Tag: Excellent Book

This is a book I thought was highly above the bar and am willing to recommend it to just about every avid book reader.

Posted in Book Reviews, Novels

ARC REVIEW: The High Climber of Dark Water Bay by Caroline Arden

Posted on by elishasbookreview

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*Spoilers Ahead*

**Huge thanks to Turner Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this novel early**

  ***The High Climber of Dark Water Bay by Caroline Arden will be hitting your local bookshelves June 5, 2018, ***

This novel takes place in Seattle in the 1920’s. Times are hard after the war, and it’s no different for twelve-year-old Elizabeth “Lizzie” Parker. Her parents have died and now lives with her sister and her fiance and her newborn nephew.

As Lizzie’s sister’s fiance can’t find a job, Lizzie finds herself on a trip to Dark Water Bay. Her rich uncle has invested in the small logging camp and offered Lizzie to come and tutor her younger cousins for $100. Money that Lizzie’s family desperately needs.

As soon as she reaches Vancouver, things start to go wrong. Her uncle had left the camp months ago, and the owner of the logging camp is not as nice as he seems. How will Lizzie survive in the wilderness with no means to escape?

**Spoilers Ahead**

This book is classified as a book for children in middle school. However, I think it’s for more of the older middle schoolers. There are gambling and a few curse words mentioned in this book. So maybe a PG-13 rating.

I don’t read kids books that often, however, this one did not disappoint. This had me entertained and enthralled throughout. The action was good, and the descriptions of the scenery made me want to take a trip to Dark Water Bay and see the sights for myself.

Lizzie is a very relatable character. She comes from a prim and proper lifestyle and is thrust into a world where sweat and grease are the lifestyles. Seeing her change as the story went on felt practical. She is a dynamic character and changes throughout her adventure.

I loved the uniqueness of each logger. I especially loved Red. He was like a father-figure to Lizzie and gave her advice, and helped her overcome her challenges. All the loggers were more or less caring and supportive towards Lizzie as she discovered her place in the camp.

Overall this was a pretty good book. The characters were realistic and believable. The atmosphere was fantastic. This was an enjoyable read. I would recommend this for upper middle school and above.

Pre-Order it on Amazon (not sponsored)

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Posted in Book Reviews, DC comics, Graphic Novels

REVIEW: Aquaman, Vol. 2: The Others by Geoff Johns

Posted on by elishasbookreview

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*No Major Spoilers*

The adventures of Aquaman continue as old memories resurface as members of The Others return in the search for Aquaman for help. Black Manta has been hunting each member down for a piece of their jewelry, but why?

Aquaman, Mera, and The Others start the hunt for the infamous arch-nemesis to figure out why he’s needing these pieces of jewelry. However, will Aquaman let his long lost friends aid him in the search?

As the saga continues, I’m enjoying every moment of this storyline! The art, the relatable characters, I just love a good story. This is that story.

I think this could be a stand-alone graphic novel, it doesn’t bring up the plot from the previous volume. So if you’re just reading this for Black Manta, then you’re good to go.

I am not familiar with The Others, and some of their own storylines left me confused and made me felt like I needed to research them. Hopefully, this will be resolved to go further into the main storyline.

Buy it on Amazon (not sponsored)

Posted in Book Reviews, DC comics, Graphic Novels

REVIEW: The Joker: Endgame

Posted on by elishasbookreview
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*No Spoilers*

This horrific graphic novel follows Joker as he prepares for his final joke on Gotham. He is tired of the games and his “friendship” with Batman. So this is one last hoorah. This joke, however, might be the deadliest one yet!

This novel also follows Batman as he’s trying to figure out how to solve the Joker’s deadly endgame plans and save Gotham from total destruction; not only from Joker but from themselves. With the help of the Bat Family will they be successful?

Meanwhile, a small group of inmates from Arkham Manor abduct one of the doctors and take her to meet Joker. Each one tells her these delusions on what the Joker told them. Each wants their delusion of the Joker’s backstory to be true. But are they really correct?

What is the joke that Joker’s planning? Is Joker just a man who went mad, or his he something else entirely?

Rating: 5 out of 5.

This book left me befuddled, amazed and had to ruminate about. I was not expecting the way it ended! I know I continue saying that, but I only say it when the book leaves me not having an immediate response. That’s when you know it’s a good read!

I had to do a little research on YouTube from fellow comic book enthusiasts so I could make sure I understood this story to it’s fullest content. I might have been cheating by doing this, but it’s just a lot to take in and digest. I will link to the resource I used in case any of you are interested in hearing a summary of this epic novel.

Credit for the video

The video does contain spoilers of course. I would say that this is a must read for all comic fans. I would say light research might be needed to fully understand the plot, but I wouldn’t let that detour you from this graphic novel.

