BW Book Reviews

"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes

noreply@blogger.com (Ben White) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:13:00 +0000

“Flowers for Algernon” is the story of Charlie and a mouse named Algernon. Algernon is one of the first test subjects of a surgery that makes you smarter. Charlie is a student at Beekman University Center for Retarded Adults. Charlie accepts to be a test subject for a procedure that increases your smartness which is the same surgery Algernon had. After the procedure Charlie spent several weeks with a bandage around his head he begins to be tested by people at the institute. The events happening at the beginning of the book are read as an entry in a journal that he is asked to keep. As the book progresses you notice small but significant changes in the entries such as him getting things that he didn’t get before as well as overall understanding. Also another interesting thing is the fact that at the beginning of the book Charlie tends to misspell some words and you see over time after the surgery he begins to spell the words correctly and use more complicated words. A example of this is misspelling a word like “science” by switching one of the 3 vowels. As the story continues Charlie becomes more of a science project for some of the doctors instead of a human being. But Charlie continues to live his life to the fullest until the doctors interfere, and cause him to run away. Algernon becomes more of a family member than a friend when Charlie picks him up and has him escape in his pocket. When life seems to be going peaceful for Charlie he finds a fatal flaw in the results of the procedure. Can Charlie save himself from being destroyed by the same procedure he thought would make things better or can he find a way out of this problem?

I thought the book was interesting. It has become one of my favorite books and I have read it countless times. I enjoy the fact that you can see the increase in Charlie’s I.Q. as the story continues because it brings an interesting element to the story. Some of the story’s characters are well rounded with maybe a slight problem with not showing enough emotion but others are interesting to have in the story, such as the artist who he lives next to who enjoys dancing and lots of vodka. The procedure could be called futuristic since we have nothing like in modern day and it would be years before we might even imagine we can increase somebody’s I.Q. levels. The medical tests used are simple and would probably used in order to help people who are recovering from head injuries or other problems involving the brain or eyes. The book is overall enjoyable even though at sometimes confusing because of the wording or because of the way the entry is written.

This is a book review of the novel version of “Flowers for Algernon,” but there’s also a story version. Beside the length, there are several interesting differences between the short story and the novel. For instance, the short story has Charlie as a 37-year-old where Charlie in the novel is only 32. Another difference is the fact that Charlie has a different job in each version which cause some plot changes.

This is a book you can read over and over again and never get tired of.

>>Buy “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes

"His Majesty’s Dragon" by Naomi Novik

noreply@blogger.com (Ben White) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 18:06:00 +0000

“His Majesty’s Dragon” is about the adventures of Captain Will Laurence and his dragon, Temeraire. Laurence is a ship captain who fought in a battle to win the Channel for the English. After taking over a French ship they found a crate below deck that contained a rather large black egg. The ship’s doctor examined it and said it was a rare dragon egg that could hatch any day now. So they set the egg on a velvet cushion to be watched. Immediately Laurence says that he should watch it alone since it was his responsibility as captain. After only a few days the egg cracked and wobbled itself off the cushion onto the deck. When a black snout appeared in the tiny air hole poked open by the dragon within the egg they knew that they would have a lot more to worry about than just making it back to port. None of them knew what a dragon ate, how it acted, or what it would think of them when it saw them.

The dragon was the size of a large dog, almost entirely black except for a light colored weaving through some parts of his wings, also it was like no dragon they had ever seen fly through the skies above them . At first the dragon didn’t even pay attention to them, he just wandered the deck exploring. They were sure that it wasn’t a tame dragon. Then when no one thought it could happen, the dragon asked them why they looked so glum. So that is when Laurence decides to be the one in charge of the dragon and told his first mate Riley to captain the ship. The dragon required a name and so Laurence said Temeraire because of the nobility of the first Temeraire. Laurence thought of this name because the first Temeraire was a brave seaman who he admired. Temeraire says he likes the name and will keep it. In the following days Temeraire ate up a lot of the ships supplies and it looked like every time he ate he got bigger. Then there was the faithful day that the ship finally reached a port. Upon reaching port Laurence and Temeraire met with a dragon specialist who managed to find out what type of dragon he was. Temeraire was a Chinese Imperial which is the strongest Chinese dragon other than the Celestial. Following that, the pair met several more dragon captains and was forced to join the Air Corps. This is only the beginning of their many adventures such as their fight to win the Channel and destroy the French already invading England.

