Review Crew Book Reviews by Genre: Fantasy

Nick's life can't get any worse. Besides the fact that he's the son of a demon destined to destroy the world, he's also wanted by every supernatural being one can think of. This time, his soul has been separated from his body and thrown into a different dimension, and if Nick doesn't find a way to get back to his original realm and body, his army of demons are going to destroy the world...with or without him.

This book is the fifth book in an eight-book series, and honestly, it's my least favorite thus far. The plot is less fantastical and more mellow, and there's a lot of new characters that are introduced that makes it a little hard to follow. Otherwise, I still enjoyed it. As always, Nick is hilarious and as charismatic as a demon can get, and we get a glimpse into his more complicated relationships (his relationship with his father for example). I believe most importantly, the book showed Nick's more vulnerable side than the preceding books in the series. Now that he's inherited all his powers, I'm excited to see how life turns out in the Nick universe throughout the last three books!

The Cheysuli chronicles come off with a great start. I enjoy this book for the lighthearted style and consider it the best of the series. The detail is amazing, the picture painted is excellent, and the character development is perfect. The series is a fantasy about generations of shapechanging people conflicting with their nemesis race, the Ihlini. I would highly recommend this book to people who love fantasy.

This book is a good read, like the first in the Cheysuli Series. The beginning is a little rough, but push through it! The point of view for this was uncertain at first, but it gets soo much better. I loved this book for how it sets up the prophecy. I feel that the first book didn't really describe the prophecy well enough. I loved how she showed the characters in this, it seems she described them is realistic for being in exile for maybe 5 years.

Turning sixteen is not what Nick Gautier anticipated. The most wanted demon in the world, he's constantly in trouble; whether it's fighting off demons, dealing with a murderous girlfriend, or simply navigating high school, Nick's life is everything but normal. With his father dead, Nick thinks he's safe, but now there's a bigger problem: someone is hunting him down and trying to enslave him, and he has no clue who or what it is.

This book is part of a series and each one gets better and better! I like the elements of preternatural beings mixed with everyday life. Nick is very relatable (besides the part that he's half-demon), and he's hilarious as a character. Each chapter brings new surprises and will leave you wanting more.

I also really like how Nick has grown as a character throughout the series. While he's physically growing older, he's also mentally maturing, and you can see that through his decisions and choices.

Overall, this series isn't just entertaining: Nick teaches us about making selfless choices for those we love and that choosing good is always better than evil.

After being caught with her lover, Ares, Aphrodite tells the stories of two couples that fell in love during World War 1. James and Hazel met at a party that Hazel was playing piano for. They start to go on dates and they really like each other, but James is shipped of to the battlefield. Hazel decides to join the Red Cross to be closer to James. There she meets Colette, who becomes a fast friend.

This book was amazing! I loved the perspective of the gods on the story. They often make appearances to discuss specific parts of the story relating to the gods' affinities. I also loved seeing the couples be together, even during their struggles. While reading this book I cried multiple times and couldn't be happier about that.

I would also highly recommend the audiobook. There were so many different narrators it truly felt like I was in the story. One of the characters passions is composing music and in the audiobook you can actually hear the music! It is a wonderful experience.

Jacob's grandfather has always told crazy stories. Stories about faceless monsters and kids with mysterious abilities. When he was younger Jacob believed these stories because his grandpa had scary pictures of these strange kids, but as he got older Jacob thought these were just little kid stories until a family tragedy brings one of those monsters from his childhood to life. This tragedy gets him to travel to a small island off the coast of Whales, where he begins to discover more about his grandpa the peculiar children from his stories.

The atmosphere that the author created for this book was amazing. You can feel eeriness of the things that Jacob sees through the pages. It is only enhanced by the pictures of strange things scattered throughout the story. The unique characters and idea held my attention completely and the fast-paced plot made me think it was over to soon. This book is part of a long series that I can't wait to continue!

Mockingjay is about a girl named Katniss Everdeen who becomes a warrior in the war against the capitol. She must rebel against the capitol to stop the cruelty that the capitol finds entertaining and to ensure a better future of Panem. Katniss must go through training, injuries, and the lost of loved ones, all while taking down the capitol one attack at a time. I really loved this book. It exceeded my expectations one hundred percent. There are two other books in this series so make sure you read those before this one.

The book Savvy is about a family and whenever a member of that family turns 13, they gain a special talent called their "savvy". Mibs is about to turn 13,but her father is hurt in an accident before this happens. Mibs now needs her power more than every because there is a chance that her power could save her father! At her birthday party Mibs decides to sneak on a delivery truck that's on its way to the city where her father is. Her brothers Fish and Samson will not let her go alone, and with some unexpected new friends, Mibs goes on the adventure of her lifetime for the chance to save her father.

