The City of Bones

I am currently reading a book called The City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. The book is basically about 15 year old Clary Fray being sucked into a life that her mother-Jocelyn Fray-has so desperately wanted to hide from her. It all starts when she meets Jace Wayland, Isabelle and Alec Lightwood, and Hodge, the shadowhunters of the world. The Shadowhunters are, as Hodge describes, “We are sometimes called Nephilim. In the Bible they were the offspring of humans and angels. The legend of the origin of Shadowhunters is that they were created more than a thousand years ago, when humans were being overrun by demon invasions from other worlds. A warlock summoned the Angel Raziel, who mixed some of his own blood with the blood of men in a cup, and gave it to those men to drink. Those who drank the Angel’s blood became shadowhunters, as did their children and their children’s children.”  Jocelyn tried very hard to keep all this away from her daughter, because when she was a shadowhunter, well it wasn’t really pleasant thing for her, as Magus-not mentioning who he is, I don’t want to spoil too much ;3-said: “Keep in mind that when your mother fled from the Shadow World, it wasn’t the monsters she was hiding from. Not the warlocks, wolf-men, the Fair Folk, not even the demons themselves. It was them. It was the Shadowhunters.”

But, now Clary has found herself in the middle of this. Her mother can longer protect her from the twisted world, and with no one else being able to do the job, Clary gets sucked in. She gets attacked by monsters that also had trouble with her mother, vampires, and finds out that the only reason she could never remember all this-she had the sight to be able to see the other world-was that it was blocked. Anything that she remembered of the other world would be repressed-looks like her mother really wanted Clary to stay away from this side of the world, but the question is why? What’s so bad about battling some demons (Don’t say death. That doesn’t count now) seeing some “deadly” fairies, vampires, werewolves, and all that? Personally, I think it’s cool, so why would Jocelyn go through so much for Clary? Magus said it wasn’t the demons who Jocelyn wanted to run from-it was the Shadowhunters, what was so bad about the shadowhunters? What did they do to Jocelyn that she wanted to hide, doing anything to hide? Only Clary’s mind holds that answer-but is Clary ready to see the answer? Is she ready to face the actual burden of the truth her mother so desperately tried to hide? Is she ready to face the Shadow World?

Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS!!!!

I am currently reading a book called Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports by James Patterson, the 3^rd book of the Maximum Ride Series. The whole series is basically about 6 bird kids, 14 year old Max, Fang, 12 year old Nudge (Yes that is her name), 8 year old Gazzy (Yes that’s his name and note: his name is what he literally is like!) and 6 year old Angel (Gazzy’s biological little sister). So, basically Max and her Flock have a mission-to save the world, but sadly it’s not really as easy as you can say it. Many mad scientists (Ya know, the ones that experimented on Max and her Flock before they escaped years ago? Yeah. Glad ya know what I’m talking about ^-^) keep interfering insisting that their side is better and all that.  

What’s worse now? Max, many times, has been offered to keep away from the whole plan; she and her flock can just give in and rest, while the scientists destroy the world. Dr. Martinez and Ella-2 ordinary people (ya know the ones that aren’t like, scientists, ordinary, normal, run-in-mill people?)-have showed Max what it was like to be ordinary (Despite having wings) how she could just be able to do and relax. When she accidentally ends up near them again she even says: “It wasn’t as though they had saved my life or anything-Ella and Dr. Martinez. It was worse: They had shown me what life could like in Normal Land. It haunted me ever since I’d left them.” But it’s not like Max could just drop everything and go and live in Normal Land. She had a  mission-save the world, it’s not just some people but the world-where she lives, how can she just go drop that, ignore that, so she could live in Normal Land? 

Besides, how is Max going to be certain that all of what the scientists promise is gonna happen? For all of her life, Max has been lied to. The person she thought was going to be taking care of her for most of her life since he helped her and the Flock escape the School, the place where they were experimented on, had lied to her. He made it seem like he was a “good guy” and in the end, all he did was just go back to the School to help with the whole destroying the world thing. And now, after Max and Fang finished visiting Dr. Martinez and Ella-by “accident” according to Max-Max is basically in shock again. Fang has just told Max that he found a picture of the Baby Gazzy in Dr. Martinez’s office-“I needed a paper clip”-Fang-“Between two books in Dr. Martinez’s home office. Between a book about recombinant-DNA theory…and one on birds.” Max’s reaction: “Well. If sudden knowledge had a physical force, my head would have exploded right there, and chunks of my brain would have splattered some unsuspecting schmuck in a grocery store parking lot down below. Let’s just say I was stunned, and it takes a fair amount to stun me, I promise.”  

