Yuelin's Thoughts

     Peter and the Sword of Mercy is the 4th book in the Peter and the Starcatchers series. All is well and peaceful in Neverland and the stardust is well hidden throughout England and Neverland. However after the rule of Queen Elizabeth, tensions begin to rise again. Edward, now the new king, seems to be under a spell by his advisor Baron von Schatten. But, little do the people of England know that the Baron is actually Ombra the dark oozing shadow that has taking the real Baron’s soul. Since Ombra’s place in the palace was unknown, he “advised” the King that he should hire a person/devil named the Skeleton. The Skeleton was a very strange and complex being that I couldn’t understand when I was reading the book. He seems to have a power that makes people suffer immense pain so that he can squeeze the truth out of them. However where does he come from and how did he gain the power?

          The book gets its name from the weapon that the Baron and Ombra were trying to find and discover. The Sword of Mercy. It was rumored that the sword could open up a huge amount of Stardust which could power the Evil so that thery could wipe out the entire world. But theres a catch. The sword had lost its tip in battle and it was said to be lost forever. But, the evil Ombra and Baron will do all they can will to find the tip. Heres another catch – Peter Pan and Molly’s daughter Wendy, are there to stop them.

         With a book filled with magic, mermaids, a flying boy, and a crocadile or two- the action never stops. Although I was bored at some times because of the “non-action” parts of the book. This book was still a very quick read for me. Hope you will have as much fun as I had while reading this book!!

          Peter Pan and the Secrets of Rundoon is another great and enjoyable book by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. This story starts at Stonehenge where the supposed Lord Ombra(an evil oozing nonshaped shadow) was destroyed. However, even though he was weakened, he uses his power(the art of mind control) to gain back his energy and travel back to Rundoon to report his failure of unable to kill Peter Pan to the lazy and evil King Zarboff. Even though the King wanted to release this creature of darkness,he decides to give it another chance to destroy and annihilate Peter Pan. Meanwhile during all of this misshape in Rundoon, Peter has been seriously injured by a poison arrow/dart from an alleged warrior tribe named the Scorpions who have invaded his island.

          Even though this fantasy story is both exhilarating and action packed, I would still only rate it a 9 out of 10. This is because some parts of the story is just a bit too much of a fantasy. Hence the fact that sometimes fantasy bores me no matter how chunky the material is. For example, I find it hard to believe that Peter Pan and his companions are actually real and that an oozing shadow named Lord Ombra exists.

          I read Peter and the Shadow Thieves by the author Dave Barry for Reading Counts and I passed my test with flying colors! I completed 556 pages, and I would give this book a rating of 9 out of 10.

                      Hello all readers of this blog. This is the writer checking in again once more for a review about a great book. Peter and the Shadow Thieves,the second book in Peter and the Starcatchers Series. This book as you should know is almost centered around the one and only Peter Pan and his mischievous “fairy” Tinker Bell. However as you can see from the title, this book isn’t that childish. In my opinion, this book should actually be read by teens or by some willing adults. The authors of this fantastic book are Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry. These two have made the journeys and adventures of Peter Pan even more enjoyable. In this book, it centers around the fact of how Peter actually developed his amazing and talented flying abilities. Also Molly, one of Peter’s young friends that is a star-catcher, helps Peter through his rocky path against his mortal/ghost enemy Lord Ombra. I hope you as a reader of this blog have a motive now to pick this extrodinary book of your local library or bookstore’s shelf.

       Finally, I have reached/surpassed my goal of 200o pages! But this time I can’t thank Michael Crichton, for this time, its Artemis Fowl the book!!! Let me fill you in on his background. Artemis Fowl is a mastermind, a villain, the new Mozart in the 2oth century. However in this book he plans to steal tons of fairy gold. However these aren’t the fairies that helped Cinderellabecome a princess. Nope, not even close. These fairies are armed to the teeth with all the weapons that you could think of. These fairies also don’t give up their gold easily either. So its up to Artemis to think up of the most cunning and trickiest way to make these fairies separate from their goal. But thing get nasty when the fairies pull of a trick that the mastermind couldn’t even dream of. Will Artemis ever get the gold, or will the fairies make him suffer before he can even touch it? Find out at your local bookstore or library.

