Written by Mark Frost, this book is a whirlwind at times. In the first two books the setting is mainly contained at the private boarding school the five roommates (Will, Nick, Brooke, Elise, and Ajay) attend. But in the last book they end up traveling into the Never-Was a place created by the Hierarchy, who Will's best friend Dave works for. They encounter the Makers and many creatures called the Others.
But in order to get to the Never-Was the book started out with Will having to pretend to love his newly discovered sociopath grandpa, Franklin Greenwood, who worked with the Knights and the Makers to give these five roommates special powers made up of the Makers DNA through a program using in vitro called the Paladin Prophecy.
The roommates go into the Never-Was to rescue Dave, a Wayfarer/Angel, sent to eliminate the Others and protect Will. They encounter many species of monsters in the Never-Was and have to fight quite a few of them. Throughout their epic quest the roommates develop their powers and learn new things about themselves. Of course at the end of the book they have an epic face-off with the Makers, win, and return home with Dave each of them all in one piece. Plus they all live happily ever after, as far as we know.
I thought this book was well plotted but I think the ending could've been wrapped up better. The last chapter of the book is basically Will writing a letter to his father, whom Will hasn't seen since his father was kidnapped by the Knights in the first book with the exception of a small appearance at the end of the third book. All Will does is describe what happened in the book, how they won the epic face-off, and are just being ordinary students now that the fighting is over.
But why leave it at that? Couldn't Frost have hinted at how Will will be hunting for his father and that he hopes to find him? I also find it extremely dumb how Will just assumes his mother is dead and doesn't even bother looking for her/her body. He also just ignores the fact that at the end of the book Franklin Greenwood and the Knights are just gone. I mean shouldn't he be a little suspicious?
Overall I agree that this book was captivating to the very end and while most of it was wrapped up I wish that Will would have continued to search for his family in hopes of getting some closure.
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Why Read?
What do you love most about reading? The fact that you can use your imagination to make what you're reading into a movie in your head? I enjoy the fact that when you read a book, you get to know a certain set of characters and their personalities. Eventually after you get past the Who?, What?, and Why?, of the story you get emotionally invested in the character's well-being and when the thing the characters are most afraid of happens, it always does trust me I learned that in a creative writing class, you are eternally upset and nervous about what they are going to do next.
I think authors are the most ingenious people of our society due to the fact that they can create a dream movie in your mind by transferring what they imagine into words, then put those artfully crafted words into a novel, which makes you create the dream world in your imagination. Authors can draw up things and ideas that could never happen in the real world and that is why I love them most. They sweep you away from your real-world problems, if you have any, and take you to your dream world of a book.
Books have created crazy entity ideas like ghosts, which may be real even though I haven't experienced one yet, zombies, demons, superheroes/super-humans, super villans, vampires, werewolves, and the like. They make these entities either good or evil and construct the entire plot of the book based on the actions of the supernatural beings. This is what makes fictional books interesting. Not only books, but movies, video games, and TV shows create action scenes that I hope would experience in my life but since they're fiction would never happen in the real world. But in all honestly while we're on the subject, I would never survive any of these action-packed plots of these books, movies, TV shows, or video games. But I love being immersed in the dream world of these works of fiction and how they take me away from the real world.
I think authors are the most ingenious people of our society due to the fact that they can create a dream movie in your mind by transferring what they imagine into words, then put those artfully crafted words into a novel, which makes you create the dream world in your imagination. Authors can draw up things and ideas that could never happen in the real world and that is why I love them most. They sweep you away from your real-world problems, if you have any, and take you to your dream world of a book.
Books have created crazy entity ideas like ghosts, which may be real even though I haven't experienced one yet, zombies, demons, superheroes/super-humans, super villans, vampires, werewolves, and the like. They make these entities either good or evil and construct the entire plot of the book based on the actions of the supernatural beings. This is what makes fictional books interesting. Not only books, but movies, video games, and TV shows create action scenes that I hope would experience in my life but since they're fiction would never happen in the real world. But in all honestly while we're on the subject, I would never survive any of these action-packed plots of these books, movies, TV shows, or video games. But I love being immersed in the dream world of these works of fiction and how they take me away from the real world.
The Best Soundtrack For Reading
We all have that favorite song to listen to no matter what the activity. For me while running I enjoy listening to electronic music, like the artist Major Lazer. They have both remixes of songs and their own songs. But no matter what: THE MUSIC SETS THE MOOD.
