OAK ISLAND REVENGE FINALE

HELLOEZ! VELCOME TO ZEE LAST PART IN MY SERIES REVIEWING OAK ISLAND REVENGE YA!
Last time, i covered this book's money maker, the voice. Now I'm wrapping up the series with my final thoughts. Oak Island Revenge was a fairly interesting murder mystery, and shows what Canadian Authors can do. Howeve, It's bland major theme, and lack of scenery make it so I can't give it a REALLY high mark. It's Plot, Characters, Minor them, and Voice more than make up for it. Overall, I give this book a 93.5% on the modified Finley scale. It steals the honour of BEST RED MAPLE I'VE READ from Devil's Pass.

OAK ISLAND REVENGE PART FIVE: VOICE

HELLOEZ! AND VELCOME BACK TO ZEE 5TH PART OF MAH OAK ISLAND REVENGE SERIES YA!
Last time I covered the 2 themes of this book, and today Ima talkin' 'bout voice. So, OAK ISLAND REVENGE is told in a first person perspective, through the eye of our protagonist, Jonah. Jonah's voice has a certain charm to it, mostly because he sounds... REAL. This isn't Small Medium at Large, where our protagonist Lilah is completely perfect. This is like a more child friendly Vlad Taltos (Without the Magic :( ). He sounds enough like me it's disturbing, and his choices almost mirror what I would have done. This makes the book all the better, and pretty much makes up for the lack of scenery. All in all, excellent voice and personality to the book, something other Red Maples are sorely lacking.

OAK ISLAND REVENGE PART 4: THEME

HELLOEZ AND VELCOME BACK TO PART 4 OF ZIS SERIES YA!
Last time I covered the setting,, or lack thereof. Today I will be talking about the theme(s) of OAK ISLAND REVENGE!!! Now (as mot Red Maple books are) Oak Island Revenge is a moody depressing real life book. I'm used to reading fantasy/sci-fi so I find thee books much less interesting to me. One of the themes is...  coming of age. Now this book portray this through Oak Island, where  (As explained in Part 1) Teens go to find treasure. Coming of Age stories are basic. ANYONE could write one. However the other theme is you shouldn't keep bad things secret. An examle of this is Jonah not telling his parents Beaz's mom beats him. An interesting second theme... AS THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT T(W)EENS DO!!! However, the theme is pretty good none the less, and is (somewhat) interesting.

OAK ISLAND REVENGE PART 3: Setting

HELLOEZ AND VELCOME BACK TO PART THREE, YA!
Lat time I covered Beaz and Jonah, and now I`m covering the setting. So OAK ISLAND REVENGE, is set in a tiny little mining town, where EVERYONE know each other. There is a schoolhouse, a General Store, houses, the Wharf, and a little place called OAK ISLAND!!! Now like seemingly every Red Maple book, they don`t decribe the setting to focus more on the plot. And, like every other Red Maple, it fails in that regard. Why, you might be asking, BECAUSE IT`S SET IN THE 50`!!! They assume we know what a General store, a one room schoolhouse, a wharf, and many other thing look like, EVEN THOUGH THE TARGET AUDIENCE HAS NO IDEA WHAT ANYTHING LOOKS LIKE. All in all, the setting is the worst part of the book, and it only goes up from here.

OAK ISLAND REVENGE PART 2: CHARACTERS

HELLOEZ AND VELCOME BACH TO PAT 2 OF MY OAK ISLAND REVENGE SERIES!!!
Last time I covered the plot, and this time I'm covering the characters Now, as many characters as there maybe, I'm focusing on our protagonist, and our deuteragonist, Jonah and Beasley respectively. The latter is Jonah's best friend, and was born on the same day as him. Beaz has an ULTRA abusive mother, as seen in the climax, and the beginning of the book, where Jonah explains how Beaz gets beaten a lot at home. He isn't afraid to crack a joke, and is INCREDIBLY important in advancing the plot. Secondly our protagonist Jonah is the son of perhaps the richest man in town, as they own a TV and 2 cars (Have I not mentioned the book's set in the 50's?). He had an older brother named Caleb (I see what they did there!) until he died in a car accident. He has a crappy lil ol`boat named the Gingerale. He`s at the age where most boys venture to Oak Island, but his rite of passage is interrupted by the disapearance and murder of Charlotte Barkhouse. All in all, the characters were created in a way that deepens the story considerbly

