The Club of Queer Trades

Summary--A collection of six wonderfully quirky detective stories, featuring the 'mystic' former judge Basil Grant. Each story reveals a practitioner of an entirely new profession, and member of the Club of Queer Trades.

Pro's--What to say about this book....it keeps you entirely baffled until the very end, it has some clever idea's, and it points out that there are more crimes than stealing and murdering. There are crimes against humanity like pride, hording, ect.  I also appreciated the author's brief opinion on evolution. Very humorous but true.

Con's--The book, just like the prime character Basil Grant, is eccentric and sometimes difficult to make sense of. Even in the end you still aren't fully aware how Basil solved all of these mysteries, you just know that he did. Personally I prefer a more Sherlock Holmes style where you may actually learn something from the methods the detective has used.  Another con, Basil Grant once referred to the Sherlock Holmes stories derogatorily. I am a huge fan of Holmes so this irritated me a bit. :) One more thing to mention is that the book takes at least three pages (front and back) before it gets to the actually story. Before that I felt like Chesterton was rambling.

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with this book but I don't necessarily recommend it. Proceed if you think it sounds interesting.

3 Stars. Ages 12 and up.

Captives

Captives - by Jill Williamson


Summary:

Loosely based on the story of Daniel and his friends, comes Jill Williamson's newest book, Captives. Set in a Dystopian world, the story is mainly about three brothers: Levi, Mason, and Omar. Intensely jealous of his oldest brother and anxious to get attention from his father, Omar betrays his small village of Glenrock to The Safe Lands in return for a position as an enforcer. Absent at the time of the ordeal, Levi is the only one not dead or captured. It's up to him to save his people. But will he be able to find a way to enter the city? Will his friends and family resist the urge to join in the sinful pleasures of the Safe Lands?

Pros:

This book had me hooked from the first chapter. My family can testify - I was dead to the world for the majority of one day. The main characters were deep and seemed real. Their struggles and feelings are very common things that teens battle today - jealousy, anger, peer pressure, feeling ugly or useless, sex, drugs, drinking - you name it, it's probably in there. The book also had wonderful themes. Forgiveness was one of the main ones, but it also touched on things such as self worth, revenge, standing up for what is right, and trusting in the Lord.

Cons:

Despite finding the book exciting and having an excellent point, I still have a few problems with it. I understand the importance of giving your characters flaws, but I thought in some places in the book, the flaws were lingered on a little too long. Mainly I'm talking about the drugs and sexual immorality. I don't mind brief scenes where the author suggests that something not-so-good happened. However, I get uncomfortable with the longer descriptions and repeated scenes of the drugs and suggestive dancing. These things are presented in a way it disgusts you, but I just wish the author would have clipped them shorter so that readers can keep their thoughts clean. I have one more caution for those interested in reading it. It is not really a con, but it affects the audience range. Just know that the people of the Safe Lands have a disease that doesn't allow the women to carry a child full term. They captured the people of Glenrock to reproduce for them, so the book does deal with surrogacy.

Four Stars, Caution, Ages 16 & up

Precisely Terminated (#1 Cantral Chronicles)

Precisely Terminated - Amanda L. Davis (Teen author, yay!)

My Summary: In the bleak future of this world, microchips are implanted in the skulls of every human in order to "keep order." In reality, however, the chips only serve to unjustly enslave mankind. The only hope for the Cillinese is Monica, a teen who escaped without a chip. Since the computers can't detect her presence, it's up to her to save her city.

Cons: If I have to come up with a con, the only thing I have to say is that sometimes the large number of characters was hard to keep track of. I would run across a name I knew I was supposed to have remembered from earlier, but I'd have no clue who they were and what they had done earlier that was so important. I lost them somewhere between other newly introduced characters. This wasn't a huge problem though, and since Monica was doing a lot of traveling, she had to meet a lot of different people. (Oh and I guess there were a few places where the description of some of Monica's wounds grossed me out, but that's just me. I just get light headed when people talk about blood. I don't think I would make a good doctor...)

Pros: I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Despite being a dystopian book and being very depressing at times, there is always a ray of hope around the corner. I would consider the theme of the book very Christian: sacrificing your own desires and comfort, in order to bring relief to others. This book was amazing! Don't underestimate young writers! I give this book five stars and would suggest this to teens and up, and perhaps a little younger too. I mean, I think my almost 10 year-old sister could handle it; but sometimes it just depends on the kid. The cruel way the slaves are treated in the book can be disturbing, but this book was very encouraging compared to the Hunger Games.

Please read this book!!!