Found Not Lost

My daughter and I couldn’t wait for this third installment of the House of Night series by P.C. Cast and daughter Kristin Cast. We both enjoyed reading the book, but it left us hanging and sort of unsatisfied. It wasn’t long enough, too many plots left unfinished… So we’re hanging until the next book, Untamed.

“..darkness does not always equate to evil, just as light does not always bring good”

This has been cautionary words of wisdom, since the beginning. The book, it’s story line and the sub plots have all pointed to this truth that things are not always as they seem or what you think they should be.

In this third book, Zoey is still dealing with her best friend Stevie Ray being undead as she tries to find ways to get her friend back the way she was. She also has to deal with another death at the school, this time around one of the professors die. She is still juggling three romantic interests; and while my daughter thinks she was being totally stupid in her choices, I think she is just being a typical teenager. She also has to make a mature choice in working with her former enemy, who may turn out to not have been an enemy after all.

There are certainly enough subplots in this book to keep you engrossed. I read this in one sitting, practically, and was left wanting for more.

Someone in my house felt that I have been reading too much teen fiction so they suggested I try reading less macabre than vampires and witches. Thus, this book. Here’s some basic information about from Amazon:

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 224 pages
Publisher: The Chicken House (September 24, 2007)
Language: English

This book is about a 12 year old girl who lives in an old castle with her family of magicians. Her family has owned the magical singing books which have been the source of her family’s magical prowess for generations. However, she, Igraine, took more after her grandfather Peleas and aspires to become a knight rather than a magician. Being the youngest, her family indulges her fantasy of being a knight until one day, after an accident in the magic lab turns her parents into swine, her services as a knight becomes a necessity. Especially with an invasion of the castle by a wicked magician who wants to take posession of the singing books becomes inevitable. Igraine draws on her wit and courage to save her parents, the singing books and her home.

This is a very easy read but at the same time quite engaging. The illustrations are very whimsical and draws your interest in the story even more. My 10 year old daughter enjoyed it immensely and so did I. If you have a young teen who likes adventure, and a good laugh, this may be a good book for them.

Right now I am reading Igraine the Brave courtesy of my youngest daughter, the ten year old Clone. I’ve been reading her sister’s recommended books, so I guess she didn’t want to feel left out. lol! It’s actually pretty good. I haven’t finished it yet as I’ve been bloggging too much instead, but after I do my posting for today I’ll hanker down and finish it.

It’s a short book (224 pages); Igraine the Brave is written by Cornelia Funke and is geared to the 9-12 year old age group. It is about a twelve year old girl in a family of magicians who instead wants to become a knight. Pretty interesting so far. I’ll provide a more extended review as soon as I finish.

In the second book, we meet up with the talking dog. In this third book, we see more of Fang the blogger. While I have been enjoying the series, I am really amused by the fact that bloggers are going to save the world in the third book. 

Some mysteries are revealed in this third book, like who Max’s real parents are.

The saving the world ending is a little lame, but for teen fiction, I think it’s good enough. It keeps you entertained and wanting more.

If you are interested, the author, James Patterson has a blog too: James Patterson’s Amazon Blog

If you’d like to see Fang’s blog, visit: http://maximumride.blogspot.com

What I wrote about Book 1 and Book 2:
Angel Experiment
School’s Out Forever

The saga of Maximum Ride and her flock of flying kids continues. After they rescue their youngest member, Angel, from the ’school’ as the dessert laboratory, where they were all created by grafting avian DNA to their human ones, is called, they make it their quest to find who their real parents are. They travel cross country to New York where they attempt to infiltrate the ‘institute’ while being pursued by their nemesis, the Erasers, who are humans genetically spliced with the wolf DNA.

If you appreciate sarcasm, you will find Max’s teenage wit hilarious. I laughed out loud on more than one occasion and smiled in approval the rest of the time. In this volume, they also add another member to their flock, Total, the talking dog. Fang gets badly hurt from a fight with Ari, the Eraser who just happened to be Max’s brother, and they have no choice but take him to a hospital for help. During their stay at the hospital, they meet Anne, supposedly with the FBI, who becomes their benefactor and surrogate mom. They go to live with her in Virginia and even get a chance to go to a ‘normal’ school with other kids. Of course, things don’t always go perfectly. Read the books and you will soon be hooked too as one revelation leads to another and never quite the way you expected it to.

My Review of Maximum Ride Book #1