Sunday 28 March 2010

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

This an excellent book and both me and my mum loved it! This is the second time I've read but I still loved it.
It is about Princess Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, or Ani for short. When Ani is sixteen her father dies from falling off his horse, Ani discovers that she is not to rule Kildenree after her mother is dead as she has believed for many years. Instead her brother is to rule and she is to travel to Bayern and marry the prince there to make an alliance between the two countries.

Ani a guard and her lady-in-waiting, Selia travel to Bayern so Ani can marry the Prince there. But on the way there Ani and her most faithful guards are attacked by Ani's lady-in-waiting and some of the unfaithful guards. Ani is forced to run away to save her life.

Meanwhile Selia pretends to be Princess Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee and travels to Bayern to marry the Prince. When Ani finally arrives in Bayern she discovers that Selia really has taken her place. Ani decides to go to the King to explain but when she arrives there she loses her courage. Instead she asks for work, the King tells her that she can work as one of the animal workers who look after the King's animals.

Ani gets the place of the Goose Girl. She must hide from everybody as the unfaithful guards are looking for the "Princess' " escaped lady in waiting. As everybody living in Bayern has dark hair and people from Kildenree have blonde hair, Ani must hide her hair.

Ani becomes very close friends with one of the girls, Enna, but to Ani's dismay Enna discovers her secret. Enna promises to tell no-one. Can Ani get her rightful place back on the throne or is she forced to be an animal worker for the rest of her life? Read the book and find out! I loved this book and I give it a 10 out of 10!

Goggle Eyes by Anne Fine

This was one of the books that I was sent by Gina, thank you Gina! Later on I will be doing a post about the other book she sent me, Crummy Mummy and Me, also by Anne Fine.
This is another great book about a girl called Kitty who isn't just the greatest story teller but also has a great experience about her mum's many boyfriends. So when one day a quiet girl called Helen comes in upset to school, Kitty is sent to cheer her up.

Kitty discovers that Helen's mum has found a boyfriend and Helen hates him, as Kitty has a huge experience of this she tells Helen about her mum's most recent boyfriend -who she calls Goggle Eyes. Her mum's boyfriend is a lot older than her mum and he is very rude to everybody. This is a great book about how Goggle Eyes and Kitty are always fighting and how eventually Kitty discovers he isn't to bad after all.

This is a great book and I give it a 7 out of 10. Thank you very much Gina for sending it to me!

Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke

This is the third book in the Inkheart series, as probably know I did a post a little while ago about Inkspell the second book. This a fantastic book and I love it!
Inkspell ended sadly with one of the main character's dying - no I'm not saying who, read Inkspell to find out- and another main character saving his life by making a deal with death and dying him self - no I'm not saying who this is either!

The character who died but came back to life again - OK, so this is getting a bit confusing - is determined to get someone to bring the dead character back to life - I'm extremely confused myself now and I've read these books loads of times! So he - that's the only clue your getting- persuades Meggie to read a writer who calls himself Orpheus into the Inkworld to save the dead character by writing a deal with the White Women - the people who bring death.

Mo visits death - but no it's not him that dies - and death tells him that he must destroy the White Book. The White Book is a book that Mo and Meggie made for the Adderhead as they and all of the strolling players were captured and taken to the Adderhead's castle and kept as prisoners. Mo and Meggie together made a book of 500 blank pages that would make the Adder immortal unless three words were written in 'ink, heart, death'. Now death has told Mo that he must destroy the white book otherwise he and Meggie will be killed.

Meggie finds out that she is in love with someone but she doesn't know who - Farid, or one of the robbers, Doria. She also finds out that Fenoligo wrote (while he still lived in the real world) a story about a man called Doria who invents things - just as Doria does in Inkdeath - and that his wife gives him ideas, like a box that plays music, as she comes from a land far away where these type of things are real. Does it sound familiar at all?

Mo becomes a lot more heroic, saving people and often nearly dying. I really recommend reading the first two book before you read this one as it will make a lot more sense if you do! I loved this book and give it a 8 out of 10.

Saturday 13 March 2010

The Ant Colony by Jenny Valentine

This is also a great book and is very exciting and adventurous. As you may or may not know I have also read a book by this author called Finding Violet Park.
This book is about lots of people living in a flat at number 33 Georgiana Street. To Sam the flat is a place to hide from everybody at home, as he has done something that he regrets and he doesn't want anybody to know about it.

To Bohemia it's just a place to be before her mum, Cherry, finds another boyfriend. Bohemia's mum isn't the best mum ever as she doesn't look after daughter and leaves her on her own while she goes out with her most recent boyfriend. The other people in the flats want to help but Bo and Cherry don't want any trouble.

Isabel the old lady with a dog called Doormat who wees every where (I mean the dog not the woman), acts like she owns the place even though she doesn't. She is concerned about Bo's safety when her mother leaves her alone and she's also worried about why Sam won't talk to anyone in his family.

Steve who really owns the flat keeps to himself really and isn't that bothered when Isabel acts like she owns the place. Mick who also lives in the flat doesn't have a big part to play in this novel.

So what will happen to all of them, if you want to know read this great book and you won't be able to stop reading. I give this book a 7 out of 10.

The Lady in the Tower by Marie-Louise Jensen

I absolutely loved this book as well as it was a lovely, although in some places quite sad book

The main character in this book is called Eleanor and she is the daughter of a Lord. She loves both her mother and her father and her brother as well. But then one day, when she is elven years old, her father comes home, with some of the King's men with him. He claims that Eleanor's mother is a witch. He orders her to be locked in one of the towers of his castle - this book is set in 1540 in the rein of Henry the Eighth.

Eleanor is now fifteen and hates her father. Her mother is still trapped in the tower, and wouldn't be alive if Eleanor and her friends living in the village didn't provide her with food as the food she is given by Eleanor's father is poisoned. They communicate by letter so that Eleanor can tell her mother what she is missing.

Things start to go even worse when Eleanor's father invites many friends over in honour of the King coming to stay. Eleanor is told that she is going to be betrothed to a man that she hates, and according to her father knows all about her mother. She has no way to stop the marriage and her mother has accidentally swallowed some poison and is very ill.

Can Eleanor and her mother escape or not? Read the book to find out! I really enjoyed this book and give it an 8 out of 10.

Stone Heart by Charlie Fletcher

Sorry that I haven't blogged in ages yet again! I've been so busy reading, playing on the Wii and going to school (of course) that I haven't had time to blog!
This is a very exciting book and I loved it - even though this was the second time I read it! It is about a boy called George, who one day breaks a statue outside of a museum, where he has been on a school trip.

Suddenly the statues around him come to life, he finds himself being chased around London by the taints - the evil statues who are often gargoyles. He is saved by the Gunner- a spit which is a statue in a form of a human being, the good statues basically- who helps him on his mission stop the war that George his created between the spits and the taints.

They are joined by a girl called Edie who, to George's amazement, can also see statues come to life, unlike George however Edie has the special talent of being a glint- which means she can see things that have already happened.

As they run around London visiting the other statues the three of them become closer and closer together. When some statues are very helpful and some not so helpful, all of these statues really can be found in London and there is a map in the front of the book on where to find them.

I really enjoyed this book as it was very exciting and I give it a 8 out of 10.

The next few book that I'm going to write about may not be in the correct order as I can't remember what order I read them in.