I worked on reading this book all of November, and finished it last night. I cried at the end. Mattie's story is such a heart warming story, not because he had a terrible disease, but because he let his 'heartsong' shine through it all aspects of his life. This memoir was narrated by his mother, with Larry Lindner writing it out. She said she was always a story teller, not a story writer :)
I think the favorite thing I had about this book, was the humanity in it. I was recently on a trip that had workshops and tables where you could do different things. At one of the tables were different quotes that you could read to find a word that inspired your to write on a card decorated with your fingerprints. The word I chose was 'HUMANITY'. I have noticed that many times that we have a tendency to portray humans and our humanity as a curse. 'I'm only human.'
That's right, you are only human, but you are a human created by GOD. God said you were good. He called humans 'very good'. Being human is not a curse, we might fail sometimes in being human, but that is not the curse. The curse is our fallen, sinful, souls.
And we seem to portray celebrities as selfish, cold hearted people. But in this book, you see a side of them you have never seen, because you never allowed yourself to see it before. Many times I had to pause and just look up at God and say "Thank you for humanity". Humanity is a beautiful thing to treasure and protect, and I believe that is what Mattie knew with his heartsong of peace. The best way to treasure and protect humanity is with peace.
I have added all of Mattie's books of poetry to my 'to-read' list. He was such a beautiful, and talented boy. I highly recommend this book.
I decided not to give a 'clean or not' review for this book. But I would rate Messenger a five out of five just for the joyful message is brings.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Friday, November 15, 2013
Recent Reads
I have a couple of books that I have read, but have decided not to do an individual post for because I procrastinated so long on them. The books are City of Ashes, the second book in the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare, and The Royal Ranger, the 12th (I think) book in a series that was suppose to have ended about a year ago! Leaving the library I was so excited after finding it.
First, City of Ashes. I started reading this book a couple of days after reading Mockingjay, to give myself a chance to get over the emotional trauma from that book. When I sat down and started it, page one I was relieved. Finally! A book written in third person! After reading so many books written in the first person recently, it was such a relief to finally have one in third person to read!
Plot wise, the whole thing is moving at a fairly fast pace, for the fact that each book so far has covered the span of a couple of weeks to a month of time, with some time change inbetween. I feel like it is all being well done, and I am looking forward to starting the next book.
I was especially in love with the character development of Jace in this book. I felt like this was his book to develop. Book one really gave you a chance to get introduced to the characters, and in book two those characters were expanded on, but I feel like Jace was the most. I really hope in the third book Cassandra Clare does more developing on Clary. Although the book is mostly from her point of view, you got to see it from many different angles (main reason I prefer third person writing to first person writing in books), and I thought she executed that well.
I would also give this book the same rating and warning as the first.
Now for The Royal Ranger, by John Flanagan. I love John Flanagan's writing, and his characters. I have gotten so attached to them all over this series and was so sad when it ended (hence my enjoyment when I found this new book!). It took me about a third of the book to get use to the time lapse and to picture the characters with their aged appearances, but it didn't bother me. I love the story for this book and thought he did a great job, as always, with the entire thing.
It is so easy for me to fall in love with the characters John Flanagan writes. And Will and Halt's witty and sarcastic personality is perfect. Sheer perfection. I laugh out loud while reading these books. And he does action/battle scenes amazingly. Add Will and Halt with those scenes and you have highly memorable books. They are serious, but light and funny. I adore them all, and just love love love love love them. I haven't read his 'spin-off' series with the Skandians, but I can't wait to start, because I love his writing so much. My only fear is that I won't love it as much as Ranger's Apprentice.
The ending of this book did leave it open for more in the series, but I hope John Flanagan leaves it as it is. I don't want to much of a bad thing, and I'm afraid that any more Ranger's Apprentice won't be good.
One of the goals for this blog is to provide information for parents and readers alike to find 'clean' reads suitable for their children or themselves. In all my reviews I will mention general themes from the book, language, sexual/romantic interaction, and violence.
Themes:
Fantasy, medieval-esque, knights and kings
Language:
None
Sexual/Romantic Interaction
Married couples, and some romantic relationships, but none objectionable.
Violence
Murder, death, and some violence, but nothing too disturbing.
