Prodigy (Book Two of The Legend Trilogy)

Prodigy 

by: Marie Lu 

Synopsis: Prodigy starts right where Legend left off, June and Day are on the run. The Republic thinks Day is dead, and now June is the Republic's most wanted traitor. They are out of money and out of ideas, so they are forced to turn to the rebellion group, the Patriots. Day and June have to decide whether the Patriots are actually better than the Republic. 

Review: Being the second book, I had very high expectations because usually the second book is my favorite, and since Legend was so good, I couldn't wait to read it. Unfortunately I was disappointed. The characters changed drastically. In Legend I loved Day, everything about him, he was funny and always had something witty to say. While June was a little annoying, and was always negative and angry.  However, in Prodigy it switched, it was like Day was a different person, he was not as funny and he was kind of pessimistic and always angry. It was sad. Eventually they switch back to there own selves, with June being a better person. But it wasn't all bad, the story picked up right where it left off and it made me want to read and finish it quickly, which I did. Overall it was still very good, (just not as good as Legend). I definitely will reread it, hopefully soon. 

Legend (Book One of The Legend Trilogy)

Legend 

By: Marie Lu 

Synopsis: In what was once The United States, the Republic now stands. The Republic is constantly at war with it's neighbors. Born into an elite, and one of the wealthiest families in the Republic, 15 year-old June is a prodigy, and being groomed to become one of the highest Military officials. Born in the slums, 15 year-old Day is the most-wanted criminal in the country. But his motives might not be as cruel as they seem. One day June's brother is killed and the prime suspect is Day. June makes it her mission to find and bring Day to justice, while Day tries to keep his family alive. 

Review: This is an amazing, fun, exciting, and over all great book. Day, June, and all the other characters are interesting and each have something amazing about them. I can't think of anything bad about this book, besides the fact that my copy, Day's chapter were written in gold while June's were written in blue, and that it hurt my eyes. It's so amazing and impossible to put down. The relationships in this book are extraordinary, whether it's friendships, siblings relationships, or romantic relationships, they all are amazing. I read it last year and can't wait to reread it! A ton of people I know have read it and throughly enjoyed it, some of them don't even like to read, and they loved it. Overall it's a wonderfully well-written book that everyone should read. It also is the first of a trilogy (Prodigy is the 2nd, and Champion is the 3rd).

 

The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried

by: Tim O'Brien 

Synopsis: The Things They Carried is about the experiences of O'Brien's platoon in the Vietnam War. It's told in O'Brien's point of view and describes what it was like to be in the Vietnam War. 

Review: I read this for my English class and I thought I was going to hate it. But it was very good and I enjoyed reading it. Even though the description makes it sound non-fiction, O'Brien actually made it all up. This was extremely frustrating because I thought it was real and cried and was moved by this real experience, to only find out towards the end that it was made-up. It also was rather deep, like a war story should be, but O'Brien wrote in a way that confused and frustrated me. You had to dig and think very hard to get the real meaning, which was actually very cool. If you want to read a book that doesn't make you think, this is not the book for you. It was a good book, with great characters, and a great story. 

Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Will Grayson, Will Grayson 

by: David Levithan 

and John Green

Synopsis: This is about a depressed boy named Will Grayson, who randomly meets another boy with the very same name. He believes it's fate and they become friends in a way. They both are very different but are both going through something. Both Will Grayson's are friends or become friends with Tiny, who writes the most amazing and most fabulous musical to ever be seen on a high school stage. It's told in alternating views between the two. 

Review: This was an amazing book. It's extremely funny and actually made me laugh out loud. But it also is serious and sad. I read it in about 2 days. At first I wasn't sure because one of the Will Graysons, wrote in all lowercase and not in proper English. It also was sort of dark and I don't really like dark stuff at all, but the comedy evens it out and it turned out great. I am so glad I kept to it and read it all because it is probably one of the funniest books I've ever read. I also really like the end. The other thing that was really cool was that the two authors, David Levithan and John Green, both wrote as a Will Grayson. Usually I would say that that wouldn't work but they made it work so well. This emphasized the differences in the two characters, so when the two different authors wrote, two different characters wrote. They worked nice together to produce a funny, real book that makes the readers feel. 

The Crucible

The Crucible 

By: Arthur Miller 

Synopsis: The Crucible is a play about the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. The play is based on real events and the characters are based off of historical people that were actually involved. As Abigail as their leader, this group of girls accuse dozens of people of being witches. This is taken to court because they live in a Puritan society, which is a religion. In court the accused people are given the choice of weather to confess that they are witches or they will be hanged. This obviously causes many issues which need to be resolved throughout the play. 

Review: I usually don't enjoy reading plays, but because it's historical fiction I mostly liked it. It definitely was interesting but it was a little to dramatic for me at certain parts. Also if Miller's point was to make me hate Abigail, he did a great job. Everything about her was annoying. It was very interesting to learn about the witch trials, which I thought I knew, but really didn't, about what happened. Although some stuff was boring, hard to read and understand, and confusing it was still a good read. I'm glad I read it but I probably will never read it again. It also is something I wouldn't recommend to anyone unless it was for school, which is the only reason why I read it. 

   

Brooklyn

Brooklyn 

By: Colm Tóibín 

Synopsis: Brooklyn is about an Irish girl named Eilis Lacey who leaves her family behind when she immigrated to Brooklyn from a small-town Ireland a couple of years after World War 2. Eilis gets a job and she starts to struggle with her new life in America, and to distract her from her homesickness she enrolls in college. Then she unexpectedly falls in love with an Italian man named Tony. Just as she's adjusting to her new life, she receives devastating news from Ireland and she must make some very hard decisions. 

Review: Brooklyn is an amazing book. It's very well written and has a great story line. It's full of emotion and shows the reader what it would be like to live during that time. It makes interesting comparisons between Irish and American culture. Tóibín also makes amazing, unique characters. All of them are different in at least 5 ways and that's nice to have when reading these types of historical-fiction books. Occasionally it became a little hard to read, but it's probably because I saw the movie before I read it. The movie was great but the book was obviously better. It's just when I know what's going to happen in a book it takes me longer to read it. But if I hadn't seen the movie first I would've read this book in a week. Overall it was great, and wonderfully written. (Also a Major Motion Picture.)

The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye 

By: J.D. Salinger

Synopsis: This is a story about a teenager, Holden Caulfield, and the days following his expulsion from his boarding school. It's about him exploring New York by himself and basically the struggles that come along with finding oneself. He has quite the adventure in the two days before he goes home and excepts his fate. 

Review: Personally I hated this book. I thought it was pointless. All it was was the rambling of a spoiled kid who had some issues that really had no importance to anything. Holden talked to  much about pointless things and all of his "problems" were really not that big of a deal.  I can not find anything good about this book, some people think it's a coming of age story or that Holden is trying to help keep children innocent but personally I saw no message. I would rather read a book that has a message or even a storyline, which this book had neither of. I was excited to read this book but I was very disappointed.