The Beasties

The Beasties


By: William Sleator
Reviewed by: Missy, 16
Rating: Really liked it


Te night is dark, as you hear the snores of the loggers in the forest, sleeping soundly. It is very peaceful compared to the screams when they awake, finding that one of there limbs is missing, a crude stiching to stop the painful bleeding.
Doug just moved to a large forest with his Mother, Father, and little sister. There are rumors of creatures called the beasties. Of people waking, missing a leg or arm. Untill he and his little sister come upon a trap door in teh middle of the forest.

This book leads you astray, making you think of one plot, while its the opposite. I think this story was really good, creating things that you never expected. A mysteriose horror book, reflecting onto the real world, with of couse, monsters, but with out the monsters, the book would be a nothing.

This book is not slow, and keeps you on the edge of your chair, and with a good ending, a true ending, instead of books that sound like they have a continueing book, but they dont.


Recommended to: people into horror and mystery books

NANA

NANA


By: Yazawa Ai
Reviewed by: Jenn, 14
Rating: It was amazing!


First, there's Nana Komatsu. 20 years old, she comes from a normal (but noisy) family - a mother, father, an older sister, and a younger sister. She spent her high school years falling in and out of love, and finally found someone whom she is determined to follow to Tokyo. The one thing she cares about most in life is finding love and keeping it.

Then there's Nana Oosaki. Same age, but completely different lifestyle. She hardly grew up with what you'd call a family, and very few friends. For her 20th birthday, she decides to buy herself a one-way ticket to Tokyo to make a name for herself. Her goal in life is to sing and nothing else.

On their way to Tokyo the two Nanas meet and become close friends, setting up the rest of the series for plenty of laughs, love, and drama.

Personally, I don't think I can say I've read a more beautiful series. A lot of people have referred to this as a 'shoujo' manga, but I fully disagree. It's far from it. The correct term would be 'josei', which is much more dramatic and doesn't have the typical happy ending that a shoujo manga has.

The series starts off with a happier tone; things are very comedic and more lighthearted. As the series progresses, however, more and more complications arise causing the drama level to rise. This also brings in plenty of character development.

The basic plot of the story is of both Nana K. and Nana O. going to Tokyo to follow their dreams. If they'd done just that and had a happy ending, it would probably make a decent series. But the endless twists and turns throughout make it amazing.

As for character designs, Yazawa did a beautiful job on those as well. Her unique artwork alone makes them great. However she also goes through basing some characters off of real people, such as the characters Nana O. and Ren, whom she based on Sid and Nancy of Sex Pistols, who also happen to be idols of the two characters.

Overall, there really isn't anything bad I can say about this series so far. It hasn't ended yet, but I'm sure that however the ending will turn out, it'll be a great one. 'NANA' mixes romance, drama, and plenty of rock'n'roll to make a series that many are sure to love.


Recommended to: 16+; romance, music, drama fans (slight nudity, sexual references, etc.)

Twilight Soundtrack

Twilight Soundtrack


By: Various Artists
Reviewed by: Missy, 16
Rating: Really liked it


I think that the music on the twilight soundtrack is really enjoyable to listen to. When you hear the first song, it just makes you want to stand up and dance around, even if you cant dance.

It is a mixture between rock to classical. The rythm to the songs is very unique and wonderful to listen to. There are a couple of songs that really get to you while others just make you want to smile.

Its alot of romance music, but not really any of the break up songs that kinda make you think of bad past. Not many of the bands are very popular, to my knowledge, but they choose perfect music.

And if you are reading, or planing on reading the book twilight, and want to listen to music that will keep you in the mood for it, this will be the perfect cd for it, lol.

I really enjoyed the music on it, and cant stop listening to it.


Recommended to: everyone

Swallowing Stones

Swallowing Stones


By: Joyce McDonald
Reviewed by: Missy, 16
Rating: Really liked it


Michael MacKenzie recieves an old shotgun from his father on his birthday, and decides to go out into the forest with his friend Joe to try it out, only shooting it once. But everyone makes mistakes, even though they think what There doing is safe A distance away Jenna goes out to give her father his lunch while he works to repair the roof, but to her horror, he was shot in the head by an unkown bullet.