I would give The Royal Ranger a rating of heavy PG
On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = horrible, 2 = OK, 3 = I liked it, 4 = I really liked it, 5 = I loved it), I would give The Royal Ranger a 5
First, City of Ashes. I started reading this book a couple of days after reading Mockingjay, to give myself a chance to get over the emotional trauma from that book. When I sat down and started it, page one I was relieved. Finally! A book written in third person! After reading so many books written in the first person recently, it was such a relief to finally have one in third person to read!
Plot wise, the whole thing is moving at a fairly fast pace, for the fact that each book so far has covered the span of a couple of weeks to a month of time, with some time change inbetween. I feel like it is all being well done, and I am looking forward to starting the next book.
I was especially in love with the character development of Jace in this book. I felt like this was his book to develop. Book one really gave you a chance to get introduced to the characters, and in book two those characters were expanded on, but I feel like Jace was the most. I really hope in the third book Cassandra Clare does more developing on Clary. Although the book is mostly from her point of view, you got to see it from many different angles (main reason I prefer third person writing to first person writing in books), and I thought she executed that well.
I would also give this book the same rating and warning as the first.
Now for The Royal Ranger, by John Flanagan. I love John Flanagan's writing, and his characters. I have gotten so attached to them all over this series and was so sad when it ended (hence my enjoyment when I found this new book!). It took me about a third of the book to get use to the time lapse and to picture the characters with their aged appearances, but it didn't bother me. I love the story for this book and thought he did a great job, as always, with the entire thing.
It is so easy for me to fall in love with the characters John Flanagan writes. And Will and Halt's witty and sarcastic personality is perfect. Sheer perfection. I laugh out loud while reading these books. And he does action/battle scenes amazingly. Add Will and Halt with those scenes and you have highly memorable books. They are serious, but light and funny. I adore them all, and just love love love love love them. I haven't read his 'spin-off' series with the Skandians, but I can't wait to start, because I love his writing so much. My only fear is that I won't love it as much as Ranger's Apprentice.
The ending of this book did leave it open for more in the series, but I hope John Flanagan leaves it as it is. I don't want to much of a bad thing, and I'm afraid that any more Ranger's Apprentice won't be good.
One of the goals for this blog is to provide information for parents and readers alike to find 'clean' reads suitable for their children or themselves. In all my reviews I will mention general themes from the book, language, sexual/romantic interaction, and violence.
Themes:
Fantasy, medieval-esque, knights and kings
Language:
None
Sexual/Romantic Interaction
Married couples, and some romantic relationships, but none objectionable.
Violence
Murder, death, and some violence, but nothing too disturbing.
I would give The Royal Ranger a rating of heavy PG
On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = horrible, 2 = OK, 3 = I liked it, 4 = I really liked it, 5 = I loved it), I would give The Royal Ranger a 5
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story
My local library had an event tonight. Marion Blumenthal Lazan, a Holocaust survivor, came to speak about her story as told in her memoir Four Perfect Pebbles: A Holocaust Story. Although Lila Perl wrote the book with background information, Marion and her mother, Ruth (who died last December, and lived to be almost 105 years old) gave many first hand accounts for the book (a majority of the book is made of quotes from Marion and her mother). The story is beautiful and inspiring. I really felt like I had just sat down and listened to my grandmother tell me a story of her childhood when I read it. It is worthy of a spot on your bookshelf.
And because I went to listen to Marion, I stayed to have her sign my copy of the book (which I had just got in the mail yesterday, and a good thing because they were sold out by the end of the event!).
"To Sara - With my Best Wishes. Marion B Lazan, November 2013"
I (*cough*mydad*cough*) had the courage to go over to her husband while we were listening and have him sign my book also :)
"Best Wishes, Nathaniel Lazan"
I don't say much when I meet authors/famous people, because that's just how I am (And I'm just excited to have the opportunity to see them in person and listen to them speak). But I made sure to thank her for sharing her story with me. She is a beautiful lady. I'm glad I got to meet her.
And it was nice because my daddy was with me, and my little brother got to hear most of her speech before he went to his class. I love being able to do things with my daddy. I will be sharing Marion's story with my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and nieces and nephews.
I love how she proceeded to share end her speech:
"We are the last generation [my generation] that will have 'direct contact' with the veterns of WWII and Holocaust survivors. It is our job to share their stories with our children and grand children and great grandchildren."
And that is why I buy books. Because when I die, my descendants won't just have my legacy, but the legacy of many others, too.