I enjoy this book because every time I read it again, the story line is always enjoyable. It's easy to follow and fun to read. The author does a good job of developing the characters throughout the book and I feel as if I am right there with Mibs and her brothers in this adventure. I would recommend this book because it is fun and never gets old.

This book is about twins Marty and Grace O’Hara. Their photojournalist parents left for work in the Amazon Rainforest on a project regarding nature, but they were killed in a terrible airplane accident.

After a couple of months pass without any trace of their parents, the twins are pulled out of school, because no one can pay for their schooling anymore. With this decision, Marty is very happy, while Grace isn't. Now, without a home, the twins are suddenly thrust into the care of their uncle they had never even met. Their uncle lives on a private island that he owns, searching for cryptids, and he even founded the famous company eWolfe. Cryptid hunters or cryptozoologists are people who find animals thought to be extinct, to never exist, or to be mythological.

Another cryptid hunter, and nemesis of Uncle Travis Wolfe, Noah Blackwood tries to steal a so-called “dinosaur egg” from Uncle. Following this event, Marty and Grace get involved in the conflict between the two which discloses some complicated family backstory.

To escape this inferior situation, the twins decide to go to a forest on one of their uncle’s helicopters, and skydive into the trees in hope to find their missing parents, and to have an adventure of a lifetime.

With this book constantly keeping you interested, I'm going to go with 4/5 stars for Cryptid Hunters.

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" is an excellent adventure novel with an great perspective of family, love and death. The novel tells the story of a young boy named Harry Potter who learns that he possess magical powers and is the son of two powerful wizards. The story follows his life as a orphaned child living with his aunt and uncle where he learns of his magical powers and is invited to Hogwarts, the school of witchcraft and wizardry. At this school he meets his fellow wizards and friends and undergoes a spectacular journey through which he finds his identity. Although Harry's life and story is quite unique he is a character that many people can and will relate to which makes this story a excellent read as you can envision yourself in his shoes. It is through the authors excellent storytelling techniques that the reader will be engaged and enticed through the novel.

The Crown's Game is a Russian inspired fantasy set in the 1800's. It's told in duel-perspective from Vika and Nikolai, the only enchanters left in a country deprived of magic, they're both competing for the position of Imperial Enchanter through and ancient competition called the Crown's Game. A game where there can only be one winner and the other competitor is sentenced to death.
I really enjoyed the historical setting of the book. As well as the politics we get to see among the royal family. I like that it was told in duel-perspectives because it was interesting to see what both of the main characters are thinking. Also because it adds to the tension between the two characters and intrigue to the plot.
I think the book could have benefited from clearly labeling what perspective each chapter was told from, although I don't think it was that big of an issue because after a few sentences you could tell what the perspective was. Also some of the descriptions at the beginning of the book are a bit cheesy but the issue goes away as the book progresses.

This book follows 17-year-old Harry Potter, who is trying to defeat Voldemort while he still has the chance because Voldemort is planning to take over the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts. Then, he plans on creating trouble in the non-wizardry world which is a normal world with humans like us.

So, Harry, Ron and Hermione start a mission to go find and destroy partsof Voldemort's soul, the Horcruxes. This group of three must rely on each other because they can no longer trust anyone else, but Ron gets frustrated at their slow progress of destroying the Horcruxes, and then he surprisingly leaves the group.

This book is full of memorable parts, like in one, Harry learns that he has to die in order to defeat Voldemort, so he walks CALMLY into the forest, where Voldemort patiently waits to kill Harry Potter.

With the ultimate finale better than expected, this book is a must read. So I'm going to go with 4/5 stars for Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a fairly good science fiction novel that deals with the themes of family, love and sacrifice. The novel takes place in the nation of Panem. A nation that consists of 12 districts and a capital which controls the nation. In the nation of Panem there is the annual event called the Hunger Games. It is an event in which each district sends a pair males and females aged 12-18 to participate in a to the death battle that is shown on tv. The story follows the protagonist Katniss Everdeen as she volunteers to participate in the Hunger Games after her sister is chosen. The novel illustrates her journey through the difficulties of the Hunger Games and how it affects her life forever. The Hunger Games is a good novel through which you will think critically about the issues and problems in the story and how they are prevalent in our world.

This book trails Harry Potter, who mysteriously gets selected into the Triwizard Tournament played between three major wizarding schools, in which one player's name is drawn by the Goblet of Fire. This means that only 3 players can play.

But this contest gets weird when the Goblet of Fire selects Harry Potter's name. As per the rules, Harry has no escape route and he must compete in this vicious contest, including challenges like fighting dragons, saving hostages underwater, and finding a way out of a labyrinth.

