The Crown's Game

TITLE: The Crown's Game
AUTHOR: Evelyn Skye
RELEASE DATE: May 2016
PUBLISHER: Balzer + Bray
PAGES: 399 pages
SERIES: The Crown's Game book 1
GENRE: Fantasy
OVERALL RATING: 2/5
APPROPRIATE AGE: grades 7-12

SUMMARY: In 19th century Russia, where magic is real, the Czar relies on an Imperial Enchanter, someone with the power to protect the country beyond military control. This generation, two enchanters have been born, so the Czar puts the Crown's Game into effect. Vika Andreyevna is a typical girl that lives on the small island of Ovchinin and trained in the magical arts by her father to one day prepare to become the Imperial Enchanter. Nikolai Karimov has known his magic since birth and it has scared off anyone close to him, until one day he is taken in by a woman who can prepare him for his future. But will these two be willing to use their magic against eachother to become the next Imperial Enchanter?

   

FAVORITE QUOTE: "As for whether the magic in The Corwn's Game is real, well... that deoends. Do you believe in what you cannot see?" ( , Skye) 

WHAT I LIKED: I absolutely love that this story took place in Russia, and included all of the Russian places and history like the Czars and the names. It was different from any other book I've read recently. 

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The story was a little predictable in the fact that there is a boy and a girl, both with powers that have to end up competing against each other to win the title of Imperial Enchanter. It was predictable in the idea that ::spoiler alert:: the two fall in love. I mean, who didn't see that coming?

SERIES UPDATE: Book Two: The Crown's Fate releases May 17, 2017

READALIKES: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

BOOK TRAILER: And here I give you the strangest book trailer I have ever seen. No idea what this dance video has to do with the book, but it is the "official" book trailer provided by HarperCollin's Children's Books.

3/30/17 UPDATE: I've found a better Book Trailer, created by Epic Reads, that gives you a little more information about the actual video.

Black Butler

TITLE: Black Butler I
AUTHOR: Yana Toboso
RELEASE DATE: January 2010
PUBLISHER: Yen Press
PAGES: 184 pages
GENRE: Graphic Novel
OVERALL RATING: 2/5
APPROPRIATE AGE: grades 9-12 (language)

SUMMARY: Sebastian Michaelis is the faithful servant to twelve-year-old, Ciel Phantomhive, earl to the Phantomhive empire. On his own, after his family was taken from him by a fire, Sebastian does everything for the boy, from bringing him tea, trimming the edges, to killing all his captors when the boy is kidnapped. How does he do it all? It is truly more than any human can handle, but it makes you wonder if Sebastian is truly human at all. 

FAVORITE QUOTE: "...I am a devil... of a butler." 
   

WHAT I LIKED: My favorite part was when Sebastian has gone to save Ciel and all the servants are sitting around useless because they don't know what to do without Sebastian. When Finn goes to the drawer to retrieve the silverware for dinner and notices everything is gone, except the spoons. Then the next panel shows Sebastian throwing knives and forks like daggers, killing all of the people shooting at him. 

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The story was a little cheesy. The spoiled brat, Ciel, and the clueless servants, Baldroy, Mey-Rin, and Finnian, that ruin everything. Sebastian, the butler that does EVERYTHING in the house, then the servants completely screw it up. I'm sure it is at the same standards of other manga-style stories, but it all seemed superficial to me. It seemed to be lacking a storyline, I understand it is only book one in a series with over twenty books. So I'm sure the story plays out over time, but I really don't see myself picking up book two. 

READALIKES: Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba

STATUS IN MY LIBRARY: The Black Butler series is one of the most popular series in the Graphic Novel section of my library. When I came in, we had the first five, during my time here I have ordered another ten. They are always checked out. However, due to the extreme violence and offensive language, I question if they are appropriate for my 7-8 grade school. However, I haven't had anyone challenge them yet. 

SERIES UPDATE: Book XXII is to be released on May 24, 2016. 

BOOK TRAILER: This isn't a book trailer as much as a preview for the manga, posted on YouTube by a fan 

Walk on Earth a Stranger

TITLE: Walk on Earth a Stranger
AUTHOR: Rae Carson
RELEASE DATE: September 2015
PUBLISHER: Greenwillow Books
PAGES: 436 pages
GENRE: Historical Fiction, Fantasy
SERIES: The Gold Seer Trilogy
OVERALL RATING: 3/5
APPROPRIATE AGE: grades 7-12 

SUMMARY: Leah Westfall can sense gold, and California is calling to her, but she can't leave her family, her farm, and everything she has worked so hard for. But when her parents are murdered and she is taken into the care of her uncle, Hiriam; she finally sees the chance to leave. Disguising herself as a boy, and enduring hardships such as the Mississippi River, buffalo stampedes, cholera, and the deserts of the west, will Leah even survive long enough to see the gold that sings to her heart?

