Word Out 2011

Blog down your fines posts! See what other teens are reading.

Earn $2 in library bucks towards your fines when you share your favourite reads.

Lyric reviewed Alex Rider 2: Point Blank by Anthony Horowitz

      Alex Rider, a teen MI6 spy, is yet again unwillingly sent to work on another mission. The story begins with a punctual businessman named  Michael J. Roscoe who is killed after falling sixty floors down a lift shaft. An assassin known as The Gentleman causes this to happen by disguising himself as Sam Green, a maintenance worker, and putting a hologram in the place of a real lift. Roscoe's body is found one day later.
     Alex leaves school one day and notices a white car with Skoda, a drug dealer inside, parked up outside school. Angry about Skoda's involvement with supplying drugs to the students of his school, Alex follows the car back to Skoda's boat, which serves as his home. After locking its doors, Alex uses a crane to lift the barge up. The stanchion of the crane then breaks and the barge falls into a police conference meeting, instead of the police car park as Alex intended. No one is killed, but Alex is taken to the police station nearby, and stays overnight.
     Alex is then bailed out by Crawley an ex-field agent working for MI6 who then takes him to see Alan Blunt, chief of MI6, and Mrs. Jones, head of Special Operations, in Liverpool Street. Alex is forced to another mission to avoid the police about the drug-dealing business. Alex is to be the son of a billionaire, Sir David Friend  and to go to a private school for delinquents called Point Blanc to investigate Dr. Hugo Grief, director of the institute.
     Alex's physical appearance is changed. He arrives at the home of Sir David Friend and meets him, his wife, and their daughter Fiona.
     Alex is invited by Fiona to go hunting with her and her friends. He leaves after a while and is chased by the others who shoot after him. After hiding in the lake, he attacks the leader from behind and throws his gun into the water before heading back to the house. Alex spends the evening reading the information files about his '̃family.'
     Dr. Grief and his assistant, Eva Stellenbosch, discuss Alex's arrival at the academy the next day. Alex and Fiona go out riding and take a shortcut through a train tunnel on the way back to the house. However, Fiona falls off in the tunnel, and Alex goes back to bring her out, managing to do so just as the train arrives. Fiona apologizes for her treatment of Alex.
     After he meets Smithers dressed as a farmer and receives his gadgets, Alex goes with Eva to Point Blank with a fuel stop in Paris. That night at dinner, his food was drugged and he was sent to sleep and his whole body was speed-photographed- every inch! Alex recalls nothing of this the next morning.
     Alex arrives at the Point Blanc Academy. He is taken by Mrs Stellenbosch to meet Dr. Grief, who tells him that for the next few weeks, he is to conform to life in the academy. He soon meets another student, James Sprintz, who gives him a tour and tells him a little about how weird the academy is.
     Alex makes some notes on the other students in the academy as he sits in his room. After speculating that Dr. Grief may be brainwashing the boys into behaving, he leaves deliberately late to go to dinner at 1pm. Soon after, James talks to Alex and informs him of his plans to leave the academy. Alex decides not to go with him when asked.
     In the night, Alex has a nightmare and wakes up and he realises his door has been locked and uses a gadget from Smithers to leave through the window. He sneaks through the main door to see James being dragged away by Mrs Stellenbosch and two guards. After entering the room he'd seen James dragged in and finding it empty, he decides to go back to his room. Walking past James' room, he notices James inside it, just waking up. Alex decides to investigate the second floor before going to bed. In the morning, he realises that something is wrong with James and climbs up the chimney to the second floor. Reaching the second floor, he finds a duplicate environment to the one downstairs and an operating theatre. He sees Dr. Grief kill a man who was working on the 'Gemini Project' Alex sneaks back down to his room and takes a shower after pressing the panic button on his walkman gadget. MI6 receive the signal and decide to wait twenty four hours before responding.
     Alex investigates the library again and finds a hidden lift behind a suit of armour. He goes down and finds the other students locked in cells, claiming that the ones on the other floor acting strangely are clones. As Alex begins to leave, saying he'll get help, he is knocked unconscious by Mrs Stellenbosch. He wakes in the evening and learns of Dr Grief's plan, being told that he'll be dissected in the morning.
     In the night, Alex escapes the academy using an ironing board as a snowboard, flying over a train and hitting a wire covered fence on the way down. He is taken to a hospital and learns from Mrs Jones that Dr. Grief believes he is dead. Alex is told they are to storm the academy that night, Wolf from K-Unit being the leader. When they do, Wolf kills Mrs Stellenbosch, and Alex goes on to kill Dr. Grief with a snowmobile.
     It's a bank holiday in England. Alex speaks with Blunt and Mrs Jones about what happened, before leaving to go home. He is told to go and see his head teacher, Mr Bray, at 3pm. He goes to find a clone of himself instead of Mr Bray, and they fight on the roof of the science block. One falls and dies, and it is left unknown which Alex was killed.