 

Clearly, this isn’t just a simple coincidence; I mean Dr. Martinez-a vet-has a book about DNA theory and birds, plus she had a picture of Gazzy, who I’m certain has never met in her life! What if Dr. Martinez is a scientist-or whitecoats as Max and her Flock call ’em. Max trusts Dr. Martinez, by being so; it would mean she hid something big from Max who has bad experiences with whitecoats. How can Max be certain now of anything anyone tells her? Sure, she can trust her Flock, but what the ones who promise to leave her alone if she lets the whole World-Destruction thing go by?  How can she make sure they really mean what they’re saying? Sure, people shouldn’t judge others based on one thing, I’m sure Dr. Martinez has a reasonable reason for having that picture and books, but when you’re Max, when you’re the girl running from everyone who wants to destroy you, from everyone who wants to use you for their own benefits, you can’t just take any chances. And if Dr. Martinez is one of the whitecoats…well, it’s better safe than sorry, eh?

Harry Potter #5

Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix.

(Contains some spoilers.)

Okay. So I am currently reading Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix (I'm like at page 200-I'm a very slow reader...) It's like Harry's fifth year in Hogwarts, his wizard school. So far, Harry has been having a horrible time, he's the main "prey" for Lord Voldemort-one of the most powerful wizards like ever (No fangirl squeal here, he's "evil"._.). And because of that, he has to go through everyone being either jealous of him (He's the boy who surivied the deadliest wizard when he was only a baby-he's famous!), or everyone being overly protective of him. (Also has to deal with the scar that Voldemort left him~!) And don't forget the people who work for Voldemort and hate Harry and are like, trying to kill him or get him to Voldemort.  So, Harry doesn't have an easy life. (Kids, this is why you should be grateful for what you have and not ask for so much, would you rather be Harry and be hunted all his life? xD)

Speaking of hate and hunted down...'Cos of Voldemort, Harry seems to be hated on now by many people who like to believe Voldy isn't back. (He was gone for 15 years and finally now Harry claims he's back-ya think everyone's gonna be happy?) His own friend, Seamus Finnigan, thinks the whole Voldemort-is-back thing is really stupid, and Harry is just lying to get attention. The Daily Prophet is making Harry look bad and making him sound like a big baby since he seems to complain about Voldemort when clearly (*snobby girl voice here) Voldemort is, like, not here anymore, and he's gone! And everyone who reads the DP seems to believe it! So, what's a Harry Potter gonna do, he can't stop the DP from stopping what they want to write-eh? He may be famous, but people are starting to hate him, he can't do stuff like that. Also, Harry can't seem to be able to do anything. He can't seem to stop the DP from talking badly about him. He can't get any information about Voldemort (Everyone's thinking that Harry is "too young" for all of this.) He's basically in the dark about everything, being too young for this. 

So, while Harry's being hunted down, his own best friends seem to be living the life!  Ron and Hermione are perfects (Like, the students who are "Perfect" and represent the House they're in~) and they seem to know more about the whole Voldemort thing-which clearly is not fair! Harry's being hunted down, and he doesn't even know anything-well he does, but not really much, just the general thing, not knowing where Voldemort is, not knowing about the Death Eaters, not knowing about anything.  Even Harry's closet person who he looks up to, Dumbledore, won't tell him anything, he won't even look at him! What's going on?!

So, kids, while you're complaining about this, and that, about your mommy or daddy not getting you a new iPad, or iPod, or a new phone, or not letting you outside, all you have to do is look at Harry Potter's life. Boy doesn't know anything about anything, he has to be in the dark, he doesn't have his parents, they both died, he has everyone glaring at him with either envy or hate, and he has the most powerful, deadliest wizard in the world who everyone believes is dead, hunting him! So. Kids, be grateful for everyhing ya have xD Harry Potter has it worse, trust me. ._.