OAK ISLAND REVENGE Part 1: PLOT

HELLOEZ AND VELCOME BACK!
Today I will be covering the plot of OAK ISLAND REVENGE (Dun,Dun,DUUN). So Oak Island Revenge is about a boy named Jonah Morgan (He mentions the bad luck attached to the name a lot... I don't geddit.) . He lives in a small town in Nova Scotia, nearby the FORBIDDEN Oak Island. Because of this it naturally is a rite of passage to go and look for the legendary treasure on the island. However, the summertime ain't all cheery that year when Jonah's classmate Charlotte turns up dead! The rest of the story is a thrilling murder mystery full of twists and turns. I personally though that it was pretty good in terms of plot, because murder mysteries are always chock full of intriguing assets that other books don't have.

OAK ISLAND REVENGE INTRODUCTION

HELLOEZ!!! AND VELCOME TO MOTHER RUSSIA!!! XD

In all seriousness today I'm covering a book about a murder (RATED... E FOR EVERYONE!!!) So anyways over this 7 Part Series I, Demock Robama will be reviewing this book for 5 componants. PLOT, SETTING, CHARACTERS, THEME, AND VOICE! So, until next time... HASTA LA VISTA BABY!!

Counting Back From Nine-Character

Character

In this story the main character was Laren. Due to the fact that the story was told from her point of view it was extremely easy to relate to her, making her a very likeable character. Laren's three best friends deepened the theme and plot of the book by helping her find who she really was. The story was extremely character driven, meaning that every character was important in the development of the story, and in the end Laren. Her boyfriend Scott represented the sacrifices she made to be happy, and also helped her find her priorities (friends, family, ect..) By having an extremely emotionally broken family, Laren was also forced to face her fears and feelings in order to set things right for them. As well, they symbolized how she began to grow up and become less dependant of others because she couldn't go to them for help. Overall, all of the main characters of this book led to every scene and event in the story and affected the life of Laren as she matured and went through many difficult experiences. The characters were described in great detail, allowing me to thoroughly relate and understand them. They were very well done and allowed the theme of the story to have an even deeper meaning.

Counting Back From Nine-Theme

Theme

The themes of Counting Back From Nine were romance, coming of age and forgiveness. I found that these three themes worked really well together and positively benefited each other. In particular, the story followed the plot of the main character falling in love and then having her heart broken. This event then caused the character to come of age and mature. As well, as the characters began to come of age they began to learn to forgive others for their mistakes. These three themes intertwined together to make an extremely strong main theme that the book surrounded. The strong theme was very beneficial to the story and gave the book a great development between the beginning and the end.

Counting Back From Nine-Plot

Plot

High School student Laren Oliver has a great life, with a happy family and three best friends; Morgan, Angie and Nina. They deal with teenage drama and when Nina's boyfriend Scott breaks up with her she refuses to let go. Laren and Scott end up getting closer and closer and begin to have a relationship that they keep from everybody else, particularly because Laren knows she shouldn't be with him for the sake of Nina. One day as Scott and Laren are saying goodbye, Angie accidentally witnesses their kiss goodbye. Angie immediately tells everyone. Suddenly none of Laren's friends will talk to her. She has no friends and everyone at school knows of her betrayal. The only person Laren has now is Scott who she begins to get even closer to. When Laren doesn't think things can get any worse her dad gets in a car accident and dies. Now Laren's mother and brother are both an emotional mess. Laren has no friends and no family to rely on. As she begins to learn the story of her fathers death she learns that her father was in the car with another woman whom he had been having an affair with. Run down with emotion Laren attends a therapists where she begins to write letters that are addressed to her dad. As all of this crisis occurs Laren begins to realize that Scott is being more and more distant and begins to realize that he no longer has feelings for her. She eventually breaks up with him and through all of this misery Morgan, Angie and Nina begin to forgive her. Laren gets her friends back in the end and brings closure to her dad's death by finishing her last letter to him in which she forgives him for his actions 'And now, looking back and seeing past the moments to the whole, I know I can forgive you. That I will forgive you. It may take a while longer, but I have already begun. It's just that I'm beginning to feel...ready. For what lies ahead. ~Laren'

