The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson

If you’re looking for a great mystery read, The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson would definitely be a good option. This book kept me guessing the whole entire time, and was constantly making me ask questions. Who is the Ripper? Who are these weird people Rory sees? What is Rory? I could go on and on with the questions I asked myself while reading this book. I think it’s obvious that I really liked – no, I LOVED this book! 

I think the best part about this book, is while there was a little bit of romance going on, since the characters are mostly teenagers there’s bound to be a little bit of that, it was too overwhelming or mushy or anything super unrealistic. Nor did the story focus too much on it, it wasn’t even a main part of the story. I really liked the characters in this story, my personal favorites being Alistair and Rory, actually. Yes she’s the main character but I still really liked her. 

The book starts out with Rory, a southern girl from Louisiana who moves out to London to finish up high school and is just trying to adjust to education and how it works. But there is this serial murder named Jack the Ripper that caused a lot of panic back in the 1880s, and now an impersonator is out on the loose murdering the same amount of people, on the same exact dates the original Jack the Ripper did in the 1880s. People in London are fascinated by this, and somehow Rory is brought into all of it when she sees a strange man outside her school on one of the night of the murders. And when her new mysterious roommate Boo shows up, she finds out the truth that she can see ghosts, and there is a group of people who are basically the ghost police of London. She faces many dangers after finding this information, and almost becomes a victim of Jack the Ripper herself.

Although the book was mostly told from Rory’s point of view, there were also these little snippets of little side stories and perspectives of other people that added to the story. There were also little clues hidden in these little snippets as well, which did actually lead me to the idea that the killer could be a ghost. 

I liked the writing style of this book as well. I do tend to like a writing style that is more relaxed, rather than super formal, because it’s almost like an actual person is telling you the story. But I do enjoy a nice formal read too, but I just really enjoy when it’s more relaxed and humorous. Overall, a great book, which I will definitely read again. I think a good way to tell if you liked a book is if you would definitely read it again.

The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

"The Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson is a fantasy novel that makes me think of stories such as the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. I dragged my self through the Hobbit, didn't even make it halfway through the first LOTR book, and gave up on Game of Thrones after 100 pages. Maybe I just don't have appreciation for that kind of literature, but I generally find it to be extremely boring. Always introducing new characters, telling from different perspectives that all sound like the same voice. Now if you like those kind of novels, I think you would enjoy this book. But it's personally not the type of literature I prefer to read.

What I do like about this novel, is the spectacular imagery. I imagine I get the exact picture in my mind that Sanderson has imagined, but all the excess details about every setting, character and situation gets very repetitive and boring. Reading this book is more of a marathon rather than a sprint. You have to divide up the book, because reading it in one go just can't happen. Because somehow Sanderson makes basically nothing happening dragged out into a whole chapter. And if it weren't for the constant mention of new complicated names of things, I would probably forget we had more than one character. Truth be told, we are only following three, but there's so many minor characters surrounding the three of those that I find myself forgetting everyone. There is some fantastic character development, I felt like I really knew these characters for years after reading. 

But I somehow did find myself wanting to reach for the novel. But I would like to take breaks in between groups of chapters because it's like starting a new story each time we reach a new character. Obviously the characters end up connecting just like in all stories, but I find it dragged for quite awhile before it happened. 

I prefer stories where there's actual storytelling and constant exciting events, rather than hundreds of pages of building and creating and having the reader visualize the world the story takes place in. If you're one of those "enjoy the journey rather than the destination" kind of people, you'll like this.

Now based on what I have heard, this is a set up for the rest of the series. Truth be told, I have no interest in reading the sequels. Maybe one day I'll be bored and sit down to read the sequels, and end up loving them, but all in all, this book is not doing it for me. However, it is a nice relaxing read, would definitely recommend as a before bed time read, or sitting by the pool read.

Jurassic Park by Michael Creighton

Most people today know about the movie Jurassic Park. But what some people don’t know is that the very popular movie was based off a science fiction novel written a few years before that movie, by Michael Creighton. The movie is definitely more action packed than the book, the book has more explanation of the science involved in Jurassic Park, along with in depth descriptions of the dinosaurs, which so much detail it makes you think it’s real. But all in all, all these details about the science and dinosaurs came from Michael Creighton, not facts researched in science, which is what I think is so cool about this book.

In this story, we get a much longer version of the story, since obviously the movie had to cut a bunch of the book out in order for it to be a decent length. I will say, I wouldn’t call Jurassic Park one full length story with one main hero character, which is what I do like very much about it. There’s all these different little subplots going on, but I would say the main plot is basically how the T-Rex has escaped and is now running free around the island killing everything. If I were to sum it up in a sentence. 