This story I thought was really good, i good relate to jenna, and it helped me through my own problems that i have been going through. I think Joyce got the feelings and emotions perfectly. I like how she made it a mystery, even though its there right in front of you and you know whats happening.

It has a good plot in it, and I really like the charecters. It is one of those life lesson books, with deeper meaning to it that you would think.

There are some scenes to were your heart just stops, your breathing rapid, while others you just want to laugh. It is another serios story though, not a comedy, or historical or romance book


Recommended to: anyone above 14

Night

Night


By: Elie Wiesel
Reviewed by: Missy, 16
Rating: Really liked it


This book is about Elies teen years in the concentraion camp with his father. It tells of all the things that he had to endure, and all that others had to endure.
This book shows you of the torture that Hitler made Jews go through. It was not very detailed, but you can still hear the screams, and smell of the burning flesh of the fathers and mothers that the children themselves had to burn.

It makes you want to cry, just thinking about what they had to do and see. This book is not a comedie, nor is it a romance. It is a serios historical book.
I thought it was well written, and teachs you alot about the past with out boring you. I can be very easily bored with historical books, but this one was not boring, it was more of a story instead of a history book though.


Recommended to: anyone above the age of 14

Tokyo Babylon Volume 7

Tokyo Babylon Volume 7


By: Clamp
Reviewed by: gothiclolitamaiden, 15
Rating: Really liked it


Warning: Spoilers if you haven't read the final volume of Tokyo Babylon

At first, I didn't like Tokyo Babylon too much. For a paranormal manga, it wasn't very scary. But as the series continued, I started to like it more and more. Tokyo Babylon is a very sensitive and emotional series. Tokyo is portrayed as a city full of opposites. There are the rich and successful, living glamorous lives. Then there are the poor and struggling, who the rich often step on to acheive their goals. At first, the shonen-ai relationships were slightly disturbing to me, but I gradually got used to it.

The ending was a bit disappointing for me, there are still loose ends, which makes me want to read X/1999 even more. Before reading the final volume, I believed that Seishiro, despite his flaws had some good in him and really loved Subaru, turns out he's a heartless...never mind. This volume was a bit of an emofest. Hokuto dies, Subaru's grandmother is crippled, Seishiro is an emotionless murderer. Nevertheless, it is very exciting because of the questions finally answered. The artwork isn't exactly on par with Clamp's later work, but works for this story.



Recommended to: Fans of paranormal manga and shonen-ai. 13+ as the rating says for blood, violence, mature and often very morbid themes.

School Rumble Vol. 1

School Rumble Vol. 1 (DVD)


By: Shinji Takamatsu
Reviewed by: gothiclolitamaiden, 15
Rating: Really liked it


This is one wacky anime. Before I tell you my opinion of it, I have to explain the plot. Tenma likes Karasuma, Karasuma is completely oblivious to her affections. Harima (a self-proclaimed delinquent) likes Tenma, but she is oblivious that he likes her. Typical love triangle, right? Wrong. School Rumble is much wackier than any love triangle I have ever seen. The first few episodes focus on the triangle, but later episodes portray Tenma's sister and her tangled love life. Both Tenma and Harima try all sorts of schemes to attract the attention of their beloved. It's amazing how their minds work in such similar ways. I won't bother trying to explain the wackiness, see it for yourself. I didn't watch the English dub, so I can't really comment on it, but I thought that the Japanese voices were really good. The character designs were all cute and distinctive, though I don't know what Tenma sees in Karasuma.... Something I didn't like was that some of the jokes referred to aspects of Japanese culture that Western viewers may not be familiar with. I assume that these references were either edited out or diluted in the English version, but I prefer to watch my anime with subtitles. The opening and ending music wasn't top-notch, but was upbeat and fit the series perfectly. Most of the time, I didn't notice the background music because I was too busy laughing my head off.



Recommended to: Fans of comedy anime with a little background on Japanese culture. Despite the PG rating 12+ for some suggestive/crude content.

Twilight (The Movie)

Twilight


Directed by: Catherine Hardwicke
Reviewed by: Missy, 16
Rating: Hated it!


