May 31st, 2006
1:47 pm
by Jaemi
Book Review, Harry Potter Read-Alikes, Series
boarding schools, charlie bone, children of the red king, children's books, england, fantasy, juvenile fiction, magic, wizards, ya fiction
Rating: 
The trouble in and around Bloor’s Academy grows even greater, as the Children of the Red King struggle on with their fight. All the town’s animals have disappeared over night, and no one knows why. With the help of Billy’s rat Rembrandt, Charlie Bone uncovers the answer. And with the help of a mysterious girl named Naren, is able to find the animals and bring some back. But as he only brings his friends’ animals back, he then finds himself to blame for the rest of them being missing. Having sworn never to tell the secret of Naren’s family, he can only hope that the rest of the animals will return on their own. Luckily, they do.
Meanwhile, there are rumors circulating of a mysterious Shadow. One which Rembrandt tried to warn them about, but the boys could make no sense of his cryptic message. While it’s widely known that there was someone called the Shadow who tore the Red King’s family apart, there is almost nothing to be found about him, outside of travel journals written by Bartholomew Bloor, which he gets to Charlie, and which Charlie must then hide, once he’s read them and discovered all he can.
And if that’s not enough, his best friend’s parents have been sneaking around Bloor’s, his mother has been bewitched and is forgetting his father, and the nicest teacher at the Academy has turned out to be an enemy. Armed with a charm that can free the King and the knowledge of where his father is, Charlie aims to set his life straight.
A fun and fast read that’s rather difficult to write well about without giving it all away.
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Rating:
Joe Beck’s life is pretty run-of-the-mill. Parents separated, doesn’t get on so well with his father, goes to school, plays with a band, tries to stay out of trouble. And then he meets Candy.
Something about her draws him right in. He can’t believe she’s talking to him. That he could be so lucky. And when he gets chased off by a very large and very scary Iggy, who can only be her Pimp, he can’t believe that either. He mulls it over for a week, after finding her number in his pocket, then calls to ask her out, knowing it’s the only thing to do.
At the Zoo she seems so normal. She explains Iggy away as some guy who’s just a little crazy. Joe wants to believe it, so he does. When she leaves him in the cafe to go to the bathroom and comes back changed, he understands she must use drugs, but he doesn’t give that much thought either. She likes him. He likes her.
But when she comes to his Band’s show only to be dragged off by Iggy and his hoarde, a fight which gets Joe’s brother-in-law to be injured, things come to a head. With nowhere left to turn, he finally tells his sister everything. Unable to believe there’s nothing he can do to help, and unable to get Candy on the phone, as soon as his dad’s left for his business trip, Joe takes off, losing all cares about being grounded.
He takes a train back to the spot where he first stumbled into her. Nothing. He wanders around London, trying to find somewhere within 10 minutes that could be the spot where she lives. If that part was true. Ready to admit defeat, he’s heading back to catch another train when he spots Iggy leaving the station, and gets it in his head to follow him.
After being led to the house, he hides in the bushes for quite awhile, making his move when an elderly woman loaded down with shopping bags arrives. He helps her carry them in, then takes off up the stairs to find Candy. And find her he does–severely battered and bruised. Broken, she tells him everything. How she came to be here, how it went so far. They’re concocting a plan to get her out of there when Iggy returns. There’s no saying if Joe could have stayed hidden in the bathroom if his cell phone hadn’t rung. But it did. And things very suddenly became life or death.
With a straight-edge razor held to his throat, Joe is staring at the end, when Candy breaks a lamp against Iggy’s head. They quickly bind him up with tape, and take off into the night. They stop at Joe’s house for supplies, then board another train, heading for the summer cottage. The plan is to get Candy clean, then take it from there. Iggy won’t find them. He’s sure of it, despite a nagging at the back of his brain.
But just when the worst of it seems over, when Candy seems to be herself again, and not a withdrawl insane version, Joe realizes just what kind of trouble he’s in. Iggy has his sister. He can find them, because Joe tells him exactly where they are. Any bargaining power he had has gone. Even with Mike on the way to help, there’s no knowing if he’ll beat Iggy to them, or what they can do even if he does.
In the end, it turns out in a way no one would have imagined.
Time goes by, but Joe can’t remember how life was before Candy. All he can do is struggle to find his way back to it.
