At Midnight: A Novel Based on Cinderella

At Midnight: A Novel Based on Cinderella


By: Jennifer Baker
Reviewed by: Annabelle L., 15
Rating: It was alright...


Ella Browning, your typical girl. Fair, brunette, happy, friendly, kind. You know the type, but also, she knows when to savor the moment- literally. Spun away in shock from the moment her beloved father said, "I do," to Lucinda, welcoming her and her two snobby, complaining daughters into their home. Barely days after that, Ella's father collaspes and dies; leaving her alone with the now revealed wicked Lucinda and company. No friends, no family, nobody is there for Ella.

The modern Prince William de Montroig Frederic Henri Windmere Villacampo aka Will for short, is happy to be away from all the prancing parties and the girls who aren't really into him. Of course, no one could understand what he has to go through, look at his friends the oh-so-shy Kenny and ladies' man Chris. All he wants is that special someone who he could share his life with.

Following the happily-ever-after story of Cinderella, Ms. Baker recreates the essence of what should be happily-ever-after in a modern sense with a touch of surrealism.

I liked the writing and setting the fairy tale in modern times, though, it's not your accelerated or hard reading. Something for taking you back into our younger days on yonder, and an easy, relaxing day with maybe a pillow and some cocoa.:) Enjoyable, easy, but nothing remarkable, so to speak.


Recommended to: younger teens, those who want to revisit fairy tales

Eragon

Eragon


By: Christopher Paolini
Reviewed by: Conor, 15
Rating: It was alright...


Eragon is the first novel in the Inheritance Series. The story follows a young unsuspecting farmboy named Eragon, who is chosen by the dragon, Saphira, to be the first new Dragon Rider in a century. The plot was, in a word, distasteful. The writer seemed to have taken a cliché concept and jammed it onto ideas from other works. The plot has an eerie similarity to the original Star Wars Trilogy. I'd rather not give out information on the book, as that is frowned upon. As much as I complain, this is one of the few fantasy novels I've read. I manage to enjoy it, as much of a nitpicker as I am. Christopher Paolini has a talent for words and phrases, not for plot.


Recommended to: Whoever would be interested in reading it. I can't tell you what books you should read.

Tail of the Moon

Tail of the Moon


By: Rinko Ueda
Reviewed by: Paj, 14
Rating: Really liked it


hey everyone, if you peoples haven't read this book yet...i recommend for all of you to read it...its a really exiciting book...by the way... its a comic book!!!
some parts are sad but the rest is exciting!!!


its about a clumsy ninja girl and ....you have to read the rest if you want to know about the whole story.....


Recommended to: the teens...&& people who loves reading animes

Twilight

Twilight


By: Stephenie Meyer
Reviewed by: Amy, 15
Rating: Hated it!


never read this crap!!

Recommended to: anyone

The Fetch

The Fetch


By: Laura Whitcomb
Reviewed by: Annabelle L., 15
Rating: It was amazing!


Calder is a Fetch. An escort for all those who transcend their life on Earth, yet have not reached Heaven. Unsettled with his position, he takes a chance with one soul that questioned him with canny questions- Rasputin. Using Rasputin's body, he is forced back into the physical life of a human in the Russian Revolution. With that, he also creates a crevice to erupt between the Aisle and Earth. Souls, Fetches, and human alike can all feel the torn of the worlds, and it's up to Calder to fix it. With Ana and Alexis, and the accompanying Rasputin to mix things up, Calder takes on the task, before it's too late.

Laura Whitcomb takes you on a journey of the Russian Revolution and how the world keeps going, though history is in the making. She takes an interesting view on the mysterious disappearance of Anastasia and Alexis' body during that time.

This book kept me on the edge, and I always flipped page after page after page; it's difficult to put down, when you start. I definitely enjoyed this enormously, especially since I held Anastasia as a favorite historical person; Ms. Whitcomb's characterization of her and her younger brother Alexis made me felt like I actually knew them, plus Calder fitted in perfectly with them.

Speaking of Calder, as the protagonist, he wasn't the perfect hero. He made his own mistakes, big and small, but he also perserves, and I admire him for that. He's a person you can definitely relate to.