I thought the book was absolutely excellent. The book mostly follows what you would expect when you pick up a book with a dragon as a character. There are plenty of adventures and several characters to make the book interesting. The author doesn’t make the characters talk out of character at all which makes it easier to understand the story. I enjoyed the fact that it introduced a dragon that wasn’t like the rest since he is the only Chinese dragon that they own. I also enjoy the fact that the author was able to use a historical setting while keeping the book fantasy. It’s very interesting to see how the battles would go if they had dragons to help with the war. The only thing that might have made it more believable would be if the characters talked more like they would during the 1700s and1800s.Overall I would read the book several times more.

If you enjoyed “Eragon” and “Eldest,” you would also enjoy this book. The other books in the series are “Throne of Jade,” “Black Powder War,” “Empire of Ivory,” and “Victory of the Eagles.”

>>Buy “His Majesty’s Dragon” by Naomi Novik

"Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure" by Dave Gorman

noreply@blogger.com (Ben White) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:55:00 +0000

Dave Gorman is somewhat weird. Not weird in any bad way but he seems to take trips that most people wouldn’t want to do. For example, he looked up all the other Dave Gormans around Europe. Then he sets himself up to write a book for a company yet can’t think of anything to write. That’s when he gets an email from someone in Australia, who says his website is a googlewhack. A googlewhack is when you search Google using two real words and get back one hit. You’re not allowed to put it in between inverted commas because it counts as cheating. Third, it cannot be a word list of any kind or a thesaurus, dictionary, or encyclopedia page. It appeared that his website was the only one with Francophile Namesakes on one of its pages. That’s when he decides to look for googlewhacks himself. He finds one, and talks to the owner of the site for awhile. On one of his trips he visits another Dave Gorman who is a friend of his. As he talks about googlewhacks to the other Dave—or as he preferred, David—the other has an idea. He bet that Dave couldn’t get a chain of 10 googlewhacks in a row. Dave had already 2 since his first googlewhack found the David’s googlewhack site. So that Dave had to find 2 googlewhacks. If one failed the other would probably work. Dave had until his 32nd Birthday to get 10 googlewhacks in a row. But how close to his deadline will Dave Gorman be?

I thought the book was good. It was very life-like without a lot of weird things that you couldn’t believe in. Dave is weird in the way he does some activities, but is not freaky weird. Also, there are no conversations that are unbelievable. I thought it was nice that all the people in the book had interesting personalities. Also a nice touch that he added was pictures of some of the people that had googlewhack sites or people at the book company. Also it there are a couple of funny parts in the book. Such as one of the people with a googlewhack on their site not understanding what a googlewhack was. This is amazing because he is an educated doctor that should understand something as simple as what a googlewhack is. There are sometimes when the things Dave does are things you simply wouldn’t expect, especially after he’s been drinking. For example: He wakes up with a tattoo of a driver’s license on his arm. Also he wakes up in an airport with a ticket to Washington without remembering a lot about how he got there.

The book is fun and enjoyable for anyone who can understand what the characters are saying. If you like this book you might also like “Word Freak” by Stefan Fatsis.

>> Buy “Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure” by Dave Gorman

"DragonSpell" by Donita K. Paul

noreply@blogger.com (Ben White) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:50:00 +0000

“DragonSpell” is the story of how Kale, an O’rant slave, became a Dragon Keeper. One day she found a dragon egg, except it wasn’t a normal dragon egg. Kale had found a Meech egg, which are very rare and need to be closely protected. Meech dragons are the most intelligent species of dragons, they also have the ability to talk, cast magic, and cook. Though they are supposed to be peaceful, sometimes they have the ability to fight using a sword, a type of martial arts, or breathing fire. They also have the ability in some cases to fly.

