Books for May

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

Review

Herod Sayle is a brilliant man. No doubt about that. After saving a rich British couple from certain death in his Egyptian homeland, he was rescued from a life of poverty and enrolled in a private school in England. There, he learned the skills that led him to become a giant of the hardware and software industries. Now, with his revolutionary new computer, the Stormbreaker, he will dominate the computer industry. Grateful to Britain for the schooling that led him to this point, Sayle is donating Stormbreakers to classrooms around the country. They will be switched on by the prime minister himself in three weeks time, and the whole country will thank Herod Sayle. Sounds lovely, doesn't it? However, the British Secret Service isn't quite sure that Sayle is the man he is thought up to be. That's why they enlisted a spy, Ian Rider, to work for him and keep an eye on him. A day after sending a cryptic message over the phone to the Secret Service, his dead body was found in his bullet-riddled car. He definitely had found out something he wasn't supposed to know. His nephew, Alex Rider, who has been living with him after his parents died in a plane crash, knows nothing of the secret side of his uncle until the Secret Service contact him. They want him to impersonate a boy who recently won a competition which entitled him to test the Stormbreaker computer. When Alex reluctantly agrees, he is sent to Sayle's company facility. There he learns the terrifying truth about Herod Sayle, and realizes that Sayle wants to kill hundreds of children and that Alex is the only one close enough to stop him. But can he survive encounters with a hired killer, escape from a Portuguese Man-of-War's tank, and stop the prime minister with his finger on the button?

Alcatraz versus The Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

Review

Alcatraz Smedry has a surprisingly annoying power: he breaks whatever he touches. That's why he has gone through a long list of foster parents, all of whom have sent him back after a few months. When Alcatraz turns thirteen, his father, who he has never met, sends him a gift. Opening it, Alcatraz discovers that it is a bag of sand. Some gift, thinks Alcatraz, and walks off. Soon after, he sets the kitchen on fire and forgets all about it. It isn't until a loony old man turns up, claiming to be his grandfather and in desperate need of the bag of sand, and a hired thug tries to shoot him, that he remembers. But the bag has been stolen, most likely by his case worker, a fiendishly grumpy woman named Ms Fletcher. Alcatraz's grandfather enlists him and a few of his cousins to steal back the bag of sand from the most powerful, evil group in the world today: the evil librarians. And it all goes downhill from there, as Alcatraz finds himself trapped in the librarian's prison, is chased by beings of living paper and finds out that dinosaurs are still alive and speak with British accents. It all ends in a showdown with leader of the Evil Librarians, Dr Blackburn. Does Alcatraz have the skill and luck to escape?

The Divide by Elizabeth Kay

Review

Interestingly enough for a children's book, the Divide deals quite a bit with the subject of death. The main character is a boy named Felix, who has a heart condition that he knows will someday kill him. When his parents take him on a trip to Costa Rica, he wants, more than anything, to stand on both sides of The Divide, the place where the waters that run into the Pacific and Atlantic oceans separate. He sneaks off while his father is examining an insect that has landed on his mother's back, to find the Divide. When he stands on both sides, one foot on each side, he is whisked off to a fantasy world where everything seems backwards and a pixie (japegrin) businessman named Snakeweed is taking over the world with his monopoly on potions. Can he help save the other world and find a way back to his own?

The Sky Village by Monk and Nigel Ashland

Review

In the future, machines built by man have rebelled and are waging a methodical war against humanity and the beasts, which have broken free of human constraints and walk the streets. One of the few strongholds of unmolested human existence is a floating village built from hundreds of balloons strung together. Mei is a newcomer to the Sky Village. Her father left her here to guard a very special book while he tries to rescue her mother from the machines. Mei quickly discovers the book is more than a mere storybook. It allows communication with whoever holds another copy of the book, wherever they are in the world. Through it, she contacts a boy named Rom, who lives in the ruins of Las Vegas. In order to save his sister, he is forced to enter the deadly demon fighting arenas deep below the ground under the city. And so begins the adventures of two characters, each on the opposite side of the globe.

Ark Angel by Anthony Horowitz

Review

When Alex saves the son of a Russian billionaire from kidnappers (unfortunately, by being kidnapped in his stead, but there you go!) the businessman, Nikolai Drevin, wants to reward him. To this end, he invites Alex (in a way that he really can't refuse) to join him and his son Paul at their mansion in England and then to Flamingo Bay, to see the launching of a rocket, one that will carry up a critical part of Drevin's largest project, a space hotel called Ark Angel. But danger lurks around every corner for Alex, what with Force Three, the eco-terrorist group that orchestrated Paul's kidnapping, on the loose. They are determined to bring down the space hotel, which they have dubbed an environmental menace, even if it means killing thousands of people. And is Drevin himself the man he seems to be? Definitely the best book in the series yet.

