Beautiful Redemption--Kami Garcia & Margaret Sohl--Review by Kayla Knight

                               Beautiful Redemption Review by Kayla Knight

 

       

           Beautiful Redemption is the fourth book in Kami Garcia's Beautiful Creatures series. Throughout these books we discover many things based on the characters of Ethan Wate and Lena Duchannes. In this fourth and final book, Kami Garcia and Margaret Sohl take Ethan and Lena's relationship to a whole new level. In the previous books, Ethan Wate and Lena Duchannes face many conflicts involving their relationship. Lena and her family are witches, or what Garcia's calls them, Casters. Lena's powers get out of hand and their whole family suffers the consequences, including Ethan. Ethan ends up dead, and in this final book Ethan is trapped in a realm for the dead that have unfinished business and cannot move on. He also finds that his mother is stuck their with him too. Ethan does everything in his power to try to send a message to his love, Lena. Even if he just moves a book or a something small. Lena notices this and now knows he is still alive somewhere, but she does not know how to help. He continues trying to send her little messages but it becomes beyond difficult. Throughout this journey his mother stays beside him trying to help him move on to the next world, but Ethan doesn't want to. He wants to go back to the real world, to Lena. Later on, Ethan finds out that he was not meant to die. An Evil caster named Abraham Ravenwood, wrote down his death and changed his fate in the "Book of Casters." Ethan discovers if he can tear out the page that has his new written fate on it, he can change his fate to what it was supposed to be. Only problem is that Abraham has this book and Ethan has to find a way to get it from the real world. Will Lena and Ethan be able to communicate and team up to bring Ethan back to the real world?

 

 

     Beautiful Redemption to me, was a thrilling and suspenseful ride. It was an interesting twist on the story of Ethan Wate and Lena Duchannes. Throughout the whole series the audience can sense the same theme, but in this book we see a huge twist. Its still the tragic love story between the two star crossed lovers, but in a different view this time. I really enjoyed this book and i would definitely recommend the whole series to others. If you are interested in magic and want a suspenseful story, read this!!!

The Fault In Our Stars by John Greene reviewed by Ty Henderson

The Fault in Our Stars 

I recently read The Fault In Our Stars by John Greene and my expectations were well exceeded. This story sends you on a roller coaster of emotions. It takes your typical fairy tale we all once dreamed of as little girls and puts a whole new spin on it, Cinderella meets reality. Hazel is a typically awkward teen with your everyday teen struggles, except for one thing, she has cancer. This in itself starts you off with a weird vibe, you don't want to get too attached to the character in fear that something will happen to her, but you cant help yourself. Over the course of the book your empathy for hazel only grows as you experience with her the hardships of her situation. As I'm sure you would've guessed Hazel then falls for another cancer victim in remission, Augustus, a feisty, clever and very confident kid whose everyone sort of idolizes, including the readers. together him and Hazel see the reality in life for the first time in their young lives. I highly recommend his book, its a pretty rad ride. 

a boy and his dog is the book that started the apocalyptic genre. the books take place in an alternative timeline where president John F. Kennedy is not assassinated and he focuses less on the space race and more on robotics, animal intelligence and telepathy, this leads to a far more hot cold war which turns into ww3 and thus reduces the world to a irradiated, sparsly populated rock. the setting is of the united states, most survivors are men, as most women were in the cities and the men were off fighting world war 3, these survivors fight for resources, such as food, water and women.

the tale follows vic, a parentless, ethicless, morally corrupt 17 yr old whose whole world is food and sex, and his well read, telapathic dog named blood. vic and bloods relationship is based almost entirely on the fact each helps the other, vic can get blood food, and blood can get vic women. through this vic and blood meet a girl named quilla june holmes from a place called "downunder" a great big vault. after saving quilla from raiders, mutants and the general insanity of the wastelands of america, they have repeated sex and after so, the girl runs off to "downunder" , with vic in hot pursuit of her with dreams of sex and women.n eventually he find down under and leaves blood at the entrence of the vault, after several days vic and quilla return to find blood in poor shape, while not blatently said its common belief among readers that vic murders and eat quilla and remembering a question she asked blood asks " do you know what love is" vic, taken back by this statement replies " love is a boy and his dog"

so this book holds a place in my heart cause it spawned a love for the post apocalyptic worlds in games and other books, and for te fact that no matter how people describe the end of the world survivors, this book seems the most realistic of any ever made, cause after all, our base desires are to eat and  have sex. the books won awards and was eventually made into a great movie, and as such it has a place in my heart and probably many others, i think anyone who enjoys a good story of survival and the world after nukes should pick up this book.

