A Review of 'The House of Hades'

While I'm itching to review one of the other books, I'm going to go in order of finished first, so today's (belated and somewhat short) review is of The House of Hades by Rick Riordan! Considering this is the fourth book in the series, beware spoilers of the previous books! It's kind of impossible for me to avoid them with how the author set up his cliffhanger at the end of the previous book.

Via Goodreads

Percy has jumped into Tartarus to save Annabeth (who fell in shortly before him), and Gaea has had her forces endlessly assaulting the crew of the Argo II. With time running short, all of the demigods will have to face their fears and a cast of colorful characters in order to stop Gaea from unleashing all of Tartarus on the world.

Personally, I was not nearly as excited for this book as many of my friends were. It had been a year since the cliffhanger of The Mark of Athena, and I tend to move on pretty fast unless its something I really, really like a lot, which surprisingly doesn't happen as often as it should. This being said, I had basically forgotten the details of the entire series, so it was a rough start in the beginning of the book. Still, my memory was refreshed and I rapidly devoured the book like a ravenous animal.

I really liked how Percy and Annabeth's relationship grew through their travels through Tartarus. It showed that they weren't skin-deep, but that they really were friends and wanted each other to not die. I also loved the inclusion of Bob, a call-back from the end of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. It tied up that loose end very well, and created an amazing character from what originated as something of a joke.

I should just be up front and say that in general, I really liked all of the character development. It is hard to remember that these are books for children younger than myself, because they face tough decisions and they actually think hard about them. There's no frivolity or immaturity in most of their actions anymore.

However, I wasn't too crazy about Nico. I never have been, especially since his sister died and he basically turned into a little pile of sad. The author's 'surprise' twist about Nico didn't really seem justified to me, and in fact just seemed random. He handled it well, I suppose, but other than that it didn't really add anything to the book whatsoever except sort of not really justifying Nico being a little pile of sad.

I also felt some of the Grecian/Roman mythology moments got a little teach-y, but maybe the books have always been like that and I've just not noticed before because I hadn't learned the Greek and Roman myths in-depth until last year.

The action kept me engaged, and the plot kept my head whirring as I tried to out-think the characters (especially the villains). Overall, I'm excited for the final book in the series, but I have a feeling that my excitement will wane with time once more. These are great for any lover of fantasy, and I highly recommend them, but be ready to wait a year for the next book to come out!


Until next time,
Hailey Jenkins

The Ever-Immortal Detective

Today I've got the day off from school (so that my teachers can meet and talk about teachery stuff, according to my teachers) so what better thing to do than spend my time talking about something utterly random that I know more about than I probably need to?

And, as such a topic varies from the jaguar population to the proper reaction to a unicorn apocalypse, I've decided to talk about one of my favorite literary characters. The thing that makes this literary character so special is not their character, but rather what they did both for literature and the fact that somehow they have managed to never age and thus never die.

That's right, today I plan to educate you all on Nancy Drew!

Via the ever-glorious Goodreads

Now, first of all, the people behind Nancy Drew were pretty amazing. The original Nancy Drew stories were written by a group known as the Stratemeyer Syndicate, headed by the good Mr. Stratemeyer himself. Not only does this make these ghostwriters sound like some kind of classy book mafia, but they were one of the first groups in the world to take children's fictional literature and make it into something profitable.

The classy Mr. Stratemeyer, via Wikipedia

Basically, the idea behind all Syndicate books was to get kids into reading books like the ones they saw their parents reading, and thus make money when said kid became a bookaholic. Originally, it was just Mr. Stratemeyer writing under a bunch of pen names, but once his scheme got rolling he started to hire others to ghostwrite with him. He and his cohorts wrote such series as the Dana Sisters, the Hardy Boys, and, possibly most famous of them all, Nancy Drew.

Now, in order to sell as much as possible, Stratemeyer realized a few things. One: the characters should never age or marry. (I actually have no idea why this would affect sales, but it did, so he made it a rule.) Two: To gauge a series success, the first bunch of books should all be published at once, and then have a regular steady stream of more novels after them. Three: Each story would advertise the stories before and after it, to increase interest. Four: In each book, every chapter would end on a cliffhanger to encourage further reading, but the story itself would be resolved within one book.

As you may have guessed, he and his gang of book-writing buddies managed to do this quite well. After he died, one of his daughters took over, and she rewrote many of the older stories to 'fit the times' and after doing her stint as head of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, she sold some of the series (particularly Nancy Drew) off to book publishers, who have proceeded to do the exact same thing the Syndicate did, except without the awesome Book Mafia feel to it.

