Review: Pathfinder by Orson Scott Card

I had to distance myself away from this book before I wrote this review. If I did not, I would have just hit the caps lock and type, THIS IS THE COOLEST YA BOOK EVER!! Shift 1. Shift 1. I just did exactly that, didn’t I? Oops. After being blown away by Ender’s Game last year, you think I’ve learned my lesson and expect nothing less from Orson Scott Card? I didn’t, but I know a lot better now.

Rigg can see path human and animals made whether it’s from the distance past or the near present. He has been living most of his life isolated in the woods with only Father as his companion. Father taught him a lot things, most of which Rigg believes he will never need. That changed when Father suddenly died leaving him a task to find his sister, 19 jewels and his name. A name that could also be his death sentence. Rigg soon realized that Father prepared him for something bigger than what he can ever fathom and there’s more to his ability than just seeing people’s path. At the beginning of each chapter, we follow the character of young Ram as he command a ship journeying from Earth to a distant planet for human to colonize. It will only take you half-way through the book before you can put two and two together and see the larger picture.

Orson Scott Card combines tropes commonly found from young adult fantasy and science-fiction and produced a book that proves his mastery of both genre. Although marketed as a young adult novel, Pathfinder possess a very complex and sophisticated narrative involving space and time-travel and filled with secrets and intrigues that will keep the reader turning the pages. At the acknowledgement page, the author stated that he started writing the book knowing that he’ll challenge common rules of time travel, and he did. I don’t consider myself an expert on time-travel but neither am I a novice. I started reading Pathfinder with my preconceptions on how time-travel works. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the rules Card set for this novel. But after I suspend my preconceptions, everything made sense and needless to say, I love every bit of it. I guess it would not be an empty statement if I say that Pathfinder has a very intelligent plot the we rarely get to see in young adult novels. Pathfinder doesn’t force you to think so you can follow the narrative or else you’ll get left behind. It dares you to and that’s one of the many the beauties of it.

Space time travel plays a huge part in this book but it is not the only thing this book can offer. The main storyline(Rigg’s) was set in a land called Aressa Sessamo. This land was previously ruled by a monarchy that was decreed to be ruled only by the females until an uprising came that turned the government into People’s Revolution. Fast forward to present time, there are factions who want to maintain the Revolution but there are some that wants the female-ruling monarchy back and a few in favor for a male-ruling monarchy. The political intrigue in this novel is very complicated and for an unfortunate reason, Rigg is in the centre of all of it. For some this could mean that Card has got into his political babble once again. Not for me. The political situation of Aressa Sessamo is a consequence of what happened in the land’s past therefore will play a vital part on our heroes future.(Excuse the vagueness of that statement. I am carefully treading on a spoiler-mined land here.) And I’ll be honest, it was really fun figuring out whose on which side of the fence.

Genius is what Pathfinder is. The only reason I can think of for you not to enjoy this is if you hold bias over the author’s opinion on certain topics before reading the book. I am also in opposition with some of the author’s perspectives. He can have his opinion and I can have mine, but this won’t stop me from enjoying his books. It’s not like he is exploiting his fans like other fan-fiction writer authors do. Having an opinion is not a crime, is it? A great storyteller is a great storyteller no matter what. There’s a reason why Orson Scott Card has been in this business for a very long time and Pathfinder is definitely one of those. If you haven’t tried any Orson Scott Card novel yet(my god, what’s wrong with you?), this is a good place to start.

Rating: ★★★★★

Other Reviews to Consider:
King of the Nerds | Good Books and Good Wine | Dreams Stuff Books

2010 Books A-List

Late list is late, I know, but it’s my blog. I run this shit so I can post whatever I want whenever I want. And that’s me defending my laziness and procrastination. I feel kind of bad that I wasn’t able to post this on the planned date. It’s as if there’s a part of me that wasn’t able to face the new reading year yet because of this. There is an unfinished business that needs closure. So here I am, your proven top-class procrastinator, finishing something I should have finished 2 weeks ago.

This list is quite a no-brainer for those people who had the misfortune of interacting with me this past year. Whenever I read something I really liked, I just wouldn’t shut up. I don’t think it’s an unhealthy habit, though. More often than not, they also end up liking the books I raved about non-stop. To you guys I say, You’re Welcome! Before I gloat too much you’d hit that little X button, let’s head on already to my carefully analyzed, calculated, double-checked(, procrastinated) best books of the year list.

