CH - Write a Book Review [8 POINTS]

AFC Rep-Points is a community initiative to rewards users who submit to AFC with points, which can be redeemed for fantastic prizes! For information on how to join the Rep-Points program, see this thread!
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Matt
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CH - Write a Book Review [8 POINTS]

Postby Matt » Mon Feb 09, 2015 10:59 am

The Challenge

AFC are working on a new initiative to post up 'Books you may like' to the AFC website, where users submit book reviews pertaining to books that fans of the Artemis Fowl series may like.

To claim this challenge, you must submit a book review to AFC. Please post your review below.

Criteria

- The Book Review must be 250 words or longer.
- You must include a link to the book on Amazon.
- The review must not already have featured on AFC.
- The book must be suitable for / aimed at Young Adults / Teenagers.

THIS CHALLENGE IS WORTH 8 REP POINTS.

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Re: CH - Write a Book Review [8 POINTS]

Postby MasterMaxwell » Tue Feb 10, 2015 6:25 pm

Here's a book all of you will love! It's by Brandon Sanderson, one of my favorite authors. It's called Steelheart. The book is about a world where there a no heroes, there are men with superpowers, but they are all corrupted, choosing instead to rule the world with an iron fist. The book is set in the near future, in Chicago. One of these powerful people, called Steelheart, whose power is invincibility and turning any object he chooses to steel, has taken over and turned the city to steel. The citizens live under a rein of tyranny, hardly surviving. There only hope is a small group of guerrilla fighters known as the Reckoners who aim to take the villain down. Steelheart has one weakness, but no one knows what it is. No one has ever seen him injured, except one. This kid saw his father harm him, before his father was killed wants revenge so he starts his own personal war against the bad guys. He has a few good one liners, but I won't spoil anything for you. The writting style is simular to Eion Colfer's, but more fast paced and humorous. Read the book to find out more. When I first got this book, I started reading at 9:00 pm, and when I stopped it was morning. It was that good. The future/concpirousy theme as seen in AF is in this series. I know you guys will totally, absolutely love it! This book comes from an author who is a bit crazy, but in a good way. (Brandon Sanderson started writing a five book series about evil librarians who rule the earth and kings who gave up their power in exchange for cool hats, left a major cliff hanger, then forgot to write the last book.) I did a lousy job of explaining this, so I'll just leave a link to the website: [http://brandonsanderson.com/books/steel ... teelheart/]
Here's the amazon link:
[http://www.amazon.com/dp/0385743564/?tag=brandsande-20]

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Re: CH - Write a Book Review [8 POINTS]

Postby KearaAdara » Sun Feb 22, 2015 6:44 am

I’ve recently read a new book, and it’s called A Wrinkle in Time. It’s written by Madeleine L’Engle, and has won numerous awards. It bears many similarities to the Artemis Fowl series, but yet is completely unique at the same time.

The plot centers around a girl named Meg Murry. Her father, whose line of work involves research into time travel, had mysteriously disappeared. She goes in search of her father, with friend Calvin O’Keefe and child prodigy cum little brother Charles Wallace in tow. They meet three beings named Mrs Who, Mrs Which, and Mrs Whatsit, who help them travel through time and space by means of tesseract, all while constantly battling the Black Thing - a personification of evil. Despite having countless religious people, philosophers, mathematicians, and other great figures fighting it, it still reigns in many areas both on Earth and in the universe.

The search party ends up on a land called Camazotz, and it’s down to Meg to fight the Black Thing in order to get her father back. She’s completely alone except for one tool that gives her a distinct advantage - she just doesn’t know what it is yet. I won’t give spoilers ^_^

It has this really deep meaning, but the book doesn’t force its message onto you. It’s a humorous but heartwarming story. As Meg tries to find her father, she ends up learning about hope and love in the face of darkness and turmoil, as well as a little bit about herself, too.

