My Shopping Cart 9/23/13

Alright, I went to Borders yesterday and I thought thatI would show you what I bought and give a
summary.


Wings of Fire 3: The Hidden Kingdom by Tui T. Sutherland
If you read my post about the first book- The Dragonet Prophecy, you should already know that I love this series!

Summary:
Deep in the rainforest, danger awaits . . .

The dragonets of destiny aren't sure what to expect in the RainWing kingdom - Glory hopes to learn more about her family, and since the RainWings aren't fighting in the war, all five dragonets think they might be able to hide safely for a while.

But something deadly is stalking the peaceful kingdom, and the dragonets soon discover that RainWings have been mysteriously disappearing from the forest. When the RainWing queen won't do anything to find her missing tribe members, Glory and her friends set off on their own rescue mission - which leads them right back into enemy territory. . .

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Shout out to my friend Georgia Miller for doing a wonderful blog post on this book, inspiring me to get it!

Summary:
Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker, his classmate and crush who committed suicide two weeks earlier.
On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list.







Invincible by Sherrilyn Kenyon
I got the first book, Infinity, in a small book shop in Northern Ohio during one of my sister's soccer tournaments, I loved it and have been waiting to get this one.

Summary:

Nick Gautier’s day just keeps getting better and better. Yeah, he survived the zombie attacks, only to wake up and find himself enslaved to a world of shapeshifters and demons out to claim his soul.

His new principal thinks he’s even more of a hoodlum than the last one, his coach is trying to recruit him to things he can’t even mention and the girl he’s not seeing, but is,.Nick Gautier’s day just keeps getting better and better. Yeah, he survived the zombie attacks, only to wake up and find himself enslaved to a world of shapeshifters and demons out to claim his soul.

His new principal thinks he’s even more of a hoodlum than the last one, his coach is trying to recruit him to things he can’t even mention and the girl he’s not seeing, but is, has secrets that terrify him.

But more than that, he’s being groomed by the darkest of powers and if he doesn’t learn how to raise the dead by the end of the week, he will become one of them...

Darkness Falls by Erin Hunter
I love ALL of Erin Hunter's books.

Summary:
After a violent enemy attack threatened both the Wild and Leashed Packs, Lucky knows that the dogs' only hope for survival is to unite. The Wild Pack's ruthless Alpha reluctantly agrees to let Bella and the Leashed Dogs join them—but after learning of Lucky's role as a spy, Alpha casts him out of the Pack and orders him to never return.
Lucky tries to be happy to have his freedom again, but the forest and ruined city are treacherous for a Lone Dog. For the first time since the Big Growl, Lucky is desperate to have other dogs by his side. But it might be too late. .
                                                 

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
My first blog post was abou thte first book- The Raven Boys, and I loved it!

Summary:
Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after...










House of Night 2: Betrayed by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
I checked out the first book from my library and I loved the writing of the mother-daughter team.

Summary:
Fledgling vampyre Zoey Redbird has managed to settle in at the House of Night.  She's come to terms with the vast powers the vampyre goddess, Nyx, has given her, and is getting a handle on being the new Leader of the Dark Daughters. Best of all, Zoey finally feels like she belongs--like she really fits in. She actually has a boyfriend…or two. Then the unthinkable happens: Human teenagers are being killed, and all the evidence points to the House of Night. While danger stalks the humans from Zoey's old life, she begins to realize that the very powers that make her so unique might also threaten those she loves. Then, when she needs her new friends the most, death strikes the House of Night, and Zoey must find the courage to face a betrayal that could break her heart, her soul, and jeopardize the very fabric of her world.


