W.A.R.P

W.A.R.P

             by Eoin Colfer

Colfer's latest book is about a gutter boy from 18th century London, an underage FBI agent, a mad, blood thirsty, out to rule the world assassin and time travel. Bizarre element check. Riley (gutter boy) is an orphan taken in by former magician and master assassin Albert Garrick. When they are out on a job (Riley will draw blood for the first time) they encounter the target and get transported forward into the 21st century. This is when special agent Chevron Savano enters the mix, an underage agent who is American but ends up in London working with WARP (witness anonymous relocation program ) after an assignment goes wrong. Her boss is proffesor Felix Smart son of Charles Smart who built the time travelling WARP pods, this is a good time to tell you that Charles Smart was the assassination target. So if you put two and two together you will  understand that Riley and Albert were gonna kill Charles Smart but got transported with him into the 21st century. So the first people to come to the future are Charles and Riley, due to a mishap Charles has a yellow monkey hand and a knife sticking out of his chest. Agent orange (Felix) is called and he takes a HAZMAT team with him to the past and Riley ends up in a jail cell with Chevie (Chevron Savano) taking care of him. Then Garrick shows up having killed the HAZMAT team and fusing with Felix smart gaining complete knowledge off the 21st century. He is also a quantam man who is able to heal wounds and bend tissue, In short the master assassin got fused with the super smart dude and is also a quantam wonder. The rest of the book is all about how Garrick chases Chevie and Riley around mordern day London and then they warp back to the 18th century and the chase continues ,they have encounters in which Riley and Chevie barely escape. Also Colfer has brought back Otto Malarkey from his book ' Airman'  as the leader of the battering rams, Malarkey plays a vital role in this book. The later parts of the book are still showing a cat and mouse game but then there is an evil, reptilian, from the future witness who is also a vital character. I recommend you read this book but Artemis Fowl and Airman fans will be dissappointed as this book does not contain those master plans and that hearly pumping exhilaration, there is no witty plans and humor and cool gadgets the only thing I liked about this book was Albert Garrick he is an amazing villain, Though Colfer did not add amazing climaxes and his special touch. Eoin Colfer has a standard that he has to live up to, he holds a special place in the children's fiction section and books like these do not live up to his reputation. compared to Artemis fowl this is like watching a really bad episode of Tom and Jerry.

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

"Let the Hunger Games begin." A book focusing on Katniss Everdeen of District 12 of Panem which is built in the ruins of futuristic North America. Each year for the last seventy four years the Hunger games are held, each district of Panem (12 districts ) sends in two tributes to participate in the hunger games (one boy and one girl determined by a lottery) for a fight to the death in an arena which consists of mountain ranges, forests, lakes and a golden horn containing supplies for the games. Katniss Everdeen volunteers for the games as the original lottery picked her younger sister, Primrose as a tribute, Katniss could not watch her sister die, thus she volunteers for the games along with the baker's son, Peeta. They are then whisked off to the Capitol by their coach Hymitch and assistant Effie. On reaching the Capitol Katniss meets her designer Cinna and his team of stylists. Haymitch creates a strategy that Katniss and Peeta have to use in the arena and around to impress people and get extra sponsorship, they have to act as if they are star-crossed lovers who cannot bear to kill each other. After weeks of hard training Katniss and Peeta are ready to fight. In the Arena, it's a necessity to stay alive, but Katniss can't bring herself to kill tributes; she is not a murderer, is she? At the end, it's a fight to the finish with suprises, new alliances, and deaths. Can the star-crossed lovers stay alive by defying the Capitol?


This book is not only good, it's very captivating. It literally sucks you inside and you can't see or hear anything other than the events happening on that page. The book is not like you have a boring start and then at the end it becomes exciting; it's interesting from the begining. There is one flaw though: the actual games start around the tenth chapter and before that is just a kind of prologue. Another thing is that I think it's for kids of age 12-13 and above because there is a lot of violence and lots of romance at the end of the book. But the romance does not dull things; there is a balance of action and love in this book, a very well-managed balance.