Sarah reviewed Fight Club by  Chuck Palahniuk

     In a nutshell, Fight Club is a psychological thriller. Every page, every sentence of the book feels like you're reading the climax; there are no "dull moments". Fight Club comprises of three main characters: the Narrator, Tyler Durden and Marla Singer.
     The Narrator is an ordinary Joe. He could be you, or me, or the old man who sat next to you that one day on the bus. The Narrator is someone everyone can relate to, from his acknowledgement of the fact that he has allowed his possessions to define him to his primitive enjoyment of instilling fear in people. He works as a "recall specialist" in a "major" car company.
     On the other hand, Tyler Durden is…a unique one. He's nocturnal, and holds two jobs; one as a waiter, and the other as a "film reel engineer". He also runs a soap manufacturing business, which is later enhanced and used for some very unethical purposes. Tyler is an anarchist, he doesn't believe in allowing society and government to control the individual and his goal is to destroy the very roots of civilization.
     Now we come to Marla Singer. Marla is an oddball. She, much like the Narrator, is ordinary….perhaps it would be more apt to describe her as an ordinary psychopath. Marla lives for and in the moment, despite her suicidal tendencies. She's the "love interest"  of the novel, but far from the classic damsel in distress or the lovesick teenager.
     Fight Club starts out with the Narrator describing his insomnia and following his doctor's advice to visit therapy groups if he really wants to see suffering. It's at these therapy groups that he meets Marla, who seems to be there for the same purpose as he is. Soon after meeting Marla, he meets Tyler. The Narrator becomes enamored by Tyler and his adventurous and unruly life, and soon they form Fight Club. As the novel goes on, Fight Club develops into something much more sinister, with a twist ending that'll leave you truly shocked.
     I would give this novel a 10/10, and recommend it to anyone who loves thrillers. I would also like to add that because of the violent, and sexual tones, this novel would probably be best suited to people 15 and up.

Carol reviewed The Other Half Of Me – By: Emily Franklin 🙂

     The Other Half Of Me is about a teenaged girl named Jenny Fitzgerald.
  She was no athletic blood in her like the rest of her family. Instead she has a huge passion for art and is waiting for inspiration. She isn't fully related to her younger twin sisters and brother, because her real father is doner 142.
  Through out the book Jenny is jealous of the connection her family has with sports; and she feels that something in her is missing.
  Everything this summer seems against Jenny, Sierra and Sage (her twin half sisters) seem to have taken annoying her as a great hobby, her dad and mom think its time fer her to give up painting, her gigantic crush on tate Brodeur has gone nowhere, she has two weeks to paint a masterpiece for the art show,and shes at the ending line of nasty Sid the artist and studio owner's critism.
  Jenny finds that the summer could only get worse.  Until one day her life long crush Tate takes a interest in her, Jenny and Tate hang out, and one day at the mall Tate finds a magazine that connects donner children with their siblings!
  Finnaly, Jenny feels that someone out there can understand how Jenny feels, she goes to the website and finds a half sister Alexa!
Alexa comes over for a surprise visit that makes the whole family uneasy. Jenny's father disagrees with the idea of doner siblings and gives Alexa a cold sholder.
  Tate and Alexa form a relationship that has Jenny feeling suspicious and insecure. Little did she know that her summer would be changed forever.
Jenny's and Tate's relationship sparks inspiration that would forever give Sid's remarks and different turn. At the end Jenny's family surprises Jenny with signs of compleate understanding and a few things that i cant say because it will spoil your reading!
   Alexa compleatly changes Jenny's view on life and family.
  For the good or bad. You'll have to read The Other Half of me to find out!
     
The Other Half Of me is suspenceful, romantic, thrilling, mooving, funny and unexpected, modern, heartfilling, and shows the path of a regulare teenaged girl finding the bits and pieces to make fer feel compleated.