The Mark of Athena

Angeles Martinez

804

The Mark of Athena

 (Contains some spoilers ;3)

I am currently reading The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan. (FINALLY I’M READING THIS!!!!) In the book, there are 7 demigods-4 Greeks, 3 Romans. (By being Greek it means the child’s parent is the Greek God/Goddess side, while the Romans have the Roman side of the same god/goddesses [Ex: Piper’s mother is Aphrodite in Greek, and Venus in Roman.]) The Greeks (Annabeth, Piper, Leo, and Jason) and Romans (Hazel, Frank, and Percy) are the main 7 who must complete the prophecy. (Seven Half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire the world must fall. An oath to keep with a final breath and foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.) Of course, this quest will be deadly and complicated, but this quest is the most complicated now.

For one, for thousands of years, the Greek and Roman demigods have hated each other, whenever they get close to each other; they instantly want to fight each other (Ha, they practically started a war!) How are these Roman and Greek demigods going to be able to fulfill the prophecy when they’re demigod-mates (Can’t think of anything else to call them) are all hating each other? The Greeks may understand and not be so eager to fight, but the Romans fight with honor and all that, they will attack, no matter what. The reason that they’re fighting though, is because according to Jason (Son of Zeus or Jupiter, whatever side you favor) the reason the Greeks and Romans hate each other is because the Romans did something to Greeks concerning Athena (a very respected goddess) and it pissed off the Greeks a lot. (They started a war [a very bloody one too], and the gods had to interfere and separate both groups, making them to never find each other and start another bloody, deadly war.) And of course, Hazel, Frank, and Jason are Roman (Jason being on the Greek side though…complications again there) and Annabeth (practically the leader on the quest) is Greek and the daughter of Athena, can they really be able to do this quest together without wanting to murder each other once Annabeth finds out the full truth of what the Romans did to the Greeks and her own mother? Will Annabeth learn to hate the Romans and be just like: You hurt my mother dearly; you ruined everything about her-now you die?

That’s only part of what Annabeth needs to worry about though. She has another problem, slightly well a lot linked to the Roman-And-Greek thing. When Percy was missing (Long story…) Annabeth got a visit from her mother. (It was rare that the gods visit their children nowadays so obviously it was a big deal!) Her mother was very dazed and angry about the whole bloody Romans turned me to a pathetic, not-respected goddess-they replaced me and ruined me! She saw Annabeth and took out her anger on her, giving her a coin-The Mark of Athena-and told Annabeth she must avenge her. “Yes, my children will avenge me. They must destroy the Romans. Horrible, dishonorable, copycat Romans. Hera argued that we must keep the two camps apart. I said, No, let them fight. Let my children destroy the usurpers….Replaced. Sacked. Looted like a trophy and carted off-away from my beloved homeland. I lost so much. I swore I would never forgive. Neither would my children. Follow the Mark of Athena. Avenge me,” Athena had insisted to Annabeth, who clearly did not want to start a war, or fight anyone. For centuries, the children of Athena have all been given the Mark trying to avenge their mother, trying to solve the case, and trying to prove worthy to their mother. But can Annabeth really do it? Can Annabeth really betray her Roman friends just to avenge her mother? And during a quest that could save the world from the wrath of the giants and Gaia, Mother Earth herself?

And that’s only half of Annabeth’s problems. Another is Percy. Percy originally is from the Greek Side, but for the past about 6 months (before the quest started) he has been missing. Annabeth finally has found him, but it’s only because Hera thought it was time to start the quest. And now Percy has seemed to change. He still loves Annabeth, but he seems a bit closer to the Roman Demigod children, he seems to act Roman too! (Romans act like, tough, confident and “perfect.”) Annabeth’s used to being leader and taking charge alone, but Percy means so much to her, she can’t lead the quest alone…she needs Percy by her side…and certainly, with the whole Mark of Athena thing, how can Annabeth not be able to have Percy, the guy who’s been there for her since she was 12, the guy who she’s had a crush on for a while and finally got him to her boyfriend, the guy who understands her completely, by her side?

