The End of One Chapter, Beginning of Another - Ranger's Apprentice

Young Will has come a long way from being Halt's apprentice. He has grown into a mature man and Ranger, and earned a powerful name for himself. I just read the tenth book in the Ranger's Apprentice series, The Emperor of Nihon-Ja. To be honest, seeing this series end brought a tear to my eye, it was an amazing book with a

perfect ending. (Yes I know that he wrote a book after this but it wasn't originally going to be written, so I am going to count his book as the end.) It had a perfect and subtle combination of suspense, mystery, romance, and action...creating this beautiful concoction that left you at the edge of your seat. A single word can describe my reaction to this book. Wow.

Now you may think that I'm just being another fan girl/boy for this book, but it was a quite extraordinary book. If you haven't read the book you can read the summary here:

Click here for summary

The best thing I liked about this book was how there was never a part where you just wanted to speed to the good part. Every part was the good part. It kept me engaged in the reading, not wanting to drop the book. Also the amount of detail put into every aspect of the story is tremendous. Although there's a lot of detail, it doesn't feel like the book is describing every blade of grass, but it is in fact giving just as much detail. Also Flanagan has a way from going one scene to the next, because there were different stories going on at the same time, adding a greater suspense to the book. For example Flanagan ended a chapter here about Evanlyn and Alyss and the next chapter was about Will and the others, "There was no sign of the wolves. But the girls knew they were still there, still watching." (Flanagan 256) The cliffhangers! Because Flanagan incorporated this method of switching stories every few chapters, there were multiple cliffhangers in the book, adding to the excitement and suspense. Have you ever been chased by a pack of hungry wolves? It made the reader keep thinking of both sides of the stories at the same time.

Finishing up this series reminded me that I am almost done with my first year in high school. All in all I am going to miss being a carefree freshman(kinda) but am excited to see what the future awaits me. As the quote goes, "No, this is not the beginning of a new chapter in my life; this is the beginning of a new book! That first book is already closed, ended, and tossed into the seas; this new book is newly opened, has just begun! Look, it is the first page! And it is a beautiful one!" (C. JoyBell) I've closed this book and am awaiting to dive into the next.

Pendragon: The Soldiers of Halla

So about two months ago I posted a blog talking about the first book in this series. Now I have finally arrived at the last and I have to say, that this series is honestly one of my favorites. You may think it may be repetitive, Pendragon going to a territory and trying to save it, but it's not. Each and every book has its own, flare, you could say. And I was not disappointed by the last book. There is only one word of how I could describe this finale. Perfect.

Pendragon has finally learned everything about himself, and Halla. If you don't know what I'm talking about you can read the summary here: Summary or you can go read the book. What I liked most about this book was the suspense that MacHale had created, the setting of everything being lost, bu having one final chance to bring victory. He also put a great amount of detail into describing every scene in the book, painting an amazing visual in your mind, making it feel like you were right there witnessing it all.

All in all I really enjoyed this book, and would give it 10/10 stars. I recommend this book to anyone of all ages.

Ranger's Apprentice - Halt's Peril

There are many words to describe this book, but from the top of my head I can only think of five. A twelve year old's dream. Now you people above twelve may be thinking this book will not interest you at all, you may want to stick around. You might be surprised by what you here.

A brief summary in my words would be in this book three people, Halt and Will who are rangers, and Horace, who is a knight, go down to hunt a local cult that has been stealing from commoners. Ranger's are people who can blend into any of their surrounds by remaining still and donning a cloak that morphs in with the background. They are also masters of bows. Read the full summary here:

Click for summary

This book may seem for kids of younger ages, but trust me even if you're in college you would enjoy reading this book. It utilizes many things that keep you on the edge of your seat and blends together perfectly, suspense, drama, action, carefree, and even a slight bit of romance. With all these attributes in hand, it makes for a great story.

So I suggest you go out and read the first book, and if you like it you should read the rest of the series, because it just gets better and better.

Columns Post

So we were assigned to read some columns and post what they were about and all that stuff. But what I want to talk is what I didn't like in some of the columns. The first two columns were fine, in fact I really enjoyed them. How we, the underdogs, were able to rise up to the occasion and were able to beat the Russians. Also the second column reminded us of all the great moments in sports history, and how the brave people ran into the streets trying to help the marathon runners, not even knowing if another bomb was on the way.

Then there was the wedding dress column. Prince Williams was marrying Kate... Woohoo! Congratulations! But did we really need to read a whole column about a wedding dress... that hadn't even been created yet? The whole column was just speculations about how the dress might look, and who might possible be creating it. You could just wait a few months and you would get your answer.

Also the one about a party. I understand how hard working the mom was, trying to create the perfect party or her kid, but writing a column about mocking you wife in her work to me is considered rude, if not downright insulting. I understood the point of view he was trying to show, on dads not getting enough trust but the writer might have stretched it a little too far.

And lastly there was the story on dogs, man's best friend. The writer wrote about how he wanted to get a dog, and all the benefits you would have by getting one. But in the end, he still didn't get one. I found it kind of pointless in writing a story about dogs if in the end you don't even manage to get one.

