Books for January

The Slave Trade by Nigel Sadler

Review

In this sad and thought-provoking book, Nigel Sadler illustrates the horrors of the slave trade. To start, he takes you through how the slave trade came about, how slaves were rounded up in Africa by Europeans and free Africans and shipped to many Western nations. Then he shows you the horrors of the slave ships, where too many people were packed into too little space, and many died on the voyage. Then we see what happened as a result of the slave trade in the United States. After they were sold, slaves could expect often brutal treatment, no rights and no way to get out of their predicament. Escaped slaves were hunted down and brought back to their masters. Lastly, Sadler discusses the work of the abolitionists and the civil rights movement, and the legacies of slavery that still exist today.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

Review

In this exciting coming-of-age story, a sad inn-keeper in a small town is visited by a storyteller, who has heard who he actually is, the legendary hero Kvothe, and seeks his life story. Kvothe agrees to tell it from start to finish, with nothing left out, prompted by his protege Bast, who seeks to cure his master's depression. And so Kvothe begins to tell the story of his life, from his humble roots and the untimely deaths of his parents, to his time living as a beggar in the city and his acceptance into the magical University. Life was never easy for Kvothe, and when he begins trying to find the mysterious group that killed his parents, it gets even harder. The Chandrian, as they are called, make sure they are not found by brutally murdering anyone who seeks to find out anything about them, as Kvothe's parents did. To learn his adventures in trying to find them, you will have to read this book. An excellent read!

Sojourn by R A Salvatore

Review

In this exciting last installment in the Dark Elf trilogy, Drizzt Do'urden makes his way to the surface world. There he finds both racism and hostility from both the monsters and civilized creatures of the world, and finds himself hunted by many as he wanders in search of people to call friends and a place to call home. One man keeps hunting him long after others have stopped, a bounty hunter named Roddy McGristle? whose face he injured in a fight the first time Roddy tried to catch him. The insane bounty hunter refuses to let go of Drizzt's trail, and throughout the Dark Elf's many adventures, he is rarely far behind. Will Drizzt escape the bounty hunter and find a place he can call home? Or will he be forced to wander the world forever, in search of a safe place to stay?

Hive by Tim Curran

Review

In this scary, exciting and often slightly disturbing book, a team of scientists has been called in to work at the Antarctic Kharkhov station, where some strange bodies have been pulled out of the ice. These mummies, naturally preserved below the permafrost, look like nothing the head of the team, Professor Gates, has ever seen. He and his team are fascinated by the strange creatures, and by dissecting them, find out that they have a five-lobed brain, pointing to intelligence beyond a human's. But Hayes, a contractor who works to keep the base running, can barely suppress his terror from seeing these things, and others are affected worse than he is. As the Arctic winter sets in, the days barely separated from the howling, dark nights, nightmares begin to plague the workers and scientists. When Lind, a plumber, wakes up from a nightmare, he thinks he sees one of the creatures standing at the base of his bed, and his mind cracks. He tries to commit suicide, and has to be sedated and locked up to stop him from hurting himself. Hayes is sure that the dreams have something to do with the bodies in the base, but how can that be? They're dead. No one will believe him when he tries to tell them that the creatures are somehow still alive, or at least their minds are. As the investigations continue, they find a colony of the creatures in an underground lake near the base, trying to get to the humans above. Will the humans be able to fight this alien menace, or will they succumb to the dreams and become puppets of the creatures in the ice?

Capitalism for Kids by Karl Hess

Review

In this interesting economics book about how kids can form their own businesses and begin planning how they're going to get money when they're not relying on their parents, you learn all sorts of business strategies and how to make use of them to boost your earnings. This is a book aimed at children, remember, and there are two main points it stresses: one, that you should plan for the future now, and two, that many kids have great talents and just need to find a way to market them. While there are laws against hiring children of certain ages, for a good reason, there is no law that prevents them from starting their own business. The book also has inspirational stories, of kids who started their own business, worked hard, invested well and are now doing very well economically! This is an excellent book for any kid who wants to start his or her own business.

Canticle by R A Salvatore

Review

In the first book of the Cleric Quintet, Cadderly, a young priest in the service of the god Denier, is enjoying a time of peace at the monastery he calls his home. But another priest, Kierkan Rufo, is trying to be his rival, and spreads tales about Cadderly to the headmaster. Cadderly rises to the bait, and the two priests are sent to do work in the monastery basement. Unknown to anyone in the monastery, an evil priest plans to use a powerful weapon, the Chaos Curse, against the monastery. He only needs a pure-hearted person to open the bottle it is contained in, as any evil creature attempting to do so will be destroyed. Cadderly unwittingly opens the bottle, and the Chaos Curse fills the monastery, causing madness among all the priests. Cadderly and his friends must head into the catacombs and confront the evil priest who is the source of all their troubles in order to end the madness.

In Sylvan Shadows by R A Salvatore

Review

In the second book of the Cleric Quintet, Cadderly and his friends depart for the beautiful elven forest of Shilmista, which is under attack from a surprisingly coordinated force of orcs, goblins, giants and ogres. There, after some initial hostilities, he makes friends with the elven prince, who still believes, against the impossible odds, that they can hold out. His father, on the other hand, begs his son to abandon the forest when the time comes. But there is danger from within, also. Kierkan Rufo, who was used as an unwilling accomplice by the evil priest in Canticle, is now forced to spy on the rest of his group by a wizard with ties to the priest who unleashed the Chaos Curse. Can Cadderly and the elven forces defeat the monstrous invasion and the wizard who leads them?

Night Masks by R A Salvatore

Review

In the third book of the Cleric Quintet, Cadderly has travelled to the city of Caradoon, where he thinks about his new found clerical powers, and the book one of the priests back at the monastery gave to him. His powers are increasing more and more each day, and he can sense the motives behind a person's actions. This gives him a jolt when a man he befriended on the road later appears with, in Cadderly's sight, evil claws and fangs on his shoulders. He has just encountered the head of the assassin group The Night Masks, who has a device that allows his spirit to possess the bodies of others, and has a contract on Cadderly. Can Cadderly evade the attempts on his life, and unravel the mystery behind who is employing the assassins?

The Fallen Fortress by R A Salvatore

Review

In the fourth book of the Cleric Quintet, Cadderly and his friends depart to the evil fortress that is the stronghold of those who sought dominion over the region. But the wizard who is the head of the fortress knows they are coming, and does everything he can to wipe them from the face of the earth. By magically controlling an elder dragon, using Cadderly's new clerical powers, they make their way to the fallen fortress, and soon find a way in, setting off many alarms on the way. As Cadderly and his friends fight in the lower levels, the wizard prepares a fitting welcome for Cadderly, and reveals a secret that will leave him stunned. Can Cadderly defeat the wizard in the fallen fortress?

The Chaos Curse by R A Salvatore

Review

When Cadderly heads home to his beloved monastery, he finds that the Chaos Curse has once again struck, and harder this time. When Kierkan Rufo, a jealous fallen priest, drinks the liquid form of the Chaos Curse, he dies and his body is brought into the monastery to be entombed. But in the night, he rises as a vampire lord, fueled by the power of the curse within him. Soon, the monastery has fallen to darkness, corrupted from within. Can Cadderly defeat Kierkan Rufo and stop the Chaos Curse once and for all?

-- JackW - 02 Jan 2010