Seeing Redd part 2

I am on page 214 in the book Seeing Redd. A lot has happened in the last 100 or so pages. Molly, Alyss's loyal bodyguard has been kidnapped by the king of Boarderland and it appears that he is trying to use Molly to bring Alyss down in some way. The mystery keeps the book suspenseful because it is unclear in what exact way the king, Arch, is going to use Molly to try and destroy Alyss. The reader also finds out that Hatter Madigan is actually Molly's father. Apparently, Hatter Madigan and this woman named Weaver were in love and when Redd came into power and Hatter fled, Weaver had been pregnant and gave birth while Hatter was away. After giving birth Weaver apparently left and no one knew what happened to her. When Hatter returned he found Weaver's diary and learned about his daughter. While that was happening, Arch sent an army into Wonderland, under the disguise that it was Redd who sent them. Alyss and her army defeated them and then Hatter returned, only to find that his daughter had been kidnapped and he went off to Boarderland to get her back. While that was happening in Wonderland, Redd and her assassin, the Cat, arrived an Earth and started gathering forces to later use against Alyss.

I think Frank Beddor's style of writing is very interesting. It is in third person, but occasionally the reader learns of the thoughts of some of the characters. This allows the reader to learn more about the characters and understand them better than when, as with McCarthy's writing, the reader can only understand the characters through their actions and the reader doesn't know their thoughts. I also like Beddor's descriptions I think they allow the reader to understand the scenery, but it is not overboard and it doesn't distract from the story. Although, I think that Beddor could explain some things better, for example the Milleny, I believe that they are a race of people who are trained fighters, but I am not exactly sure. I think Beddor could have described them better because it is not until the second book, long after the Milleny are first mentioned, that I was able to understand a bit of what they are.

Seeing Redd

I have read the first 90 pages of Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor. This is the sequel to the book The Looking Glass Wars, and I am excited to continue in this series because I have really enjoyed reading them. Seeing Redd starts off with Alyss just having been put on the throne and becoming Queen of Wonderland. However, her rein is rather rocky because she is ruling after her Aunt who destroyed much of Wonderland. Early on we find out that the King of Boarderland, Arch, is plotting against Alyss and wants to overthrow her. Arch, who is a sexist idiot, believes that he should be the supreme ruler of Boarderland and Wonderland, and he eventually wants to take over Earth as well. He plans to destroy Alyss through Molly, Alyss's trusted bodyguard. Molly is very loyal, unfortunately, she is rather impulsive and not very bright at times. She is also very young and inexperienced and thinks that she is treated differently because she is not allowed to go on many military adventures and she thinks that is because people do not understand her fighting skills, so she is desperate to prove herself. In the story there is also a side story of Hatter, Alyss's old bodyguard who went on leave to mourn the death of his love. So far, we do not know if he can overcome his grief and return to his post or if he will just continue mourning. Also, in the story there is the issue of Queen Alyss being in love with Dodge, her captain of the guards. She and Dodge were childhood friends, but Alyss's love may get in the way of her duty as Queen and Dodge is sort of obsesed about revenge for the death of his father.

I really hope that in this book Alyss doesn't forget about her duty as queen because she loves Dodge. I am fine with romance novels, unless the people get stupid because of their love. I think that Alyss needs to focus on being Queen and securing the peace in Wonderland, before she thinks about dating Dodge. I also hope that this book keeps the series good, because a lot of times sequels are not nearly as good as the first books. One thing that I really like about this book is how the people are realistic and have many flaws. Alyss is in love with Dodge and is rather inexperienced. Dodge is rather obsessed about revenge against Redd and the Cat and that tends to make him do stupid things. Bibwit, Alyss's advisor, is wise, but not very brave and in times of battle he can be a little cowardly. Molly has the flaws of being inexperienced and not thinking things through, and is rather conceded and overestimates her own skills. Hatter is realistic because he fell in love with this woman who died and now has left his duty to mourn for her.

The Looking Glass Wars

I was planning to read for my outside reading book The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. It is 358 pages and I ended up finishing it. So, instead I am planning to read the sequel to The Looking Glass Wars, the book Seeing Redd.

The Looking Glass Wars is a very good book and is a fractured fairy tale of Alice in Wonderland. The story is about Alyss the princess of wonderland. She lives in a world where magic is real and there are a lot of fantastical creatures, including caterpillars that can predict the future and card soldiers. On Alyss's seventh birthday her Aunt came and took over the palace by killing Alyss's parents and making Alyss and her bodyguard flee to England. However, Alyss and her bodyguard get separated and her bodyguard has to spend the next 13 years looking for her. While this is happening, a rebel group of people have formed in Wonderland and are fighting against the fake Queen. On Earth, Alyss was forced to forget about Wonderland and believe that magic wasn't real and that she had just made everything up. She was even going to marry a prince who had fallen in love with her. But, before that could happen, she was taken back to Wonderland where she had to relearn magic and everything again. Alyss ends up taking her throne back, but her evil Aunt manages to escape. It ends where Alyss now has to restore her kingdom and find out what happened to her Aunt.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought it was a lot more interesting than Alice in Wonderland, where I never really understood the story. This book makes a lot more sense and had a lot of enjoyable characters. Alyss's Aunt, named Redd, has an experienced assassin, known as the Cat. The Cat plays an important part in the story because he kills many people. He is mainly responsible for the death of Alyss's parents. He is also a real character because he tries to hide his mistakes from Redd so that he doesn't get in trouble. I thought that Alyss was a pretty real character. She had her doubts about her strength and she caved to peer pressure and she easily was angered and was not always easy to forgive. When she was seven she enjoyed playing tricks on people and causing trouble. Dodge was another character that was very real. He was very upset about the death of his father because of the Cat and ever since then has been thinking about revenge and only caring that he kills the Cat and not about the welfare of the kingdom as a whole.