Honorable Mentions:

• Tomorrow Series by John Marsden
• Scott Pilgrim The Comic Series by Brian O’Malley
• Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn
• Gatekeepers Series by Anthony Horowitz
• Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

10. Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
This gruesome Gothic novel set in Victorian London took me by surprise. I had zero expectation before reading it so it was a complete shock to me when I’m beginning to realized that what I was reading is a brilliant one. Rick Yancey’s superb writing requires a little getting use to, but once you get familiar with the writing style, it is such a rewarding experience.

“Several  times I caught myself looking away from the text as if I was watching it instead, and such cowardly actions such as looking away will make me miss those violent and gory scenes.” [Reviewed here.]

9. Fablehaven:Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull
Rise of the Evening Star transported me back to the simple yet fantastic wonders of Fablehaven. It was a perfect combination of awe-inspiring fantasy and a mystery that will keep you guessing until the end. The ending was totally unexpected, and it really did turned the entire story upside-down.

“The surprises hidding on Brandon Mull’s sleeves is seemingly infinite and he just keeps pulling one until the very last page.” [Reviewed here.]

8. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
Oh man, Red Pyramid really got me worried sick that Rick Riordan might had lost his magic already. Either that, or I already outgrew his style. You probably can’t imagine what relief it was when I found myself enjoying The Lost Hero. It was a great introduction to the new Percy Jackson’s spin-off series, Heroes of Olympus. I cannot wait for the clash of the Greek camp and the Roman camp. (Oh, come off it! It’s released for about 3 months already! A real fan of the series would have already know about the existence of the Roman gods and demigods in the new series.) (And it’s bound to have a clash between camp, right? It will be a capital L for lame if the two camps agreed to help each other right away.)

“I still think that The Lost Hero is the best from Rick Riordan so far” [Reviewed here.]

7. The Enemy by Charles Higson
The first dystopian novel in the list. Big cast of characters, relentless dialogue, and gruesome deaths here, there and everywhere — this zombie novel is really made of pure awesome. There’s nothing cooler than calling the brain-dead, brain-hungry zombies as Mothers and Fathers. It is often compared to Michael Grant’s GONE novels as both series shares some elements, but I’m totally okay with it. I love them both and they can exist side-by-side peacefully.

“He’s[Charlie Higson] a psychopath. He will let you get attached to a certain character first, then he will kill it. He’s like, ‘You’re liking this character, eh? What would you feel if I do this’, then he’ll kill that character in the most brutal way possible.” [Reviewed here.]

6. GONE novels by Michael Grant [GONE, HUNGER, LIES]
I told you they can exist side-by-side peacefully. And yes, I’m cheating as I placed three books in the series in one number. It’s one series I’m really invested into. I might end up writing a 1000-word review so just let me express my initial reactions after finishing each books:
GONE: The story is freaking on steroids! [Reviewed here.]
HUNGER: Boy oh boy! Chips, pizza, and burgers tasted even better after finishing this. [Reviewed here.]
LIES: Mind-fuck! Paranoia! You just don’t know what to believe. [Reviewed here.]

5. Unwind by Neal Shusterman
The dystopian novels goodness continues! This is one of those books wherein you have to remind yourself to stop and breath. You will not be granted the time to rest while reading this book. It always shifts from intense action sequence to tear-jerking moments, then back to intense action sequences, and so forth. Every single character has their own bleak and heartbreaking stories to tell. It was a complete roller-coaster ride of emotions.

“For Unwind, I’m willing to bet myself to be unwounded if someone I know will not like it.” [Reviewed here.]

4.Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
To My Dearest Battered Copy of Ender’s Game,

I’m really sorry if I threw you to the wall several times while reading you. It just so happens that you have one of the most mind-blowing twists ever. I couldn’t help it. I feel nauseous after you told me that, and I blacked out. I didn’t know what I am doing after that. The next thing I knew, you were lying there on the floor, battered. I’m afraid I’ve been a little bit of a sadist towards you. Forgive me.

Regretfully Yours,
Aaron Vincent

“Every scene in the battleroom will fill your hearts with desire and envy that you wish you can play in there too. This is not an exaggeration or whatever, I actually had a dream that I was playing inside the battleroom the night I am halfway through the book.” [Reviewed here.]

