I read this since I heard it was possibly going to be made into a movie, since Fault in our Stars was so popular. I think it would make a pretty boring movie. I think this book came at a time where I didn't want to think deeply. I didn't care about Margo, even in the beginning when we were supposed to think she was quirky and cute. My favorite parts were when Q was with his friends and not thinking of Margo: so, few and far between.

Well darn. This is my second time writing this review so it's going to be a lot shorter than the last one. So, this book was better than I thought it would be. Pia starts off as an annoying, little, stuck up Miss Priss being told she is perfect and believing it. And on a biological level, she is perfect, because through generations of genetic tampering, she has been born to never die. Luckily, the adorable love interest, Eio, is introduced and she's brought down a few pegs when she learns through him that the lab she has grown up in, in the middle of the Amazon, has kept her from many wonderful things life has to offer. But it's also kept a lot of other secrets from her, including the sacrifices made to make someone immortal (Full Metal Alchemist, anyone?). She angsts a little too much, Twilight style, but thankfully I could overlook that. This book was a fun, quick read. It wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible.

Wow! I heard good things but this book was great! I love me suspenseful, science fiction, mysteries! A great gateway book or teen read-a-like for Michael Crichton. It's not space SciFi, but biological. It starts out with a mysterious virus that is rapidly aging the infected in a posh college. Soon all staff are dead and people in hazmat suits are not letting the students leave! Then the book just gets better as a group tries to find out what's going on and it turns out to be something so much more. A great book!

Edit 1/31/23: Uh, was anyone going to TELL me they turned this fantastic series into a Netflix show or was I supposed to find out myself on Google?!
Hey kids, wanna scary book? No, seriously, this book was brilliant, and scary, and fun! I loved it! The relationships between Lockwood, Lucy, and George is so much fun to watch evolve. In this story, there has been The Problem, and suddenly ghosts and spirits are out of control. Even more unfortunate, children are the ones who suffer most as they can see them clearly and are the most affected. So what do you do? Put those kids to work as ghost hunters! Find the source of the hauntings, contain that item in iron, problem solved. Right? Easier said than done. And shame on you adults for putting your children through such risks! It's sad, but true. These children are hired because they're the only hope of solving the surplus of hauntings, and there are major companies and corporations they can work for. Lockwood decides business is better when smaller and run by he and George (and later Lucy).

This book was wonderful in making the young characters act and react to situations exactly the way someone their age would. If you have tweens solve a violent haunting, problems will occur, and unfortunately they have to face adult consequences.

The scary parts in this book are probably the best I've read in a while, and I'm including Dean Koontz in this opinion too! It's not violent or gory, but Stroud knows how to create a chilly, suspenseful atmosphere! Hooray for great books! I love it when I find one!

I can't do it! I just can't. This book has no redeeming qualities at all. I picked it out because my husband brought me into the world of D&D 4 years ago, I thought this book seemed like a fun idea. I read the inside flap and I SWEAR the summary made it sound like this was a story of a teen boy who is forced to go to camp to get away from his anti-social behavior and obsession with C&C (the made-up RPG for this book). There at camp he meets others that play C&C and he learns how to make friends and stick up for himself. Cool! NO. Instead the main character, Perry, is written in such a way that I couldn't stand him. He's so cliche and awkward and terribly written I couldn't care an ounce for the kid. I can understand giving faults to a character and having them rise above it, or learn, but Perry with his bowl cut hairdo, not a friend in the world, unable to talk to girls, bullying brother, incredibly un-supportive parents, never got less annoying. Plus, what the hell is up with his obsession (and the author's obsession writing about) his single, newly-spouted pubic hair??? For the love of God, no one is so stupid as to expose themselves to a girl to show off a single pubic hair to prove he's a man. Not without mental issues, which Perry (among his thousands of pathetic traits) was not introduced to having.

Perry does make it to another world, The world of Other Normals, but it's shoddily described and put together. The characters are slightly nicer to him, but it's only because everyone on Earth seems to hate Perry's guts.

Speaking of terrible cliches, no one in this book acted like a human being. I mean, seriously, EVERYONE in Perry's life is cruel to him? EVERYONE? All the students and campers beat up on him and bully him? Both his parents are shallow and pick on their son for not being "manly" enough and also bring their lawyer significant others into ganging up on their child?

