Ruby Redfort Catch Your Death by Lauren Child

Hi Guys, this book is the 3rd Ruby Redfort book and is equally as good as the 1st and 2nd. Also, this is the first book that I've read on my new kindle! Hope you like it!

Ruby is off on another mission, though not one for Spectrum (the secret spy agency Ruby works for), this time to investigate the weird appearance of wild animals roaming around on the streets of Twinford. Ruby's mum has sighted a weird hippo in the Redforts' swimming pool and some of Ruby's best friends have seen strange animal appearances too.

While this is going on, Spectrum are doing a survival test for all their employees. They are dropped out of a helicopter into the woods and are left to make there way back to camp. (Warning! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!) Ruby gets a little bit too cocky and falls into a fast flowing river. Even though she survives, she checks into camp 13hrs after the end of the time limit. You know what that means - she failed. Fortunately for her, LB lets her off the hook (again!) but LB takes no prisoners. The next time she flops, that's it, she's out of Spectrum. As well as LB letting her off the hook, she also lets her investigate the current Spectrum case, The Missing Perfume Of Marion Antoinette. Some strange happenings have happened at the perfume launch. The perfumer who was up on stage at the time fainted! Spectrum began to piece information that they gathered together. They found that the perfume consisted of the smell of the cyan wolf (also known as the blue Alaskan wolf) which radiated such a smell that it would draw people in almost hypnotising them! The weird thing was... this wolf is extinct!

If you want to know what happens next, get the book for yourself!!!!!

This book is a wonderful addition to the Ruby Redfort series and I really hope that Lauren Child writes another book to maybe cap off the series because I still think there's more to come.

RATING: 10/10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Diary Of A Wimpy Kid Hard Luck by Jeff Kinney

This is the eighth book in the bestselling Wimpy Kid series and has loads of crispy laffs (!!) included in its pages.

Rowley, Greg's best friend has ditched him and is instead hanging out with his girlfriend, Abigail (see Diary Of A Wimpy Kid - The Third Wheel.) Greg is trying to find new friends but it's proving to be a tough task and his options aren't the best. Even his little brother Manny has made a friend! Things are getting worse for Greg and he needs to think up something... and fast.

It's Easter and the Heffley family are off to Greg's Grandma's for the day. All of the family is there for the celebration. The family used to go to Meemaw's house (Greg's Great Grandma's house) for the day. Meemaw would do this egg hunt for the kids where she would buy some plastic eggs and put prizes in them but soon Meemaw began to get a little bit loopy and put some strange things in the eggs. The last egg hunt was the year that Meemaw passed away. Soon the relatives were wondering which one of them would get Meemaw's diamond ring. There was a lot of bickering but finally they decided that it was every relative for themselves and started to search for the ring. Aunt Laura looked in the photo albums to see if there was any trace of a will but there was nothing. They began to flick through the pages and found a clue to the ring's disappearance. In one picture, Meemaw had her ring on and was putting prizes in the plastic eggs, in the next picture, taken right after, Meemaw was holding up her homemade apple pie but the ring was no longer on her finger. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. In about five minutes every single adult was out in Meemaw's garden with one of those wicker baskets that are seriously overrated!

Greg's options for friends are at an all time low. He has resulted in looking in his brother's room for something that can help him with his big decisions (in the past, looking in his brother's room has proved very helpful.) He gets lucky and finds one of those magic eight balls that when you shake it an answer comes up in a small hole at the back. Can this eight ball really change Greg's luck or is it just a gimmick?

This book, for me, feels a little bit short but that's only because it's so good you want there to be more!

RATING: 7/10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    

All The Wrong Questions - When Did You See Her Last? by Lemony Snicket

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

This is the second in the series of All The Wrong Questions and if you want a review of the first one it is also on my blog.
PS. I hope you got loads of presents and books for Christmas!! I did!

The first book has a very strong link to the second one so I suggest that you read the first book to get a good understanding of what's going on. In this book (as well as in the first one) Lemony Snicket is the main character. I know it sounds cheesy but it fits in really well.