Rasputin is another character to talk about. He plays a major role in this story, being part hero and part villian. We never could tell if Rasputin was really a bad guy or a good guy in real life. He was a favorite of the tsarina and a healer for Alexis, but his underground ways unnerved many and made them think of him as evil and corrupt. It could be the media that promoted that view, but casting that aside, this story brings a little bit of both sides of Rasputin, and you start sympathizing with him and seeing HIS side of the story. It's amazing, how she [the author] twists this subplot in.

A side of humor, a lot of supernatural, and a tinge of history, and a dash of underlying romance, we see glimspes of many genres put into this masterpiece that Laura Whitcomb created. I hope everyone who touches this books, comes out awed. Or at least, enjoyed the story. :)

Recommended to: anyone!

Orange Planet, Vol. 1

Orange Planet, Vol. 1


By: Haruka Fukushima
Reviewed by: Annabelle L., 15
Rating: It was alright...


Some girls have a hard time catching a boy's eye, but this girl- Rui- has too many boys watching her! From her best friend, the cute next-door-neighbor-boy, Tarou to her crush Kaoru, and her "perverted" new teaching intern- Eisuke! It's just too much, not to mention, she was stuck in a fire that was Eisuke's apartment- leaving Eisuke to take the blow and to endure Rui's hospitality, by staying at her place! Of course, Rui has no idea what to do with her life, being the innocent and naive girl that she is.

Haruka Fukushima's art is pretty and definitely her own style, as Instant Teen: Just Add Nuts! (my favorite manga by said mangaka), and it's a joy see these new characters pop up to life.

As much as the unique-ness of the story plot it, it was a little spazzed all over the place, and too slice-of-life for me, especially since it's a little bit unbelieveable. I enjoyed Tarou as a good character, though, he probably won't prevail in the series. For me, an easy as well as quick read. But, not something I could go back and have the same enjoyment on.


Recommended to: people into slice-of-life, school life, fluffy mangas

Twilight (The Movie)

Twilight


Directed By: Catherine Hardwicke
Reviewed by: gothiclolitamaiden, 15
Rating: Didn't like it


Oh my goodness. And not in a good way. When I finished watching Twilight, my first thought was that it was horrible, worse than the book. After further thought, I still thought it was horrible, but I remembered the few good points of the movie.

I hated most of the acting and didn’t think that the casting was done very well. The worst casting choice by far was Kristen Stewart as Bella. She is a fairly pretty girl, and I don’t mind the fact that her voice is very low-pitched, even though I had imagined Bella speaking in a slightly higher-pitched tone. My problem is that Kristen Stewart can’t act very well. Even in moments of great anger or passion, she either sounds wooden or extremely bored. Whenever she looks at Edward (Robert Pattinson, who is not a vampire, ladies) her eyes express no true caring for him, only a faint glimmer of lust, which didn’t fit with the book. And there was the fact that she kept on twitching, blinking and shaking her head like a bobblehead doll, even when she was supposed to be perfectly calm. I thought it would be relatively easy to pretend to be in love with Robert Pattinson, seeing as he is rather easy on the eyes, to say the least. I would be able to ignore Kristen Stewart’s bad acting if she played a minor character, but since she’s on screen for a good 90 percent of the movie, it was hard to ignore. I must stop Kristen Stewart-bashing, so I’ll talk about the other actors. Robert Pattinson, unlike his costar, is much more expressive and believable, even if he could be a little creepy sometimes (especially when he says something along the lines of “I like to watch you sleep). I am impressed that he almost completely rid himself of his British accent. If you didn’t know he was British, you wouldn’t guess.

Cam Gigandet breathed life into James, who was a rather flat villain in the book. I liked Rachel Lefevre as Victoria, even though her voice didn’t match the description in Eclipse and her hair was more strawberry blond than red. Laurent’s actor was also pretty good. Emmett, Rosalie, Jasper, Alice, Carlisle and Esme all had about three lines each on average, which sort of makes you realize how much time is spent on Bella and Edward and how much the other characters are shunted into the background. The actors for Emmett, Rosalie, Carlisle and Esme all looked and acted pretty well, but Alice and Jasper didn’t work very well for me. They just didn’t look right, and Jasper looked kind of creepy and…crazy. Jessica’s actress (don’t know her name) was the stand-out actress of Bella’s crew of human friends, though it doesn’t take much to act like a shallow, catty girl. Jacob’s actor kind of looked the part, but his acting was a bit awkward.