And because I went to listen to Marion, I stayed to have her sign my copy of the book (which I had just got in the mail yesterday, and a good thing because they were sold out by the end of the event!).
"To Sara - With my Best Wishes. Marion B Lazan, November 2013"
I (*cough*mydad*cough*) had the courage to go over to her husband while we were listening and have him sign my book also :)
"Best Wishes, Nathaniel Lazan"
I don't say much when I meet authors/famous people, because that's just how I am (And I'm just excited to have the opportunity to see them in person and listen to them speak). But I made sure to thank her for sharing her story with me. She is a beautiful lady. I'm glad I got to meet her.
And it was nice because my daddy was with me, and my little brother got to hear most of her speech before he went to his class. I love being able to do things with my daddy. I will be sharing Marion's story with my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and nieces and nephews.
I love how she proceeded to share end her speech:
"We are the last generation [my generation] that will have 'direct contact' with the veterns of WWII and Holocaust survivors. It is our job to share their stories with our children and grand children and great grandchildren."
And that is why I buy books. Because when I die, my descendants won't just have my legacy, but the legacy of many others, too.
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Catching Fire & Mockingjay
{We can pretty much assume that I will not be able to get three posts up each day until October 31, so we will assume that I won't be finishing Blogtober. This is why I fail at things like NaNoWriMon.}
In the past week I completed the Hunger Games trilogy. I had read the first book before the movie had been released, but had not picked up the second book until this past week. Then I borrowed the third book from a friend after reading Catching Fire and finished it last night. It. Was. Terrible.
Be prepared for a spoiler-ly rant ahead. I don't promise that the first half will be about Catching Fire and the second half about Mockingjay either. When I rant, I am all over the place. Don't say I didn't warn you.
First off, the writing is horrendous. The first person present-tense narrative is my least favorite narrative, but just about every single book published today will be written in it. I dislike it because you can't help becoming attached, or 'one', with the protagonist, even if you really hate them *cough*Katniss*cough*. I think the only characters I really cared for in the end (mostly because Suzanne Collins rarely used them/killed them off before she could screw them up with the rest of them) were Finnick, Annie, and their baby.
And when Finnick was killed.... My heart stopped and I had to close the book for about five minutes. (I knew it would happen, since it had been spoiled for me before, but still.... It was terrible.)
Catching Fire wasn't as horrible as Mockingjay, but Hunger Games is the best of the three. I almost think Suzanne Collins shouldn't have even written the last two books, because it seemed like over the course of the two books she was quickly deteriorating over her desire to write the books well. Katniss had no character development until the last chapter of Mockingjay. She was insane throughout the two books. It was just...just...terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible.
And the way she concluded the series was sloppy at best. And it wasn't at best, so it was a complete disaster. Especially the epilogue. You really get a sense of just how cold hearted Katniss is, how 'damaged' she is, how mentally unstable. (I can't exactly blame her for being that way, but it's almost pitiful.) She didn't mention her children's names, just that the boy and girl will learn, or have learned, what had happened. She never wanted children, and she said she only had those two after fifteen years of Peeta begging because he wanted them so bad. I feel so sorry for those kids. The ending was cold, and did nothing to redeem the series.
All in all, I hate the books. The only characters I still liked by the end were Finnick, Annie, their son, and Paylor, probably because Suzanne didn't screw them up like she did everyone else. And Peeta. Still like Peeta. But other than those five, I am either on the line or hating the rest of them.
Snow was brilliant. And I will standby my earlier belief that I hate Coin more than Snow, because I do. The relationship between Snow and Katniss was one of the better parts of the story, and even by the time he died Snow was still had that 'bad guy' about him that was all 'I am the bad guy, and I'm not afraid to mess with you up until the very second I die'. And I don't like Coin because she was a career politician and her only goal with the entire rebellion was to get Snow's seat. I was a little surprised when Katniss killed her, because I thought that Katniss was siding with Coin at that time, but I think that could have been done a lot better still.
So, yes, I hate these books. At best they were okay. Really if you just have someone tell you want happens, you will be fine, because they aren't worth the read unless you really want to go through that mental trauma of hatred at the end.
One of the goals for this blog is to provide information for parents and readers alike to find 'clean' reads suitable for their children or themselves. In all my reviews I will mention general themes from the book, language, sexual/romantic interaction, and violence.