Annabeth clearly is one of the main people to have problems and complications along with them, but I think Annabeth knows what she’s doing. She’s the daughter of the goddess of wisdom and war; she knows how to be a leader, how to make decisions, and how to think these kinda things through. But though Annabeth has dealt with monsters, titans, giants, angry gods and goddesses, can she really be able to survive this emotional roller coaster and still save the world? Or will, this whole thing break her down so much she doesn’t know how to fix herself? Who will she have to betray? Who will she betray? If she betrays anyone, will it be someone she loves so dearly? Will this Mark bring the bad side of Annabeth just so she can prove herself worthy to her mother like many other Athena children have tried but failed to do?

Handle With Care

Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult

CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS!!!!

I am currently reading a book by Jodi Picoult called Handle With Care. In the book there is a Family-the O'Keefee family-that must deal with a daughter who they so much wanted to have having OI-Osteogensis Imperfecta, a disease that makes the bones very brittle and very breakable. This disease is something that clearly is driving the O'Keefee family nuts. Driving them apart, and making them do things they're not sure is right since this disease is very expensive to deal with, and they have to very careful around Willow-the daughter or she could break her bones a lot.

Charlotte-the mother-is clearly someone who is willing to do anything for Willow. For months, she's been wanting to have a baby,and during those months she was willing to do anything to get pregnant. She had her best friend-Piper Reece-help her get pregnant. (Piper's an obstetrician.) It took a while, but after some time, Charlotte got pregnant! But there was something wrong, something that would affect Charlotte's baby's life. Osteogensis Imperfecta. But, even though that made Charlotte sad and worried, she still wanted to have the baby. (She was gonna keep the baby no matter what!) And she did. Willow came into the world with seven breaks and about 4 healing ones. (Oh that must have been nice...) From there, Charlotte had promised herself that she would be extra careful to keep Willow safe. She would even lose everything else for Willow. Anything to keep her baby safe. But. There were some...complications with that, of course. After meeting Marian Gates-A lawyer-Charlotte began to have some...questions. Like. What would happen to Willow if I can't support her casts, her medical bills, or anything anymore? Sean-the father-would be able to support somewhat, he had a good job, but what if it wasn't enough? If we can't take care of her...would Willow be better off...dead? Could she have a better life if she had never been born? Charlotte loved Willow, no one could doubt that. (For crying out loud, she was like, basically ignoring her family for this!) Did she love her so much was she willing to give her up-despite how much she wanted her before?

But. If Charlotte wants the answers to these questions, she needs to sue someone. That someone being the doctor who helped her...that someone being Piper. How would Charlotte be able to do it? How could she stand up in court and say to the judge she would rather see Willow dead and be able to sue her best friend who helped her meet Sean and all that?  How is she gonna be able to lie all that? Is it really worth the $64,000 that will clearly help Willow in the future? Was she really gonna lose the love and respect of her family and friend-especially Sean and Piper-worth it? Worth saving Willow from poor medical care?

Clearly the whole lawsuit is driving Charlotte nuts. She'd give anything to her daughter, she'd do anything, but is anything meaning she loses everything too? What exactly is Charlotte going to limit anything too? And if so, what is she limited it to?

 

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

HAS SOME SPOILERS! (though most people have read this)

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I am currently reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire which is about Harry Potter (the dude who survived the wrath of Voldemort~) attending Hogwarts for his 4^th year. In the beginning Harry attends a Quidditch World Cup Tournament with his best friend and best friend’s family. And then from there, Harry goes to Hogwarts, finding out that there will be a Triwizard Tournament. The Triwizard tournament includes Hogwarts’s rivals, Beauxbaton and Durmstrang, which of course includes one of the most famous Quidditch players, Viktor Krum. In the tournament, the 3 schools need to compete to see which player could complete all 3 tasks and lead their school to victory.

The schools used to have the tournament but there were….complications (Death…*cough*) so they had to put rules on the tournament, saying that no one under 17 can enter the tournament. And therefore, the people who can enter are Viktor from Beauxbaton, Cedric from Hogwarts, and Fleur from Durmstrang. But (Hold it…!) somehow Harry manages to get it! Many people are outraged! Hogwarts can’t have 2 people in it! Also Harry’s underage! Outrageous! But, of course, everyone also agreed that anyone who’s decided must enter the contest-so, what are people supposed to do? So. Harry entered the competition! I would like to say it ended well…it kina didn’t. Harry’s enemy (Voldemort) came!!!  Yep. The one who tried to kill him but failed! And course little Voldy has a reputation to live up to-huh? 

