Another great read from Justin Richards, if you haven’t read The Death Collector or Parliament of Blood, you should probably read them first though. This book is the third in the continuing story of George, Eddie, and Liz. Once again they find themselves smack dab in the middle of another adventure. This time around it’s in the form of an ancient king who’s bent on reclaiming his power.

It’s no secret that I love Justin Richards. His books are inventive, exciting, and fast reads. He’s the first author to ever really get me into a period piece sort of book, and I thank him for it. This series is especially fun with characters you’ve met before thrown into increasingly crazy situations. Personally, I love Eddie, the street urchin George took in during the first book. Along with his friends, he’s always doing his best to solve whatever puzzle has presented itself.

I felt this book lacked a little because Eddie’s story was more separated from the others. As far as I can recall, this didn’t happen in the first two books. The interactions between Eddie and his older, more refined friends are always good fun and I missed them a bit in this book. However, this story was as exciting as the others with mysterious killers, half clock work soldiers, and strange magicians. I would highly recommend it.

I’m a fan of authors who you know you’re going to like. Now, usually you know you are going to like their books because each book is very similar to the others they’ve written. You know Dean Koontz is going to write another creepy book, you know John Green is going to write another awesome coming of age book. It’s more rare to find an author who can write a great dystopian book like Delirium, and also a fun, quaint little fantasy novel like Liesl and Po.

I listened to this book, so right from the get go I liked it because Jim Dale reads it, but the book stands up on its own. It takes place in somewhere like London about 150 yrs ago. Oliver’s descriptions of the city remind me of Peter Pan, in fact this book seems like something that could become a classic like that.

I really liked how everyone’s stories were tied together. It takes a lot of thought to figure out how each character is going to be tied to other people in such a way that readers don’t expect it, and Oliver does this flawlessly. The characters are big and over the top, but it fits the almost fairy tale nature of the story. Also, her imagining of ghosts is an interesting take I’ve never heard before and it lent the ghosts their own flair.

Overall, the story was a bit simple, following a very expected path, but the writing was great, conveying the magical sort of feeling that I love to find in any book. I can easily see myself reading this book to my future children.

This was a book that I randomly grabbed for my Kindle when it was on sale for 99 cents. Talk about being pleasantly surprised. I didn’t know anything about it and it ended up being really good. It’s another in the Dystopian genre, though it’s not as life and death epic as most of them. I’m going to call it every day Dystopia.

The main character, Kid, goes to school in the future where the government has ceased funding schools and they are instead run by companies who monitor the kids to see what the trends are. Kids who do better socially tend to get sponsored by various companies, making their school lives much better. This book is the story of what happens when the teens decide they’re tired of letting the sponsors decide everything for them.

Kid’s a fun character. She’s not exactly an outcast, but she doesn’t look like someone who’s going to be sponsored anytime soon. She’s pretty much okay with that, she just wants to make music and get by. She’s also super smart and the only one who really notices when a group calling themselves, ‘The Unidentified’ perform a mock suicide. While the rest of the students just brush it off as nothing, she digs, trying to figure out who was behind it. Ironically this is what gains her the attention of sponsors.

Sponsorship effects every aspect of her school live. Between the drama between her and her friends when her status is elevated, and the mystery of the unidentified, the second half of the book reads quick and is very hard to put down. It even had a few twists I didn’t see coming.

If you get a chance, check this one out.

Okay, so ever since I read The Hunger Games (yes, it’s been a few reviews since I last mentioned those books) I’ve been hoping to read another book that got to me like that one. While Legend didn’t quite get there for me, it’s a close second.

The characters were what really made this book for me, because in reality the plot is a little “been there, done that”. You have big government oppressing people and only the rich getting anything good while the poor suffer with almost nothing. True, we’ve seen it, but the characters were awesome and they brought the plot to life in a whole new way. Plus, I’m the first to admit I’m a sucker for anyone’s vision of the world gone to hell.

First you have Day, a bad ass half-Asian hero(I mention Asian because it’s nice to see a not white bread hero) who will pretty much do anything to help his family and friends. This is hampered by the fact he’s the Republic’s most wanted criminal. Luckily he’s managed to outsmart them so they have no idea who he is, or what he looks like. Day’s need to help his family makes him a likeable character from the start, but as you watch everything he goes through to save them, you can’t help but root for him.

Next there is June, a prodigy who’s the pride and joy of the Republic, aside from her occasional pesky misbehavior. She’s smart and skilled and about to become on the the Republic’s top soldiers. In a nut shell she is one of the best female characters I’ve read in a while, especially in a book that is aimed at YA audience. While the almost obligatory subplot of Day and June falling for each other does come up, June isn’t one of those girls who sits and pines for the guy and does everything to be with him. She’s super strong in her own right and the decisions she makes are all based on sound reasoning.

Overall one of the best books in the recent slew of dystopian books. I was really excited for this book and Lu didn’t disappoint at all.