Coraline

Do you like books about mystery, adventure and another world were you other mother wants to love and keep you forever and wants to sew buttons into your eyes? If so I have the perfect book for you including all of these things. My favourite Neil Gaiman novel, Coraline. This is an Tremendous book I would definitely recommend you do NOT read this at night in the darkness on your room. I assure you if you do you will find yourself trembling under your bed wishing you took my advice.

Coraline Jones is a very ‘different’ She and her parents move into an old queen Anne style house that has been subdivided into four flats. The other tenants include Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, two elderly women retired from the stage, and Mr. Bobo, who is training a mouse circus. The flat side coraline’s remains empty.

Coraline is a fantasy tale in which Coraline Jones, a smart, feisty and inquisitive young girl, home from school for the summer holidays finds herself very bored indeed. Puzzled by a mysterious locked door in her new home, she finds the key and unlocks it - only to find a strange parallel world concealed behind it. A world which mirrors and distorts her own. Going through the door leads Coraline into a series of adventures which are both fantastical and frightening…

“I don’t want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted just like that and it didn’t mean anything? What then?” 

“We…we could be friends.

We COULD be rare specimens of an exotic breed of dancing African elephants, but we’re not. At least, I’M not.”

“The names are the first thing to go, after the breath has gone, and the beating of the heart. We keep our memories longer then our names.”

“When your scared, but you do it anyway, that’s brave.”

I would write about my favourite character but I can’t because you see I watched the movie way before I read the book, so  Wyborne 'wybie' has always been my favourite. He has always been my favourite so when I found out he wasn’t actually in the book I nearly didn’t even read it. So I’m recommending you read the book then watch the movie.

I would say ages eleven and up would love this book. It is quite spooky but funny. When your finished you will be wandering what go’s on in Neil Gaiman’s head half the time. I have to include thee illustrations were mind-blowing! Dave McKean captured the moments off the scenes remarkably.

I usually don’t say this but, actually scratch that I have NEVER said this but unfortunately this time the movie was better than the book. I’m so ashamed.. I’m going to go and sit with my head down in shame…

(Shhh.. But I have always loved that movie and there is no way the book could have been better! Its scary but amazingly awesome)

The Dead Of Winter

This week I sort of read The Dead Of Winter by Chris Priestley. By sort of I mean that I didn’t technically finish the hole book, I couldn’t actually finish the book. You see I read before I go to sleep so that’s around eleven o’clock, but this book was a Gothic horror so it was quite scary. I’m terrible when it comes to horror movies. This is the first horror novel I’ve come across so far. I usually read books that have a bit of comedy in them but this book was not one bit funny.

This book is about a boy called Michael Vyner who recalls a terrible story, one that happened to him. Michael’s parents are dead, his mother by an illness and his father in the war sacrificing himself to save a friend. After his mother’s funeral he goes to stay with the kindly lawyer, executor of his parents’ will… Until he is invited to spend Christmas with his guardian in a large and desolate country house. When he arrives he sees something not quite right when he sees a woman in the mists who mysteriously disappears. But little can prepare him for the solitude of the house itself as he is kept from his guardian and finds himself spending the Christmas holiday wandering the silent corridors of the house seeking distraction. But lonely doesn't mean alone, as Michael soon realises that the house and its grounds harbour many secrets, dead and alive, and Michael is set the task of unravelling some of the darkest secrets of all.

When ever I read the book I got scared, the details where so exact, so it was like when I looked my eyes I could see what was happening. I get extremely scared at horror movies and so I thought that by reading a horror novel it wouldn’t be so scary but I was wrong, it was even more scary. I have to say though it was a good book from what I read.

If you’re a fan of horror but don’t like visual gore and sickening descriptions, The Dead Of Winter might just be the book for you. Chris has done an amazing job on this book. This is a nail-biting story of haunting and terror by the master of the genre, Chris Priestley.

Skulduggery Pleasant : Kingdom Of The Wicked

This week I read Skulduggery Pleasant : Kingdom Of The Wicked by Derek Landy. Six hundred and seven pages of complete genius. I bought It on Monday and finished on Thursday because I was going to meet Derek Landy on Saturday. I’ve actually never finished a book so fast ever but I’m not surprised because I love his books. I was way to exited to meet him so I had to finish the book so I could ask him questions, plus after I get the book signed by him I will never let another living soul touch it.

This skulduggery Pleasant was about a new breed of sorcerers. All over Dublin normal people with no magic at all are gaining wild and unstable powers over night. Some powers like becoming a werewolf or thinking there a butterfly.
But then there is a way bigger problem called Kitana. A normal seventeen year old girl who with her friends have been infected with these unstable powers. They become corrupted by the power of the gods and are going to tear the city apart if someone does not stop them. Looks like it's going to be another one of those days for Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain.

I have read lots and I mean LOTS of series’ of books, but I have to say that Skulduggery Pleasant will always be my favourite. I loved death bringer the most out of the series but this on comes in a close second. It was amazing thought, not even amazing it was EXTRAORDINARYLY amazing!

