I Am The Messenger

Looks like I get to write another review before the spring break ends! Honestly, now I feel like I did something over the break.

This is another book by Markus Zusak, the author of Book Thief. (Which if you haven't read by now, you should check out because I strongly recommend it. The review is under the July 2014 section of my blog) It's been increasingly popular among people in my school and a friend of mine who reads a lot recently told me to read it. I guess I took her word for it and this is where I ended up.

The cover-

Ed Kennedy is a mediocre guy with a pretty mediocre life. He works as a taxi cab driver by day and plays cards with his friends Audrey, Ritchie and Marv by night. Only when he is caught up with a bank robbery and threatened with a gun does his life suddenly change.

After restraining a bank robber and getting the police, Ed starts to find Aces from a deck of cards in his mailbox. They each have different things written on them. Addresses at first. The addresses and names of people in unfortunate situations who very desperately need a hero.

With each card, Ed finds that he can love himself a bit more and embrace the life that he's got, knowing that he's been doing only good things for people. Each new card makes Ed rethink the relationships he has with the people around him and wonder how he can deepen them.

First with his mother and how she always hated him for being like his no-good-always-drunk father. Not in the way that he's going to end up like an alcoholic, but in the way that they were both pretty mediocre and tried to get out of it. Ed's father ended up with an alcohol addiction and Ed isn't really going anywhere. It really seems like he's going nowhere only because his younger brother is on his way to becoming a lawyer and is finishing up his degree in university when Ed barely graduated high school. Obviously his mother is more proud of his brother than him.

Throughout the book, Ed learns that he shouldn't be happy with his mediocrity and should try to get past it to make his mark on the people he cares about.

My thoughts-

The book was so interesting that I read it all in two nights. Well, I stayed up pretty late on both nights, but it was completely worth it. When I got to one page, I had to see the next because Ed's character was developed so realistically that he seemed like a real live person and that I could care about him. The experiences he has can also be related to. The relationship he has with his younger brother Tommy is pretty close to the relationship I have with my brother. Basically, whatever Ed does, Tommy can do much better. My brother is also younger than me and whatever I do, he can always do it and impress people. It makes me also very angry sometimes that even though I am the older one, he can do a lot of things better than me and show that he's really smart or strong or whatever.

This also plays into his relationship with his mother who favors Tommy a lot more than Ed. She finds Ed as a really lazy kid when Tommy is actually "making something of himself". No, actually Ed isn't lazy. It's just in his nature that he won't do that. And whenever he does things for his mother, she never acknowledges him even though it is him who did it and she didn't have to drag Tommy from his high university. Only when he finds out that she despises him for being like their father does their relationship show signs of hope.Yeah sure. And she doesn't hate her older daughter who got pregnant at seventeen years of age? I'd surely hate my kid for that.

The one backstory out of all of Ed's friends that I found the most touching was Marv's. He had got himself a girlfriend a long time ago and at one point, he had gotten her pregnant. When her very conservative father found out, he suddenly packed up their bags and moved his daughter far away from the city, vowing that she would never see Marv again. So Ed finds where Marv's girlfriend is now living and he pushes Marv to stand up to her father and say that he is taking full responsibility for the child. The father reacts badly and beats Marv, breaking his nose and bloodying his face. When Ed stands up on Marv's behalf, he gets the same reaction, but without the violence.

Some days later, Marv's girlfriend gets in Ed's taxi and asks him to pick up Marv so they can go somewhere together. They end up going to the city park where the child asks Marv to play with her. For once, Marv says he feels like a father. He feels like he didn't actually make the wrong choice and that he, Sharon and his daughter Melinda will all live together like a happy family one day.

All throughout, this book was filled with intense feeling. It was either happiness or crushing sadness or something in between, but at every moment in the book you could feel for the characters. Because a book like this could never become the "epitome of mediocrity". It standrs out amongst the other books I have read of the realistic fiction genre because it features very believable characters who want to do good for the people they love and care about. And it shows that good always prevails in the end. No matter how much sorrow, how much suffering you have to go through, happiness always prevails.

((Next up is Inferno! Right after reading Da Vinci Code, I had to read a book for a school project that I'd been putting off for quite a while because I didn't want to leave Langdon and Sophie halfway and start another book. I guess I'll review that one too. There's no rule that says you can't review a book for a school project. Usually I don't like the books chosen for our English projects, but this one stands out.))

