City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

Book: City of Bones
Author: Cassandra Clare
Review Written by Kala Payinda

City of Bones was an extremely thrilling book full of adventure, quests , legendary and biblical creatures like demons, angels, vampires and werewolves. The book surrounds a secret society of part angel people who must hunt and slay the evil demons, called 'Shadow hunters'.

Plot Outline

City of Bones is a fictional story about a teenage girl, Clary, who discovers that she can see things that normal people can’t. She finds out that she is part of a world full of demons, and she has the ability to kill them and protect humankind from the deadly creatures. Clary then goes on a quest to find the ancient artifact, called the Mortal Cup, to keep it away from the hands of the evil antagonist, Valentine. The Mortal Cup would enable Valentine to have control over all demons, and would let him make an army of evil creatures that would threaten humankind. Clary finds the cup, but by the book’s end, Valentine had stolen it, and escaped through a portal. The story is set to continue in the second book of the series of six.

Clarissa "Clary" Fray is a teenage girl that is little over five feet tall. She has bright red hair, green eyes, freckles and looks a lot like her mother. At a young age, Clary had been seen talking to Downworlders, which are mythical creatures, and her mum decided that she would not let Clary have anything to do with that world. Jocelyn, Clary’s mum, went to a warlock to erase Clary’s memory, and every two years, Clary repeat the procedure. Clary was oblivious to that world and was brought up by a very protective mother. To herself, Clary was just a normal human, who loved doing art. She often draws her emotions in pictures, and it’s her version of a diary. Clary was raised in New York, with Jocelyn and a great family friend, Luke. Clary’s best friend is Simon Lewis, and they have been friends for at least ten years. In the book, Clary realises that she is a demon killer, finds out that her dad is an evil antagonist, and Joselyn is captured. Throughout the next books, Clary embarks on a quest to help her mother while adjusting to a life as a Shadowhunter.

Recommended Age Group: 13 or over

Reviewer Rating: 9/10
Average Rating: 8.2/10

Trailer:

Image from Amazon, Shadowhunters TV Series by Freeform.

Rangers Apprentice by John Flanagan

Book: Rangers Apprentice
Author: John Flanagan
Review Written by Luka Clark

This book inspired me to read the rest of the series. It tells the beginning of Wills adventures as a ranger’s apprentice.

Plot Outline:

This book is about a young castle ward who is apprenticed to Ranger. An elite intelligence force who protects the kingdom from enemies. In this book Will endures training than he and his mentor have to stop the Kalkara from killing the army commanders but who is the Kalkara actually stalking.

Recommended Age Group: 9 to 15

Rating: 9/10
Average Rating: 8/10

Image from Wikipedia

Cross of Lead by Avi

Book: Cross of Lead
Author: Avi
Review Written by Kala Payinda

This was an enchanting, exciting book and the first installment of the Cripsin series. I would recommend it to anyone who likes stories about action, adventure and unexpected friendship in historical times. It had many good messages and ideas. I think the main idea of this story was that even if you start off as enemies, you can still become friends, with trust and hard work. An example of this is Crispin and Bear. When they first meet, Bear enslaved Crispin, but in the end, they risked their lives for each other. In Crispin's hometown, he was treated like dirt, but Bear gave him confidence and believed in him. Crispin gave Bear a friend and someone that Bear could always trust.

Plot Outline:

Crispin, a 13 year old peasant lived in a village called Stormford located in England in 1377 AD. When his mother dies, Crispin is alone, and he’s doubting that anything worse can happen, until people falsely accuse him of theft. People are given permission, by Lord Furnival, to kill Crispin on sight. The priest gives Crispin his mother’s cross of lead. Later Crispin finds the priest murdered. Crispin runs away but is pursued. Later Crispin is taken in by a juggler named Bear, and they become friends and risk their lives for each other. In the end, Crispin learns that he is Lord Furnival’s illegitimate son.

Crispin is a scrawny, malnourished boy with black, scraggly hair. He is shy and scared at the start, but later on he learns to be so incredibly brave that he risked his life to save his friend Bear. He hadn’t been educated and so he didn’t know how to read or write. He was sneered at in his village because he had no known father and his mum was very frail and couldn’t work very well. The Green Man Tavern is the place that Crispin and Bear stayed at in a big city called Great Wexly. Bear books a special room that has a secret room that not many people know about. When the soldiers came looking for Crispin, he hid inside the secret room. The soldiers destroyed the place, and everything was broken. If Bear hadn’t told Crispin where the door was, Crispin would have died.

