Hooray! Armchair BEA starts on Monday, and I'm bound and determined to get back in the swing of things and visit lots of blogs to see what people are reading.Thought for the day: I try to post a book review every day, and keep the review fairly short. There are so many book blogs, so why does it seem like there are so few book reviews? Giveaways and author interviews are fine, but I just want to know what to read next!
Hautman, Pete. The Klaatu TerminusApril 8th 2014 by Candlewick Press
Copy from Young Adult Books Central and reviewed there.
In this final book in the The Obsidian Blade and The Cydonian Pyramid series, we come to a conclusion of sorts regarding many of the characters. I took notes on this when I read it during state testing, and it made my brain hurt, but I am pretty sure I understood it! (And I looked up every time I turned the page to make sure kids were on task, even though I was in a room where students were all working with people who were reading to them or scribing!)
In 3000 CE, Tucker and Lia are on Romulas. Lia saved Tucker from Gheen, and they have traveled all over via diskos and are now wandering in the forest, being helped by the Whorsch-Boggs family.
In 2012, Kosh sees Lamb Emma and is a little confused. He is later critically hurt and sent to the future to heal.
In 1997, Kosh's brother goes off to study, leaving his grilfriend Emily behind. She and Kosh develop a very closed relationship.
Tucker and Lia travel to 2012 but think Kosh has been killed. They talk to Emma but Koan and Tamm try to kill Lia. Kosh shows up, but Tucker, Lia and Kosh are around when a barn explodes, and they go to the future and are in the Terminus/Harmony and meet Emily 3.
We learn some big secrets about Tucker, Kosh and the various forms of Emily, but even if I could give away the story, I wouldn't!
Strengths: Good world building and time travel, nice twists, and this was easier to read than the others; I seemed to have a better idea of what was going on. If I didn't have to try to summarize, I would have just read and enjoyed this one, although I preferred the 1997 scenes to the ones in the future.
Weaknesses: Some heavy duty science fiction. Some of the Klaatu details are a bit odd.
That's a good question, Karen! Reviews are harder to write. I love your format for your reviews (summary/strengths/weaknesses)--it helps the reader, and I imagine it helps you organize your thoughts, too! I think I need something like that, or a schedule. Perhaps both. I'm not working next week, so maybe I will try Armchair BEA--and posting a review a day, too! Please come visit.
ReplyDeleteI love that you write so many reviews! I have trouble getting four a week written, for a few reasons. One is that I don't have enough books that I've read that I feel like writing about. Many books I haven't finished, and of those I finish, many seem to be books I didn't care for but don't have the energy to figure out why. So I can't really review them....And so it is pretty much impossible that I will have five books that I can review, and then even if I do, time is short in spring (the thawing of the ground brings much busy-ness to archaeologists).
ReplyDeleteAt the last BEA Book Bloggers convention I went to, the speaker asked anyone who wrote more than 15 reviews a month to raise their hand. I was the only one who did, which struck me as rather pathetic....
viz today's book-- the first one confused and distressed me, so I never tried the second; maybe I should!
I don't think I've bought one of the Cydonian books- gottenthem free from three different places. This always strikes me that the publishers care more about the books than the reading public. I think there are more fun time travel books out there.
ReplyDeleteSo, since reading and blogging are competitive sports, I'm winning, right? Remember, my JOB is to read middle grade books. Well, not at school, but I always tell my students that if I didn't read the books, I wouldn't know what to recommend!