Book Review: The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson #5), by Rick Riordan

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson And The Olympians #5), by Rick Riordan
★★★ ½ (rounding up to 4)

Synopsis: All year the half-bloods have been preparing for battle against the Titans, knowing the odds of a victory are grim. Kronos’s army is stronger than ever, and with every god and half-blood he recruits, the evil Titan’s power only grows.
While the Olympians struggle to contain the rampaging monster Typhon, Kronos begins his advance on New York City, where Mount Olympus stands virtually unguarded. Now it’s up to Percy Jackson and an army of young demigods to stop the Lord of Time.
In this momentous final book in the New York Times best-selling series, the long-awaited prophecy surrounding Percy’s sixteenth birthday unfolds. And as the battle for Western civilization rages on the streets of Manhattan, Percy faces a terrifying suspicion that he may be fighting against his fate!!!
In A Sentence: A good ending to a fun series

Tuesday's Opinion (A Day Late): Ten Things To Be Thankful For

Happy Tuesday folks! (yes, I know it's Wednesday.  I'm a little late with this post.  Deal with it)  It's already time for my own weekly meme, where I discuss my thoughts and opinions on everything under the sun!

This week, since we're only 2 days away from Thanksgiving:

Ten Things That I'm Thankful For

Book Review: The Snow Queen's Shadow, by Jim C. Hines

The Snow Queen's Shadow by Jim C. Hines
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Snow Queen's Shadow, by Jim C. Hines
★★★☆☆

Synopsis: A broken mirror. A stolen child. A final mission to try to stop an enemy they never dreamed they would face.
When a spell gone wrong shatters Snow White’s enchanted mirror, a demon escapes into the world. The demon’s magic distorts the vision of all it touches, showing them only ugliness and hate. It is a power which turns even friends and lovers into mortal foes, one which will threaten humans and fairies alike.
And the first to fall under the demon’s power is the princess Snow White.
In A Sentence: Out of the entire series, this is the darkest novel, and the best written.
What I Liked: This one was a retelling of "The Snow Queen", which was interesting by itself. It also was pretty dark in comparison to the rest of the series. The writing was better this time, much better than the previous ones. The action was also pretty good in this story, with a reasonable pace that makes you want to continue reading.
Why It's Still Only Three Stars: I still can't really enjoy this series. While you start caring for the characters more in this book than in the previous ones, I still couldn't fall in love with the story. It's a good action book, but not an excellent piece of literature.
In A Nutshell: I thought this was a good conclusion to a decent series. If you like fairy tale re-tellings, action novels, or novels with strong female characters, then you might like this series. I think the first and last books are the best out of the four. They're enjoyable, quick reads, with a little bit of everything. You might not fall in love with the books, but you'll still have fun with them.

View all my reviews

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Happy Monday folks!  It's raining here, but that's not going to put me down!

It's time for the weekly meme hosted by Book Journey, where you get to recap on the posts you wrote over the past week, and the books you managed to cram into your busy schedule!

Book Review: The Battle Of The Labyrinth (Percy Jackson And The Olympians), by Rick Riordan

The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Battle Of The Labyrinth (Percy Jackson And The Olympians #4), by Rick Riordan
★★★

Synopsis: Percy Jackson isn't expecting freshman orientation to be any fun. But when a mysterious mortal acquaintance appears on campus, followed by demon cheerleaders, things quickly move from bad to worse.
In this fourth installment of the blockbuster series, time is running out as war between the Olympians and the evil Titan lord Kronos draws near. Even the safe haven of Camp Half-Blood grows more vulnerable by the minute as Kronos's army prepares to invade its once impenetrable borders. To stop the invasion, Percy and his demigod friends must set out on a quest through the Labyrinth - a sprawling underground world with stunning surprises at every turn.
In A Sentence: A decent read, but I’m not feeling very wowed by this series (not yet anyway)

Book Review: Forest Born (Books Of Bayern #4), by Shannon Hale

Forest Born by Shannon Hale
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Forest Born (Books Of Bayern #4), by Shannon Hale
★★★★

Synopsis: Rin is sure that something is wrong with her…something really bad. Something that is keeping her from feeling at home in the Forest homestead where she’s lived all her life. Something that is keeping her from trusting herself with anyone at all. When her brother Razo returns from the city for a visit, she accompanies him to the palace, hoping that she can find peace away from home. But war has come to Bayern again, and Rin is compelled to join the queen and her closest allies—magical girls Rin thinks of as the Fire Sisters—as they venture into the Forest toward Kel, the land where someone seems to want them all dead. Many beloved Bayern characters reappear in this story, but it is Rin’s own journey of discovering how to balance the good and the bad in herself that drives this compelling adventure. Once again, Newbery Honor-winning author Shannon Hale brings readers to a world where great friendships, unexpected plot twists, and a little dose of magic make for incredible storytelling.
In A Sentence: Not my absolute favorite in the series, but still a lot of fun.

BOOK SALE!!!!

Ever have one of those days when you're just driving by, minding your own business, and suddenly you see a sign that says:

Of course, you just have to pull over, right?
Guilty.

Apparently, my local library was having a book sale this weekend, so I went home, created an enormous list of books I wish to find (so I don't go too overboard, heh-heh), and then spent a couple of glorious hours sliding my hands over book spines and snatching a read I wanted before some little old lady using a walker could nab it.

I had a seriously good haul too!  I had to give myself a $30 limit, but I got some great reads!  I wish I could have gone today (it's Buy-A-Bag-And-Fill-'Er-Up Day), but making money got in the way (*sigh*).

I'm pretty happy with my finds.  I found a bunch of beautiful hardcovers to add to my Amelia Peabody collection, found a couple of books from trilogies that I'm trying to complete, and some other great reads that weren't on my list but I ended up getting anyway, because 1) they're on my TBR and are supposed to be really good, and 2) they're books I'd like my kids to read.

I took a pic!  Take a look!

Of course, my cat got all up in my grill because apparently I was holding the camera wrong:

It's too bad I don't have time to sit down and read through all of these new books, but alas, like I said, I gotta go to work.  At least I'll be able to share some book reviews during my break, because I finished a couple of reads this morning!  Be back soon!

-Lisa the Dancing Bookworm

Feature And Follow Friday!

Happy Friday everyone!  And it's time for the weekly meme hosted by parajunkee and alison can read

Here are the rules:
1) Create an F&F post and answer the weekly question.
2) Follow the two hosts and the featured blogs
3) Start following the other blogs participating in the blog hop (you decided how many you want to follow)

Book Review: River Secrets (Books Of Bayern #3), by Shannon Hale

River Secrets by Shannon Hale
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

River Secrets (Books of Bayern #3), by Shannon Hale
★★★★ ½ (rounding up to 5)

Synopsis: Razo has no idea why he was chosen to be a soldier. He can barely swing a sword, and his brothers are forever wrestling him to the ground. Razo is sure it's out of pity that his captain asks him to join an elite mission--escorting the ambassador into Tira, Bayern's great enemy. But when the Bayern arrive in the strange southern country, Razo discovers the first dead body. He befriends both the high and low born, people who can perhaps provide them with vital information. And Razo is the one who must embrace his own talents in order to get the Bayern soldiers home again, alive. Newbery–Honor winner Shannon Hale returns the reader to the intrigue and magic of Bayern, first introduced in her critically acclaimed novel, The Goose Girl . Enter a world where even those with no special magical skills find in themselves something they never imagined
In A Sentence: An adorable read that makes you chuckle out loud.

Tuesday's Opinion: Am I A Book Snob?

It's Tuesday!  Time for me to share my opinions!

This week:

Am I A Book Snob?