I can't even begin to describe the importance of mood when it comes to music. If your book is somber or you are at the climax you might feel like listening to a dramatic artist with many climaxes in their melody. Maybe you're at the part of your book where everything is beginning to all come together and wrap up so you might want to listen to an artist who has an upbeat sound to their music.
But do not let your music be so complex that it takes away from your reading. My favorite kind of music is Indie/Alternative so I have a playlist on Spotify created for the specific activity of reading, sleeping, relaxing, or any activity requires a calm mind. This kind of music can also just be to provide background noise so that you're not distracted by things going on around you (e.g. studying).
You know when you get to the point of when you've heard a song so many times you can recite all of the lyrics, almost like it's muscle memory? A sensation I believe is related to that is whenever I listen to an album while reading a book, finish the book, then stop listening to the soundtrack, and when I reread the book I can recall all of the songs I listened to while reading that particular book. To me that is the most amazing sensation I can experience. It's similar to how photography works. When you see a picture you like, it taps into your memories and finds the one that relates to that particular picture and gives you the same emotion you felt during that memory. Whenever I reread that book and can almost hear the album that I had played when reading that book, I get a pleasant recollection of reading that book for the first time, and experiencing all of those emotions for the second time.
These are the reasons I believe that the music sets the mood to whatever you're doing, more importantly reading. I hope that every one of you gets the chance to experience the sensation of recollection using your music as a guide.
I can't even begin to describe the importance of mood when it comes to music. If your book is somber or you are at the climax you might feel like listening to a dramatic artist with many climaxes in their melody. Maybe you're at the part of your book where everything is beginning to all come together and wrap up so you might want to listen to an artist who has an upbeat sound to their music.
But do not let your music be so complex that it takes away from your reading. My favorite kind of music is Indie/Alternative so I have a playlist on Spotify created for the specific activity of reading, sleeping, relaxing, or any activity requires a calm mind. This kind of music can also just be to provide background noise so that you're not distracted by things going on around you (e.g. studying).
You know when you get to the point of when you've heard a song so many times you can recite all of the lyrics, almost like it's muscle memory? A sensation I believe is related to that is whenever I listen to an album while reading a book, finish the book, then stop listening to the soundtrack, and when I reread the book I can recall all of the songs I listened to while reading that particular book. To me that is the most amazing sensation I can experience. It's similar to how photography works. When you see a picture you like, it taps into your memories and finds the one that relates to that particular picture and gives you the same emotion you felt during that memory. Whenever I reread that book and can almost hear the album that I had played when reading that book, I get a pleasant recollection of reading that book for the first time, and experiencing all of those emotions for the second time.
These are the reasons I believe that the music sets the mood to whatever you're doing, more importantly reading. I hope that every one of you gets the chance to experience the sensation of recollection using your music as a guide.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
How To NOT Pick A Book By It's Cover
Admit it. We all have been guilty in one way or another to pick a book by it's over. It's human nature. We judge by appearance in what, about five seconds flat? I'm here as your mentor to help you stray from the ways of not picking that book by it's cover. Now lets get started
1. Read the book jacket.
If you see a book on the shelf of your favorite bookstore, library, house, etc. don't just walk on by, look at the cover, then put it back. Open the cover and look on the book jacket or on the back, depending on if you have a hardcover or paperback copy. If you get halfway through the description and decide it's not for you then no hard feelings. The book is just happy you took the time to show interest in it.
2. Research the author.
If you see a book, read the book jacket/back cover, and decide it's not the one, then do a little research. If you took the time to look at that author's book then your intuition is telling you that, that author could be the one for you, just not that book/series. For example, Cassandra Clare, I've spoke about her before, she's written three main series. The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, and the Magisterium series. I really enjoy the first two but the third is a bit childish for me.
3. Watch the movie.
NOTE: This does not apply to all books (but I think you know that).
I am not an extreme advocate for this way of book choice but it sometimes may work. For example, the movie Twilight, book written by Stephenie Meyer. I despised the book series until I watched this movie. It allowed me to picture the characters in my head once I read the book and it made me realize that BOOKS ARE SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE MOVIES. The main reason for this is because books can go into much more detail and when painting a picture in one's imagination, detail is key.