Themes:
dystopian, rebellion, war, survival
Language:
Very little to none if I am remembering correctly.
Sexual/Romantic Interaction
A love triangle between Peeta, Gale, and Katniss. Kissing, some references to sex. 'Survival of the population' via repopulation is talked about a lot in book three.
Violence
Very heavy, especially in book three.
I would give Catching Fire & Mockingjay both a rating of mild-heavey PG-13
On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = horrible, 2 = OK, 3 = I liked it, 4 = I really liked it, 5 = I loved it), I would give Catching Fire &Mockingjay both a 2
In the past week I completed the Hunger Games trilogy. I had read the first book before the movie had been released, but had not picked up the second book until this past week. Then I borrowed the third book from a friend after reading Catching Fire and finished it last night. It. Was. Terrible.
Be prepared for a spoiler-ly rant ahead. I don't promise that the first half will be about Catching Fire and the second half about Mockingjay either. When I rant, I am all over the place. Don't say I didn't warn you.
First off, the writing is horrendous. The first person present-tense narrative is my least favorite narrative, but just about every single book published today will be written in it. I dislike it because you can't help becoming attached, or 'one', with the protagonist, even if you really hate them *cough*Katniss*cough*. I think the only characters I really cared for in the end (mostly because Suzanne Collins rarely used them/killed them off before she could screw them up with the rest of them) were Finnick, Annie, and their baby.
And when Finnick was killed.... My heart stopped and I had to close the book for about five minutes. (I knew it would happen, since it had been spoiled for me before, but still.... It was terrible.)
Catching Fire wasn't as horrible as Mockingjay, but Hunger Games is the best of the three. I almost think Suzanne Collins shouldn't have even written the last two books, because it seemed like over the course of the two books she was quickly deteriorating over her desire to write the books well. Katniss had no character development until the last chapter of Mockingjay. She was insane throughout the two books. It was just...just...terrible. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible.
And the way she concluded the series was sloppy at best. And it wasn't at best, so it was a complete disaster. Especially the epilogue. You really get a sense of just how cold hearted Katniss is, how 'damaged' she is, how mentally unstable. (I can't exactly blame her for being that way, but it's almost pitiful.) She didn't mention her children's names, just that the boy and girl will learn, or have learned, what had happened. She never wanted children, and she said she only had those two after fifteen years of Peeta begging because he wanted them so bad. I feel so sorry for those kids. The ending was cold, and did nothing to redeem the series.
All in all, I hate the books. The only characters I still liked by the end were Finnick, Annie, their son, and Paylor, probably because Suzanne didn't screw them up like she did everyone else. And Peeta. Still like Peeta. But other than those five, I am either on the line or hating the rest of them.
Snow was brilliant. And I will standby my earlier belief that I hate Coin more than Snow, because I do. The relationship between Snow and Katniss was one of the better parts of the story, and even by the time he died Snow was still had that 'bad guy' about him that was all 'I am the bad guy, and I'm not afraid to mess with you up until the very second I die'. And I don't like Coin because she was a career politician and her only goal with the entire rebellion was to get Snow's seat. I was a little surprised when Katniss killed her, because I thought that Katniss was siding with Coin at that time, but I think that could have been done a lot better still.
So, yes, I hate these books. At best they were okay. Really if you just have someone tell you want happens, you will be fine, because they aren't worth the read unless you really want to go through that mental trauma of hatred at the end.
One of the goals for this blog is to provide information for parents and readers alike to find 'clean' reads suitable for their children or themselves. In all my reviews I will mention general themes from the book, language, sexual/romantic interaction, and violence.
Themes:
dystopian, rebellion, war, survival
Language:
Very little to none if I am remembering correctly.
Sexual/Romantic Interaction
A love triangle between Peeta, Gale, and Katniss. Kissing, some references to sex. 'Survival of the population' via repopulation is talked about a lot in book three.
Violence
Very heavy, especially in book three.
I would give Catching Fire & Mockingjay both a rating of mild-heavey PG-13
On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = horrible, 2 = OK, 3 = I liked it, 4 = I really liked it, 5 = I loved it), I would give Catching Fire &Mockingjay both a 2
Friday, October 18, 2013
Blogtober #15 - Light & Dark, Good & Evil: A Thought's Post
"Darkness does not always equate to evil, just as light does not always bring good."I have mentioned this quote from the book Marked a couple of times and how I wasn't quite sure that I agreed with what it said. Well, I finally sat down and organized my thoughts and this is what I have come up with.