I guess I can see the whole Kill-Harry thing from Voldemort’s point of view. You’re known as the most powerful wizard everywhere, everyone feared you! Then all of a sudden, you try and kill a kid-BOOM! You suddenly are destroyed into almost nothing! Being known as the guy who couldn’t kill a single kid! Well, that must have really crashed everything! (Also, doing this does not mean I support Voldemort! I don’t support killing a kid; I just see it from his point of view.) Some people really don’t see this as a problem. “Voldemort’s gone-yay! No more random dying!” Everyone’s basically like. Must really make Voldemort angry-looks like some wizards will die! 

I know saying this looks like I’m supporting the bad guy but hey, I’m not! Killing isn’t cool. But everyone looks at the Harry Potter series from Harry’s point of view! Why can’t you look at it from others? Like, I know Harry’s a good guy; it’s good to see it from his point of view. Everyone looks at Voldemort as the bad guy but people don’t know his story! The bad guy is the bad guy, nothing else! Why doesn’t everyone look at it from his point of view? Or possibly the others, but no one thinks about Voldemort’s view! I’m not saying anything big; just I think they should see it from the other point of view of people’s. Not just Harry’s. Not all bad guys are as completely bad as everyone thinks…they have a story too.

Fang

Fang

I have recently finished reading Fang by James Patterson. In the book, Maximum Ride (Max) is basically trying to save the world from all the scientists trying to destroy it. She's been through so many things-having people betraying her left and right, getting into fights with close people, and people dying- but one day, Angel-Max's backstabbing friend who can't seem to make up her mind on being on the good side or bad side- makes a prophecy: "Fang will be the 1st one to die. And it will be soon."  So while Max has to deal with Fang's coming death of her shoulders, she also has to deal with the coming of her perfect other half, Dylan. She also has to deal with the end of world thing...so...Max has a lot to deal with.  

 Now, with all, you can't really blame Max for not wanting to side with Dr. Gunther-Hagen, a scientist who says he can help Max with the whole saving the world thing. And the one who created Dylan, which of course is not helping him in this case. (The whole perfect half thing is really bothering Max.) Personally, I think Max was right to not accept the alliance thing. For one, I'm a big Fang and Max fan, there is no way Dylan is Max's other half-he hardly knows her! I know I'm being biased here, but there are other reasons! Just that's my big one. (Sorry to all those DylanxMax Fans xD) Another reason is that, Max has trusted so many people, and they all broken it. Jeb-another scientist-helps prove this too! Jeb promised that he would always be there for Max, that he would always help her with whatever she needed help with. Look at him now-siding with the enemy (*cough*) and just ending up hurting Max. Now, I don't really think Hagen can hurt Max emotionally, but like, many scientists that Max knows always end up hurting her, they just manipulate her into getting what they want. So personally, I think Max is right not to take this whole alliance thing with Hagen, what good would it do? Max should only be trusting the members of her flocks, they're her family!

But then again...Max can't always trust her Flock Family. Especially her little girl, Angel. Angel, the 6 (7 in this book) blond mind-reading and other amazing power girl, isn't exactly trustworthy. Many times she has been caught working for the School (Read Book 3 ._.) and has been known to backstab Max. All because the little girl wants to be Leader. 'Cause she feels she can lead the Flock better than Max can, 'cause she feels just because she's more poweful than Max, with all her amazing powers, she can lead the Flock and make them... survive. Also because she feels Max is getting to involved with Fang that Max doesn't care for the Flock anymore. So can Max really trust anyone? Angel, the one Max adores has proven to her she can't trust family, and Max can't seem to trust others so who can Max trust? Only herself? Does she have to be the lone wolf ? (A-wooooo! xD) 

Trust. Something Max isn't sure who she can trust with. People just love to break her trust for her own things! Maybe Max should become a lone wolf. (Well, maybe lone bird since she's a bird-kid...) Maybe there's one person who won't break her trust, the one who was made for her (The one I don't support!) Dylan. He was made for her so how could he break her trust? But, Max also doesn't trust him, she doesn't want him near her 'cause she feels that he's just there to annoy her or something with the whole I'm your perfect other half thing. Looks like Max need to become a lone bird-kid...