Tara Trilogy: The Third Eye - Part 1 By Mahatab Narsimhan

The Tara Trilogy is a brand new series which is a combination of Hindu mythology, a modern plot and spooky stuff. The leading protagonist is Tara, a girl of age unknown to us, and Suraj, Tara's brother. The story begins on the night of Diwali. Their evil step-mother Kali slaps Tara for stealing ladoos to feed a starving Suraj. Basically the background of this story is that Tara's mother Parvati and grandfather Prabala (healer of the village) leave the village because of some unruly rumors, leaving Tara and Suraj alone. Their father, Shiv marries Kali (now their step-mother). Kali tortures Tara and Suraj, beats them up and starves them. Tara has half a mind to run away from home.

This book is really interesting and every chapter is equally exciting. The sentences are easy to understand and each sentence is a small burst of excitement which makes you want to read on.

One day a man named Zarku shows up; he wears a black robe and has a spooky third eye. Zarku persuades the village Panchayat and takes the place of the village healer. Zarku calls himself the best healer in all of India, but Tara can see through this healer and she can see evil. While roaming the village market Tara can see a huge crowd gathered around a dead Vetala. This book is really scary in the chapters including the Vetalas and fights with them. Vetalas are monsters that have appeared in the Kelsar forest, they are bodies of decaying green flesh, have a gash in their forehead which oozes black liquid and their insides are black, and their feet turn at a 180 degree angle.

One night Tara, on the way to the temple alone, overhears her step-mother Kali and another unknown person talking about murdering her and Suraj! Tara makes up her mind to escape at dawn with Suraj to the Kelsar forest despite the grave danger. They are not aware that a black cobra is following them. One night Suraj falls ill and Tara prepares a medicine for him but it does not help, and the next morning Suraj is gone, presumed dead. Tara walks on searching for Suraj when she reaches a temple.

If you thought the book was interesting so far, this is the part where it starts getting really exciting. The problem is that the middle of the book is so exciting that the climax seems boring compared to these middle chapters. I am not going to give away the plot but I will lead you up to it.

Tara quickly hides when she sees a sobbing Zarku holding a silver anklet and talking about his mother! As soon as Zarku talks about finding and killing Prabala, Tara shouts out to Zarku. When Zarku grabs Tara and slams her against a tree, the silver anklet falls into Tara's kurta pocket. Zarku tries to open his third eye to burn Tara but cannot as she now has the protective silver anklet. Tara manages to escape and later runs into Ananth, a boy whose father is dead and mother was eaten by a tiger when she was going to perform Sati.

Together they embark upon their journey once again. They need to find the water of life and Prabala to save Morni (thier village) from Zarku's evil clutches.

The most exciting chapter in the book is yet to come: the one including lord Yama and the water of life. In some places it gets so scary that a shiver runs down my spine. There are a lot of surprises and the book is filled with adventure and chills.

Mahatab Narsimhan has done a really good job giving mythology an engrossing modern plot. Read it for a quick adventurous read. The only problem is that this book answers all the questions, and by that I mean to say that if this was a single book then it would have made no difference, as it leaves no loose ends. Therefore, it doesn't really make you lunge for the 2^nd or 3^rd book, which I am reading now by the way. I am not sure if I feel like reviewing them. 

There are a lot of Indian references so you will need to already be familiar with Indian mythology to understand it.   

Artemis Fowl- Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer

The criminal mastermind is back! there is a problem though,Artemis has turned nice!trouble is brewing in the prison of Atlantis where criminal mastermind Trouble Kelp is breaking out of prison and planning to destroy the underwater city of Atlantis with the help of a dangerous group of goblins.Sadly, Artemis cannot battle Kelp as Artemis has a problem called the Atlantis complex(multiple personality disorder)where Artemis fears the number 4 and worships the number 5,he has become paranoid and does not even trust butler!every now and then his other personality(Orion)takes over in the wrong place at the wrong time.  There is a spectacular climax that left me stunned. I can not reveal the climax .

I really like this book but it seems like a very tiny book, it begins,they have a middle scene of about four chapters and then the climax. I really like the book but I wish there was a little more adventure and action.Artemis Fowl is a series that never gets old just like the Alex Rider series as there is always an element of surprise.I wish such series would never end, while you are reading such a book you never feel like putting it down because you just have to turn the page.