1. Read the book jacket.
If you see a book on the shelf of your favorite bookstore, library, house, etc. don't just walk on by, look at the cover, then put it back. Open the cover and look on the book jacket or on the back, depending on if you have a hardcover or paperback copy. If you get halfway through the description and decide it's not for you then no hard feelings. The book is just happy you took the time to show interest in it.
2. Research the author.
If you see a book, read the book jacket/back cover, and decide it's not the one, then do a little research. If you took the time to look at that author's book then your intuition is telling you that, that author could be the one for you, just not that book/series. For example, Cassandra Clare, I've spoke about her before, she's written three main series. The Mortal Instruments, The Infernal Devices, and the Magisterium series. I really enjoy the first two but the third is a bit childish for me.
3. Watch the movie.
NOTE: This does not apply to all books (but I think you know that).
I am not an extreme advocate for this way of book choice but it sometimes may work. For example, the movie Twilight, book written by Stephenie Meyer. I despised the book series until I watched this movie. It allowed me to picture the characters in my head once I read the book and it made me realize that BOOKS ARE SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE MOVIES. The main reason for this is because books can go into much more detail and when painting a picture in one's imagination, detail is key.
Friday, September 18, 2015
From Book to Screen: The Mortal Instruments
We all know that young adult novels have flourished in becoming major motion pictures. Divergent, by Veronica Roth, Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, The Fault In Our Stars, by John Green, the list goes on and on. But the transformation I'm most excited about is my favorite book, The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones, by Cassandra Clare, becoming not a movie but a TV show.
The book is about a 15-year-old names Clary, who has her life turned upside down by coming across the hidden world of shadow hunters and demons. The book begins with her and her best friend, Simon, out clubbing in downtown New York. They are at the club Pandemonium and she sees a beautiful girl follow a guy, who was in line in front of Clary at the club's entrance, into a storage closet. She next watches two other guys follow the girl into the closet. After following them into the closet, she sees them pull out knives, torture the guy, and accuse him of being a demon.
She goes to tell her best friend Simon about it but upon trying to point them out to him, she realizes only she can see them. After that odd event, the next day she is at a coffee shop with Simon. Her mom keeps calling her frantically. Ignoring the phone, Clary sees one of the guys who tortured the demon at Pandemonium. He introduces himself as Jace, and tells her to come with him. After more calls, finally picking up the phone, Clary's mom rushes to tell her not to come home and how much she loves her, then the line cuts off. Clary rushes home to find her mom gone and in place a demon creature which ends up biting and poisoning her. Jace ends up taking her back to the Institute, where shadow hunters live, train, and the like.
The book obviously goes into more detail and goes far beyond the plot I just gave you but I don't expect the TV show to go along with plot of the book like I'd hope. The movie made based on the book was overall a good movie, but can't be compared to the book. When a book is released as becoming a movie I normally get my hopes up that the movie will go along with book's plot. As you can expect that is never the case. I expect nothing less for the TV show.
I'm trying very hard to not be let down if the plot is completely different. The TV show is BASED off of the book, meaning it's a loose interpretation of the novel. I think the cast for the TV show, called Shadowhunters, has good actor choices but come that confuse me deeply. For example, Kat McNamara, playing Clary is a good choice. But Isaiah Mustafa, playing Luke Garroway, who is the boyfriend of Clary's mom, isn't a good match in my eyes. I bet he'll be a great actor but I never pictured Luke looking like Isaiah.
I can say, while Shadowhunters may not follow the plot of City of Bones and not have all of my dream actors portraying the character, I always get super excited over and over again because their behind the scenes pictures on Instagram show the cast having a great time filming. Hope you guys are as excited as I am for Shadowhunters to come out and will watch it along with me!
The book is about a 15-year-old names Clary, who has her life turned upside down by coming across the hidden world of shadow hunters and demons. The book begins with her and her best friend, Simon, out clubbing in downtown New York. They are at the club Pandemonium and she sees a beautiful girl follow a guy, who was in line in front of Clary at the club's entrance, into a storage closet. She next watches two other guys follow the girl into the closet. After following them into the closet, she sees them pull out knives, torture the guy, and accuse him of being a demon.