Wereworld 2: Rage of Lions by Curtis Jobling
I bought the first book and I loved the concept, so I can't wait to see where this one goes next

Summary:
Picking up where Rise of the Wolf leaves off, the kingdom is in disarray and Drew Ferran is grudgingly being groomed for the throne. When a revenge plot by Prince Lucas is revealed, Drew seizes the opportunity to flee his obligations in pursuit of the renegade prince. But Drew and his allies are in trouble, as they encounter rogue militias of lawless Werelords and a nation of invading Catlords determined to wrest power from Drew's paws. With the odds stacked against him, Drew must face up to his kingship and embrace the Wolf or all of Lyssia will be lost

Checkpoint #3: Theme/Summary

Guns, Germs and Steel
The Fates of Human Societies
                 By: Jared Diamond


Today I am going to discuss the theme and summary of the book Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. The theme of this book is as follows; Advances in society and technology develop based off of the environment, not because of race or IQ.

Jared Diamond supports this theme in many different ways.  He starts by talking about the original location of humans, and their spread from that point in Chapter One- Up To The Starting Line. It describes when we should start comparing histories with this quote, 'A suitable starting point from which to compare historical developments on the different continents is around 11,000 B.C. This date corresponds approximately to the beginnings of village life in a few parts of the world, the first undisputed peopling of the Americas, the end of the Pleistocene Era and last Ice Age, and the start of what geologists term the Recent Era.' (Diamond 35) This provides a starting point so that people can make their own comparisons. It supports the theme because it proves that people around the world were not so completely backwards that they could not be compared.

 In Chapter Two- A Natural Experiment of History, he describes how geography can mold societies using Polynesian societies as an example. This is described by, 'As a result of all this environmentally related variation in subsistence, human population densities (measured in people per square mile of arable land) varied greatly over Polynesia.' (Diamond 61) It states that population density is determined by food production and not intelligence. The population densities did not differ because of intelligence but rather because of food supply in these areas.

 Chapter Four- Farmer Power, explains why sedentary food production was important to the discoveries of other technologies. This is supported by the quote, 'In short, plant and animal domestication meant much more food and hence much denser human populations.' (Diamond 92) It was the amount of food supply and population that advanced society, not IQ levels in early humans.

 Chapters Six and Seven; To Farm Or Not To Farm and  How To Make An Almond describe why certain crops have or have not developed in specific areas. Chapter Six mostly describes why people would choose to farm, or why they would choose to be hunter-gatherers. 'Only where especially potent geographic or ecological barriers made immigration of food producers or diffusion of locally appropriate food-producing techniques were hunter-gatherers able to persist until modern times in areas suitable for food production.' (Diamond 112) People were not too stupid to farm, they just didn't receive the opportunity, or their land was not very well suited to farming,

Chapter Seven talks about which plants were domesticated and why. 'Some of it, such as variation in berry size or in nut bitterness, would have been readily noticed by ancient farmers. Other variation, such as that in seed dispersal mechanisms or seed dormancy, would have gone unrecognized by humans before the rise of modern botany. But whether the selection of wild edible plants by ancient hikers relied on conscious or unconscious criteria, the resulting evolution of wild plants into crops was at first an unconscious process.' (Diamond 130) People weren't smarter than others to choose certain foods to eat, it was based on the size or availability of that food source.

So far, I am on Chapter Nine- Zebras, Unhappy Marriages, And The Anna Karenina Principle is about why certain animals are or are not domesticated based on their characteristics and general usefulness. The animals that have been domesticated are very similar. 'The Anna Karenina principle explains a feature of animal domestication that had heavy consequences for human history- namely, that so many seemingly suitable big wild mammal species, such as zebras and peccaries, have never been domesticated and that the successful domesticates were almost entirely Eurasian.' (Diamond 157) Some animals were impossible to domesticate, not because people were stupid, just because they were not breed able, or could not be placed together in groups without attacking each other.

I especially enjoyed the prologue of this book, Yali's Question. The question of why New Guinea didn't have developments such as steel and farming was raised to Jared Diamond by a native New Guinean politician named Yali. That is the question that kick-started the book and it is a real question to make you think. 'All those things must have been on Yali's mind when, with yet another penetrating glance of his flashing eyes, he asked me, "Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?"' (Diamond 14)  I believe this question has two major answers, time and geography. If there had been more time, the New Guineans might have developed farming. Without cereal crops (major grains) in their geography it made it impossible to experience massive population growth.