3. Chaos Walking by Patrick Ness [The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and The Answer]
This is I Am Cheating (Cause I Can) 2.0. I don’t even know where to start praising this awesome series. It’s breathtaking, mind-blowing, and poignant. It filled with characters you will sympathize with, villains to loath, and plots that will make you gasp. I didn’t dare to read the final book yet because Book #2 on this list left me with lots of wounds. I was afraid that if I read Monsters of Men, I’ll die(shut up!). What a wuss I am. I swear that when I muster all the courage I need, I’ll finish reading this series. Watch this space. I am.

“This is the king of kings, the Mick Jagger of YA Dystopia” [Reviewed here.]
“You will feel short out of breath as momentum increases and gravity pulls you down as you plunges down deep into the water. And as you try to swim towards the surface of the water you’ll discover that it was now suddenly covered with glass.” [Reviewed here.]

2. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Haters gonna hate, but that won’t stop me from adoring this wonderful and satisfactory finale of Suzanne Collins The Hunger Games series. If only this list is based on the number of tears shed because of the book, this one’s right there at the top. That little episode in my room when I finished reading this at 4 in the morning, crying while 30 Seconds to Mars’ This is War album is playing on the background must be the weirdest episode in a life of a teenage boy you will ever see. This book left a permanent mark on me.

“I dare say, the odds have been in my favor.” [Reviewed here.]

And the Book of the Year is…

1. Paper Towns by John Green
As this very moment, I have 10 Filipino friends in Goodreads that’s either read this book or currently reading it. I’d love to think that I’m part of the reason for this status. John Green was never a big thing here in my country, and I may not have the capability to turn this land to a full-pledged Nerdfighteria, but I am extremely happy that I was able to spread the awesomeness. Paper Towns was an entertaining and a beautiful read. Everyone gets a miracle. My miracle was this: I came across this wonderful book and it changed me and my perspective.

“It made me laugh, cry, and at the same time it made me think and feel and feel infinite.” [Reviewed here.]

There you go, folks, my ten best reads for last year: 1 Gothic Fiction, 2 Fantasies, 6 Dystopia, and 1 Contemporary YA. These are the books that made my 2010 reading year extremely awesome. Now I can officially start a new reading year. I have a feeling this year is going to be as great as the last one.

2010 Female Character A-List

I know I am supposed to post this yesterday, but it took me a while to create this list because the girls, just like in real life, are hard to figure out. There’s bunch of girls in Young-Adult fiction these days that are defined by how many suitors they have so it’s quite nice to read about female characters who can stand on their own. Girls with backbones, and girls that can make a guy say, “Yeah, that’s my girl!” are the kind of female characters I love reading. And I give you the top ten lists of female characters that made me swoon this year.

Honorable Mention

• Johanna Mason from Mockingjay
• The Lost Girl from Rot & Ruin
• Kendra Sorenson from Fablehaven:Rise of the Evening Star
• Maxie from The Enemy
• Lacey Pemberton from Paper Towns
• Scarlett Adams from Necropolis

10. Anna Oliphant(Anna and the French Kiss)
This lucky girl’s narrating voice just felt so genuine. I think that Anna and the French Kiss owes it huge success to Anna’s believability. I like that Anna doesn’t make the rational choices, but choices she feels right. It’s a huge plus that she’ll make a perfect movie date.

9. Julianna Baker(Flipped)
The ever optimistic Juliana Baker is one of the young female characters I enjoy reading. I love seeing things through her eyes. Her untainted views and opinions on things are to be cherished. She’s the kind of girl that you would want to protect. You wouldn’t want her to be hurt because it will break your heart to see her suffering.

8. Piper McLean (The Lost Hero)
Piper definitely can make the lackluster Annabeth Chase bite the dust. She saves the impression readers have for the children of Aphrodite. She’s strong, affectionate, and really feisty. Her longing for the affection of her Hollywood superstar father, and her uncertainties about her supposed boyfriend will instantly make you feel for her.

7. Fi (Tomorrow series)
Fi is the girl living the life of a princess thrown in the middle of the war. She was fragile at first; she joining a camping trip in an inaccessible jungle is already pushing her boundaries, what more when she found herself in the middle of invasion. You’ll just cheer for her at the moments when she’s about to do things that will hurt her enemies.

6. Alaska Young (Looking for Alaska)
“If people were rain, I was drizzle and she was hurricane.” John Green writes the most awesome girl characters, and Alaska Young is one of them. She’s the kind of person who always pushes her boundaries. She’s just enjoying every second of her life, and doesn’t give a shit about what people think of her. It’s just not fair that the people who deserves happiness are those who suffers from pain more.