FAVORITE QUOTE: "Rear trigger, soft breath, hair trigger, crack! Smoke puffs up as the butt kicks my shoulder. Almost two hundred yards away, the poor animal's rear legs fly out sideways, and it goes down in a cloud of dust. 
Jefferson whistles as I hand the gun back to him.
'Not bag for a girl,' says Jonas Waters.
'It's not bad for anyone,' Jefferson snaps." (Carson, )
   

WHAT I LIKED: I absolutely loved the historical fiction aspect of this book. I don't normally read Historical Fiction books, but the magic "gold seer" part of the story intrigued me. I would probably shelve this book in the Fantasy section of my library. But I love how it includes actual dates and includes such details about the hardships of the trip overland America that so many made (and didn't make) during the Gold Rush.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The ending. Completely anticlimactic! Yea, they reached California, oh no, her uncle... and then he walked away. Seriously? Seriously? I feel like there needs to be a sequel, what happens next? Does she get married? Does she find gold and become rich? 
*EDIT: I found out this series is actually a trilogy, so I take back my "What I Didn't Like Comments

SERIES UPDATE: Book Two: Like a River Glorious will be released September 27, 2016

BOOK TRAILER: Epic Reads Explains Walk on Earth a Stranger by Rae Carson

A Night Divided

TITLE: A Night Divided
AUTHOR: Jennifer A. Nielsen
RELEASE DATE: August 2015
PUBLISHER: Scholastic Press
PAGES: 317 pages
GENRE: Historical Fiction
OVERALL RATING: 5/5
APPROPRIATE AGE: grades 4+

SUMMARY: Gerta was eight when the Berlin Wall went up overnight separating her father and middle brother from her mother, oldest brother, Fritz, and herself. Four years later, Gerta tries to follow the rules of East Berlin, tries to stay out of trouble, tries to live like an obedient twelve-year-old girl, but its difficult. How can you control what a person thinks? Then one day, on her walk to school she sees her brother, Dominic and her father, on a platform on the east side of the Wall watching her. Its then that she knows she must risk her life for freedom.

FAVORITE QUOTE: "I pulled my curtains apart, expecting the worst. But when I looked out, my heart slammed into my throat. Not even the darkest part of my imagination could have prepared me for this. It was Sunday, August 13, 1962, a day I would remember for the rest of my life. When a prison had been built around us as we slept."

WHAT I LIKED: I loved that this story was based on a real event: life in East Berlin during the construction of the Berlin Wall. I've always heard about the Berlin Wall, it came down when I was young. But reading this book really made me dig deeper into the history; how and why it was constructed. I did a lot of research on the Berlin Wall, it covered 96 miles of Germany and was up for twenty-eight years. I also read about a lot of the true stories of escape, people jumped out of buildings, dug tunnels, one family even built a hot air balloon. It was a truly terrible time, but looking back on it now and seeing the mistakes of our ancestors is truly important to make sure we don't make these same mistakes in the future. 

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: There is not a single thing that I did not like about this story. I do feel like it needs one those those, "Ten years later..." as a follow-up to each character after the Berlin Wall comes down. I'd like to think that Gerta and her family had a big part to play in the coming down of the Wall.

READALIKES: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys


BOOK TRAILER: link to Scholastic's Book Trailer for A Night Divided as described by author, Jennifer A. Nielsen

Passenger

TITLE: Passenger
AUTHOR: Alexandra Bracken
RELEASE DATE: January 2016
PUBLISHER: Hyperion
PAGES: 486 pages
SERIES: Book 1 in the 
GENRE: Science Fiction
OVERALL RATING: 3/5
APPROPRIATE AGE: grades 9-12

SUMMARY: Henrietta is a violin prodigy, but when she walks on stage for her big debut, something life-changing happens. A loud noise, the death of a close friend, and then she is pushed through a portal to a different time where pirates are real and the expectations of women are a whole lot different. Henrietta quickly learns that not only is she a time traveler, but she comes from a long line of them; a whole life that her mother kept hidden from her. And now she is forced to travel through time portals,with the help of Henry (a fellow traveler) to find the astrolabe that her mother hid from the Grand Master. But should she return the astrolabe to save her mother or destroy it to protect the future? How can Etta make such a big decision about a life that she still truly doesn't understand? 

FAVORITE QUOTE: "Etta had lived through a sea battle. She's survived the scheming of old, power-hungry men; the Blitz; a tiger; a cobra; and a gunshot-and she was denying herself this, out of fear that it might hurt later? What would hurt worse: the regret that she tried, or the regret that she didn't?"

WHAT I LIKED: I enjoyed all of the world building in this story. Etta had to travel to several different time periods and locations: New York City-1776, London-1940, Angkor-1685, Paris-1880, and Damascus-1599. Through each time portal, she had to figure out how to dress, how to behave, and how to fit in. It seemed like Alexandra Bracken did a lot of research for these different locations and time periods to make this story accurate.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The book starts out extremely slow. It took me about a week to get through the first three chapters (I usually finish books in less than a week). It wasn't even till after the first seven chapters that it even picked up speed, and even then it was a slow crawl. Overall I was completely disappointed by this book. I am such a HUGE fan of Alexandra Bracken's Dark Minds series that I really wanted to love this new series. But I kept reading this book wondering where is the action? Well it comes in the last chapter. 

READALIKES: The Ruby Red trilogy by Kerstin Gier

SERIES UPDATE: Book two: Wayfarer is due out January 2017.

BOOK TRAILER: Uploaded by Hyperion Teen