Valiant Hearts Book 1: Dauntless

"Where Legend and History Collide,

One Young Woman Will Fight for the Innocent"

Bookworm's Ranking - 3.5 Worms
 

Storyline - Merry Ellison has lost title, home, and family when her father rebelled against the king of England. Now living in the woods with a band of orphan children, they steal to survive. The only dream she will allow herself to have is to find a safe home for the children to live while she must remain hidden. And not fall in love. Their thievery has been noticed, dubbing them the Ghosts of Farthingale Forest since they are never seen. They are a wanted band. And the first one to catch on to them is Merry's betrothed, Timothy Grey. Fighting between duty and love, Timothy will have to decide to hand over Merry for her crimes or find another way. Yet, unbeknownst to Timothy, someone is out to destroy him. Will Merry find a way to care for the children and welcome love or will choices beyond their control determine their future?

Author - Dina L. Sleiman

Publisher - Baker Publishing Group; Bethany House Publishing

Age Group - 16 and up

Content - *May Contain Spoilers* Merry fears for her honor once. The Ghosts steal in order to survive. Timothy searches to do the right thing by his duty and master yet struggles with the idea of allowing Merry to be hurt. A Lord is described to "love" often. Someone seeks to hurt another.

Personal Opinion - Merry and Timothy's struggles to care for others and find a way in their life drives their decisions and causes conflict between them. Even though they love each other, they believe the other doesn't and both have been hurt enough in their life to be cynical. This bring believability and life to the characters for different reasons. Merry can't see another life for herself because she is wanted by the king and thought dead, leaving the only option to steal to survive and protect innocent lives, believing that is the only way her life can go. Timothy is the ninth child and not going to inherit anything so has to find a place for himself yet morns the loss of the woman he loves. These two have a lot to deal with but are not the only ones. The rest of the cast are developed into players themselves with wants, desires, and struggles themselves, such as one of the Ghosts in love with Merry and leaning on God for direction and a man in the castle jealous of Timothy and plans on destroying him. While all this character development was good and interesting, I expected a little more action because the story is based off Robin Hood. The story is good, just would have liked more action sooner in the story.

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Disclaimer - In exchange for an honest review, I received this book for free from the publisher through Bethany House.

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Poison

"Can She Save the Kingdom

With a Piglet?"

  

Bookworm's Ranking - 4 Worms
 

Storyline - Kyra tries to kill the princess but, when she misses and the princess goes into hiding, she  goes into hiding and hunts to finish the job. Unfortunately, a pig is all she has to track the princess and soon picks up an annoying straggler named Frank who wont leave her alone. She will just have to ignore how cute the pig is, charming Frank is, and the fact the princess is her best friend. If that isn't enough, old friends and acquaintances are hunting for her. If that wasn't enough, she also has to decide what to do with the Witch's Spark inside her. Nothing a girl can't handle who is the best at potions in the kingdom. While Kyra searches and is waylaid around several turns, the mystery begins to fall into place and she will have to find her place and a way to finish the job.

Author - Bridget Zinn

Publisher - Scholastic

Age Group - 15 and up

Content - *May Contain Spoilers* Guy sees girl in her wet underclothes and some other jokes about nakedness. Some fights. Magic. Kyra can see into the future and tries to dampen the Witch's Spark inside her. Characters help one another even though they don't always like each other.

Personal Opinion - Poison is a funny, charming, mysterious read that was hard to put down. Twists and turns are frequent with snappy dialogue and revelations that are wondered about but doubted because they are not revealed until late in the story. Kyra is a strong female, serious about her goal yet struggles inside when challenged by Frank, a fun loving, cheery guy, who questions why she pushes people away and brightens her life. The discussion about the witch's spark vs. potions (a scientific, non-whimsical practice) reminded me a bit of the arguments between religion and science. Bridget Zinn was probably not going for that but I found it interesting to consider and think about, how one can use both in their life which was prompted to Kyra by a Gypsy. Even though the protagonist is trying to murder someone through the whole book, she is still likable yet I would not be surprised how some people would be uncomfortable with the idea of looking up to this character. She did not like the idea that she had to kill someone yet she was determined to do it. She probably didn't go about solving the problem the right way (aka: murder) but that was not discussed in the book. There were also comments to the nakedness or close to nakedness on a couple of occasions with the characters and seeing each other that I was not fond of. In technical terms, the book was well paced and the dialogue hilarious, and the character diverse with their own person but some of the back story and past events were not revealed until they absolutely had to. Now, that might not sound like a bad thing (and it usually isn't) but some of the information was held on too long so the reader couldn't even make guesses or hypothesized about the story. It almost let whatever the author to want have happen happen because it was unknown until it happened (and yes, I realize how confusing this sentence is). Fixing that would have made this good book great and probably would have landed on my favorite shelf. But, the characters take you on a fun, magical, adventurous story from page one and keeps going until the last.

P.S. I finished this book only a few weeks ago and I already want to read it again.

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Video Game Storytelling

"Unlock Your Game's Narrative Potential!"

