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"TLC" Book Reviews
World of Warcraft , the popular online role-playing game, has captured an adamant teenage fan base. Players’ digital aliases travel, converse and fight in an expansive world featuring elves, dragons, wizards, and other fantasy staples. If a book were to be made chronicling events in this world, it would have to be fast-paced and eye-catching. That is way manga, Japanese-style comic books, are the ideal medium for Warcraft stories. The Sunwell Trilogy begins with a dragon named Kalec, who like other dragons, can morph into a human form, being pursued by savage hunters. The Burning Legion, armies of demons and undead, have invaded the land. Only with a source of elven magic called the Sunwell can they be defeated. Kalec travels, meeting along the way a country girl with mysterious knowledge of the elves, a tough warrior, a beautiful female dragon, and the dwarf hunter who first tried to slay him, on a quest for the Sunwell. The manga format works well to depict these diverse characters. Especially the dragons are impressive to see across the pages. The artistic style is more realistic than typical manga, but retains its basic qualities: expressive cartoonish faces, dramatic combat, and detailed costumes and weapons. The story moves fast, with alliances shifting so that it is hard to be certain whether a character is good or evil (except for the grotesque zombies—definitely evil). This manga would probably be enjoyed by fans of fantasy comic books, gamers, or fantasy readers looking for something different and artsy. It would not be suitable for those who are looking for deep thinking or very unique plots in their reading material, or for those overly squeamish about zombie guts. The three volumes of the Sunwell Trilogy are:
I absolutely, positively loved this book! It’s about a girl named Meggie and her father, whose name is Mortimer, or Mo. Mo is a bookbinder and he and Meggie live normally, except for the many times they move to new homes. Then one night, a mysterious man called Dustfinger comes to their house in the middle of the night. He warns Mo about a man named Capricorn. The next morning, they all leave for the home of an unknown aunt named Elinor. Elinor is an eccentric old lady who loves books more than people. Mo begins to rebind several of Elinor’s books, asking her to let them stay in her house and watch over a particularly special book named Inkheart. Then, in the middle of the night, Mo is kidnapped! Meggie and Elinor then embark on a difficult journey to rescue Mo. I recommend this book to anyone who loves books.
This is one of my favorite books. It’s about a girl and a boy who are learning how to be wizards. They have begun to work magic when a white hole with a very, very long name (nicknamed Fred) comes from outer space to tell someone — anyone important — that a very special book called The Book of Night With Moon had disappeared. To become full-fledged wizards they go to New York to—they think—retrieve a special pen and end up in an alternate universe with the responsibility to retrieve The Book of Night With Moon and get themselves out alive, all in one day. This is a well-written work of modern fantasy, the first in a series of eight. The other books in the Young Wizard series are: Book 2: Deep Wizardry
Bleach is a manga which could rightly say, “I see dead people.” The main character is Ichigo (“Strawberry”) Kurosaki, a high school student with the ability to see ghosts. His interactions with the supernatural become even more intense when he is attacked by a monster called a Hollow. When his rescuer, tomboyish Rukia Kuchiki, is injured, she transfers her supernatural powers to Ichigo. He is now a Soul Reaper, responsible for keeping Hollows out of the human world, and Rukia is mortal, forced to stay with Ichigo and learn strange human things like how to drink out of a juice box. Bleach has action, drama, and humor partly due to a strong cast of supporting characters ranging from Ichigo’s tough-guy classmate Chad to Kon, a hyper boy caught in the body of a teddy bear. The art is well done and competently conveys the range of scene types. Plot twists and Ichigo’s slow but steady understanding of the Soul Reaper’s world and responsibilities keeps the story interesting. Check out Bleach if you like fantasy or action manga.
The Dark is Rising combines the epic writing style and British mythology of The Lord of the Rings with a boy hero similar to Harry Potter. It is the first tale of Will Stanton, the youngest son in a family of seven kids. Subtle, strange things occur around him, and then he is drawn in to a world of time travel, magic, and the evil forces of the Dark. Will discovers he is an immortal Old One, beings with power over the elements who are forswarn to keep the Dark at bay. Cooper draws on images from British mythology which feel as old as but more obscure than the Holy Grail. The unique system of magic and Will’s quest for the magical Signs make the book a fun read, but what really makes it good is Cooper’s Tolkienesque writing style, giving the book the pacing and grand themes of a classic. The Dark is Rising is preceeded by one book, Under Sea, Under Stone, but is generally regarded as the beginning book of the series.
“It’s just a small story, really, about, among other things: That is how Death, not quite the Reaper we know, but very amused by the idea of a scythe, describes the novel he is about to narrate. It is about a girl whom he has met at several instances when he comes to Earth to pick up souls; he refers to her as the book thief. The reader discovers that she is a resident of Nazi Germany, before World War II. Her mother is ailing, her brother is dead, and she has gone to live with the Hubermann family, who end up hiding said Jewish fist fighter in their basement. This novel is not a fantasy story, as it could appear to be at first glance, but nor is it a typical historical novel. For long portions of it the war and the German state seem either far away or a dull fact of life, and the plot focuses indelibly on Leisel Meminger, the book thief, her turbulent emotions, and the residents of the street where she lives. She grows up with a colorful cast of people, the adults with their mixed feelings about politics, and the children with their eclectic personalities—Leisel’s best friend aspires to be the runner Jesse Owens. What carries this book along is its theme—words and their power. Leisel learns to read with Hans Hubermann out of The Grave-Digger’s Handbook, which she picked up at her brother’s funeral. She then acquires other books, one from a bookburning, one — Mein Kampf — from her father, others throughout her young life. Reading and writing sustain her, the people she tells stories to, and the hidden Jew, Max Vandenburg. A section of pages are devoted to looking like the book he makes for her out of whitewashed pages from Mein Kampf, complete with smudges, drawings, and handwritten captions. The writing style in The Book Thief is excellent and unique. Death writes from the third person more often than in the first, but will also interject with statements formatted like this: ***Papa’s Face*** The chapter names alone make the reader wonder what will happen next, in the plot or in the idea conjured by Zusak’s rambling writing. Even for those who do not typically read this genre, this book will fascinate anyone willing to invest their thinking in it for a while. It is, no pun intended, rather grim and dark, shirking not at all descriptions of Death’s job, but it also contains revelations and beauties. One interpretation of the theme is that books help form the way people see the world, and The Book Thief itself proves that. Return to Teen Library Group Page Last Reviewed: 12/13/07 |
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