My Small Kucing Blog

Friday, April 10, 2015

A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull

A World Without Heroes (Beyonders, #1)A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It had been quite sometime since I encountered the "wow" factor when reading a book. This is one of them .

This book is about a 13 years old boy, Jason, being swallowed (yup, literally swallowed) into a world that he did not being. Something like Dungeons and Dragons. Guess some of the younger readers will ask "Dungeons and Dragons? what's that?". I guess am revealing my age by that statement.

In this world there is a villain, Maldor , who is the Emperor/wizard/dictator whatever you call it. Yup, that's one of the must have element in fantasy book. Those who bow to him will live and those who don't....you can imagine what will entails.

Anyway, Jason's main aim is to get back to his world in one piece but curiosity kills the cat. He inadvertently stumbled on a secret hence is left with not many option. It's either do or die. His way out is to go on a quest to collect a Word the kill the evil Maldor and free the world; and hopefully along the way he will be able find a way back to his own world.

A good book must have a hero and a heroine . This is where the brainy Rachel comes in. The perfect partner in crime with Jason. Love the way the author write up her character. Brave and brainy.

What I love most about this book is that it have "heads and tails" . What I hate the most are books that started in the middle of a battle or something and leave the readers to figure out what had transpired earlier on.I really hate that.

It's pretty fast pace. Easy to read with no super long sentence which makes you forget what was it at the beginning. It's clean. No four letter words and no gory stuff....at least not overtly so. Sound boring? nah...not for me. A good adventure story  doesn't need all those four letter words to make it great. Nor does it need the author to describe how someone got disboweled with allthe intestine spilling out, blood spurting on all directions. I think you get what I mean , right?

The only thing that I didn't quite like was the part where Jason meet Maldor. Actually it's a love and hate part for me. Hate coz it was so unexpected that such twist was woven into the story. Love it...coz of the unexpected twist too. It made me wanna read more. I want to know what happen to that world next.

Yes , I would recommend this books for those mommies who want a good and clean book for their kids to read.

Nah...this is not a paid review nor did I receive ARC from the author. It's my honest opinion.

Gotta run now. I wanna start reading book2 now. Just need to write this review before I set off on my next adventure.





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Tuesday, January 20, 2015

First Frost by Liz DeJesus

Synopsis and book cover from www.goodreads.com

For generations, the Frost family has run the Museum of Magical and Rare Artifacts, handing down guardianship from mother to daughter, always keeping their secrets to “family only.”

Gathered within museum’s walls is a collection dedicated to the Grimm fairy tales and to the rare items the family has acquired: Cinderella’s glass slipper, Snow White’s poisoned apple, the evil queen’s magic mirror, Sleeping Beauty’s enchanted spinning wheel…

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Frost wants none of it, dreaming instead of a career in art or photography or…well, anything except working in the family’s museum. She knows the items in the glass display cases are fakes because, of course, magic doesn’t really exist.

She’s about to find out how wrong she is.


My Comments :-

Since I was a child, I was fascinated with story about Snow White, Cinderella, Rapunzel and stories from the Grimm Brothers. At that time, I don't see the violence in between those lines. But as I grow up, the stories were "changed" by the new generation to be less violent. 

Anyway, where was I . Yes, I was looking for a book by another author which bears the same title. Happen to see this and the synopsis captured my interest. 

I find that it is easy to fall in love with this book as it has the characters which i love during my childhood.

Bianca who is a normal teenager suddenly found out that she is a witch and not only that; also the descendant of Snow White.

When her mom was kidnapped, she had to journey to the Ever After to rescue her.

What I like about this book is that the pace is quite fast. There is also this "silly" Prince who reminds me a bit of Don Quixotic. Love Bianca strong character. She was rash and yet brave.  
 I really like The Big Bad Wolf here

What I dislike about this book was the plot can be predictable at times. What Ming did here did not really endear me to her much.

Anyway, I look forward to subsequent book and thank the author very much for not leaving this book with a cliffhanger ending. 


Friday, January 16, 2015

James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing (James Potter #1) by G. Norman Lippert



Synopsis from www.goodreads.com

What’s it like to be the son of the most famous wizard of all time?

James Potter thinks he knows, but as he begins his own adventure at Hogwarts, he discovers just how much of a challenge it really is to live up to the legend of the great Harry Potter. As if it wasn’t enough dealing with the delegates from the American wizarding school and figuring out the mysteriously polite Slytherins, James and his new friends, Ralph and Zane, begin to uncover a secret plot that could pit the Muggle and the Magical worlds against each other in all-out war.

Now, with the help of Ted Lupin and his band of merry mischief makers (The Gremlins), James must race to stop a war that could change the world forever. His only hope is to learn the difference between being a hero and being the son of a hero.


My Comments


I stumbled upon this book while looking for additional stories from Harry Potter series. Heard J K Rowling going/had release new Harry Potter stories.

Instead, I found works from G. Normal Lippert. Decided to give it a try since I can't get enough of harry potter series.

What I like about this book? Well I get to revisit Hogwarts  and see it through the eyes of the next generation.

For me, this series needs some getting use to.

First of all, the names of the children are confusing to me. They are named after Harry Potter's parents and friends who had pass away. I kept imagining "James" as Harry's father instead of his son. At the mention of Ted Lupin, I kept imagining a werewolf.

Secondly is the series seems to have been Americanised. Setting still same but the tone of it had changed some how. . For example the cars, GPS and game console. And the kids have to learn way of the Muggles such as playing football.

One thing I hate in this book is the politics. Come on! this series is aim for kids, right? Adding politics into it seems very heavy.

What was it again? Society that support the Dark Lord? Harry Potter and his gang not really the good guys and rewrites history to make themselves as heros? It sounded to me like those political novels about Mao's era in china.

I can't believe that the total helplessness of the situation where the Headmistress and teachers can;t do anything about it.

But why am I giving it 3 stars? Well, coz apart from that, the story was pretty well written. i love the last part. it had the old Harry Potter feel to it.