This book is full of memorable moments and interest, like in one part, a Sphinx, which is a human head on a lion body, is placed in the maze as an obstacle. This Sphinx asks a riddle to Harry Potter, if he gets it right, Harry gets to continue with the contest, but if not, the Sphinx would attack.

With a lot of adventurous parts, this book is definitely a good read. So I'm going to go with 4/5 stars for Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire.

The Valiant follows the journey of a Celtic warrior from a princess to a slave to a famed gladiatrix. Throughout the story struggles with family, love, and trust. The warrior Fallon faces fierce rivals and feuds within Rome and even her ludus. Not long after arriving in her ludus she finds someone she thought was dead acting as master of the ludus. Eventually she meets Cesar the mastermind behind the fall of her home and the owner of her ludus.

In this book, Harry Potter learns a lot about Lord Voldemort's past, and Harry Potter prepares for the final battle against his nemesis with the help of Headmaster Dumbledore. But in that time, Voldemort returns to power, and makes a plan to destroy Harry. So, Harry Potter tries to destroy Voldemort first, but for that, Harry must collect all parts of his soul. Voldemort had split his soul into pieces, so that he would never be totally destroyed, and now Harry has to destroy all the pieces, so Harry sets out with Dumbledore to find the Horcruxes.

At a memorable moment, near the beginning, Hermione gets very angry at Harry because he starts doing very good in the potions class. Harry starts doing so well after he finds the “Advanced Potion-Making” book that was filled with quicker ways to make potions. It was personally improved by Professor Snape, and then nicknamed the “Half Blood Prince”.

This novel can definitely petrify you as well, like in one part, Harry and Dumbledore go out to find the 1st Horcrux, where Dumbledore is forced to drink the Drink of Despair, which is a mysterious potion that makes a wizard very vulnerable and weak. So, this potion is meant for protecting something very important.

With Harry constantly chasing after Horcruxes, this book keeps a good pace, so I'm going to go with 3/5 stars for Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince.

This book trails Harry Potter, who is visited by a group of wizards and then goes to Sirius Black’s house, which is the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. The Order of the Phoenix is a group of wizards, led by Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore himself. This group is dedicated to making sure that Voldemort never rises to power ever again. But the Order has to operate in secrecy under the radar of the Ministry of Magic.

This novel is quite capable of giving you the chills, like in one part Harry is forced to write with the Black Quill, an invention of the gruesome Dolores Umbridge. The Black Quill is a torture device, because it does not require ink, it writes with the blood of the person who’s using it. This quill will scar the back of your hand, and if you continuously keep using it, the back of your hand will have a permanent scar.

But this book has its share of adventure too, like in one part, Harry Potter has to race to the Ministry of Magic headquarters, but Harry doesn't take a car, he takes a Thestrals which is just a flying horse. Harry Potter also uses the power of teleportation by teleporting around, fireplace to fireplace.

With a bunch of cliffhangers, this book is definitely a good read. So I'm going to go with 4/5 stars for Harry Potter & The Order Of the Phoenix.

4 Stars(Some Weird Stuff)

Warning: There is some non PG content.

What I like about this book is that its very real. Even though it is fantasy, it has elements in it that make it seem like the people were sucked into this book from real life. The way that the Crows were treated is realistic, since they are in the lowest Caste. I appreciated how hard the author worked at this to make it almost perfect. The one thing that I didn’t like about this book is how it just throws every single detail there is at you. There is no gradual introduction to this book.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater tells the story of Blue, a teenage girl in a family of psychics. Blue doesn’t have the family gift, but on St. Mark’s Eve she sees a phantom boy--Gansey, one of the boys who attends Aglionby Academy. As a non-psychic, there are only two reasons Blue would see someone: she either kills or falls in love with him sometime in the course of the next year. One other little problem: Blue has been told her whole life that she’ll kill her true love with a kiss. Despite this, Blue still finds herself drawn in by Gansey and his world of the Raven Boys at Aglionby Academy. It only took me a day to finish The Raven Boys, proof it’s a good page turner. The plot pulled me in and left me wanting to read the second book in the series. I’ve read better books this year, but it’s by no means bad or even close to the worst book I’ve picked up in 2020. I don’t really have anything negative to say about this book, so if you’re considering reading it, just go for it.

Roald Dahl's Matilda, is a good short read. The concept of a heroine rising to action is decently intriguing. However, the book feels very lackluster with its characters being so one dimensional. While the characters are great for its intended audience, creating some depth to characters can always benefit a novel. Overall, the book is great for younger reader and those looking for a short book that has a lot of fun packed into it.