Beka Cooper

I have read the first 42 pages of Beka Cooper Terrier by Tamora Pierce. This book is by one of my favorite authors. I have enjoyed reading Tamora Pierce's stories about Alanna, Diana, and all of her other characters. Beka Cooper Terrier is the first book in this series and I am really excited to read the next book Bloodhound, when it comes out. Beka Cooper Terrier is written in the form of diary entries, it starts with a few diary entries from people who know Beka (the main character). These entries give more depth to Beka's character because you learn about her past. Beka Cooper at the start of the story is a16 year old girl who dreams of becoming a policewoman. In the story she is a policewoman in training and has been apprenticed to two full fledged policemen. She is really excited to be assigned to them because they are famous. The story is set in ancient Tortall, the main country of Tamora's books. In this world there is a lot of magic and mages, Beka has the ability to listen to the dead and uses that ability to help her with her job. One thing that I really like about this book is that it is all in Beka's perspective because it is Beka's diary entries that you read. It allows the reader to understand how Beka feels and know what she is thinking. It allows you to follow along really well with the story because you know what Beka knows and can try and puzzle out who is the person behind all of the kidnappings and robbings in the city.

1984

I have read the first 186 pages of 1984 by George Orwell. 1984 is a book about a world where there are 3 countries that are constantly at war with each other. This is because all the countries need the war for their economy and government to work. The main country in this book is Oceania. All the countries have basically the same political, social, and economic policies. They have a government that brainwashes its citizens and can constantly watch them from telescreens that are everywhere in the country, even in people's homes. The main character in this book is Winston Smith. He is against the government, known as the Party, and wishes that it would be overthrown. He has always wanted the Party, and the main political head of the Party Big Brother, to be destroyed. He goes from thoughts to actions by writing down his thoughts and opinions in a diary. After that he meets a woman, Julia, who was also against the party, and they fall in love. They love each other, but they know that someday they will be captured, tortured, and killed by the party. They knew this was inevitable because the party always found out who was against them and would capture them. They also knew that they would confess to their crimes because they would be tortured and everyone always confessed. The last step that caused the party to catch them was their trusting a man named O'Brien. They believed that they could trust him and that he was part of an organized group of people who went against the party. However, it turns out that he is a member of the secret police force and he turns them in. I have ended with the spot where Julia and Winston have been arrested.

1984 is an interesting book that is against totalitarianism. It is a warning against the government getting too powerful and taking away all the freedoms of the people, making them into thoughtless followers who just do what they are told. It is also about people who are trying to revolt against this government in any way they can, even though they know that eventually they will be caught and tortured. It is about their struggle to be who they are in a country where conformity is everything.

Brisingr Part 2

I have finished Brisingr by Christopher Paulini. I enjoyed reading it. It was a rather long book, containing 748 pages total, but it was a pretty good book. However, after reading it I kind of feel that nothing really major or has a lot significance happened until the last 100 pages or so. I think that it focused a little too much on Roran fighting, instead of what Eragon is doing to keep the story moving. I feel that Roran's battles could easily be shortened, which would allow the book to continue and get to significant events. I also feel a large part of the book is finishing up what has happened in the previous two novels. Such as Eragon and Roran killing the Raz'ac, or Eragon repaying his debts to people, and Eragon trying to correct his mistake of accidentally cursing a baby instead of blessing it (he misspoke a word in the magic language). I also believe that there are too many remaining mysteries, like what did the Menoa tree take from Eragon? And how is Eragon going to defeat the evil dictator? The dictator seems to have limitless power and Eragon can't even defeat one of the dictator's minions alone, so how is Eragon ever going to defeat the dictator? Another thing that was annoying was the stupidity of Eragon and even at sometimes Saphira. Eragon doesn't seem to think before he says things and seems to have severe difficulty having the slightest bit of control over his emotions. He continues to act irresponsibly and without thinking ahead. But what is even worse is that Saphira has started being stupid as well. She has become extremely vain and believes that she is really special and that she is the most beautiful creature in all of the land. She was also really stupid when she attacked the Menoa tree that then would have killed her and Eragon if Eragon hadn't managed to talk the tree out of killing them. However, overall the book was enjoyable to read. Because nothing to significant happened till the end, it made the book fun to read without having a need to read it and find out what happens.

Brisingr

I have read the first 486 pages of Brisingr by Christopher Paolini. It is the newest book in the Inheritance series. I have really enjoyed reading the Eragon series, although it can be annoying how stupid Eragon can be at times. In the Inheritance series my favorite book is Eragon, however I have really enjoyed reading Brisingr so far. I plan to finish this book soon because I like the Inheritance series and I am looking forward to reading the last book of the series when it comes out. My favorite character is Saphira, the dragon that bonded with Eragon. Saphira is very powerful and intelligent, unlike Eragon. Saphira will always try and think things out and not make rash plans. She will try and be careful and won't do many stupid things. This is very unlike Eragon. Eragon always charges into battle without any idea about what to do. He constantly makes rash decisions without thinking them through thoroughly. He always binds himself to people by swearing oaths to them, so that he ends up being trapped by all the promises he has made. Eragon will also cast spells that require too much energy and nearly kill him, making it so that he has to either rely on someone else to help him, or take energy from plants and animals near by. He is also very quick to anger and take offense and he won't forgive very easily. But, Eragon does have some good points. He and Saphira are very caring and always want to help people. Together they have teamed up with another group of people, the Varden, to fight against the evil dictator of the land. They also try and help everyone however they can.