Published in 2008, Grip of the Shadow Plague is the third book in the Fablehaven series. This time around, Fablehaven is being threatened by a plague which turns everyone into a nightmare version of themselves.
This was a great transitional book. It sets the scene for most of the things to come and didn’t quite feel as tacked on as some.
Great read. You have to keep going…
Book four of the Fablehaven series and published in 2009, Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary takes our heroes gain another of the artifacts they need to oppose the Society of the Evening Star.
Another fun read. We get to learn about dragons in this book and even meet a very special dragon. The book is set up for young readers so Seth and Kendra are the main characters. They are starting to learn how special they are and people are falling like flies around them. Seriously! The author doesn’t have any problem with bumping folks off in these books. It has sort of a Disney level of disproportion here. Worse than death can happen to folks at any time and the others seem to get over it a little too quickly… But that’s just a thought.
Great books. I will likely read them again at some point.
Book 2 of the Fablehaven series, published in 2007, we see a revisiting of Seth and Kendra to the world of Fablehaven. This time around, Seth is tricked to bring back a powerful demon who gets stronger and stronger until he has devoured Seth. However, this is just the start of the ploy to take down Fablehaven itself.
This book was a fun read like the book before it. The author has an easy style which is relaxing and yet keeps you engaged.
This is a great book for young readers
Fablehaven is one of several preserves which house mystical creatures are alive and well and kept in check by a treaty which keeps them from running amok. Fablehaven has a human caretaker, Stan Sorenson, who tries to keep the peace along with his wife Ruth and other helpers at the preserve.
Fablehaven is the first of 5 books by Brandon Mull and was first published in 2006.
Great book. My sons have read the series so this was one of several books I read just to make sure I knew what they were reading. It was a lot of fun. It is full of teen angst and general goofiness. The one thing I had a hard time getting use to throughout the series is how quickly people get over other folks and creatures dying. A main character will pass away and everyone just kind of moves along…
If they like fantasy, they will love this book.
This is the last of the Percy Jackson series and he and his friends square off against the earth itself in the form of Gaia. It was released on October 7, 2014 and Disney Book Group announced they were going to print 3 million copies for the first run.
Just like the others in the series, it was a good read and kept me entertained. It reads like you would expect a young adult book to read with a good reflection of awkward moments pretty much all youth experience at some time or another.
There were a number of “demi-gods” that we followed through their journeys so there were at least 2 stories going on at the same time. I think it was an effective way to represent teamwork and I liked that Percy wasn’t the only one in the limelight.
Good read for the kids. Make sure to start the series with the first book though.
The third and final of the Mary Poppins’s’s’s. This time, Mary pops in with and through the fireworks. She puts the house back in order in her own particular way.
It is still hard to rationalize and understand a snippy vain Mary Poppins. However, she certainly is that and more. I think these books are getting lost in time. Our modern world is getting further and further away from what was proper at the time these were written. Travers has a great imagination and they were an easy read. However, some of the situations and character interactions were discordant with more contemporary sensibilities.
Not the most enjoyable read but at least you can tell your friends you read it.
This is the sequel to Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers. Mary Poppins pops back into the lives of the Banks children as quickly as she left the first time. However, this time she comes down the string that Michael Banks sent up on a kite.
I was not happy with the “Mary Poppins Returns” that came out recently as a sequel to the first. (With the exception of the cameo by Dick Van Dyke.) Anyway, I was surprised how many things that happened in the movie actually happened in these books. Going into the pottery, the floating laughing uncle and so on. Mary Poppins is a conceded vain know it all who gaslights others when they see something was amiss. I didn’t really get that feel from the Disney films.
It was a good easy read. I appreciated the chance to learn more about the Pre-Disney Mary Poppins.
The House of Hades is the next book following the Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan. The seven heroes are racing to the gates of death. Percy and Annabeth have entered Tartarus and are coming from the other direction while the others are fighting through the ancient lands so they can hold both sides…
Another solid read from Rick Riordan. Reading these books make me want to know more about the mythology of Greece and Rome. I am continually surprised at the staggering amount of names and stories I should likely know but I just don’t…
This is a part of a series and does not stand on its own. I do recommend the series but start with The Lightning Thief of Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.
This is the original Mary Poppins from P.L. Travers. Ms. Travers (Golf). This particular book started a series of other books in which Mary Poppins is the protagonist.
The first thing I noticed is that there were 4 Banks children. The youngest were John and Barbara who were twins. Mary herself is called out as “vain” and admires herself in every reflective surface she can find. In short, there were a lot of things I didn’t anticipate.
I’m glad I read it and I will be reading the following books.
The Mark of Athena is the 3rd book in the Heroes of Olympus Series by Rick Riordan. Published in 2012, it details the coming together of demigods from Camp Halfblood and the Roman Legion. The gods are torn between their Greek and Roman forms and the Earth Goddess Gaea is rising.
I really like the character of Leo as he is interacting with everyone. The scene with Arachne was super creepy all and all. Nope, I’m not a fan of spiders. The characters are getting older and there is some smooching going on. That is a slight difference then the other books so far. Of course, they were all a bit young for it so it only seems natural. The book was fun to listen to and I’m looking forward to the next book.
A worthy read