The Cirque Du Freak Series (All 12 Books)

The Cirque Du Freak Series

By: Darren Shan

Rating: *****

            This twelve book series written by author Darren Shan, that wrote the Zom-B series and other horror fantasy novels, has continued to stay in my number one spot of my favorite books. The Cirque Du Freak series has an excellent twist of adventure, fantasy, and horror that all blends together perfectly to create an enchantingly creepy young adult fiction saga.

            The book series follows Darren Shan, an obscure teenage boy with a fetish for all things creepy and crawly. When he and his best friend Steve acquire tickets to the Cirque Du Freak, a travelling circus of the night, their lives are changed forever as soon as they step through the stage doorway. They meet Mr. Crepsley, a vampire that traveled with the circus. Steve becomes utterly obsessed with the idea of becoming a vampire and horrifically begs Mr. Crepsley to change him into a night walker. After a failed attempt and a blood test resulting in bad “evil” blood, Steve is refused the position as Mr. Crepsley’s apprentice, and Darren takes his best friend’s place and becomes a vampire. With a heavy feeling of betrayal from his former best friend, Steve sets out on a path of revenge to take down Darren and claim his spot once more by joining the Vampaneze, the rivals to the vampires. The last eleven books tell of Darren’s story as a newborn vampire. He encounters a lake of souls, the vicious Vampaneze, the five trials of death, and so many more life threatening and horrific challenges all while trying to avoid Steve, the power hungry ex-best friend.

            Everything about this series makes my skin crawl; that’s what made me read all twelve books in less than a week. Although each book is not long, they all pack a terrifying punch to them that will catch nearly every reader off guard in one way or another. 

You can buy the Cirque du Freak series here:
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/cirque-du-freak?store=allproducts&keyword=cirque+du+freak
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Cirque-Freak-Series-Collection-Nightmare/dp/1608840867/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1369770184&sr=8-3-fkmr0&keywords=Cirque+do+Freak+series

After

                

After

By: Francine Prose

Rating: ****

                I read this book a few years ago and I felt it worthy enough to get a review done. After is one of those novels that make you think. It makes you think about situations that we tend to hide from, that we are afraid of thinking of. After, the novel by Francine Prose, forces us to think of a world like this, of school districts doing things like the situations in this book. Would you be one of those people who are pro or are you against something like what goes on inside After? I have to admit, I’m fully against everything that goes on inside this novel, and it makes me imagine a world like this. Since I’m still in High School, coming up on my final year, I think completely different from someone outside of school. While other’s, adults especially, might think of something like this as good, teenagers and college students, and even elementary school students might see this as a threat, an invasion of our lives. After has taught me so much, it has made think of different perceptions. The title After is an excellent title. This book is truly about what happens after a school shooting, and what the effects are of districts around the source of the violence.

            In Pleasant Valley a school called Central High has been put under major pressure after a school shooting only 50 miles away has shaken everyone around the surrounding area. Restrictions have been put on the students, metal detectors at every door, and harsh punishments for the smallest of discrepancies. To Tom Bishop and his friends, school is beginning to feel like a literal prison. There’s no way to stop anything, and the rules are changing constantly from the inability to wear certain colors to the ban of trench coats. As time progresses students and teachers begin disappearing mysteriously with no trace. All anyone knows is that they have spoken out against the new “Big Brother” of a school system, and those who speak out have to be punished.

            After has put new ideas and thoughts into my mind that I have not thought about before. Some of my friends spoke of including metal detectors at my school because of the most recent school shootings and all I could think of was After and what the school turned into after the first change. One building block after another and the school fell into what felt like a copy of George Orwell’s 1984. Can this reality really come true? Is this something that could happen in the near future? We can only hope that this never happens, and if it does, we can only pray that maybe it will go away before school systems become Big Brother.