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein is about a boy and his dog more than anything. A young racecar driver Denny and his dog Enzo go through everything together from the death of Denny's wife to car crashes. The story is told from the dogs point of view and gives interesting insight into the mind of a dog. This story is very emotional and has a lot of twists and turns. It is sad and happy all at the same time and I recommend it to anyone who likes dogs, cars and fun.
       By Jett Bottarini and the lovely people of Bum Crew, thank you for your consideration

Flush by Carl Hiaasen-Dustin Pearson

          

Flush by Carl Hiaasen~


Noah Underwood has a problem. His father is in jail, and he's not sure if he should believe dad's story or not. Paine Underwood is not your typical criminal. He's just a former Florida fisherman who gets steamed when he sees anyone doing something wrong to the environment. Even Noah admits, "Dad just has to work on his self control."
Dusty Muleman, owner of the casino ship the Coral Queen, is not being very good to the environment. Noah's father has been arrested for sinking the ship after he speculates that the cheapskate owner is dumping the sewage tank directly into the ocean rather than paying for the removal of it.
Mr. Underwood enlists his son Noah to help prove that he was right about the Coral Queen. Unsure of his father's claim himself, Noah decides that family loyalty wins over his doubts and a quirky mystery ensues. The cast of characters includes Noah's strong-headed sister Abbey, as well as their mother, who doesn't find the whole arrest very funny. When the kids hear her mention the "D word --- divorce" on the phone, they know they have to kick their plan into overdrive. Noah and Abbey also receive help from some unlikely sources including "Lice" Peeking, a former worker on the Coral Queen; Lice's girlfriend Shelly, who was once married to the crook owner of the ship; and a mysterious old man dressed up like a pirate.
This book is an easy and exciting read, especially easy if you have to write a review for it or something like that. Reading it is fun if you're into adventure and suspense!

A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer reviewed by Michaela Chauvie

A child Called It by Dave Pelzer is a true story based on a boys life that grew up and was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally, unstable alcoholic mother. She would play torturous and unpredictable games with him which left him nearly dead. Some of the games included him drinking ammonia and Clorox, this would burn his throat and his immune system terribly. His mother would starve him for days and sometimes weeks at a time. He got to the point that he needed to steel food from the grocery stores and his classmates lunches. when his mother found out that he stole food, she would make him throw it back up and re-eat it. One of her favorites games that she would play with him was having him eat his baby brothers feces. She started to get worse and worse and no longer considered him as a human or her son, she referred him as an "it", her slave. When he goes to school and teachers ask about his bruises, he is forced to lie because his mother brainwashed him. He always gets punished whenever he does not complete his chores within the time limit she gave him. His only hope and love was from his father. His father would sneak him food whenever his mother was not around. Later down the road when his mother got worse, his father decided to move out and Dave's dreams of hope and love was crushed and no longer existed. He would live down in the basement on an army cot without blankets or a heater. One day, she stabbed him in the chest and he almost died but suffered through the pain. By the end of the book his mother finally got caught and he was sent to a foster home. In the second book called, "the lost boy" is about him moving through foster homes. I found this book extremely interesting because these things really do happen in our everyday life.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower written by : Stephen Chbosky Reviewed by Rena Dragony

The Perks of being a Wallflower.

  The definition of a wallflower is someone who see's things, keeps quiet about them, and understands them. And that is exactly how Charlie is. Charlie is just starting out his freshman year of high school. Charlie isn't like all of the other kids at school, he's never been one to socialize ever since his best friend killed himself. High-school is very big to Charlie and he feels as if he was not accepted by anyone. Then comes along seniors Sam and Patrick. They accept Charlie for being a wallflower, and let him in. Charlie faces many obstacles after he meets Sam and Patrick. This book speaks on how Charlie comes to deal with his mental problems with the help of his friends. Charlie cares about everyone. He just doesn't know how to show it. By the end of the book he faces his past, and becomes one with himself. 

I have read this book over five times, and it gets better every time. I feel as if I can relate to Charlie's fear of not being accepted. But I have accepted my self and so did Charlie. This book can be upsetting, but you have to read it with an open mind. Being a wallflower is special. And this book is very special. So its cool and you should all read it.