** This review can be found at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2012/aug/22/review-artemis-fowl-atlantis-complex-eoin-colfer

Thief By Malorie Blackman

THIEF! THIEF! THIEF! The voice echoed through Lydia Henson’s head. I should explain from the start - one day after school Lydia and the leader of the group Cosmics, Anne go to the trophy room where the sports cup is kept. Anne has set up a challenge for Lydia, if Lydia succeeds then she can join the Cosmics, if she fails she can’t. Lydia wants to be in the Cosmics because her best friend Frankie is in the group too, the challenge is to keep the sports cup in your locker for 24 hours. Lydia isn’t dumb, she knows better, she doesn’t steal the trophy. Next morning Lydia is supposed to report to the heads office and lo and behold, the sports cup is found in her locker. Lydia knows the trophy was planted in her locker by Anne (her suspicion turns true, but later) but Lydia can’t prove it and everyone calls her THIEF! Lydia has a brother, Danny who loves his sister very much and denies the fact that his sister is a thief. Lydia is extremely unhappy, then one day Frankie comes up to Lydia and says that she knows Anne put the cup in the locker. Right then the tragedy turns even sadder than before, Frankie slips down a slope and gets almost run over by a car. People blame Lydia for that as well, so in pure hatred for the people of tarwhich (her town's name) Lydia runs of to the moors and gets struck by lightning. As Lydia opens her eyes she sees that she is transported to the future into the town of Hensonville where an evil dictator rules. Some dark secrets and surprising facts will be unleashed, don’t miss this. My opinions: The book is overall very exciting and every chapter has a different surprise to it. The first part of the book has a little tragedy but as you advance the book turns to thrilling mystery and action. Everyday I came back from school and read this book for hours, 'cause you just can’t leave this book - it’s a crime. It’s very surprising twist that the brother plays a major role later on in this book. This book has hit my favourite list for sure.                 

This book was sent to me for review by my Editor at the Guardian, UK. Thank you for the book Michelle! The review can be found on the Guardian site at http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2011/sep/19/thief-malorie-blackman-review  

Alex Rider: Scorpia Rising by Anthony Horowitz

Are you a fourteen-year-old working for the British Secret Service? You mostly aren’t, but Alex Rider is not one of the ‘mostly aren’t’ kind of teenagers. For most of you who are not familiar with the Alex Rider series let me inform you, Alex Rider is a fourteen year old (now fifteen) who works for MI6 (a kind of police force). Alex has been sent on dangerous and deadly missions, but the book I am going to review is the most deadliest and dangerous of all, being the last in the series.

It all starts with the visit of Zeljan Kurst, the head of Scorpia, to the British museum in London. In case you don’t know what Scorpia is, it is a very dangerous organization which Alex has defeated twice in the past. Kurst was visiting the museum because the fourth richest man in the world (the fourth richest man in the book world, of course) had been invited him to a meeting. Scorpia being a very skilful organization, Yannis Ariston (the fourth richest man in the world) wants Kurst and his team to steal the Elgin marbles for him and return them to the Greeks because the British Government is not returning them (for more information on the Elgin marbles, please Google the topic). Kurst’s greed for money made him say yes, but afterwards Kurst started to doubt himself, so he set a new, skilful and intelligent person to the task of stealing the Elgin marbles.

Razim -- whom Kurst set to the task -- came up with a master plan that involved capturing the young secret agent Alex Rider and his clone Julius Grief (see the book Point Blanc). Actually, a spy cannot be below the age of 16, thus Alex Rider was a closely guarded secret as MI6 took him because he was too small to be suspected as a secret agent. Razim’s plan was to make MI6 send Alex on a mission, capture him and blackmail them by threatening to release his secret. Then MI6 would have to give Scorpia the Elgin marbles. To deal with Alex, Scorpia would then shoot the American Secretary of State and frame Alex for it.

Now, it’s up to Alex to save the American Secretary of State, the MI6 and defeat the hideous plot, but in this mission Alex’s loved ones will be in danger, in real danger.

Reading this book has been a real pleasure, when you read a page you feel like you are at the scene and are a part of the action; the book is so well written. If you don’t like the book you can see the first movie ‘Stormbreaker’, though I recommend you read the books first. I also think this book has one of the coolest covers. It looks deadly on a bookshelf.