                

The Art of Racing in the Rain

The Art of Racing in the Rain

By: Garth Stein

Rating: ****

            From the very beginning of this telltale novel, Garth Stein has created an unbreakable bond between reader and Golden Retriever Enzo. Instead of creating a novel that is in Denny Swift’s point of view, the main character, Enzo the dog replaces Denny with a unique character that has this idea that he will come into his next life as a human, and that he is ready whenever nature is ready to make him human. The Art of Racing in the Rain is a wonderful story about how the relationship between dog and man can go far beyond normal levels, and that that relationship can transform into a loving, unbreakable bond between Denny Swift and his trusting follower, Enzo. 

            Enzo, the main character in which the books curves around, is a loving, thinking dog that has this enormous imagination about how his next life will be of a human and that if he is good natured in this life, he will come back as a human equivalent. (He gets this idea from the Mongolian legend that dogs will come back as humans in their next life) Although Enzo is not able to communicate directly to his owner, Denny Swift, he is able to connect on a spiritual level that only a dog and his owner are able to have together. Throughout the novel their adventures together strengthen as Denny discovers his dream in life to become a race car driver. While Denny uncovers his natural talents, Enzo glues himself to the TV and reaches the inner intellectual that wants to come out in the next life: “Here’s why I will be a good person. Because I listen. I cannot speak, so I listen very well. I never interrupt; I never deflect the course of the conversation with a comment of my own…” (Enzo) As the story continues, Enzo is faced with the troubles of a typical dog and his owner including the introduction of a lady friend of Denny’s who takes control of the life of his owner, and slowly takes Denny away from Enzo.

            All together this book has moved me as a person and an animal owner. I have found a greater respect for the animals that live next to me every day, and I have taken so much from this book that no other book is able to offer me. I have to give this book a wonderful rating not because I feel obligated to, but because it is my truthful feeling about this novel; everyone should read this book and enjoy it to the core and take in every ounce that it has to offer so that they can learn like I have. The Art of Racing in the Rain has inspired me to write about the animals in my life and become a person who enjoys the company of my animals to the fullest of my ability. 

Insurgent (Spoiler Alert)

Do not read this if you don't want to have part of Divergent revealed to you before you read the book. I tried my best to keep the spoilers at a minimum. Read Divergent first, and the review first if you wish to enter the world created by Veronica Roth.

Insurgent

By: Veronica Roth

Rating: *****

                As the second installment goes on my shelf I have to say Insurgent was my favorite of the two. The second novel to a series is usually my favorite because all of the introductions are done by the second book. Veronica Roth has once again done an amazing job in capturing my attention for a whole two days. Over 900 pages in four days is worth the amount of time it took and how antisocial I became for four days.

                As in the first installment, a war between the factions rages on causing drama and arguments inside the ex-Dauntless, Eurodie, and Abnegation who have now become factionless. Tris and Four have become an official couple, which happened in the first book, but it’s worth sharing here as well. Although their relationship falters as everything unfolds in front of their eyes which only makes being a couple harder to manage. With Tris going off and being as Dauntless as possible, Four can only sit back and watch while she comes home damaged each time. Their relationship comes to a breaking point when Tris and the rest of the Divergent are given a choice that can go two ways. Either one Divergent give them self up for testing or a whole lot of innocent factionless will die by jumping off a building to their ultimate demise. Can Tris keep her promise to Four that she won’t go off and do anything reckless, or will her Abnegation instincts kick in to save everyone she knows from dying? The ending surprised me which made me rethink everything I have read up to this point. I begin to think, was the Eurodite right or was the Eurodite becoming Big Brother?

                As I sit here and write this I cannot wait to get my hands on the third, Divergent-3. It’s only a matter of time until I sink my teeth into the newest installment and write the review on that. I hope you take this and think about reading this series because Veronica Roth has created a world anyone would want to live in.

