2013 Reading Wrap-Up

At the end of 2013, I ended up falling behind on reviews due to my brief hiatus when my family came home for Christmas and the general business of the holiday season. So I decided to give a brief review of the last four books that I read at the end of the year and didn't get to review.

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson & the Olympians, #4)

"Tell me, Percy. I have no wish to argue with you. But do you support the gods because they are good, or because they are your family?"
 Riordan doesn't disappoint in the fourth addition to an already wonderful series. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover face graver dangers with higher consequences than ever before. Once again, Riordan manages to capture all of the excitement, terror, and adventure that the reader can imagine in this thrilling installment to the series.
I cannot get over how much I love the character growth throughout this series. I really enjoy getting to watch our three heroes grow and mature even as the world becomes more dangerous around them. I cannot wait to read the final book in the series and find out just how everything goes down.

Rating: ★★★★☆


Ghost Knight by Cornelia Funke

My mother had once said to me, "We make our best friends in the dark times because we always remember how they helped us out of the darkness." 

After reading the Inkworld Trilogy (which I absolutely fell in love with), I am hard pressed not to pick up a Cornelia Funke book if I pass it in a shop.
Ghost Knight has only heightened my love for her work. A children's novel about a boy who must battle an ancient curse in order to save himself and everyone he loves, it was an absolutely delightful and chilling read. Accompanied by illustrations that heighten the sense of creeping danger and valiant bravery, I could not be more entranced by this gripping volume.

Rating: ★★★★★

Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti

It's pretty well established that girls want to be considered hot. I mean, when you're brought up to think that your hotness quotient is pretty much your entire worth, that shit becomes pretty damn important.
If you've been looking for a text that will cover all the basics of what being a feminist means, look no further. Jessica Valenti covers it all in this fabulous book that explains what feminism stands for and why you're almost definitely a feminist too.
I dove into this and barely surfaced for air. It was packed so full of gems that just thinking about this book makes me want to go back and reread it now. Give it a shot. You won't regret it.

Rating: ★★★★★

Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy

Even if you are a woman who achieves the ultimate and becomes like a man, you will always be like a woman. And as long as womanhood is thought of as something to escape from, something less than manhood, you will be thought less of, too.
This was one of those books that I just picked off the shelf at Barnes & Noble because it looked interesting, then found myself thirty minutes later, well into it and dying to read more. Ariel Levy has a distinct voice that rings with truth in an ages where women are trying to find equality and especially sexual freedom, yet aren't really sure what that look like.
Levy warns against the dangers of buying into what our culture calls "sexy" and letting a new era of objectification wash in where we thought we were ushering in our own freedom. This is definitely a must read for women everywhere.

Rating: ★★★★☆

The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson & the Olympians, #3)

"In each case, your loved ones have been used to lure you into Kronos's traps. Your fatal flaw is personal loyalty, percy. You do not know when it is time to cut your losses. To save a friend, you would sacrifice the world. In a hero of the prophecy, that is very, very dangerous." 
I balled my fists. "That's not a flaw. Just because I want to help my friends-" 
"The most dangerous flaws are those which are good in moderation," she said. "Evil is easy to fight. Lack of wisdom . . . that is very hard indeed."

I swear, the further I get in this series, the more addicting it becomes.

In the third installment of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, The Titans Curse starts off with Thalia, Annabeth, and Thalia answering yet another call for help from Grover, who has put his search for Pan on hold while the satyrs go on high alert in search of half-bloods. It turns out that Grover has found two young half-bloods of unknown parentage, but they aren't the only ones who have discovered the di Angelo siblings. A monster attacks the school and the demigods and satyr are pitted against an enemy they're not sure they can handle.

When Annabeth is taken in the battle, Percy immediately volunteers to lead the quest in search of her. He's eager to help his best friend and terrified of losing her.

There are more things going on than just Annabeth's kidnapping, though. Other demigods have been disappearing and now Artemis is involved. She sends her hunters to Camp Half-Blood, causing an uproar among the campers, who have no love to spare for the girls. When Artemis too goes missing, all Hades breaks loose.

However, when the quest commissioned, Percy is overlooked in favor of Thalia, Grover, and three of Artemis's hunters. Percy isn't usually one to break the rules, but with Annabeth's life on the line, all bets are off. It might just be up to him to break out of camp and create a quest of his own.

I am consistently impressed with authors who can track the progression of the ages of their heroes and heroines in tales like this and keep them accurate. One of the many things I keep finding myself admiring about this book series is how I can see the growth and maturity of each character continue to progress as time goes by and these heroes/heroines experience more of what their danger-riddled life has to offer. However, that's certainly not the only thing I admire about Percy Jackson & the Olympians.

Once again, Rick Riordan has offered the reader a new look at the ancient Greek myths, presenting gods and goddesses as they might have become in our day and myths that translate into wonderful stories for our favorite demigods to navigate.

In The Titan's Curse, Riordan draws the reader into another action-packed adventure filled with rich mythology, angry gods, and new obstacles at every turn. He creates a stunning world that draws you in and holds you captive even after the final page has been turned.

Not many books can give me a reading hangover (where the reader has trouble starting a new book because he/she can't get the last one off the brain), because of how much I read, but these books certainly do. If that isn't reason enough as to why you should pick up this book, I don't know what is.

