The Seven Kingdoms Series

This is a series of three amazing books written by Kristin Cashore!!!  I read the first two books a few years ago and have been waiting patiently for the last 2 years for the third book of the series to be published...well that day finally came at the beginning of May.  I was so excited to read this book, but decided to re-read the first two books since it had been awhile (plus I really like them).


The first book in the series is called, "Graceling" and is about a girl named Kasta who is the niece of one of the 7 Kings.  She lives in a world where there are people called Gracelings - this means that they have some sort of super-human ability and you can tell who they are because of their two different coloured eyes.  Kasta is a graceling - her grace, killing.  She is used by her uncle from a young age to carry out his dirty work throughout his Kingdom.  The story focuses on Kasta when she is about 18 years old.  This is when she meets Price Po who is graced with hand-to-hand fighting skills.  It is with him that she finds out the truth about her own grace and the truth about one of the other kingdom's Kings.  Kasta and Po travel together and befriend Princess Bitterblue, who has her own story later on.  I can't really say too much more without giving away the entire story, but I will say there is fighting, love, loss, lies, and many incredible truths.

The second book in the series is called, "Fire" and is about a girl with the same name.  This book takes place on the other side of the mountains that the first story took place.  This place is called, The Dells and it is here that we meet Fire, the last living human "monster".  The Dells does not have gracelings, as the 7 kingdoms do, they instead have monsters - ordinary animals who are extraordinarily coloured and can take over a person's mind.  Fire is described as incredibly beautiful with hair the colour of fire.  She carefully guards her ability to control others' minds in fear that she will become the monster her father was.  When Prince Brigan brings her to the castle to help the royal family uncover a plot to destroy them, she realises that maybe she can use her ability to help them save the kingdom.  This book is quite different from the first, especially when comparing the female leads.  Kasta, fearless, strong, and unwavering, while Fire is timid, unsure of herself, but turns out to be surprisingly courageous.

The final book (well it might be - I hope not), takes place 9 years after the first book.  We are now meeting the 18 year old Queen Bitterblue.  She is still friends with Kasta and Po from the first book but, now she is facing having to deal with a kingdom she doesn't quite understand.  One who is waking up after being controlled by her horrible father for the past 35 years.  Bitterblue must learn about the horrific past her father lived in order to help the people in her kingdom live a better future.  I really enjoyed this book and was excited to see all of the characters I loved from the past two books, reemerge in this final story.

Amazing series!  Incredibly creative, thoughtful, and well planned out.  I couldn't put any of these books down and know I will re-read all of them again in the future!

Book Club Book - Something Fierce

This book was picked by one of the girls in book club for our April read.  The book is called "Something Fierce" written by Carmen Aguirre and was the Canada Read Choice 2012 Winner.  Needless to say, we went in with high expectations after that claim to fame, haha. 

This book is a true story and basically a biography about the author's life as she grew up within the Chilean resistance.  We first meet Carmen when she is 6 years old and living in Vancouver, Canada after her family fled Chile following General Pinochet's coup in 1973.  Five years later her family (mom, step-father, and younger sister) return to South America to help with the Chilean resistance movement.  Carmen learns very young in life that she cannot tell anyone what her family really does.  She learns to lead a double life and she takes the reader with her throughout her family's travels, trials, and tribulations.  Eventually Carmen becomes involved in the resistance when she turns 18 and we are taken in further to this movement and what exactly it entails.

I really didn't know anything about the revolutions in South America and that many Nazi leaders fled there after WWII  to reestablish themselves as leaders in this new country.  I was also surprised that part of the reason these South American countries were lead the way there were was because of American influence and their corporations.

This book was very interesting, but at times hard to understand for me due to my lack of prior knowledge about the subject matter.  All-in-all, a very good read and I'm sure would be even better if you knew the history behind the story.  It really is amazing the things that people have had to live through and how they survive.  Really makes me appreciate my comfortable life here in Canada.

The Last Olympian!

The final book in the Percy Jackson series...The Last Olympian!  This book is exciting from beginning to end - there is so much going on that I couldn't possibly explain it all.  In this book, the prophecy about Percy has finally come to be - it is one week before his 16th birthday and the evil Titan Lord Kronos is ready to attack Olympus.  Percy and his friends must work together to help save Olympus while the Olympic Gods are busy battling another monster.

This book explains a lot about the kids' pasts, their parents involvement and how important is it for the Olympians to have children (hero's).  The book reaches it's climax with a battle between Percy and Kronos where an unexpected hero saves the day.  The book has a happy and sad ending; many things are changed for the better and the author leaves room for more stories about Percy and his friends (which I am planning to read in the Hero's of Olympus series).

I would recommend these books to any reader at any age.  They are fun, fast, and full of excitement!  I learned a lot about the Greek Gods and their mythology, so these books were also educational.  I liked this since I am a teacher :) 

Next book on my list is the book club book for this month!