If you like history, I would recommend this book to you.

Wings of Fire- The Dragonet Prophecy by Tui T. Sutherland

    The book I want to review today is The Dragonet Prophecy by Tui T. Sutherland. The Dragonet Prophecy is about five dragonets- young dragons. They are Clay, the MudWing, Tsunami the SeaWing, Starflight the NightWing, Sunny the SandWing and Glory the RainWing. Except, Glory isn't supposed to be the fifth dragonet. The fifth dragonet was supposed to be a SkyWing, but the egg was smashed before it could hatched.

    The prophecy was created to end the war. The war is between the three SandWing sisters who were all the heirs to the throne. The three sisters are Burn, Blister and Blaze. Burn is allied with the SkyWings and the MudWings. Blister is allied with the SeaWings. Blaze is allied with the IceWings. The SandWings are split between the three sisters.

   I would recommend the Wings of Fire series for anyone who likes the Warriors series. Tui Sutherland is one of the writers that makes up the pseudonym Erin Hunter. The writing style is very similar and even though the book is not a teen novel I would still recommend it.

Thoughts and Feelings- Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep

The book I'm going to talk about today is Touch if Frost by Jennifer Estep. Touch of Frost is a book about Gwen Frost, a gypsy going to Mythos Academy. She has the power to touch an object, or person and see the past of the object. Gwen isn't the only supernatural person at Mythos Academy. The academy is filled with mean, rich girl Valkyries, fiercesome Amazons, deadly Spartans and many other types of warriors. But, Gwen isn't a warrior, she just finds lost things.



The Bowl of Tears

Gwen isn't noticed much, unless they need something found. everyone else is rich, the warriors have old money families. Gwen stacks shelves in the library just to pay for tuition. One day is different. The librarian puts out the Bowl of Tears. Great idea right? In a school where any kid could be a Reaper, someone working for the forces of Chaos. Maybe not. Especially since the bowl could be used to restart the Chaos war.



Panther Demon

That night, right after Gwen finishes stacking shelves, a mysterious force calls her. Mist swirls around and she heads to run out of the library. when she gets to the main area, mean girl Valkyrie, jasmine Ashton is dead. To make matters worse the Bowl of Tears is missing. She reaches down to help Jasmine and gets absolutely no readings off of her body, no feelings that she would normally get.  On top of it all, she passes out. The professors find her passed out next to a dead Jasmine.

The school is told that Jasmine was killed by a reaper that came to steal the Bowl of Tears. This doesn't seem right to Gwen. why was Jasmine in the library alone anyways? The school doesn't even seem to care that Jasmine is dead. the new biggest gossip is wondering who will be the Queen of the Fall Festival now. After gym she sees Jasmine's best friend Morgan sneaking around with Jasmine's old boyfriend. Weird. When Gwen follows them again, a bust falls almost killing them and when Gwen moves closer to investigate she is attacked by a shadowy black cat.

She is saved by Logan Quinn, the most dangerous and deadly person in school, the very person she has a crush on. She investigates more and she soon finds that Jasmine might not have been what she seemed.

I don't want to give away any spoilers to this book, even though I found the end fairly obvious.  The plot was pretty basic and I could easily infer what happened next, and even some of the most important plot points at the ending of the book. I only rated this book 3 stars because of these obvious events towards the end of the book.

Mythos Academy Series



This book is okay as long as you don't want tha tmuch suspense in your reading novel. The magic and mythology is inadequate and most of the book is only sneaking around and Gwen getting saved by Logan. The main protagonist is completely unable to defend herself and her only merits are her complicted gyspsy powers.

Character Spotlight- Vivian from the Paranormalcy series by Kiersten White

 In this blog I want to highlight one of the characters I loved, Vivian. In the first book, Vivian is an antagonist. In the second and most of the third books she plays a helpful, supporting role. However, at the end of the third book, she is a hero.

Vivian is an Empty One. She is a child of a faerie (not the small kind with wings) left on earth and a human woman. She sucks up the souls of other paranormal creatures and uses their life force to survive. To the Empty Ones souls are like little balls of golden fire. Empty Ones have the power to see through the glamours, or masks of other paranormals.