Divergent

Divergent

By: Veronica Roth

Rating: *****

                When you get through half a book in a day, and then finish the next day, you know that book is excellent. Divergent by Veronica Roth has taken me into a different world, a world I have never seen and a world I wish I could go back into. The back of my head wants me to live in a world like that, powered by factions and laws like the ones in Divergent. A good dystopian novel is good for the mind, says the Eurodite. I have to agree, this has been one crazy ride that has twisted my mind into places I have never seen before.

                In a dystopian world in a sort of futuristic Chicago, Illinois, the society there is split up into five factions. (Well six if you count the factionless) Beatrice, later known as Tris, is born in Abnegation, a faction filled with selfless beings who dare not stare at their own face in the mirror because it symbolizes selfishness. When she has to take the Aptitude test, a test that determines which faction you will most likely fit in the best, that goes along with Choosing day, her results come back and she has picked three different factions, which is unheard of. Choosing Day arrives and Tris chooses Dauntless, a faction filled with risk-taking, brave souls who would do anything for a thrill. At least, that’s what those on the outside think. During initiation Tris meets Four, a depressed looking instructor who can’t seem to take his eyes off of the charming Tris who is only trying to pass up everyone around her, even her friends. Everything about Tris and her life changes when she figures out her simulations are messed up, that she is manipulating them in a way nobody else can. In a way that’s supposed to be impossible. Her world turns around and shreds to pieces as she discovers what she is and what the evil in the world want to do with her.

                I must say thank you to Veronica Roth for providing me with a book I can take with me to the grave and back. This book has given me two days full of non-stop reading that I was unable to control. Everything in this book from the plot lines, the love interest, and the characters, have set me on edge growing hungry for more. Don’t worry, though. I have begun reading Insurgence and am half way done with it on the first day as well. 

Find Divergent at:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/divergent-veronica-roth/1026903257?ean=9780062024039

http://www.amazon.com/Divergent-Veronica-Roth/dp/0062024035/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1365725307&sr=8-2&keywords=divergent

The Darkest Minds

The Darkest Minds

By: Alexandra Bracken

Rating: *****

                When I first picked up this book I imagined a serial killer because the title The Darkest Minds brings to mind a psychotic killer. It only makes sense. After I opened the novel and began reading I was immediately shifted from modern day mystery to a science fiction about children obtaining powers and the government controlling every aspect of their lives. Alexandra Bracken has done an amazing job designing a novel based on the scientific aspects of the mind.              

                Ruby begins the novel as a young ten year old that lives with her parents. Shortly after her tenth birthday her parents mysteriously forget about Ruby’s existence as their daughter and call the police to get the strange child out of their house. While all of this is going on, children all over the United States are dying left and right from a mysterious ‘disease’ IAAN. The children left who haven’t perished are put into camps from fear of getting IAAN. Ruby is one of those children who are sent to a specific camp: Thurmond. Each child is then sorted by color; either red, orange, yellow, blue, or green, depending on what they can do with their minds. Each child possesses a specific ability from either moving things with their minds, the ability to crack codes and numbers, mutilating peoples thoughts and actions  and in Ruby’s case, the rare ability to make people forget about others just by looking and touching another person. Because of the rush to get her and other’s sorted into their colors, the doctor in charge skips over the fact that Ruby is an orange, and decides she is a green instead. In Thurmond, the reds, oranges, and the yellows disappear and from what Ruby believes, are killed outright because they are dangerous to the PSF’s in the camps.

                The PSF’s, or guards, in these camps let out a ‘calm control’ or a white noise that controls every kid, forcing them to the ground. This noise is used as a punishment when a group of kids decide the lunchroom has become fight club, or if someone uses their abilities.

