Search for Senna

Search for Senna by K. A. Applegate is the first book in the Ever World series. It is intended for older teens. 17 year old David falls for a girl named Senna. Senna is a little bit different and has the ability to be prescient. She senses that something awful is going to happen and asks David to save her. The next day Senna is captured by a wolf like creature in a space bending vortex, or something. David and three of his friends are a witness to the event.

I can't say what happens after that because I just didn't care for the story. It had way too much teen soap opera stuff. It's like watching Secret Life of the American Teenager with a sci-fi twist. While I like sci-fi, this was just not for me.  Seeing as how there are about 12 books in the series it must be doing well and has positive reviews at Amazon. The book has violence and teen romance in the first few chapters.

Book Rating: 1.5 stars, for what I did read.

Young Jedi Knights: Shadow Academy

Star Wars for the next generation? Perhaps. Young Jedi Knights : Shadow Academy, a young adult novel, follows the adventures of Jaina and Jacen, twin children of Han Solo and Princess Leia. In this particular story Jaina and Jacen are being trained by their uncle Luke Skywalker at a Jedi Academy. While on a field trip with Lando Calrissian, the twins and Lowie (Chewbacca's nephew) are kidnapped and taken to a hidden space station. The kidnappers have started an academy to train jedi knights in the ways of the dark force. Because of how powerful Jaina and Jacen are, they should be powerful dark Jedi Knights. Eventually the twins are rescued, but not without learning important lessons about their own training by Luke.

I didn't really care for this story. Perhaps it is philosophical, with some of its discussion of good versus evil. Perhaps it is because it is a young adult novel for younger teens. The story was predictable and boring. This particular story was volume 2 in a 4 volume set, though you could easily read the books out of order. I have read other books by Kevin J. Anderson and enjoyed them. This book was co-authored by Rebecca Moesta and perhaps that was the difference. Anyway, I could take it or leave it. It's a short read.

Book Rating: 2 stars

The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen

Lloyd Alexander is a new author to me and I fell in love with The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen, a charming story. The cover certainly did not entice me to pick up the book, but I gave it a shot anyway. The story is written in the style of a Chinese fairy tale.

Prince Jen is given the charge to learn how to govern by traveling to a distant kingdom. The king of this kingdom will not listen to a petition without being presented gifts. Prince Jen's assistant selects various, rather ordinary gifts, from the treasury and sets off. Along the way, Prince Jen encounters various people that causes him to either lose a gift or give a gift. Each of these gifts serve various purposes which teach a moral lesson to the recipient and eventually comes back to help Prince Jen.

The story has some action and adventure and is a pretty quick read. I may try some more Lloyd Alexander at a later date.

Book rating: 4 stars

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing

I often hear about new or award winning young adult books at library conferences. Octavian Nothing is one of those books. The reviewer told us how wonderful this book is and to stick with it despite how dark it is. And it is very, very dark.

A pregnant slave girl, who eventually delivers a boy, is bought by the leader of a philosophic/science group. The girl is treated like a princess and the young boy is raised in a life of privilege. The story is told from the perspective of the young boy who tells his story through a series of memories and letters. Each chapter recounts some act of torture or experiment upon himself. We soon learn that the group of men raising him had their own evil intentions on why they performed these experiments. At some point the American Revolution enters the story and a discussion of the meaning of freedom sort of concludes the story.

I read the first 5 chapters of the book and was depressed. It is so dark and disturbing that I couldn't imagine what the pay off was. Was there any hope? I skipped through the book reading various pages and found that the ENTIRE book was this way. The end of the book has Octavian saying something like, "I don't know what freedom is, but at least I will have the freedom to die." Apparently there is a sequel that further explores issues of slavery and freedom.

I know that historically people did horrible and despicable things. But the set-up for this story is unbelievable and evil. The author mixes ideas of the Enlightenment and transposes it to Boston, giving it a sinister twist. He incorrectly throws in ideas of Darwinism, a point of view not known till much later. While it may be good for young adult readers to explore themes about slavery vs. freedom, the author takes the reader to unknown depths to make his point. This is one book to toss in the trash. It is not appropriate for young adult readers due to explicit descriptions of torture, rape, adultery and requires an advanced reading level to understand.

Book Rating: Yuck, just toss it.