As always, book reviews are spoiler-free, designed to highlight the the best qualities of a book and examine its weaknesses. The Halloween Tree is a children's book by Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451. The story follows eight boys on a cinematic adventure through time and place on Halloween night. Here's what you should know: Read Aloud—The Halloween Tree begs... Continue Reading →
As always, the following book review is spoiler free, and highlights the most important qualities of the story. Steelheart is a novel by author Brandon Sanderson about a teenager named David and his quest for revenge on the superheroes (called epics) who have taken over a dystopian, techno-punk Chicago. Not a comic book, but feels... Continue Reading →
Note: This review, as always, is spoiler-free. I devoured Mark Haddon's novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time in less than one day and thoroughly enjoyed it. However, it is NOT a children's book. The story follows a fifteen-year-old British boy named Christopher who sees the world in a strictly logical way as he... Continue Reading →
The Rithmatist is a YA novel by Brandon Sanderson. The story is set in a steam-punk alternative United States, called the United Isles, where magic-wielding rithmatists protect the people from creatures called chalklings. I will admit, seeing that past sentence in letters on the page makes the book sound super nerdy. Any I suppose it is.... Continue Reading →
Perelandra is the second book in C.S. Lewis' space trilogy. The book tells the story of the second adventure of Professor Elwin Ransom as he travels to the planet Venus (called Perelandra in the story). Where the first book in the trilogy, Out of the Silent Planet, focused a great deal of energy on philology and providing... Continue Reading →
Elantris was the first book published by now-prolifically successful author Brandon Sanderson. My first exposure to Sanderson's work was The Emperor's Soul, a novella which takes place in the same world as Elantris. Here are some of my thoughts about the book, spoiler-free: First Book Published - After having read more recent Brandon Sanderson books, it is clear that Elantris is an... Continue Reading →
I began The Goose Girl with the expectation that it would be a "girl book" (largely because Shannon Hale, the book's author, is known for writing princess books). I was pleasantly surprised, however, to discover that I enjoyed the book, and didn't feel like it was distinctly "girly". Now, when I say "girly" I am referring to... Continue Reading →
Legion is a novella by Brandon Sanderson. My favorite thing about Legion was its length; my wife and I read it out loud to each other over one weekend. I love novellas because you can read them in a short amount of time and still get the experience of reading a novel. Although Brandon Sanderson usually writes... Continue Reading →
The Well of Ascension is the second book in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy. I picked it up from the library within a weak of finishing the first book with high expectations. (You should be proud of me. This time I actually went to the library instead of spending the fifteen minutes reading in the bookstore as I... Continue Reading →
