The False Prince

By Jennifer Nielsen

This is one of my favorite books to read to kids. I've read it to a few of my classes, and they always enjoy it.  It is quick-witted, action-packed, and full of twists and turns.

In the beginning of the books, you meet Sage, a 14 year old orphan who just stole a turkey.  He's stopped and bought by a wealthy noble named Connor Bevin.  Connor has a plan, a devious plot that is dangerous. Besides Sage, Connor has also bought 3 other 14 year old boys, all orphans that are similar in size and description. One of the boys, Latamer, decides he doesn't want to participate so Connor has him killed to show how serious this is. Sage is furious, but listens well. He's all about what's best for him, and what's best for him right now is not getting killed.

Connor's plan is simple but dangerous. The King, Queen, and Crowned-Prince Darius were killed. The other prince, Jaron, went missing 4 years ago and is assumed dead though no body was ever found. Connor's plan is to take one of the remaining boys and turn him into the lost Prince Jaron, helping him to ascend to the throne.  Connor will not take no for an answer, nor will be be gentle. They have 2 weeks.

Sage is not one for taking orders or doing anything that makes him work.  He defies Connor at every turn, his mouth and quick-wit often getting him into trouble. But he knows that if he's not chosen to be prince, he will be killed.  Sage is also one for many secrets, finding others and keeping his.  He sneaks out every night, climbing around the outside of the manor or tiptoeing through the secret passageways, gathering information.
In the end, Sage makes sure he's the one chosen as Prince. He's got a great secret up his sleeve that thwarts Connor's ultimate plan, and he saves the other two boys. In the end, Sage becomes the Prince.  Many people are not happy, especially Connor who is arrested for killing the King, Queen, and Prince Darius, and war threatens the borders of the country.  All set up for a second book!

What I liked: I love Sage! He is smart, quick, and lively.  He does what is best, even if you don't see it right away. Everything he does has a purpose and reason. He always has a secret plan up his sleeve and a witty remark to throw in your face. He is a fantastic main character.  Some of the side characters are just as wonderful. The story line and twists are spectacular.

There is nothing I didn't like about this book or the other 2 in the series.  These are phenomenal books! I would recommend them for middle school kids and young adults, boys and girls.  It is a fun book!

The School of Good and Evil: The Last Ever After

By Soman Chainani

I know it's been a really long time since I last wrote a post, but life has been very busy. I actually finished this book a while ago, but I haven't had time to write about it. In fact, I have to play catch up on a bunch of books.

The Last Ever After is the 3rd and final book of The School of Good and Evil series. It is a really long book. The first half I was a little bored and it took me a while to get into it. But the second half of the book was fun and action-packed!

In the beginning of the third book, Agatha and Tedros are now back in Galvadon, living in secret in Agatha's mother's house. When the townspeople realize they are there, they capture Agatha, Tedros, and Agatha's mother.  A witch's burning is planned.  Agatha and Tedros escape with some help, but Agatha's mother sacrifices herself to save them.  They run away and find a secret portal into the other realm.  Princess Uma, one of the former teachers are the School of Good and Evil, takes them to the League of Thirteen, the most powerful heroes. However, time has not been good to the heroes.  They are old, overweight, and cranky.  Their plan is the capture Sophie, have her destroy the ring on her finger, and then crown Tedros and Agatha.

Sophie, meanwhile, is living at the School of Good and Evil with her true love, Rafal, the evil School Master. He is now young and incredibly handsome. Because she wears his ring, he has power because he has love on his side. And he will do anything to have Sophie keep it there.  The School of Good and Evil is messed up though. All of the students, Evers and Nevers, are combined into one school and crammed into the School of Good.  They are all taught to be villains.  At the other school, the School of Evil, old villains have returned and are plotting their revenge. These zombie-like, famous villains gain power by killing their heroes, and they are all out to find their counterparts so they can change their stories.  With each hero that is killed, a bit of Galvadon's protective border is removed.  This is part of Rafal's plan.  He wants the border to be brought down so he can attack the village and kill all the Readers.

Tedros and Agatha disguise themselves and sneak into the School, kidnap Sophie, and hide out with the other members of the League in a secret refuge, which also hides Guinevere and Lancelot.  Tedros must face his mother and what she did by leaving him long ago. The League also decides they must practice together, an old hero and a young hero/villain.  It's hard at first, but they learn to work together for good.

Sophie tries once again to get Tedros to love her. She's unsure whether Rafal or Tedros is her true love, but when she kisses Tedros, she realizes there is nothing there between them. She goes back to Rafal before the final battle.

