adventure

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

 in Book Reviews / Books / Books-to-Movie by

Summary

“In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race’s next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn’t make the cut–young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training. Ender’s skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers, Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister. Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender’s two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If the world survives, that is.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

This book was, just wow. Nothing like I thought it was going to be. I had had this book sitting on my shelf for quite some time now but when I got it, the reading level was way beyond me and I didn’t understand the book. It starts as if it is part of a series and that is what threw me off to start with. But now that I found out that there was a movie being made of it, I decided to do a little looking around and found out that it indeed was the first one of the series (only just found out that there is more than 1 book in the series.) So I started reading it.

This book is definitely off the wall. The writing style is very strange and sometimes quite confusing but you just have to push through it because eventually it all starts to make sense. This is not a book that you can just sit down and read. You really have to give yourself a little time to actually sit and think about it. Some books you can just pick up and read about 3 pages of and then come back some time later and continue reading. This you cannot. You have to really read a good bunch of pages or finish a chapter before you can put it down because otherwise when you come back it will not make any sense at all. But I have to say that it was extremely well written. It kept you thinking, wondering what would happen, and it kept surprising you with different things that happened. The characters were developed quite well as you got to understand Ender and how he acted and how he felt in different situations. You really got close to him and felt bad for him during many situations.

Honestly, there is not a whole lot you can say about this book without giving anything away as there were many details that can ruin the book for you.

I am also going to tell you that nothing it what it seems and that the end is going to be shocking and leave you sitting there with your mouth open (metaphorically – except in my case where it actually was).

But I am going to tell you this…please read this book before you see the movie because I have a feeling that the movie is going to be different. I am also going to say that you have to get into the book before it starts the flow. The beginning feels a little rough, but it will all start to make sense later on. Just dive in and get going.

Good luck, enjoy the book, and let me know what you think.

Update: There is a movie for this book out and I saw it and thought it was fabulous. It wasn’t exactly like the book…but I still defiantly recommend that you watch it. But read the book first, because after the movie, reading the book will be really difficult.

The Dead of Winter by Chris Priestley

 in Book Reviews / Books / Young Adult by

Summary

“After Michael’s parents die, he is invited to stay with his guardian in a desolate country house. He begins to suspect something is not quite right on the day he arrives when he spots a mysterious woman out in the frozen mists. But little can prepare him for the solitude of the house itself. His guardian is rarely seen, and there’s a malevolent force lurking in an old hallway mirror. As the chilling suspense builds, Michael realizes that the house and its grounds harbor many more secrets-both dead and alive.”

-Amazon.com

Review

This was an extremely easy read. I read it in about an hour to an hour and a half. But for such a short book, it was extremely good. There was a lot going on in this book and it kept you entertained. This book was about 218 pages but the margins in this book made it really be less than that.

It was a really short story and boy was it to the point. I did enjoy it but I would have liked it to be a bit longer. That was my only complaint about the book. It just seemed to give the smallest amount of details and then it just ended.

There really is not much to say about this book due to the fact that nothing really happened. It was a good read and I would recommend it but there is nothing else to say about it.

I did like the cover though. It was in black and white and in the distance you can see a persons silhouette. Then there are trees which are not covered in leaves which means that it is winter and there is snow on the ground. Then at the front of the cover is a skull. I thought that the cover was quite interesting, but that is just my opinion. 🙂

Hope that you give it a try.

Expedition TITANIC “return to the deep”

 in Uncategorized by

What is one step up from interested? Obsessed? No, passionate. And that is what I am about the Titanic as you can tell from my last post. So here I am once again talking to you about the Titanic. But this time I am not telling you, I am showing you.

RMS Titanic Inc. is once again doing an expedition to the Titanic. This time they are going to document everything that they can find so when the Titanic is gone, there will still be something to remember her by.
They are going to “cover every inch of the wreckage” as said on NBC  TODAY show.

Here is a little video that was actually only posted within the last day or so. If you want to keep a tab of what is going on click here.

Each time a new video comes out I will share it with you.

Enjoy.

Stormbreaker (Alex Rider Series #1) by Anthony Horowitz

 in Book Reviews / Books by

Summary

They said Ian Rider was dead, but Alex knows there is something fishy about his death. And when he sees the bullet holes in his Uncles car, his suspicions are confirmed. But no amount of training can prepare him for what he is about to find out and do. Nothing can prepare him to find out that Ian Rider, the Uncle he always thought he knew, was a spy for Britain’s top-secret intelligence agency. Alex suddenly gets himself caught up in the world of spy’s. Suddenly playing a game of cat and mouse with no way out.

Review

This book inspired the movie Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker . This was an extremely good book. It was exciting, packed with action. This book is a sort of a boy’s book. It is about a boy who is a spy. I read it because one of my friends (who is a boy) recommended it to me. I actually thought it was really good. This is a series (8 books in total) and I have read the whole series and I have to say they were all really good. The first one was one of the best because it was like an introduction into a whole new world. One that no one would know of. When I read this book, and all the others, I just got sucked in. They are really good and exciting.

Anthony Horowitz is an excellent writer. His writing makes you want to read more and he makes the characters come alive. I thought I was part of the action. I will definitely read the series again because it was so good. I really hope that you enjoy it too.