5. Viola Eade(Chaos Walking trilogy)
Nothing can ever compare to the sacrifice Viola made for Todd at the end of Knife of Never Letting Go. She continued to impress me when she was given her own narrating voice at Ask and The Answer. Had I read Monsters of Men, I know Viola would have ranked higher because by the end of the 2nd book, I just knew that she definitely can show more.

4. Diana Ladris(GONE novels)
The manipulative and cunning anti-heroine of the GONE novels. Little miss perfect Astrid paled in comparison to her. She has the tendency to hurt people by her actions, but she is also capable of doing things that can melt a guy’s heart. When she decided to cut her hair bald at Hunger proved that she’s one badass chick.

3. Ellie Linton(Tomorrow series)
The transformation of this small-town Aussie girl into a wartime rebel was freaking awesome. Her voice was so convincing it is hard to believe that a male author wrote her. She is willing to don anything to protect her friends. I love that she is afraid of what the war has turning her into, but she understands the importance of resistance.

2. Margo Roth Spiegelman(Paper Towns)
Haters to left, please. She’s not a bitch nor a selfish person, and I am willing to defend her until I can. It takes so much courage to finally strip off the persona you’ve been caressing because it’s the persona the people around you likes. She finally chose to be herself, and I don’t see anything wrong with that.

1. Katniss Everdeen(Mockingjay)
Suzanne Collins wrote the most unforgettable and most harrowing female character ever. Katniss isn’t the same anymore at the end of Mockingjay, and it was the price she had to pay for being the flame that ignited the war. I love her cold and unforgiving persona. She lost almost everything, and yet she’s still standing tall. Forever, the Girl of Fire.

Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull

My first venture to the magical world of Fablehaven was truly an unforgettable one. I just couldn’t stop raving about it to every bookish person I know. Truth be told, I read Harry Potter series because a number of critics and authors compared Fablehaven to it(and yes, I just read Harry Potter this year. Please, don’t kill me.) I wanted to prolong the pleasure in reading the entire Fablehaven series so I didn’t read the 2^nd book immediately after the 1^st one. I finally decided to revisit Fablehaven because I wanted to read something magical, just in time for the holiday season.

The Sorenson sibling are on their last days of the the school year, but for Kendra it isn’t as easy as she thought it would be. There’s suddenly a new guy in her class and every girl thinks that he’s uber hot. Kendra thought the joke’s on her because what she sees is a boy with hideous features, someone comparable to a goblin. She realized that it was indeed a goblin and of course, she’s the only one who can see it as she’s the only one who has the ability to see past through the magical veil that deceives the normal human eye, an ability she received from the fairies on her first visit to the Fablehaven.

Kendra, knowing that the goblin is up to something mischivous, seeked the help of her smart-mouthed, drastic younger brother, Seth. As she expected, Seth can offer nothing other than his sarcastic remarks. When a mysterious man named Errol shows up, offering his help to eliminate the goblin, they reluctantly accepts it. Kendra and Seth didn’t know that the eliminating the goblin is only the first in the chain of events that will lead them to spending another summer at Fablehaven. Another summer filled with magic, schemes, betrayals, and Seth messing up with the creatures mainly setting up a C-size battery-to-gold exchange business with the satyrs.

What I love the most about Fablehaven is how easy it is for Brandon Mull to break, crumble, and pound the wall that separates reality and fantasy. Before I know it, I was completely suckied into the land of Fablehaven filled with both colorful and sinister creatures. The rules he set on his fictional land are just wickedly cool. Fablehaven, a magical creatures preserv e, is certainly one of those fictional places – along  with Hogwarts, Camp-Half Blood, etc., –  that will make you wish that they really exists. Brandon Mull really do tests and expands the boundaries of the reader’s imagination.

Seth and Kendra is a very powerful tandem, too. I know we’ve already seen a lot of siblings whose hobby is to bicker in fiction, but Seth and Kendra by far is my favorite. They just compliment each other perfectly. Seth’s naughtiness and immaturity balances well Kendra’s goody good attitude, while Kendra’s doubts and uncertainties balances well Seth’s admirable, daredevilish bravery.

The plot are no less superb. It was a tad bit darker than the first one but definitely more engrossing. The solution to the whoddunit mystery going on isn’t a giveaway. We’re at the same pace on unveiling the culprit as the characters in the book, unlike other fantasy novels in which we’re always two-steps ahead. The surprises hidden on Brandon Mull’s sleeve is seemingly infinite and he just keeps pulling one until the very last page. This careful plotting of the mystery produced a solidly characterized culprit. The culprit was three-dimensional, and being a huge sucker for well-characterized ‘villains’, I am satisfied.