Kale’s goal is to reach the Great Hall in Vendela and become a Dragon Keeper for Paladin, the ruler of the land as well as the chosen spokesman for their god, Wulder. In the book almost everybody but the villain believe in Wulder. Almost no one believes that there is no higher force that directs everything. On her way to Vendela, Kale is attacked by a group of ogres who are trying to eat her. She manages to escape into a tunnel with too small a mouth for the ogres to enter. On her way trying to escape she finds a nest of 7 minor dragon eggs. Kale’s escape doesn’t work as she had planned but she is rescued by two people on dragons. The first is Sir Dar, who is a Doneel. Like most Doneel, he is of average height, has fur on his body, and is conscience of manners and appearance at all times. Sir Dar is also a excellent cook. The second rescuer is Leetu Bends, who’s an Emerlindian. For the most part Leetu Bends works for Paladin. Emerlindians have pale skin, white hair and have pointed ears. After being rescued, Kale is told that they have to visit Wizard Fenworth in his bog. Wizards usually incorporate some of their element into everyday living. For example, lizards, bugs, and other small living things love to scuttle on and around Wizard Fenworth. And a lake wizard leaks water from his body.

While on their quest, 2 of the 7 minor dragon eggs Kale found hatch. The first is the green dragon, Gymn, who is a healing dragon. At the beginning when he was only a week or two old he would faint when he was scared. He grew out of the habit though. The second to hatch was the purple dragon, Metta, who was a singing dragon. Minor dragons aren’t very big. Most of them are long enough to wrap around the back of your neck. They are small enough that they can fit in your lap, and are light enough that they can rest on your shoulders without feeling burdened by their weight. Both these minor dragons help in their own ways throughout the book. Their main goal is to stop the evil wizard Risto from using the Meech egg for his own devious purposes.

The book was very good and hard to dislike. The book had a good amount of different characters and a good amount of action. I the characters all did their parts in the book and none were left to just talk. I thought that all the characters had a distinct personality and were different from each other. At least half the characters are warriors, but there is not any detailed fighting. I thought that the dragons contributed to the book even though they were only in the book from about half way to the end. The other ability that I enjoyed seeing was the fact that the dragons could communicate with Kale through mindspeaking. The dragons can only mindspeak to their dragon keepers, another dragon keeper, and wizards. I wish that the author wrote what the dragon was saying instead of just getting a vague idea from how Kale responds.

I think the book is excellent and almost anybody would enjoy it. There are currently 4 other books in the series which include “DragonQuest,” “DragonKnight,” “DragonFire,” and “DragonLight.”

>>Buy “DragonSpell” by Donita K. Paul

"Word Freak" by Stefan Fatsis

noreply@blogger.com (Ben White) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:22:00 +0000

“Word Freak” is the real-life story of Stefan looking into the world of professional Scrabble playing. Stefan starts looking into it with a small degree of interest but then he started playing Scrabble himself and that is when his small hobby turned into something he spent most of his time on. Stefan first realized this after he watched an entire tournament play out. He then knew that he wanted to be as good as these Scrabble fanatics. Stefan starts to play the game more and more, eventually going to tournaments and clubs. The main club that Stefan goes to is the Manhattan Scrabble Club. For the most part Stefan only plays at tournaments or one of the clubs but once or twice he goes to someone’s house. For instance, he was invited to play at the house of one of the makers of Scrabble. His goal is to win the biggest Scrabble tournament hosted in the world.

One of the things that I enjoyed about this book is that Stefan meets a wide range of interesting people, including many of the top Scrabble players. For example, G.I. Joel is somewhat of a friend of Stefan but doesn’t call him buddy or anything. G.I. Joel is basically a lover of Scrabble and was in the final round against Matt Graham, another player, in one of the tournaments at the beginning of the book. Matt is a pretty good Scrabble player but takes the game too seriously. He takes so many pills to increase his performance; it’s scary. Marlon Hill is also weird but not in an unhealthy way. For the most part Marlon is eccentric and a trash talker. Joe Edley, who was national champion twice, as well as the associate director of the National Scrabble Association, helps Stefan out once he starts to love to play Scrabble. Edley was probably the most helpful to Stefan of all the people in the book. The book also includes some facts such as when Stefan looks into the history of how Scrabble started. He lists facts such as how they started producing the game and the major people who started it up.