I could not put this book down at all. When I woke up I would read for an hour or two. Then if we went somewhere in the car I would have read. Then while I wait for dinner to cook I would of went up to my room and until it was ready, then of coarse when I go to bed I would read at least fifty page before going to sleep.

My favourite character would have to be Ghastly Bespoke who has scars all over his face. Ghastly is a trailer who makes clothes and suits for sorcerers. But these clothes are they armour so they protect you from injures. He is completely awesome and is super funny. He can be very stubborn but is mostly good-natured. He is kind and caring. Although he is gifted with the use of magic, he prefers fighting with his fists and would probably rather live a normal life without magic if he could.

Some of my favourite quotes are:

“Emergency Valve Regulators,” she repeated. “So you do know what your doing?”
“Not really,” he said yanking another wire. ‘I made up that term to keep you happy. I’m just pulling all the red wires because they’re the pretty ones”.

“you look angry,” he said.
“you put me on hold.”
“for a very good reason.”
“you put me,” she said very, very slowly, “on hold.”

“You’ve done what?”
“I know,” he said. “You’re impressed. You send me out for bread and I come back with a boy. Well, not literally. That would be weird. Even for me.” 

Derek Landy was my first favourite author and after reading over fifty books he still is. I would recommend  this book to elevens and up and would give it ten out of ten. I can not wait for the next book!!!

When I met Derek Landy on Saturday I asked a lot of questions, like if you poked Skulduggery in the eye would it hurt him, since he’s already dead. Before we left he said that he was only going to write three more books and I nearly died to the thought of the books ending. Derek also said that the theme of the next book will be war. That all the characters will come back, resolve things and a lot of people will die. I can’t wait to read the next book but until then I am going to re-read some of the Skulduggery Pleasant books.

                   

The Graveyard Book

This week I read Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard book. Which my cousin picked out for me to read at Chapters the biggest and best book shop in Ireland. I actually stayed up till  half three finishing the book and It was amazing, I have to say it was one of the best single books I’ve read. It was really good at the start because I was in complete suspense but then by the middle it gets a little slow. The ending is the best part though.

The Graveyard Book is about a boy called Nobody Owens, Bod for short, who is a normal boy. Well he would be a normal boy is he didn’t live in a graveyard being raised and educated by ghosts. They found Bod who had wandered into the graveyard as a baby minutes after his family had been murdered by Jack. Bod was then claimed by the graveyard, so the ghosts could protect him. Even though the are dangers and adventures for him in the graveyard, Jack still lurks out in the real world waiting for Nobody Owens.

I was quite sad when it ended. I would have loved if it had been longer or even a sequel to the fascinating novel. I would definitely read  it again.

One of my favourite characters would be Silas. Silas is Bods’ guardian. He isn’t exactly dead but he’s not alive. that’s one of the things I found quite interesting about him, he is very mysterious. Apart from providing food for him Silas is also his teacher. He is the kind of teacher who may seem demanding now and then but is always thinking for your interest at heart. Silas disappears from time to time going places. Apart from Nobody he is the most interesting. It would be absolutely mind-blowing if Neil Gaiman wrote the life story of Silas.

Neil is an astonishing writer, I never heard of him before I read The Graveyard Book. Usually after I read a book and write my review I look up the author and see what other books they wrote, but because this novel was so great I couldn’t wait. I was amazed to find out the he had wrote Coraline and Stardust, I’m actually going to go out and buy them. I can’t wait to read them because he put so much detail into this book and I love the way it was adventurous and exhilarating but also scary from time to time.

“Jack leaned over, raised his right hand, the one holding the knife, and he aimed for the chest… and then he lowered his hand. The shape in the crib was a teddy bear. There was no child.”

“He couldn’t push the minds of the dead as he could the living, but he could use all the tools of flattery he possessed, for the dead are not immune to either.”

“Silas went out for one final journey before sunrise. He found the tall house on the side of the hill, and he examined the three bodies he found there, and examined the pattern of the knife-wounds.”

I would recommend this book to ages nine and up its one book you can’t live without reading. I would give this novel ten out of ten.

I am buzzing to read more of Neil Gaiman’s novels.

Wintersmith

The book I am going to talk about is Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett. Unfortunately this won’t be like my ordinary reviews because I did not actually finish this book. My aunt who gave me the book after she gave me the idea for a blog. So I am going to talk about the book in general, just how I thought of it and my opinion.

The Wintersmith is about a young girl around the age of thirteen called Tiffany Aching. Tiffany is being trained from a witch by the name of miss treason.
But when she takes Tiffany to witness the secret dark morris, (the morris dance welcomes in the winter) but she gets drawn into the dance and joins in. then something unexpected happens, Tiffany comes face to face with the Wintersmith-winter himself-who mistakes her for the summer lady. He is enchanted by her and mystified by her presence.
Now Tiffany has bigger problems than chores, she starts to discover she has powers and has to deal with the Wintersmith.

Evan though I did not read all of the book, that does not mean I did not enjoy the parts I did read. This was a very interesting book. I got hooked at first while reading it, but I didn’t think a great deal of it some way threw. Terry Pratchett did a very good job at developing the plot but I have to say it was a ‘’out there’’ for me. There was so much going on and so many creatures introduced so quickly. There were humans, gods, goddesses, elementals, ogres and feegles. There was just so much going on all at once. I would have had to read a page nearly three times to understand what was going on.