Lemony Snicket is on another case but this time in search of a missing girl called Cleo Night, part of the wealthiest family in Stain'd-by-the-sea. Lemony doesn't know if it has something to do with the evil villain Hangfire who has a talent of mimicking people's voices or some other evil villain. Cleo Night is a brilliant scientist so Hangfire could use her for all sorts of reasons.

Lemony soon finds out that Mr and Mrs Night have been dosed with Laudanum, and drug that makes people go all crazy and forget anything that has recently happened in their lives. Lemony has already noted a suspect, Dr Flammarion, the person who has been injecting them with it. He calls upon Moxie Mallahan, a budding journalist and close friend, to help him do some research on Dr Flammarion. They both find that he worked on the Colophon Clinic, the clinic of a famous war hero called colonel Colophon who had an accident with a statue. (Get the book if you'd like to find out what happened!) Lemony decides to investigate. He calls up his old friends, the Bellepheron brothers too give him a ride up to Colophon Clinic. There is quite a crucial part to the story in the middle and coming up so I'll leave them out so as not to give too much away. (It includes Ellington Feint and her search for her father.)

I think that any Lemony Snicket book is a good book because they include a nice amount of humour and always leave you wanting to read more.

RATING: 9/10

The very cool Lemony Snicket website is here

                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead

Liar and Spy is all about a 12 year-old boy called Georges (yes, it does have an "s" at the end) who moves house to a flat complex and meets another boy his age called Safer.

Safer has a little sister called Candy (yes, Candy) who is part of the Spy club with Safer but since it's only them, they take full advantage when Georges comes along. They make him a member of the Spy club and send him on loads of missions but first Georges has to learn the qualities of a spy. For example, Safer is always alert and watching while Georges is always unfocussed and in another world completely.

Georges and Safer's first mission is to break and enter the mysterious Mr X's apartment to see what he's been up to. Mr X is always seen in black and carries a large briefcase. No-one knows what he has in it. Safer tells Georges to watch the lobbycam as Safer sneaks in. Safer states that he finds a chainsaw on the cabinet. This episode happens three times!! Which is why I didn't really like this book! It didn't really take off and basically the same thing keeps happening over and over again. There are a few minor swear-words - nothing too serious but for the little ones between 6 and 8 it wouldn't be a good book to pick off the bookshelf!

So guys, this is the last review of the year although I will be posting more reviews in 2014 especially if I get lots of books for Christmas! SO... MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!

Heroes of Olympus The House of Hades by Rick Riordan

This is the second-to-last book in the Percy Jackson Heroes of Olympus series and sees Percy and Annabeth falling into the bottomless pit of Tarturus, Frank Zhang taking on a herd of poisonous cows and Hazel Levesque meeting a daughter of Circe, the evil and ancient goddess of magic; all to get to the House of Hades and close the Doors of Death!

The seven demi-gods in the Prophecy of Seven set off to close the Doors of Death in the Argo II, a flying Greek battleship made by Leo, Son of Hephaestus. As a reminder, the seven demi-gods are: Jason Grace, son of Zeus, Piper Mclean, daughter of Aphrodite and all the other I mentioned such as Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena, Frank Zhang, son of Ares, Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, Hazel Levesque daughter of Hades, Nico Di' Angelo, son of Hades, (he isn't a member of the seven but don't underestimate him, he can make spirits of the dead rise again, just the sort of thing to deal with your average school bully) and of course, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon.

The Roman side of the Gods is fighting with the Greek side all because Leo was possessed by an evil spirit that made him fire the Argo II ballistae catapults (cool Greek weapon!) on New Rome, the Roman version of Camp Half-blood. New Rome was a major discovery in the first of the series, The Lost Hero (spoiler alert!!) In the grand scheme of things, this meant war and New Rome's stupid Augur, Octavian, son of Apollo who likes sacrificing stuffed teddy bears to the gods, is leading the revolt with the whole of New Rome supporting him.

The seven find out that the Athena Parthenos, a huge gold and ivory statue that was built in the Acropolis can restore peace between the Roman and Greek demi-gods if a Roman brings it onto sacred Greek ground, e.g. Camp Half-blood. Will the team be able to tell Reyna, The Praetor of New Rome (the only Roman that listens) the news in time?

