Category Archives: Dystopian

Genre

May
04
2017

Darkmouth: the Legend Begins by Shane Hegarty

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The book I read was called Darkmouth: The Legend Begins by Shane Hegarty This book is in the series Darkmouth. The main characters are Finn and Emmie. Finn hunts monsters called legends and he is really bad at it. To make it worse his father might move away and he will have to protect his home town, Darkmouth. His best friend Emmie knows everything about his family after Finn tells her.

Finn is smart, brave, and scared. Finn is smart because he figures out that his mother is in trouble and someone is at his house trying to free the leader of the Legends, Gantrua, while he is fighting manticores. A manticore is a beast with the body of a lion a scorpion tail and the head of a lion. Finn is brave because he doesn’t stop for a second while being chased by a minotaur( a minotaur is part bull part human)  and figuring out how to stop it without his desiccator (which is a gun). Finn is scared because he will probably fail keeping Darkmouth safe without his father’s help.

An important part that happened was when a legend called a hogboon helped Finn and Emmie defeat a minotaur. This was important because legends and humans won’t stop fighting and this showed that they don’t need to fight. Another important thing that happened was when Finn’s father Hugo was looking at pictures and talked about how Finn tried and that is when Finn said “Mom admitted it.” “Admitted what?” said Finn’s dad“That I was special.” said Finn This was important because it gave Finn hope that he could protect Darkmouth.

I liked Darkmouth: The Legend Begins because it always keeps you hanging and making you want to read more. Another reason that I liked Darkmouth: The Legend Begins is that it was very intense when Finn was being chased by a minotaur and was running through Darkmouth. The entire book from there was intense.

I recommend Darkmouth: The Legend Begins because it always is pulling you into the story and if you close the book it takes your mind back into reality again. It is like a whole new world. For example when you are finished with chapter 20( which is about 3 quarters through the book) and  you close the book it is like you were just a cloud that had a plane go through it. while this is happening you are watching a portal open with a man next to it holding a desiccator like it is a dog looking at something strange. This book reminded me of Percy Jackson because there was a lot of monster slaying. It reminded me of Ghostbusters because they have these guns that capture monsters. It reminded me of medieval times because at one point they use swords and maces. I would give it a 5 star rating!

Mar
17
2017

The City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau

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 This book is in the City of Ember series. It is about a boy named Doon Harrow, and a girl named Lina Mayfleet. They go on all sorts of adventures. They live in the City of Ember. It is always dark and there is a shortage of light. There is a system of pipes called the pipeworks that leads to the generator. They are very complicated. The generator is what powers the lightbulbs in Ember. Lina thinks that there is a City of Light somewhere and she sets out an adventure with Doon.

SPOILER ALERT

Lina Mayfleet is brave, determined, and smart. She is brave because she went on the adventure to find the City of Light. In the book, it says: “As far as anyone knew, the darkness did go on forever. Still, Lina wanted the other city to exist.” She is determined because she did not give up on the adventure. In the book, when Lina and Doon receive a secret message and they can’t entirely understand it, Lina keeps on trying to decipher the code. She is smart because she found her way through the pipeworks without

getting lost.  

Two interesting parts of the story were when Lina got the job of pipeworks helper and Doon really wanted that job. Then, Doon got the job of messenger and Lina wanted that job. Then they traded jobs. Also, it was interesting when Lina finds the secret message and she tries to decipher the code. This is interesting because it kept me on my heels and I was kind of nervous.

I really enjoyed this book because it is really mysterious and full of adventure. I really like suspense. I would recommend this book because if you like suspense, action, and challenging reads, this is going to be the book to read. This book has its own movie, and it (and the book) are very unique because there are not many books or movies that I know like this book.

I would give this book a four star rating because I’ve already read this book before I wrote this review, and nothing gets in their way for more than a few pages.

Mar
17
2017

The Last Kids On Earth, by Max Brallier

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The Last Kids On Earth is by Max Brallier. This book is about a orphan boy who travels the world and just ended up in Louisville where there has been a monster apocalypse! The day the monster apocalypse happened, Jack lost all of his friends. Jack has made it his main priority to get his friends back and to find the “Damsel in Distress,” the love of his life, June Del Toro. The three people that Jack is able to come across is his best friend named Quint, a old bully named Dirk, who turned out to be pretty nice, and June Del Toro. I think that this book probably took place in 2015-2017 because there are CVS’s, Home Depots, and middle school’s that sound pretty modern.