In the final battle, the stakes are high.  The army of villain is massive while the heroes are few.  Surprises happen throughout, but in the end, evil is defeated. Sophie realizes that she doesn't need anyone to be her true love. She can be alone and happy. Agatha and Tedros plan to marry and be crowned at Camelot. Sophie becomes one of the new Deans at the new School of Good and Evil. And the end is sweet.

What I liked: I liked some of the new characters, like Merlin and Guinevere. Their stories and the twists were great.  The returning side characters like Dot and Anadil were fantastic and always good for comic relief or perspective.  The struggle of the main characters was realistic and interesting.

What I didn't like: The beginning was slow.

I would recommend this book/series to upper elementary and middle school kids who like fairy tales. This story also had a lot of action, adventure, and goriness so boys might like it more too.  It is good, clean, and fun.

Keeper of the Lost Cities: Lodestar

By Shannon Messenger

Wow.  Just...wow.

This book was amazing! I couldn't put it down, though that's how I am with all of Shannon Messenger's books. She is a fantastic writer!

This book picks up right after the 4th book ends, and for those of you who haven't read it, there will be a few spoilers here just to catch everyone up.  At the end of the 4th book, Keefe joins the Neverseen, the evil organization that's bent on ruling the world. It's shocking and heartbreaking, but he feels it's the only way.

In the Lodestar, it is revealed that Keefe is only trying to bring down the organization from the inside. He's working his way in, getting the bad guys to trust him so that he can ultimately defeat them. He does it to help Sophie. I think that he's really doing it because he's in love with her and he wants to save her. But that's just my opinion.  Sophie, of course, is oblivious, but she and Keefe work together over long distances to keep him safe and share secrets.

Sophie is also working with Fitz and the others of the Black Swan to discover what Lodestar is.  The Lodestar Initiative is a plan vaguely mentioned by the Neverseen as their great plan to "save the world" or change and fix it.  Sophie must figure out what it is and stop if before the world around her crumbles. They try to piece together clues hidden along the way, using a symbol they found. Sophie and her friends find out how the Neverseen travels and where many of their hideouts are located.  They also figure out some other secrets too. They get closer and closer just to end up still out of reach of their goal.

In their world of chaos and confusion, peace must be restored according to the Elven Councillors. A Peace Summit is planned, and all the leaders of the other species are invited to meet and discuss terms.  The elves, dwarves, gnomes, goblins, and trolls will all be sending their royalty or representatives to a sit down meeting with the Councillors, and Sophie is invited along with Mr. Forkle, the leader of the Black Swan.

In the end, Sophie figures out the Neverseen's plan a little too late, and someone important dies. Someone VERY important.  (I was so sad!)  Sophie also realizes the the Neverseen also have plans to use her, but they need leverage.  Keefe heard talk that they planned to snatch her family. Sophie thought that meant her new adoptive parents, Grady and Edaline, but she was wrong. They really grabbed her human family! Sophie runs into her little, human sister, who recognizes her.  AND THAT'S WHERE THE BOOK ENDS!

There's really so much more to this book that what I wrote. So much happens, but there's lots of little twists and turns along the way. Shannon Messenger is really good and planting infomration early and throughout the book that, if you're really smart, you piece it together to figure it all out!  Usually you've forgotten a lot of the little pieces until it becomes so obvious that, of course, you need that!  It's phenomenal! I can't say enough fabulous things about this series! I also reading it to my boys, and they beg and beg for me to keep reading.  They love all the characters and the comedic parts (especially Keefe!).

This series is fantastic for upper elementary, middle school, young adult, and anyone looking for a splendid book.  And it's safe! There are no swear words, no sex or drugs, and no graphic violence. It's like Harry Potter, but not as dark. It's so, so good!

Keeper of the Lost Cities

By Shannon Messenger

In honor of the fifth book coming out today, I'm going to talk about the first book in my second favorite series: Keeper of the Lost Cities!  This book/series was recommended to me by a student who was in love with these books (and still is).  She lent me her first book, and after reading it, I knew I had to have it and the next two in the series.  They were fantastic. And not only were they fantastic for me, but I knew my boys would love and adore them too.  Don't worry, they did. And now the fifth book has come out and we had to buy it today!!! We've already started it, that's how great it is.

Keepers of the Lost Cities is a book about a young girl named Sophie Foster. She's twelve years old, but she a child prodigy and is in her senior year at high school. She has no friends, and she feels like she doesn't fit in with her family. Not only that, but she can hear people's thoughts. Not something that endears one to others.

Then one day, she meets a beautiful boy, Fitz, who explains that he's been looking for her. And she's not human. She's an elf! That's why she doesn't belong. Fitz takes her back to the Elvin world, hidden away from humans, where she suddenly has to fit in. Everyone is very suspicious of her. Besides her being able to read and hear others' thoughts, no one, not even their most skilled telepaths, can read hers.  She is an enigma and many don't trust her.