She goes to tell her best friend Simon about it but upon trying to point them out to him, she realizes only she can see them. After that odd event, the next day she is at a coffee shop with Simon. Her mom keeps calling her frantically. Ignoring the phone, Clary sees one of the guys who tortured the demon at Pandemonium. He introduces himself as Jace, and tells her to come with him. After more calls, finally picking up the phone, Clary's mom rushes to tell her not to come home and how much she loves her, then the line cuts off. Clary rushes home to find her mom gone and in place a demon creature which ends up biting and poisoning her. Jace ends up taking her back to the Institute, where shadow hunters live, train, and the like.
The book obviously goes into more detail and goes far beyond the plot I just gave you but I don't expect the TV show to go along with plot of the book like I'd hope. The movie made based on the book was overall a good movie, but can't be compared to the book. When a book is released as becoming a movie I normally get my hopes up that the movie will go along with book's plot. As you can expect that is never the case. I expect nothing less for the TV show.
I'm trying very hard to not be let down if the plot is completely different. The TV show is BASED off of the book, meaning it's a loose interpretation of the novel. I think the cast for the TV show, called Shadowhunters, has good actor choices but come that confuse me deeply. For example, Kat McNamara, playing Clary is a good choice. But Isaiah Mustafa, playing Luke Garroway, who is the boyfriend of Clary's mom, isn't a good match in my eyes. I bet he'll be a great actor but I never pictured Luke looking like Isaiah.
I can say, while Shadowhunters may not follow the plot of City of Bones and not have all of my dream actors portraying the character, I always get super excited over and over again because their behind the scenes pictures on Instagram show the cast having a great time filming. Hope you guys are as excited as I am for Shadowhunters to come out and will watch it along with me!
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
The Paladin Prophecy Series Review
#1. The Importance of an Orderly Mind. This is how the first book in the Paladin Prophecy series begins. What does this say about the main character? Is he insane? No, this is the first rule in a long book of rules that Will West was given by his father, Jordan West, called Dad's List of Rules to Live By.
The first book is the introductory book of course. It speaks of his family, his school, living situation, and so on. But at the very beginning things get crazy. Will sees a black sedan with the tinted windows and thinks nothing of it. Then after so many minutes he realizes the sedan is following him. Will gets a text from dad saying "RUN, WILL." and he does just that. After this event more crazy things follow. He gets invited to a highly secretive private school for scholars, gets attacked by some crazy unknown creatures on a cliff-face, and meets a crazy, and dead, Australian. But you'll have to read the book to get that explanation.
These unknown creatures are called "the Others" from the "Never-Was" and they play a huge part throughout the series. They end up killing Will's mother and taking control of her body. They destroy his home forcing him to flee to the highly secretive school called The Center For Integrated Learning. This is where the Paladin prophecy takes place in form of a group of students who attend it. The book proceeds to get even more complex by adding the fact that Will and the group of students all have powers that were injected into them when their mother were going through in vitro.
I highly recommend not only this book but this entire series because the plot thickens, twists and layers as new characters, ideas, and settings are integrated into the series. At the moment I am reading the third book in the series, Rogue: The Paladin Prophecy. Expect to be recieving a book review on that and be sure to check out the first two books, The Paladin Prophecy and Alliance: The Paladin Prophecy, before you check out my review so I don't give any spoilers!
The first book is the introductory book of course. It speaks of his family, his school, living situation, and so on. But at the very beginning things get crazy. Will sees a black sedan with the tinted windows and thinks nothing of it. Then after so many minutes he realizes the sedan is following him. Will gets a text from dad saying "RUN, WILL." and he does just that. After this event more crazy things follow. He gets invited to a highly secretive private school for scholars, gets attacked by some crazy unknown creatures on a cliff-face, and meets a crazy, and dead, Australian. But you'll have to read the book to get that explanation.
These unknown creatures are called "the Others" from the "Never-Was" and they play a huge part throughout the series. They end up killing Will's mother and taking control of her body. They destroy his home forcing him to flee to the highly secretive school called The Center For Integrated Learning. This is where the Paladin prophecy takes place in form of a group of students who attend it. The book proceeds to get even more complex by adding the fact that Will and the group of students all have powers that were injected into them when their mother were going through in vitro.
I highly recommend not only this book but this entire series because the plot thickens, twists and layers as new characters, ideas, and settings are integrated into the series. At the moment I am reading the third book in the series, Rogue: The Paladin Prophecy. Expect to be recieving a book review on that and be sure to check out the first two books, The Paladin Prophecy and Alliance: The Paladin Prophecy, before you check out my review so I don't give any spoilers!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)