Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

There is no way for me to outline the plot without it sounding somewhat stupid, but here goes. Human teenager falls in love with 100-year-old vampire. 100-year-old vampire becomes obsessed with keeping human teenager safe. Teenager figures out vampire is a vampire and goes to meet his "vegetarian" (meaning they don't drink human blood) vampire family.... it goes on from there, but I can't continue without really ruining it.

If you haven't heard of this book (or the movie, recently released, based on the book), you must've been living in a cave somewhere... or maybe you have a life. Lucky. This book (and the rest of the series) have become some of the bestselling books of our time. I'm really not surprised. Edward (100-year-old vampire) is written as this perfect being who can do no wrong-- every teenage girl's dream of the perfect boyfriend. Morally, this book starts out okay. Bella (the human) is one we can all relate to-- the clumsy new girl at school. In the beginning of their relationship, Edward is dead-set against any physical relations (obviously sending a good message to teens, right?). Well, yeah, but the whole "blood-sucking vampire thing" isn't so great. Even though Edward is willing to lay down his life (go figure...) for Bella and there are some good messages in this book, it's not one that I'd suggest anyone younger than 14 or so read. Even so, I still liked it.

Thumbs Up! (with caution)

DragonQuest, by Donita K. Paul

The sequel to DragonSpell, this book picks up as Dragon Keeper Kale Allerion is summoned to the Wizard Fenworth’s home in The Bogs to start training as an apprentice wizard. The meech egg that Kale found in the previous story has now hatched, and the meech dragon Regidor needs both training and guidance. Who better for this job than the Dragon Keeper herself? All is well until Kale finds out thaat the evil wizard Risto has captured another meech egg and has sinister plans for the dragon inside. It’s up to Kale, Regidor, and their new acquaintance Bardon to rescue the meech egg and foil Risto’s plans.

We’ve all heard it said, “Sequels are never as good as their precursors”. Most of us have even experienced it. Well, this is one book that doesn’t live up to that phrase. I admit to being wary as I began this book—because it is, after all, just a sequel. In my opinion, though, it’s even better than DragonSpell. We meet several new and more charming characters as we follow Kale on her quest as a servant of Paladin as she also expands her talents as Dragon Keeper. I really enjoyed reading this book. If only it were a few pages longer...!

Thumbs Up!

PAUSE!!!

Uh-oh. Finals this week. I'm sorry, but it'll be awhile before I've recovered enough to read anything but textbooks. My next post'll have to wait! :(

I'll be back before y'all know it. Adiós!

P.S. I'm always open for prayers-- goodness' knows I need 'em!

DragonSpell, by Donita K. Paul

Kale is used to being treated like the village slave she is. But when she is inexplicably drawn to the egg of a minor (small) dragon her life changes drastically. The village elders decide to send her to the Hall to be trained under Paladin as a recognized servant of Wulder and to learn how she is to defeat the evil wizard.

Though geared toward younger adults and teens, I enjoyed this book immensely. The allegory found in this book is along the same lines as in C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia series. The character Wulder is the Creator of the world and Paladin is his son, while the wizard Risto is the lover of darkness and evil. Both Wulder and Paladin are portrayed as very kind, loving and always there when you need them, although not interfering. These themes are woven into the story very nicely so as not to blatantly preach. This is one book that is a definite must-read with a huge thumbs-up from me!

Thumbs Up!