House Rules -- Jodi Picoult -- Review by Monica Rocha

House Rules

by Jodi Picoult



        Jodi Picoult's novel, House Rules, is a real page turner because it is about a family who is trying to fit in but is suddenly the talk of the town. One of the main characters is Jacob Hunt, who is a teenager with Asperger’s syndrome. He cannot express himself to others and is hopeless at reading social clues. However he has an interest in forensic analysis which could be the cause to why he is involved with a murder in his town. Emma is the mother of Jacob and has been protecting him from any dangers. Theo is Jacobs’s brother who constantly feels like he is left out because his mother's focus is on his brother. Rich is a detective who is facing problems of his own but is now involved with Jacobs’s family. Oliver is a lonely lawyer who is representing Jacob through a murder case. Lastly, Jess is the girl who gets murdered, or in better words, is found dead. The muder of this girl causes Jacob to be suspected as the killer but could it really be logical for him to be able to commit such an act?

       This novel is not just about the murder that has occured but it is also about a family bond. In the Hunt house there is only one rule that Jacob always follows which is “Take care of your brother; he’s the only one you’ve got.” Jacob has just been charged with murder and he keeps telling officers and detective Rich that he did not kill Jess. He tells them that he just simply moved her body but all the clues lead to him. Detective Rich does not understand why Jacob keeps lying to him because he is clearly guilty with all the clues but Emma tries to explain that he did not kill Jess. Jacob does not know how to explain himself to the court because he has never been comfortable around a crowd that he doesn’t know. Oliver is trying to defend Jacob but with so many clues that scream guilty, he starts to believe that Jacob is indeed guilty of murder. When all the clues begin to unwind, Jacob tells his story of how he found Jess in a pool of her own blood and how he cleaned the whole scene to make it look like something else had happened. He appeared very guilty but when the court asks him if he killed her he keeps responding with “no, I just moved her body”. In the end it is discovered that Jess' death is an accident because she was startled when Theo was snooping through a house she was watching. Jacob was on his way to her house for a meeting with her when he realized that his brother had been there before him. Jacob cleaned the whole scene so that his brother would not be at fault for this accident because he was simply following the family rule.

       Jodi Picoult's way of write is very interesting because with each character she writes in a different font and their own thoughts are described in the chapters. It's incredible how the readers are able to read and understand all the characters' thoughts including Jacob who has trouble displaying his emotions. The readers get to understand what every character is going through because Jodi Picoult gives brief background history as well as details to what is happening outside of their life. Picoult has been known for starting the first chapter with the climax and from then on she makes the readers wonder throughout the whole story on what really happened to Jess and how she was killed. Of course any reader could go to the end of the book and read the final thoughts to see what actually happened. Readers don't really know which characters to trust and Jacob was just automatically blamed because he seemed like a shady person. House Rules is a very exciting book that everyone should read because of the high and lows of each chapter.



The Waston's Go To Birmingham

The Waston's Go To Birmingham

 it’s about an African American family from Flint, Mich., that drives to Alabama for a long visit with relatives in the summer of 1963, where, of course, they peripherally experience certain key moments in the civil rights struggle, including the deadly bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church three weeks after the historic march on Washington.

It's a great read. Not something I can relate to, but it's a great story to read.

Hosoi by Zack Z.

So basically this book is an autobiography on one of the origanal skate pioneers and one of the worlds best skateboarders Christain Hosoi.
His life is relatable for many teens as far as partying and skateboarding. But his life was misguided from the start. His father who is a man of love taught him how to roll joints at age 6. he was always skateboarding throughout his life. At age 8 lost his virginity to a random girl his dad set him up with. He was in trouble alot for drugs and stuff. Soon he was doing Coke and Meth but still skating and was one of the best in the world even at that young. His life was a huge party but was goign down hill, his sponsers were letting him go and he was losing friends left and right. All the fame and glory and movie actinbg and sponsership was comming to an end when he hooked up with a girl from a club who would do meth with him. Soon she convinced him to change his ways and quit meth and focus on God all the while getting fame back. He now has two kids, still sponsered, loves God and his family and skates with all the modern pros. this book was good but crazy, all in all i really enjoyed it and think its a powerful story.
            This thoughful Blog was brought to you by the good people at Bum Crew, actully Zachary Zangrando but still yeah.... Bum Crew

                                              Peace Out Homies!!

