Gregor the Overlander

To be honest, I did not know this series existed until magically, yesterday, I saw it at Costco. I walked into the book section and then: "Oh. My. Gosh. Is that Suzanne Collins??? I'm buying that."

So, now I own the whole series, and I just started reading them yesterday, having finished one book already.

Just like the Hunger Games, Gregor the Overlander is very captivating and a very fast-paced adventure tale. Sort of along the lines of the Beyonders series, another series I really enjoyed, Gregor the Overlander tells of an eleven year old boy by the name of Gregor who finds himself in the Underland. The Underland is a pretty mysterious place of giant bats, spiders, rats, lizards, mice, ants, and humans. It's a pretty perplexing society that Gregor finds himself in with his 2 year old sister, Boots. Yet this fragile place they have landed in is just about to fall apart.

Gregor wants nothing to do with such a strange place like this and its inhabitants. Yet when he discovers that he is part of a strange prophecy which foretells a role for him in the Underland, he may discover that it's the only way to solve the biggest mystery he's ever run into. As he makes undeniable and unforgettable ties in the Underworld, this book is the start of an amazing series by Suzanne Collins. 

I recommend this book to all kids and teens. It's a great book, and it will capture your attention and keep it until you finish the book! Suzanne Collins really is an amazing writer- writing such an amazing series of The Hunger Games and even the Underland Chronicles!

***I give this book a 9.8 out of 10!!!***

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde is a hilarious book! A short book of around 61 pages, it's an entertaining yet short read. Written in a play format, this hilarious story is even more hilarious if you read it with a British accent!

The name of this play is an example to how humorous it is. Earnest is the name of one of the characters in the book. Technically speaking. Therefore, The Importance of Being Earnest actually pertains to how it is important to be Ernest, not actually earnest. The two characters who were are first introduced to are Algernon Moncrieff and John Worthing, two very hilarious friends who like nothing more than bickering. Their arguments are the dumbest yet perhaps most intellectual arguments ever.

Yes, it is a classic. But no, it doesn't mean that's it's boring. The Importance of Being Earnest is a play, but not a play like Shakespeare. It's not written in Old English, therefore making it way easier to understand, and anyone who likes some humor will love The Importance of Being Earnest. 

I recommend this book to anyone who really needs a good laugh, and to all those parents out there, if your child is absolutely against any classics, this book will surely loosen them up, because it's actually really good, and I have prejudices against classics too, and I still love this book!

*** I give this book a 9.999 out of 10! Amazing classic! ***

Yotsuba& Volume 3

Yotsuba& is a hilarious japanese manga that I absolutely adore. It's about a young girl by the name of Yotsuba who is... a little girl. She does weird things, asks weird questions, and makes friends. The little green girl with the green eyes, made up by Kiyohiko Azuma will make tons on people fall in love with her.

Each volume of Yotsuba& is split up into chapters, each of them rotating around something that she did- like the time she went to the zoo, or the time she went to a japanese festival. All little things that a small girl growing up in Japan would experience- put into a manga. Like lots of other Japanese manga out there, Yotsuba& consists of a lot of volumes. Each of the volumes are pretty short and a breeze to read, but I enjoy taking them out from the library to read because of the fact that they take such little time to read. 

I really enjoy this series, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading manga, or anything that's funny. Yotsuba is a plain sort of girl with her own kind of creativity and hopes and dreams. It's a plain but very interesting manga, and I really love the art, and the character's faces. Every emotion of theirs is always very evidently shown in their faces!

***I give this book a 9.5 out of 10! ***

The Mortal Instruments

Yesterday, I went out and bought the series of The Mortal Instruments. By Cassandra Clare, it's a best selling series, and in my opinion, very good. Cassandra Clare also wrote the series of The Infernal Devices series, another great series, but personally, I like this series more!

There are four books to this series: City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, and City of Fallen Angels. All of them are awesome books, and that's why I just bought the whole series!

City of Bones introduces a girl with the ability to see. It also introduces a normal 'mundie' guy along with three teenagers with weird marking committing a murder. Three Shadowhunters, to be more specific. Within a day, Clary, the girl, is pulled into the Shadowhunter world, bringing her Mundie friend, Simon along with her. It's amazing what can happen in a mere 24 hours: her mother's disappearance, her fight with a demon, and her near death. What has happened to her mother? Why are demons chasing her? Who are these shadowhunters? A million questions go around Clary's head. But will she live long enough to answer them all?

