Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse - Rick Riordan (2007)

3.5 stars

I ordered this book as soon as I finished the first one, it just took me a while to get around to actually reading it, but once I started I read it in about two days because much like the first two as soon as you get into it it's hard to put down.

I love Percy narrating these books, Rick write his perspective so well that I'm often laughing out loud at his little quips. I think the quest in this book went on for a bit too long as it got a bit boring in places, but I like meeting new Gods and demigods which there was a lot of in this book. I also like how each book is slowly having more and more little references to Percy and Annabeth (Percabeth to those in the know) liking each other. My favourite character in this book was probably Apollo, it was nice having a god with a sense of humour and a nice personality. Just look at my posts for the first and second book for who I would recommend this series to.

The book starts with Percy and Annabeth going to help Grover bring some new demigods to camp but when they are attacked by a monster Annabeth gets taken. The goddess Artemis then says she must go on a quest to find the monster that can bring down Olympus and leaves her pack of hunters with Percy and Grover to take back to camp. They then are granted acccess to go on a quest to save Annabeth and they find that Luke has taken her to the garden of Hesperides where he is forcing her to hold up the sky in Atlas' place. Artemis is then tricked into taking the sky from Annabeth and will miss the meeting of the Gods on the winter solstice if they don't save her in time. Once there Percy takes the sky from Artemis so she can help fight Atlas and Luke and almost dies under the weight before Artemis tricks Atlas back into holding it. Thalia also pushes Luke off a cliff and though Percy is sure he's dead Annabeth, then later his father tells him he's wrong. Thalia then decides to join Artemis' hunt which makes her immortal and stuck at fifteen forever, putting the weight of the prophecy on Percy.

I am Number Four: The Lost Files: The Legacies (2012)

3 stars

I really enjoy the Lorien Legacies series and I read something about "Adam" joining the main books at a point so I decided to read this book to understand what they were talking about.

This book is a collection of three of Pittacus Lore's Lost Files, it has the backstory of Six, Nine, and what happened to the other three Garde before the start of I am Number Four. My favourite story of the three was The Fallen Legacies, I liked learning about the Mogadorians and their lifestyle and I think Adam might end up with a pretty important role in the battle between the loric and the mogadorians. I thought Six and Nine's stories were kind of similar, the only difference being that Nine had to be rescued and Six made it out on her own. I do admit that reading this made me like Nine a lot more after knowing what he's been through, but my favourite character out of all three stories was probably Adam. I like that the author gave the mogadorian's a human aspect and I think the courage he showed to defy his kind was really inspiring to read. I would recommend this book to you if you really enjoy the Lorien Legacies and want to know more about the Garde.

I'll split the plot summary into each story:

Six's Legacy
Six and her Cepan Katarina are captured by Mogadorians while changing cities. Once they learn that Six is not the next number they can kill they torture Katarina in front of her to make her talk. She lies and tells them she is number eight along with a lot of useless information regarding their past movements so they think she's cooperating. Once she tells them they kill Katarina right in front of her. She is trapped inside their camp for another couple months before her invisibility legacy kicks in and she escapes that way.

Nine's Legacy
Nine has been living in Chicago with his Cepan Sandor for five years so when a mog shows up, instead of telling Sandor, he lures him into a trap and kills him. He then meets Maddy, a human girl who he instantly likes except when they're on their first date mogs show up and try to get him. He then goes to her house the next day and mogs attack him again, this time capturing him. He learns that Maddy was working with them so she could have her parents back, the mogs make Nine watch as they reunite her with her parents then set a Piken on them. They then torture Sandor in front of Nine for days until one day he overcomes the forcefield between them and kills Sandor out of mercy. He is trapped for about a year before Four and Sam free him.

The Fallen Legacies
This story is told from the perspective of a teenage Mogadorian, Adam, whose father is the general of the Mogadorian army. After they kill One, his father puts him in an untested device where he is supposed to see One's memories and he will be able to give them information on the rest of the Garde. Once he is inside One's mind they become sort of friends as they look through her memories together, and he starts to doubt his race's intentions. When he wakes, he learns it has been three years since he was first put in the device and he tells his father that it didn't work and he learnt nothing. Then on the way to kill Two, Adam learns her position first and tries to help her. They still manage to kill her and he goes unnoticed as a traitor. After two more years he gets to go along to the killing of Three, however when he tries to help him his brother discovers his intentions and he pushes him off a cliff, thinking that he killed him when he was still semi alive at the bottom of the ravine.

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

2.5 stars

I bought this book a couple months ago so I could read it before I saw the movie, I obviously ended up not reading it before I saw it and I think if I knew how similar they were I wouldn't have bothered doing both.