Just finished this ND story. Via Goodreads.

Anyway, Nancy Drew herself isn't exactly that out-of-the-ordinary or unique. She's a teenage girl with titian hair, blue eyes, and a knack for solving mysteries. In many of the stories she's an art student, though others peg her as a high school student and others yet just don't say anything about what Nancy does with her non-mystery times. She's dating Ned Nickerson (though that hasn't always been the case!), her dad is a great lawyer, and generally she's very, very generic.

Regardless, somehow she has stuck from the 1920s, into the 50s, then the 80s, and even now they are still printing stories about Nancy's never-ending teenhood of busting bad guys.

Personally, I think that's pretty amazing, and a testament to both the power and need for books.

Of course, Nancy's not just in books anymore! She had her own TV show in the 70s (which is quite good, I assure you), had her own movie in 2007 (which was slightly less good than the 80s TV show), and now is the star of my favorite computer game series, which recently published their 30th game. (These are both difficult and amazing, and also contain absurd amounts of Koko Kringles.)

One of my faves of the video games. Via Wikipedia.

I think in the end, however, that the reason I love Nancy so much is because she always stands for what is good, and she doesn't let anything hinder her from doing what she loves. Even if her stories are somewhat predictable and every chapter ends on a cliffhanger that's somewhat cheesy, her tales have entertained kids like me for nearly 90 years. They've done what they were originally created for, which is getting kids into reading, and I think that's a somewhat noble cause.

Although I am far past the age at which it is 'normal' to read Nancy Drew, I still read them. (I actually get them off the fifty-cent rack at my local Half Price Books.) When/if I ever have kids, I can assure you they'll read them.

In the meantime, however, I will enjoy the fact that even totally normal, unexciting people can have crazy adventures in search of the truth.

Until next time,
Hailey Jenkins

P.S. If you're interested in learning more about Nancy Drew, feel free to peruse her unoffical fan website, and in particular, the history tab. (Link here.)

Vampiric Parasites and Other Lovelies

Autumn has definitely come to stay in this neck of the woods, and originally I was planning to wax poetic about it, but then I finished a book, so instead of speaking of leaves, let us speak of vampires.

The book in question is by one of my absolute favorite young adult writers. It is the last of his young adult novels that had, until earlier, been unread by me. I even read its sequel unwittingly, which may have influenced how I read this novel.

The novel in question? Peeps, by Scott Westerfeld.

Via Goodreads

As far as novels go, this one certainly sits high on my list of Really Weird Concepts That Totally Work. It's also just barely squeaking by as YA, considering both a) the concept and b) the character's age. (My qualifications for YA are typically PG-13, written with teens in mind, and a main character under 18 for a considerable portion of the novel.) However, I still rather enjoyed it.

Cal was infected with a parasite by some random, goth-looking girl named Morgan in his freshman year of college. Now, one year later, he's hunting down all of his ex-girlfriends, because this is no regular parasite. Cal's a carrier of the vampire parasite. Now, his exes are all crazy light-hating cannibals.

When he finds his ex Sarah, the last of the girls he's infected, Cal realizes he still doesn't feel 'finished'. On the advice of the Shrink, an ancient carrier of the parasite, Cal sets out to find the girl who gave him the parasite, hoping for both a sense of closure and some answers the other vampires (or 'peeps') won't give him.

Overall, Peeps is very entertaining, and one of my favorite interpretations of the ever-popular vampire. Not only did the author create a unique plot and storyline, but he recreated the vampire as well. He uses science and other real parasites to influence how a vampire parasite might come to be and show itself in modern society. He thought through everything, from how it spread to its cure and symptoms.

I also rather liked Cal. Despite the fact he was rewired by the parasite in his brain, he still managed to be unique and the perfect narrator. He was intelligent, but clearly didn't know everything, which fueled the plot. (Also, his cat was named Cornelius. Any guy who names his cat Cornelius has to be pretty awesome.) Cal had his own voice, and he had common sense.

Lace, Dr. Rat, and Chip also proved to be excellent backup characters, each with quirks and reasons for Cal to be interacting with them regularly. Not only that, but they each were incredibly consistent in their behaviors, which held together the idea that no one knew what was happening.