These were just my opinions on the columns, and you may think differently about them. So which columns did you think were the best or the worst?

Fahrenheit 451 theme handout

This is the handout for our group project of the theme Censorship Causes Diminished Individual Thought:

Timeline:

1. Montag is a normal member of society, and comments on how Clarisse thinks too much in this censored society.
2. Beatty talks about how everything is shortened and censored so there is no room or need for thought
3. Montag realizes there is something to books, that possibly makes people happier, trying to break through the censorship.
4. Beatty attempts to rebut Montag’s realization by saying books can be used for people as well as against people.
5. Montag joins up with Faber to try and stop this censorship, but Beatty keeps trying to stop them.
6. After killing Beatty, Montag runs away where he meets a group of men, who open his mind to the world of books, thoughts and literacy.

Textual Evidence:

Part 1:

• “You think too many things,” said Montag uneasily (Bradbury 6).
• “School is shortened, discipline relaxed, philosophers, histories, languages dropped, English and spelling gradually gradually neglected, finally almost completely ignored. Life is immediate, the job counts, pleasure lies all about the work. Why learn anything save pressing buttons, pulling switches, fitting nuts and bolts?”(Bradbury 53)

Part 2:

• “We have everything we need to be happy, but we aren’t happy. Something’s missing. I look around. The only thing I positively knew was gone was the books I’d burned in ten or twelve years.”(Bradbury 78).
• “‘Oh, you were scared silly,’ said Beatty, ‘for I was doing a terrible thing in using the very books you clung to, to rebut you on every hand, on every point! What traitors books can be,”(Bradbury 104).”

Part 3:

• “It’s strange, I don’t miss her, it’s strange I don’t feel much of anything,” said Montag. “Even if she dies, I realized a moment ago, I don’t think I’ll feel sad. It isn’t right. Something must be wrong with me.” (Bradbury 148).
• “The chase is still running.”...”They’re faking. You threw them off at the river. They can’t admit it. They know they can hold their audience only so long. The show’s got to have a snap ending, quick! If they started searching the whole d*** river it might take all night. So they’re sniffing a scapegoat to end things with a bang.”(Bradbury 141)

This theme contributes to the progression of the story because it shows how Montag changes his views of the society, how he wants to change himself.

In today’s society, this theme could be seen as people trying to stop people from making their own decisions, North Korea being an example. If people can’t think for themselves, a dictator can have absolute authority.

Pendragon: The Merchant of Death

When you first pick up this book, it may seem boring to you. The typical magical universe where there are multiple dimensions. But this book is different from the rest, because only a select few can travel through these portals. These people are called (surprise!) TRAVELERS. In this first book of the 10 part series. In this book Pendragon goes with his Uncle Press, who is also a traveler, to stop Saint Dane (the bad guy) from destroying the territory of Denduron. Read the rest of the summary here:

Summary

At first, I too was skeptical about this book. My first thought was that this book would be another typical Sci-Fi book with multi universes and such. But the thing about these territories in Pendragon was that each of them were going to reach a certain turning point, and it could be pushed either to good, or destruction. Also another interesting thing about the territories is that there can be multiple for one world. For example there is First Earth, Second Earth, and Third Earth. All of these territories are moving forward at the same time. The actual character Pendragon caught my eye. When he first went to a territory, he was a rookie that didn't know much. He wasn't that much of a help, which is different from the typical protagonist. Also the villain Saint Dane was different from the regular villains because he had a calm, cool collected front even after SPOILER Pendragon and the rest stopped the destruction of Denduron, which he was trying to push the turning point towards destruction. He simply said that even though he lost then, in the future Denduron would be the first to fall, the first domino. Will he do it? Will Pendragon survive!? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT EPISODE OF PENDRAGON! Just kidding, but I found this series very good, one of my favorites, and would recommend to everyone, even the people that don't like fantasy.

Fahrenheit 451 Narrative

For my narrative I am going to be continuing the story in the point of view of Mrs. Bowles (the one who swore that she would never go back there):

I stumbled out of the house in a furious rage. I ran straight to home and joined my 'family'. Instantly I started to relax.
"Stupid fireman with his stupid book," I sniveled. Why did poetry hurt so much? Why did people want to hurt others like that? I watched my 'family' for a while longer, my heart beat slowing down. I felt relaxed... but why did I have this sense of dread in my heart? Why did listening to that poem arouse such emotion out of me? Never before had I cried, not even for my first divorce, or my second husband, dead! But why for this? Bawling I ran out the front door, tripped on the sidewalk and cried. Cried for all my husbands, my children, and the sad...sad poem.

Slowly I got up and went inside.
"Sleeping pills... I need sleeping pills," I murmured to my self. I took the vial, popped the cap off, and swallowed all of them. I limped upstairs and went into my bed. I put my seashells in my ears, listening to the soft music and sounds, rocking back and forth in my bed. Slowly, without thinking, I reached for the phone. I dialed some numbers,
"Hello? Fire department? I have to report something..."  After the phone call I lay in bed, with tears on my face. I didn't even know why I was crying. Something about... a poem... maybe? I didn't care. I closed my eyes, and went into a deep sleep. I never woke up again.