Death Watch

Death Watch
By: Ari Berk
Rating: ****(4 Stars)

I don't like the idea of hating a book because it's slow. I feel as if everyone has their own way of reading and some people enjoy slower books that are very descriptive. To Ari Berks defense for Death Watch, it is a trilogy so I excepted this book to be slow from the beginning. It's very difficult, however, to pick something up like this because of how slow Death Watch was in the long run.
Silas Umber, the son of a drunken mother and a missing father, Amos, who has been missing for a few months. Not only does Amos leave Silas a nervous wreck on where his father might be, but he leaves clues behind on what Amos' life really entailed. Dolores and Silas lose the house Amos' brother had given them as a marriage gift and they are forced to move back into "Uncles" house where they will live until their lives pick back up, or until Amos comes back and takes them away again. As Silas explores his new home of Lichport he discovers the home where Amos lived whenever he was in Lichport, and Silas takes a liking to it from the beginning. During a visitation to the house, Silas finds a watch that looks like a skull, and takes it as a curiosity case. He later finds out it's the "Death Watch" his father left behind for Silas to find and to take up Amos' job as Undertaker for Lichport. Silas then must make the sacrificing choice on whether to take up the family business or give into "Uncles" seduction and stay with him until Amos comes home to find them, if at all.
Not only do the dead speak to the living, but the dead live among the living in Lichport. Inside the houses on Fort Street corpses still breathe as they stare out the windows watching their kin walk by and pay their respect once or twice a year. The newest generation of kin call these living corpses as "zombies" even though they feel no need to attack the living who walk among them. Like Silas' great grand father, many of the walking dead sit at their houses and watch as people don't care about them anymore, not like they used too. These walking dead used to live among their kin in peace but then newer generations began to stray away from their dead kin and separated themselves from them by leaving their dead inside the homes they lived in and boarded up the houses to give themselves peace of mind. The people of the "Narrows", however, have not forgotten, and never will.
I will give Ari Berk this, I love his description. I could see Lichport in my head and see Silas walking down Fort Street as he goes to his great grand father's house to visit the corpse. This book did give me chills, including the Camera Obscrua that Uncle keeps hidden from the curious Silas who tries at his very best to get inside of the locked room Uncle has hidden away from the rest of the house. I recommend Death Watch to those readers who enjoy a slower paced novel that has a lot of description. Fast paced readers won't enjoy this novel as much unless they are willing to slow down their reading.

Find Death Watch at:
http://www.amazon.com/Death-Watch-Undertaken-Trilogy-Berk/dp/1416991166/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365013996&sr=1-1&keywords=Death+Watch+Ari+Berk
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/death-watch-ari-berk/1100400125?ean=9781416991168

The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars
By: John Green
Rating: ****(4.5)

Although I must say I regret reading this novel because of the harsh ending that, although I saw it coming, I begged for the ending to never come. I had this book recommended to me a million times before I actually went to my local bookstore and picked it up, unknowing of what laid between the covers. By the time I had closed the back cover i had accumulated about a bucket load of tears that had fallen from my eyes.
Hazel Grace is a typical teenage girl, though she has one discrepancy against others her age, she had cancer and is forever marked with the scar of her treatment with the inability to have lungs that do their job the way they are supposed to. Her mother, Mrs. Lancaster, forces Hazel into going to a support group in the "heart of Jesus" as the members of the support group call the basement of the church. During the support session Hazel meets an attractive ex-soccer player named Augustus Waters who takes a quick liking to Hazel. At first, Hazel refuses to take her relationship any farther because of how her death might affect the lives of those around her. She changes her mind early on when Augustus uses his one "Wish" to send Hazel and himself to Amsterdam so they are able to visit Hazel's favorite author, Peter Van Houton.
John Green does an amazing job in defining each character with their own unique personality that they develop throughout the novel. With each chapter that passes, the reader becomes more and more attached to every character.
Even though I loved reading this book, I regret reading it. I regret reading this novel because of the depression it cased me afterward. I have come to the realization that life doesn't last forever and that it can end too quickly for our own good. I do not recommend The Fault in Our Stars for readers who are weak hearted and don't enjoy novels with an ending they will forever loathe. Other than those readers, anyone will enjoy this book for how alive it becomes.

Find The Fault in Our Stars at:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-fault-in-our-stars-john-green/1104045488?ean=9780525426417
http://www.amazon.com/The-Fault-Stars-John-Green/dp/0525478817/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365014094&sr=8-1&keywords=TFIOS

The Night Circus

The Night Circus
By: Erin Morgenstern
Rating: *****
If you're like me and love a fantasy/supernatural novel you'll love this. The Night Circus is a great novel based in the late 1870's to 1904 and switches between a girl named Celia (the main character), Marco (secondary main character) and Bailey. Erin Morgenstern does a great job on describing each character perfectly creating a vision in your head of what each character looks like and how whimsical and dark their lives really are.
When Celia Bowen meets her father for the first time as a little girl, she is frightened of him and who he really is. Her father, Prospero, beings training her at a young age and enters her into a competition that could take a lifetime between his friend "the man in the grey suit" and his student, Marco.
The two must battle it out inside of a circus filled with illusion and find the victor, sending one to their grave and the other to a life filled with guilt and misery for destroying their opponent out of greed. When Marco and Celia finally meet and find out they are opponents, they fall hopelessly in love with each other and must make critical decisions on how their competition will end.
Although this circus is a "circus" the illusions are very real as pedestrians enter into the various tents Marco and Celia have created to out match the other. One of the most interesting, in my opinion, is the Ice Garden in which Celia spends most of her downtime exploring it. Although Marco is not an official act inside of the circus he controls most of the technical responsibilities and the money when it comes to running the circus. He visits often, enjoying Celia's performance as an illusionist, each time he enters the circus.
All in all, I loved this book. Erin Morgenstern did a great job in writing it and her descriptions are top notch in my opinion. This novel is definitely worth the asking price, and would go on anyone's best read list if they enjoy a fantasy novel.

Find The Night Circus at:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/night-circus-erin-morgenstern/1100083576?ean=9780307744432
http://www.amazon.com/Night-Circus-Erin-Morgenstern/dp/0307744434/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365014143&sr=1-1&keywords=the+night+circus