                Six years pass and a strange white noise comes out into the garden where Ruby works, forcing her to her knees, blood coming from her eyes and nose. This calm control white noise is different from the others, a way to sort out any dangerous colors that have been skipped over in the past. Ruby ends up in the hospital because of this and meets a nice Doctor, Cate, who helps Ruby escape the camp. After the escape from camp Thurmond, Ruby runs off chasing a small Asian girl with yellow gloves over her hands and arms. After the small girl, Suzumme, stops running Ruby runs into Liam and Chubs who are travelling with Zu. The three of them have escaped a camp in northern Ohio where the conditions were a lot better than camp Thurmond. Liam immediately falls for Ruby, but Ruby only wishes to separate herself from the group because of her realization that she is, in fact an orange, a monster. Ruby joins them and they begin their descent to East River, a camp run by the Slip Kid, for kids who have escaped the government controlled camps. After they arrive Chubs soon comes to the realization that East River is an exact replica of the camps like Thurmond. The Slip Kid, or Clancy, begins to help Ruby control her abilities because he is another Orange, one of the only left alive.

                I could write about this book forever, it was that great.  At the beginning I wasn't a fan of the novel because of slow it went but as I came to the middle, putting the novel down became a near impossible feat for me. I had this desire to keep reading until I finished the book. Every character and plot twist inside of The Darkest Minds has been expertly designed with charm and beauty. This novel really makes you think about how much control the government actually has on our lives and how it controls everything without us even knowing. Congrats to you, Alexandra Bracken, you have created an epic novel.

Buy The Darkest Minds at:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-darkest-minds-alexandra-bracken/1108621279?ean=9781423157373
http://www.amazon.com/The-Darkest-Minds-Alexandra-Bracken/dp/1423157370/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365357388&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Darkest+Minds

                

Grimm Fairy Tales: The Complete Collection

The Grimm Fairy Tales: Complete Collection

By: Wilhelm Grimm, Jacob Grimm

Rating: *****

            Although I have not read the entire works I have read 80% of the fairy tales and feel the need to write an honest review on Grimm Fairy Tales. Wilhelm and Jacob went all around Europe (mostly Germany) and collected numerous fairy tales including Cinderella, Snow White, Hansel and Gretel, and many others that children now a day know to be classic fairy tales where the princess and prince live happily ever after. Wilhelm and Jacob felt as if this wasn't enough and added blood, gore, and anything else you can think of that would be in a modern day horror-fairy tale. For example, Cinderella’s evil stepsisters cut off their toes and ankles in a bloody attempt to fit into the glass shoe that ruined their lives. Little Red Riding hood and her grandmother and cut out of the wolf’s body; they then shove rocks into his stomach and sew him back up. The wolf later dies because he cannot stand from the weight put into his stomach. Every fairy tale in this giant book has its own story and moral too it; all sixty-plus stories are worth reading and are a joy to anyone who wants to read a cliffhanger about a Golden Key or a story on promises like The Frog King. There are so many stories to choose from with different morals and endings to go along with them.

            These stories are rather chilling to the bone, each one with their own blood and unsettling ends. With each story you read a new world unravels and you begin to understand that fairy tales are never what they seem, that there is a deeper, darker version of what really happened and that the “happily ever after” ending we all know is actually a lie sewed in to replace the real and unsettling ending nobody likes. That’s the best part of Grimm Fairy Tales, the idea of an alternate ending that nobody likes because it’s not the “happily ever after” cliché ending everyone loves.

            I recommend Grimm Fairy Tales to readers who enjoy a classic fairy tale, but not the reader who wants their childhood ruined by the reality of what these fairy tales actually were before they were taken and revamped by Disney and other companies that made everything happy and fluffy. Some, or rather most of the stories in this book are not children friendly; they are not meant to be read as bedtime stories to a child who loves Disney and their interpretations of the fairy tales like Cinderella and Rapunzel, and so many more stories these children are familiar with now a day. 

Buy Grimm Fairy Tales at:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/grimms-complete-fairy-tales-brothers-brothers-grimm/1102502038?ean=9781435141865
http://www.amazon.com/Grimms-Complete-Fairy-Tales-Jacob/dp/1607103133/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365013968&sr=1-1&keywords=grimm+fairy+tales