The plot was what really brought me into the book. There was both the uniqueness of the vampires and the mystery/thriller of what really happened in Morgan's apartment building. Even knowing the answers (due to reading The Last Days a year back) I still found myself on edge, wondering what was going on with the freaky message and the basement.

There were some things that I wasn't too crazy of, but for the sake of the story I dealt with. For example, due to the parasite's overpowering desire to spread to more hosts, Cal (and all of the other peeps) are inclined to be either overly-affectionate or manic killer. (The parasite is spread through bodily fluids. Biting, kissing, et cetera.) This made for quite a few awkward scenes, but they showed that this parasite was a disease, not some supernatural phenomenon.

There's also a light sprinkling of swearing and a heavy dose of gross with the Parasites 101-esque chapters. (Personally, I didn't mind the Parasites 101 stuff, but its still gross.) Overall, not too much content-wise that was frown-worthy.

I didn't care too much for Morgan's character, being all-knowing, creepy, and a little over-powered in general.

In the end, though, I loved Peeps, just like I've loved every other Westerfeld book I've read.

Speaking of Westerfeld, who else is excited for Afterworlds, even though its still a good year off and we know next to nothing about it?

Until next time,
Hailey Jenkins

The Last Month as Recounted by Books

Per request of a friend of mine, this first 'real' post is about one of my personal favorite topics–books! Since school started back in September, I've been cruising through books at a surprising rate, considering my workload of homework. Of course, some of my friends may or may not be not-so-secretly supplementing me with books to read, which helps. 

All images via Goodreads

First of all, the guy who used to sit next to me in English class lent me the entirety of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, which I read over the course of three weeks. Personally, they take a certain level of trust to read, considering half the time you don't understand why something is going on. Douglas Adams' has a great sense of humor and nonsense, though, and I love these books for it. My favorites of the series were definitely books one and four. (That is, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish.) Book one has probably the most coherent plot of the series, as well as the most time spent with all four main characters in one place. Book four has Fenchurch, who is altogether one of my favorite characters for being incredibly normal (and yet not at all). It also shows a different side to Arthur Dent that really isn't shown in any of the other novels, which is nice.

I've also read some books for my school's book club. I am quite proud to proclaim I am the president of book club (and also its number one promoter, next to my vice president and friend) and thus had a bit of sway when it came to choosing the books this year. Unlike last year, we don't have strictly romances on the list, and the ones that are on the list don't pretend to be something else. 

The first two books our book club read were both by John Green– Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars. They have their similarities and their differences, but what really hooks me with John Green books is his voice. He's got a knack for the atypical teenager's voice, mixing intelligence with slang and a toss (more like heavy dosing) of emotional imbalance. His books don't just deal with fluffy nonsense either–both hold themes of coping with pain, death, and the future. What's more, The Fault in Our Stars joined the very short list of books that legitimately made tears come from my eyes. (Off the top of my head, that makes three books.) 

I've also read a few others from our book club list in the past few years, namely Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (which I pushed to get on the roster because it is one of my favorite books ever), The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (which I recommend to you all with every bookish ounce I have), and Divergent by Veronica Roth (for which I eagerly await the final book!).

There are four other books on the list I haven't read. We'll get to those when I cross that bridge.

I also read Shards and Ashes, an anthology of short dystopian stories by popular YA authors. There were a few I really liked, and a few I didn't so much. That's how it goes with anthologies, I'm afraid. Still, I can't get enough of them. Short stories are some of my favorites. They hold a lot more punch than epic sagas a lot of the time.

Speaking of short books with punch, for English this year we're reading Night by Elie Wiesel. I'm nearly done with it, and wow, talk about using your words well. He writes in a very understated, blunt fashion, and it really hits hard. Night is a short memoir of Elie Wiesel's experiences as a Hungarian Jew deported at the end of WWII to Auschwitz. Wiesel paints with his words, and the picture is a sad truth. Still, the way he does it is phenomenal. Should you ever want to pick up a novel on the Holocaust, this is the one you should grab first. 

There's even more books I'm currently reading, ranging from The Ugly American by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer to A Stretch of Loyalty by Miss Jack Lewis Baillot, which has gotten the short end of the stick as I cycle through books that I can only have for so long. ('Tis the sorry reality of books I own. I may want to read them, but library/friends' copies come first.) 

What about all of you? Have you read any jaw-droppingly good books lately? Are you excited for the Ender's Game, Divergent, or The Fault in Our Stars movie(s)? (I certainly am!) 

Until next time,

Hailey Jenkins