      Another Michael Crichton, but this book is better than Andromeda Strain or Timeline. This amazing book is called Pirate Latitudes. It’s about a “legal” pirate named Hunter. Yes, I know what you are thinking. A legal pirate? Yes, this “pirate” was hired by Louis the third to steal money or goods from the islands near Jamaica. However, in this book, Hunter is planning a huge attack on Matanceros, the fort guarded by the most fearsome Spanish pirate Canzella. His fort is a huge island surrounded by 35 foot cliffs on one side and twenty turrets on the other, which makes the fort completely fool proof from boat or foot. However, you may be wondering why Hunter would take such a risk to get to the fort. Well, its because a Spanish galleon was there and many believe that it carries all the gold in the Jamaican islands to take to the king. Sail aboard with Hunter and his crewman and see if he every even makes it to the fort!!! Alive!!

     Percy Jackson is a demigod or a half human half god. His father is the mighty Poseidon the god of the sea. In this book The Last Olympian, which is the last book of the Percy Jackson series, the gods are finally having the largest battle between the Titans ever in history. Kronos, the leader of the Titans, is finally prepared to fight Olympus, however the only thing that is in his way are Percy Jackson and his faithful friends in camp Half-blood. In this book, Percy Jackson and his friends fight the battle of their lives just to protect Olympus to be reduced into ashes. I would recommend this book to anyone that has a knack for Greek Mythology.

                     Yes, I know what your thinking, Another Michael Crichton book, however this book(Andromeda Strain) is better than the last! This time, its about another crash on the Earth, but its a satellite this time. Allow me to fill you in…. A satellite falls down onto Earth that was supposed to be in space for 2 more weeks. However this wasn’t any ordinary satellite, this was a Project Scoop one. Project Scoop was a mission to collect bacteria specimen from outside the Earth. But, shockingly, this satellite fell 2 weeks before it was suppose to, which shocked scientists. So the Pentagon ordered 2 two of their best military men to the scene in a small town in Arizona that has a small population of only 49. As the men approach, they see buzzards(carnivorous birds) flying overhead. This was puzzling because buzzards ONLY fly over dead carcasses.  As they reach the town, they see bodies tons of them all stacked at the side of the road. When the suspense builds, the government, over the microphonein the car, hear a high pitched scream and a crunching sound- then the line was dead. As more cautious action is taken place, the government finds two people miraculously alive in the town, a baby and an old man. However how could these two be alive if the whole town is dead? You can find out at your local book store.

                               395 pages down and ALOT more to go. This time, its another Michael Crichton, and another science fiction. However, this book takes place in the 20th century. “Sphere“  by Michael Crichton takes place on the sea floor of the South Pacific Ocean, this time, a what is supposed to be an alien spacecraft is resting at the bottom of the sea unharmed or damaged for 300 years! The government rushes a group of elite scientists to the scene. What they find mocks their logical explanations and challenges their subconscious minds. However what is this being?  You will have to find out yourself by checking out or buying the book “Sphere” by Michael Crichton. Only recommended for kids 12 and up.

            Hello readers from around the world, this time in Language Arts class we had yet another reading challenge. This time its a “self challenge” which means that you set a goal for yourself. However, unfortunately, we couldn’t slack off and challenge ourselves to 10 pages though, so I challenged myself to 2000. The first book that I choose was “Timeline“, by Michael Crichton. This book is the usual of Mr. Crichton, a fast-moving, action packed theme with a great plot. However, this book isn’t the best book to read in front of children unless they’re older than 13. This is because at some points of the book, it turns a little “pg-13″. Even though its a bit gruesome at some times, it is still one of Michael Crichton’sbests. For example, it is a great book to read if you are studying about medieval times and how it was in the 1300′s since the book is based back then. So over all, this book received a rating from me of a 8 out of 10.