Recommended Age Group: 11 to 14

Rating: 9/10
Average Rating: 7/10

Sources: Image from good reads, all rights of the Crispin series belong to Avi and Disney Hyperion.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Book: Animal Farm

Author: George Orwell

Review Written by Ronan Payinda

Animal Farm is a classic tale, with a chilling warning of what follows corruption and greed. It is full of memorable quotes, characters to either pity, hate or cry for. It will leave you both sobered and scared. Animal Farm is a story of terrifying, brutal dictatorships, heroic but hopeless characters and bitter endings. I recommend this book to anyone interested in stories in dystopias, animals and twisted dictatorships.
On Manor Farm, animals are neglected and overworked, slaves to humans. Old Major, an influential pig, encourages them to rebel and reminds them that 'all animals are equal'. A revolution begins, and the animals drive the humans from the farm. Happy with their newfound peace and freedom, the animals celebrate. However, Napoleon and his group of pigs quietly seize control. They write their laws with paint on a wall. Eventually, their rule becomes vicious, as Napoleon executes any animal even possibly against his regime. The animals live in fear. Napoleon overworks them, just like the people did, giving the things they grow and create to humans for alcohol. Boxer, a hardworking horse who contributed the most to Napoleon's society, collapses one day from overwork. Napoleon sends him to a knacker, lying to the animals and saying that he will go to a veterinarian. Eventually, the animals begin to starve, while the pigs are full of food and wine. The animals ask why they get more food, when all animals are supposed to be equal. The pigs write 'all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others'. Napoleon holds an indoors dinner party with the pigs and invites humans. Looking through the windows, the other animals realise that they can no longer tell the difference between the two.

Recommended Age: 12 or over

Reviewer Rating: 9/10
Average Rating: 7.8/10

Book Trailer:

Sources: Image from Amazon, Animal Farm written by George Orwell and first published by Secker and Warberg.

Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Book: Wind in the Willows

Author: Michael Grant
Review Written by Ronan Payinda

This book is written by British author Kenneth Grahame. Though published in 1908, this classic is still popular today, a true gem of literature. This story is about entertaining animal characters and their crazy, exciting adventures in the English countryside, whether its crashing motorcars, fleeing through the Wild Wood and accidentally finding Badger's underground home, or battling a group of weasels when they try to take their home. Kenneth Grahame has added beautiful descriptions, poetic writing and good messages hidden within. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who can read fairly advanced writing, as it has a few words that are no longer used in common English (e.g: gaoler instead of jailer).

Plot Outline:
The book commences with the beginning of spring. The kind Mole gets fed up with spring cleaning his underground home and leaves it to go outside into the sunshine. He reaches a river, which he has never seen before. There, he meets Rat, a water vole, and the two become friends. Rat teaches Mole all about the river as they spend many days on the water. Later, they go to Toad Hall to visit Rat’s kind but conceited friend Toad. After seeing a motorcar, he is filled with an automobile obsession.

Later, Mole strikes out alone into a forest known as the Wild Wood to meet the elusive Badger, an antisocial but kind friend of Rat who he has never met. He is scared by weasels in the Wild Wood, and hides in a tree. Later, Rat rescues his friend and they stumble into Badger’s house. After the two friends meet Badger, they inform him of Toad’s craze. They then return to the River.

Meanwhile, Toad is arrested for stealing a motorcar and crashing it. He manages to escape prison and finds that Toad Hall is taken over by weasels and stoats from the Wild Wood. Sorrowful at the loss of his house, he realises what good friends he has and resolves to be better in the future.

The four friends arm themselves and take a secret tunnel into Toad Hall, where they find weasels partying madly. They launch a surprise attack and storm the Hall. The weasels flee, and Toad regains his home. He then makes amends and helps everyone he has wronged. The four friends live happily ever after.

Recommended Age: 14 and up, if an advanced reader 11 and up
Reviewer Rating: 8.5/10
Average Rating: 8/10