Book

Johnny and the Dead

Johnny and the Dead

Johnny and the Dead (Johnny Maxwell #2) By: Terry Pratchett

Plot:

Not many people can see the dead (not many would want to). Twelve-year-old Johnny Maxwell can. And he’s got bad news for them: the council want to sell the cemetery as a building site. But the dead have learnt a thing or two from Johnny. They’re not going to take it lying down . . .especially since it’s Halloween tomorrow. Besides, they’re beginning to find that life is a lot more fun than it was when they were…well…alive. Particularly if they break a few rules . . .

Review:

I expected this to be a direct sequel, to talk about the video game aliens, maybe tell me more about Johnny’s unexpected ability. That’s not really what this is. It does continue with Johnny but he no longer talks to video game aliens, instead he can now see dead people.

In case you were wondering this book did come before The Sixth Sense.

I like the fact that Pratchett doesn’t stick with one power, sure Johnny can find a way into video games but he can also talk to the dead. He’ll probably get to do something else in the next book. It would have been interesting to continue on with the video games but he would have ended up having to give more details and explanations and while I probably would have found it interesting I’m sure it would have gotten boring.

I hope I get some answers about Johnny in the next one, not really about his abilities, but more about what’s going to happen to him.

4/5

The Gunslinger

Gunslinger

The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower #1) By: Stephen King

Plot:

Beginning with a short story appearing in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1978, the publication of Stephen King’s epic work of fantasy — what he considers to be a single long novel and his magnum opus — has spanned a quarter of a century.

Set in a world of extraordinary circumstances, filled with stunning visual imagery and unforgettable characters, The Dark Tower series is King’s most visionary feat of storytelling, a magical mix of science fiction, fantasy, and horror that may well be his crowning achievement.

Book I In The Gunslinger (originally published in 1982), King introduces his most enigmatic hero, Roland Deschain of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting, solitary figure at first, on a mysterious quest through a desolate world that eerily mirrors our own. Pursuing the man in black, an evil being who can bring the dead back to life, Roland is a good man who seems to leave nothing but death in his wake.

Review:

I want so desperately to like Stephen King. I really do. He’s so popular and everyone loves him and knows his work. It would be awesome to have read something that other people have read and be able to talk about it. I’m not a horror fan but I’ve read a couple of his books and I dislike each one, The Gunslinger was not an exception.

In the forward he said he was inspired by the Lord of the Rings and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Both awesome things so I was excited to read this series. I can tell you right now I’m not going to read past this one.

It was boring and dragged a lot. He was overly descriptive and for someone who hates adverbs he used his fair share. The main character seemed to have redeeming qualities, but then didn’t. The world was such a horrible place, the people were horrible, everything was just awful. Not a world I want to read more about because you can already tell it is not going to be redeemed.

He constantly referred back to a female character that he killed and whenever he did he always said her name and the name of the town she was from. Like he was reminding you who she was, which was annoying. I just read that part I don’t need to be reminded every few pages where she was from.

The story bounced around from past to present a lot, but that wasn’t the confusing part. He didn’t explain the world you just had to try and figure it out. Which is not uncommon in fantasy but I thought he could have gone about it better. For someone who describes everything he did a poor job of describing what I actually cared about. It was always the desert and his surroundings, rarely magic and how the world became the way it was.

This book was not for me. This book was for Stephen King and his fans.

1/5

Something Rotten

 something rotten

Something Rotten (Thursday Next #4) By: Jasper Fforde

Plot:

