the storm king - glowing sand by kai meyer (2009)

kai meyer is an established german ya-fantasy-writer. i have already read the two first books from his 1001-night-trilogy the storm king (die sturmkönige in german) and was really excited to read book 3, the hardcovers are very expensive, so i waited for the paperback, which was released this april 2011.

it's the 52th year of the war between jinns and humans. with their magic carpet, tarik and sabatea have gone into the desert again to find the legendary city of skarabapur. they are guided by an ivory-horse and acompagnied by the magician khalis, his bodygueard almarik and the thief-sieblings nightface and ifranji. at the same time tarik's brother junis is trying to rescue the strange boy jibril from the jinns, while they're attacking bagdad. he might be the only chance to win the war.

i know that sounds very complicated... but it's really, really great!

i'm sorry but i don't know when the books will appear in english, but i'm sure they will...
keep looking for them!


by the way, i really like the hardcover art:

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darkest powers - dangerous by kelley armstrong (2010)

this is like a little prequel for the darkest powers-trilogy by kelley armstrong. 100 pages about derek and simon before they moved into the lyle-house.

when derek is five, the incident happens. his three brothers kill a nurse at the institute. even if he didn't do anything, he's a threat now and they seem to want to get rid of him, like of his brothers. but then simon's dad comes and is offering him to stay with them and derek accepts. everything is pretty normal (if you ignore the fact that they're constantly on the run) until simon is attacked by a bully and derek is overwhelmed by his own strength. 

i really liked derek in the darkest powers and was so happy to get more of him here... he's so sarcastic and strong, but has such a soft heart =) 

you can download the pdf-file here...

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the darkest powers-trilogy:

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movie adaptions

true grit, based on the novel with the same name by charles portis, starring matt damon and geoffrey rush.

14-year-old mattie ross comes to forth smith to hire a bounty-hunter to take revenge on ther father's murderer, tom chaney. with great wit she's able to convince the bibulous marshall reuben cegburn. but at the same time also the texan ranger la boeuf is hunting chaney.

a serious western, really special and therefore typically coen!

book  ?

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limitless, based on the novel the dark fields by alan glynn, starring bradley cooper.

eddie morra is a writer, but he doesn't write and can't get anything going at all. untill he takes a little pill, that allows him to use 100% of his brain. soon is a star and everyone wants to have him for themselfs. but soon the side-effects of the drug begin to show...

a great story, fast and entertaining. i have to read the book!!!!

book  ?

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red riding hood, a mix between the fairytale and a horror-movie by twilight-regisseur catherine hardwicke.

valerie's (amanda seyfried) village is after 20 years of peace again hunted by a werewolf. they ask the experienced hunter pater salomon for help. but what he suggests doesn't comfort: one of the villagers has to be the werewolf. a terrible witch-hunt begins.

after the great trailer, the actual movie was a little dissapointing...

book  ?

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the caster chronicles - beautiful darkness by kami garcia and margaret stohl (2010)

this is the 2nd book of the caster chronicles, by author-duo kami garcia and margaret stohl.

lena has another year to decide if she wants to be a dark or a light caster. she is devastated by the tragic event that happened on her birthday and draws back from ethan more and more.

i think this book was better than the first one (beautiful creatures), because there are more characters and also more action... i really like ethan and liv, and i grew warm to link too. but lena is annoying at times.

i'm very curious about the next book: beautiful chaos, to be released in october 2011. can't wait to see what happens to ridley, john breed and link.

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the five people you meet in heaven by mitch albom (2003)

i got this book as a present, and had it standing on my shelf for a while... i decided to give it a try over easter-holiday.

eddie dies in an accident at his workplace, the amusement park ruby, trying to save a little girl. when he's in heaven he meets five people, who teach him the reason of his life and death.

we read what happens in heaven, about life on earth after his death and we even get some flashbacks from eddie's life. we hate with eddie, we mourn and don't understand... but then we learn to accept and to forgive and to accept forgiveness... to be honest i wasn't that touched at first, but the end has really gotten to me, i even had to cry a little bit, so therefore the whole book was worth reading...

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the mortal instruments - city of fallen angels by cassandra clare (2011)

i think this is my most anticipated book this year, or at least this spring! and cassandra clare did not let me down. fantastic as ever! the story is set six weeks after the life-altering events in idris from city of glass, written from various points of view.

clary and jace are finally a couple and enjoying their time together, but soon jace is acting weird and becomes reserved more and more. but that's not all, someone is murdering shadowhunters. at the same time, simon is having troubles with his two girlfriends and the fact that he's a vampire and doomed for the rest of his eternal life.

i can't wait for the next book of the mortal instruments, city of lost souls, to be released in april 2012. damn, such a long time... but meanwhile i will enjoy the sequel of clockwork angel, clockwork princess, of the infernal devices-series.

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the mortal instrumets 1-3:

 

 book 1-3  * * * * *

the water wars by cameron stracher (2011)

over 2/3 of earth are water, but only 10% are drinkable. what if those 10% are being controlled by a few people who just want to get rich?

vera and her brother will are living in a mostly deserted town in the state of illinowa, one of the 5 states, that exist instead of the former usa. water is rare and very precious, ans as their parents are not wealthy, they are thirsty most of the time. one day vera meets a boy, kai, who tells her he knows a river with plenty of water, and someday he's going to show it to her. vera, will and kai become friends, but then kai gets kidnapped and vera and will decide to rescue him, even if they just met him.

the book was quite good, but i think the love-story should have been either left out completly or worked out more, because it felt a little unreal and unnecessary.

anyway, i liked cameron stracher's ya-debut and i definitively liked vera and ulysses!

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the windup girl by paolo baciagalupi (2010)

this book has won the hugo- and nebula award for best novel 2010. it's written form various points of view.

lake anderson is a calorie-man, he searches for extinct fruit and vegetables in a world marked from biological war, gene-hacking and global warming. in bangkok, he finds a fruit, which no one seems to know where it's from. and he meets emiko, a windup girl, made as a servant for rich humans, despised now that she is worthless.

what at first seems like some loosely linked stories about life in future bangkok, soon is recognized as not so much accidently chosen and becomes connected more and more until in the last chapters it concludes in an excellently woven final.

i'm desperately waiting for paolo baciagalupi's ya-novel ship breaker (pb due to be released in may 2011).

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the last airbender - prequel: zuko's story by dave roman, alison wilqus and nina matsumoto (2010)

i loooveeee this tv-series!!! first i watched the movie, the last airbender, in cinema and after that i watched every single episode of all 3 books (water, earth and fire). and zuko is my favourite. i was really excited about this manga-prequel, because it's his story:

after being defeated in an agni kai-duell by his own father firelord ozai, prince zuko has to leave his hime, the fire-nation and find the avatar, the last airbender, to regain his honour. his annoying uncle, the dragon of the west and his loyal crew are coming with him.

it's quite a thin little booklet and therefore a little too fast forward. in the tv-series everything is slowly developing but here you have whole story within a few pages. also, you don't really learn anything new. but i liked it anyway, bacause of zuko and his uncle. the art by nina matsumoto is very nice.

the story continues in the last airbender by the same authors but with another illustator.

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