GJSHS book reviews » Action / Adventure

Mister Monday by Garth Nix

Christina Brownell — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 14:05:05 +0000

This book is about a boy named Arthur who has severe asthma, and he gets caught up in a novel of puzzle’s, madness, and creatures. It all starts, in gym class where he has a severe asthma attack, and blacks out. Then two strange men show up, and give him what look’s like the minute hand of a clock, but here is the catch it holds a power known only to it’s holder and other select people, and it wasn’t supposed to be given to him. So that was a mistake. The man who gives him the minute hand is man named Monday. He is in charge of the lower part of the house, which is supposedly the center of the whole universe. A woman named the architect creates this house and all of the “secondary realms”. Which Arthur happens to live in.

Then Arthur meets up with a few strange people that help him in his journey. The first person he meets is a girl named Suzy Turquoise Blue, who is an ink filler, helps him solve many of his problems. The next person that helps him is The Will. He is sort of a mystical frog who knows everything, and any thing about the lower house. Then one of Monday’s assistant’s who wants the original law to be carried out, so he helps Arthur take the hour hand clock which is the second key to the lower house away from Monday.

All of this just to find a cure for plague that is brought by one of the creatures from The House.
This book is sort of a mix of Harry Potter, and Willy Wonka. There isn’t a lot of suspense, but there is some action, and even a little bit of humor I would rate it 4 stars just for the fact that it was fun to read. So if you’re looking for a great fu series this book is the one to start off with. But if you don’t like these he has many other great books. I would definitely recommend this book.

Seth P. – 8th grade

The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket

Christina Brownell — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 14:02:58 +0000

This book is an interesting new book with a twist for those who have started and continued the Series of Unfortunate Events books. This book continues to tell the tale of the Baudelaire children whose parents died from a raging fire as told in the first book. The children throughout this wild and “unfortunate” series must live with new guardian after new guardian in a chain of deaths and traitors. This book ends as a cliffhanger for the last and final book which will come out on October 13, 2006.

In this story, it begins with a mysterious cab ride to a hotel of mystery and suspense for the Baudelaire children. They enter as concierges. They do much spying on gruesome characters from their past who unfortunately enter the hotel. Some of these characters come from The Miserable Mill, The Austre Academy, The Slippery Slope and many others. They must get one thing that was mentioned in book 11 and get it fast to find out the mysteries of VFD and the 100’s of mysteries surrounding the miserable lives of these 3 children. Answers will be divulged as many new secrets begin. Count Olaf, the villain in each and every book, once again returns to power and escapes the authorities as he does every time.

So if you want great mystery and suspense and are looking for a good series, A Series of Unfortunate Events is the book for you!

Jesse C – 7th grade

The Fire Thief by Terry Deary

Christina Brownell — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 13:57:44 +0000

This books was okay. Some of the parts had you on the edge of your seat making your eyes never want to leave the page, but other parts aren’t as exciting. It has a good plotline though. A Greek god named Prometheous steals fire from the gods and gives it to the humans. He is punished but his father, Zeus, makes a deal that if he can find a true human hero on earth then he will be forgiven. The story then moves into the future to Elden City: smoky, sad, falling apart, with two thieves named Jim and Uncle Edward. He has to do all this while The Fury, a massive bird and avenger of the gods, is searching for him. The story is told through Jim’s eyes. I would give this book three stars because sometimes the story got boring.Tory – 8th grade

Shadowmancer by G.P. Taylor

Christina Brownell — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 18:49:59 +0000

Shadowmancer is a mystical story with a lot of twists and turns. It revolves around two boys, and a young girl. The two boys’ names are Thomas who is around 12 years old, and Raphah who is about 15. The young girl’s name is Katie Colgan. Raphah is an African priest who is on a quest to get the Keruvim. The Keruvim is a magical religious idol with very strong powers that even an evil priest named Demurral can’t handle. Demurral isn’t happy with just controlling the village near him; he wants to control the world! So Raphah, Tom, and Kate, along with the help of a smuggler named Jacob Crane, try to stop the evil priest from controlling the world. There are also a lot of very odd characters they meet along the way. This book has a lot of action, and suspense. So if you’re looking for a great read, this is it.
Seth P. – 8th grade

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

Christina Brownell — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 12:47:50 +0000

Think teenage James Bond. 14 year old Alex Rider has been living with his uncle since his parents died when he was a baby. One day he finds out his uncle has died under mysterious circumstances that someone is trying to cover up. Making a few lucky escapes he winds up in his uncle’s old office to find out that he was a spy, and now Alex is being blackmailed into completing the mission that killed his uncle.Stormbreaker is the first book in the Alex Rider series, now up to five books. It is non-stop action from cover to cover with lots of gadgets, quick thinking, and narrow escapes. I enjoyed trying to figure out Alex’s next move and the complete picture of the conspiracy. The ending is very exciting and wraps up the story nicely, yet entices the reader to check out the next book in the series, Point Break.

–M. Funke, Librarian