that made me want to keep reading page after page. This book definitely deserves an A+!

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

I probably need to begin by saying that this book is totally based on Greek and Roman mythology. Also, this is the first book in The Heroes of Olympus series, the next big adventure in the Percy Jackson universe. This book is suspenseful, action-packed and keeps you turning page after page. If you have read the Percy Jackson books, you know that things aren’t always as they seem.

This book begins with Jason, a fifteen year-old boy, waking up on a bus on his way to the Grand Canyon: and he can’t remember a single thing, not even himself. He finds out that his best friends are Leo Valdez, who was orphaned as a child and is good at building things, and Piper Mclean, whose father is a famous actor. He apparently goes to Wilderness School, a school for “bad kids”. Then a freak storm hits them and they get attacked by an evil creature called a venti, a storm monster.

The three are then rescued by an unhappy Annabeth, who is one of the main characters in the Percy Jackson series. When she rescued them, she was actually looking for someone named Percy Jackson, the mighty son of Poseidon. Then she tells them a shocking secret: they are demigods, half human, and half god. She takes them to a strange place called Camp Half-Blood, a safe place for demigods, and so they can be claimed by their godly parents.

The three friends are placed into a world of monsters, legends and gods. A god stole Jason’s memory and his friends discover some of what role they are suppose to play in saving the world. This is a very fast-paced book and is packed full of action. The friends fight monsters, meet legends from Greek mythology, and talk to gods. I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone.

This story is very well written and kept me turning page after page every night I would pick up the book. One thing that I thought was interesting in comparison to the Percy Jackson books is this book was written in third person instead of first and focuses on one of the three main characters, each one taking two chapters at a time. Rick Riordan is a fantastic author. He did a great job portraying the characters by making them easily likable. I also really enjoyed how he incorporated some of the characters from the series before (Chiron, Annabeth, the Hunters, etc.).

As I said before, this book is full of action and defiantly worth the read, even though it is 552 pages long. One suggestion I have is if you don’t know much about Greek and Roman mythology, you might want to get some background on that so it will make more sense. Also, you might want to read the Percy Jackson series first so you can pick up on some of the jokes and slang they use. This book is a good one and I give it an A+!