   

Ender's Game

Ender's Game, By Orson Scott Card

Review by Joel Kaderka

It has been a while since I read the beginning of this book, so forgive me if key points have been left out. I love this book and have read many books of the series. A strong piece that attached to me in this book is the military's involvement. The broad summary of this book involves the following. It is in the future, where Government even controls the amount of kids you have, and the only reason they have you have more than two kids is if they think your third would be a great space soldier. This is what Ender was, a Third, a derogative nickname for these kids. His official name is Andrew Wiggin, but goes by Ender since birth. His older brother, Peter, hates him for being better. His sister, who is inbetween their ages, loves him and protects him from Peter. Ender is without a doubt brilliant, and the government tests his skills for years, until they feel he is ready, accelerating him through training, starting two years young at age six and becoming commander around sixteen. Our war is no longer a petty human conflict. The buggers are out there, properly known as formics, and live as a hive of human-sized insects in the universe. After Ender leaves Earth for Battle School, he only sees our world again for about a month during his ten year training spree. Battle School is like bootcamp in space, where kids are in armies of fourty and battle eachother in null gravity rooms with high-tec, non-harming laser guns. This doesn't prevent Ender's mind from being harmed, however. He undergoes extreme stress from these burdens, and some may even call this ten year process psychological torture. He graduates from there extremely early, never losing a battle during his command no matter what odds. He even killed a guy at Battle School, as a part of The International Fleet's (I.F.'s) process of making him the perfect commander, but he was never informed of this mortality. He skips through several schools and goes to Command School, and a few of the semi-friend, intelligent kids from Battle School soon follow to be Captains under him. I say semi-friend because I.F. never allowed him to be able to depend on someone, for this would have ruined him as a Commander. When saving humans by wiping out the Buggers long after they attacked us, there is no friend to rely on, and I.F. wanted to make this clear for Ender. He soon meets his mentor, Mazer Rackham, the "savior" of mankind during the Second Invasion, who was presumably dead. He is thought to have died in battle, and even more uncanny is that he should have died from old age by now, but space travel slows time for the traveller. In training with Rackham, he does mock Fleet commanding on computer with his Captains. What they do not know is these are actual battles they are commanding, not play scenarios. Finally, they reach the last battle, involving a planet (the Bugger's home world). Soon after succeeding, Ender finds out he just commited Xenocide, killing the entire alien race off. It is amazing what we will do to a human being just to benefit others. He was not even an adult

yet. Years later of space travel to various, some uninhabited, worlds, Ender comes upon an old Bugger world, and finds a cocoon. He promises the cocooned Bugger Queen, through their mind communication to him, that he will search as long as it takes until he finds a world for them. This brings a sort of bittersweet ending, with the hopes for Ender to redeem himself.

It is a great book! I have read it three times and several of the "sequels". All around 350 pages. Some of the other books are the same timeframe, but from a different character's perspective, others are actual sequels. Great Sci-Fi.

Prince of Wolves

                  Jacque Pierce was just a 17-year-old girl getting ready to start her senior year in high school in Coldspring, Texas. When a mysterious foreign exchange student from Romania moves in across the street, Jacque and her two best friends, Sally and Jen, don't realize the last two weeks of their summer are going to get a lot more interesting. From the moment Jacque sets eyes on Fane she feels an instant connection, a pull. Little does she know that she is drawn to is actually a Canis lupis, werewolf, and she just happens to be his mate; the other half of his soul. Jacque soon discovers things about her past that she would of never of known unless Fane didn't show up. Not a week later from when Fane shows up she is now in a house of werewolves that back fires when the Alpha of Coldspring, Texas clam's her as his. Jacque then watches Fane fight for his life fighting what is rightfully his. Jacques life took a full one-eighty again when she was put into the hospital because of an accident, then she got kidnapped. Not only all of that she is now forced to Romania. Will her best friends be able to go with her or are they stuck in Texas? What other struggles do Jacque and her friends face? If you are interested in supernatural books i would highly recommend The Grey Wolves Series.When i first starting this series i found it hard to put down. Ive read the series about three times and i love these books. The seven books in that series are Prince of Wolves, Blood Rights, Just One Drop, Out Of The Dark, Beyond The Veil, Fate and Furry and Sacrifice of love.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

To Kill A Mockingbird is a book that is based in a small town in Alabama during the great depression where a family lives that consists of Scout, her brother Jem, and their father Atticus. Atticus is the local towns lawyer, he also has high expectations. Scout, Jem, and their friend Dill are entrigued by the local tales that a man named Boo Radley once stabbed his father in the leg with a pair of scissors and that he is made out to be some kind of monster. The kids move closer to the Radley house, which  is said to be haunted, but Atticus scolds them for it. Another mysterious thing is that strange gifts appear in a hollow hole in a tree which consist of carved figures that look like the children and pennies and chewing gum. Later they find out that Boo's brother plugged up the hole with cement.