Da Vinci Code

Spring break is coming to a close and I wanted to review something during that time. Just so I don't feel like I did nothing during the whole week off from school. And I basically did nothing all throughout the week. Kind of. Just a lot of reading and writing and a lot less substantial stuff that will actually be seen.
My mother was bothering me to watch the movie adaption of this book. She said it's really good and I said I'd watch it if I ever came across in on television or in a store.
In October, during an event at my brother's school, I decided to check out a used book sale that they were having. There was nothing I recognized. Mostly there were adult books and I'm not really interested in that kind of stuff. I am, but adult romance is different from young adult romance and adult action is different from young adult action. Then I remembered this title and decided to get it because I was recommended it.
So, let's just say that stuff happened and I got really busy and I wasn't able to read this book until about two weeks ago when I started it. And I still have not seen the movie, so if it's good, please tell me.

The cover-

When Professor Robert Langdon is in Paris for a lecture, he is woken up and taken to the Louvre museum one night. His escort says nothing about what's going on and he's forced to wonder why he's being taken there.

Langdon sees the body of the murdered Louvre curator Jacques Sauniere and realizes that he is being interrogated as a prime suspect for the murder. Surely he was going to meet with Sauniere to discuss his upcoming novel about the history of pagan worship and the sacred feminine, but never kill him. However, in a note drawn in invisible ink, Sauniere has written "P.S. Find Robert Langdon" which the authorities are interpreting as a clue that this is the murderer.

Langdon is innocent, but no one wants to believe it. That is, until the brilliant cryptographer Sophie comes in with a possible explanation for this. She helps Langdon break out of the thick security of the Louvre and get on the run to find the clues that will help them find out who murdered Sauniere.

After a few stops which involve using the note to break into a Swiss bank and eventually ending up at the doorstep of a good friend of Langdon's, Robert and Sophie realize that they are not just looking for the murderer, but for the one thing that the Church has hidden from the whole world for centuries. And they have to beat a deranged monk and his "Teacher" to the punchline or else the whole world will be left in chaos.

My thoughts-

The whole book was extremely interesting. I slowed down a little bit halfway through because I wanted to process what was going on before I got to the next part. This book tells religion the way it's really supposed to be told and makes light of the little details that the Church always told us to overlook.
But first, let me make one thing clear. I am not of the Christian faith, so I had little to no knowledge of the things that Langdon was describing. They were still interesting in themselves. The hidden symbolism inside each of the paintings we know made me see them in an altogether different way. In fact, I think if I go to Paris now, I'll see things a whole lot differently than I did two years ago.
And also there's the whole matter of the Holy Grail. This is probably the driving force of the book. Sophie and Langdon are in a race with Silas (their enemy they meet later on in the book when he tries to kill them, but they end up tying and gagging him up) and his "Teacher" to get to the Grail and unlock its true power.
I just wonder how long it took to write this book. And how much research it must have taken in order to get all the facts right. Because if there's even one mistake, the Church has a valid reason to challenge him. But I'm no expert on this, so it was all new information to me. I took in everything with wide eyes,
It also made me see the ways that people will go so far as to torture themselves to please God. Even the pain that Silas always felt wearing is cilice (discipline) belt was too much for me. He once described that once his wounds from the barbs had healed, the belt always made his skin feel raw. Any shift in movement sent blood dripping down his legs. I personally am very squeamish when it comes to torture, pain or even blood in general, so I was really bothered by this.
Really, this book exposes the truth about Christianity to the world through a very interesting fictional adventure. It opened my eyes to the things around me and how the Church has tried to erase their mistakes, but has never been quite able to get rid of the evidence completely.

((I'm off to read a book I need to finish for a school project, but I may write a review on it sometime soon. And I've got Inferno, another of Langdon's adventures now in Florence, Italy. I absolutely can't wait to read it! Since the next two weeks are exam weeks, there won't be much schoolwork to take care of and I can read when I get home every day! I suddenly feel like I am the only person who gets excited for exam weeks. Surely the exams are long and boring, but still, our classes get shortened to twenty minutes and the day seems to go by much faster than usual.))

The Scorpio Races

No updates in a while and I'm sorry because there was much to do with me getting busy and then going to Japan and having to make up school work. ((That was the worst part)) And then I had a bunch of concerts and extra rehearsals and missed a lot more school than I wanted to.
I've been trying to finish this book since before I went to Japan in the beginning of March, but after we came back, I've been sleeping at midnight or later ((It's all been studies. I'm never going on a week long trip in high school!)), so there's always no time to read. ((Because I get super grumpy when I'm tired and sleep deprived.)) But now that things have cleared up a little bit, I feel better and now I was able to finish it.

