Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

By a student in Y8!

I chose this book because it is a deeply disturbing story about a monstrous creation. It is an excellent horror novel that has terrified and chilled readers since its first publication in 1818. It can still terrify readers today because it portrays how cruel, selfish and inconsiderate man can be.

The preface alone captures your imagination: 'The event on which this fiction is founded has been supposed, by Dr. Darwin and some of the physiological writers of Germany, as not of impossible occurence.'

I will not ruin any more surprises. You have to read it to believe how great it is. It is a truly good piece of writing that still captures our imagination will even capture the imagination of generations to come.

     The narrator of this tender and funny book is eleven-year-old Harrison Opoku, the second best runner in Year 7.  A recent immigrant from the African country of Ghana, along with his mother and his older sister Lydia, Harrison has a unique perspective on his life in a London council estate, dealing with gangs, knives, unfashionable training shoes and a talking pigeon. But his life is changed forever when one of his friends is murdered. Harrison decides to act, turning council-estate detective, but he ends up endangering the protection for himself and his family his mother has worked so hard to create.This is a great novel and could be read by adults or students. Some of the themes are quite tough and hard-hitting, so probably not recommended for very young readers!

 

 

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer. A review by Hannah Bullamore

The most interesting incident in this book is when the three part book changes back to Bella’s point of view and she wakes up after being transformed into the undead… She wakes as a vampire and sees for the first time her newborn daughter Renesmee. Although Bella had only been unconscious for three days, and that’s how old Renesmee is she looks like a four month old! Her alarming growth gradually slows and that, although still worrying, is pushed behind Bella as she prepares to battle her worst enemies, the Voltori.

I loved the book and all of the previous ones too. It ended on a good note but left room for another book.

The most interesting character in this book is Renesmee as she is half vampire and half human, she can read people’s minds and show people what she wants them to see. She grows rapidly and looks at least twice her age.

The Haunted by Jessica Verday. A review by Hannah Ainsworth

The Haunted is the sequel to The Hollow. This book continues with the main character Abbey after she returns from her stay with her Aunt Marjorie. She had been away for a while, whilst trying to forget the hallucinations she was supposedly having. The most interesting part of this book is when Abbey goes to work for her Uncle at an ice cream shop. She works behind the counter with a girl from school named Aubra. One night Aubra’s boyfriend, Vincent, comes into the shop; they must have had an argument as Abbey could hear shouting. One night when Abbey got back from the shop she went up to her room and found rose petals on her bed. She thought it would be Caspian, but no, it was Vincent. He trashed her room and threw her around the room. Caspian came charging into the room but he was to late, Vincent had taken her.This shocks me as the book, like the hollow, leaves it as a cliff hanger. I hope there is going to be another book because I want to read what is about to happen to Abbey.

I find Vincent very interesting because the way he acts is quite scary. He scares me even though I know he is just a character from a book. At the end of the book it mentions that Vincent is the same as Caspian in many ways except everyone can see Vincent. They are mortal enemies.

The Hollow by Jessica Verday. Reviewed by Hannah Ainsworth

The Hollow is the first book of two, about a girl called Abbey living a tough life after her best friend, Kristen, disappeared. Although Kristen had never been found: her parents held a funeral to mark her death. At the funeral Abbey met a boy called Caspian. Several weeks after the funeral Abbey kept bumping into him and eventually they spoke. To Abbey, Caspian was a normal person who didn’t go to her school but he had a secret, he was a ghost. Abbey and Caspian carried on meeting up and eventually they fell in love. The most interesting part is when Abbey told her parents about Caspian being a ghost, they thought she was going insane, Abbey moved to her Aunt Marjorie’s for a while, until she could realise that he was really dead. The book ended on a cliff hanger.

I find Caspian the most interesting character because he is an illusion for Abbey. Caspian is described with white-blonde hair and a black streak standing out amongst his pale hair colour. Caspian tells Abbey he is there to help her get through life without Kristen but that’s not the only reason he is there for. He says no-one can see him apart from her which must mean something.

Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist by Liz Kessler: a review by Erin Sharpe

Ever since Emily Windsnap descovered she was half mermaid half human, she has adored life on her perfect desert island, going to mermaid school and spending time with her best friend, Shona Silkfin.

However everything changes when Emily Windsnap discovers an old diamond ring during a class hunt for trinkets, how is she supposed to know that the ring is half the key to unlocking an ancient curse by Neptune himself? Now, with the ring stuck firmly on her hand, Emily finds herself under a new curse: in just a few days, she’ll cease to be half-human and half-mermaid and must say good-bye to one parent forever. Can she possibly find the other missing ring that will break all the curses? Is there anyone who can help her — before it’s too late?

DeathNote - story by Tsugumi Ohba, art by Takeshi Obata - A review by Joe C

When I get stuck into a good manga it’s hard to get me or my thoughts away from it; DeathNote is a perfect example of this, for a series of only 12 volumes it is an epic tale.

A brief synopsis then... Light Yagami is a bored genius who while attending school something out of the ordinary catches his eye, a black notebook falling from the sky outside his classroom window. Curious, Light takes the notebook before anyone else can and reads the two words in white on its cover ‘Death Note’. Inside the notebook are pages instructing the holder on its use, the first, most important rule reading “The human whose name is written in this note shall die.”Light assumes the notebook is an elaborate prank, as most people would, but one night decides to test its supposed powers; he chooses to kill a criminal shown on the news, someone no-one would care about. After forty seconds, like the Death Note’s rules dictated, the man dies of a heart attack and Light realises the power he holds... However, Light is not a normal person, scared neither of the Death Note’s powers nor their consequences, instead he chooses to cleanse the world he believes has rotted, eliminating those that oppose his vision of a perfect society with himself ruling as its god. Needless to say, all these criminals dropping dead of heart attacks attract the attention of the police and soon the world’s greatest detective, L is on the case. These killings also attract the attention of the public, giving Light’s godly persona a name. Kira. So the tale begins...

Very few books are on the side of the story’s villain, with Light we can see his intent as a noble goal yet there is always something wrong about what he does but we cannot help but sympathise with him. Much of DeathNote’s narrative occurs in the characters’ thoughts, most notably the two genii L and Light as they wage a silent war against one another, this makes the book a very interesting read since many of the complex ideas play out so beautifully when explained by these characters.

 Light is observed in his everyday actions by Ryuk, a Shinigami or Death God, in fact the one who dropped the Death Note purely because he was bored and thought a human could provide a little entertainment. Ryuk has a love of apples, apparently having an addiction to them in a similar way to a human with nicotine, the withdrawal symptoms making him perform handstands and curl up like a pretzel (something Light says he never wants to have to see).

Psychologically all the characters are anything but two dimensional, in a psychology based storyline they can’t afford to be, even Misa Amane, the model who appears at the end of the second volume appears to have thoughts beyond the obvious despite her airhead nature.

Admittedly I had guessed at the ending of the series correctly but that made it no less enjoyable to read as the final showdown took place. I will warn you, as the title may suggest, there are a lot of deaths; however the only ones we see tend to be heart attacks, the default mode of killing for the Death Note.

P.S. I have a spare volume 7 of Death Note if anyone wants it at a discount.