J.C. Buchanan

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Title: The Sign of the Cat

Author: Lynne Jonell

Published By: Henry Holt and Co. (2015)

Synopsis: Talking cats, a missing princess, swordfights with villains, and secret identities combine in this epic tale of bravery and self-discovery on the high seas.

Duncan is very smart. He also has a most unusual gift. So why does his mother encourage him to be perfectly average and insist he only get mediocre grades ? His special talent is the ability to talk to cats–but Duncan longs more than anything for academic success. When Duncan rebels and gets a perfect test score, people start taking notice of him. And it turns out that some of those people may not have the best intentions . . . not by a long shot. (Taken from Goodreads)

Review:

Lynne Jonell has done it again! I waited nearly a year to read her newest novel, and it was completely worth the wait. Duncan’s story is not only fascinating, but it’ll well plotted and well written, with all loose ends tied up in a satisfying ending.

There were so many things I loved about this book. It was fantasy without magic, a story that takes place in a whole another world, a whole another kingdom…The cats, which were a HUGE part of the story, were awesome. My favorite character was definitely Fia, a little kitten Duncan befriends. I really liked the way the cats played into the story without swerving the focus away from our hero (Duncan). His ability to speak Cat—that was just plain out fascinating, and that alone kept me reading. How did he learn? Why does he have this ability? Why nobody else?

The other mysteries—his mother’s overprotectiveness, the earl, the missing princess—were so intriguing that I couldn’t put the book down once I got to about chapter three. I really appreciated the way the mysteries were tied up: a few at time, enough to answer some of our questions, but still enough that need to be resolved so that we keep reading. And once the mysteries are resolved and almost everything we’ve wondered about is given answer, there’s no pointless drawn-out chapters afterwards. There’s one last chapter narrating how Duncan’s changed, and then it ends right after the final mystery is uncovered.

The characters were all so lovable—especially the cats, who were absolutely adorable. The way they were scripted in makes them seem like people, characters, not just a cat, and I love the way Lynne Jonell did it.

Negative Content / Notes:

This book gets harsh, in the sense, when it comes to cats and if you love animals and are sensitive to animals getting hurt, you may not want to read this. It’s nothing horrible, and nothing actually happens during the course of the story, but as we read, we find out about horrible things that happened before, and see the results around us. I personally was horrified, however it did not stop me from reading and I just continued on as I knew it was just another aspect to the story, something that was going to make the final ending and rescue a lot better (which it did).  I was okay with it, but I think a lot of animal-lovers will have to either skip over certain chapters or not read it at all.

Overall:

All in all, another amazing read from Lynne Jonell. I was capitivated from the beginning and it truly lived up to the standards!

Rating: 4.5

Recommended to: I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a good fantastical adventure.

 

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Title: First Light

Author: Rebecca Stead

Published By: Wendy Lamb Books (2007)

Synopsis: Peter is thrilled to join his parents on an expedition to Greenland, where his father studies global warming. Peter will get to skip school, drive a dogsled, and finally share in his dad s adventures. But on the ice cap, Peter struggles to understand a series of visions that both frighten and entice him.
Thea has never seen the sun. Her extraordinary people, suspected of witchcraft and nearly driven to extinction, have retreated to a secret world they ve built deep inside the arctic ice. As Thea dreams of a path to Earth s surface, Peter’s search for answers brings him ever closer to her hidden home. (Taken from Goodreads)

Review:

Ehhh.

I wish the author had started the book with Thea. Peter’s story is interesting, don’t get me wrong. But the way the book opened was, to me, a bit dull. Just Peter’s regular everyday life…Oh, look, we’re going to Greenland. Yay.

I endured the first chapters because I really liked Rebecca Stead’s other books and I told myself I really should read First Light.

When Thea entered, for me that’s when it became interesting. I loved Thea’s world. I was immediately drawn in and intrigued. Where is Thea’s world? Where is her mother? What kind of world is this? I eagerly took in every detail. It was such a world that was so vividly described that I loved every minute I spent there. Every detail was covered. Every character was real. Thea’s an amazing narrator, telling me the whole story.

Then we go back to Peter and I groan inwardly.

Sure. Peter’s an interesting enough character. But his story, for me, wasn’t interesting enough for him to have a whole half of the book. Let’s see, what would I rather read about?—a girl living deep under the ice in a whole another fascinating world, or a boy on an expedition to Greenland where he sits around his tent and wonders about his headaches.

Peter’s story needed to be more interesting. More intriguing. But it wasn’t, and as a result I found myself looking forward, anticipating—Oh, when will Thea have another chapter?

