Pandora Gets Angry

Hola! Pandora Gets Angry is by Carolyn Hennesy. Pandy and her friends are on another leg of their journey, and Rage is hiding deep in Persia. Homer is angry, Alcie is dead, and Iole is sick. Pandora has the odds stacked against her, but with her wit and a little divine intervention, she just might be able to collect this evil. There is really not much else to say, these books are all the same. They get into loads of trouble and then miraculously save the disgustingly mutilated people that have been hurt by the vessel of the evil. Two stars.

Speaker for the Dead

Hola. Speaker for the Dead is the third Ender book, and that means it's, you guessed it, written by Orson Scott Card. Andrew Wiggin is now about three-thousand years old, but he only looks about thirty-five. Starship travel has kept him young, and The Hive Queen and the Hegemon have progressed to become one of the prominent religions. But the name "Ender" is now a curse, hated for the xenocide he committed. Andrew spends his years travelling the universe and Speaking for the Dead. When a call from a planet comes through that seems a bit different, Andrew is intrigued not only by the young girl who sent it, but by the unusual circumstances that surround the death. For a new and primitive race has been discovered, the piggies. This book was STRANGE. The story was very odd, and the characters portrayed in the way that only Card can, by making them so raw that while they do despicable things you still love them. This was very entertaining, but the end was incredibly disappointing. It made Ender seem far too human. I have the same words for all of Ender's books; amazing but almost disturbing. Four stars.

Ender's Shadow

Hola, I know I'm really behind. Okay, Ender's Shadow, by Orson Scott Card, is a companion book to Ender's Game. Living on the street is dangerous for a kid any age with the brutal hierarchy of bullies and kids too small to get food. But when Bean turns up, the whole system changes. This transformation doesn't go unnoticed, however. Battle School is still recruiting and Bean is a promising candidate. With the severe physical disadvantages Bean has, he faces difficulties that even his machine-like mind might not be able to comprehend. I just re-read my Ender's Game review and I seem to have put a negative spin on it. Let me correct you, these books are brilliant. What I failed to express before was the depth that every character has, and the plot that doesn't fail to stun even when reading a parallel story where you already know what happens. The only thing I will say though, is that these books made me like Ender more. Bean is so mechanical that even Ender's aloofness is appealing. I don't want to change my original post but I have to say, looking back on the book, four and a half stars to both Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow.

The Key to Rondo

Hola! The Key to Rondo is by Emily Rodda. When steady, reliable Leo Langlander is willed an ancient music box, he intends to keep if safe. Even if the rules seem a bit strange he will follow them; only wind the box three times, don't wind it while the music is playing, and don't move the while the tune plays. However, Leo's stable life is set tumbling when his outcast cousin comes to visit. Mimi Langlander brings a new view to Leo's life, but also many more dangers. After I started reading this I realized it was targeted at younger children. The writing is that fake-descriptive that makes the story as straight-forward as possible. Rondo was also very odd. It seems to be a version of fairyland that had some not-very-original twists thrown in. The one thing that I liked was that Leo did think along the lines of a rational person. Mimi also revealed some depth by the end of this tale. Overall, completely mediocre. Two stars.