Thrice Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris, a book review

Thrice Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris… Edric, how we love to laugh at your silly sayings! And Marigold… stop it with the elephant jokes! Please! Seriously, though, we love Thrice Upon a Marigold as much as Once Upon a Marigold and wish our library had the middle book in this series!  (I haven't read or reviewed that one because our library doesn't have it yet and I don't have a budget for buying fluff as yet.)  You can read my review of Once Upon a Marigold HERE.

Marigold has a baby. Baby is stolen. Mama and Daddy and some new characters team up to retrieve baby. This is the story!

It's a good one. My two eldest daughters and I thoroughly enjoyed it and I highly recommend it. If you can, I'm sure reading the one that comes right before it would also be totally enjoyable based on our enjoyment of first and third. I'll make sure to share once I'm able to read it myself!

Have you read Thrice Upon a Marigold by Jean Ferris? What did you think about it?

The Thirteenth Reality, The Void of Mist and Thunder by James Dashner, a book review

The Thirteenth Reality, The Void of Mist and Thunder by James Dashner is the final book the Tick's saga, to the best of my knowledge (though no the end of his story).

Tick must escape the nowhere land he has found himself in with Mistress Jane and Chu. It's really up to him. They can't get themselves out.

He manages it somehow. In the doing, though, a part of the fourth dimension squeaks into their own multiverse and begins to wreak havoc. Again, though there are many forces working to assist, it falls to Tick to fix everything. He sorta manages to…

I do recommend this book and series for middle grade readers. Since the main character is a guy, young guys may especially enjoy it. My daughters love it and they are the reason I read the whole series even though it was a bit of a chore to push through each day. It's got lots of fodder for conversation with my daughters, so definitely not wasted time!

Have you read The Thirteenth Reality, The Void of Mist and Thunder by James Dashner? What did you think of it?

The Thirteenth Reality, The Blade of Shattered Hope by James Dashner, a book review

The Thirteenth Reality, The Blade of Shattered Hope by James Dashner is the third book in the saga of Tick and his friends striving to save the world from the evil geniuses in the realities. This series rests on the premise that there are many realities, with 13 of them being prime. Each reality has some of the same people, but not all do the same things. One's alterant might be very tall or very fat, depending on which reality s/he was from..

In this step in Tick's journey as a realitant, he is pitted against Mistress Jane who has pretty much completely lost all her sense. She's batty as a result of her interactions and experiences with Tick in the first book. She has set out to fulfill her goal of a utopia for all the realities… by doing evil. What's a little sacrifice of 6 billion lives if it saves more than 18 billion? This is how she thinks.

My daughters love this series. I read it because they wanted me to read it. It is good. It definitely did not have me in thrall. I had to push myself to finish it, quite frankly. I'm glad I did because I'm able to talk to my daughters about it. There are lots of great conversation starters, both of the fluff kind as well as many of deeper nature. I think this series is solidly written for middle grade readers. Boys in that age group, often considered the most difficult to hook on books, would probably love it! I definitely recommend it for those age readers.

Have you read The Thirteenth Reality, The Blade of Shattered Hope by James Dashner? What did you think of it?

The Thirteenth Reality, The Hunt For Dark Infinity by James Dashner, a book review

The Thirteenth Reality, The Hunt for Dark Infinity, by James Dashner, is the second book in Tick's saga. I shared my thoughts about the beginning of Tick's adventures HERE, so if you're trying to decide if this series is a go, make sure to check there first!

In this book, Tick continues to grow in new power through the tests Chu puts him through, unbeknownst to him.

Mistress Jane, in this book, seems to be turning over a new leaf. No longer the evil villain, she is trying to behave differently and be kinder, it seems.

She eventually learns that she is meant to do something that would have been easy for her to do in the first book, but she questions whether she should do it at all in this one. By the end, she makes her decision.

Tick and his friends move through various devious tests orchestrated by Chu, who is really just trying to find someone to help him rule the multiverse. He is an evil genius and Tick is determined to foil his plans and bring only actual good (not the twisted power-hungry version Chu has in mind) to the multiverse.

I had a tough time pushing through this book, to tell ya the truth. I did it, and will read the rest of the series, because my daughters want me to. It's good. But definitely didn't have me on the edge of my seat by any means. I definitely recommend it for middle grade readers, perhaps especially boys (though my daughters love it).

Have you read The Thirteenth Reality, the Hunt for Dark Infinity, by James Dashner? What did you think of it?

Treasure of Khan, a Dirk Pitt Novel by Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler, a book review

Treasure of Khan by Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler is another of the stack of books we received from a coworker of my husband's. It is an action packed story which ties a possible event in history to a fictional series of events set in the present day.

History made pertinent to hair raising modern day events is an interesting theme that seems to be common in Cussler's stories. I like it. The descriptions of guns and detail about fight scenes (when they get bloody), not so much. He definitely writes for a male audience!

This story involves the children of the main character, which I found a really interesting plot twist. Especially because the main character, Dirk Pitt, didn't know about them until they were basically adults and their mother was dead (which we learn in this book).

Action and mystery weave together throughout this story. It's interesting how Cussler alludes to some things and allows others to be complete surprises.

I did like this novel. It is definitely for an adult audience, primarily because of the nature of the action scene as well as some of the interactions between characters. My children will not read it any time soon, though I'm sure my eldest would enjoy it because she loves mysteries and actions packed scenes.

Have you read Treasure of Khan by Clive Cussler and Dirk Cussler? What did you think of it?