Elisa reviewed Rasetsu Vol.1 by Chika Shiomi

This graphic novel is a spin-off of Yurara by Chika Shiomi.
The story starts with the appearance of a beautiful girl, the exorcist, Rasetsu Hyuga. Rasetsu and Kuryu, her partner works at the exorcism agency, the Hiichiro Amakawa Agency. Rasetsu had many problems regarding getting a boyfriend because of her ability to do exorcism, this scares many males who have asked her out. A client named Yako Hoshino came to the agency, hoping to find someone to exorcise spirits in a old book from the library he works at. When he came in, he begin to speak of the flaws of the workers. When he was speaking about the scent of a evil spirit on Rasetsu, he was surprised by the resemblance between Rasetsu and Yurara, his old love. While having a talk with Mr. Amakawa, the chief of the exorcism agency, Rasetsu and Kuryu discusses about his psychic abilities and reveals that the spiritual power he posess is beyond decent. Yako discovers the way Rasetsu eats everything sweet, heaps of sugar in her coffee, a gigantic cheese cake. It was torture for him to look at her when she eats. When Rasetsu and Kuryu were on the way to their job, Kuryu reveals that he uses the spiritual power that is manifested through the intonation of words, called KOTODAMA. Then Rasetsu reveals the reason why she has the scent of a evil spirit. You have to read the book to find out!! Yako is later discovered to be able to form spiritual barriers using water. He was later fired due to Rasetsu and Kuryu's scheme to get another worker, although he is mad, he joined the agency. Through out the story, Rasetsu's dark past would be reviewed from time to time, and Yako would reveal a little about himself and Yurara. By the end of the volume, Yako realized that Rasetsu is Rasetsu, though she resembles Yurara, his lost love, their personality is different, and he should treat her a little nicer.

Gail reviewed Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

Forever is the last book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy.  If you've never heard of them, i think you should go read the first one (Shiver)right now.  That being said, the Wovles of Mercy Falls revolves around the two main characters Grace and Sam.  Maggie Stiefvater though, has a peculier way of writing each chapter.  She tends to change the narrator, of course she lets you know when she does, but the change in narration adds an extra perspective.  Often the characters are present during the same event but Stiefvater's way fo changing the narration gives you more thoughts and feelings as oppose to having only one narrator.  In forever, the narrators are Grace, Sam, Isabelle and Cole.  As a brief explanation of each character in case you haven't read Shiver or Linger (the second book in the trilogy), (NOTE: these are technically spoilers) Grace was attacked by wolves when she was younger but has yet to change in to one.  At the end of Linger though, she is overwhelmed by the wolf cells inside her and eventually turns into a wolf.  Sam was turned in to a wolf and adopted, in Shiver, he was cured temporarily, meaning he doesn't change into a wolf again but the wolf cells are still inside him.  Grace and Sam are in love with each other.  Isabelle is the girl who figures out the wolf secret.  Her brother was turned into a wolf and killed.  Cole is a famous singer, missing after he chose to be turned into a wolf.  Cole is a genius and in forever, spends his entire time attempting to find a cure.  So with that out of the way, forever starts right after Grace turns in to a wolf.  It follows Grace's experience from shifting from human and wolf, and the eventual wolf hunt that seeks to eradicate all the wolves living in Mercy Falls.  Thus, throughout the book, Isabelle, Cole and Sam are attempting to save the wolves while Grace deals with personal issues when she tells her friend what she truly is.  I find that at the end of every series, there seems to be a MAJOR battle at the end. The good guys usually win and then the series ends in a happy ending.  Forever follows that exact pattern.  At the end of the book, there's the giant wolf hunt.  The wolves live and it is implied that everyone lives a happy life.  The ending of this book though, in my opinon, was absolutely horrible. The ending just didn't seem like an ending.  I remember flipping over trying to find the actual ending and actually visiting the book store in an attempt to see if my copy of Forever was faulty.  No, turns out that really bad ending was the ending.  Maggie Stiefvater's writing is truly amazing but i guess she didn't know how to end the series.  Although the ending sucked, Maggie Stiefvater can really convey the character's feelings through her writing.  I can really feel the sadness, happiness, anxiety and frustration that each character emotionally goes through.  I remember at the ending of linger, i was crying and could not wait for the next book.  Forever was just a whirlwind of emotions.  WIth so many different narrators, i was feeling angry, then happy, then sad, then sympathetic.  For Steifvater to do that just with her writing is truly amazing.  Out of all three of the books, forever isn't my favourite but this trilogy definitely is and if you love books about romance and werewolves, you should definitely try reading shiver.