Book Review: Vile Volcanoes

Review: #31
Title: Vile Volcanoes
Series: Horrible Geography Handbooks
Author: Anita Ganeri
Read Before: no
My Comments: I feel that this is like a rip-off from a previous Horrible Geography book, Violent Volcanoes, a lot of the information is extremely similar, if not the same, to that previous book. As such, if you have read that book, then like me, you’ll get bored from reading this one. Published in 2010, I would have thought at least it’ll have more updated stuff than Violent Volcanoes which was published around eleven years prior, but there’s not much evidence of this. The only major difference would be that this is in colour, that’s not to say that this is a bad book, it’s still excellent for anyone who’s just getting into these series (and haven’t read the prior books), but for me, it’s just boring and repetitive (and less funny than usual).
Rating: 5.5/10
Rereadability Factor: 2/10

Book Review: Once Upon a Time in the North

Review: #30
Title: Once Upon a Time in the North
Series: His Dark Materials - Companian Book
Author: Philip Pullman
Read Before: no
My Comments: An interesting companion book, didn't realise it was all just one story (with the exception of the last six or so pages which is random stuff including newspaper clippings and letters, but it’s nothing special). This ‘huge’ amount of the book for one story allows the story to have some nice action and plot going on, although it’s nothing complex, especially compared to the main books, it’s a nice little tale on it’s own. It’s not really a prequel, but more just a background story that doesn't relate much to the main events of one of the side characters (albeit quite a big and likeable side character), Lee Scoresby, and how he met the king of the bears Iorek Byrnison. It doesn't addict the readers, but for a companion book, it is very excellently done, I’d rather a book like this where nearly every page is used for telling the story rather than school reports, interviews or puzzles which are a waste of time. The book does have an extra, a fold out board game, which is different in the fact that to win, you have to be the last one to the end.
Rating: 6.5/10
Rereadability Factor: 3/10 (hardly likely to reread again)

Jackass 3D

So I went to the cinemas today (finally! I havent been there for a while, as in... a couple of months), not many good movies on (actually, no movies I was interest in), at least I didnt watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (seriously think the movies are overrated, book is awesome, but movies... after the second one it just went downhill and is so boring, and I hate how the last one is split into two... no matter what other people say, I still get feeling they're milking it, making it such a cash cow), so I watched Jackass 3D.

Well... this was the first Jackass movie I had seen, I hadnt seen any previous movies nor the tv series, so this style of stuff was refreshing for me, although I still like the traditional movie with a plot better, not to say this is bad, there were quite a lot of moments that made me laugh, but a few bits that really made me kinda sick coz it was so disgusting. The 3D element... I feel that it is just one of those current fads right now, coz seriously, it does NOT add anything good within the movie, it's used so little (like... 20% of the movie) and there's not much point of it, that I cannot justify spending twice the cost of a normal movie just for this. I had only watched another 3D movie before, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and that was 3D the whole way and was actually quite good and an enjoyable experience.

But enough ranting, I would say... wait for it to come out on dvd and might as well buy the 2D version, just to save yourself the trouble of wearing 3D glasses as it's not worth it (movie itself is good enough).

Book Review: The Valley of the Lost

Review: #29
Title: The Valley of the Lost
Series: Deltora Quest - 7th book
Author: Emily Rodda
Read Before: yes
My Comments: An excellent book, and I dare say that it is my favourite book in the Deltora Quest series. This is the one where the puzzles is the most interesting and smart, I love how simple the riddles were when you know the answer yet is so difficult if you don't. The story was really good as well, and ties in quite nicely to the story, and how it builds up and partly paves the way for future stories. This one actually had no action, but I did not mind that as the other characteristics more than made up for it, although I do recommend the series be read in order for the first time as it makes it much more enjoyable.
Rating: 7/10
Rereadability Factor: 6/10

See Also: The Forests of Silence book review, The Shifting Sands book review and City of the Rats book review

Book Review: City of the Rats

Review: #28
Title: City of the Rats
Series: Deltora Quest - 3rd book
Author: Emily Rodda
Read Before: yes
My Comments: This book isn’t as captivating as The Forests of Silence or The Shifting Sands, but still a decent book in its own right. Could be that the content doesn't have as much variety and interesting creatures happening in it. The story is alright, but it’s really only centred around one main event and although it was interesting, it wasn't spectacular. Still a worthy series, and the small size makes for a nice and quick read, with the story deep enough not to be boring. There’s not as much action in this book, and no great ‘events’, but it did reveal the ‘history’ of one of the fictional cities, and that was intriguing.
Rating: 6/10
Rereadability Factor: 4/10

See Also: The Forests of Silence book review and The Shifting Sands book review

My Transformers Page

just a note that I've put up another page, called "My Transformers", just for those curious to know what I've got (I know that's not many of you...) and also to encourage myself to do reviews of them sometime (too lazy to take photos...).

Book Review Index Page

just created a page for listing all my book reviews for easy access if ever you're interested in reading more... (and I thought I better start early, if I leave it til later it'll just take me aaaaaggggeeesss... took me like half hour just for this small number...).