She enrolls at the most prestigious school, Foxfire, and tries not to fail all of her classes. She must relearn many, many things because humans have things backwards at times. She makes friends, for the first time ever, and enemies.  She breaks rules, big important rules, because she knows its wrong not to help. Even though her life and schooling is on the line, she can't just let others get hurt when she knows she can help.

Sophie ends up getting kidnapped, along with her friend Dex. She has help, but in the end she must save herself and Dex, almost dying in the process. When she returns, she finds her friends and family are happy to have her. She finally belongs.

What I love about this book: The characters in this book are awesome! They are complex and diverse, full of quirks that stick with you.  My favorite character is Keefe.  He's always great for a laugh. I also love that this book has fantastic twists and turns. One thing always leads to another which leads to another. They are big books, but things are always happening so there's never a dull moment. My boys beg to listen to this book. I've also read this to 2 of my 6th grade classes and they love it as well, begging me to read the next book to them.

This book is like Harry Potter, but less dark.  There are bad things that happen, but there's always a hopeful attitude in the book.   The author keeps raising the stakes in each book, and they just keep getting better and better. I can't wait to see what she has in store for us in the 5th book!

This series is great for upper elementary, middle school, and young adults. It's also fantastic for anyone who just loves a great book. I can't put them down!

The School for Good and Evil

A World Without Princes
By Soman Chainani

At the end of the first book, Agatha kissed Sophie to save her. As Sophie came back to life, her and Agatha took hands and glittered away, back to their hometown and their old lives, leaving behind their friends and Agatha's Prince Tedros.

And that is where the 2nd book starts off. Sophie and Agatha are back home, celebrities after their exciting encounter in the fairy tale realm. Sophie eats it up, loving every minute of the fame, but Agatha isn't so sure. What's worse, where she thought that all she needed in the whole world was her best friend, her heart sings a different tune. She starts to wish for Tedros, believing that maybe she made the wrong choice. But what can she do?

Suddenly, arrows appear out of nowhere, flying though the air with deadly aim for only one person: Sophie. Sophie is locked into the church for safe keeping, but soon the town realizes that the only way to save themselves is to give Sophie up. Agatha tries to save her, but they are both transported back to The School for Good and Evil. But now it's completely different.

Because Agatha chose Sophie over her prince, fairy tales are starting to rewrite them selves. It's no longer the School for Good and Evil, but the School for Boys and Girls. Girls have distanced themselves from their princes, banding together and believing they now don't need a prince to save them. They can save themselves. This leaves the boys by themselves over in the School for Evil to fend for themselves. But their angry. And it's all Sophie's fault.

Agatha tries to fix the problem. She realizes, and is told by her teachers and other friends, that the only way to make things right is for her to kiss her Prince. She finds a way to get to him, but before they can kiss, something happens. Now Prince Tedros believes Agatha, too, is out to kill him and destroy his happily-ever-after. He wants both Sophie and Agatha dead and has promised his treasure to anyone who can make that happen.

A new trial is pronounced, a trial between boys and girls. Whoever can outlast the other wins. If the girls win, the boys will become the girls' slaves. If the boys win, Sophie and Agatha must be brought to the boys for public execution. Sophie and Agatha work together with their friends, trying to stop all of this from happening, but the trial comes. Things go awry during the trial and the Evil School Master, destroyed in the last book, returns, still wanting Sophie at his side. Sophie chooses him because Agatha has finally kissed Tedros, sealing their love. Sophie kisses the School Master, thereby sending Agatha back to their hometown alone. But before she can fully disappear, she grabs Tedros and he goes with, saving his life.

What I liked: It was a fantastic book, as good as the second. It started a little slow, but picked up. Some of the characters were new and parts of it were a little predicable (maybe that's just me), but there were still a plethora of twists and turns. You got to find out a little more history about some of the characters. Many of my favorite characters from the first book returned, adding comic relief and biting wit. I especially like the character of Dot. In the first book, she was a very plumb young Never (evil) witch who turned everything she touched into chocolate. She was constantly eating chocolate. In the 2nd book, she now is slim and beautiful, turning everything she touches into vegetables, which she is constantly eating.  And she really doesn't want to return to being a Never. She's made friends and enjoys being beautiful and taking care of herself.  I look forward to seeing how she is in the 3rd book.

This series is fantastic for upper elementary, middle school, or anyone who loves great stories dealing with fairy tales. It's not full of fairy tales, but it just has that fantastic quality to it. I can't wait to read the next book!

The School of Good and Evil

by Soman Chainani

What if everything you thought you knew about fairy tales was backwards? What if what you thought was good was really evil? And what you thought was evil was really good? That is the premise of this fantastic story.