The book is for the most part believable even though there are some weird things in it. The only reason I think that the book is somewhat fiction is because of the weird conversations that just randomly pop up in this documentary. I’m sure that some of the comments didn’t exactly happen since the conversations that come are sometimes random or you can’t tell why it started.

In reading this book you can learn quite a bit about Scrabble tactics and gameplay. He made sure that people who were reading it could tell if a word played was accepted in Scrabble or a made up word. Some of the words that he uses in the book are either not real or just not accepted by the National Scrabble Association and tournaments. He points out all the words you shouldn’t use from the book at the end in a list. Some of the Scrabble games that he plays he gives a good description of what is going on but sometimes I feel that once or twice he leaves out enough of the game so that it just is like a single paragraph about what is happening in the game before it is finished.

Overall the book is pretty good and is captivating, especially if you play Scrabble.

>>Buy “Word Freak” by Stefan Fatsis

"Joust" by Mercedes Lackey

noreply@blogger.com (Ben White) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 02:24:00 +0000

Vetch is a serf who was taken from his homeland of Alta. He is forced to work under harsh conditions. After working countless hours for his cruel owner, a life-changing event happens: The dragon jouster, Ari, chooses him to be his dragon boy for his dragon Kashet. Vetch is ignored and overall treated badly by most of the staff at the jouster compound, yet he knows it is infinitely better than when he was forced to work for his old master.

While working at the compound, Vetch finds out that Kashet is a one-of-a-kind dragon, being the only dragon who doesn’t need to be controlled by the drug, Tala. Overtime Vetch gains a special bond with Ari’s dragon. Kashet is a large blue and green dragon that has a good sense of humor and is fun to be around, since he is calm and doesn’t need to be controlled like the other dragons. That’s when Vetch realizes the secret to how Kashet is so tame. Ari had raised Kashet from the egg. As Vetch and Ari begin to trust each other, Vetch begins to learn some of the secrets on how to raise a dragon from an egg. Vetch decides that that is one of the only ways he could escape Tia and get back to his homeland of Alta.

As Vetch sweeps through the jouster compound, finishing all his tours as fast as possible, his chance comes. A dragon boy quit and his charge was a pregnant dragon. Vetch eagerly agrees to take care of her planning that he can steal one of her eggs. Everything seems to slow down in his life even if it is going faster than before since he is caring for two dragons instead of one. Vetch knows that he will be free of his slavery soon and it drives him to greater measures to get everything done with the best care possible. Vetch becomes even braver after the weather mages of Alta send a terrible storm to ground the Tian dragon jousters. Vetch begins to worry that he will be discovered escaping from the compound but he won’t know if he will be discovered until he tries. His escape attempt is the climax of the story.

The dragons in this book are very different from what you normally expect when you read a book about dragons. First of all, the dragons don’t breathe fire or spit acid or any of the other magical things. Secondly, they are highly intelligent but can’t speak at all. The dragons in the book also have no fascination with gems or precious metals like most other dragons. The dragons somewhat have the color of certain gems but there are only gem like on their wing skin and back skin. The color of the belly is almost always different than the rest of the body. The shape and size of a dragon is about the same as in the book “Eragon,” so they aren’t as big as sky scrapers with huge caverns as their home. Also the dragons are feral (excluding Kashet) so they must be drugged in order to be ridden or handled.

The book is also different from most fantasy books because it has very little action in it. Vetch doesn’t do any fighting in the book and the only time you see any action is when the weather mages of Alta forced most of the dragons at the compound to land at once, which caused several people to be injured as well as infuriating the dragons. Ari comes back several times from fighting but you never actually see him joust against an Altan jouster. For the most part the book is about Vetch planning his escape, meeting and working with new members of the compound, doing his chores, and him having conversations with Ari. It is still a good book and the books later in the series—“Alta,” “Sanctuary,” and “Aerie”—have plenty of action.