Atticus decides to take on a case involving a black man named Tom Robinson who has been accused of "taking advantage of" a very poor white girl named Mayella Ewell, a member of the notorious Ewell family, who belong to the layer of Maycomb society that people refer to as "trash." The Finch family faces harsh criticism in the heavily racist Maycomb because of Atticus's decision to defend Tom. But, Atticus insists on going through with the case because his conscience could not let him do otherwise. He knows Tom is innocent, and also that he has almost no chance at being acquitted, because the white jury will never believe a black man over a white woman. Despite this, Atticus wants to reveal the truth to his fellow townspeople, expose their bigotry, and encourage them to imagine the possibility of racial equality.

This book has plenty of action, suspense, drama, and even comedy. It portrays alot of meanings also, it is one of my favorite books and i'm excited to read it again in english.

Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein (Review by Katie Lohan)

Racing in the Rain

By Garth Stein

Review by Katie Lohan

The book starts out in Seattle, Wa, on a rainy day when the dog, Enzo, is relating to the readers his life; and how it is intertwined with his owner, the up-and-coming-racecar-driver, Denny. He is a mutt from a farm unquestionably out of the way of the city, and was picked out by Denny out of the blue as a pup. Enzo is there for the girls who enter, the one who stays, his daughter, and the sticky situations that follow when Denny's wife, Eve, becomes tragically ill. Her parents come from the snoody side of Seattle's bay, and as Enzo narrates this time in their lives and his take on the emotions being thrown around, you see that dogs -as well as humans- find the snobby public ridiculous. And as Eve becomes more and more ill, there is question about where her and Denny's daughter will go if this wonderful woman of their lives dies. Read to find more gawking details and events that make this book one in a million out of all the cheesy dog books.

I chose this book because of the enthralling plot and emotion that Garth Stein portrays in the dog. Being a dog-lover, it was a great read. Reading animal first person books can be very tedious at times, they're either unrealistic or comically infantile. But Stein continually surprises the public with the emotions he gets across and the situations that convince you -successfully- to read more.

Heat by Mike Lupica

                                                                                   
                                                                             Heat
                                                                      Mike Lupica
                     Heat by Mike Lupica portrays a young man from New York and his growing up to love baseball. His family does not approve of his playing of baseball on a regular basis. Michael Arroyo, age 13 decides baseball is where his heart is and goes on to play and goes to baseball games despite his parents disapproval. He also leads his little league team to the Little League World Series. They are a small team from New York all with the same goal of playing baseball on a huge stage. Despite their families having no money and growing up in not the best area they still dominate the competition, come follow this intriguing story in reading Heat by Mike Lupica.

                                                                      Reviewed by Owen Mackendrick

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers stone

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
By, J.K. Rowling
Fiction - Published in the U.S. in 1998

                      Harry Potter thought of himself as just a young boy whose parents died in a car crash. Harry was short, skinny, dark messy hair that never seemed to straighten out, wore round glasses and had a strange lightning shaped scar on his forehead.  He then was forced to live with his only relatives, the Dursley's. His Uncle and Aunt are treat him awfully, they even make him live in a tiny space under the stairs. His massively round cousin is no better and constantly bullies him. Then everything changes for Harry. He gets an Invitation from Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Which can only mean on thing for Harry...He is a Wizard! After 11 years of being stuck with the Dursley's he is finally free! Well that is until summer of course. Not only does he get to spend time away from home he gets to learn about all kinds of magical things. Such as; potions, magical creatures, wands, spells, plants, Quidditch, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and all kinds of magical things. He also leans that a magical school comes with all the problems of normal schools. Things like friends, bullies, drama, and snobs all exists in the magical world, sometimes even worse. As he goes through the school year he makes both friend and enemies and also mysteries deep into his past. Things like how he got his scar and how one wizard in particular is responsible for his parents death. This book (and its sequals) is full of mystery and page turning drama and adventure for anyone of all ages who is interested in Harry Potters adventure in the Wizarding world of Harry Potter. 