I liked this book but I thought it was a bit boringly written. I often find with older books that although the plot is interesting me I get bored reading the book because of the annoying way it's written. I know that Jay Gatsby is supposed to be one of the best characters in fiction because of all his hope, but I just found him to be a bit of a pushover and very stubborn at times near the end. My favourite character was Nick Carraway, I like that the book was told from neither of the main characters perspectives and I just liked his personality and his commentary on some aspects of the story. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes romance novels, historical fiction or classic novels.

Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan's cousin, moves to West Egg to get into the bond business and by coincidence ends up neighbours with Jay Gatsby. Once Gatsby learns that Nick knows Daisy he gets him to invite her to his house for lunch so Gatsby can just drop by as he and Daisy were in love before he went off to war and she married Tom Buchanan. Once they reunite and realize they still love each other Gatsby tries to get Daisy to tell Tom that she never loved him however when she tries to do that he insists they all go to town together. Because of a series of really unlucky events, when they are driving back from town Daisy accidently hits Tom's mistress, Myrtle, with Gatsby's car and keeps driving. Gatsby tells only Nick that Daisy was the one driving, of course he'll take the blame for her. The next day Daisy and Tom leave town and Myrtle's husband goes to Gatsby's house and shoots him before shooting himself. Nick and a few others are the only ones who attend the funeral.

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters - Rick Riordan (2006)

4 stars

I bought this book because I liked the first book and knew that this one is becoming a movie this year. I don't know whether I would've read it without the movie because the first book didn't really leave me wanting more, but I am so glad I did.

I liked this book more than the first one because I think it had a better quest. It was probably partly because I studied The Odyssey in english last year because I liked knowing the myths behind all the events and monsters in this quest. I also think because these books are just a lot of action and fighting different monsters, because this book was shorter than the last I enjoyed it more because I didn't have to read as many fight scenes. My favourite character in this book, hands down, was Tyson, it may be because I am partial to both giants and outcasts but he was just so loveable I couldn't help it. I thought he brought a much needed sensitive view on things considering the rest of the characters are all either conceited or brave, and his little speech at the end about being sent a brother made me tear up a little.

This book starts on Percy's last day of school before going back to Camp Half-Blood for the summer where he has made a new friend, Tyson, who is 2 metres tall and pretty simple. When monsters attack him in gym class, Tyson is helping him when Annabeth shows up and takes them both to camp where monsters can now freely enter because Thalia's tree is dying. They learn Chiron was fired as the Gods suspect it was him who poisoned the tree and the new activities director Tantalus takes an instant dislike to Annabeth and Percy. When they suggest to him that they go on a quest to find the golden fleece, which can heal any living thing, he dedcides Clarisse should go on this quest. Percy and Annabeth want to go because it's on Polyphemus' island where he has Grover captured so when Percy is contemplating whether they should just go anyway Hermes appears to him and gives him some useful items and tells him that he should go. Percy, Annabeth and Tyson end up going and getting the fleece and Grover with the help of Clarisse when they save her from Polyphemus as well. After they capture the fleece, Percy sends Clarisse to the airport so she can take the fleece back as soon as possible and then Luke takes Percy, Grover, Annabeth and Tyson capture as he wants the fleece to heal Kronos. Percy tricks Luke into admitting that he poisoned the tree and got them to steal the fleece as part of his plan to help Kronos rise to power in front of Dionysus and the rest of the campers through an Iris message. Chiron then comes to rescue them from Luke's ship and they return to camp together as Chiron's name is now cleared. After a few nights Percy is woken in the middle of the night to find that them getting the fleece to heal the tree was all in Kronos' plan as Thalia, daughter of Zeus, is alive again.

Shine Light - Marianne de Pierres (2012)

3.5 stars

I was excited to learn how this trilogy would end after being really intrigued by book one and two, except I think after reading it it's my least favourite in the series.

I really liked Burn Bright and Angel Arias because they explored different worlds and creatures, but this one was focused more on Naif and how she was going to destroy Ixion. I still really enjoyed reading a story set in this unique world, but I think the end was very abrupt and confusing and I would've enjoyed an epilogue or another chapter giving an explanation as to what happened to everyone after the battle at Danskoi. I think my favourite character in this book was Lenoir, even though Naif thinks he has flawed logic and wants to hurt people, he never does unless he's trying to help Naif. I would recommend this series to people who like fantasy novels, espeially ones set in new worlds.