I found the plot to be the biggest downfall of the book being very predictable and cheesy.

Counting Back From Nine-Voice

Voice

Counting Back From Nine is told from the perspective of the main character Laren, and is written in the form of free-verse poetry. I found this an interesting way to portray the story. I found that it was beneficial because it allowed me to completely follow the main point of the story which was Laren's emotions. At some points however, I found this writing format extremely distracting. I was forced to re-read some chapters in order to try and understand what was occurring. As well, the quality of the poetry was not very strong. By trying to tell the story in poem, every occurance had to be artistically described. I found the creativity, flow and overall quality of the poetry extremely inconsistent. Some scenes were better suited to this format than others, which had me going from understanding and enjoying the book to being completely confused. This also meant that parts of the plot were compromised in order for Sharrard to write in this format. Although writing in free verse poem benefitted some parts of the book and added another interesting aspect to the story, I found this voice was overall a down fall, in that it was confusing, inconsistent and caused compromise in plot.

Counting Back From Nine-Setting

Setting

In the story of Counting Back From Nine the setting is described

in extremely brief detail. This is due to the fact that the story is written in the form of free verse poetry. With the use of poetry, the author focused on emotion and thoughts as opposed to physical events, which allowed me to truly relate and understand the main characters feelings, which is the main focus of the story. However, in order to create images in the readers mind Sharrard did briefly describe the setting. This was extremely well done, in that the setting description was in enough detail for readers understanding, but subtle enough so that it didn't take away from larger themes and aspects of the story. These small pieces of setting were artistically done, which allowed them to blend into the emotionally driven poetry perfectly, as Sharrard used advanced vocabulary and various literary devices. Over all, the little amount of setting description in Counting Back From Nine was extremely well done and positively benefited the book, allowing readers focus to remain on main points, well still giving them vivid images of what was going on. The setting of this story was one of the best elements of the book.

Counting Back From Nine-Review

Counting Back from Nine
By: Valerie Sherrard


Counting Back From Nine is a teen romance novel written in free-style poem. With a cheesy plot and confusing voice I found this book very disappointing. It follows the story of teenager, Laren Oliver and her struggle with those she loves. Although Sherrard did an amazing job with her characters and setting, the story was very weak and unoriginal.

I would give this book a one out of five stars and later will describe my reasoning behind this with each specific element. 

Fishtailing

FishtailingBy Wendy Phillips

For such a short novel, I was pleasantly surprised by it's progression and detail.The novel is written in free-verse from the perspective of six consecutive characters; four students and two teachers, each with their own back stories. As I began reading this novel, I had expected a mass cliche of teenage drama, cookie-cutter characters (As in they lack originality and personality in general) and half-wit poetry, but I was quick to learn that this is certainly not your average novel.

The characters weren't too bad, Miguel had a decent back story, but pranced about muttering cliches until the end. Natalie was alright (as far as psychotic teenage girls go) but was somewhat overdone in the "bad guy" sense. Tricia really should have developed throughout the story, but she didnt do much besides fill the void that saved the book from boredom. Kyle was by far the best, perhaps because I related to him the best, and  Mrs. Farr and Janice Nishi were more or less the stupid adults. I had the "voices" for adults in 'The Peanuts' running through my head every time I crossed a poem from the teachers, talk about blase. 

