Review of The Quick by Paige Espinosa

     After growing up in a calm country lifestyle, James Norbury has to learn how to make his way through life in London at the turn of the century, the 1890s. After leaving Oxford and preparing to start his career as a writer, James gets mixed up in a curious crowd of people. After he suddenly disappears, his sister, Charlotte, is drawn from her comfy country living into the big city to find her brother. Along the way, she runs into vampires and ends up fighting for her own life as well as that of her brother.
     I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars because the idea seemed original enough but after about two plot twists it became too predictable. Some of the characters, like Charlotte, were relatable and realistic while others, like Mould aka Doctor Knife, a human who experimented on campus and was accepted into an exclusive vampire club weren't realistic at all. It's hard enough for vampires to get into the club, yet a simple human, a mere bedtime snack, can walk into a room of vampires and be mostly accepted? After awhile, the book started getting confusing and there were a few too many loose ends not tied up at the end. Honestly, reading it made me feel like the author didn't rally know where she was going with her story and she rambled on for 500 pages until realizing maybe that was long enough to be an acceptable novel. It took a good 450 pages to get to the real climax but then nothing really happened, few questions were answered, and new mysteries and cryptic hints were still being added. (Like hints of corpses being reanimated but not as vampires? Almost like zombies but the book didn't mention that the corpses wanted to kill you, just that they were difficult to put down. But that, point was never elaborated on and was brought up once or twice more and then forgotten.) overall, despite the lack of planning involved in writing this and the insanely predictable ending, it was an okay book. It would be perfect for anyone looking for a different, less twilight-sequel vampire story.

City of Fallen Angels- Review by Aspen Gates

City of Fallen Angels

Cassandra Clare

*** 1/2 stars

City of Fallen Angels continues on with three leading characters Clary, Jace, and Simon trying to sort out there issues on who they really are. From Clary and Jace acknowledging the fact that they were never siblings, and can love each other conditionally, to Simon accepting that he is a vampire, but will forever be different since he can walk in the sunlight and nobody can do him bodily harm thanks to Clary giving him the Mark of Cain. However, nothing ever turns out as easy as some want it to especially these three. Clary and Jace are so happy to be together until Jace starts pulling away from Clary due to his nightmares, or are they his? Simon is still living at home with his mother, trying to hide his true self from her which really isn't helping either of them, not to mention he is dating to beautiful girls, one a werewolf and the other a shadowhunter. But that's not all that's going on with Simon someone wants him dead, but due to his mark nobody can touch him or they suffer seven fold. And to top it all off someone is killing off shadowhunter's that had originally been apart of Valentine's army and blaming it on the downworlder's which will soon cause another war that was suppose to have ended. If You don't know what I'm talking about at all then I suggest you go read the first three, City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass to help you understand this a whole lot better in the O'Hara library.

I thought City of Fallen Angles was a good continuation of The Mortal Instruments series however, it made me really angry and confused at times. There were parts in there that didn't really go well with the story, and I felt that Cassandra Clare could have elaborated on those points a little better. Also I felt that the author was really putting to much pressure and helplessness on one character through out the book and that really made me wan to throw the book out, but of course I didn't so instead I rated this book with 3 1/2 stars for that. Though I'm saying a lot of negative things about this book, there were plenty of amazing scenes and I can't wait for book number five and hopefully that will clear some things up and make this series a great story like I know it's capable of being.

Red Moon Rising- Review by Aspen Gates

Red Moon Rising

By Peter Moore

****star

Fifteen year old Danny is not only half vamp, but he is also unfortunately half wolf. I say unfortunately because being a wolf means you are nothing but a beast. So to prevent this from happening, Danny's parents give him and his older sister Jess treatments that will stop the wolf have of them from growing and they will just be and look like vampires. However, Danny is not able to finish his treatments because he gets sick, but he and his parents think everything will be okay since he still has all the traits of a vampire; no sunlight, has bloodlust, and needs SynHeme which is synthetic blood. Since everybody believes he will be okay, his parents split up and overtime Danny stops seeing his dad because he is ashamed of the fact the fact that he his still part wolf and tries to live a normal life, but all of that begins to change. At school Danny is starting to reject SynHeme, and his senses are becoming sharpen to the point where he can hear, smell, and see from miles away. Not to mention he has been having to shave more than three times a week. After considering these symptoms, Danny goes to pay his dad a visit and explains everything to him not knowing just how much his life is about to change.

I thought Red Moon Rising would have been something completely original and boring, but it completely threw me off. Here we have a society that considers humans and vampires the top dogs in society, while werewolves are considered barely even citizens. The whole story jsut blew my mind away, but at the same time the ending seems like the author is going to write a sequel and for that I gave it four stars. You should definitely check this amazing book out at the O'Hara library and then you'll see why I give Peter Moore such high praise for writing this crazy and wonderful story.