The book starts just after the end of Angel Arias with Naif and her friends on Ruzalia's airship telling her what they learned when the were in the Grave. They decide they need to take the books that are hidden in the Vank as they think they'll have the history of how Ixion was created in them. They also need to find where the ripers are keeping the uther queen as without the uthers they won't be able to look after themselves, also they think the uthers can reverse the badges so no-one will die of them. Ruzalia drops them back on Ixion and tells them of a way to send her messages while she's away. After they have retrieved the books, Naif learns that the ship that the ripers came on is sustaining the ever night on Ixion and she thinks it is right off the south coast of the island. The leaguers and the rest of Naif's friends are then taken by the ripers and she finds Rollo and Kero who help her find the uthers and then with one of them finds the uther queen trapped inside the riper's ship. Naif and Rollo send a message to Ruzalia to meet Kero at the ship and to tow it away so the ever night will disappear and the ripers will have to retreat to the caves or die. While they are waiting for Ruzalia to come and take the ship away, Naif and Rollo gather most of the people on Ixion to join them to go to Danskoi and once there they free the leaguers and just before a night creature is about to kill Naif, Ruzalia tows the ship away and the light returns to Ixion, banishing the night creatures and the ripers.

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan (2005)

3 stars

I bought this book because I had heard so much about this series and when I told a friend that I thought the movie was kind of average she told me that the book series is so much better and I'm pretty glad I listened to her.

I think I would've enjoyed this book a lot more if I'd read it when I was younger, although I still thought it was good, it was written for a younger age group and it's really noticeable if you're 18 the first time you read it. I think that the premise of the story is really cool, a camp for demigods, of course you'd want to go to that. My favourite character was probably Chiron, I think I could really like Annabeth but the quest took up so much of the book there wasn't much room for character development or exploration asides from Percy. Chiron was just a cool dude who I thought was really needed as a guide for Percy and a bridge between the gods and demigods. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure novels, greek mythology, and is either a teenager or doesn't mind reading a book aimed at 12-14 year olds.

Percy is a kid with ADHD and dyslexia who returns from his boarding school to a holiday with his mother. However when his friend Grover interrupts them talking about how the kindly ones are after him, his mother gets him in the car and drives him to camp half blood. Once there he learns he is a demigod, a son of Poseidon and he must undertake a quest to find Zeus' lightning bolt that was stolen from him. He travels to Los Angeles with Annabeth and Grover to go talk to Hades, who they assume has the bolt, into giving it back to them but once in the underworld Percy learns that he had been set up and he had the bolt in his bag that Ares had given to him. He manages to escape the underworld with the bolt and after defeating Ares in battle returns the bolt to Zeus. He is welcomed back to camp as a hero and then after learning that his friend Luke was the one who initially stole the bolt he decides to go home for the rest of the year and return to camp next summer.

Every Day - David Levithan (2012)

3.5 stars

I bought this book because I thought the concept was really interesting and unique and I enjoyed Will Grayson, Will Grayson and wanted to see how a whole novel written by David Levithan would go.

This book was written wonderfully, even with it's predictable plot I had to keep reading just to see who A would inhabit the next day. This book also made me question my life; What would someone do if they woke up in my body? What would I do if I was in someone's body for one day? What if I fell in love with someone who was a different person every day? For that reason I loved this book, but the predictablility and sadness of the plot made me hate it a little bit. Because I didn't really like any of the central characters that much, I thought I would pick my favourite person A inhabited in the novel and the ones that stick out in my memory are Zara, Vic, Alexander and Kelsea. Zara was young and in love and just really likeable, Vic had faced his life with such conviction I don't know how someone couldn't like him and I know you're supposed to like Alexander the best but I actually just think he was a really likeable guy who I can imagine being one of my friends in real life. Kelsea wasn't my favourite personality A experienced in the novel, but I think her chapter was a lot more important than the rest of A's worries and I loved that he clearly helped someone with just one day. I would recommend this book to anyone who doesn't mind a weird premise and likes romance.

A wakes up as a different person every day, he's still himself, he just inhabits someone different. He usually tries to avoid attatchment and just try to not have anything go wrong, that is until he inhabits Justin and falls for Rhiannon. He can't stop think about her so he goes to visit her a couple times, once in the body of Nathan Daldry. On the way back from the party he went to as Nathan Daldry to visit Rhiannon he can't get back to his house before midnight so he pulls over to the side of the road to fall asleep so it won't hurt when he body jumps. Nathan then tells everyone he was possessed by the devil for a day and won't stop emailing A. Soon A explains to Rhiannon his situation and they start to kind of date. After a couple weeks Rhiannon tells him she can't get past his outside always being different and breaks up with him, he then replies to Nathan and meets him to explain to him what happened to him. Nathan then brings his reverend to talk to A and the reverend tells A that he is just like him and that you can spend longer than just one day in someone. A then wakes up in the body of Alexander Lin and calls Rhiannon. He sets them up for their first date and then tells Rhiannon that even though he can stay in a body for a long period of time he can't do that, it would feel too wrong and Alexander is a nice guy that she could love. The next day he makes his person move to a different city so he won't have to run into Rhiannon again.