Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

Warning: If don't want to hear Breaking Dawn being criticized please don't read my ranting verdict.
Synopsis
In the final book of the Twilight series, Bella has made her choice. She is going to leave everything she knew, humans and all, behind, and start her new life as a vampire.

Twilight tempted the imagination. New Moon made readers thirsty for more. Eclipse turned the saga into a worldwide phenomenon. And now, the book that everyone has been waiting for...

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Review
Category: Teen Fiction/Romance (Mild Violence)
Age Group: Teens
Star Rating: 0.5/10


Verdict (Beware: Rant)
What can you say about an absolutely rubbish book with no plot? Funnily enough, the book's initials are B.D., which suits the contents perfectly. Breaking Dawn is an absolute Brain Drain. Bella, who never bothered me from the start of the series, started really bugging me in New Moon. Please leave Edward alone if he's convinced he's too dangerous for you. Stop whining about the amazing 'after' car your fiance has bought you. If you are THAT displeased sell the car and donate the money to Salvation Army. Bella has become so much of a whiner that it totally spoils the book as readers stop to stab at her name with sharp fingernails and glare.
On the plot. Stephanie Meyer has previously spent three long books describing the supernatural world and what can and cannot happen in it. Then she turns around and totally ruins everything I was reading about. Rule: Vampires cannot have kids. Bella has a kid. Rule: Newborn vampires spend years being bloodthirsty and out of their head. Bella is not.
Come on. Supposedly, Bella has to struggle with the fact that if she wants to become a vampire, she will have to cut off ties with all humans she ever knew; she will be out-of-her-head-crazy for at least a few years; she will never be able to have kids. All this is spoiled with the author's obsession for having a happily-ever-after ending that Bella gets the best of both worlds by being beautiful, controlled, having a talented, amazing child, being amazingly talented herself. She opens her eyes and sees the world in a whole new perspective. After reading this, doesn't everyone want to be a vampire? There are absolutely no downsides to it! Mummy, I want to be a beautiful vampire with paranormal powers too. This total Brain Drain killed me to read and I ended up throwing my hardback copy across the fence to my three year-old neighbour who will hopefully enjoy tearing them up and chewing on the hard cover.

The Tomorrow Series by John Marsden

The Tomorrow series consists of 7 books, beginning with Tomorrow When the War Began and ending with The Other Side of Dawn. During these books Ellie and her friends are constantly thinking up new tactics to try and defeat the enemy soldiers as well as trying to keep their lives going.

Personally, i think the series is quite good because once you've started reading you don't want to put the book down, or wait until you can get the next book in the series. I was quite sad when i reached the ending as there was nothing else i could go on to, but i was quite satisfied with the way Marsden ends it all off. Even though I wasn't expecting it to be closed off the way it did, i can't think of any other way else to make it such a great and interesting read.

Apart from all the fighting and (mild) violence, there are also other themes in the play such as romance and friendships. The series can be quite sad at times, such as when friends pass on, but most of the time the reader can enjoy the mighty adventures of Ellie and her friends.

Age Group: Teens

Star Rating: 9/10

Raven's Gate by Anthony Horowitz

Raven's Gate is the first of the five books in The Power Of Five series written by Anthony Horowitz. It is about some people who are trying to protect the world from evil spirits, which somehow Matt, the main character, is involved in. Raven's Gate is the gate that can bring the evil ones back into the world, and Matt must find out how to stop it from happening!

I think this book was very interesting, it was pretty fast action paced which kept me flicking through the pages without putting the book down. Younger readers might get nightmares if they read before sleep as there are parts that are a bit spooky.

Age Group: Teens

Star Rating: 8.5/10

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Katniss Everdeen, a 16 year old girl is about to go to reaping for Hunger Games, a cruel game that the Capitol organised which 2 children aged 12-17 in each district has to kill each other. The motto is To kill or be killed. On the day of reaping the two children was chosen and it turned out to be her dear sister. On the verge of fainting, Katniss volunteers to step forward instead of her sister and to risk her life.

When the hunger games begin, Katniss will be in great danger. Will she succeed? Will she make enemies and allies?

Rating: 9/10

Warning: contains violence

I really enjoyed this book because it was one of the books that you had to read until the very end. The page turning book was well structured and was full of twists and turns.

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

The Da Vinci Code is a bit of a religious book as it contains content regarding Christian beliefs. Basically this book is about this group of people that want to be in possession of a particular item, or secret. Not many know about where this can be found, but this group of people is very desperate to know - they are able to go all out, no matter what it takes, even if it means to murder someone.

I think that this book is quite interesting, it has a good plot, but sometimes it goes on and on a bit too much which are the bits you can skim over. Apart from that, if you like reading about a chase and a fight to see who can solve the mystery first, this is a book you should definitely try.


Age Group: Teens & Adults (Mild Violence)

Star Rating: 7.5/10

The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard

The Deep End of the Ocean is the story of a three-year old boy, Ben, who is kidnapped. His mother, Beth, wanders then in a self-centered haze. Nine years later, however, Ben is found again-this time as Sam Taylor, mowing Beth's lawn.
The real problem for me with this book is that some parts of the first part drag on for far too long. We already know about Beth's main characteristics and flaws as they are demonstrated in the first few chapters. Mitchard goes on too much about this and it can get fairly boring in parts. However, in the second part of the book, you really start to see a dysfunctional family breaking down slowly, and it is quite interesting to see the different reactions characters have to this (e.g. the older child becomes 'bad' i.e. rebels, the mother becomes increasingly self-absorbed, and the father becomes a workaholic).
However, a fair warning would be that this book contains, from the start, no happiness. Happiness does not exist in Beth's world. It is a story of how a family can survive but die in spirit. The story is left unfinished, with a trailing end, and we never quite know what will happen next.
This book left me with many questions. How can we define a 'good mother'? What would a family struck by tragedy do? And finally, was Ben (Sam Taylor) ultimately better off being raised by his kidnappers? It leaves a lot of room for thought.

Suitable for: Parents and Grandparents

Age Group: Adults

Star Rating: 8/10

Tomorrow Series by John Marsden

Tomorrow When the War Began is the first out of the seven books in the Tomorrow Series. In this book, the main characters go camping over a weekend in the bush, with no adults to accompany them. When they come back from their camp they notice that there was nobody left in the houses and they were all quiet; some houses had been broken in and ravaged through. The night before they had left to go back to the city was the night they had seen planes in many formations go by. This was the beginning of something big, something that would change their lives forever.

Age group: Teens/12+

Star Rating: 8/10

Warning: This book contains violence and death scenes.