Monday, June 23, 2008

94. Charlie Bone and the Blue Boa.

Book 3 of the Children of the Red King Series is Charlie Bone and the Blue Boa (UK)Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy(US). I had to confirm that both books were the same before I could mooch them. Who knew that the title would be very different.

As I mentioned earlier, the parallels to Harry Potter is still bothering me, Charlie now has a wand and there's a snake in this one too that is loose int he academy, CoS anyone.

Anyway, this book is about Charlie and Emma finding an invisible boy, except his toe. They find out that the Bloors are hiding him, and the reasson didn't really make that much sense to me. There's a snake loose in the school that turns people invisible once it has coiled around you. With the boy's brother's help, the keeps hatches a plot to rescue him. But there's a new girl in town named Belle, a too beautiful mysterious girl that seems to get along really well with the Yewbeam sisters,warning bells everyone. And Uncle Paton disappears and comes back changed and full of hopelessness.

I liked book three better than book 2 by judge a little bit but could still need a bit more work. The thing I noticed with the series is that the characters aren't as well developed as I would hope it would be and the fluidity of the story is just not very smooth. Characters pop in and pop out and the confrontations end up too easy, in my opinion. I am starting to feel a little symphaty for Billy but he is still a contradiction to me. Also, they defeat their adversaries far too easily in my opinion which makes the ending kind of anticlimactic for me. I already have books 4-6 courtesy of my very very nice bookmooch buddy chris so I'll give them a go.

Rating C

95. Charlie Bone and the Time Twister

I was lucky enough to find the rest of the series on bookmooch and so I was able to continue reading Jenny Nimmo's Children of the Red King Series.

Second to the series is Charlie Bone and the Time Twister. Henry Yewbeam, Charlie's great great grandfather, mysteriously disappeared one night and we find out that he was tricked into using a time twister and was transported into the future to Charlie Bone's time. Amidst problems with his friends and avoiding a plot of his aunts to trick him to enter the painting of an evil sorceror named Skarpo, Charlie is having a hard time trying to hide Henry from Ezekiel Bloom ( the cousin who tricked Henry) and his spies, including BIlly Raven.

Honestly, book 2 was a bit of a letdown for me. At first I liked Henry but I really couldn't sympathize with his character when he was transported to Charlie's time. He just started to annoy me, and his actions that led to his capture was just plain foolish thinking. I can imagine being lost in time should be a bit daunting but he never listens. We also find out that Cook has a big role to play in the story too. And Uncle Paton is solid as a rock amidst bursting bulbs :) . I would probably read the next book hoping it's better than this o ne.

Rating C

Friday, June 20, 2008

96. Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo

I found this book at the public library and the cover made me pick it up (the US cover looks more mysterious actually). I was to later find out that it was the first book of the "Children of the Red King Series" The book starts of with the hero named Charlie Bone who lives with his mom, and 2 grandmothers, the nice one and the not so nice one, Grandma Bone. and his Uncle Paton, sister to Grandma Bone, who has 2 evil sisters too. We also find out that hsi father is presumed dead. Charlie discovers that he can go into pictures. And when this power came about, the evil Bone sisters sent him to Bloors Academy and here is where Charlie's past, present and future will unfold. I can't help comparing this book to the Harry Potter series which is unfair but there were similarities here that just made me think of HP, not to say that all basis of magical school-boy is HP mind you. The characters were pretty entertaining and it did kind of left me wanting to read teh rest of the series. All in all not a bad read. Rating B.

The rest of the series will follow

Monday, June 02, 2008

Books read 2008

Comments will come later but if I don't write them down I'll end up forgeting

  1. Goddess of the Rose by PC Cast
  2. Goddess of the Spring by PC Cast
  3. Goddess of the Light by PC Cast
  4. Goddess of the Sea by PC Cast
  5. Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo
  6. Charlie Bone and the Time Twister by Jenny Nimmo
  7. Charlie Bone and the Blue Boa by Jenny Nimmo
  8. Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors by Jenny Nimmo
  9. Charlie Bone and the HIdden King by Jenny Nimmo
  10. Charlie Bone and the Wilderness Wolf by Jenny Nimmo
  11. The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley
  12. The Sisters Grimm: The Usual Suspects by Michael Buckley
  13. The Sisters Grimm: The Problem Child by Michael Buckley
  14. Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning
  15. Bloodfever by Karen Marie Moning
  16. Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye by Victoria Laurie
  17. Better Read than Dead by Victoria Laurie
  18. A Vision of Murder by Victoria Laurie
  19. What's a Ghoul to Do? by Victoria Laurie
  20. Crime Seen by Victoria Laurie
  21. Demons are a Ghoul's Best Friend by Victoria Laurie
  22. The Trouble with Magic by Madelyn Alt
  23. The Remains of the Dead by Wendy Roberts
  24. Love's Prisoner : Wyndham Werewolf Series by MaryJanice Davidson
  25. Jared's Wolf : Wyndham Werewolf Series by MaryJanice Davidson
  26. Derik's bane : Wyndham Werewolf Series by MaryJanice Davidson
  27. This Pen for Hire by Laura Levine
  28. Last Writes by Laura Levine
  29. Nightlife by Caitlin Kittredge
  30. On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle
  31. Through the Grinder by Cleo Coyle
  32. Pick Your Poison (Yellow Rose Mysteries) by Leann Sweeney
  33. Lemon Meringue Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke
  34. Furdge Cupcake Murder by Joanne Fluke
  35. Sugar Cookie Murder by by Joanne Fluke
  36. The Ghost and Mrs. McClure (Prime Crime Mysteries) by Alice Kimberly
  37. No Rest for the Witches - Davidson, Warren etc anthology
  38. Vamps in the City by Kerrelyn Sparks
  39. Playing with Fire by Gena Showalter
  40. Dead Sexy by Amanda Ashley
  41. Ain't Myth-Behaving by Katie MacAlister
  42. Really Something by Shirley Jump
  43. Dark Desire by Christine Feehan
  44. Dark Gold by Christine Feehan
  45. Dark Magic by Christine Feehan
  46. Dark Challenge by Christine Feehan
  47. Dark Fire by Christine Feehan
  48. Dark Legend by Christine Feehan
  49. Dark Guardian by Christine Feehan
  50. Dark Symphony by Christine Feehan
  51. Not Just A Witch by Eva Ibbotson
  52. Mum's the Word: A Flower Shop Mystery by Kate Collins
  53. How to Murder a Millionaire by Nancy Martin

Woot I passed 50 already!! Hmm mostly cozy mysteries and paranormal though heheh So many books to read so little time!