In the first book, Paranormalcy, Vivian is referred to by Evelyn, another Empty One as Fire Girl. In Paranormalcy Vivian is the main antagonist, sucking out the souls of Evelyn's friends and other innocent paranormals.  Empty Ones need souls to survive because they don't have souls of their own. She even has her own prophecy, Eyes like streams of melting snow, cold with things she does not know. Heaven above, and Hell beneath, liquid flames to hide her grief. Death, death, death with no release. Death, death, death with no release.At the end of the book, Evelyn sucks all the souls out of Vivian and releases them, sending Vivian into a coma. 

In the second book, Supernaturally, Vivian fits into a role as Evelyn's sister who visits her in her dreams. Vivian starts to support Evelyn's decisions, gives her advice and comforts her. Vivian looks exactly like Evie, who is picture on the covers of all three books. 

In the third book, Endlessly, Vivi starts out in the same role she had before, but with less frequent appearances.  Towards, the end she shows up awoken from her coma because her soul has grown through Evie's love for her as a sister. She saves the world by sucking out the soul of the Dark Faerie Queen, filling her with an intense light. She doesn't want Evie to have to take someone's soul unwillingly, showing her love and loyalty for Evie. Working together, they create a gate so all the paranormal creatures can go home. There is a catch, someone has to go through to the other side to close the portal. Vivian takes just enough of Evelyn's boyfriend, Lend's, soul to make him mortal and goes to the other side to close the portal. She ends up having to live with the faeries, a fate she doesn't want, but would never force upon Evelyn, the only person who loves her.

 Over all Vivian is a dynamic, round character. She starts out as selfish only wanting the souls to make her immortal and Evelyn so she is not alone. At the end, however she is selfless and show true love for Evelyn. Vivian was my favorite character in the series, even though she was no the main protagonist. 

Predictions and Thoughts- Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

So far, I have a good impression of Raised by Wolves. Granted, I only started it yesterday, but I am in love with the whole idea of it.

 A text to text connection I have made with this book is to the Shiver series by Maggie Stiefvater. They both include a human girl interacting with werewolves. The main character Bryn also reminds me a bit of Fire from the book Fire by Kristin Cashore. They both ignore rules and sneak out while people are trying to protect them.

One question I have about this books so far; Can people be turned into werewolves? Another is; What does being bit by the alpha, or another wolf do? What is Bryn's status in the pack? why is Chase in a cage?

 One of my predictions are that Bryn will fall in love with Chase, the were she finds in her alpha, Callum's, basement. I also think that Chase may know, or may know of the rogue werewolf who killed Bryn's parents. I also predict that Bryn will let him out of the cage he is trapped in.

Here is the author, Jennifer Lynn Barnes' website that includes this series and her many other books.

 

Jennifer Lynn Barnes

 

 

So far, this book is going well and I can't wait to read more. 

A Review- The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

I found The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong a very interesting book. Having just finished it today, I can't wait to read the sequel.

  The Summoning is a book about a girl named Chloe Saunders. Her life is easy and basic, except for the loss of her mother, and a rich father that is never there. The only one that seems to care about her is her Aunt Lauren. One, day she is chased by a ghost. She passes out and wakes up in the hospital. She is shipped off to the Lyle House, a home for troubled kids. Her room mate is happy Liz, who seems perfectly normal. She's not. She believes she has a poltergeist, and is accused of throwing a pencil at a teacher and dumping bottles all over Chloe. She is 'transferred' to another home. Chloe makes friends with protective Simon, pyromaniac Rae and violent Derek. She makes an enemy of moody, drugged up Tori. With a secret, locked door in the basement and a mysterious founder, what other secrets does Lyle House, and it's occupants hide.

I give the Summoning 5 stars. It's a story full of mystery, and some strange paranormal activity. The characters are interesting and deep, each struggling with their home life beyond the Lyle House, if they ever leave that is.