One thing I loved about the book is the way they spoke. I have to say Terry Pratchett has the oddest way of speaking.

“The trouble is you can shut your eyes but you can’t shut your mind.”

“They writes some bits o’ their letters in them wee codies. that’s a terrible thing tae do to a reader. It’s hard enough reading’ the normal words, wi’oot somebody jumbling’ them all up.”

Hopefully when I have more time I’ll give it ago again. I would recommend this novel to fourteen and up. Over all it was a good few chapters, I have to say the Terry Pratchett is an amazingly astonishing inspirational author.

The Heroes Of Olympus: The lost Hero

I have started a new set of books by Rick Riordan called The Heroes Of Olympus. I read the first book this week called The Lost Hero, after that one there’s The Son of Neptune and The Daughter of Athena which is coming out soon. I stayed up last night trying to finish the first book, I thought it would be really hard. But it was quite easy since I couldn’t put the book down for one second!

The Heroes Of Olympus are a run off from the Percy Jackson series or as Rick Riordan says ‘’A return to Percy Jackson’s word’’. It's Camp Half-Blood once again, and it's got Percy Jackson in it!

Its starts with a boy named Jason, who wakes up on a bus not knowing where or who he is with completely no memory. Now Jason has to figure out who he is with his two new friends Leo, who believes Jason to be his best friend, but later discovers that this was a fake memory manipulated by a mind altering substance called the Mist. And Piper, She believes she and Jason Grace are a couple but is soon given the truth that it was just an illusion.

I loved these books a lot, mostly because I really enjoyed the Percy Jackson ones. One thing I loved about them was everybody from the Percy Jackson book is in these ones. My favourite thing about books with Greek mythology and demi gods would have to be finding out what old of goddess is there parent.

Some of my favourite quotes:

  “Piper gripped his hand and followed him, “If I fall, you’re catching me.” “Uh, sure.” Jason hoped he wasn’t blushing.
Leo stepped out next. “You’re catching me, too, Superman. But I ain’t holding your hand.” 

“Gaea?” Leo shook his head. “Isn’t that Mother Nature? She’s supposed to have, like, flowers in her hair and birds singing around her and dear and rabbits doing her laundry.”
“Leo, that’s Snow White,” Piper said.” 

“She reached into her coat pocket and felt two things she hadn't expected.... One was a wad of cash... she brought out the money. Leo whistled. "Allowance? Piper, your mom rocks!” 

I recommend these books to 9 and up, there an amazing set of books so far. Funny. Vastly entertaining. Action-packed. Extremely gripping. Can’t wait to read the next one!!

Percy Jackson

I have been working on the Percy Jackson series for two weeks now, written by Rick Riordan. I have to say they were extraordinary. I loved them, It was really a set of books I would read again. It is made up of five books, The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, The Battle of The Labyrinth and The Last Olympian.

Percy Jackson is a very troubled boy who has ADHD and dyslexia. He lives with his mother and smelly step father in an apartment, his father left without explanation when he was a baby and he has never met him. Percy is always getting kicked out of schools under mysterious circumstances, once he even burned the school gym down. Then when he goes to the Greek museum on a school trip his maths teacher try’s to kill him.

I went to the cinema to see Percy Jackson and The lightning Thief in the cinema for my twelfth birthday, I thought it was so cool! But I had no idea it was based on a book. Usually the book is WAY better than the movie, but I have to say the movie is very well done. It has nearly all my favourite parts from the book.

One thing I loved about these books is how much I learned from them. It tells you all about the Greek gods and goddesses. My favourite gods would be Hades, god of the underworld, I had no idea that Zeus and Poseidon were his brothers and Hermes god the roadways, travellers, merchants and thieves, he gets to travel everywhere delivering to the gods, he’s like the postman for Olympus. The goddess’ I prefer would have to be Athena goddess of wisdom, war and useful arts, she has a terrible temper, you could never tell her your better than her at something or she’ll turn you into something horrid.

Some the best quotes in the books:

“You are okay?" he asked. "Not eaten by monsters?"
"Not even a little bit." I showed him that I still had both arms and both legs, and Tyson clapped happily.

"Yay!" he said. "Now we can eat peanut butter sandwiches and ride fish ponies! We can fight monsters and see Annabeth and make things go BOOM!"
I hoped he didn't mean all at the same time, but I told him absolutely, we'd have a lot of fun this summer.”

“It's him," I said. "Typhon."
I was seriously hoping Chiron would say something good, like 'No, that's our huge friend Leroy! He's going to help us!”

“Little sister!" Apollo called. If his teeth were any whiter he could've blinded us without the sun car. "What's up? You never call. You never write. I was getting worried!"
Artemis sighed. "I'm fine, Apollo. And I am not your little sister."
"Hey, I was born first."
"We're twins! How many millennia do we have to argue—”

I would give this book 10 of the 10 and would recommend these for age 10 and up. The next Percy Jackson movie will be out next year, I suggest you read the books before you go and see the movie, so get reading.