Jack is very arrogant. On almost every page that he is either talking about slaying a huge monster, or “rescuing” June Del Toro. He’s always saying that when June finds out about it, she is going say “Oh, Jack, my hero!” Another adjective that would describe Jack is that he is very brave. Every time someone needs saving, he is always willing to help do something really dangerous to help even if the person thinks that they can handle it, he is always there to help. A example from the book is when Jack, Quint, Dirk, and June were running away from a monster Blarg, Jack shoved everyone in the car and defended his friends from Blarg. The third adjective that I would use to describe Jack is that he is a natural. He learns things very quickly. Two examples is that one, he learned how to make his own Mountain Dew very quickly, and the other reason is he learned how to catch very quickly (and at the right time, as Quint was throwing Jack his sword right as they were about to kill one of the biggest monsters).

There are many more different details about what the plot is about than what I’ve already told you. One is that the family that Jack lost when the monster apocalypse was named the Robinsons. They were not very nice people. All they did was make Jack mow the lawn. No quality time. No family fun night. No Friday pizza movie nights. Some of my favorite parts in the book is when at the very beginning of the book, Jack is fighting Blarg on top of CVS when Jack just wants a tiny tiny screw driver. I think that that is interesting because it is just so interesting how everything is just focused on Jack fighting Blarg and how Jack just wants a tiny tiny screw driver. Another reason why that is interesting is because Jack, a tiny human being is beating Blarg, a giant slimy monster. Another interesting part of the book is when Jack finally does find June Del Toro and the way she reacts to finding out that Jack thinks that she is a “Damsel in Distress,” she gets super mad. The reason that that is interesting because I’d think that even if June didn’t need any help, that she would think that it was nice of Jack to risk his LIFE to save her is really nice, and she still got mad at him! Another one of my favorite parts in the book is when Dirk slowly starts becoming nicer and nicer. That was very surprising to me because Dirk was so mean at first that you’d think that he’d never be nice but the fact that Dirk risked his life to get Quint a birthday gift is, WOW.

I really enjoyed this book because it is a really good mix of comedy and fantasy adventure and the slightest bit of realism. It has comedy because there are lots of strange odd things throughout the book like the fact that the Mountain Dew that Jack makes is just a mix of water and green food coloring. I would recommend this book to a lot of people because it is a great story and also it has lots of amazing pictures to back the story up. This book kind of reminds me of The Walking Dead but with other monsters apart from zombies but it is also a whole lot less scary. The reason that I think that is a pretty similar to The Walking Dead is because there are monsters in both, and there are people are trying to survive from the madness of the monsters in both! I rate this book one out of five stars (one being I didn’t like it five being I loved it and would want to read it again) I think that I would give this book a four stars.

Jun
13
2016

The Last Kids On Earth by Max Brallier

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51BtFHNN45L._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_The book that I chose to read is called The Last Kids on Earth by Max Brallier. The book is part of a series by the same author. The main characters are Jack, Quint, Dirk and June. The main problem is that the planet has been invaded by zombies and monsters and the main character Jack is trying to stop the zombie apocalypse. He is trying to turn the zombies into humans again. The setting of the book is at the school, the treehouse in Jack’s backyard and in the neighborhood where they all live.    

One big event that changed the story was when Jack met his friend because he was going to be all by himself and then he just found a partner. This event was important because, it was easier for him to fight because then he’d have another person and an extra person is really helpful. One thing that I found most interesting was when Jack first shows up at Quint’s house and Jack starts killing all of the zombies. I liked that part because it involves a back yard and a person silently killing a bunch of zombies. Another thing that I found interesting was when everyone at once attacked Blarg who is the big monster in the story. I liked that because I like big battles.

The first adjective I would use to describe Jack is brave. He was brave because he would attack all of the monsters. Another adjective to describe him is determined because everyone else wanted to give up at one point but he said “Now, if we just try a little harder, we can do it.” And he didn’t let them give up. He has a big heart so he is caring. All he wanted to do throughout the whole book was to save this girl named June from the zombies. One quote that Jack said was “I’m an orphan.” It is an important quote because it shows that he only needs to take care of himself since he doesn’t have a family.

I enjoyed this book because it involved a lot of war and it involved monsters and zombies. I like those things because they both involve weapons. I recommend this book because it has a great story, great author, and great illustrations. I think this book is related to the TV show called The Walking Dead because that’s like a town that gets invaded by zombies and the book is like a town that gets invaded too. I would rate this book 4 stars!!!!!!!!!!!

