Point Blank by Anthony Horowitz

This is a great book with the exception of an unrealistic start and it is about a boy named Alex Rider who goes on a mission to find out if a school is linked with the killing of two boy that where there. The book has gotten better and better since the start and is becoming more intresting as I continue to read. The style of writing is not my favorite but I do really like the plot so far and I liked the plot of the first one too. The Alex Rider series is a great series that is filled with adventures and suspenceful events that keep you on the edge of your seat. I recomend this series to anyone who likes books like what I described above or to people who have read the CHERUB series.

the outcasts

in the outcasts, Hal, the son of a dead warrior, is bullied by most of the other boys in his town. they bully him because he has a foreign mother. Unlike most boys in Scandia (basically scandanavia) Hal is smart and inventive, instead of strong and skilled at fighting and sports. Hal enjoys inventing new things that include a brand new design for a sail boat. He gains fame by sailing into the harbor with his new design. When something called brotherband training starts (a training program to make boys in to warriors) Hal is stuck in control of an outcast band of unchosen trainees. Hal quickly gets them working together as a team. in one part of the book, Hal's mentor/friend Thorn, who was Hal's dad's best friend before he died tells Hal that Tursgud, the leader of a clique of boys, he is tall, strong and feared, bullies Hal because he fears them. He also tells Hal that Tursgud fears him because he is a leader. Hal leads by his, inventiveness, and smartness, while Tursgud leads by his strength, and physical skill. Thorn tells Hal that eventually it will come to a head between Tursgud and Hal. if it does the two will get there by opposite directions.

The 5 People You Meet in Heaven

One of the most perplexing questions in human history is this; What happens after you die? Many writers have attempted at answering this question, but in my opinion, none have done better than this. In The 5 People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom explores the idea that when you get to heaven, you meet five people who's lives affected yours. They explain 5 lessons that help you understand puzzling things in your life. The book follows Eddie, an old war veteran with a bad leg who has been working as the head maintenance man at an old amusement park, and his trip along his 5 person path. The book also follows Eddie through his life, stopping on all of his birthdays, marking where he is on the road to heaven. I think the idea of the afterlife, with 5 people explaining things in your life to you was really interesting. Have you ever wondered why something happened and another thing didn't? Ever wonder if you will ever understand it? This book's idea is that those questions could be answered. It explains that every persons actions affect another persons life, and that lives are tied together like one super long piece of string. Although sad at times, this book was really meaningful to me because the author made me less afraid of death because it really is like taking a test without studying (life) and then going back and learning the answers to the questions you got wrong, or sort of wrong (after life). I would really suggest this book to anybody, probably 7th grade and up, sometimes serious topics. Albom's writing style is also very unique. I like it, therefore, I am reading his other novel, Tuesdays with Morrie, right now.

Under a War-Torn Sky part 2

When I left off of my last blog post, Henry had just fallen out of the sky with the most of his crew. Many of his crew members were shot down by German planes after they pulled their chutes, but Henry made it to the ground. When he lands, he is alone and in severe pain because he hit the ground very hard and may have fractured his ankle. Henry hobbles into the direction of the sunlight until he finds a dirt road to follow. The road leads him right into a small town with few pedestrians on the street. A bicyclist stops and helps Henry toward an old school building were he can rest and explains that Henry is in the German controlled part of France. He explains to Henry his hatred for the Germans and tells Henry he will help him get to neutral Switzerland. The man and one of his friends put Henry on a boat to Switzerland. The boatman carries Henry into a town and leaves him outside a hospital unconscious. He was found by two Red Cross nurses. When Henry wakes up, an American man is there to tell him what to do after he is let out of the hospital. He then leaves the hospital and is escorted by a Swiss guard onto a train. He is told to sneak off the train at a certain stop and is given instructions in creative ways to do so. He goes to a cafe in which he will pretend to be washing dishes as a disguise until another train leaves. On his way to get the next train, Henry is given a book that he should read on the train so that the next person in-charge of giving him instructions can recognize him and do so. So far this book is very exciting and I cannot wait for more.

The Space Odyssey Series (2001, 2010, 2061, 3001)

I just finished reading the Space Odyssey "trilogy" by Arthur C. Clarke, who said "any good trilogy has no more than 4 books". I was a bit skeptical that I would like them at first, but I read the first one in a night and finished the rest on the same schedule. I won't go into the plot for this post because over a thousand pages is a bit too much to write about, but the plot is really rather simple to understand, though at times there is a lot of changing locations. I would say that these books are realistic science fiction (if that even exists) and that each is a relatively short read at just under 300 pages. These books move fast with a good amount of smaller plots occurring, though these never really distract the reader from the main plot, but rather add to it and sometimes tweak it in small ways. The style of writing is rather light, with not too much gravity even in the saddest of parts. Interestingly enough, no death is written about in detail, and the number of deaths is kept to a minimum. This book is rather lighthearted, and I would recommend it to pretty much everyone because it is well-written, action packed, and easy to understand, even though the technology is completely new.

Taken

I just recently started the book Taken by Edward Bloor. The story is about a girl named Charity who has been kidnapped and is being held hostage in an ambulance. I think the author has done an exceptional job with the character development in the novel, especially considering the setting that has limited the amount of action in the plot. Bloor has been able to communicate the protagonist's personality through the way that she responds to the situation she is in as well as through the "flashbacks" that the character is constantly experiencing. As for the plot development, there hasn't been a great amount so far. As someone who personally likes action in a book I feel that the story is slightly slow right now. I am predicting that some time soon there will be a change in setting of the story, which will most likely help with the plot development. If it weren't for Bloor's great character development (and interesting personalities of his characters) I don't know if I would still be reading this book!

Life of Pi

I am currently reading Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. Not "pi" as in 3.14 etc, just for your information - this isn't a math book. I got this book a couple years ago and read a few pages - I considered those pages some of the boringest (yeah, I know it isn't a real word) literature I had ever read. However, I recently pulled the book off the shelf, trying to find one of the books in my collection that I never got around to reading. This book follows the life of a young man named Piscine Molitor Patel, or Pi. He grew up on his family's zoo, around animals and nature. His family moves from India to Canada in the book, a startling change. At first, with the scientific descriptions in the book, I thought this would be some very fancy-schmancy science-based novel. But then, as it went on, I doubted that. India, a cultural hub near the Middle East, is and was always near multiple religions - Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Pi is influenced by the differing religious views around him, as he talks to a priest, a pandit (a Hindu someone), and an Islamic mystic. As a teen, Pi follows all three religions - for example, for his birthday, he asks to be baptized and given a prayer mat. Yann Martel goes pretty deep into religion, an often controversial subject. However, the 123 pages of the book that' I've read (a bit over a fourth) is introduction - not too much character development. In the book, I am currently at a tense part where Pi and his friend are on a sinking boat filled with zoo animals, presumably from his zoo. I think that this is the only real drawback so far - 1/4 of the book was a mere introduction. However, Martel's descriptive writing style and deep ideas are appealing. If you like deep books that make you think, then I suggest you take a look at Life of Pi.