I personally think this is the best Percy Jackson book yet but I think that the final book is going to be pretty good too!! It had a really good build-up and climax which is the proof of a good book.
Well done Rick Riordan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry

This book is a bit like Matilda by Roald Dahl, the parents are horrible and there is a mean older sibling. Unfortunately, this book didn't catch my fancy but if you like stories set in the 1800s like the Railway Children and the Treasure Seekers, then this is the book for you.

Mr and Mrs Willoughby are cruel parents and the Willoughby children have to put up with them. Mr and Mrs Willoughby believe that children shouldn't have existed and that they were a curse sent from the depths of hell! Mr and Mrs Willoughby have 4 children, the oldest being Timothy, he's twelve, Barnaby A and Barnaby B, they're both ten and then there's little Jane and she is 6 and a half. Tim, being the oldest devises a point system, the person with the least points would end up in the coal bunker. Tim would deduct points for no apparent reason from his other siblings and give himself bonus points so he would always win. The Willoughby children absolutely loathe their parents and when they decide to go on a spontaneous holiday and hire a nanny the children are overjoyed.

It's Barnaby A's turn in the coal bunker when he notices something, a FOR SALE sign hanging on the house! Mr and Mrs Willoughby have gone off to buy a new house! Nanny and the children have to disguise themselves from the realtors or else they won't be able to stay in their house for long! 

I didn't really like this book because I thought that everything happened too fast and it was all so sudden, I almost couldn't keep up! The upside to this book is that it is very engaging and the vocabulary used in the book is really funny.

I rate this book 6/10!

Phoenix by SF Said

I'm sorry that I haven't written a review in a while but I'm coming back with a real whopper...


The Humans and the Aliens are at war. Shadow guards, people that have special stealth armour that allows them to melt into the shadows have been brought in to protect the Humans. These guards will stop at nothing to protect the Human race and distinguish any threats; no matter how big. Lucky, a normal or, kind of normal boy is trying to stay out of trouble but Lucky feels like something very bad is going to happen, something very, very bad indeed.

One normal suburban morning in Phoenix, the town where Lucky lives, a safe but far away place from all war, Lucky wakes in a cold sweat. He had a nightmare, something about the wolf that eats the stars? He can't remember, then he sits up and notices the smouldering hole in his bed sheet. His mum smells the burning and runs in. She has a look of pure terror on her face. She runs to the window and looks up at the sky, a tiny crack shaped like a V is visible. She turns as white as a sheet and runs into her room where the suitcases are stored muttering "I didn't know that this would happen so soon!" What can this V mean?

Just as they are about to leave, Lucky peeps into the closet and sees something sitting in the corner. It was a smooth black rock with faint lines engraved in it. "Mum" Lucky says, "can I take this?"  Mum looks very worried but nods, "OK but don't let anyone see it." She looks out of the window again. The V shaped crack is getting bigger. "Come on Lucky, we must hurry." Lucky and his mum run for the Spaceport, all Lucky knows is his mum is desperate to get off this planet.

They arrive at the Spaceport. Lucky's mum asks for a craft to Lethe. Suddenly, the word 'Cancelled' flickers onto the screen and a image appears on the giant vidscreen, burning buildings, smoking from a recent attack. Lucky pulls the shiny rock out of his kitbag and there's a shout, "Hey look, that kid's got a Astrolabe! That's illegal!" Lucky and his mother run. Lucky looks up at the sky, the V is bigger, much, much bigger, "Don't look up Lucky!" his mum says sharply. They round a corner into a dark and dingy alley where a mob is gathering around something, Lucky can't work out what it is but as he and his mum get closer he can see perfectly well what it is - the curved horns, the fiery eyes - it is a fully grown male alien; and he is very, very angry. They have stumbled across an alien refugee camp...

Later in the book, Lucky and the Aliens that he now calls friends embark on galactic adventures such as journeying through the Spacewall (inside the Spacewall is where all the fighting happens) and finding the Alien secret base that no Human has ever been able to find, Charon.

I really liked this book because Lucky is a great super hero for kids, someone who puts others first. People who like SCI FI and adventure novels and are Varjak Paw fans will enjoy this too. The illustrations by Dave McKean were very inspirational and went with the book really well. The picture of the Wolf that Eats the Stars is in Greek style and I really liked that.

I give this book 10/10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SF Said's website is here