Plot: Before Wendy came to Never Never Land and captivated the forever-young Peter Pan, he was in love with the stoic and beautiful Tiger Lily. She grew up as a wallflower in her village, not fitting in to traditional societal expectations. When Tiger Lily meets Peter Pan, he intrigues her, which keeps her coming back to visit. Peter Pan disrupts her world and Tiger Lily struggles with the unfamiliar feelings now surging through her.
Comments: I loved the new take on the Peter Pan and Tiger Lily story. It was very creative and had a different perspective on the classic tale. Tiger Lily was inspiring in how she refused to change herself for society - but she was also hard to relate to and understand because she was so impassive all the time. I never quite understood her feelings.
Peter Pan wasn't a very likable character either because he was honestly kind of a jerk. I didn't understand what Tiger Lily saw in him. I mean, seriously - she had a wonderful boy back at the village who loved her for who she was, and she treated him badly. It didn't make any sense. That part annoyed me.
The ending wasn't satisfying either. It didn't make sense with everything that had been happening. The whole story just didn't seem to really fit in with anything.
Rating: I rate this book a seven out of ten.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
First Line: "One summer night I fell asleep, hoping the world would be different when I woke."
Plot: Aristotle is an angry Hispanic teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all boy who looks at the world in an unusual way. Neither has any friends, so the two boys gravitate towards each other and create a friendship over a single summer that lasts a lifetime. Through their bond, they learn truths about themselves and the rest of the world.
Comments: I skimmed through the entirety of this book. I really did enjoy the story and wanted to know what would happen next, but often there would be long tangents or abstract internal monologues that wouldn't be interesting at all. The dialogue often didn't seem natural - it felt forced and strange.
I also didn't connect very well with the main characters. Aristotle was a very quiet, unreadable person even though the story was from his perspective. Now, that was part of who he was, but that made it difficult to relate to him because I never knew what he felt. He was a blank wall. On the other hand, Dante was sporadic and unpredictable, and so I also didn't relate to him very well because I never knew what he was feeling either.
The whole story unfolded quietly, without much drama, which was both relaxing and slightly boring at the same time. I enjoyed the ending and the resolution, but all the steps to get there didn't always seem to make much sense.
Rating: I rate this book a six out of ten.
Plot: Aristotle is an angry Hispanic teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all boy who looks at the world in an unusual way. Neither has any friends, so the two boys gravitate towards each other and create a friendship over a single summer that lasts a lifetime. Through their bond, they learn truths about themselves and the rest of the world.
Comments: I skimmed through the entirety of this book. I really did enjoy the story and wanted to know what would happen next, but often there would be long tangents or abstract internal monologues that wouldn't be interesting at all. The dialogue often didn't seem natural - it felt forced and strange.
I also didn't connect very well with the main characters. Aristotle was a very quiet, unreadable person even though the story was from his perspective. Now, that was part of who he was, but that made it difficult to relate to him because I never knew what he felt. He was a blank wall. On the other hand, Dante was sporadic and unpredictable, and so I also didn't relate to him very well because I never knew what he was feeling either.
The whole story unfolded quietly, without much drama, which was both relaxing and slightly boring at the same time. I enjoyed the ending and the resolution, but all the steps to get there didn't always seem to make much sense.
Rating: I rate this book a six out of ten.
EREBOS by Ursula Poznanski
Plot: "The lines between reality and fantasy blur in this stunning thriller ... a prescient page-turner and a provocative, believable portrayal of the seductive world of virtual gaming. ... the scary climax, a romantic subplot and plenty of thoroughly credible gaming add proper spark to a pageturner with amps aplenty. From its opening notes of eerie virtual landscapes, to its mesmerizing conclusions, EREBOS is a nuanced thriller that weaves effortlessly between reality and virtual space, bringing its protagonists closer to the brink of destruction-or salvation-with every turn of the page." - summary from Amazon
Comments: I didn't even read one chapter into this book. From the very first few pages, I discovered an immediate disinterest in EREBOS. I didn't like the main character and the story already seemed very forced and unrealistic. The dialogue didn't sound normal and the other characters felt forced into specific roles in order to further the pre-planned plot. I felt no interest in the story and struggled to accept what the author wrote as normal.
Rating: I really shouldn't rate this book since I didn't read it, but based on my disinterest, I'll rate EREBOS a five out of ten since it wasn't interesting at all.
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