Tag: Action

Posted in Audiobooks, Book Reviews, Novels

REVIEW: Invictus by Ryan Graudin

Posted on by elishasbookreview

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*No Major Spoilers*

Farway Gaius McCarthy was born outside of time. The son of a time-traveling Recorder from 2354 AD and a gladiator living in Rome in 95 AD, Far’s birth defies the laws of nature. Exploring history himself is all he’s ever wanted, and after failing his final time-traveling exam, Far takes a position commanding a ship with a crew of his friends as part of a black market operation to steal valuables from the past.

But during a heist on the sinking Titanic, Far meets a mysterious girl who always seems to be one step ahead of him. Armed with the knowledge that will bring Far’s very existence into question, she will lead Far and his team on a race through time to discover a frightening truth: History is not as steady as it seems.

This Young Adult novel travels from Ancient Rome to a futuristic Earth where time travel is possible. I was intrigued by the plot of this story. I am familiar with Doctor Who so time travel is a genre I enjoy.

As a fan of Doctor Who when someone is born “out of time” that spells trouble. The laws of nature do not bend to our will. And when something is out of line, nature will correct itself no matter the circumstances.

I felt like the romance between Far and Priya, the ship’s doctor was natural. She and Far had a friendship before the Invictus first launched. Far would short-circuit medical droids because of his unnatural date of birth. So Priya would arrive and troubleshoot the problem, and that’s how they first met.

The other romance between Far’s cousin Imogen and the ship’s engineer Gram felt forced and awkward. They are polar opposites. Gram felt like an android from the many sci-fi movies. Stiff, robotic, genius as he plays Tetris and has a collection of solved Rubick’s Cubes. Imogen is bright, dying her hair a new neon color every day. She’s the ship’s historian, and she loves to have fun and party hard.

So for unnecessary romances, I only found one of them unnecessary. I wish they could have remained good friends and grow in that way.

This novel is fairly well-paced. Action-packed, and keeps you on your toes by trying to figure out what’s going on with the mystery of the unusual girl Elliot and her secrets she was keeping from the Invictus crew.

This novel is 400+ pages. If you prefer shorter novels, then you’re out of luck with this one. However, if you enjoy audiobooks, the flow of the novel made the over 400 pages go quickly.

Overall, I thought this novel was good. It was action-packed with plenty of time travel and world building. My only downside was the one unnecessary romance, and a few nitpicks. Other than that, I felt like this was a good, well written, Young Adult novel for any age to enjoy.

Posted in Book Reviews, Novels

REVIEW: Shark Island by Chris Jameson

Posted on by elishasbookreview
Shark Island

*NO SPOILERS*

Naomi Cardiff is not one to give up without a fight and now, after learning about a series of shark attacks in Cape Cod, she s joined a team of scientists to put a stop to the terror. The plan: to lure the sharks to a remote island far from the populated coastline. Meanwhile, a fierce Nor Easter is underway. . .

In the midst of the storm, an alarming number of Great Whites have come to slaughter the seals in a vicious feeding frenzy. When sharks ram and breach the hull, Naomi and her team must jump ship and swim desperately through a sea of circling fins and gaping jaws to the tiny island. But as the swells from the storm begin to swallow their rocky refuge, how will they manage to make it out alive?

Rating: 5 out of 5.

When I was at the library this book caught my eye. The stormy skies and the shark fins the dark waters reminded me of when the Discovery Channel runs Shark Week. The impending fear of there being a predator bigger than humans is terrifying in and of itself. This book has this in spades.

The story begins with Naomi who gets attacked by a shark while she was attempting to photograph a herd of seals that were living on the beach. A summer later, she will be traveling with a group of scientists to try and move the seal herd away from the mainland and onto a small island closer to Maine. Armed with her camera and her prosthetic leg, she makes this trek to prove to herself that she is no longer terrified of the ocean.

However, things go terribly wrong when a nor’easter threatens to postpone their trek. Not only are there troubles in the skies, but even more trouble in the waters as not only the seals follow the signal the scientist’s experiment is emitting, but the sharks are following the herds.

Now they have to survive on a rapidly flooding island when their boat crashes, and until help arrives. In the meantime,  can they survive the rabid sharks? Read this book to find out!

I enjoyed this epic, thrilling novel. The characters were fully fleshed out and when one of them died I felt sad along with the other characters. In Hollywood, you knew who was going to be monster food based on the fact they were cardboard stereotypes of people. At first, I was worried about how many characters were being introduced in the beginning, I was worried I was going to lose track of “who’s who”. I had no problems keeping up with the characters because they felt like real human beings being trapped in this horrible situation with death surrounding them on all sides.

Even though, I didn’t like the way the book ended (I predicted everyone was going to die or that it was all just a dream) I still loved how my favorite characters survived such a horrific event.

This is one of the more memorable books that I’ve read in a long time, so that’s why I’m giving this my Choice Award. The characters felt real and I could sense the tension and felt the fear that was written on each page.

Check out some other horror books I’ve reviewed!