Monday, June 23, 2008

Review on the Warriors Series

The warriors series have several author, who have the pen name Erin Hunter. The actual authors are Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, and Tui Sutherland. There are several different series, plus several manga series. The first series was just Warriors, with 6 books. Then was Warriors: The New Prophecy, also with six books. The current series is Warriors: Power of Three, with three books released, and three more planned. It has also been stated the a fourth series will be coming. There are also several books planned to cover time between series, with one, Firestar's Quest, released. There are three field guides, two are released so far. Last, there are four manga series. One of the manga series has all three books out and the next manga series just released the first book. There is also a new series called Seekers, which are about three polar bears.

The Warriors series are quick reads, but there are a lot of books. They are for an audience of about 5th grade and up. The one bad thing is that all of the characters can be hard to keep track of. These books are about cats. They are divided into four clans, Thunderclan, Riverclan, Windclan, and Shadowclan, plus Starclan, which is where the dead cats go. The fighters in each clan are called the warriors, plus there are medicine cats, who are like medics. Then there is the leader, who has nine lives. The leader also has a deputy, who becomes leader if the leader loses all of their lives. There are also queens, who are pregnant or nursing, plus the elders, who are to old to fight.

Well, if you enjoy reading about cats, you will enjoy this. Also adventure lovers, and pretty much everyone else. These books can be enjoyed by people of older ages as well. I think that everyone should read them, since they are so approachable by so many ages.

Comment on this post to recommend ideas of a book/series I should review after Artemis Fowl.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Book Review on the Inheritance series

The Inheritance series started out as the Inheritance Trilogy but Christopher Paolini decided that he could not fit everything in three books, so it is now 4 books, making it the Inheritance Cycle. The third book is set to come out on September 20, 2008

Paolini did not intend for the first book, Eragon, to be published. He just meant to write it as an amusement for himself. The family published the book and promoted it themselves in 2001 and 2002 and in the summer of 2002 a branch of Scholastic offered to publish it. The book was released in August of 2003. The second book is Eldest, and the third is Brisingr.

Inheritance is about a boy named Eragon. He lives in a city named Carvahall in a country called Alagaƫsia. There used to be a group of races known as the Dragon Riders. They could be humans, elves, or dwarves, but a dragon was bonded to each of them. A young man named Galbatorix became a Dragon Rider and was unsatisfied. He killed his instructors and hunted down the rest of the Dragon Riders and killed them. He became the king of Alagaƫsia. Three Dragon eggs supposedly remain in Galbatorix's castle, plus his dragon, but the eggs will not choose him, so he searches for others to serve him that the dragons will choose. A band of elves infiltrate the castle and steal one of the eggs, but, they are attacked, and the egg was teleported to a unknown place where a boy finds it. Guess who!

The books are not too long for most readers, and are appropriate for about 5th grade and above. They are obviously fantasy and are good for lighter fantasy readers. If you enjoy reading about dragons and things like elves and dwarves, you will enjoy these books.

Fox 2000 made the Eragon movie which released in 2006. I will not say that the movie is bad, but I advise reading the book first, since it will give you a better image in your mind. The movie does skip several scenes I think are important, but the movie still makes sense. I would have been more satisfied if they had included more content from the book.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

First Review

I know that Harry Potter was first in my top five, but I don't think that people really need a review on that. So, my first review will be on the Wheel of Time series, by Robert Jordan. There are eleven books in the series so far, plus a prequel, New Spring.

First, I would like to give some information about the author. Robert Jordan is now dead. He died in the middle of writing the twelfth book. The author Brandon Sanderson was chosen to finish the book, A Memory of Light.

Three Wheel of Time books hit #1 best-seller in several best-seller lists, like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. The Wheel of Time books are for older readers. The one bad thing about the series is length. Each book is more than 500 pages. You can really get into the books though, so the length does not matter that much. The books have a Tolkien feel to them, so if you like Lord of the Rings, you will definitely like the Wheel of Time. The Wheel of Time is a struggle between good and evil. The main character is Rand Al'Thor, who lives on a farm near a small village called Emmons Field. A millenia before, a man named Lews Therin Telamon lived, also called the Dragon or Kinslayer. It was prophesised that he would be reborn, and save the world from the Dark One, Shai'Tan, but also destroy it. Now the Dark One is breaking free, enemies come from across the sea, and someone must stop it.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Photos

Also to start off my blog, I thought that I would give a sample
of some of my photography.

Top Five Books

To start out my blog, I would like to post a list of my top five favorite series. My first reviews will be of these books.

  1. Harry Potter (The whole series), By J.K. Rowling
  2. The Wheel of Time, By Robert Jordan
  3. Inheritance (Eragon, Eldest, and Brisingr), By Christopher Paolini
  4. Warriors (All Three Series), By Erin Hunter
  5. Artemis Fowl, By Eoin Colfer

Expect Reviews for these books soon!