OMG!!!! They screwed up the whole frickin movie!!!! thats all I can say. The Edwards and Bellas acting was absolutly pitiful! But i must say that both of Edwards and Bellas fathers fit the charecter near to perfection.

They skipped alot of the romance, and putting in scenes that were never even in the book, but only lead up to the frickin fight scene. I mean, James, Laurent, and Victoria werent even there at the beging of the book, they are adding scenes from the second book into the movie.

And what the frick is with Edward bightign Bella?!?!?! He didnt even frickin bight her in the book, that kinda takes out of the purpose of suckign out the venom. but noooooo, he just had to bite her.

And the kissing... i do not remeber him pushing her into the bed, getting oh so passionate... i was like, omg... stay with the frickin book!

And whats with the tree climbing? hmm.. maybe he is a radioactive spider dude... jeeze a weeze They didnt show the paintings of carlisle and his friends ((hmm... i wonder how there going to do movie 2 with out that, cause that was kinda big for movie 2)) And what the frick is with Jasper?!?! he looked like he was about to cry, and him and rosela looked like they were wearing wigs, which they were. And in the movie, i dont see anything unique about edwards hair, its susposed to be unique I must say, the only good vampire that i liked int he movie of the 5 kids was alice, the actress filled in the part perfectly, with the attitude and looks.

And the music... I bought the soundtrack to twilight befor ei watche dthe movie, so i pretty much know all of the lyrics... the places where they put the songs does not even remotly match, except for the piano part for bellas lyllaby OMG, dont even get me started on that scene, that freakin lowsy scene. I dont remember it beign are dark and gloomy. It was susposed to be light, and like a normal house.

And the fighting scene, didnt James bight Bella on the PALM ((not rist)) before Edward came to save here? not after, and didnt she hit her head on the frickin glass?!?

And what is with Bella being so suddenly rich and fashionable?!??!? Shes susposed to be average. Ipods are not cheap, fashionable clothes are not cheap. You think a mother with no job, a father in law who is a terrible base ball player, and a dad who works in a small town able to afford all of that? nooooo. She doesnt have a job, so that doesnt work And what happened to the other dance, they skipped it and went straight to the prom! What happened to Tyler asking bella out cause he felt really sorry for her? And didnt Bella already know that Edward was a vampire before she went dress shoppign with her friends?!? didnt Jacob tell bella that the cold ones are vampires at the beach party?!

They Royally screwed up this movie.

This movie was absolutly terrible compared to the book. Terrible acting, terrible graphics, and just plain, out right terrible. get my point?


Recommended to: no one who loves the book twilight

Lord Loss

Lord Loss


By: Darren Shan
Reviewed by: Missy, 16
Rating: It was amazing!

This book was amazingly written, with so much gory detail in it. It felt like the demon was right in front of you, and you can almost see as cockroaches slowly crept upon his head, eating at his dead green skin.

This novel is not meant for the easily queasy folks, but those who are into detailed, on the edge of your seat, horror fanatics. It was very descriptive, but not a 2 paragraph story, but descreptive enough to where you know what your looking at.

This novel had a good plot, and a good ending, making you to want more, to never put the book down.


Recommended to: Teens who are into horror

Crash

Crash


By: Lion's Gate Films
Reviewed by: Missy, 16
Rating: It was amazing!


The movie, Crash, I thought was absolutly amazing.

There have been so many movies that show only the good side of the world, or only the small parts of the bad, this movie shows so many bad things around. Racist, sexual abuse, robbery, slave market, all the stuff that too many people turn a blind eye to.

There have been scenes in it to were it just takes your breath away, your chest tightens, and your eyes start to sting as tears form. You just want to go into the TV and help them out, but can only sit back and watch. This story has laughs to it, but is more of a serios movie. The actors, in my opinion, were fabulos, gettign the part perfectly. It makes you to really start thinking about whats out in the world. And it makes you want to get up off the couch to go help out, to make a difference.
It is nice to see the real dangers of the world, and to see the outcomes of those who are hurt by the dangers, and also doing the dangers.

This movie you must watch from begining to end, you cannot skip the beginign, or you will be confused through out the movie, nor can you skip the middle, its one of those movies were you have to sit through.

It is not boring, and keeps you on the edge of your seat, which is while i really love it.


Recommended to: mature teens and above