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Rating: 
It can be a world of shadows, ghosts, haunted memories, and shame. But it can also be freedom, beauty, and solidarity bred of understanding. Every street kid has their story–they don’t ask, but they know. For Gretchen, it was her Stepmother. Continued life under the same roof as her: impossible. At 15, she still feels like the baby, even though it’s been two years. Two years learning to love the morning, before the city wakes up. Loving life while the sun is rising. Liking it less once there’s a world to see. Two years on the streets take their toll. Lately, it’s the dream of getting out that keeps Gretchen going.
Until Elizabeth.
Tiny, cold, and silent, she arrives one night on the stairs. It’s not a place Gretchen usually stays. Still, she can’t help but take a stand. They tell her a kid that young will only be trouble. But all she sees is someone who needs her. Someone to take care of. From that moment on, Elizabeth is hers.
At first it’s simple. Easy enough to make Elizabeth smile. Easy to be happy just because she is. Then people start to drift, police start to raid, life gets more and more out of control. The streets aren’t as fun anymore. The dream seems farther and farther away. Today isn’t enough, tomorrow slips from her reach. Only the finality of total loss can bring resolution.
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Rating:
Reason Cansino has been magic her whole life, but she’s only know magic was real for 8 days. In that time she’s moved into Sydney to live with her evil grandmother, her mother’s been committed to a “Loony Bin,” and she’s stepped through a door only to wind up on the other side of the world, in New York City.
And if that’s not bad enough, she gets taken in by stories, only to end up in the clutches of her evil Grandfather, who’s worse than her Grandmother, who has to come through the door after her to save her.
Once back on the other side, in Sydney, there’s a lot to think about. Like how magic means insanity or dying young. Whether to accept lessons from a woman she doesn’t trust. The desire to find a way to change things, so that magic doesn’t have to be a curse. But it seems there’s no time for any of that, as the door begins to take on a life of its own, warping, making horrible noises, spitting out weird little creatures who attack the inhabitants of the house, and eventually, sucking Reason straight through.
Back in New York, Reason is the only one who can actually see what’s happening to the door. Which is an impossibly old, and very magic, man, is trying to get through. But she doesn’t know why, or whose side he’s on. With the help of Jay-Tee’s non-magical brother Danny, she investigates on her side, while Jay-Tee, Tom and her Grandmother, Esmerelda, investigate and keep watch on the door from theirs.
Who is this strange half-phantom, half-man? How can he be so old and yet so strong? How can he be related to Reason, Esmerelda, and her Grandfather too? What is the magic he’s given each of them? Will it help Reason to find a way to save them all?
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Rating:
In the world there are many cycles, and sometimes they exist between you and you. The inner commentator never letting you speak, too afraid you’ll only mess things up. The outer prtoector, trying to make you less visible, generally only make you more conspicuous. The friends who aren’t real, but are better than loneliness. The truths buried in closets, because it’s easier for some to pretend they never happened, even if nothing has been the same since, and the damage is still everywhere. Worrying that your haunted past will become your daunting future.
This is Lacie’s world.
Her father’s dead, he mother hides away in endless work, and Lacie is lost between the cracks of herself and a world in which she doesn’t belong. Can’t seem to fit in. Can’t seem to get it right.
Bit by bit, her best friend’s cruelness starts to become more apparent. Forced into agreeing to meet a boy, she soon realizes Benji is just about the only real thing in her life. Except for the ghosts.
Bit by bit, things get harder, and some get easier. Best friend Jenna is lost, but Lacie is found. Her mother begins to slowly come back, she begins to slowly move away. Away from the fake and the meanness she used to emulate. Away toward who she really is, and should be. Away towards Gretchen, returned to town after disappearing for years. Away into a perfect world, in which she does belong.
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Rating:
Anna finds herself in the most unfortunate position of having been on the other side of an accident which killed her brother’s girlfriend. And if that weren’t bad enough, her best friend Ellen was in the car with her, and suffered sever injuries. But while she was physically least scathed, Anna is the one who cannot readjust.
She doesn’t know what to say to her brother. She doesn’t know how to get used to the way her mother is treating her. To her dad being somewhat less of a jerk. To her brother’s kind but distant treatment of her. Nightmares haunt her nightly. And the mere thought of driving sends her into such a panic attack that she’s sure she’s dying. And yet…she thinks she’s fine.
At Thanksgiving, her Aunt insists she needs therapy. Though originally, against it, her father agrees to let her try. Though she doesn’t understand it at first, she’s also willing to give it a fair shot. Anything, if it means getting her life back again.