Detective Thursday Next has had her fill of her responsibilities in her new position at Jurisfiction, enough with Emperor Zhark’s pointlessly dramatic entrances, outbreaks of slapstick raging across pulp genres, and hacking her hair off to fill in for Joan of Arc. Packing up her child, Thursday returns to Swindon accompanied by none other than the dithering Danish prince Hamlet. Caring for both is more than a full-time job, and Thursday decides it’s definitely time to get back her husband, Landen, if only to babysit. Luckily, those responsible for Landen’s eradication, the operatives of the Goliath Corporation – formerly an oppressive multinational conglomerate, now an oppressive multinational religion – have pledged to right the wrong.” But returning to SpecOps isn’t a snap. Problems arise instantly. When outlaw fictioneer Yorrick Kaine seeks to get himself elected dictator, he whips up a frenzy of anti-Danish sentiment and demands mass book burnings. The return of Swindon’s patron saint bearing divine prophecies could spell the end of the world within five years, possibly sooner if the laughably terrible Swindon Mallets don’t win the Superhoop, the most important croquet tournament in the land. And if that’s not bad enough, The Merry Wives of Windsor is becoming entangled with Hamlet. Can Thursday find a Shakespeare clone to stop this hostile takeover? Can she prevent the world from plunging into war? Can she vanquish Kaine before he realizes his dream of absolute power? And, most important, will she ever find reliable child care?

Review:

There’s always so much going on in a Thursday Next novel and yet Fforde never seems to forget any of it. Thursday’s husband issue is finally resolved, which made me happy. The ending had me in tears.

Loved the fact that her son spoke Lorem Epsum. These books are so witty and full of so many puns and jokes and slapstick and everything you can think of. There’s a sci fi alien overlord. It basically breaks the fourth wall. They’re really great books.

Everything was resolved with Something Rotten and I was surprised to see that there are still more books in the series. I’m curious to see what happens next, though kind of concerned because I don’t want it to just be a repeat of what has already happened.

5/5

Eleanor and Park

eleanor and park

Eleanor and Park By: Rainbow Rowell

Plot:

Eleanor… Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough…Eleanor. Park… He knows she’ll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There’s a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises…Park. Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.

Review:

Oh my god the feels. So many emotions. So many tears. This book was… so… I want to say incredible but that’s not the right word. I can’t think of the perfect word for this book. It wasn’t a roller coaster of emotion it was pretty much nonstop tears for me.

I guessed who was writing the notes on her books fairly quickly but there were enough red herrings to make me question myself.

Rowell creates characters that are just real enough. They have their quirks and you can almost believe that they really exist but they’re just too awesome. If I was ever in a room with her characters I would be too awestruck by their collective awesome to say anything.

Maybe I just judge people to harshly and people like this really exist, but I don’t think so, at least not in my world. Awesome book, must buy.

5/5

Only You Can Save Mankind

Only You Can Save Mankind

Only You Can Save Mankind (The Johnny Maxwell Trilogy #1) By: Terry Pratchett

Plot:

It’s just a game . . . isn’t it? The alien spaceship is in his sights. His finger is on the Fire button. Johnny Maxwell is about to set the new high score on the computer game Only You Can Save Mankind. Suddenly, a message appears: We wish to talk. We surrender. But the aliens aren’t supposed to surrender—they’re supposed to die!

Review:

This book leaves a lot of questions unanswered, really making me wish I already had the second one. Great story and would highly recommend to anyone, not just the kids this book was written for.

The setting is during the first Gulf War, I was pretty young at the time, but since my dad was over there I remember watching a lot of news. The images he comes back to over and over in the book are images I remember seeing.

There’s a lot of mystery around Johnny. His parents are getting a divorce and forgetting about him during the process. He thinks he’s smarter in his dreams than in real life, but I think it’s more of a confidence issue. He’s a kid that’s going through a Trying Time and getting lost in the shuffle. It’s sad.

That’s not the main focus of the book, though. While playing a video game the aliens he’s killing surrender to him. What’s amazing is that Johnny lets them. They’d tried surrendering before but none of the other players would accept, Johnny was the only one. It reminds me of the video game Fable where you can choose to be good or evil. This world is too early to have played Fable though so they’ve never had options. It’s always been kill the aliens.

The premise is interesting and there’s more than just the video game issue going on, Johnny’s friends and family life are complicated too. Good amount of depth in the story and I’m really hoping the library has the next one in the series when I go in.

4/5