Did the author, Ned Vizzini ever even LOOK at a rule book for a tabletop RPG? It seems he mentions the only elements he thinks he knows about ("Oh, my speed must be about 7, and my HONOR is 50") and rapes the character building process as well as world building. Jesus, take about an hour of your life to learn about an RPG before making it a main plot in your book!

I'm sorry Ned, I know you're dead, and your death notice made me want to read one of your books, so I picked the one I felt I could relate to the most with RPGs. I'm sorry to say I chose poorly.

I find myself again wishing for half star ratings on Goodreads! This book would have been 3.5 but I gave it 4 because it was a good graphic novel, just not a great one for me, personally. The art in this graphic novel was great, I really love the way the artist drew her characters. But the cute, round, faces and, what looked to me to be manga-inspired (just slightly), did not prepare me for the depth of the characters or the darkness of some of their lives. It has a happy ending, but it's not a feel-good graphic novel. I really felt bad for the female protagonist, Anne, with her home life with a hoarding mother. For Anne, her room is the only place in the house she has control over and she can keep the hoarded mess out. I was deeply anguished, along with Anne, in one scene where her mother cleans up the living room for her new "boyfriend". Anne is amazed... until she steps into her room to find all of the junk from the living room was shoved into the only place left uncluttered: her bedroom. As someone who finds peace and safety in cleanliness, I felt so sad for Anne.

Anyway, this graphic novel is a slice of life comic, but of lives that are surrounded by things, objects, and knicnknacks. What makes a home, a home? Is it the people who live there, or the objects they choose to treasure that fill their house?

This book was a recommended read by my friend Joe, and it's one of his favorites. As for me, it's an interesting concept: players of a tabletop RPG are thrown into the fantastical world of their campaign. Now it's up to them to survive as their very own campaign characters. Wizard, thief, healer, rogue, cleric. They've got their bases covered, but getting to a Gate that will lead them home is much harder than they thought! Like I said, a really fun concept, but the writing has the usual 70's/80's fantasy, plodding pace. Action and suspense is far between, and there were many chances to make the book more engaging. I might read book two. I might not. We shall see!

Why do I often get the feeling that Koontz's characters are not human? They never react with human fear or panic, or have disgusting human thoughts or habits. Not if they are a protagonist. No, they are peaceful, ethereal, calm, and full of wonder. I just can't relate to them. I don't understand them. It makes for a cool character sometimes, like Odd or Christopher Snow, but I felt Addison was sort of "blah" and the book moved on at the pace of "blah". The point of the first 250 pages is all about Addison and Gwyneth being witty with each other while dancing around their peculiarities and basking in how alike they are. The main plot is Gwyneth trying to get revenge on the man who killed her father. Then BAM! it suddenly turns into the apocalypse. What? Where the f- did that come from???? The last 100 pages took a 180 turn but at least it moved a lot faster than those first 250.

This book was a fun read with great adventures and two story lines that were often interwoven: the story of Pi and the adventures of Early. I was reminded of Maniac Magee with the tone of this book, as two young boys left in search of a different life, and adventure, a bear, a missing brother and meaning. Their adventure brings them across many different types of people, but all are changed and influenced by these two boys as they seek to change their own life.

Personally, this book was one I had to read in bits and didn't feel an urge to eagerly finish it all in one sitting. I believe this is a great candidate for the Newbery, but I think children might not be able to relate to the time or setting of this book. Family going to war isn't what it used to be. Sure, we still have family dying in the east, but it can't compare to what Early or Jack feel as World War II is coming to an end but claiming many more lives overseas. And one of the books later themes stems from Early's brother and Jack's father being soldiers in the war.

Part II of what irked me: Early. Yes, it's great and wonderful to bring in an autistic (I'm pretty sure its aspergers) main character, which isn't done too often. The characteristics, tics, and routines of aspergers were well written into Early's character, a little too well. It takes great patience to deal with such a person, and while I do not have to raise them, I interact with a person just like Early at work and it's draining. Much like how I could only read this book in small bits, it's because in my mind, Early WAS this patron. All right, now go ahead an comment on how horrible a person I am.