The Mortal Instrument series is a prime example of urban fantasy, with Shadowhunters and a whole new realm in the middle of our own 'normal' world. This series will captivate you and not let you go till you finish the whole series. 

My greatest respects to Cassandra Clare- it's amazing that she wrote even one book as amazing as this, but four books to finish a series? That's really amazing. I'm a huge fan of the Mortal Instruments series, and I could not care to tear myself away from these books!

I recommend this book to anyone who really wants to sink into a good novel, and I recommend this book to ages 11 and up, due to some coarse language and things. But everyone should at least give it a try, and I promise you will love it! ( I did, anyway. ) 

*** I give this book a 9.9999 out of 10. Fantastic book! ***

Three Cups of Tea

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, is a book that my teacher had introduced to me, and suggested that I read. To be honest, I didn't really enjoy it at that time, because I really wasn't into fantasy. However, reading this later on in my life, I finally recognized what a great novel this was.

Three Cups of Tea really puts an insight to the other children in the world, who don't have schools, are illiterate, don't have enough food, and lead very poor lives. This book, on account of a true story of an adventurous man by the name of Greg Mortenson, shows how many other people in poorer countries are living, and this book really shows of a man who sympathized with them. 

'With the first cup of tea you are a stranger.

With the second... A friend.

With the third cup of tea, you are family.'

This book is a really touching tale of an adventure gone haywire and another door opening. Through this adventure, Greg Mortenson lost a lot. Yet whenever there is something to lose, there is also something to gain. Here, he gained confidence, empathy, communication, and the ability to take happiness from the smallest things.

Three Cups of tea really puts an insight to how you think about life and how you find happiness. These children from much poorer countries than we are used to work hard just not to starve to death. It really makes you think about how just because you're 'rich' doesn't mean you're necessarily happy. After all, money can't buy happiness. So what is happiness really? In reality, poorer countries are sometimes full of way more happiness. Why is that? How should we live? In cities where all the buildings are glass, and in a mode of stress, or filling by loving family members, loving friends, and a heart? 

I recommend this book to 11 year olds and up. It may be a bit hard to understand for kids who are too young, but looking back to this book now, I can appreciate how well-written and true it is. 

*** I give this book a 8.5 out of 10!***

Death Note Black Edition Volumes 3 and 4

It's Beautiful!

Looking back to the past book reviews I have done, I do think I did a Death Note Volume I and 2 review, so I suggest you check out that one before reading this one, since it is the next book in the series.

The Death Note mangas have been a series of manga that I have loved for a long time. Yes, I am a fellow Otaku, and yes, I do watch certain animes. 

Death Note is a classic. It's one manga that everyone should really read at least once in their lives. Featuring two all-too-smart people, L and Light, it tells of a guy who has the power to change the world in his hands. However, even if his intentions start off as to purify the world, when one is in possession of a death note, things go haywire pretty fast. This sets off an epic battle between the two very highly intelligent forces, an intricate plot between two warring teams. I love Death Note a lot! 

Death note introduces a notebook that has the power to kill from afar, complied with a set of rules. Along with shinigamis, it's a really complex story line. Therefore, I suggest that you read the first volume before going on. It makes much more sense and is much more fun if you read the volumes in order!

Death Note is one of those books that I reread a bunch of times and one that I tend to read constantly and a lot. Written by Tsugumi Ohba, I have to comment how smart the book is. The plots that L and Light stir up really makes it an intense battle between wits. Where the penalty of making a wrong move is death. A costly adventure between two teams, it all depends on who steps first and who can thing further ahead. 

*** I rate this book a 9.9999 out of 10!***

******note: This book is the 2nd Volume of the Black Edition. So there are two volumes included in one volume, if that makes sense. There are the original Death Note volumes, and then the Black Editions. It's really your choice which one you want to buy- I just bought this one because it looked cooler. 

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cat Breeds

Let's get this point straight from the beginning. I. LOVE. CATS. Really. I love all animals, me being the crazy animal-loving freak that I am, but cats are by far my favourite animals. Loyal, beautiful, and each a personality to themselves, cats are by far one of the most amazing animals ever. And for cat lovers like me, this book is the best book ever for you.

