Having survived four waves of alien attacks, having watched her family get killed off one by one, Cassie is so, so tired of running and hiding, but she forges on, because of a promise to his little brother to come get him from the camp, a promise she is not sure she can keep anymore.  How do you get help when no one can be trusted and when you can't tell the enemy from your fellow human beings?

The 5th Wave is Rick Yancey's new offering and it's quite a departure from his other books. It's been getting a lot of buzz and glowing reviews, and it looks like something that will be fitting for our blog.  The book does pretty well in maintaining tension through the 450+ pages, and not providing any descriptions of the aliens makes the story more suspenseful and creepy. "Don't trust anyone" is indeed a good motto for any survivors in Cassie's world, and readers will be doubting who is the good guy, if there is even one. However, the romance was forced and poorly written and did not work for the story at all.    (I thought we're not trusting anyone here) The story was also a little too predictable so while you want Cassie to reunite with her brother, you never doubt that it will happen. It was more the story of Ben Parish, Cassie's old classmate, that gave me incentive for me to read on.

I read that aliens are going to be the next big thing in YA. Let's see how others stack up to the 5th Wave.

For the trivia nerd, little bits and pieces of information on any topic will be vacuumed and absorbed into the system.  I did this as a kid (and still do) by reading all the weird little atlases, almanacs and topic guides that I could find. Publisher DK does a great job of this kind of thing for younger kids with the Eyewitness series: visual guides for every little topic.  They do make adult books, too

The Book of Rule explains the system of government of for every country in the world.  Don't know the difference between bicameral and unicameral?  Democracy vs. Republicanism vs. Theocracy?  Absolute Monarchy vs. Constitutional Monarchy?  Is Canada run by the Queen of England? Is their a country where their king is elected? (There is, but the ruler isn't called a king) Who, exactly, elects the US president? (Hint: it's not the people)

I acknowledge that this book is a touch out of date (nearly 10 years old), but generally speaking, the information holds true.  Most countries don't change that much that frequently.

The Hub by Yalsa shared a nice movie-inspired Fast and Furious reading list with books promising "lots of action, adventure, and danger".

You may have noticed that we haven't posted a whole lot in the past month.  It happens.  I've read a lot of books lately, but none of them felt quite like something I ought to recommend.  Dan Brown's Inferno? Not very good, compared to the other three in the series.  Weird Al: The Book? A bit underwhelming, plus not super relevant to kids of this generation.

So I've got nothing. 

And so do kids, sometimes. 

You want to get them to read.  You've offered all of the books that we've recommended, but they've read it all, or maybe they just aren't taking anything.  If the boy in your life reads occasionally, then there probably isn't anything to worry about.  Maybe they've just hit a dry spell.  It happens to me sometimes. 

Maybe you've just read a heavy book and are mentally exhausted.  Maybe you found a cool game that distracted you for a few weeks (worse if it's a mobile or portable game). Whatever the case, one distraction and he's off  books.  If he isn't reading anything right now, just wait it out.  Chances are he'll find something.

(Note that this really doesn't apply to guys who don't ever read at all.  That's a separate issue entirely.  Another post for another day.)

Be careful what you wish for. Isn't that what they always say? It's not until now though that Tom fully appreciates the warning. He has dreamt about being whisked away to some magical fantasy land or parallel universe on countless occasions, so when it actually happened, when he was told that he, plain old boring Tom Parking, is the Chosen One in the prophecy to restore the "Kingdom", he can't wait to see this place.

It didn't take long to lose all the excitement because: a). the Kingdom is made from garbage from Earth and b). everyone is depressing and the King hates him. So, Tom does the smart thing: he says "no, thank you" and goes back home.  Forget about it.

Until he finds out his best friend Kyle is now the Chosen One. Not only that, Kyle is making things work. He has even acquired magical powers. What? No one says anything about magical powers.

A story about an unlikely and reluctant hero who figures out how to take on responsibility and focus on the important things in life. Tom and Kyle are both very likable characters and sometimes it's hard to find a book where you get to read about just a bunch of normal guys. The target audience for this book will find the story quite amusing and funny I think.

Recommend The Magic Kingdom of Landover series by Terry Brooks when they finish this one, starting with Magic Kingdom for Sale. Sold!

Movies are fun, and movies that in the process of being filmed went terrible wrong are often even more fun.  Apocalypse on the Set outlines the troubled production of nine movies that didn't quite go as planned.  Though the movies in the book are generally fairly old even today they resonate. 

There's Waterworld, famous for its insanely high production costs and poor reviews (but in retrospect wasn't maybe quite so terrible). There's the Twilight Zone movie that killed its star and two child actors in a helicopter crash. 