Though, I have to give Wendy credit for being creative with the story, and going outside the usual 'Guidelines of a cliche story'. After a bit of thought, I've come to the conclusion that it's tremendously difficult to develop a character within short poems and foggy back stories. How ever, I'm not going to accept any excuses as to why I have next to no idea where the blaze I am for 90% of the story.

The book has a tendency to jump from character to character, hoping you remember what they were doing a few dozen pages ago, leaving you a bit muddled. The only settings I can recall are a garage, a house and a school. Maybe it's because I didn't pick up on the detail, but I feel like it was truly lacking when it came to setting. 

I believe Wendy was trying to focus on the plot when she wrote the book, but it kinda turned out like a flattened cake. The only credible things are the voice (beautifully crafted by the way, with it's teen-angst and relate able thoughts) and it's succinct, adventurous plot. Overall, a quick, solid read with the occasional poem to impress. 

Live to Tell 3

Live to Tell, Review Day 3

February 6, 2014

Plot and Twists:

I hate tropes, I love mystery. Put a commonly used amnesia accident and assimilate it with a mystery suspense genre you have a bittersweet flavour in your retinas, but add a fantastic plot twist and the bitter taste is diminished into nearly nothingness. 

Live to Tell was a short book, but had fantastic pacing (due to the fact that the setting never changed, but that's another story). There was surprisingly a lot of suspense and tension, even though there was no threat in the area, just the prospect of something happening or a sudden discovery of events (e.g. finding out your mom is the killer even though she's far away in Booneville, Kentucky at a sausage convention. Don't ask where this came from), despite suffering from a slow beginning and an overused plot point (amnesia). But I will promise it picks up really quickly.

Lastly I want to mention that there is a huge factor that comes near the end that will change everything (sadly afterwards there's a terrible epilogue that's meaningless and full of exposition, but at least it's short)

My final opinion about the plot is that it's good. Great suspense, great mystery, bad epilogue, slow beginning. Check in for review day 4.

Live to Tell 2

Live to Tell, Review Day 2

February 5, 2014

Characters (and dialogue too):

To preface:

Gender diversity is a good thing, honestly, it is. But why don't books have gender diversity anymore? It seems to be a trope to have girl characters lead a series to avoid sexism, but having so many authors do this makes having girls ironically sexist. In Live to Tell, the guys are the evil, lying, sinful beings that just happen to be there, whereas the women are the ever pure, innocent, empowered, independent, beautiful, goddesses, except for the women who betray other women for men.

OPINION! OPINION! LOOK OVER THERE, WHAT'S THAT? AN OPINION!^^^^^^^^



To Postface:

Pardon my blunt personality 

Libby is naive and stupid as well as an accomplished "crier". She'll like anyone with a pretty face and gifts, and deny anyone because of their looks and previous actions.There are no redeemable qualities about her. None. I hate her.

Kasey is the tough, sweet, realistic best friend. She's a skeptic and actually thinks before doing something as well as a whimsical talent: window entering (it's when you climb through a window instead of using a door). I like her, she's a quaint comic relief.

Cal is a hotty. He's blonde and a little mysterious. THE END. I do not like him.

Emma. The little, cute, innocent, sweet sister. All of those traits make her generic and unlikable, but she likes High School Musical so that touched a little close to home. She's alright. (I included her in the roster for the sake of balancing out my likes and dislikes)

Overall (according to my comments) the characters get a 2/4.

They weren't special, or memorable. I actually forgot Kasey and Emma's names before I wrote this, having to verify by the summary on the back of the novel (even though they were the only characters I liked, that probably tells you a lot).

In nutshell those were the characters and my input. Stay tuned tomorrow for review day 3!