This book was a gift from my classmate, who knew that I deeply loved cats. She handed this book to me, saying that it was perfect for me. In the beginning, all that made me like the book was the cover full of cats. Yet as I started to have nothing to do, I opened the book, and started reading. 

If you can see from the book reviews in my blog, I'm not a very big non-fiction reader. I read non-fiction to the bare minimum. Yet this book? It was non-fiction, and it was marvelous. I love it. It's a great book for any cat lover, and you will positively love it. Thank you Angela Rixon for publishing this amazing book! I refer to it basically every day. If you read this book, I can guarantee that you will know close to everything about cat breeds. All the questions you had about cats will be answered! 

From the sleek-bodied Siamese and the regal Russian Blue, to the tail-less Manx and the hardy Main Coon cat, this book features more than 100 breeds, and is an essential encyclopedia for the cats lovers around the world. Within 251 pages, you will know all about your favourite felines!

***I give this book a 10 out of 10!***

Archie 1000 Pages Comics Digest

This book is the perfect thing for all Archie-lovers. With 1000 pages full of colorful comics about Archie and his friends, and full of over 100 classic stories, it's great for trips and something to read while you're bored and in loss of something to do. I bought this in Costco one day, and truth be told, I had never read an Archie comic book in my life before. So, I picked it up, and in anticipation for my trip in Mexico, I decided to buy it. To say the least, I did not regret it. Sure sure, it was a thick book, lugging 1000 pages around is not an experience I took pleasure in, but all the same, I enjoyed the book.

I recommend this book to everyone. It's a really great book, and I think that if everyone gave it a try, they would be sure to like it. It's hilarious, fun, and enrapturing. I most definitely loved it. It makes you laugh, full of stories of Archie, Veronica, Betty, Jughead, and Reggie, and their hilarious 'adventures'. Will Archie finally be able to choose between Betty and Veronica? 

All Archie-lovers must have this book, and for those out there who have never read Archie comics before, they're hilarious and I recommend it to everyone! 

*** I give this book a 9.8 out of 10!***

Psychic Pets

Four words. I. Love. This. Book. It's an amazing book that every single animal-lover should read. Based on true events, Psychic Pets tell all about a pet's last goodbyes to the strong bond between an owner and a devoted pet, to the heart-aching tales of loyal pets!

With Five Chapters, Psychic Pets is all about animals and their great deeds. For example, the dog who's owner's last command to him was to stay in front of the hospital. Then his owner died, and even knowing that, the dog decided he would stick to his owner's last wishes. He stayed in front of the hospital until the end of his days: a total of 12 years! The five chapters are: Homing Pets, Invisible Bonds, Saving Lives, Across the Divine, and Seeing the Future. In this book, you can read about the Persian cat that trekked 1,500 miles across America to find her owners, the pig that rushed into traffic to get help for a heart-attack victim, the Scottie dog that returned from the grave to save his owners from the fire, and much more. Pets and their owners have stronger bonds than you could ever believe, and they are known to look after each other even after life ends for them. In life-threatening situations, and even not in, animals and the ones they care for will always have a special bond, connecting each other. 'Till death unto us,'... or not. 

With 124 pages filled full of love, compassion, sadness, and care, Psychic Pets will bring the tears out in the most cold-hearted person with its true accounts of the unseverable bonds between animal and companion. 

*** I rate this book a 10 out of 10!!!! BEST. BOOK. FOR. ANIMAL. LOVERS. EVER.***

Uncle John's Bathroom Reader for Girls Only!

You may be familiar with the Uncle John's Bathroom Readers. This one, is for girls only. 

With history, mystery, gossip, and secrets, it's the perfect bathroom reader for any girl. Here, you can read about Mercury makeup and other deadly beauty fads, the secrets behind The Hunger Games, Twilight, and Frankenstein, the un-glamorous life of a real princess, women spies, athletes, and cow whisperers, and much, much more!

This book is one of the most interesting books I've read, because it has everything from Fun and Games, to Myths and Magic. With a very wide assortment of topics, this book covers nearly everything you need as a girl! It's filled with great and embarrassing stories of others, and such, and it will entertain you anywhere for long! 