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/A-Wrinkle-Time-Qu ... 0312367546

(I didn't do that great in trying to sell this book to you, but it's great, trust me.) :laughing:

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Re: CH - Write a Book Review [8 POINTS]

Postby AF Lover » Sat Feb 28, 2015 6:55 pm

H.I.V.E. Review

Otto Malpense is a talented, intelligent, and unique teenager with a villainous personality. Then he is recruited to H.I.V.E., the Higher Institute of Villainous Education, where kids are trained to become villains of tomorrow. But there’s a catch: No student can ever leave. Otto teams up with a martial arte expert, Wing Fanchu, a world-famous diamond thief, Shelby Trinty, and a computer expert, Laura Brand. Yet escaping is much harder than they think.
Maximillan Nero, or Dr. Nero, is the headmaster of H.I.V.E. He works for the Global League Of Villainous Enterprises, or G.L.O.V.E., which is lead by Number One. And there’s Raven, Nero’s deadly assistant. She and Butler could have a pretty hardcore face-off!
My favorite character is Franz Argentblum, an overweight, food-loving student. You would not expect him to be a villain, and the only reason he’s at H.I.V.E. is because his father, now the largest chocolate manufacturer on Europe, had went there when he was a kid. The Argentblums are indeed an interesting family.
The craziest thing about the Higher Institute of Villainous Education is its location. Since the location is top-top-secret, all you know is that it is somewhere in the middle of the ocean inside a volcano. A VOLCANO! The way kids a transported to H.I.V.E. is by helicopter.
H.I.V.E. is a series, so:
1.The Higher Institute of Villainous Education
2. The Overlord Protocol
3. Escape Velocity
4. Dreadnought
5. Rouge
6. Zero Hour
7. Aftershock
8. Deadlock
The series is not over!

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/H-I-V-E-Higher-In ... v.e+series

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Re: CH - Write a Book Review [8 POINTS]

Postby FadingLight » Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:00 am

Magyk is the first book in the Septimus Heap series, by Angie Sage, which is firmly in the fantasy genre and involves wizards, dragons, and a very different world. Granted, it's pretty far from Artemis Fowl, but it's a very good story, with plenty of twists, action, and random jokes—everything from Aunt Zelda's cooking to a red hat. It's written from third-person omniscient viewpoint, which allows for plenty of funny moments when you get to see the reactions of different characters to the same event. There're plenty of laughs, and the series is pretty light-hearted in general, although there are exceptions. The author adds lots of detail, and loads of interesting characters and places are shown. Also, it's cool when something mentioned books earlier suddenly reappears.

Magyk is really good, and gets you started on the series, which is awesome. The book starts off when a wizard's newborn seventh son is declared dead (but is he?), and the wizard himself finds a baby girl in the snow. As it turns out, the girl is the infant Princess, and ten years later she's been discovered. Cue a variety of people being sent out, all intent on killing her. And is Septimus, the wizard's son, really dead?

So, there are jokes and unique chracters and an interesting plot, and I totally recommend this series. Okay, I guess I'm not the best review-writer, but really, check this book out. I almost guarantee you won't be disappointed, although it's not really a "teenager" series, more of a kid one. There's also a companion book, a the beginning of a sequel series, and possibly a movie, although the last news on that was from 2009. What are you waiting for? Click… on… the… link!

http://www.amazon.com/Magyk-Septimus-He ... 006223692X

The books in the original series are Magyk, Flyte, Physik, Queste, Syren, Darke, and Fyre. The first book in the sequel series is Pathfinder, and the second will be Sandrider, I think.
I said you were smart, Mud Boy. I was wrong; are exceptional.—Qwan
Which do you think seems more suspicious? An alien-looking craft hovering in the yard of a country home, or a floating doorway with a centaur standing in it?—Domovoi Butler
We can only change the future, not the past or present.—Artemis Fowl II
I'm trying to care, Artemis. But I thought it was all supposed to be over when the fat lady sings. Well, she's singing, but it doesn't appear to be over.—Holly Short

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Re: CH - Write a Book Review [8 POINTS]

Postby AliceFowl » Wed Apr 15, 2015 8:15 pm

Would a manga series count as a book...? I've seen there be a TON of AF fans that are also manga/anime fans, and I had an idea for a review but I was wondering if it would even count!
it’s so nice to meet you, let’s never meet again

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Re: CH - Write a Book Review [8 POINTS]

Postby FadingLight » Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:49 pm

I've recently read Ender's Game. If you haven't heard of it, it's a science fiction book by Orson Scott Card, and it's really good. The premise: Ender Wiggin is six years old and he's going to the Battle School. He's a third child in a place where families are supposed to have two children each. His older brother Peter wasn't accepted, despite his high score, because he could be murderous. At one point he's referred to as "having the soul of a jackal". The people at the school asked his parents to choose a daughter next time, hoping Ender's sister Valentine would be just as intelligent, but milder. She was too caring and empathetic for the school, so they allowed her family to have a third child, Ender, hoping he would be half Peter and half Valentine. They needed a commander to fight the buggers, which are aliens with a hive mind who have killed humans in the past. So Ender goes to play their games. The people there always watch him, and sometimes he's singled out—praised so the other boys will be jealous of him, transferred to an army that doesn't want him, made to fight rigged battles. The people at the school want a future commander, and they aren't looking for anyone happy or nice. As one says, "He can never come to believe that anyone will ever help him out, ever."

