Showing posts with label series. Show all posts
Showing posts with label series. Show all posts

Monday, July 14, 2014

Action and adventure

The Hypnotists by Gordon Korman reminds me a little bit of the Percy Jackson series.  While there are no mythological creatures, there is a school for gifted children, and a hero that doesn't understand his legacy or his power.

Jax Opus is a typical twelve-year-old, or so he thinks.  There are his eyes; they sometimes change colors.  And, sometimes, people seem to do exactly what he says.  But, his gift isn't discovered until he attends a hypnotist's show.....and hypnotizes the star.  Suddenly he is brought to a prestigious institute, run by the respected Dr Mako.  There he learns that he has an extraordinary gift, and that he is the descendent from two very powerful hypnotic families.  As he develops his considerable talent, he discovers a rival group of hypnotists, and begins to suspect there is plot to use his gifts for evil intent.  Who can he trust?  Will he twart the plot?  Can he escape?

This was a quick, exciting read that will appeal to those that love a good battle between good guys and bad guys.  Especially when the good guys might not be perfect themselves.


Thursday, July 18, 2013

Twilight......for boys?!?!

I am, pardon the terrible pun, devouring the books in the Chronicles of Vladimir Tod series by Heather Brewer.  The series starts when the main character, Vlad, is in eighth grade.  He is a normal teenager who hates math, would rather play video games with his best friend, and tries to avoid being beaten up by the class bullies.  Oh, and he is a vampire.....well, technically half-vampire.  Vlad is the natural offspring of a vampire father and human mother.  Both his parents died when he was young in a terrible fire, and he has been raised by his mom's best friend, who, luckily, works in the health-care industry and has been supplying all his blood-based needs.

If hiding that one is a vampire isn't complex enough, as the series progresses Vlad learns that he is the first and only half-vampire, and that there is a vampire prophesy of one such as him that will rule the vampires and enslave the humans.  Vlad doesn't even want to "drink from the source," let alone enslave humans!   He must fight off vampires bent on stealing his "power," slayers hoping to rid the world of all vampire-kind, and Ed Poe, a geek who follows him around taking pictures, hoping to get the story of the century.

Speaking of enslaving, he finds out that his best friend, whom he accidentally "bit" when they were young, became his "drudge" when Vlad bit him.  This mean that he is Vlad's to command.  Talk about changing a friendship!  And, let's not even get started on dating....it becomes especially hard when all Vlad can think about is how NOT to bite his crush.

Written from a teenage boy's point of view there is more fighting, limbs chopped off and blood bags than in Twilight...all wrapped up in the normal worries of a teenage boy.

I have been reading all these books by checking them out electronically using the Overdrive App on my iPad.  definitely does NOT suck.

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