Pulgasari is a particularly interesting case: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il kidnapped a respected South Korean director and his actress wife to kickstart the North's film industry.  It worked, for a time, but North Korea isn't the paradise it's made out to be.

Apocalypse is fairly short, with basically an overview of each highlighted film, but for movie-loving kids it's a good taste of how Hollywood and film making really works.

Not one for the younger set, I'll say.

Is there a sympathetic character in the lot?  It's possible, but look what we've go to choose from.  Glokta is be a merciless, pitiless torturer, even when he knows his prisoner is innocent.  Jezal is a self-centered, womanizing party-boy (and above average fencer).  Logen Ninefingers is an unstoppable barbarian killer who wishes he never picked up a sword, but does anyway.  Not many of the other characters fare much better in the redeeming quality department.


Whatever the case, The Blade Itself and the First Law series of which it is the first part is a fun read.  All of the characters have some degree of wit to them, and if they aren't funny outright, at least they are clever.

It's hard to put together the plot of the series, though.  Know that you won't really know what;s going on at all until the whole thing wraps up.  Nothing really becomes clear until the end.  There is a war in the North, a brewing invasion somewhere to the south, and the King is sick and dying with to idiot sons posed to take the throne.  Trouble is a-brewin' in the capital, so Questions Must Be Asked.  Beyond that, I can't say much more without giving it all away.

I'll say again, though: not one for the younger set.  It's bloody, violent, and mature.  But for older teens, it's fun and compelling.

I'm not sure if there is anything I can say about the Twitter feed on this one: it's just a bunch of words.  Literally.  They generally don't make a lot of sense.  Just fragments and phrases. Some make a weird sense ("Your muscles are responsible") and others are... odd (Cheddar apple).  Tt's just a spam account by a spambot to promote an ebook service.

You may wonder why I bring this up.  Well, somebody decided it would be fun to take the more understandable ones as inspiration for a comic.  Thus Horse E-comics was born. 

There isn't much more to say...

John Dies at the End felt very much like a book that was written in pieces without a particular goal in mind, with weird episodic sections that didn't always tie together too neatly.  This Book is Full of Spiders: Seriously Dude, Don't Touch It comes together much more tightly, with a plot that's (mostly) coherent and character motivations that make a little more sense.

After the events of the previous novel, things haven't really settled down much in the town of "Undisclosed".  It's still a terrible town, with nothing much to recommend it.  David and John still are useless layabouts.  Only now, and infestation of weird spider-like parasites are taking over and zombifying people.  With humans mutating into super-killers and a government unable to quell the fears of the nation, the infected are quarantined in the hospital where they think the outbreak began.  Obviously David and John know better.

This book is slightly less insane than the first, but what it loses in crazy it picks up with a better story, even if it feels like a messed up comedy version of the Walking Dead.  There are still the swears and the reference to drug use as in the first, but it feels tamer, more accessible.  You certainly need to have read the first book to understand why John and David are special, and why David's dog Molly seems unusually clever.

I am always on the hunt for books that might appeal to those Percy Jackson fans... and this one caught my eye because it was about Indian mythology (and had a cover that suggested there might be some good action).

Ash Mistry is visiting his aunt and uncle in India, when his uncle takes on the job of translating some pictograms for the mysterious Lord Alexander Savage. Ash is immediately suspicious of the large payment offered for the job and the creepy appearance of Lord Savage and his employees. Somehow they seem to resemble reptiles and dangerous predators a little too much...

Ash is at an archeological site near Lord Savage's home when the ground suddenly gives way and he falls into an undiscovered area under the site. He accidentally pricks himself on a golden arrowhead, which leaves a sliver in his finger, and begins to see visions of the battle against the evil demon king Ravana. It turns out that Lord Savage is indeed an evil bad guy who wants to release the demon Ravana so that he can become immortal.... and the golden arrowhead is exactly the thing he is looking for. Unfortunately Ash and his sister become the primary target for Lord Savage and his employees -- who are really demons in disguise. 

With the world at risk of being overrun by murderous demons, Ash needs to find a way to stop Lord Savage. This means battling giant birds, monstrous reptiles and shape shifting wolves. 

I liked the action and pace of the plot and definitely found bits about Indian mythology intriguing. I do think the gods/demons will interest many Percy Jackson fans. I don't find the conversation and characters to be as humorous as the ones in Rick Riordan's books but there are some witty comments that give the characters distinct voices and keep the tone of the book light. The whole thing about incarnation added an interesting layer to the plot, but I felt it could have the potential to become a bit of a cop out where it doesn't matter if characters die because they'll come back to life later anyway.

This is more suited for preteens (pretty much the same audience for the Percy Jackson series). Visit the Ash Mistry blog for character profiles, info on Indian Mythology, book excerpts and activity sheets. And yes, there is a sequel: Ash Mistry and the City of Death.