Rating: ★★★★★

"Percy, as much as I want you to come home"--she sighed like she was mad at herself--"as much as I want you to be safe, I want you to understand something. You need to do whatever you think you have to do." 
I stared at her. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, do you really, deep down, believe that you have to save her? Do you think it's the right thing to do? Because I know one thing about you, Percy. Your heart is always in the right place. Listen to it."

Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson & The Olympians, #2)

"I'll come rescue you," I promised. "Where are you?"
"The Sea of Monsters, of course!"
"The sea of what?"
"I told you! I don't know exactly where! And look, Percy . . . um, I'm really sorry about this, but this empathy link . . . well, I had no choice. Our emotions are connected now. If I die . . ."
"Don't tell me, I'll die too."
"Oh, well, perhaps not. You might live years in a vegetative state. But, uh, it would be a lot better if you got me out of here."

[Click here to see my review of book 1: The Lightning Thief]

With the movie adaptation of this particular book in the series rapidly approaching, I cannot be the only one who has been rushing to get a move on reading this series . . . or at least finish this book before the movie ruins it for you. (As excited as I am to see Logan Lehrman *swoon* reprise his role as Percy and as much as I love the casting of Tyson, I highly doubt they'll be able to do the book justice. But that's most movie adaptations, isn't it?)

Percy can't wait for the end of school and the beginning of this new year at Camp Half-Blood. He hasn't seen Annabeth since camp ended last summer and, though he won't get to see Grover (who is away searching for Pan), he's eager to get back to his friends and his own kind. It's the last day of school and Percy has managed to make it through the entire year without even one monster attacking him, but things change when a group of cannibals show up for dodgeball and it's up to Percy and his new friend Tyson to save their classmates from being eaten.

It turns out this is only the beginning of a very eventful (and highly dangerous) summer. Upon reaching Camp Half-Blood, Percy learns that Thalia's tree has been poisoned, which means the defenses around Camp Half-Blood are lower than they've ever been. It's practically an invitation for monsters to come feast on young demi-gods. Not to mention, Zeus is furious.

The Golden Fleece is their only hope for saving the camp and the demi-gods inside it. The problem? A Camp Activities Coordinator (literally) from Hell, a Cyclops, an old friend who has proven to be less than friendly, and a sea full of monsters. What could possibly go wrong?

I mentioned before that I am in love with this series and that fact remains strikingly true. As someone who has been deeply interested in Greek mythology since I first learned about it in elementary school, this is a dream come true. It's rare for any fiction based on the mythology to fit in so much accuracy, but Rick Riordan somehow manages it and all without sounding textbook. Kudos to him.

Percy, Annabeth, and friends are just as believable and thoroughly entertaining as they were in the first book. I look forward to taking more adventures with them and learning more about this crazy world that has it out for the young heroes.

 Rating: ★★★★★

Hermes gazed up at the stars. "My dear young cousin if there's one thing I've learned over the eons, it's that you can't give up on your family, no matter how tempting they make it."

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson & The Olympians, #1)

Gabe turned toward me and spoke in the rasping voice of the Oracle: You shall go west, and face the god who has turned.
His buddy on the right looked up and said in the same voice: You shall a what was stolen, and see it safely returned.
The guy on the left threw in two poker chips, then said: You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend.
Finally, Eddie, our building super, delivered the worst line of all: And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.

I was one of those who was introduced to the Percy Jackson series when the movie, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, came out. I adored the movie and was absolutely stoked when I realized it was based off a book series. Even still, it took a while before I actually got around to reading it. I must have checked it out from the library at least three times before I finally cracked it open and got to reading.

Percy Jackson never realized he was different. Sure, he had a smart mouth on him and a bit of a rebellious nature, he struggled with dyslexia as well as ADD, but nothing too strange. At least, not until his teacher turned into a harpy and tried to kill him. At the end of his sixth grade year, Percy learns that he is actually a half-blood (or a demigod), son of a human mother and a father who happens to be an Olympian god. Now that he has begun to realize his true heritage, the monsters who make it their mission to take down these half-blood heroes are onto his scent.

As if that weren't enough, it's not long after this new discovery that Percy learns Zeus's master bolt has been stolen and all Olympian eyes are on him as the prime suspect. If he wants to clear his name and save the Western World from the wrath of the gods, Percy and his friends are going to have to find the real lightning thief and find the motive behind the theft before it's too late.

This series is often likened to that of the Harry Potter series in more ways than one. While the two series are vastly different in content, I do have to say this: I think the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series is on par in becoming Children's/YA classics for decades to come. Maybe this is a little pre-emptive of me to say. After all I've only read the first two books so far (#2's review will be up in the next 2-3 weeks), but I've got a feeling about this one. We'll just have to see if I feel the same when I reach the end of the series, won't I?

The point is, I loved this book and I think it's an extremely promising start to what looks like an amazing series. I've definitely enjoyed it. (How can I not? Let's keep in mind that I've been fascinated by Greek mythology since I was in elementary school.) I deeply look forward to getting to know Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and the others as the series continues.

Rating: ~★★★★★~

[Click here to see my review of book 2: Sea of Monsters]

"So if the gods fight," I said, "will things line up the way they did with the Trojan War? Will it be Athena vs. Poseidon?"
She put her head against the backpack Ares had given us, and closed her eyes. "I don't know what my mom will do. I just know I'll fight next to you."