Starlighter by Bryan Davis

Once long ago there was a land, this land was inhabited by dragons. One day a mighty dragon realized that their race was slowly dieing. He learned that he needed to find a new land or slaves to mine for a very important gas, so he, and the rest of his race could live. He searched and found a land that had humans, he took a few of them back to his world to work for him.
The story of Starlighter is about the people taken by the dragon and the people left behind.

I was disappointed with this book. After reading over 10 of Bryan Davis’s other books this one just seemed to blend in with the rest. The land had the same feel as any of his other series, even though it was different. The only way I can describe the world is Star Wars crossed with Rome.

I think I am finally learning why I don't like Bryan Davis’s books, the characters. They are either flat or perfect. The best fighter in he world, the honorable gentleman, the kind hearted girl that studies everything dutifully. Now I will admit that I am not perfect, so reading about these perfect people bore me. I mean even the liar never lied. I know everything will turn out right in the end so why do I care what happens to them now? It will all be okay. Since the characters are already near perfect not a lot of character development is open, which I feel hurt the plot.
With dragons, there is a point were everyone will say, they are too human. I found it in this book. Please don't get me wrong I love smart dragons just this is overboard for me. The dragon made a debate, the dragon bowed, the dragon is kind hearted. Ummmmm okey... Great! More people, just they are in dragon bodies.

The plot is unique, just like all of Bryan Davis’s plots. The finger, the romance, portals, mind bending puzzles, odd creatures, ‘twas very Davis style.

Now this book is good if you just want something entertaining to read, but I won’t go out and buy it.

C+

Solitary by Travis Thrasher

~ Not for readers under 13, this book is a little scary and covers mature topics. ~

Chris is 16, his parents have just divorced and his mother is moving him from Chicago to her hometown, Solitary. In this hick of a town Chris falls for the high school beauty, Jocelyn. Problem is it seems no one wants him to date her and evil forces are at work to stop them.

This book is in first person, I felt was a good and a bad thing.
Good because we got to know Chris a lot better than we would have in third person. We also learned a lot about his mother, and her drinking problem; which I feel is a real problem that needs to be talked about, not covered up.
The bad thing is a lot of the book was about his feelings and thoughts for Jocelyn. Now you might be thinking, "Why is that bad?".  I didn't care for it, it reminded me of a sappy love story. I would have liked more action and less, "I can't stop thinking about her." - chapter 5. As well as other comments like it throughout the book. If this was meant to be a romance book then that is fine, just I thought the book was suppose to be mystery/horror/thriller.
All in all Chris and his mother, Jocelyn, Poe, Rachel, Newt, Gus and all the characters were well developed as needed. Travis did a great job there.

The plot had me confused through most of the book. The climax was a little slow for me, though the last 30 pages are great with an epic twist. For me most of the plot was based on high school dating and some mystery/cult on the side. Thrasher did throw in some scenes that I don't think were needed other than to speed up the story and show creepiness. The visit to Aunt Alice was one, loved that chapter, and a few of Chris’s self-missions were thrown in to build suspense and entertain us.

Solitary is set in South Carolina, not my favorite state to begin with, and for sure not my favorite after reading this book. The natural “creepy” that Thrasher gave that town still has me awed.

The messages that the book taught were good, one is that Chris and Jocelyn should/could be just good friends. I liked that. He also touched on inner beauty over outer beauty. Plus the comments about hope were good, something I could think about after reading the book. 

I liked the book, it was humorous, insightful and had a great final twist. Travis also has given me new insight about short chapters; two chapters are only 3 words. Solitary maybe a little more romance than I like, but I am still looking forward to reading more by Thrasher.

B

Invasion by J.S. Lewis

First off I would like to thank Cson for giving me this book to review.

Colt is the California poster boy; he surfs, plays guitar, video gamer, he's the popular kid at school. When his family goes to D.C. for vacation Colt has the chance to participate in a military training center "fun" day for students, invitation only. When he gets home his life quickly changes when a terrible accident happens, making him move in with his grandpa. Which leads to him getting thrown into a world of aliens, adventure, mind control and danger.

Okay, I'll admit it. Normally I'm not that big into Sci-Fi. I have not seen a full show of Star Trek, haven't read a single Superman comic, I don't watch the sky for UFOs or anything like that. Therefore, when I got this book I was ready to learn of new worlds like I never have.

The first 50 or so pages were wonderful, fresh plot, action, mystery, discovery, humor, it was all there. Then the plot took a turn I didn't care for. Invasion turned into a copy of multiple plots I've read, just with Sci-Fi twists.

Colt as a character wasn't as well developed as I would have liked. We did get into his personal life and feelings but I never felt like I knew him. The same with Lily, Dani, and Oz, I loved the characters just never connected with them.
Now I'll give Jon points, he came up with a creative way so that we knew more than Colt through part of the book. I thought it was fun knowing more than the main character. He came up with some cool creatures and worlds that I can't wait to visit in the next book. Lewis also had the teen humor down to a tea, making the book tons of fun to read. He had short chapters so I felt like I was making a lot of progress while I read and I love the fact that Lewis used his book to teach that girls and guys can just be friends, not boyfriend/girlfriend.

This book was realistic enough to have me wishing I could go to the store and get the Phantom Flyer and the Agents of Chaos comic book, yet Sci-Fi enough to make it a great "get-a-way" book to relax with. I look forward to the next book in the series; Jon S. Lewis just needs to work on plot and character development for me to love his series.

B

                                        

An Emmy Post

Well it has been a long time coming but I would like to announce my new review blog, Arrowhead Reviews.

Please bear with me as I do the equivalent of an Emmy award winner.

First off thank you Cson. When I needed help coming up with a name for the blog you gave me multiple ideas. For the help and encouragement while I tackled HTML problems. Also for providing me with my first book to review, that will be posted shortly.


To Winters Read and Millardthemk, thanks for the offers to help me set up the blog. I am sure I will still need help with glitches. I'll call you two when I do.

To Jake for taking care of the Underground so I had time to read, review and layout the blog.

To Whisper, Keeneye and all of Silvertree (2nd round) for giving me a fun tribe building and for getting me to seriously think of making this blog.

And to my family, Mom and Dad for letting me spend the superbowl and many long nights staring at HTML codes. And Anduril, for letting me use the computer when he wanted to play online games.

Thank you everyone who said, "I'll follow you when you get a blog." (I'm holding you to it)


~Michelle Archer