It is an excellent book that almost anyone who loves to read fantasy would enjoy.

>>Buy “Joust” by Mercedes Lackey.

"Evil Genius" by Catherine Jinks

noreply@blogger.com (Ben White) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 19:03:00 +0000

Cadel Piggott is a child prodigy. After being caught hacking into high security networks, he is forced to go to therapy. His therapist Thaddeus Roth seems to be as evil minded as Cadel and gives him ideas on other networks and systems he could master, such as the railways and roads. Cadel eagerly looks into these systems due to the fact that he is fascinated by them as well as the fact that they are the only things he considers a challenge. As he grows older he becomes more separate from his busy adoptive parents. They don’t think much of him and don’t pay any attention to him, which Cadel thinks is a blessing. Cadel being a prodigy and being 2 to 3 years younger than most of the kids in the class makes him one of the last people someone would suspect to be behind the incidents he causes. As Cadel reaches the age of 10 he starts to manipulate social networks to his advantage. As he moves through the grades he becomes more daring as well as making stupid mistakes. He causes many incidents such as the collapse of the new gymnasium, and the day that the teachers came to school 3 hours late.

After finishing the 12th grade he almost is carted away to a boot camp where he can become more disciplined. However, Thaddeus manipulates his adoptive parents into taking a look at another college called the Axis Institute. Upon looking at a different version of the brochure than the one that Thaddeus had given his adoptive parents, Cadel sees that the school has several classes such as Infiltration, Assassination, Contagion, and Disguise. After taking a tour of the modern facilities the Piggott’s agree that Cadel will go to the institute. After joining the school he meets several weird and crazy characters. Everyone seems to be at each other’s throat, including the teachers’. As chaos breaks out around Cadel, he has nowhere to run as some of his “allies” disappear. Cadel realizes that the school is tearing itself apart. Several cases of blackmail, murder, assault, poisoning, and disappearing happen around Cadel, which slowly drives him away from the underworld lifestyle that Thaddeus had always planned for him. As he realizes that his life has basically been planned out for him he tries to escape what he’s done and try and fight back against it. He believes he can do it but no matter how smart you are you can’t calculate what will happen in the future.

Cadel is a pretty well-rounded character but I think the adoptive mother really didn’t express enough emotion toward the beginning of the book. I think that his somewhat cheerful mood at the Axis Institute does help him but for the most part it doesn’t give him any allies that are to helpful. Cadel has some of the aspects of Artemis Fowl in the way that he is a mastermind and is smarter than most of the people in the book, but he doesn’t go out and steal important artifacts like Artemis Fowl does throughout most of his books. The school situations are a bit exaggerated since you can’t see how someone could individually cause the entire school staff to be late.

One of the other things that really makes the book interesting is the genetic powers that some of the kids have—such as the twins that have a psychic link and the boy who is at risk of spontaneously combusting because of a special fluid in his body. The powers are more believable because they are based on genetics and not something out of the blue like the ability to fly or run faster than a car. In fact, you wouldn’t even want some of the powers that some of these kids have. There are no Supermans, Flashs or Wonder Womans here.

“Evil Genius” is an excellent book that will excite anyone who has read the “Artemis Fowl” series or loves a good fictional book.

>>Buy “Evil Genius” by Catherine Jinks.

"Unwind" by Neal Shusterman

noreply@blogger.com (Ben White) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:16:00 +0000

In a world where abortion is a banned surgery, parents can have their troublesome teenagers unwound for body parts for sick people who need them. Witness the adventure of 3 kids who are trying to escape being unwound and live to the age of 18. Connor, one of the 3, is sent for his unwinding due to the fact that he is a trouble-maker who won’t be successful in life. Risa is an orphan who is being unwound to lower the amount of money the orphanage needs so they can improve living conditions and get more food as well as the fact that Risa has picked the non-practical profession of becoming a Pianist. Lev was marked as being unwound from the moment of birth. His parents follow a religion where they give 10% of everything to god, including their 10th son.