P.S. here's what High School Musical looks like all you connoisseurs of great cinema:

High School Musical 

Live to Tell 4: part 1 and 2

Live to Tell, Review Day 4...kinda

February 8, 2014

Fore note:

Sorry I haven't posted recently as my usual schedule has been interrupted by the Sochi Olympic Winter games, and to be frankly honest I like to sleep. From now on I'd like to inform you that I will catch up and do a double post tomorrow as well as compensation for the cause of THIS compensation. 

Setting:

Now I really didn't like the setting of this book for one reason: there seriously was only one place in the entire novel aside from the hospital and the two page occurring: courthouse

The entire novel revolved around Libby's house, and even though the plot didn't really need a setting it just felt lazy. Unlike a poem book which revolves around the linguistics, this was an actual novel, the author could have done much better.

1/5 bad.

part 2

Voice:

It's hard to describe how well the voice works without spoiling the plot. The story is told in the real time perspective of Libby the main character, with the occasional flashback from their pre-amnesia phase.  

I quite liked it, and then liked it even more at the end. By Libby's perspective, take that in a completely literal way, the way she see's things and the way she hears things. I loved it. 5/5

TUNE IN NEXT WEEK FOR DAY 5

Live to Tell 1

Live to Tell - Review Day 1

February 4, 2014

First impressions:

Have you ever looked at a candy bar or any other variant of food stuff and muttered out loud (or in your head)

"that smells bad, looks nasty, and feels like 'crepe', "

But then you actually took a bite and said:

"yep, I was right"

BUT THEN you chewed it, kept in in your mouth for a few seconds because you were afraid to down it, and then swallowed and finally said.

"you know, that wasn't half bad"

Of course you'd never try the food/thing again, but if held at gunpoint to do it, the task would be a cinch. Reading Live to Tell by Lisa Harrington was exactly this, the cover looked generic, the plot looked generic, the introduction was generic, and the book smelled bad, but after finishing the book I kind of liked it. It definitely had some flaws: dialogue, introduction, characters, conclusions, but overall it was pretty decent. 

Tune in for review day 2!

Live to Tell 5 and finale

Live to Tell, Review Day 5

February 9, 2014

Here's my final post relating to Live to Tell. It's been fun, but sadly it must come to an end. This part includes the final element of Live to Tell and my final opinion. Enjoy!

Theme:

It took a long session of computer pondering and shower thinking to figure out what the theme of Live to Tell really was, but I eventually figured it out after some Chinese food and soda (it's all in the sauce). In Live to Tell the theme is revelation. All mystery books have some kind of revelation towards the end, they're quintessential, but in Live to Tell they're also the added fact that it's told in Libby's perspective, whom is suffering from amnesia struggling to reveal what happened before, as well as finding out things along the way.

This theme is actually pretty strong, working on many levels, and to be honest: it's pretty original and enjoyable, learning about the shady past of Libby.

5/5


Opinion:

Overall I found this book better than what I generally expected. The cover looked generic and the beginning was slow but overall I liked it. The setting was crepe, and the characters were lackluster, but overall I quite enjoyed it with it's amazing plot, theme, and voice. 

Now before I get to the end, thank you for viewing this far and sadly this is the end. And now finally, my final rating is...4/5

It was honestly a good book, and got a higher score for just impressing me that much after going in with low expectations . And now I sign off.

All the separate ratings for each category have no impact on the overall rating 

My god that was so painful to write as a teen girl who doesn't know she's unpopular

All Good Children: OVERALL RATING

Setting-2.5/5 stars
Characters-3/5 stars
Plot-4.5/5 stars
Voice-3.5/5 stars
Theme-4/5 stars

OVERALL RATING-3.5/5 stars

I think this book needed to work on a few of the elements, but overall it was nice and exciting book.
I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.  

All Good Chlidren: Part 7-Theme

I think the theme of All good Children is freedom. I say that because the parents take away their child's freedom, and drug them to be obedient. All of the children in New Middletown and the U.S. had their freedom stripped away from them, and the parents took away everything, even their own distinct personalities. My personal rating: 4/5 stars.