In regards to books, I think this quote sums up excellently the change in modern culture's opinion on good and evil in books. Things that are evil and dark, like vampires, or dragons, werewolves, and so on, are not evil and dark. Things that are good and light, like elves, and fairies, and angels, (probably most importantly GOD), are not good and light. Modern fairytales leave you with a sense of confusion. You grew up reading stories where the dragon was evil and had to be slain, yet now they are a fad, everyone wants a dragon. Vampires were once heartless, soulless creatures who would suck your blood out because they needed it to survive, now you are presented with 'vegetarian' vampires, and vampires with morals. Then you get Christians mixed in, like the People of Faith in Marked, and you loose that boundary of morals even more. People with Christian morals are the oppressor, the bad guys (in Marked the People of Faith are clearly that, because that is the great misconception society has about Christians today).
Moving deeper into it, however, you are presented with even more complexity. You have stories (Fantasy) and humans (reality) and those are jumbled together and mixed up to where there is no fantasy and no reality. Modern society gives mythological creatures souls and morals, makes them good, and goes and makes humans (mostly Christians) the evil thing to be gotten rid of.
"The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon. Exactly what the fairy tale does is this: it accustoms him for a series of clear pictures to the idea that these limitless terrors had a limit, that these shapeless enemies have enemies in the knights of God, that there is something in the universe more mystical than darkness, and stronger than strong fear.” - G.K. Chesterton
We grew up believe that dragons could be conquered. Now our children are growing up believing that humans should be conquered with dragons. People with authority should be ignored and defeated. You wonder why teens today are so depressed? It's because the morals they grew up on, that humans can defeat the giant, undefeatable monsters like dragons has been twisted. No longer can you look towards yourself to defeat the dragon, because maybe the dragon (no matter how 'good' it is) cannot be defeated. Humans are being characterized as the evil to be defeated. Seriously think on it, humans are evil, they have to be killed using vampires, or werewolves, or dragons, they don't allow for the complexity of human nature to come through. In Marked Zoey is no longer a human, she is a vampire. Every human that she knows (her grandmother being the one exception) is the bad guy (or at least so weak that she can easily rule over them), and don't get her started on the oppressive People of Faith. It clamors for teens to start to worship the goddess Nyx, because she is the almighty, beautiful, and good goddess, whereas the People of Faith's god, (AKA the Christian God) is the degrading, ugly, and evil god. Wonder why there are shootings in school? Look at what they read. It tells them that things that do exist (humans, God, Christianity) are evil, and the things that are evil (vampires, gods and goddesses) are good. Wouldn't you be utterly depressed if there was only evil in this world? They don't realize that there is good out there, because all they read about is that the good in our world is actually evil.
Taking the words of Neil Gaimen, who is paraphrasing the earlier quote from G.K. Chesterton:
“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
And remember to 'read the right books' (C.S. Lewis Narnia, Voyage of the Dawn Treader reference there.) Because...
"Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage." - C.S. Lewis
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Blogtober #14 - Fairytales, Tristram & Iseult
Many of my friends know that I am a die hard for fairytales. From Disney, to Brother's Grimm, to fantasy stories, those are my favorites. I love reading Shakespeare (when I have time because it takes some effort to read his work), and (of course) love stories are my favorites. A friend recently shared the following song with me and the story it is based on. It reminded me that I had heard of the story and knew of the basic plot line, but had never finished it or fully learned the story. And it is the story of Tristram and Iseult (also called Tristan and Isolt, sometimes Tristan and Isolde, depends on translation)
The song and story are beautiful. My friend said this is her new favorite love story, whereas it was Romeo and Juliet (honestly I was never found of Romeo and Juliet, but Tristram and Iseult I am). Granted the following quote is from Wikipedia, it gives a good background to the story:
There are also some beautiful paintings of Tristram and Iseult.
like this one painting by Hugues Merle
Tristram and Iseult has been written into songs, poems, movies, and plays. Although I am not familiar with any other versions besides Mabel Couch's, I really prefer this love story to Romeo and Juliet. First, Tristram is a noble knight (at first he was stuck up, but despite the short length of Mabel's version, you can see his character growth fantastically in it), and he tries to do well to all. If he and Iseult hadn't been under the effects of a powerful love potion, I think they could have moved on to other people (since Iseult married Tristram's uncle, because his Uncle knew they had a thing for each other and wanted to hurt Tristram out of envy). I think that is way I find this story more appealing than Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, because this is tragic because no matter how hard they tried to move on from each other, they couldn't through no fault of their own.
