The Quantum League: Spell Robbers

The Quantum League: Spell Robbers
By: Matthew J. Kirby
Reported by: Roark Helms
Source: ARC via Scholastic
Publishing date: January 28th, 2014

After Ben Warner is recruited to join a “science camp” led by the eccentric quantum physicist Dr. Madeleine Hughes, he quickly realizes it’s no regular science camp. Along with his new friend, Peter, Ben discovers the secret, powerful art of Actuation—the ability to change reality by simply imagining it differently.

When a mysterious group of men invade Dr. Hughes’s laboratory, abducting her and stealing her precious equipment, Ben and Peter are suddenly caught up in a turf war between dangerous actuators desperate for Dr. Hughes’s innovative technology. And as Ben and Peter are pulled into a perilous, hidden world full of impossibilities now made possible, will their combined powers be enough to save Dr. Hughes and vanquish their enemies before it’s too late?

From Edgar Award-winning author Matthew J. Kirby comes a fast-paced, boldly imagined tale of friendship, deadly adventure, and the infinite power of imagination.

-Summary from Goodreads
Pre-order: Mrs. Nelson's (support indie stores!) || Barnes & Noble || Amazon || Book Depository

 
In the words of my 11-year-old brother:

I would rate this book four out of five.

The characters: Ben is really freaking cool. He was way ahead of Peter, who was already ahead of everyone else. Sasha is okay but I think she was acting sort of bossy and I don't really like bossy people. Peter is actually kind of immature because there will always be someone who is better than you and so you should just try to do your best instead of whine about it.

The story: The plot is very interesting and cool but I'm just wondering... why did it take 160 pages for things to get really interesting? The beginning felt so slow and the book would be five out of five if the beginning didn't take so long to get good. I can stand the characters because everyone makes mistakes but I am not very patient. I am glad I read on though. I do think the plot is cool because it tells you how Ben learned Actuation and how and what the Quantum League does what it does. I think that what a really smart thing that the author did was how in the beginning I didn't know who was the antagonist and so that led to a lot of mystery, which I really enjoyed.

There we go! Thank you Roark, and thank you Scholastic for providing us with a copy of this fantastic book. I can't wait to dive into it myself as it sounds extremely promising as a sci-fi middle grade! ^.^ I'll be back to review more YA next month but until then, I wish everyone happy holidays and the best new year yet! :D  


P.S. Please don't kill me for my constant absence. T.T Sometimes I really hate school...

Spirit Animals Comin' Your Way!

Spirit Animals: Wild Born
By: Brandon Mull
Reported by: Juli & Roark Helms
Release Date: Sept. 10th, 2013
Source: ARC via Scholastic (Thank you so much!*)

Four children separated by vast distances all undergo the same ritual, watched by cloaked strangers. Four flashes of light erupt, and from them emerge the unmistakable shapes of incredible beasts - a wolf, a leopard, a panda, a falcon. Suddenly the paths of these children - and the world - have been changed for ever. Enter the world of Erdas, where every child who comes of age must discover if they have a spirit animal, a rare bond between human and beast that bestows great powers to both. A dark force has risen from distant and long-forgotten lands, and has begun an onslaught that will ravage the world. Now the fate of Erdas has fallen on the shoulders of four young strangers ...and on you.

-Summary from Goodreads
Pre-order: Mrs. Nelson's || Barnes & Noble || Book Depository 

Talk about creative! My brother and I've both been big fans of Scholastic's multi-author series, and this one, Spirit Animals, is no exceptions. Let's have my ten-year-old brother take it away first:

Roark: 
This book was just so... COOL. The main characters got the Fallen Four spirit animals, which is so cool. They each had better spirit animals than other people, which is really interesting because they must be awesome to have such cool spirit animals. I also really liked the plot because it tells you a lot about the spirit animals world, which is very fascinating**. It is also good because it switches from person to person so I can get more information from different places.

I think the characters are awesome**. Conor learned how to use his spirit animal faster than everyone else, which was cool. Abeke was the first to learn how to turn the spirit animal into a tattoo. They're all smart, maybe not like Meilin but, while Meilin is the best fighter which is cool because she's a girl [my sister is really good at Kung Fu but my friends don't believe me because she's a girl]***, everyone else can fight well in their own awesome way. Rollan, lastly, is my favorite because he is so funny.

Overall, I give this a 5 out of 5.

Me: 
Since I'm just a tad above the targeted age range and the complete opposite of my brother, I can't sing praises for Wild Born without a few (or, I suppose, one really big) reservation(s).

First off, though: Brandon Mull is excellent at world-building. I found it fascinating how he managed to twist four cultures into a cocktail of a world that, though anachronistic, surprisingly retained many of the elements of each culture when it would've been much easier to neglect their foundations. I enjoyed running on a South America-like street with Rollan, being pampered (ephemerally) in an Asian palace with Meilin (Since I'm Asian, the discrepancies in the Asian worldbuilding stood out to me more than the other ones did; still, it is a commendable effort on Mull's part to make it as reminiscent of Asia as possible without compromising the story's overarching world), shake with terror in a Medieval England-esque surrounding alongside Conor, and hunt through wild forests with Abeke that brings images of Native American tribes to the mind.