The ending was incredibly, incredibly drawn out. What I mean by this:
In chapter 31, all of our answers to all of our questions are given. They’re summed up and explained, detailed. I’m happy. Everything was tied up very, very well and some of the reveals actually were pretty amazing. (More on this later.) So at the end of chapter 31, I’m completely satisfied. All my questions are answered. It seems they’re all going to live happily. Then I notice there’s fifty pages left in the book.

Chapters 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, epilogue. Pointless. I could not believe how long this book was. There was nothing even remotely interesting about the last chapters. I forced myself through them because I wanted to say I had finished the book. They were absolutely dull and nothing interesting. Maybe others are interested in hours of Peter practicing, practicing more, wandering around, talking to his mother, Thea thinking how amazing things are, her speaking to her grandma, etc, etc, etc. But for me, I’d already had my answers and I wasn’t interested in all the aftermath.

Back to what I said earlier, about the reveals. They actually were pretty amazing. However the way they were written ruined the shock completely so it did not have any effect on me. It was just written so plainly, so boring without any emotion. “I am Aurora.” “Really?” “Yeah.” “Okay.”

Okaaaaaaaay?

Anyway, to the author’s credit, they were pretty shocking reveals. AND it was all tied together pretty amazing. I mean, every single tiny question I ever had was answered to the full. Answered without any emotion or without any feeling, but still answered.

Going back to when I said the ending was drawn out: actually, the whole book was drawn out. So…..many….chapters…that.…aren’t.… contributing….to….the….plot….line….ohh…look…peter’s….going…to…dig…a…hole…with…jonas…this…is…so…exciting…

Thea’s story at least was pretty important; every scene was interesting in some way. Peter’s was boring. Do I even have to ask the reason behind Jonas? He made no sense and kind of just disappeared into space in the end.

Another thought on Thea’s world: dogs are a big part. No problems there. I only wish the dogs were given names that make them easy to distuingish from the humans, and the humans weren’t given such outworldly names! When there’s this many characters, it was easy to forgot who was a dog and who was a person. With such similiar names it was very hard to keep them all straight.

It probably sounds like I hated this book, but that isn’t true. I didn’t dislike the book; I just disliked a lot of aspects of the book. An interesting enough story, but it was just too drawn out and got dull really quick.

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Title: Lost in the Sun

Author: Lisa Graff

Published By: Philomel Books (2015)

Synopsis: Everyone says that middle school is awful, but Trent knows nothing could be worse than the year he had in fifth grade, when a freak accident on Cedar Lake left one kid dead, and Trent with a brain full of terrible thoughts he can’t get rid of. Trent’s pretty positive the entire disaster was his fault, so for him middle school feels like a fresh start, a chance to prove to everyone that he’s not the horrible screw-up they seem to think he is. 
If only Trent could make that fresh start happen.
It isn’t until Trent gets caught up in the whirlwind that is Fallon Little—the girl with the mysterious scar across her face—that things begin to change. Because fresh starts aren’t always easy. Even in baseball, when a fly ball gets lost in the sun, you have to remember to shift your position to find it. (Taken from Goodreads)

Review: (Spoilers)

This book was awful. Horrid. Terrible. Okay, I take some of that back. The story was actually amazing. But for me an ending can ruin a story and that’s exactly what happened: the ending of this book completely ruined the entire story. First of all, you can’t just spend the whole book embellishing on Fallon Little and her mysterious scar, then never tell us what happened. What’s even worse is when the author finishes the book—seriously, it was the very last scene—with Fallon sitting down to tell us her story. The narrator, our main character Trent, writes, “And she told me the beginning of her story.” Then bam. The book is over. No more. Turn the page, search for an epilogue—nothing. I understand what the author was trying to accomplish with this, but you can’t just build that much suspense and never tell what actually happened. It was very irritating.

If the book hadn’t ended that way, I would write more about the amazing storyline of the book and how realistic the characters are portrayed and how shocking and incredible it was for me to realize that this was, in a way, a spin-off to Umbrella Summer. And to be honest, I still liked everything up until the end. It truly was a beautiful book and a wonderful new work from Lisa Graff. To me, though, the ending just ruined it all. It built up suspense, teased me with partial answers and more questions, and then never tells me the actual answer. On that same note, Trent really never fixes things with his dad. And I get it—the whole point of the story is just his finding his fresh start. But it would have been nice to see a bit more of it, instead of just his life leading up to the fresh start.

Overall: 

I just didn’t like it.

Rating: 2.5

Recommended to: If you’re a fan of Lisa Graff, you probably will like this book.