This is a beautiful story, and well worth reading more of.
(And as for a rating, I would give it a light PG, it is considered by many as an adulterous relationship, and there is blood, fights, killing, and poison, so I would be comfortable (in regards to Mabel Couch's version) to let 12 + read it)
Tristan and Iseult is a legend made popular during the 12th century through French medieval poetry, and inspired from archetypal Celtic legends. It has become an influential romance and tragedy, retold in numerous sources with as many variations. The tragic story is of the adulterous love between the Cornish knight Tristan (Tristram) and the Irish princess Iseult (Isolde, Yseult, etc.). The narrative predates and most likely influenced the Arthurian romance of Lancelot and Guinevere, and has had a substantial impact on Western art, the idea of romantic love and literature since it first appeared in the 12th century. While the details of the story differ from one author to another, the overall plot structure remains much the same.There are many different renditions of the story (one of the popular ones is by Matthew Arnold). But the one my friend referred me to is from Cornwall's Wonderland by Mabel Quiller Couch. You can find her version of Tristram and Iseult here along with some other stories from her book.
There are also some beautiful paintings of Tristram and Iseult.
Tristram and Iseult has been written into songs, poems, movies, and plays. Although I am not familiar with any other versions besides Mabel Couch's, I really prefer this love story to Romeo and Juliet. First, Tristram is a noble knight (at first he was stuck up, but despite the short length of Mabel's version, you can see his character growth fantastically in it), and he tries to do well to all. If he and Iseult hadn't been under the effects of a powerful love potion, I think they could have moved on to other people (since Iseult married Tristram's uncle, because his Uncle knew they had a thing for each other and wanted to hurt Tristram out of envy). I think that is way I find this story more appealing than Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, because this is tragic because no matter how hard they tried to move on from each other, they couldn't through no fault of their own.
This is a beautiful story, and well worth reading more of.
(And as for a rating, I would give it a light PG, it is considered by many as an adulterous relationship, and there is blood, fights, killing, and poison, so I would be comfortable (in regards to Mabel Couch's version) to let 12 + read it)
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Blogtober #13 - House of Night, book one - Marked
Browsing my Facebook a couple of weeks ago, I spotted a post from one of the many book pages I like. The post contained a quote from Marked, book one of the House of Night series. This is the quote:
So my friend loaned me the book and I just finished reading it. It was an okay read. Some parts were confusing, sometimes contradictory. The writing wasn't anything to rave over. It's not terrible to where I would be against reading the other books in the series, it just...I think it would rate a point higher than Twilight.
First off, at the beginning I was thoroughly confused (It actually took me the entire first chapter to realize vampyres = vampires. major brain fail there.). 'Vampyres' are not some mythological, unknown, thought to not be real idea, but actual 'creatures'. There is a school/coven and many of the famous actors, actresses, singers, writers, and so on are vampyres. There are certain types of vampyres called Trackers, and they track down humans to turn into vampyres. Those humans are then 'marked' (hence the title of the book, since this covers what happens immediately after Zoey, the protagonist, is marked) and go to the House of Night, a boarding school/coven for vampyres. The Cast ladies did not go right out and say that this is the case, it took some figuring out from the information given.
There were also some parts that seemed to contradict earlier statements/actualities in the story. But in order to double check on those I would need my own copy and a pencil to mark them out with, so don't hold me to this statement.
There was also much cursing (quite a few f-bombs were dropped), scenes that were hinting at sex/sexual activities, and to put bluntly, and explicit scene of attempted oral sex (ewwwwwww).
Soooo....yeah.....Maybe I should retracted my earlier statements about being willing to read the other books. Not only did many of these 'romance' scenes make me a little uncomfortable, I wish I could read a teen book like this (which has a fantastic plot concept, a bit poorly executed) were the romance wasn't physically based, or where the two involved had a 'spiritual' attraction after two interactions. Give me some relationships like those from Harry Potter, or The Rangers Apprentice, and that would be fantastic.