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children -- Ransom Riggs -- Review by Katrina Elmore

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children 

Ransom Riggs

Published 2011

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children is an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography into a mysterious and thrilling reading experience. Sixteen-year-old Jacob is very close with his grandfather Abe, a World War II veteran and Jewish refugee. Abe loves nothing better than telling Jacob stories of his childhood. But these are no ordinary stories. Abe's grandfather claims to have grown up in a home full of "peculiar children". He talks about children who can levitate, lift heavy boulders over their heads with ease, become invisible, or even eat using a mouth in the back of their heads. As Jacob gets older, he becomes skeptical of these stories, especially when his grandfather's mental health starts spiralling downwards. Later on, tragedy strikes. Jacob rushes over to his grandfather's house, to find him in the woods dying and insisting the monsters in his stories have done this. 

This event leaves Jacob on a journey to a remote island off the coast of Wales to find the home his grandfather grew up in. After some searching, Jacob finds the home, only to see it has been abandoned for years. Jacob decides to trek on and enters the home. After some time spent searching for clues, Jacob realizes something is not right. Jacob swears he can hear children talking and even thinks he spotted one. Jacob quickly comes to realize that he has gone back in time and the house his grandfather grew up in once existed. 

The children welcome Jacob into their home and start showing off their peculiar abilities. Jacob is determined to learn more about these peculiar children and the monsters that killed his grandfather. Jacob comes to terms, that he to, is peculiar. He can see the monsters that no one else can. After spending some time at the house, another tragedy strikes. Jacob and all the other peculiar children's lives are in great danger. A monster has located the house and now no one is safe. A group a peculiars, led by Jacob, secretly leave the house to go and kill the monster's that are terrorizing them. The group believes that they have defeated the monster, but will they ever really be safe? 

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children is by far one of my favorite reads of all time and I look forward to reading its sequel, Hollow City.

“We cling to our fairy tales until the price for believing in them becomes too high.” 

Review by Katrina Elmore

Feed" M.T Anderson ( Review by Chris Eddy)

"Feed" is a novel that depicts American society's descent into a culture that revolves entirely around advertising and corporate gain through the eyes of a teenager named Titus and a few of his friends. This takes place several hundred years in the future where 70% of Americans have a computer feed implanted into their brains. The feed allows them to communicate with each other, email, even share memories, or even go shopping online. Most of the story takes place when Titus and his friends are on a trip to the moon, which seems to be a common trip for most American kids in the future. While at a party Titus and his friends are attacked by a crazy hacker who does something to damage their feeds. After things start to go downhill, Titus begins to question everything about the feed and tries to "resist" it.Later on in the story, The corporations responsible for the feed have immense power and even run the school system, which is now known as School™. Throughout the book, corporations appear to hold the true power in United States, leaving the president virtually helpless as the Global Alliance, a coalition of other countries, begins contemplating war with the U.S., due to the worsening worldwide effects of American mismanagement of the environment. This book seems to peer into the future and look into the problems with the world's recent descent into the reliance upon technology for seemingly everything, including the most mundane tasks.

                             A Song of Ice and Fire
                                                                              By George R.R. Martine
This is a fantasy series with the last two books with in it yet to be released. This series fallows no main character but in stead fallows a set of different characters who forward a larger series of continental issues. The series has no set antagonist but only characters, some of whom you'll read about through they're own eyes, who fight each other, stop an invasion upon the country, attempt to reclaim homes, and much much more. This series is not for the faint of heart as death, sex, and gore lie just around the next page. Even though the the books have they're fair share gore and violence it also delves into political corruption, proper parenting, correct morals, slavery, the concept of dogmatism, and different religions and the abuse of them. As mentioned before the book has different characters, who you will observe through they're thoughts and feelings from a third person view, soon however you will learn that no character is good nor evil but have bendable morals and will sometimes decide between right or wrong. In conclusion I would heavily recommend this series to any who can stand gore and some questionable content, enjoy fantasy series and enjoy a large plot with characters that have unpredictable actions. Be for warned however each book spans near a thousand pages so it is no light read.

