Book Review: The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card

The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really enjoyed this book, but then again it is Orson Scott Card. I'd expect nothing less. Danny North's lack of a magical ability in his family made up almost entirely of mages creates problems for him. But when he learns that he's actually a gatemage, with the ability to create passages through spacetime, that's an even bigger problems. All the magical families around the world have agreed to kill all gatemages to make sure that no family gains too much power. Danny's gift is a death sentence. He's forced to run away at 13 and journeys for the next few years honing his power (with a little burglary mixed in) until he's ready to face his greatest challenge as a gatemage, bridging through space time to the home world of Westil. Card's crafted an excellent mythology, based in part on traditional world mythologies, and a wholely believeable world. I stayed up much to late 2 nights in a row finishing this book. If you're a fan of fantasy at all, read it! (FYI: Due to one minor, but uncomfortable, scene, I recommend this for high school, or age 13 at the youngest.)



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Book Review: The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff

The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I really enjoyed this book. I've always been a bit of a fan of fantasy based on religious mythology anyway. So for me the first 1/4 set up some interesting premises. The second 1/4 felt rather slow to be honest, but it picked up enormously in the last half. There are elements of an adventure mystery here in the search for Obie, Daphne's lost brother. There is an inexplicable draw beween Daphne and Truman, yet the romance builds naturally. There's a scene of sensuality that makes me inclined to wait to recommend this one to high school students, or at least 8th graders. It has it's imperfections in some details here and there, but it's really a fascinating and compelling read. I personally wish that we had more of the mythology of this world shown to us, but I'm not sure it would have added to the story. I'm just terribly curious. This is a great alternative for fans of supernatural romances to a lot of the formulaic stories out there. (After all, the heroine is a - not necessarily evil - demon in search of her brother and her love interest is the suicidal boy who needs saving.) Two thumbs up if you like the genre!



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Book Review: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I listened to this book on audio & to my surprise I thoroughly enjoyed the experience (I'm biased to reading a book over listening to it because I often dislike how some narrators interpret some of the characters.) Anyway, this is about as finely crafted a book as you could wish for. The writing is phenomenal. The emotional journey is honest and heartbreaking and redemptive all at once. The book appears to be fantastical in nature, but it has more of a feel of a realistic fiction book in it's subject, pacing, and style. It's not a happy tale, but a very cathartic one and well worth the reading, at least once, for just about anyone.



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Making Graphs in Excel

Some of our area students are working on science fair projects right now, and will probably need to create graphs for their final project.  This can be done using Microsoft Excel.  Since at the library, we currently have computers that are running 3 different versions of Microsoft Excel (2003, 2007, & 2010) I created a guide to help students make graphs with each.  You can get a full version of these on our library's website.  I'm also including images of them here for you to preview.

Book Review: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I've taken a long time to review this title because I had a few mixed feelings about it. First, Laini Taylor is one of my absolute favorite authors ever. Something about her writing feeds my spirit, which is why I follow her blog. So that being said, this turned out to not quite live up to my expectations, because it is, in my opinion, not her best work. That being said, there is still alot I love about it.



The great stuff: the chimera! The whole world that Karou occupies is fantastic and delicious. Her life in two worlds, modern Prague as an art student, and questing across the world for teeth for some unknown purpose of her chimera family is perfectly realized. I loved the idea of the war between the angelic and demonic peoples who were really oh so human in point of fact.



What I struggled with is how we don't get to see Karou at her most emotinally vulnerable. She's fantastically realized in the first part of the book (my favorite by far) but on the 2 occasions she encounters gut wrenching tragedy, we jump forward in time immediately after, so we don't really see the emotional impact on Karou of these episodes. To be frank, the book stops - I won't say ends - right after one of these episodes.



That was my other problem with this story. Laini - you just stopped!!! You had me involved and dying for more, but your cliffhanger ending provided me with no closure. I knew even before publication that this book was going to be followed by a sequel. I just didn't expect that they were going to be parts 1 & 2 of a single book. That being said, when the 2nd book comes out, I'll be waiting for it on pins and needles & will probably gobble it up in less than 24 hours, just like I did with this one. Write quickly woman, please!



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Welcome!

Hi everyone.  This is Ms. Julia from the Matteson Public Library.  I've just started this new blog for all our teen and tween patrons.  I'll be posting book reviews & information that I find that is relevant to teens and tweens.  Please let me know what you think!  I look forward to hearing from you.