Mar
15
2016

The Glass Sentence by S.E. Grove

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51guorNbKBL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_My book is called The Glass Sentence. It is written by S.E. Grove. The main characters are Sophia Elli, Shadrack Elli, and Theo. Sophia’s parents went missing and and she lives with Shadrack, her uncle. Theo is Sophia’s friend. The main problem is that Shadrack gets captured by a monster called a Lachrima that has no face, so Sophia and Theo have to find him. The setting of the book is a reality where all the countries in the world are in different places in time. For example Canada is in the Ice Age, and Europe is in the time of castles and knights. The book takes place in America/New Occident and The South/Baldlands.

One big event that happened in the book was when Sophia and Theo met the pirates Calixta and Burr, because Calixta and Burr help them for the rest of the story. They help them by taking them to Shadrack who is in the Baldlands. I think one interesting part of the book is when you figure out that Shadrack’s captor is a Lachrima. It is interesting because this Lachrima made herself look like a human and called herself Blanca.  Another interesting part of the book is when Sophia learns about the different types of maps. It is interesting because there aren’t just paper maps. There are glass maps and water maps.

One word to describe Sophia is cartographer because she knows all about the world. She is a straight A student in geography. Another word to describe Sophia is brave because she travels all the way across the Baldlands just to find her uncle. She has fights with Blanca’s goons and almost falls off a speeding train. One last word to describe Sophia is loyal because she never abandons her friends.Theo does but then he comes back.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It has a ton of fake but cool geography about the made-up world that Sophia lives in. I think that the characters are cool and really funny. I would recommend this book to someone who likes geography. You have to be at least in fourth grade to read this book because it has a little bit of violence. This book is very unique. It is so unique because it has such a different type of genre. It has a little bit of dystopian, a little bit of fantasy, and a little bit of magical realism. I rate this book five stars.

Feb
26
2015

Prophet of Yonwood By Jeanne Duprau

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YonwoodThe book that I read was The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeanne Duprau. This is the third book in the Ember series. The setting is in Yonwood, North Carolina. It is in the future but before Ember. The book is about this girl named Nickie that is 11 years old. She lives in Philadelphia but her aunt Crystal is trying to sell her great great grandfather’s house in the town of Yonwood with her.

I think that Nickie is trusting because when her friend Amanda told Nickie that she has to watch Amanda’s dog Otis, Nickie did it very well. I also think that Nickie is brave because she stays home by herself for 5 hours and goes outside without anyone keeping her company. I think that Nickie is ambitious because in the beginning of the book she set up 3 goals. Her goals were:  1. keeping her great great grandfather’s house so she and her parents could live in it. 2. Doing something helpful for the world. And 3. falling in love. One of the most interesting parts of the book is in the beginning of the book when Althea Tower had a vision of a city that had nothing and it was all fiery.The second interesting part was when Brenda Beeson, who tries to help out, thought that the “prophet” (Althea Tower) was mumbling sinners when the Prophet tried to say cities and she was actually saying sinnies. When Brenda Beeson thought that the prophet was saying sinners thats when she was called the prophet and people followed what she said.  The third interesting part was when I found out that this book is actually a pre sequel Nickie’s father was the builder of Ember.  These events happened before Ember was built.

I enjoyed this book because I liked all the weird things like the humming bracelet and the no dogs part when they take all the dogs away. I would recommend this book if you want a book that gets you at the edge of your seat and that has a lot of surprising parts. I don’t think that there are any TV shows or movies related to this book. I would give this book 4 stars. ****

Jun
25
2014

Prodigy By Marie Lu

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Prodigy is by Marie Lu is the second book in the legend series and is about two characters, Daniel (He is called Day in the book) and June. Day is a legend and June was the republics prodigy until she helped Day escape death. Day cares a lot about his family and June cared a lot about the republic (the U.S. was split up into two countries, the Republic of America and the Colonies of America) until she found out that the republic killed her brother and framed Day for it.This book starts in Los Angeles and travels all along the west. It goes to Las Vegas, Denver the Colonies Around Colorado and San Francisco.

June and Day’s main problem is the elector who kind of hates them for being able to escape the firing squad and helping the most wanted criminal escape the firing squad. Day hates the republic because several times he mentions he hates this soldier who shot his mom. And then talks about how much he wishes he was in the colonies. While his other brothers are separated one pretended to be Day and faced the firing squad for Day’s life. And his other brother has the plague and is being used as a weapon against the colonies.

