Monday Review: The Princess Diaries, Volume X: Forever Princess by Meg Cabot

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forever-princessI have been reading this series off and on for about as long as they have been published. When the first book was released, I was around the same age as Mia, although over the next 10 years I soon surpassed her in age.

This final (?) book in the series was one of the most entertaining of all 9 of the other books.

The main thing that has amused me all throughout the series is the fact that the characters continue to keep up with the celebrity gossip and technology of the present day. This meant that during Mia’s 9 years in high school she encountered the initial prevalent use of the cell phone, the first instant messaging systems, the rise and fall and re-rise of Britney Spears, the use of text messaging, and about four different sets of fashion.

Surprisingly enough all this change does not really make the story seem all that unreal. I admire Meg Cabot as a writer for capturing the attitude of a young teen girl over 9 years of real life.

This particular story, Forever Princess has a decided tone change from the other stories. This story takes place about two years after the previous volume. The rational is that Mia took two years off of journal writing to write a romance novel.

My theory about this supposed absence of two years of Mia’s life is that Ms. Cabot did not want to spend the next ten years writing about the next two years of Mia’s life. I think this feeling shows in how neatly she wraps everything up in one pretty package.

Overall though, this entire series is enjoyable and lightweight. It is a fun a different way of presenting a princess story to girls. Any girl age 13 or older should thoroughly enjoy the entire series.

Friday Author: Orson Scott Card

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sarahThis week’s featured author is Orson Scott Card. OSC is one of my favorite authors of all time. He is the author of several series’ and many stand alone books. He has written in several different genres.

OSC is the author of the Ender series (and its dozens of spin off books), the Alvin Maker series, the Women of Genesis series (one of my favorites, I wish he would finish it), the Memory of Earth series, and other books such as Lost Boys, Pastwatch, and Treasure Box.

I like OSC because he is able to write well with almost no descriptions whatsoever. This is largely due to the fact that he started out as a play writer I imagine.

In any case, his stories are mostly moved by dialogue and action sequences.

Although I haven’t seen much of it in his stories, he has a very entertaining and enjoyable sense of humor as well. If you have never been to hatrack.com, take the time to visit. It is full of humorous and interesting information about all kinds of topics.

Also, if you haven’t read any OSC books, do so. My favorite OSC books are his fantasy and horror stories. Somehow he manages to make them interesting without being gross or lame.

The only complaint that I have with OSC’s stories are that his women characters sound and think like men, but I guess that is to be expected.

Monday Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

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Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a classic(?) retelling of one of the most famous books in the world.

According to the back of the book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, “transforms a masterpiece of world literature and turns it into something you’d actually want to read.”

In this book published by Quirk productions, Seth Grahame-Smith takes the classic novel and adds select passages to change the peaceful world of Jane Austen into a zombie-ridden thriller.

With all the zombies added you might think that the book would be a lot different than the original version. However, this is not the case. Aside from a few minor changes, all of the main events of the classic story are left intact.

What this means to me is that students who have never read Pride and Prejudice could easily read this version instead and still pass a test on the original. However, it also means that people familiar with the original story will be a little bored as was the case with me.

I enjoyed the initial idea of the story, but by the end of the book was glad that it was over.

In the end, Zombie killing can get just as tedious as any other 19th century event.

Review: The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare

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book review monday

I was very excited to read this series of books by Cassandra Clare because I knew of her before she was ever published. Back in the day she wrote Harry Potter fan fiction back on Schnoogle.com. I had nothing better to do in high school so I read about every piece of fan fiction was written between the release of Harry Potter book 3 and book 4. Cassandra Clare’s story was my favorite out of all other fan fictions.

When I heard she had her own series published, I was very excited. As soon as a heard about it I purchased the first book.

Book: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass; City of Fallen Angels

Author: Cassandra Clare

Year Published: 2008

Genre: Modern action fantasy

Morality Rating: PG

Readability Rating: 3 stars

Plot Summery:

In this series, seemingly ordinary 15 year-old Clary finds out she can see things that no one else can. It turns out, she is of the hidden and mysterious race of Shadowhunters, destined to find off evil in the world. Through it all, she learns about love, adventure, heartache, and growing up.

Quick Review:

After reading the series I was a little disappointed with the results. The characters seemed shallow and the plot was vague. The elements of firm character development and detailed descriptions and story lines that were present in her fan fiction were notably absent in her published series.

Extended Review:

Plot: I thought the plot was OK. Somewhat predictable, but what can you expect from a YA fantasy novel?

Characters: I haven’t read the last book in the series, so I’m not sure, but the characters seemed under-developed in the first 3 books. I thought she tried to infuse too much drama into the series too quickly.

Setting: I liked the setting. It was one of my favorite parts about the entire series. I liked the contrast between the normal world and the hidden Shadowhunter world.

Writing Style: As I mentioned before, I thought the book seemed rushed. However, the characters were funny enough, and I generally enjoyed the writing.

Overall Thoughts:

I wonder who was responsible for the difference in the style between her fan fiction and her published work. I wonder if it was the editor who cut out the descriptions, or if Clare was trying to keep her story under a certain number of pages, or if there was some other reason for the change. Whatever the reason, the story is hollow without any firm characters. However, despite the shallow writing style, the series still manages to be somewhat entertaining and fun. Perhaps I am just a little too old to enjoy stories about fifteen year old girls anymore.

I have confidence in Cassandra Clare as a writer. I believe that over time she will create a story that has firm characters and a strong plot line. I look forward to reading all of her future works.