Usually it bugs me when screen writers add scenes to movies that weren’t in the book, but some of the scenes added into the movie actually helped. For example, the scenes where James and company appeared, attacking unsuspecting humans, foreshadowed their arrival, unlike in the book. In the book, James just appeared out of nowhere, as if the author had added him and his crew as an afterthought and to create an actual conflict. I also preferred the extended fight scene to the book, where Bella simply blacked out and readers missed all of the action. Other scenes, like the tree-jumping scene, were unnecessary. The diner scene in which Stephenie Meyer makes a rather obvious cameo greatly amused me.

The special effects were very corny, which detracted from the movie even more. Everything, from the super-fast vampire running to the sparkly skin, looks almost ridiculous. I thought that the film would have a pretty big budget, but I was wrong. Despite my grumblings, I really liked the soundtrack. There were some really good songs, and the orchestral score caught my attention and pleased me more than most of the acting in the movie, which is kind of sad.

Overall, I’d only recommend this one to diehard Twilight fans or die-hard anti-Twilight people. If you already dislike Twilight, you might get a kick out of this movie.


Recommended to: Die-hard Twilight fans, anyone who would want to see Robert Pattinson shirtless for a couple of seconds. 13+ For violence and one excruciatingly long kissing scene.

Breaking Dawn

Breaking Dawn


By: Stephenie Meyer
Reviewed by: Lynna, 17
Rating: It was alright...


I was a little disappointed with this novel, compared to the rest in the series. I actually didn't know what exactly to expect, but the story was just a little awkward and shallow.

I'm a Twilight fan too, but not hardcore as many people are. I was able to read this book in a short time, but it wasn't as amusing as the other books in the series. The fact that Jacob imprinted on Bella's daughter... yeah, that was just... really really really weird. I mean, it's like, "Hey, love, I fell in love with your mommy but that's okay now it's just me and you." ...Okay then.

And the so called "war", I anticipated it to be a little more juicy. I mean, one person got killed and then they became BFFs again. Great. If only life was like that, I can only relate...

All in all, not the best. Very disappointed this was the ending of the series, but not all that's golden glitters... Oh well, still loved the series and the idea was fresh. Now tons more vampires books are being written, haha.


Recommended to: Twilight Fans

Eclipse

Eclipse


By: Stephenie Meyer
Reviewed by: Lynna, 17
Rating: Really liked it


To be quite honest, this novel was kind of slow for me. Skipped some parts here and there, but I managed to finish it. Don't get me wrong though, there was a lot of great parts too! Edward reunites with Bella, and Jacob goes jealous. That's the juice of the story, with some more violence and hate tidbits here and there. Bella pretty much struggles with her emotions (like the movie is able to show that... Kristen is like, a stone...) and Edward struggles to protect her. I remember laughing at the parts where the vampire and the wolf was fighting for a human being. Seemed ridiculous, but in the movie, that's two good-looking guys so I wouldn't complain. :)

I actually enjoyed some of the parts of this book more than any of the series. Slow some, yes, but quite an amusing read. There are more uncovering of secrets, and you'd get hooked onto it once you get started reading this!


Recommended to: Twilight Fans

New Moon

New Moon

By: Stephenie Meyer
Reviewed by: Lynna, 17
Rating: Really liked it

Regardless of what everyone has said about hating this book, I actually favored this over Twilight. I didn't really despise Jacob until later than on, but I think it was good he was there for her. I mean, Edward had his reasons to leave Bella, and it takes a little more than just understanding to get that.

People actually threw the book upon finding Edward leaves, but I could only smirk... it was going to happen one way or another, right? I mean it was kind of expecting for me. I knew, though, that he wouldn't leave her for good. If he was to really leave her forever, then, yeah, I would probably feel a little dismayed. But all in all, I really liked this book. And can't wait for the movie to come out! Seems like a better watch than Twilight based on the trailers.


Recommended to: Twilight lovers, Jacob supporters(?) haha