The three meet each other by chance and run from the police force designed to track down runaway unwinds. The 3 are driven forward knowing that everything they do is a risk and that their lives could be over at any second. Their goal is to survive to 18 but knowing if you don’t that your body will be surgically ripped apart and given to the world doesn’t help much. Driven by desperation the 3 do as they must to survive even if it means doing the unthinkable in their world. This includes carrying an abandoned baby with them, having someone that actually wanted to be unwound in the group, and more. Chaos seems to erupt in their minds as they meet other unwinds (hindering their progress as well as helping it) and the stress of thinking that your life is over sinks in.

Their hopes are raised by learning that there are unwind communities that you can seek out and live in until the age of 18. Living for 5 years may sound easy but it is a lot harder when police are after you and if anyone finds out you’re an unwind you are going to be unwound on the spot by police cruising the city. As the 3 fight for survival they find allies and enemies that they wouldn’t suspect until they saw them for themselves. Connor knowing that he would be hunted after shooting a police officer leads the group by shear determination using crazy ideas that bring them to the edge of being discovered. Risa just follows along and helps in any way possible, while Lev is less committed to the group. It is hard to guess if all 3 of them will survive to see their 18 birthdays.

I myself think that being unwound is an inhumane response to banning abortion. Though it does help the adults who are sick and some people do consider it dying, you actually live since every part of your body is working and alive in other people. I think that no one should have their parents decide whether or not they will live or be surgically divided so that other people could use your body parts. I also see a point to banning abortion but instead of ending their life I think that it would be simpler to simply increase the amount of orphanages. Unwinding is practical but is a terrible way to so to speak “die”. As for teenagers running away from this cruel fate decided by their parents I applaud them for making the difficult choice of either dying or surviving 5 years with everyone you know and love looking for you to get rid of you. I think that this book really makes you think a lot.

A story of action and suspense that will please any reader of fiction books no matter how picky they are.

>>Buy “Unwind” by Neal Shusterman.

"Dragon Champion" by E.E Knight

noreply@blogger.com (Ben White) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:10:00 +0000

“Dragon Champion” is the story of the dragon hatchling Auron, who’s born into a world where his almost extinct race is brutally murdered by the rest of the world. He is driven from his home when a group of dwarfs murder his parents and 1 of his 3 siblings. You don’t get much of a hint as to what happens to his sister who escapes with him when the dwarfs attacked or if their traitor brother is alive either since there aren’t any hints since all 3 had parted ways. The book consists of several of the well-known fantasy races such as the elves, dwarfs, and trolls that we have come to love yet gives them a twist that entertains the reader such as the dwarves hatred of sunlight causing them to wear special masks. Also the elves have a murderous intent toward the dragons even though for the most part elves think of all things living as good because of their nature-based culture. He meets several interesting characters through his journey to find more of his race.

The book starts off with Auron and his brothers and sisters hatching which then leads into their reaction to others of their kind which leads to the quarrel between the male hatchlings. The female take longer to hatch therefore the fighting is done when they leave the shell. The book jumps through time a year or two between certain chapters, with you meeting characters when they’re young and then again when they’re much older. It seems like Auron goes back and forth between several opinions and thoughts about the other races such as the Blighters and Man and the other races in the book. It jumps through several years as you get closer to the middle of the book making it feel like the characters’ own thoughts and urges such as his changing of thought about the dwarf race and what is the next step to finding more of his kind have changed a lot from the end of one chapter to the beginning of another chapter. The characters are very detailed and help Auron along his way in very peculiar ways such as giving him a dwarsaw (a golden chain with diamond blades that pop out when tugged) that helps him in his adventures.

I consider the book entertaining and exciting. If you enjoyed “Eragon,” you’ll definitely like this book as well.

>>Buy “Dragon Champion” by E.E Knight.