Room Full of Mirrors- Charles R. Cross

Room Full of Mirrors

Charles R. Cross

Published 2005
Room Full of Mirrors is a biography of one of the most influential singer/songwriter, Jimi Hendrix. It begins with Jimi's early childhood and how troubled it was. Still, throughout his youth, Jimi experienced many issues and troubles with family and his own personal self. Ever since he was able to walk Jimi would play air guitar with his mothers broom, until his early teens when he finally got his very own guitar. He played that guitar until his fingers bled, and that wouldn't stop him. He played all night and all day, any chance he got, he would be playing. Some of his friends would say that Jimi would even sleep with his guitar. The one person that had ever told Jimi to stop playing was his dad, Al Hendrix. Al claimed that rock and roll was the Devil's music but that never stopped Jimi. He always knew someone down the street with a guitar or even an amplifier. After high school, Jimi had joined with many garage bands and would play at parties but his playtime would come to a halt as soon as the Vietnam war came around. Jimi was drafted and then playing the guitar became his second ambition. He wanted to be put into the 101st Airborne Division until he decided war wasn't for him. So on account of a "broken ankle" Jimi was allowed to go home. He met up with Micheal Jeffrey who would soon become his manager for the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Throughout the years of playing, the Experience would take them all the way from Seattle to Europe, where Jimi ended up living. At one point, Jimi was more commonly known throughout Europe than the U.S. mainly because there was hardly and racial prejudice. Jimi proceeded to right music in Europe and make 18 very amazing and inspiring albums. He continued playing with many famous people including Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and even jammed with the Beatles. Sadly many of Jimi's performance was either played drunk or high on some weird 70's drugs. One of Jimi's most iconic shows was on August 18, 1969 where he played for two uninterrupted hours that also included his most famous piece, The Star Spangled Banner. The crowd was astonished and shocked, but the world would soon join them after the performance that changed the 1960's America forever. His epic Woodstock performance would be a major concert in Jimi's career as a musician. He would go on doing a few more concerts until the night of September 18, 1970 where Jimi overdosed on sleeping pills and barbiturates. Jimi died at the age of 27, a famous age to pass. He joins many others like Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, and Curt Cobain, plus more. His death symbolized one of America's most influential and iconic musicians, but Jimi Hendrix's legend continues to live on today. 

"The day that the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace"

                                                                                                -Jimi Hendrix

                                                                                                      (Nov. 27, 1942 - Sep. 18, 1970)

Reviewed by Quinn Nevins

Divergent

Divergent by Veronica Roth is a very intriguing book. This book appears to take place in present time but in a different world. It is not like our lifestyle now. The society is split up into five factions, or groups of people, based on each person`s values and personalities. There is: Candor, the faction that favors honesty, Erudite, the faction that favors knowledge, Amity, the faction that favors peace, Dauntless, the faction that favors bravery and Abnegation, the faction that favors selflessness. Each faction contributes differently to society. When a teenager is of a certain age, they must take an aptitude test that determines what faction they fit best with but on choosing day, when they choose what faction to be permanently placed in for the rest of their lives, they are free to choose any faction. Those who don't choose or are kicked out of a faction become factionless and have to live on the streets to be homeless. When an aptitude test comes out inconclusive, the person taking it is considered Divergent because they don't fit into only one faction. It is considered dangerous to be Divergent because you do not have the same mindset as everyone else; you are smarter. Tris, the main character, is Divergent and on choosing day she decides to leave her Abnegation family and become Dauntless. She has to overcome many dangerous, scary and strenuous obstacles to be accepted into Dauntless through their initiation process. She makes friends, looses friends, makes enemies and finds Four; the man she loves. After initiation, Tris takes a mental test which simulates all of her fears; she only has seven fears, almost unheard of. She passes the final test and officially becomes Dauntless. The same night Tris becomes Dauntless, the main government body, Erudite, manipulates all Dauntless members to become soldiers to help them overthrow Abnegation because of suspicions of conspiracy against all other factions. Only Divergents are amine to the manipulation so Tris and Four are two of the few people who are Divergent in Dauntless. They play along so the leaders don't kill them for being Divergent. When they see the opportunity to stop the leaders they take it but end up getting caught and separated. Tris finds her family who go to the Dauntless headquarters where she knows how to stop the simulation to make the Dauntless soldiers stop killing innocent people. she has to fight many people but her and Four succeed and escape the city with a few other people. they get on a train to Amity headquarters where they hope to find peace.
 This book is so good because it`s so different from our world. Veronica Roth has great character building abilities that are thoroughly shown in this book. There is always something new happening that it keeps you on the edge of your seat. There are two more books in this series and I`m looking forward to reading them.