The cover-

It's almost November and the horses are coming out of the water again. The pull of the sea is stronger than ever and every man who will enter the race can feel it. Control the beast or be eaten by your vessel.
Puck Connolly is your average girl in a not so average place. Ever since her parents died, she and her brothers have been desperately trying to feed themselves, knowing that one day the little money their eldest brother earns will be used up. When Mr. Malvern, a monopolizing businessman brings her the grave news that she and her brothers haven't been able to pay their tax money, Puck takes it on herself to join the Scorpio Races in hopes that she can pay off the owed money. But the only problem is that she is the first girl to ever join a sport that was "made for men". And her mount is a land pony that was originally her mother's.
Sean Kendrick is the head trainer at the Malvern Yard, where he trains the horses that give Mr. Malvern his power and wealth. Every year he has ridden on his water horse, Corr and succeeded in winning the races and the ultimate prize money. But he has grown sick of Malvern and his son's taunts and wants more than anything to leave the yard and be forever with Corr.
Unforeseen circumstances bring Puck and Sean together where they have to fight for what they love and have to give up everything just to get it back. But they have until November. And that's when the races begin and everything changes.

My thoughts-

It's a very interesting plot. I'd never heard of the water horses in legends before. But then again, Maggie Stiefvater has also written Shiver, which was praised for its very unorthodox portrayal of the werewolf love story that has become a fad in young adult literature. This is definitely one of the lesser popular legends that she brought to light in a very intriguing way.
I honestly pictured the races the way we have the World Cup and those kinds of tournaments. Where a few racers would go against each other at a time and then the best would all be compiled into tournament rounds where only two would remain. But this format was the way traditional horse racing is, just a little less controlled because they're riding wild beasts that will eat their jockeys if they feel threatened.
I have to say something about the horrible things that Mutt Malvern did at the end of the book. I hate animal cruelty and what he did was worse than cruelty. He sliced a water horse's legs so that it could never run again. And then he was going to do the same thing to Corr. Thank god Sean got there just in time to stop him. He would've been heartbroken if Corr could never run again. It sent shivers down my back because I am very much against animal cruelty and hate to see examples of it in literature. If I were in that book, I'd have given him a beating so that he could never walk again. Maybe slice his hamstrings or something really painful and cruel like that (cue maniacal laughter). And I'm not even that big into horses. If you do anything horrible to a cat, you're going to die a very slow and painful death at my hands.
One thing I found awfully weird was that throughout the book, there was no sense of what day it was. The book starts in September and ends when the Scorpio Races do, but it wasn't long before it was the day before the race. Because I had this World Cup format in mind and when I realized that the races were all the way at the end, it took a while for it to register in my brain. I thought that there were going to be preliminary races and then the finals would be the actual Scorpio Races. It would've been helpful to know what day it was, or at least what month. There were brief mentions of it, but I found myself losing track of the time there was until the race.

Recommended for ages 12-14
Some disturbing scenes and some violence, although no too graphic. Mentions of animal abuse.

((I'm now reading Da Vinci Code and it's such a good book! I've barely gotten quarter way through it and I'm hooked. Review of it soon when I get the time to write it.))

Hitler's Secret

I missed my original blog’s anniversary last week only because I was feeling extremely lazy and didn’t want to do anything except go on Netflix and watch TV (Which are essentially the same exact thing). I didn’t even want to walk to the computer in the next room except to play minecraft. This is the story of why I did not do a happy anniversary post when I desperately wanted to.

My blog technically has two anniversaries. One for my original blog which was on my other email address that got deleted. And then there’s one in May for my new blog that was created after I did a lot of messing around with my old email address and created a new one.

The cover-

A boy and a girl were hired by the British government for a very special project called Wolfsangel. Their mission, capture the one person that could bring the fall of the Nazi Empire. They don’t know anything about each other. They come from two completely different places, but within Germany. But the question is, why them?

Told to masquerade as brother and sister, the boy and girl are Otto and Leni, traveling children from Salzburg. Their mission is so dangerous it may cost their lives to complete it. And failing results in war between Great Britain and Germany. They have to rescue a girl named Angelika from the convent where she is held prisoner. And escort her to the Swiss border so she can be taken safely back to England by plane.

Both children aren’t so sure about this, but they take the challenge, knowing it will help them save their mother land before it is swallowed up by Hitler’s ideas.

Along the way, Otto and Leni question everything. How real the danger is and how they will complete the mission in the time they are allowed. If the hatred of Jews that Hitler proposed was really necessary. If they can still live a normal life after this. And most of all, who is this Angelika girl and how important this child is to the problems in the world around them.