My favourite part to this book is undoubtedly the horoscope part. You can match up your horoscope to see who you're like! With a guide like this, girls will be able to enjoy it as much as they can learn from it! Also, it shares the experiences of a lot of different people, seeing that so many people came together to write this book. Thank you to all those people who put this together for girls to enjoy and love~! It's a great book, because the stories are spilt into articles, and you can flip to a random page and start reading- no background knowledge is needed!

I recommend this book to girls. All girls. But boy's should really not read this book! 

***I give this book a 9.5 out of 10!***

The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures

This book was given to me by my creative writing mentor, and I treasure it. It's the perfect guide for any fantasy-creatures-loving person, and the title says it all. Written by John and Caitlin Matthews, The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures is basically an A to Z dictionary of every magical creature you could think of from Myth and magic.

John and Caitlin Matthews are two of the most well-respected experts in the area of mythology and folklore. If you read this book and decide that it's really good, I suggest you read some of the other books they've written: 'The Dream Dictionary from A to Z' 'The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols' 'The Element Encyclopedia of 1000 spells' 'The element Encyclopedia of Secret Societies' 'The Element Encyclopedia of Birthdays' and 'The Element Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Hauntings'. I personally really want to get 'The Element Encyclopedia of 1000 spells' and 'The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Societies,' and 'The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols'. How cool would that be to be able to read all the secrets signs and such?

One thing I really got from this book was a sound knowledge of mythical and magical creatures. It has everything you could ever want to know about every magical creature, and it's the next best thing to my dictionary when it comes to writing fantasy stories! It's any fantasy writer's dream encyclopedia!

*** I give this book a 10 out of 10!***

Wired

As the last book in the Skinned series, Wired is a pretty great wrap-up. Featuring Lia Kahn, this book series tells of a girl who's family fell apart when she got into a car accident, leaving her to be downloaded into the body of a machine- a mech. Yet Lia is still the girl she used to be. She still has her personality, her way of acting, and her way of talking, but some people refuse to believe that. Especially her sister, Zo. Yet as her life progresses, she only meets more and more mechs, and even gets attached to some. Then, everything goes wrong. The once-thought of as a life that lasted forever, the mech life, has a bug. Someone is set out to kill them all- pick them all off one by one.

It all started with a virus. One mech dying. Then thousands of others followed, unknown and known to Lia Kahn. The one thing that kept them from dying- their uploads, are now the source of their deaths. Lia will risk everything to save herself and the people she loves and cares about. Yet she has to come to one final truth. She can't save everyone. Already, a mech she loved and cared deeply about is gone, and other friends she one stood next to are wiped out too. It's a mass plague among the mechs, slaughtering them by the thousands.

The final battle for Lia and her friends is here. And this battle is one between the mechs, and the people who actually created them. BioMax. With bitter thoughts all that's left between her parents and her and Zo, Lia is out for revenge. And the thirst to help and help herself. This is her life now. And she's going to fight to keep it alive.

Robin Wasserman  wrote an amazing trilogy. I recommend it to dystopia-lovers and sci-fi lovers, and anyone who loves action and drama. However, I recommend it to young adults and teens!

***I give this book a 9.7 out of 10!***

Dork diaries

Dork it up! As the first book in the Dork Diaries, you get to meat Nikki J. Maxwell and her crazy life in high school! With everything from a pesky sister to a mean girl at school who may just like the same guy that she likes. With extra dorkiness and more, Dork Diaries, the first, is the beginning of an funny and tragic story of a dorky girl going through high school!

Featuring Nikki J. Maxwell is new in school. There's a new mean girl, a new crush, and a new diary. So she's going to do what everyone does in a diary. Rant about the new mean girl and the new crush! So what if the new mean girl likes the new crush? You can always dork it up!!!!

I think Dork Diaries is great, because it shows you to be just you, and even if horrible things happen, you will always have good friends to lean on: good friends to always be there for you. A great book about high school, it shows the bad points of high school, ( like mean girls *cough* MacKenzie *cough* Hollister *cough*. ) to the good points of high school ( like all of those other great friends and dorks ready to dork it up with you! ).  It shows that everything's going to be fine for you too, if you just be yourself and not be afraid to dork! Don't be afraid to be yourself!!!!

***I give this book a 8.9 out of 10!***