 

Bookworm's Ranking - 4.5 Worms
 

About - Video games are unique story telling systems. Not only do they have the basics of story, characters, plot, theme, etc., but also of being interactive, the player choosing what happens and how to react to situations. Yet, story is not always given the attention it needs in video games. In Video Game Storytelling, the basic principles and systems of writing story is given and also presents how narrative experts work in each section of game creation. Anyone who is working on video game narration will find this book helpful and insightful to give basic, beginning information.

Author - Evan Skolnick

Publisher - Watson-Guptill

Age Group - 15 and up

Personal Opinion - Evan Skolnick, a video game writer who has worked on Marvel, Star Wars, and other such games, shares detailed yet simple basics of story writing as well as how each section of the games creation team needs to welcome that narrator. Have read multiple writing books before, this one did present good, beginner information of writing as well as new terms for certain concepts that I know be never heard by those names. This section is really good for those who work on the technical side of the video game to understand what the writer is doing and thinking. The second half of the book talks to the technical workers of the video game such as the animators and programmers revealing how the writer will benefit their section and needs them to welcome them into their group to get the best result possible for the story. This book is a wonderful help to those working on a video game who is expecting a writer to come on board and is also helpful to writers to know what to expect and some of the troubles of working on these types of stories. I usually don't play video games (okay, almost never) but have thought about creating educational type games so thought this book might be insightful. The first half made me confident as a writer, believing I could work on these teams. The second half was more helpful because it revealed how the industry worked and created games, and also showed that I need to know more about games before I could get a job writing them (which makes sense). This is a perfect book for anyone working on a video game and would be helpful for everyone to read to see how and why they should collaborate closely in order to create the best narrative possible for their games, making them stand out.

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Disclaimer - In exchange for an honest review, I received this book for free from the publisher through Blogging for Books.

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Many are Called

 

Bookworm's Ranking - 3 Worms
 

Storyline - After seven long years, the prince his finally marrying his betrothed. All that is left is to go get her. Yet the skies are filled with enemies trying to capture the princess and the prince must out maneuver them. Meanwhile, the palace gets ready for the marriage feast which no one who is invited is coming to and the servants are slacking. The prince chases down his beloved yet things are more complicated than they think. And their enemy is not far away...

Author - Gabrielle Gniewek

Art - Sean Lam

Publisher - Manga Hero

Age Group - 14 and up

Content - *May Contain Spoilers* Some killing but not too gory and not really shown. One guy's chest is always seen. The prince is willing to risk his life for his bride, no matter what, even after she has hurt him. The bride is struggling with guilt from betraying the prince and doesn't feel adequate for his love. Other character struggle with their duties and feeling like they deserve better or just slack on their work.

Personal Opinion - This was a pretty fun, engaging, light read. It can be read in an evening. I think it helps put the parable of the wedding feast in a form that can give readers a face to the characters and situation to the story. The artwork was fun but I'm not sure what I think of the jumping between Jesus telling the parable and the story itself which plays out with sky ships, motor bikes, and swords. The bride was not very well developed. SPOILER The story hints at her running away and hiding with someone bad but doesn't tell why she decided this END SPOILER. At times, the characters would hint to something, a side bit, but it wouldn't be clear in the story so I'm left confused. For a Christian book, I was also surprised at seeing one guy's chest. The whole story went to fast and could have been elaborated on more, maybe even a series to create these various storyline. But the story did have a good message about unconditional love, faithfulness, and honor.

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Jenni James Faerie Tale Collection: Beauty and the Beast

"A Prince by Day &
A Wolf by Night"

Bookworm's Ranking - 4 Worms

 

Storyline - Prince Alexander has been cursed by a witch to become a beastly wolf at night because of his arrogant behavior. With only one year to find someone who loves him as a wolf, he finds himself drawn to the one girl who has always detested him, Cecelia. But when he begins to see her with new eyes as a wolf, love begins to grew in both of their hearts. Cecelia has been disappointed and embarrassed too much in life yet finally feels loved by a strange wolf. If only Prince Alexander, who is suddenly being kind to her, would leave her alone. Will Cecelia choose the wolf or the prince and her choice will affect the prince forever.

Author - Jenni James

Publisher - StoneHouse Ink

Age Group - 14 and up

Content - *May Contain Spoilers* One man asks another if he did anything in appropriate with a maid when he was alone. The Prince got violent and strikes someone he is angry with. Someone becomes jealous and tries to kill the Prince and Cecelia. Cecelia is determined to help and see the good in others but feels foolish because others have betrayed her. Prince Alexander sees the wrong he once did and tries to be a better, more honorable man.

Personal Opinion - A charming, sweet, and enchanting read. From the first time we meet Cecelia, I totally got her spunky personality because I act like that. I just loved the interaction between her and the beast because the dialogue was so fun (it made me laugh at times) and sweet. Prince Alexander is a bit violent when he is angry at times but he learns that this can only get him in trouble. There were a couple of times I didn't buy the events in the story. SPOILER when Cecelia is told the prince made fun of her behind her back after she thought he changed, he visited and she was mad at first then just melted and kissed him END SPOILER. I think it made her a weak female character at times. besides a couple of spelling errors, there was one word that kept being used that didn't make sense which was "gel" where "girl" would have worked just fine. In fact, I had to go on the Oxford English Dictionary to discover it is a form of "girl." A bit confusing mixing modern language with old. Even with these errors scattered throughout, I think this was a great retelling which stuck to the original story and yet had a few unique qualities of its own to make it an enchanting read.