In this new world, no one can be trusted and some are just to be kept a wary eye on because you never know if they’ll backstab you. With a mission this hard, they are unafraid to kill and will do absolutely anything to make sure that Angelika gets to Switzerland. Even at the cost of becoming fugitives and an enemy to the nation.

My thoughts- (CONTAINS THE MAJOR SPOILER THAT REALLY RUINS THE BOOK SO I SUGGEST NOT TO READ THIS BEFORE YOU READ THE BOOK. REMEMBER THAT I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU NOT WANTING TO READ THE BOOK BECAUSE YOU KNOW THE MAJOR TRUTH! GOT IT? GOOD. NOW READ IT THREE MORE TIMES SO YOU DON’T BLAME ME!)

It was a very good book. I really admired the way that the whole plot was written. He never lost track of his world and everything was in place. It’s hard to believe that Angelika was Hitler’s daughter.

There is a historical note at the end of the book clarifying that Angelika is indeed a fictional person and there is no evidence that Hitler ever fathered a child. Also Otto and Leni are fictional characters, but there were thousands of displaced children from the countries that suffered most that came to live in Great Britain.

I was really surprised to find out that MacPherson was also a fictional character. He seemed so real and I thought that he was real.

Angelika died at the end of the book when she tried to save Otto. How sad. I really felt bad because I’d come to like her throughout the course of the book. She was an innocent nine year old who didn’t really know much about the world, but was happy enough with what she had. Which was Otto and Leni.

Recommended for ages 12-14
Some violence and historical context.

((There’s a sequel called Hitler’s Angel. I wonder what Otto and Leni’s next adventure is!))

The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave Trilogy Book #1)

As I said in my previous review, I did decide to curl up with a good science fiction book. Which wasn't that bad of an idea.

This is a book that's been coming up a lot in the hands of a lot of people I know. So I decided to check it out and see if it was actually worth it or just a fad that would disappear soon.

Something exciting will be happening two weeks from now! It'll be the first anniversary of this blog. I know that if you go far enough back or on my blogger profile, it'll say member since May 2014. I had to delete my original blog for various reasons, but that one was activated during the February break last year.

The cover-

The first wave was an EMP, knocking out all the electricity and transportation all over the world. Anything that flies or drives all over the world is stuck. Next was the disease. Taking over people's brains and making them zombie-like. Except the worst thing is that you can't tell someone who is infested apart from someone who isn't.
Many say there won't be a fifth wave, but Cassie isn't so sure. She's one of the lucky ones that made it through the four before. Living off her instincts, she's like a wild animal. A wild animal with a promise to fulfill. That she'd save her brother before the evil aliens took him away from her forever.
Everything seems to be going just fine until she was thrust into a close encounter with death when she was shot in the leg by an unknown person.
Suddenly, she wakes up in the home of Evan, a loner who has taken a liking to her. He nurses her back to health and they eventually fall in love. Evan has a dark secret he doesn't want Cassie knowing about. And he will do anything to make sure that she doesn't find anything wrong with him.

Zombie is a child soldier recruited as the last hope against the Outsiders. He can't find anything wrong with his monotonous life as a soldier, not until the mysterious Ringer is put into his group. She plants new ideas in his head about what the society is actually doing to them. That they aren't soldiers. They're slaves to the Outsiders. And that they'll be used to destroy all the remaining humans.

Cassie and Zombie receive a blast from the past and find that there really was hope that the human race could come back. And the fate lies in their hands.

My thoughts-

It's definitely better than I thought it would be. I honestly thought that it would be a boring book about the world ending (don't I just love books about the world ending?), but I was way off. Sadly, I had to return the book before I finished it, but I was at the very end. Maybe one day I'll read the end. ((You know what, I'll ask my friend for her copy and find out.))
I liked that the drama between Cassie and Evan was kept to a minimum. The one joke that I enjoyed was when Cassie realized that Evan liked to watch her sleep (not in a creepy way. Just to make sure she was alright). So she kept her door locked and devised a system for them. One knock if he was standing outside her door and making sure that she was sleeping or two knocks if he wanted to come inside.
There was a lot of dark comedy to break the sad theme of the book. Even though it was dark, it was still much needed comedy. I found myself laughing sarcastically to their sarcastic jokes about life. Though if I was thrown into a post-apocalyptic world like that, I'd feel the exact same way.
It's awfully thought provoking and makes you realize that you never know how much you need something until you lose it.

Recommended for ages 14-16
Violence. Some graphic scenes. Dark humor. Some mature themes and strong language.

((I found out that on January 26, 2016, there will be a movie for the 5th Wave. I can't wait. Actually, I can. From the skull on the cover poster, I know that I'm too big of a coward to watch it.))