Review: Alex Van Helsing: Vampire Rising by Jason Henderson

Hi!

I saw this at the library and I just knew I had to read it!

Title: Alex Van Helsing: Vampire Rising

Author: Jason Henderson

Summary (B&N.com): The Van Helsing name reborn

Fourteen-year-old Alex has no idea that he's descended from the world's most famous vampire hunter, but that changes fast when he arrives at Glenarvon Academy and confronts two vampires in his first three days. Turns out Glenarvon isn't the only school near Lake Geneva. Hidden deep underground lies an ancient university for vampires called the Scholomance. And the deadly vampire clan lord known as Icemaker? You might say he's a visiting professor.

When two of Alex's friends are kidnapped by Icemaker, it's up to Alex to infiltrate the Scholomance and get them back—alive. Assisted by the Polidorium, a top-secret vampire-hunting organization with buried ties to the Van Helsings, Alex dodges zombies, bullets, and lots—and lots—of fangs on his way to thwarting Icemaker's plans and fulfilling his family destiny.

My Review: This is a really good book. It was really action packed all the way to the end. And even though there was action in the last chapter I think the author did a good job of writing it so that the cliff hanger wasn’t huge but enough to make you glad Alex Van Helsing is a series! Vampire Rising is a quick paced, very fast read at 249 pages! So its perfect for a lazy weekend afternoon.

Sure this book has Vampires, but this book is centered on hunting them which personally is an appreciated change because its something different!

This may sound strange but I really liked how Henderson gave Alex Van Helsing glasses/ contacts and had Alex deal with that. It just made him seem more real to me…like he was more than just a Vampire Hunter in a book.

Review: Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke

Hi!

My Review of the Final Book in the Inkheart Trilogy…

Title: Inkdeath

Author: Cornelia Funke

Summary (B&N.com): The Adderhead--his immortality bound in a book by Meggie's father, Mo--has ordered his henchmen to plunder the villages. The peasants' only defense is a band of outlaws led by the Bluejay--Mo's fictitious double, whose identity he has reluctantly adopted. But the Book of Immortality is unraveling, and the Adderhead again fears the White Women of Death. To bring the renegade Bluejay back to repair the book, the Adderhead kidnaps all the children in the kingdom, dooming them to slavery in his silver mines unless Mo surrenders. First Dustfinger, now Mo: Can anyone save this cursed story?

My Review: The finally to this beloved series was not what I expected, but it was definitely better than Inkspell. All of my favorite characters are back and there were new ones to fall in love with! But most of these characters had way too much misfortune happen to them in this book. The misfortune was a bit too heavy in my opinion. Some of it just didn’t need to happen. It took me a while to get into Inkdeath because I knew the faster I read, the sooner it would be over and that was really sad for me. I’ve found that the more I read of the ink world the more I realized that out of all the magic there the only thing I would want would be a glass man! They are my favorite part of the ink world, all of them are so funny and useful! Overall, I’m really glad that this great series had the ending it deserved…a happy one!

Review: Inkspell by Cornelia Funke

Hi!

My review of Inkheart’s sequel…

Title: Inkspell

Author: Cornelia Funke

Summary (B&N.com): Although a year has passed, not a day goes by without Meggie thinking of INKHEART, the book whose characters became real. But for Dustfinger, the fire-eater brought into being from words, the need to return to the tale has become desperate. When he finds a crooked storyteller with the ability to read him back, Dustfinger leaves behind his young apprentice Farid and plunges into the medieval world of his past. Distraught, Farid goes in search of Meggie, and before long, both are caught inside the book, too. But the story is threatening to evolve in ways neither of them could ever have imagined.

My Review: First off, it wasn’t as good as its predecessor. That magic isn’t there, even though it has a magic of its own. In Inkspell, we are no longer in our world. That alone made it less likeable for me. I loved the idea of characters coming out off the book, not so much about going in it somehow. Secondly, Meggie annoyed me with her decisions in this book, I felt the need to smack her more than once because she didn’t realize that what she had was enough! But overall I liked it.

Review: Inkheart By Cornelia Funke

Hi!

This is one of my FAVORITE books of all time.

Title: Inkheart

Author: Cornelia Funke

Summary (B&N.com): One cruel night, Meggie's father, Mo, reads aloud from INKHEART, and an evil ruler named Capricorn escapes the boundaries of fiction, landing instead in their living room. Suddenly, Meggie's in the middle of the kind of adventure she thought only took place in fairy tales. Somehow she must master the magic that has conjured up this nightmare. Can she change the course of the story that has changed her life forever?

My Review: Since Inkheart is one of my favorite books it really hard to review it….

Inkheart is basically a book about books. Mo Folchart is a book binder, he binds books and saves their lives. Not only is Mo a book lover and a book doctor, he can also read things out of books. When some characters show up in his living room one night when his daughter, Meggie is 3, his wife is accidentally read into the book. That night sets off a wild adventure full of amazingly vivid characters, some original to the novel and others that were plopped in from their own worlds….

At the beginning of each chapter there’s a quote from another book. And that may be one of my favorite things about Inkheart. It opens your eyes not just to the world of Meggie and Mo but to the world of other character’s in other books you may not have picked up other wise.

The story itself pulls me into it every time I read it (and this is the fourth time). And that, right there is the reason I love Inkheart so much!

Review: The Tale of Despereaux By Kate DiCamillo

Hi!

Technically this is a children’s book, but I’m going to review it anyway.

Title: The Tale of Despereaux

Author: Kate DiCamillo

Summary (B&N.com): Welcome to the story of Despereaux Tilling, a mouse who is in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea. It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro, who lives in the darkness and covets a world filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a slow-witted serving girl who harbors a simple, impossible wish. These three characters are about to embark on a journey that will lead them down into a horrible dungeon, up into a glittering castle, and, ultimately, into each other's lives. What happens then? As Kate DiCamillo would say: Reader, it is your destiny to find out.

My Review: This is actually a kid’s book or so it says on the back cover, but I believe that everyone should read this heartwarming tale of a very small, but very courageous mouse named Despereaux Tilling. But be warned, you will crave some soup afterwards!

Usually, I don’t think about morals in stories, but this one is as clear as can be; “Actions have consequences” and this book shows how interconnected those actions are.

For older readers (teens+) this will take no time at all to read. For its intended audience, it will depend on their attention span and general reading ability.

I actually plan on asking my nephew if he would like to read it. I think he’d like it even if Michael Myers, Jason and/or Spongebob are not in it (what can I say he’s a weird kid). It has something in it for everyone, adventure, love and soup!