The two main characters are Sophie and Agatha, best friends from two different worlds. They both live in a small village outside a giant, foreboding woods that no one can escape. Sophie thinks she is a princess. She dresses in pink and has a ridiculous fashion regiment that includes all sorts of weird things. She knows she doesn't belong in the village, but she tolerates it all until her time comes to be what she knows she is: a princess in a fairy tale.

Her best friend, Agatha, is the complete opposite of Sophie. Where Sophie is light, Agatha is dark. Where Sophie is smiles and fluff, Agatha is frowns and seriousness. Where Sophie dresses in pink, Agatha wears only a unshapely, black shift. But Sophie knows they are destined for great things together.

When they are kidnapped by the School Master (who only comes every 4 years to kidnap a good person and evil person), Sophie knows her time has come. Agatha just wants to go home. She doesn't want to be separated from Sophie, and she doesn't want to be evil. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned.

Sophie is dropped off at the School of Evil where wolves control, ugliness rules, and wickedness thrives. Sophie knows she doesn't belong there and does everything in her power to escape to the School of Good across the way. Everyone in her school also knows she doesn't belong either.

While Sophie is at the School of Evil trying desperately to get to the School of Good to be a princess and find her prince, Agatha is dropped off at the School of Good, where everyone agrees she doesn't belong. Her goal is to get Sophie and get home. So they decide to work together.

Agatha helps Sophie, but Sophie's motives are pure. In the end, it is clear that the girls were dropped at the correct schools. Agatha is pure of heart, proving she is a princess. She even finds a prince who sees her beauty inside. Sophie is selfish and wicked, and with every evil deed, she turns even more ugly until she is a hideous witch. The tables keep turning though until there is a surprise ending.  Agatha saves Sophie and they are whisked away back to their village and away from Agatha's handsome prince.

What I thought: I thought this was a wonderful book. It was fun and engaging. It had amazing, complex characters that kept you on your toes. You were anxious to find out what happened to Sophie and Agatha and discover how their stories turned out. I can't wait to read the next book in the series. It's a trilogy!!

This is a great book for upper elementary, middle school, young adult, and anyone who enjoys a good story that has fairy tale aspects to it. It's good for boys and girls.

Inheritance series

By Christopher Paolini

One of the things my boys and I like to do is listen to audio books in the van. We listen on the way to and from school and on any trips we take. They love it, and they hate when we have to stop. 

It all started last summer when I took all 4 boys to MN by  myself to visit my parents. We couldn't watch videos so I thought we'd try books. That was one of the best idea I've ever had. Since last summer, we've listened to all of the Peter and the Starcatchers books by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, all of the Sisters' Grimm novels by Michael Buckley, The Museum of Thieves by Lian Tanner, and a variety of other books. Last spring we started the Inheritance series because I thought the boys would like the dragons and adventure, and we just finished this week with the 4th book.

These books are like the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars rolled into one. There's action and adventure, battles and travel, elves, dwarves, urgals, and dragon riders. There's an evil, tyrant ruler (Galbatorix) and the rebels (the Varden) who are trying to get back control of the empire from him. And all of it rests on the shoulders of one young man named Eragon.

In the beginning, Eragon is just a 16 year old boy who lives with him uncle and cousin on their farm. He's nothing special, and his future looks boring. Until a large blue rock drops near him while he's hunting. He takes it home and it hatches. A beautiful blue dragon appears and chooses Eragon as her rider. He names her Sapphira, and they leave his home. Along their travels, they learn and grow, meet new people and discover enemies. He helps the Varden thwart Galbatorix, becomes an adopted dwarf, journeys to an elven city to learn from a hidden dragon rider, goes back to helping the Varden, fights against another dragon rider under Galbatorix's control (who just so happens to be his half brother), and falls in love. All of this leads to the final battle between the Varden and Galbatorix's army. Eragon is the only one who can defeat him, even if Galbatorix is stronger and wiser.

In the end, Eragon vanquishes Galbatorix as only he can. The Varden take over, and Eragon decides to leave to raise dragon eggs and riders somewhere more safe and remote.

What I liked: This books has lots of great characters with depth and complexities. Some of the side characters are especially great.  I really wish the author would write the back story on Angela. She's one of my favorite characters.  Also, the visuals and descriptions are fantastic! You can really picture everything in your mind. The story is engaging and exciting. My boys and I give it all a big thumb's up!!!

What I didn't like: Some of the descriptions were a little too much. Also, there were some scenes that were a little unnecessary. Sometimes it felt as if he were just trying to make it as long as possible.

This series is great for boys and girls, ages middle school and up. My boys loved it and always begging to hear more, but after listening to it, I think I should have waited a little longer to share this story with them. Some of the battle scenes were a little graphic, and I don't think that was good for my younger sons.