Ender isn't the typical hero—he's very intelligent, and he's hurt people, and eventually kills. In the beginning of the story, he kicks a bully several times when he's down to make sure the bully's gang will be too scared take revenge on him the next day. But he also feels guilty for hurting. He tells himself that he is just like Peter, that he's a murderer, but he doesn't want to be. Also, he loves his sister Valentine. She used to comfort him by telling he was good person, that he wasn't Peter, which should give you a good impression of what Peter's like. Or does it?

The characters are complicated, and no one is what they seem. Ender can be ruthless, Valentine can manipulate people, Peter has a side that hates himself for enjoying other's pain, and even the buggers might not be all bad. The whole book is full of kids put into generally adult situations. Ender is six when he goes to Battle School, trains, and participates in the staged battles, and he starts winning, because of his grasp of strategy. Valentine and Peter use fake names and personalities on the Internet and pretend to be adults, and eventually their ideas reach the people in charge.

Dang, this review sounds like a school report. Anyway, Ender's Game is a very interesting book, very well written, and Ender isn't the typical hero. Kinda like Artemis, really.

http://www.amazon.com/Enders-Game-The-E ... 0812550706
I said you were smart, Mud Boy. I was wrong; are exceptional.—Qwan
Which do you think seems more suspicious? An alien-looking craft hovering in the yard of a country home, or a floating doorway with a centaur standing in it?—Domovoi Butler
We can only change the future, not the past or present.—Artemis Fowl II
I'm trying to care, Artemis. But I thought it was all supposed to be over when the fat lady sings. Well, she's singing, but it doesn't appear to be over.—Holly Short

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Re: CH - Write a Book Review [8 POINTS]

Postby GMontag » Sat Jul 25, 2015 9:57 pm

The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin

Kind of appropriate that this review is coming after one on Ender's Game, because like the Ender's series, Liu Cixin's Three Body series is also about an alien invasion. It's an award-winning Chinese trilogy that has recently been translated to English.

Three Body doesn't read like most of the sci-fi books I've come across, and despite my initial comparison of it to Ender's Game, it's an entirely different beast altogether.

The Three Body Problem reads like three stories.

The physical setting jumps back and forth between China during the Cultural Revolution (a period which it doesn't characterize kindly - something of a surprise to me coming from an author in China), and near-future Beijing. In the Cultural Revolution, it follows a disgraced academic who is transferred to a secret microwave weapons facility, and in the more modern era, it follows the academic's son-in-law who is investigating mysterious deaths and suicides in the scientific community. There's an undercurrent of other strange events going on, like a countdown appearing in photographs that is only visible to some people, and a "blink" in the cosmic background radiation. The story starts out appearing as a supernatural mystery of sorts, and clues come in very strange forms, like the appearance of NATO and CIA officers working with the Chinese military, certain groups' obsession with solving the three body problem of dynamical motion (a classic "unsolvable" physics problem).

In addition to the physical locations and storylines, there is also the seemingly unrelated story of a strange alien planet, told through a video game that one of the son-in-law plays. In this game, the player is tasked with figuring out the hidden history of a planet where there are "stable eras" of regular day and night, and "chaotic eras" of unpredictable celestial movements. Civilizations in this game come and go as they are routinely wiped out in the chaotic eras, and the player must help various incarnations of civilization on the planet figure out a way to predict the pattern of eras.

Aliens aren't even mentioned until fairly late in the book, but by then, you'll slowly realize their influence on the story's events. Three Body takes the long route of world-building, setting into motion events that won't occur for centuries, kind of along the lines of the Foundation and Dune series. It's an excellent book to consider if you're into sci-fi, particularly with significant world-building and alternate-history elements involved.

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Re: CH - Write a Book Review [8 POINTS]

Postby GMontag » Sat Jul 25, 2015 9:58 pm



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