I loved this book because I couldn’t put it down and I had to keep asking my mom if I could read another chapter. I would recommend this book to people that like dystopian books. And 5th-8th graders because younger that 5th graders wouldn’t understand the plot.

Prodigy_Marie_Lu_Book

Jun
03
2014

The People of Sparks, by Jeanne DuPrau

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The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau is an amazing book.

 

imgres(DON’T READ THE REST OF REVIEW UNLESS YOU HAVE READ THE CITY OF EMBER. THIS IS THE SEQUEL OF THAT BOOK. I’M WARNING YOU. YOU WON’T GET IT AND IT WILL BE A SPOILER. IF YOU WANT TO THAN YOU SHOULD CHANGE YOUR MIND. OTHERWISE IT’S A BAD CHOICE.  ~MARLOH. :))

 

The main characters are Lina and Doon. Lina is a kind-hearted, curious, nice, surprising, and an adventurous, 12 year old girl. Lina jumped onto a truck to see if she could see a city. She thought that she would be gone for two days, but she was away for twenty-eight days, almost a month. This example is from the first book, The City of Ember. Doon is different in some ways than Lina, and he’s different. Doon is smart,  adventurous, and has a temper. He’s good at figuring things out (read the book to see what I’m saying). In Ember there was something called Assignment Day where the 12 year old kids of Ember are assigned jobs (They take a slip of paper out of a bag and it say’s a job on it, and that’s the job they have for a while.).  When Doon picked his job, he lost his temper and threw down the paper that told him his job in front of the mayor. This is one example of Doon losing his temper. The setting of this book is in the future, and at one point it’s in a city (I think the city’s San Francisco because the book says it’s                                                                                                                                             hilly.)

 

The people of Ember/The Emberites “leaders” are Lina and Doon. They finally find a city that will take them for 6 months, but after that they are gonna have to build something on their own. One important event was when the Emberites found Lina and Doon. Another was when they found the settlement. Another was when Ben Barlow, a town leaders arm almost fell off.

 

I really enjoyed the book because it kept me on my toes. I would recommend this book to people who are 8+ because they might not understand it. I would also recommend this book to people who like cliffhangers. I would rate this book infinity stars because I couldn’t put it down.

Jun
03
2014

Freakling, By Lana Krumweide

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Freakling, by Lana Krumwiede, Is about a boy named Taemon. He and his family live in a futuristic religious world that in a place called Deliverance, everyone worships “The Heart Of The Earth”.

 

The Heart Of The Earth AKA, THOTE, gave everyone in Deliverance telekinesis, which they like to call psi. But, some people in this world have other special additional powers, like clairvoyance, for example, the young lady touched her iphone™ and immediately knew who owned it before her. Basically it is when he/she interacts with an object and immediately knows some random piece of information about it.

 

That is only one of the special powers. Taemon has one of the others. Priests in the THOTE temple arrest and banish people who have special telekinesis. Can Taemon stay safe? Can he even trust his own brother Yens? Read the book to find out.

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Jun
03
2014

Bartimaeus the Golems Eye

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Bartimaeus the Golem’s Eye by Jonathan Stroud

Warning! Do not read this review unless you have read Bartimaeus the Amulet of Samarkand!

 

Bartimaeus the Golem’s Eye is by Jonathan Stroud. The main characters are Nathaniel (also called John Mandrake), Kitty Jones, and Bartimaeus the djinni. Nathaniel is very powerful and a bit arrogant. Kitty Jones is very rebellious and joined the resistance, an organization made to rebel against the magicians. Bartimaeus is a trickster and has a big mouth. This book takes place in London and Prague. It takes place in about 1980.

 

Nathaniel is the assistant head of Internal Affairs in the government. There is a Golem (a mythical demon) lurking around London and they have to find it. He also needs to find Kitty and the resistance before they cause any more trouble. Bartimaeus is bound to Nathaniel’s word. Kitty has a score to settle with head of internal affairs Mr. Julius Tallow. “Mr. Tallow wrecked my life! I will get him soon,” said Kitty. In this book, It rotates the prospective, but it is random whether it is Kitty, Bartimaeus or Nathaniel.

 

I loved this book because the writing was very descriptive, the characters were interesting, and it kept you on your toes. I would recommend this to people who like action and imgresviolence. There is a lot of that in this book! I would rate this book four stars! It was very good.