Hot Off The Press

The Infernal Devices Series – Book One – Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare

 in Book Reviews / Books / Hot Off The Press / Series by

Summary

Tessa Grey is sixteen years of age and she thinks that her life is normal. What she does not know until she meets the Dark Sisters is that she has a power. She can change shape. The Magister wants to claim Tessa for his own so he can share her powers. But the Dark Sisters are cruel and the Magister is unknown. When she becomes friendless and hunted, Tessa joins the Shadowhunter of the London Institute. They swear they will find her missing brother but only if she will use her power to help them. She soon finds herself falling in love with James, who is fragile and beautiful but holds a deadly secret, and Will, whose moods do not let you know whether you are friends or not with him. As the Shadowhunters searching draws them nearer to a plot that threatens to destroy the Shadowhunters, Tessa figures out she must choose between saving her brother and saving her new world and friends. Love just might be the most dangerous magic of all.

Review

This book is written by Cassandra Clare and she also wrote the Mortal Instrument Series. That series is very popular and so a lot of people will have read it. I want to clarify one thing about this book. It is a prequel to the Mortal Instruments series. Cassandra Clare is writing a prequel to the Mortal Instrument Series. If you have already read that series than you might recognize locations and people because they were around a few hundred years before the Mortal Instrument Series.

So now on to my opinion of this book. I personally thought that this book was pretty good. It captured the reader because of the story line, it made you want to keep reading, and it had a little romance. This was a definite page turner. I like the characters and how they were described. The thing that really drew me into the book and made me choose it though was the cover.  It shows a young man (17 or 18 like described in the book) who is in old-fashioned clothes. He is turned so you can just see a part of his face. This made me wonder who he was and I just had to find out. Also I liked the title. Clockwork Angel. It makes you (the reader) and me curious. Well that is my opinion anyway. This book is a Hot Off the Press book and it was still really good. Hope that you will try and read it because I am pretty sure that you will enjoy it. I am not the person who likes books with Demons and Vampire and stuff but this one was pretty good. I hope that you will try this book.

What does INFERNAL mean?

When my mother saw the title Infernal Devices she kind of groaned. So I got curious to what Infernal meant. So here is a definition for you.

Infernal – adj – of, relating to, or characteristic of hell or the underworld

Just a little bit of vocabulary for you to learn.

Talk Among Yourselves Tuesday

 in Books / Hot Off The Press / Picture Books by

President Barack Obama has written a book for his daughters ~ Of Thee I Sing ~ and it is in bookstores today. Random House the publisher has released a video promoting it and the illustrations look wonderful.

Introducing several famous people the book appears simply written  but big on dreams and aspirations. I look forward to seeing it in person (more on this later).

Proceeds from the book will be donated to scholarships for children of soldiers who have been killed or injured. Now I might have to buy it!

With the holiday season fast approaching this might just be the perfect gift to give…..

Additional note:

Read a review here.

I guess there is nothing more to say.

 

The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan ~ Drawing by Peter Sis

 in Book Reviews / Books / Fiction / Hot Off The Press by

by Guest Blogger M.O.M.

 

Every once in a while a book finds its way to you that  is a surprise. A shock. You don’t expect the story to move in a particular direction. To do what it does. You are taken by surprise at how much emotion the book arouses in you. You put it down at the end and need to sit still and keep the magical place it has created for you. It moves you. And sometimes you just have to re-read it again. Straight away. There is something about the world inside the book that you just can’t leave.

The Dreamer was one of these books for me. Sitting on the shelf of’ “New Arrivals” in the library its quiet, dreamlike cover seemed to offer an invitation. I had no idea about the story. Or the language. Or how much I would love this book.  I suppose the clue should have been the opening poem –

“I am poetry,
waiting to seize the poet.
I ask the questions
for which all answers exist.
I choose no one.
I choose every one.
Come closer…
…if you dare.”

Ahh, this is writing that beckons you with that curled finger saying “come here. try me”.

Neftali is a boy unlike others. He sees words before him, he is enchanted by them. “The twos and threes lifted from the page and waved for the others to join them. The fives and sevens sprang upward, and finally, after much prodding, the fours, ones, and sixes came along. But the nines and zeros would not budge, so the others left them.” How can you not love this writing?
His life is a struggle. His father  strikes fear in everyone around and ridicules and controls his life. His fearful stepmother who struggles to give him comfort and love and tries to bring joy.  He stutters, is fearful of the taunts of other children and has watched as his older brother’s dreams and talents are destroyed by his father. How can he stop from being crushed? And what becomes of him?

Pam Munoz Ryan has written one of the most enchanting books I have read. This is not a big book, the print is quite large, and so with few words she is able to create such a world full of magic. She weaves the story with words, poetry and images to take the reader to another place. This is great writing. And the delicate drawings by Peter Sis make it all the more special. Weaving literary fact, fiction, poetry and magic this is a book to read. If you love words, if you love poetry, if you are a dreamer –  run, don’t walk to your library and borrow this book and read it.