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Disney Frozen: The Cinestory

"Do You want to Build

a Snowman...?"

 

Bookworm's Ranking - 4 Worms

Storyline - Sisters Anna and Elsa have lived under the same roof but separated. Elsa hides away in her room and Anna doesn't understand why she's left her alone. What Anna doesn't know is that Elsa has powers to create snow and ice she can't control. When the king and queen, the girls' parents die, Elsa is to become queen. During the party, Elsa's powers are revealed and she runs away. Anna goes after her but it might be harder to convince her sister to come home than she thinks. With an array of characters assisting Anna, the two girls go on a discovery on what it means to truly love another.

Publisher - Joe Books Inc.; HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

Age Group - 10 and up

Content - *May Contain Spoilers* Elsa hides for most of her life and runs away when things go wrong. Anna is determined to help her sister, weather she wants it or not. Others are out to destroy Elsa because she is different and they are afraid of her.

Personal Opinion - This book was fun. I love the movie Frozen so, when I saw this book, I kept thinking about it and wanted to read it. Taking the cartoon and turning into a comic book was a fascinating idea and lets those who are older enjoy a tie-in book as well. Most of the pictures were nicely picked to include in the book and the adaption of most of the songs into speech was done well, keeping the original thoughts and feelings behind them in the new dialogue. It gave it a new insight into the characters and situations. Speaking of new insights, internal thoughts and fears where also conveyed in the comic book, letting readers read what Elsa and Anna might have been thinking at different events in the story.

Unfortunately, when it was night out in the story, some of the frames were too dark to really see much of the picture which made it irritating. There were a couple of changed I would have made personally. One, I would have tried to save space by adding dialogue to the same frame instead of the next one because the frames could take up a fourth of a page. There were also frames with no dialogue between spots when characters were talking which didn't seem necessary to me. Two, The beginning song with the ice harvesters didn't resemble the message at all but was just pointless conversation between the men. It took up too much space and I love that song so it was not a good beginning. Third, I would have liked to have seen some frames take up more space on the page, SPOILER like Elsa's ice palace at one point was contained in two to three frames and I would have liked to have seen it in one that took up half or two-thirds the page END SPOILER. It would have given a more dramatic effect.

Now, this adaption was good and fun, I had a hard time putting it down, I'm just thinking these changes would have made it better. Still, if you like Frozen, you would probably like this comic book of the movie where there are internal insights into the characters and lots of fun visuals from the movie.

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GIVEAWAY!

Because I enjoyed the comic version of Frozen, I'm giving away a paperback copy of Disney Princess Treasury, containing 800 pages of comic book stories of the a bunch of princesses we love (check out the Amazon page to learn more). Just enter using the Rafflecopter below.

P.S. If the winner would prefer the Frozen the Cinestory or the Pixar instead of the Disney Princess, making this alternative is welcome.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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The First Principle

"If Inalienable Rights Begin with Life Itself,
Will Vivica have the Courage to Defend them,
No Matter What it Takes?"
 

 

Bookworm's Ranking - 3 Worms

 

Storyline - Vivica is an average teenage girl whose mother is a governor of the accepting, reformed world, were population is managed, exclusory views in religion are eradicated, and teenage girls don't have to worry about being pregnant because they are required to terminate. But when Vivica sees a fellow classmate try to hide her pregnancy and, later, discovers she's pregnant herself, she begins to question if she truly wants to follow through with the law and if it is really killing as the father says. She also has to decide if the rebels who follow the old Christian traditions are dangerous and bigots as the government says they are, or if there is more to them than meets the eye. Will Vivica protect her child and discover if the rebels are who they say they are, not what the government claims?

Author - Marissa Shrock

Publisher - Kregel

Age Group - 15 and up

Content - *May Contain Spoilers* Teenage pregnancies happen. There is a shooting and bombing. Christianity is considered narrow minded and exclusory and promotes bigotry. Christians stand up for what they believe in. Vivica asks important questions to determine the truth, doesn't just accept a view point because the government says so.

Personal Opinion - While this novel did a fine job of presenting beliefs and ideas of pregnancy for teenagers and women who already have two children, it didn't display why Christianity and its beliefs are discouraged, bigotry, and exclusivist. Vivica asked good questions and her questioning the government vs. religion which were believable. Something that really secured why Vivica question having an abortion more than just the father didn't want her to was that she was one of three triplets.  Some advice she also received about how God works in answering prayers was right on and beautifully told. But, the negative attitude toward Christians and the Bible was almost too straight forward, bordering on preachy. Something just seemed to be missing in how this information and the governments feelings toward Christians was missing. Still, others might find this novel more enjoyable than me and the author did create a good world where Christian beliefs are regulated, controlled, even changed, and pregnancy and "termination" is the norm if not also required under certain guidelines.

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Disclaimer - In exchange for an honest review, I received this book for free from the publisher through Kregel Blog Tours.

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