But basically, to start off the novel, there’s a little subplot about mini dinosaurs that everyone thinks are lizards attacking children on Costa Rica. That is where Alan Grant comes in, because when a carcass is sent to a lab, it is thought be a dinosaur. Since Alan is a leading paleontologist, he observes the carcass and is shocked to see that it is in fact a dinosaur. He and his partner Ellie are flown to Isla Nublar, where the Jurassic Park has been built by millionaire John Hammond. 

These people on Isla Nublar have basically found out a way to clone dinosaurs by using DNA from the blood of mosquitos from millions of years ago, along with insert of amphibian DNA. It is later explained why amphibian DNA was a terrible decision to use as a substitute, due to its properties of changing gender of the animal. 

Hammond’s lawyer Gennaro and Ian Malcolm, a mathematician that is a consultant for InGen, the company that built the park, are both very skeptical about the park and think it will fail. Obviously, this is late proven correct due to all the chaos that goes on and all the people that are killed. Lex and Tim, Hammond’s grandchildren, are also present on the island for a tour of the island. What a terrible weekend trip, am I right? 

But what all these people don’t know is that Dennis Nedry, the man who controls all the automated technology on the island, has been paid by a rival company to steal embryos of the dinosaurs. He is unsuccessful with this attempt, after getting lost on the way to the docks and getting killed by a venom spitting dinosaur. 

And while the dinosaurs are rampaging, and the security systems are off, and Nedry is trying to steal the embryos, there is a huge tropical storm going on, and the rain is coming down in buckets.

Eventually, after quite a few people have been killed, and Lex, Alan, Tim, Ellie and few others have come very close to death, they manage to make it back to the control room. Nobody alive knows how the system works, however, so Tim, being the computer wiz he is, figures out the system and manages to turn it back on. He then calls the ship that has left and it comes back for them. Hammond, Alan, Gennaro and another man Muldoon venture out to find the raptor nests, and Hammond falls into a ravine and is killed by smaller dinosaurs. Ian Malcolm dies from his injuries from earlier…or does he?

The rest of the group make it back to the ship and leave the island, and obviously, the kids always live. 

I love this book. It’s written very formally and detailed, so it’s not like being told a story from a person like some other books are. It’s told in omniscient 3^rd person, so it’s following the thoughts of many of the characters throughout the book.

While I do like this book, I don’t think there was any deep meaning intended by the book, but I think what we can take from this book is that we don’t mess with nature, and stop trying to bring back extinct species, nothing good happens when we bring back extinct species. 

All in all, it was a very enjoyable read, and it is on the longer and more complex side so I wouldn’t call it a sit down read where you read it in a few hours, but it is still a great book to read.

The Martian by Andy Weir: Review

“The Martian” by Andy Weir is a science fiction novel, about a guy named Mark Watney from the crew of the Ares 3, the third manned Mars Mission. I had already read this novel previously, but I thought for my first official book review I should pick a book I know and love. 

Basically, there’s a huge freak storm on Mars that NASA didn’t know about, and it meant that the crew would have to leave the planet. But while they are leaving in the spaceship, Watney gets hit by a flying piece of equipment, and is thrown far away from the rest of the crew. The crew desperately tries to find him, but deems him dead and leaves Mars without him.

But plot twist – Watney is alive and well – except for the fact that he’s on Mars all alone.

The biggest problem is that he only has enough food in the structure they stay in on Mars – the Hab – for about half a year, so he has to grow his own food. He manages to find a way to grow food on Mars by using the potatoes, and therefore becomes the first person to grow food. However, he does face issues, such as an explosion in the Hab, and having some pretty close calls with losing all of his essential supplies, such as water, food and air. And having only disco music to listen to and horrible 70’s TV shows to watch left by Commander Lewis. 

He eventually makes contact with NASA, and now that they find out he is alive, they work endlessly to bring him home, spending 24/7 trying to get money to send Watney supplies until his crew can make it back to rescue him. This really shows how humans have an instinct to come together to help other humans, and how even just one human life matters.

Obviously, eventually Watney is saved by his crew, and that is one thing about this book that I did expect. Although I didn’t expect how he would be saved, I did know going in he was going to be saved. But it was still a very enjoyable story to read. 

The science throughout the book was very well explained. Some science fiction books don’t explain the science behind the technology, but The Martian gives a good idea of what exactly Mark Watney did, including growing the plants, flying the shuttle, and so on. 

I liked how lighthearted the novel was, despite the whole Watney being stranded on Mars and all. He manages to keep a sense of humor throughout the whole novel, along with many repetitions of some not so nice words. However, they add to the humor so I don’t think it’s completely unnecessary. But rather than using fancy language, the story is told just like someone is talking to you. It’s more like someone is telling you the story face to face, which is something I really like in books. While I do like more complex reads, I like the simple and straightforward nature of the book. 

All in all, definitely recommend this book. There has also been a movie released of this novel, back in theatres last November and now out on DVD and Blu-Ray. Although the movie was well done, the book was better than the movie just like any other novel turned into a movie.