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.

comic  * * *

movie  * * * *

tv-series * * * * *

evernight - afterlife by claudia gray (2011)

this is the last book of claudia gray's evernight-series (evernight, stargazer, hourglass).

bianca and lucas' love has just gotten even more complicated than when she was a vampire and he an ex-vampire-hunter. now that they both died, she is a wrath and he is a vampire... at the same time the ancient war between those two species has reached a new level. will bianca and lucas once again overcome their differences and end this war?

book 1-3 were quite good, but i didn't like this one. i'm not into  ghost-stories and therefore the newest events were a bit annoying for me. but as i kind of had to force myself to read the book till the end, i guess that was not the only problem... i'm not too sad, that it's over now.

there will be a spin-off novel/prequel about balthazar (my favourite). and 'm really, really looking forward to the new novel she's writing about a girl and a werewolf set on board of the titanic... well, that sounds great! =)

book 1-3 * * * 
book 4   * *

timeless - timeless by alexandra monir (2011)

alexandra monir is a singer/songwriter and now debut-author of timeless. being multi-talented like that, she has written songs for the novel, to be heard on her website. it's not my kind of music, but they are not bad. the idea is very interesting.

michele grew up in l.a. with her mother. her grandparents are the fortunate windsors, one of the most important families in new york. when she is forced to live with them, she finds an old diary which brings her back in time, to new york, 1910.

for me, the love-story was not quite convincing, but the mother-daughter-relationship was really sweet and also the relationship between michele and her grandpartens was nicely developed. what i liked the most, were the descriptions of old new york, the society and the people.

p.s. there will be at least one sequel, as the last words are: "to be continued..."

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we can remember it for you wholesale by philip k. dick (1966)

again i'm reading a pkd short story, which has been turned into the movie total recall, starring arnold schwarzenegger.

douglas quail's biggest dream is to visit mars someday. but he's just a clerk and knows that he'll never be able to go and therefore decides to go to a company called rekall incorporation, which implants memories. he buys memory for a trip to mars, some souvenirs and pictures and film-material, so he will be convinced he'd gone. but during the operation something seems to go wrong...

damn, this man was a genius, the stories are sooooo great! i can't believe i've never read one before... were i a writer, pkd would be my idol!

book   * * * *

movie  ?

second variety by philip k. dick (1953)

another short-story ba philip k. dick. also second variety has been made into a movie some years ago: screamers (haven't seen that onethough... not yet).

in the war between the u.s. and the sovjets, it seemed like the latter would surely win it. but then the u.s. had developed tiny battle-robots that easily turned the whole situation to their favour. now russia urgently requested a parley at their headquarter. one single soldier was to go and represent the country. major hendricks went and foud someting along the way...
a little boy.

well i had my suspicions right from the beginning, and i think that's exactly what the author had intended... i was wrong. let's see if you are right =)

get the pdf-file here (not so many mistakes and no pages missing).

book  * * * *

movie ?