Yet where he excels, I also reluctantly found fault. Mull's writing is... dull. Quite dull.

It feels plain, especially in the  first few chapters, full of telling and detached emotion. It is only after about 50 pages in that I really began to see the characters for who they were. Even then, oftentimes I found myself not exactly enthused--though certainly not unwilling--to dive back into the Spirit Animals world because something about the writing just didn't necessarily captivate me. It missed a spark; a touch of something magical, to fit in rightly with its exquisite world.

Still, I didn't care much about the writing's obtuseness after a while because the action and any scene, really, was just so entertaining. The characters were written exceptionally well in regards to their authenticity. I saw a lot of myself in Meilin, and laughed far too loudly at Rollan, and I could appreciate the humbleness of Conor just as well as I admired Abeke for her bravery. Each character could hold their own, and because of that and the excellent world-building, even with the writing being flat, the plot never ran too slowly.

The verdict? If you stick with the book through its rough beginning, you'll likely find yourself flipping the pages quickly--and if not quickly, then at least satisfactorily. After all, it's not every day you get a middle grade that mashes all the charming bits of the age group together in quite the inventive and ambitious tale. Besides, the spirit animals are, as my brother would say it... SO COOL.

*I received an ARC copy provided by the publisher in an exchange for an honest review. No monetary or otherwise beneficial supplement was exchanged.
**He didn't actually say that. He said cool. I had to change his vocabulary up, I'm sorry. T.T
***He didn't include this in the actual review that he handed me, but he had mentioned it to me before and I thought it was a very valid point. ^.^

Oh! Before y'all ditch this post--Scholastic is doing this cool (GAH! Now I'm turning into my brother!) thing where you can actually play an online game set in the Spirit Animals world hand have your own Spirit Animal. I think it's very innovative, and you should totally check it out here.

Dive In!

Deep Dive: Cephalox the Cyber Squid 
By: Adam Blade
Reported by: Roarko (my 10-year-old brother's pseudonym)
Source: ARC via Publisher (Thank you, Scholastic! <3)
Release date: April 1st, 2013 via Scholsatic (Already released!)

A brand-new underwater adventure from Adam Blade, author of the Beast Quest series!

Max's home, the floating city of Aquora, is attacked by Cephelox the Cyber Squid and his father is carried away by the Robobeast. Max and his robodog, Rivet, set off on a rescue mission. Along the way, they meet Lia, a princess of an ancient race of Merryns who live underwater. The Merryn's magic powers are fading because the evil Professor has stolen four pieces of a skull that is the source of their abilities. It is up to Max and Lia to retrieve these items and save Max's father before it is too late.

-Summary from Goodreads
Purchase: Mrs. Nelson's || Barnes & Noble || Amazon || Book Depository

This review is written by my ten-year-old brother, who I figured was perfect for reviewing this book since he's in its intended demographic and loved Adam Blade's Beast Quest.

The Characters:
Max is a smart, brave boy, and his ability to learn quickly makes him a very admirable hero. I didn't necessarily like Lia, the princess of Merryns, because she got angry very easily when Max couldn't understand her. Though I guess anyone could have gotten frustrated in that circumstance. Rivet the robodog was awesome. He could chop through metal and talk and do all these cool things. Mostly, I really liked the characters and their developments.

The Story:
The plot was good, except it seemed a bit of the same storyline as Adam Blade's other book, Beast Quest. It was almost as if Deep Dive is an underwater version of Beast Quest with different characters. Yet I still liked the story because it introduced some really interesting elements that I didn't expect, adding in awesome technology with some really cool ideas.

The Writing: 
The writing was P-E-R-F-E-C-T (my sister's transcription). Adam Blade used words I didn't know and made up some really great terms that I thought was totally awesome.

Overall:
If you like action, you should read Deep Dive. It has some really great action scenes and also pretty epic characters.

My brother's first review: FREAKS!

Freaks
By: Kieran Larwood
Reported by: Roarko
Source: ARC from publisher
Release date: March 1st, 2013, via Chicken House/Scholastic

Weirdest. Crime Fighters. Ever.

Sheba, the fur-faced Wolfgirl, can sniff out a threat from miles away. Monkeyboy clambers up buildings in the blink of an eye -- then drops deadly stink bombs of his own making (yes, THAT kind)! Sister Moon sees in the dark, and moves at the speed of light. Born with weird abnormalities that make them misfits, these FREAKS spend their nights on public display, trapped in a traveling Victorian sideshow. But during the day, they put their strange talents to use: They solve the most sinister crimes. And in a dank, desperate world of crooks and child-snatchers, they're determined to defend London's most innocent victims: the street urchins disappearing from the city's streets.

-Summary from Goodreads
Pre-order: Mrs. Nelson's || Barnes & Noble || Amazon || Book Depository

Juli: When I received Freaks, I knew that it would be the perfect read for my 10-year-old brother, Roarko (not his real name; hey, he's 10, I've gotta protect his identity, yeah?). Here is the first review by my brother, praising Freaks:

Freaks was a really good book, because one) there was a lot of action; two) there were a lot of fantastical elements that I never thought of; and three) there was a lot of excitement.