Ironhand

by Charlie Fletcher

Let's see...Ironhand is the sequel to Stoneheart. It was a lot more intense and darker than first book. In this edition, our three main characters, the Gunner, George and Edie all get separated and most of the book is spent jumping from one character's story to another's. Usually though this isn't confusing since the author makes it clear who's talking each time. It is frustrating though when the chapter ends with one character in some sort of peril and you have to wait 3 to 4 more chapters to find out what happens! That's a good kind of frustrating though - means you're interested.

The final book in this trilogy come out in April and is called Silvertongue.

Stoneheart

by Charlie Fletcher

Another one of Dani's and my spot-it-on-the-bookstore-shelves find, Stoneheart is the story of George, a boy who, in an angry moment, broke the head off a statue outside a museum in London. In doing so he slips into an alternate London, and un-London where the statues come to life. And many of these statues are bent on his destruction. George finds help in some unlikely places. Together they run all over the city trying to find a way for George to make amends for his act of anger. The problem is, George holds no fondness for his old life, while his love for his new friends grow. If George makes amends, will he lose them forever? If he doesn't, how can he hope to escape from the murderous statues who will continue to hunt him down?

I really enjoyed this book (the start of a series). It was unlike anything I've read before. At the end of the book the author states that all the statues in the story are real - they actually exist in the city of London. It makes me really want to see them in person! Then ending teases at more mysteries yet to come which will undoubtedly be explored in the next book, Ironhand. I'm eager for more!

The Midnight Twins

by Jacquelyn Mitchard

Don't have a lot to say about this book. I never really was sure where it was going - it felt very aimless to me. I had a hard time keeping the main characters apart - twins names Mallory (Mally) and Meredith (Merry). I still can hardly remember which is which, who did what, and if it actually matters. The evil character seemed very cardboard - simply evil for no reason whatsoever. I want the evil characters to have a past or trait that makes them act the way they do. This one was just all of a sudden a "bad guy" - in fact, a very twisted character with absolutely no explanation as to what his story was. Also, the girls are supposed to be 13 in this story, but read more like 16-year-olds to me. I found myself confused a lot. This is supposed to be the beginning to a new series (trilogy I believe) but it wasn't fun or intriguing enough to make me interested in the sequels.

100 Cupboards

by N. D. Wilson

This is one of those rare books that within the first 5 pages I just KNEW it was going to be good.

I'm not even sure how to explain this book! 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson starts out seeming like a fairly straight-forward fantasy where a young boy uncovers a slew of magical cupboards in his bedroom that lead to other worlds. The first half of the book is taken up by character introductions and development as well as painting the backdrop in which the story takes place. While I would normally consider this to be too large of a portion of the book to be devoted to this before fully diving into the story, the wonderful word pictures Wilson creates never make you feel disappointed. For example, at one point the main character Henry is remembering a prank he played on his cousins' cat as a child: "Suddenly the memory appeared vividly in the foreground of his mind and danced an emphatic jig."

Another particularly lovely passage is this: " The wind scratched its back along the side of the barn. The stars swung slowly across the roof of this world, and the grass swayed and grew, content to be the world's carpet but still desiring to be taller."

These sections along with others give this book a richness that you don't always find in books targeted at children.

But back to the story - eventually the events surrounding the cupboards start to unfold and you soon realize that there is a lot more to this story than first meets the eye. There is a complexity to the workings of the portals, there is a history that stretches back into the distant past that is hinted at, but not yet fully explored, and there is an ancient evil that threatens to destroy not only Henry, but his family and friends as well. Even Henry, and in fact his Aunt and Uncle are not exactly what they seem.

This book sets itself up perfectly for a sequel while not giving a terrible cliff-hanger ending like some series are prone to do. It has a resolution of sorts, although I cannot imagine quitting there! I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment - due out on February 24th!

Watcher in the Woods

by Robert Liparulo

This book is the sequel to House of Dark Shadows. I liked the first book even though it left you with a total cliff-hanger. So I was eager to pick up the second book and continue the story.

This book starts up right where the first left off and does reveal some new details to the story and hints about the origin of the house. However, many more questions are posed than are answered. And once again, this edition to the series ends with another non-ending. The book as a whole felt more like a long chapter ripped out of the middle of the actual book. It reminded me of The Spiderwick Chronicles in that way - each book must be read in order, and you have to read them all in order to have a complete story. Unlike Harry Potter, or the Twilight series (where each book is a separate story that contributes to the overall saga) this series is one story broken up into multiple books. It is an interesting concept, but I wish there was some resolution at the end of each. The third book, Gatekeepers came out in January, so I'll see how the story continues soon!

Impossible

by Nancy Werlin

Impossible is a very unique book with a mostly satisfying ending, although I thought it lacked a little grandeur.

Impossible is the story of a 17-year-old girl who learns that the females of her family are cursed to become pregnant at 17, and then upon having the baby, go insane. It has happened generation after generation and now Lucy Scarborough finds herself pregnant and facing three impossible tasks that, if she can complete them, might just save her from this ancient curse.

The tasks that she must complete are found in a family version of the song "Scarborough Fair" - Lucy must make a shirt without needle or seam, find an acre of land "between the salt water and sea strand", and then plow the land with a goat's horn and "sow it all over with one grain of corn".

Lucy has the advantage of lots of people on her side - her adoptive parents and her childhood friend Zach - who turn their lives upside down to help Lucy break the curse.

So, I did like this book, it was interesting and different and I didn't completely know what to expect. But I was a little underwhelmed by the ending. I was hoping for more earth-shattering results either when the curse was broken or it took effect on Lucy, but it was very anti-climactic.

Also, this is really minor, but I still don't like the title very much. It just doesn't give you much of a sense of what the book is about, or even what kind of book it is. I think it would have been better titled Scarborough Fair or The Elfin Knight (the other title of the song/poem), but that's just me I guess.

House of Dark Shadows

by Robert Liparulo

Not the greatest book to read at night, but that's what I did! When lots of this book occurs in and around a creepy, creaky, dark and mysterious house in the woods where sounds seem to shift, doors lead to places they shouldn't and strange figures appear in the hallways at night...well...it can kinda give you the creeps!

It's an interesting little book, though. It's the start of a series (I knew it this time) so there are a LOT of loose ends upon reaching the last page. In fact, the author even ends the last page with the phrase "NOT the end". I'm hoping in the continuing books we'll get more explanation as to why the house is the way it is! I've already got books 2 and 3 on hold at the library, so hopefully I'll be writing about those soon!