On a slightly lighter note, what's with all the blondes in the book? It's like the population in House of Night is 95% blonde, 5% other. Wow. That and there were some clichés/Mary sue descriptions. And I couldn't connect with any of the characters from the story, and I think that says a lot. If you can't connect with a character, then what kind of story is it?
One of the goals for this blog is to provide information for parents and readers alike to find 'clean' reads suitable for their children or themselves. In all my reviews I will mention general themes from the book, language, sexual/romantic interaction, and violence.
Themes:
Vampyres (Vampires), Greek mythology, coming of age, survival, monsters, death, magic
Language:
Language throughout, F-bomb dropped by the second chapter, around ten (maybe more) f-bombs total, along with other cursing.
Sexual/Romantic Interaction
Heavy on sexual talk/images. Blood is used as a sexual play toy, oral sex, touching inappropriate areas.
Violence
Heavy on blood. One scene were a boy dies coughing up blood is descriptive. Knives, rituals, murderous ghosts.
I would give Marked a rating of heavy PG-13
On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = horrible, 2 = OK, 3 = I liked it, 4 = I really liked it, 5 = I loved it), I would give Marked a 2
"Darkness does not always equate to evil, just as light does not always bring good."I found the idea interesting and worth pondering (I still don't know what I make of it), and posted it on my page. From there my lovely bibliophile friends said I should read this series (granted I did not know about it until then).
So my friend loaned me the book and I just finished reading it. It was an okay read. Some parts were confusing, sometimes contradictory. The writing wasn't anything to rave over. It's not terrible to where I would be against reading the other books in the series, it just...I think it would rate a point higher than Twilight.
First off, at the beginning I was thoroughly confused (It actually took me the entire first chapter to realize vampyres = vampires. major brain fail there.). 'Vampyres' are not some mythological, unknown, thought to not be real idea, but actual 'creatures'. There is a school/coven and many of the famous actors, actresses, singers, writers, and so on are vampyres. There are certain types of vampyres called Trackers, and they track down humans to turn into vampyres. Those humans are then 'marked' (hence the title of the book, since this covers what happens immediately after Zoey, the protagonist, is marked) and go to the House of Night, a boarding school/coven for vampyres. The Cast ladies did not go right out and say that this is the case, it took some figuring out from the information given.
There were also some parts that seemed to contradict earlier statements/actualities in the story. But in order to double check on those I would need my own copy and a pencil to mark them out with, so don't hold me to this statement.
There was also much cursing (quite a few f-bombs were dropped), scenes that were hinting at sex/sexual activities, and to put bluntly, and explicit scene of attempted oral sex (ewwwwwww).
Soooo....yeah.....Maybe I should retracted my earlier statements about being willing to read the other books. Not only did many of these 'romance' scenes make me a little uncomfortable, I wish I could read a teen book like this (which has a fantastic plot concept, a bit poorly executed) were the romance wasn't physically based, or where the two involved had a 'spiritual' attraction after two interactions. Give me some relationships like those from Harry Potter, or The Rangers Apprentice, and that would be fantastic.
On a slightly lighter note, what's with all the blondes in the book? It's like the population in House of Night is 95% blonde, 5% other. Wow. That and there were some clichés/Mary sue descriptions. And I couldn't connect with any of the characters from the story, and I think that says a lot. If you can't connect with a character, then what kind of story is it?
One of the goals for this blog is to provide information for parents and readers alike to find 'clean' reads suitable for their children or themselves. In all my reviews I will mention general themes from the book, language, sexual/romantic interaction, and violence.
Themes:
Vampyres (Vampires), Greek mythology, coming of age, survival, monsters, death, magic
Language:
Language throughout, F-bomb dropped by the second chapter, around ten (maybe more) f-bombs total, along with other cursing.
Sexual/Romantic Interaction
Heavy on sexual talk/images. Blood is used as a sexual play toy, oral sex, touching inappropriate areas.
Violence
Heavy on blood. One scene were a boy dies coughing up blood is descriptive. Knives, rituals, murderous ghosts.
I would give Marked a rating of heavy PG-13
On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = horrible, 2 = OK, 3 = I liked it, 4 = I really liked it, 5 = I loved it), I would give Marked a 2
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