This book takes a good look at the different ways people can be damaged by a tragedy, and the different ways people will choose to cope with that damage. For Anna, a good part of the healing process is simply letting go.
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Rating:
Benji sees the world in shades of angel and demon, which makes it, more often than not, a rather scary place. While his father may be less trouble than his mother, less abusive, less of a demon-magnet, in order to live with him Benji had to leave his personal angel, Lacie, behind.
Being in a new school suits him, though, as it’s easier to disappear when no one knew you were there to begin with. Being labeled a freak is fine with him. As long as no one takes any notice. As long as no one tries to get close. As long as he can hide inside Dogboy.
But when Benji takes a liking to Rianna Moore, things get a little more complex. She isn’t like them, but she travles with the in crowd. They don’t really see her, but they certainly know she’s there. Which makes Benji a bit less of a shadow. And his feelings make him a bit less dead. And wanting to be near her makes it all a bit less safe.
Eventually, the demons start to show themselves. It turns out they’re everywhere, and when you’ve got your own too…well, they travel with you. No matter how much you might want to leave them behind.
But just because they can follow you, and get inside you, and affect you, doesn’t make them you. And this is what Benji has to discover. This is the only real path out.
Of all of James’ books, I liked this one the best. Most likely because every time he writes one, they just keep getting better. And while they all come with a bit of a harsh face, there is always a light shining through.
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Rating: 
I ran into this book while setting up one of the lists on the Read Something New page and the title cracked me up, so I went out front and picked it up.
Jess Jordan seems pretty sure of her station in life: she’s got a big bum, and no boy will ever notice her because her best friend, Flora, looks like a blonde goddess. Two goddesses, in fact. Venus and Flora. But this is alright by Jess, as she wants nothing to do with boys in that fashion anyway.
She’s rather fond of daydreaming away, instead of completing in-class assignments, and has a very vivid and active imagination. She also has quite the crush on Ben Jones. Only when he starts talking to her, she has no idea what to do with herself. In fact, she eventually comes to the conclusion that he’s not interested in her at all, and only talks to her in order to get information on his true interest. Flora.
Amidst all this confusion, over some miscommunication, Jess has also had a falling-out with her other best friend, Fred. Every time she wants to make it right, back circumstance intervenes, generally in the form of Ben. When Fred is asked to edit a school newspaper and doesn’t ask her to participate it seems things can’t get any lower. Until Flora confesses she’s left the boy she’d been seeing because she’s crazy for someone else. That someone being, not Ben, but Fred.
Suffice it to say Jess has quite the end of a year. And though the task of being the one to feel Fred out for Flora is harsh and unwelcome, she meets it head on. The outcome is most unexpected.
Quick read, full of British humor, good for a lot of laughs.
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Rating:
If you like a good puzzle, mystery, or loved The Da Vinci Code, you’ll probably enjoy this book. Ottavia Salina is a nun who enjoys a celebrated career working in the Vatican Archives. Her life is a simple and quiet one, until one day she is asked to help decode symbols tattooed on the body of a dead Ethiopian. No one will tell her who he is or what he’s done, only that she needs to figure out what the markings on his body mean. It is to be her main priority, and a Swiss Guard Captain, Kaspar Glauser-Rvist will be assisting her.
The mystery and unanswered questions are too much for her, and on a visit home, she has a nephew assist her with searching the internet, in the hopes of finding information on her dead man, which she does. Almost more than she wanted to know. She then confronts the captain with her knew knowledge, and finds herself dismissed from her job, and exiled to Ireland. Disheartened, she arrives in Ireland only to find important men waiting to take her to a plane to send her back to Rome.
After this dizzying turn of events, she finds that the Captain had gone to bat for her, insisted she be a part of his time, receieve an apology, and get her job back, before he would go forward with the project set to him by the Vatican. At long last, Dr. Salina gets her answers. Their dead ethiopian stole a piece of the True Cross. It was not the only theft of its kind. The Vatican wants to get to the bottom of these thefts, and to find the people responsible for them. This is the task set to Dr. Salina, the Captain, and eventually, their partner Farag Boswell.
Using Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy as their guide, the three puzzle their way through a series of tests set forth for aspirants wishing to gain membership in the oldest religious order in existence: the Staurfilakes, protectors of the True Cross. Their lives, needless to say, will be changed forever.
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