Heroes of the Valley by Jonathan Stroud

Review

Halli has always been very different from the others in his family, always a bit smarter but less physically able that they others. He is very short, and still listens to the old tales of heroes gone by. He learns about Svien, whose house he is part of, and the other heroes and their brave acts. Driven by these, he begins to defend his honor with tricks upon the people of his house. Unfortunately, he goes too far when he plays a trick on Ragnok of the house Hakon, and the act sends him on a heroes quest to avenge his uncle's murder. On the way, he learns the true meaning of heroism, and discovers a horrifying secret about the long heroes, asleep in their cairns. I definitely recommend this book!

Dragon Flight by Jessica Day George

Review

Creel thought that her adventures were over when she stopped the first dragon war in Dragon Slippers. But now, danger has reared its ugly head once again. A kingdom just over the border has declared war on her country, and has been training captured dragons to fight for them. Once again catapulted into the action by her somewhat offensive attitude with the king (who doesn't like her), she learns the tale of a love-sick, jealous dragon who wished to marry the queen of dragons in his brother's stead, and will lead two countries into war with each other to do it.

The Storyteller by Edward Myers

Review

In The Storyteller, a boy named Jack learns the art of the story and sets out to find adventure and glory, although he'll settle for getting people to hear his stories. He is taken to the king of his realm, who commands him to tell a story that will make his son sneeze enough to blow out the diamond he stuffed up his nose (long story). He succeeds, and goes from height to height, by helping the king overcome his wife's death and smile again. But when the old king dies, Prince Yoss (the one with a diamond up his nose), takes over. And he doesn't like Jack. Can Jack save the realm from Yoss's oppressive rule and earn the freedom to tell his stories?

Muddle Earth by Paul Stewart and Chris Ridell

Review

When Randalf the wizard tries to summon a warrior hero to Muddle Earth, the place where anything can happen (and it usually does!), he gets a small boy named Joe and his dog, Henry. Having to play the part of Joe the Barbarian, he gets kitted out in very low-cost barbarian gear (the helmet of sarcastic-ness is a frying pan) at a goblin shop and heads off to work on a mission for the Horned Baron, ruler of Muddle Earth. The Horned Baron turns out to be a very small man in a horned helmet. He wants Joe to find a rogue ogre who has been causing trouble and squeezing sheep, for some reason. And so Joe sets out on his adventures. Along the way, he encounters exploding nervous frogs, rather nice trolls, an ogre who wants his comfort blanket back and a dragon who likes her hoard of sparkling junk. But there is more stake than a ogre or a cutlery-obsessed dragon. These are all plots of the fiendish Dr Cuddles, the insane inhabitant of Giggle Glade. He has an evil plot to, like all good bad guys, take over Muddle Earth. And to do it, he has kidnapped all the wizards and a big book of all the spells in Muddle Earth. It's up to Joe, Randalf, a rather wimpy ogre and a sarcastic budgie to save the day! The odds don't look good, but remember: In Muddle Earth, anything can happen.

Nation by Terry Pratchett

Review

Nation is quite a departure from Terry Prachett's other books (see the Discworld series) in that, in many places, it isn't actually funny and is more deep than some of his other works. It tells the story of a boy named Mau who lost his family and friends and, in fact, everyone in his Nation, to an enormous tidal wave that ripped across his island. And he was not the only one to feel the effects of the storm, as people from other islands were stranded and the Sweet Judy, a small western ship, was driven up onto the beach, killing everyone on board but a girl (who is a very, very distant relation to the English king) and a parrot that swears a lot. Soon, others come to the island: a priest who is angered at Mau's refusal to thank the gods for his life, several mothers and husbands, and some very unsavory characters who were set adrift after attempting a mutiny on board the Sweet Judy. Can Mau keep the Nation alive, and also find ways to free people from the rut they have caught themselves in by refusing to think for themselves?

Nation seems to be Terry Pratchett's way of pointing out the pitfalls and dangers of organized religion, in that, if you don't think, you can fall into a rut where you do things without knowing why you are doing them. That doesn't mean this book leaves no room for the mysterious and the spiritual, but Terry Pratchett definitely seems to be making some big points about people and organized religion. Perhaps that's why this book is more serious in tone; it deals with a more serious subject. My hat off to you once again, Terry Pratchett!

-- JackW - 01 May 2009