Fablehaven:  Rise of the Evening Star is another highly imaginatve book with the perfect balance of magic, sweetness, innocence, and danger. If you love watching Disney Pixar movies, then this book is for you. I love visiting the magical creatures preserve that is Fablehaven, and I’m already looking forward to my next one.

Rating: ★★★★★★

Other Reviews to Consider:
My Literary Quest| SciFiChic| BSC Reviews

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

There are a lot of reviews I wrote before I created this blog that I have yet to post here. One of these is my ‘cocky’ review of Rick Riordan’s The Red Pyramid. The recent release of Riordan’s new book, The Lost Hero, seemed to be a good reason to post that review on this blog, but then I realized that I didn’t want to ruin the celebratory mood of Rick Riordan’s fans. You read that right; fans of Rick Riordan has all the reason to rejoice and celebrate, for he, the Myth Master – after we lost him at Red Pyramid – is back!

At the end of the Last Olympian, Rachelle Dare, the new oracle, made us all gasp big time when she stated the Next Great Prophecy:

Seven half-bloods will answer the call.
To storm or fire, the world must fall.
An oath to keep with a final breath
And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.

The Lost Hero immediately introduced us to the first three of these seven prophesied demigods: Jason, Piper and Leo.

Jason’s memories have been taken by one of the gods. He keeps referring to the gods using their Roman names, and instead of Greek, he speaks Latin. Piper is Jason’s girlfriend – or so she claims. Her father was kidnapped by a sinister creature and in order to save him, she was asked to betray her friends. Leo is Jason’s bestfriend – or so he claims. He possess a rare godly power; a power known in the history of demigods to be the cause of one city’s destruction; the very power that caused his mother’s death.

You think that’s complex enough? This wouldn’t be a camp half-blood story without a quest they must accomplish. The three of them must embark on a perilous mission to save an imprisoned goddess. Failure to accomplish this quest by winter solstice will mean their death and the destruction of all the Olympians.

I’m in awe at how Rick Riordan managed to create three well-developed and equally significant characters. This book is told in alternating third person narrative with two chapters for each character. We’ve seen this trick in Red Pyramid – only in first person narrative – but I promised you that this story-telling style works perfectly in Lost Hero(though I fail to imagine how this style will work if we already meet all the seven demigods). The tone for each character chapters is totally different. Each character were given their own individual struggles which helped us, the readers, to connect with them and identify who’s who. And although the main conflict in this book is centered on Jason whose mere existence adds an exciting dynamic to Riordan’s universe(clue on this post’s tags), you can hardly categorize Piper or Leo as supporting characters or sidekicks. Each of them were given a complex and compelling character story-arc that hindered Jason’s character to outshine them.

I am not the kind of reader who is always on the lookout for the romance angle of every book I read, but I’m glad that Rick Riordan created a love angle that is a lot more interesting that Percy and Annabeth’s – or as the fans prefers to call them: Percabeth(silly name, I know). A lot of Greek myths revolves around the aspect of love and I think it’s just about time for this series to adapt that. There is also a certain tragic romance feel in Jason and Piper’s relationship. I’m not just referring to Jason not being able to remember that Piper is his girlfriend but also the conflict that has something to do with Jason’s forgotten past which might obstruct Piper from fulfilling her critical role in the forthcoming war(s) – emphasis on (s) part.

The only thing I did not like about this book was how a specific line in the quest prophecy comes to reality.

The forge and dove shall break the cage

The realization of this specific line in question was really dumb, in my opinion. It felt as if that line was included in the prophecy just to guarantee Piper and Leo’s attendance in the quest.

Despite this minor issue I have with the quest prophecy, I still think that The Lost Hero is the best from Rick Riordan so far. I already heard that “Son of Neptune” will be the title of the second book in the series  but after reading the actual novel, thus having clues about the new and expanded Riordan universe, I was not able to contain my excitement for it that I call a friend (in the wee hours of the morning!) raving about my speculations. The title itself, with the support of the last chapter of the novel, opens a lot of possibilities, all of which feels excitingly epic. Fall of 2011 can’t come soon enough!

Rating: ★★★★★★

Other Reviews to Consider:
Taking a Break | Thirst for Fiction | The Book Zone(For Boys)