Llew's Reviews

I have been in reader HEAVEN! All of my favorite YA series have had another book come out. Septimus Heap has Queste out. After I finish devouring that, I get to hop on to Libba Bray’s third book wrapping up The Great & Terrible Beauty trilogy. Then, it’s on to Pullman’s prequel to the Golden Compass. I am so excited! I have such a huge stack of lovely looking fun reads that it’s making me giddy.

This one is the third in Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven series which is really quite likable. Normally, I like young adult books that are for the older readers whereas this one is more middle school level. It’s still a thick seemingly complex book though so I’m still a fan. I’ve had good luck with recommending this one because there’s really nothing for people to dislike.

Obviously, I had to read these books before I saw the movie. To be honest, they’re kind of annoying. I realize they’re children books but each individual book is so insignificant it’s hardly worth it. The entire series counts for one book - even for a middle school reader. I mean seriously.

Of course, I read them so I could see the movie and now I’ve heard nothing but poor reviews for the film so I shall wait until it comes out on dvd. Alas, alack!

Making Money is not a business bible at all but rather a sequel to Pratchett’s “Going Postal” with which it shares these similarities:
*Both were bought in hardback as presents for my lovely boyfriend. He was eyed as he read them and then I nabbed them as soon as he finished. Don’t judge me.
*Both were read while I was home sick. Not that I’m saying you need a fevered mind racked with delusion to relate to any of Pratchett’s main characters, but it helps.
*Both were fantastic light reads and had me chuckling throughout, even though I was in a sick bed.

When Pratchett first announced that he had early onset Alzheimers, I discussed with a friend who is also a fan of his. She commented something like, “Not to be cold-hearted but why couldn’t it have happened to someone else oh say Nicolas Sparks?” To which I thought, “By reading the plot summaries on the back of Sparks books one might assume that it has already happened to him as well.” Read one of his books and I’m pretty sure you’ve read them all.

If you recall, this was the series where I was going to try to use Zen Buddhist techniques when it came to reading young adult novels because that’s just how much of a *forward thinker* I am. My theory was that by knowing ahead of time and accepting that the endings to Westerfeld’s series are going to be let downs - that they then cease to do so. I have to say, I think it worked.I love this world Westerfeld created where there are 25 hours in a day - with the 25th hour being a dark nefarious time only experienced in a certain spot by those born at the stroke of midnight. These Midnighters all have a individual unique skill to help them during this hour ranging from brilliance in math to mind-casting to the ability to defy gravity for that one hour. These skills come in handy for the darklings which lurk then. They also cause for really diverse and intriguing characters that made the story have so much more depth than some of the author’s other work.

I really did expect the ending to be disappointing but was pleasantly surprised that I liked the way it was all tied together. No, it wasn’t a happy fairy tale close but at least it wasn’t some half-assed environmental love letter to Al Gore like The Uglies. Speaking of, I hear another book is coming out in October (”The Extras”) and here I thought that series was over. Oops. Maybe it will redeem itself after all! Now, there’s fairy tale optimism at its best.

I am so glad my last name isn’t Heap. However, I think I am going to start spelling my name Lauryk.

I have no idea why I didn’t post this back when I read it. Now, I can’t think of what to say - except that it’s a good un.

I like to threaten Mrs. Meyer that I will do certain bizarre things - and my latest such threat was that I was going to post a picture of myself licking her latest book. Licking/kissing - there were many boys I knew in middle school who thought they were the same thing so CLOSE ENOUGH.

So far, this is by far my favorite book in the series. To be honest, I was a bit meh about the first two books. I could see how they could appeal to others, and I heartily recommended them to that group. They just didn’t rank high as personal favorites. However, this redeemed the series completely and now I am so smitten with the characters (especially Jacob - purrrrrrr).

I read this one less than a day after it had been released. Oh yes, I had to wait for a week while I stood inches away from boxes of the book before I could get my grubby hands on it to read it. The stress of having to be patient might have caused both ulcers and hives.

Scholastic and Rowling: expect to receive my angry missives in your mailbox soon!

I can’t believe I unwittingly got myself involved in another YA fantasy series - foiled again!

Also, it took me until the second book to realize the author must be LDS. Double-suckered - my book-spidey senses are failing me!

As a bookseller, it gets tiring to hear every other book lauded as The Next Harry Potter. Whenever I read the fantasy section of the YA catalogs, my eyes are permanently set on “roll.”

And this one is not the next Harry Potter - but it sure is good. I still haven’t gotten my grubby hands on the second installment. However, the first one works well by itself and is a good recommended read - especially on the middle school level. Also, there’s no way I would drink unpasteurized milk from an overgrown cow - no matter what it allowed me to see.

I finished this series, and I STILL don’t have my own armored bear. CHEATED.

A good side to being behind the times and getting to this series so late is that I could read them all at one time. If I had to have waited for months or years in anticpation for the trifle that book #2 was I would have cut someone in front of their own daemon. “The Subtle Knife” was just a slapped together stepping stone in between two really good books. I was really happy with how the story ended, even though (or maybe because) it wasn’t your usually Fairy Tale/Happily Ever After conclusion.

Before I started, I had heard this series detailed as the “Anti Narnia” which is quite the apt description. At first, I thought I would get annoyed with all of the incredibly obvious parallels but it didn’t turn out to be TOO preachy. It was more than I like, but not insufferable. I still don’t quite understand how it turned into such a bestselling series. It’s OK but I can’t see myself highly recommending it to anyone over something else.