Posted in Book Reviews, Novels

REVIEW: The Umbrella Conspiracy (Resident Evil #1) by S.D. Perry

Posted on by elishasbookreview
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*No Major Spoilers*

Raccoon City: a remote mountain community suddenly besieged by a rash of grisly murders encroaching upon it from the surrounding forest. Bizarre reports start to spread, describing attacks from vicious creatures, some human… some not. Victims are apparently eaten.

At the epicenter of these deaths is a dark, secluded mansion belonging to the mysterious Umbrella Corporation. For years umbrella has labored within the mansion, unwatched, ostensibly conducting benign genetic research.

Deployed to investigate the strange goings-on is the Special Tactics and Rescue Squad (S.T.A.R.S.), an unusual paramilitary response unit boasting an eclectic assortment of mission specialists: roguish Chris Redfield, former cat burglar Jill Valentine, dead-eye Barry Burton, and the enigmatic team leader, Albert Wesker. Together with the other S.T.A.R.S. operatives, they have a good reason to believe they’re ready for anything.

But what unfolds as the S.T.A.R.S. penetrate the mansion’s long-locked doors is terror beyond their worst nightmares: creatures that defy the laws of life and death—the result of forbidden experiments gone disastrously wrong. Behind it all is a conspiracy so vast in its scope and so insidious in its agenda that the S.T.A.R.S. will be betrayed from within to ensure that the world never learns Umbrella’s secret. And if any survive… they may well come to envy those who did not.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

In Raccoon City, there’s been a string of gruesome and deadly murders that has the local police baffled. So they call in the S.T.A.R.S. to help solve the mystery. The S.T.A.R.S. are an elite group of people who deal with extravagant and sometimes odd missions that normal police can’t handle.

They send in the Beta team to survey the area around a seemingly abandoned mansion to see if that’s where the murderers might be hiding out. Then the Alphas lose contact with them and go out to see what happened and rescue any survivors.

However, things go awry when a group of “diseased” dogs attack. The remaining members of Team Alpha run for the abandoned mansion to escape the hellish hounds. Now they have to solve the mansions puzzles to not only get out and get help, but to figure out what happened in the mansion.

The remaining Alpha team members includes Albert Wesker, the team leader, Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, and Barry Burton.

Chris Redfield

I’m not a fan of horror games, I’m not a fan of horror in general unless it’s in book form. Then I saw one of my favorite YouTubers/Twitch streamers (ProtonJon) play Resident Evil 6 with one of his friends. They were both laughing at it and cracking jokes at the game’s plot. Them making fun of it made a seemingly scary game not so scary.

I have been interested in the Resident Evil games and overall story ever since. Especially since ProtonJon has Albert Wesker as a meme on his channel. Saying that when you subscribe he will “give you an egg”.

Back to the story, I was enthralled with the plot. The twists and turns and puzzles kept me glued to my screen. The characters were fully fleshed out and had their own motives and reasons for wanting to find out the truth of what was going on in the mansion was believable.

Overall I think this was an excellent book that I would recommend to anyone fans of Resident Evil, or just prefer horror in book form. Also zombies, since that fad is still going on.

Posted in Book Reviews, Graphic Novels, Marvel Comics

REVIEW: Spider-Gwen, Vol. 2: Weapon of Choice

Posted on by elishasbookreview
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*No Major Spoilers*

Gwen’s life is turned upside down after the SPIDER-WOMAN event at the worst time ever as Captain Frank Castle is bearing down on her. Does she stand a chance against Castle’s punishment?

Rating: 4 out of 5.

This action packed comic follows Gwen Stacy as she struggles with the responsibilities of being Spider-Woman and the dangers that come with being a hero in a society that sees heroes as the enemy. While she’s mourning the loss of her friend Peter Parker, Frank Castle is hot on her trail. He’s determined to find out the identity of Spider-Woman and bring her and her associates to justice.

This comic takes place in the alternate universe, Earth-65. So things are different from the comics that take place on Earth-616. I will not spoil how things are different in this story, I will leave that up to you guys to find out.

After the epic plot twist that leaves me thirsty for more, there’s a short story following Gwen and her friends The Mary Janes. It’s Halloween night, and to get their thrills they go to an abandoned amusement park, which was owned by Mysterio, and crazy hi-jinks ensue.

I have been wanting to explore the Spider-Gwen story-line ever since they announced it. However, with me having a temporary burnout on comics, I’m a bit late to the game. No matter, this thrilled me as much as I was hoping it would!

All the characters were well written and well used. I felt like Gwen Stacy was kind of a cardboard character though. I felt like she was only pushed to action when things got dire.

Even with its pros and cons, I still loved this story and its take on an alternate universe where things aren’t as they seem.