The Tomorrow Code by Brian Falkner

Review of The Tomorrow Code - Brian Falkner

Other Worlds' Rating: 10 out of 10 stars

Plain and simple - I loved this book. LOVED it. It had everything that I think makes a good book - great characters, great plot, great idea.

This is about Tane and Rebecca, who start receiving messages in binary code from the future. Soon, the messages reveal that something terrible is about to happen - and that they're the only ones who can stop it.

This book had thriller pacing, and great character development. At about halfway through the book, I found it was impossible to put down - I read the rest of the book straight through from there. The best part - this was possibly the most believable time-travel story I've ever heard of before. I guess it's not really time-travel, since the characters don't actually travel through time, but still, it's based around the future altering the past, and it's believable. That takes some serious work to do, in my book, but Falkner pulls it off beautifully. I plan to read more by this author.

Long story short - click on the link below, and buy this book, because it's awesome.

Book Review: The Giver by Lois Lowry

Book Review of The Giver - Lois Lowry


Other Worlds' Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

This is the 1994 Newberry Award winner. It is about Jonas, who lives in the future, at a time when everyone and everything is the same. Children are given the same toys, people are assigned jobs based on their aptitudes, and the elderly are cared for until they reach a certain age, and then they are released. It is the perfect society.

....or so it seems. Jonas's twelfth birthday is coming up soon, and that is the birthday where children are assigned to and start training for the jobs they will do as an adult. At the Ceremony of Twelves, Jonas is assigned a special job in the community, which shatters the perception he's had of his community forever, as he discovers the secrets that lay behind it.

I really quite enjoyed this book. The best way I can think to describe it is to say that it's like a Fahrenheit 451 for younger readers. It addresses many of the same themes and thoughts. I felt like it was extremely well written, and I was sucked in as soon as I had gotten a few pages into it.

I would recommend this book to adults and children alike. I think that it raises interesting points that will make you think, and will also perhaps help you appreciate the world we live in know. A great read!

Book Review: Star Wars:The Desperate Mission by Jude Watson Jude

Book Review of Star Wars: The Desperate Mission - Jude Watson


Other Worlds' Rating: 6 of 10 stars

This book follows Obi-Wan Kenobi in the time immediately following Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. Written by Jude Watson, author of the Star Wars: Jedi Apprentice series, I was excited to read this book, which is the first in his new Last of the Jedi series.

I must say I was a bit disappointed. I enjoyed reading this book, and I found it entertaining and interesting, but it just didn't live up to something I'd expect from the author of the Jedi Apprentice series. However, I am going to read the rest of the series. Also, this book is short enough that it doesn't take very long to read, so if finding out what happens to Obi-Wan between Episodes 3 and 4, go ahead and read this. You'll probably at least enjoy it, although it may not make your favorite book list.

Book Review: The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Book Review of The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins


Other Worlds' Rating: 7 of 10 stars

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a dystopian, young adult science fiction novel set in a destroyed North America that has been renamed Panem. This nation consists of 13 Districts, the Capitol and the 12 other districts that were labeled rebellious. The Capitol decided to punish the rebellious districts by instituting the Hunger Games. A raffle is hosted among the children of the 12 rebellious districts, which all children are required to enter. Each district has 2 names drawn - one boy, and one girl. The children whose names are drawn from the raffle are entered in the Hunger Games, a brutal gladiator-like event where the contestants fight to the death. The event is televised for the entertainment of the citizens of the Captiol. Katniss is a young girl who ends up representing her district. She is faced with a difficult choice - kill or be killed.

I thought this book got off to a rather slow start. I had a difficult time feeling totally engaged in the book until about a third or half of the way through the book. However, the character Katniss was interesting enough to me to keep me reading until the Hunger Games actually start in the book, and then I was hooked from there. I gave this book 7 stars because of the slow start.

The book is written in an interesting way - a first person, present tense viewpoint makes the book both tense and riveting. I had a hard time not feeling tensed up at certain moments of the book when Katniss finds herself in danger. The book manages to convey Katniss's views and emotions in a way that I thought was excellent. It was hard not to feel like I was Katniss at some points, and the emotions I felt while reading matched hers. When she was in danger, I felt the danger. I was amazed by how well Collins managed this effect.

The plot was good, and very believable. I felt like the characters were well developed, and were very three dimensional. While sometimes characters suprised me, they never did anything that made me say, "Yeah right, they wouldn't have ever done that." I think that this made the characters feel like real people to me, in a way that is hard to find.

In a couple places, the book surprised me with its brutality and realism. Some of the deaths of characters in the Hunger Games are savage and ruthless. Since the book is written in first person from Katniss's view, the gorey details are often given when Katniss is privy to them. This book is probably not for the faint of heart or for children too young to cope with these details.

Overall, I really loved this book. I'm excited to read the next book soon.