The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson

In The Dangerous Days of Daniel X, Daniel is just a normal guy. Except that he is a hunter of evil aliens. He has several powers, which include being able to make imaginary friends- with personalities and information, and telekinesis.

His parents were killed when he was three years old. He escaped from his home planet with nothing but his life. And the List. The list is a rare showing of all the most powerful and dangerous alien villains in the universe. Daniel's mission is to track all of them down and kill them.

Now he is on number 5. He finds him in Holliswood. A tiny town where nothing much happens. Except for recently when odd goings on are beginning to happen. Number 5- a grotesque fish-like alien- controls people through electronic Devices, then forces them to be part of his evil plans. He also has a sick sense of humor and enjoys making people perform for him- which he then films. Then he kills them.

Daniel and his imaginary friends and family have the daunting task of taking down the villain, along with his army, which is rapidly growing. And to complicate things more, Daniel is in love. With a human.

This story is one of my favorite teen science fiction stories. I also love the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson. One of the saddest scenes is when Daniel, after killing a member of number 5s army, finds an elephant pendant in the aliens things. The pendant is a symbol of his home planet, and to Daniel it symbolizes the short years he had with his parents.

The scariest part of this book is when Daniel and his friends discover how number 5 has been reproducing so quickly. Number 5 has been taking tins of his eggs and feeding them to women and calling it "caviar". Then the embryos eat the women's food and grow for four weeks when they are then coughed up into a pond to continue to grow. Then the women are hypnotized into eating more eggs and thinking they are pregnant. This is an example of the alien villain's sick personality.

I love the characters in this book ( even though most are just figments of Daniel's imagination) because they make it easy to get lost in the story and feel like you're there.

This is a fast read because of its suspense, humor, and overall writing style. Fans of the Maximum Ride books are sure to love it. I know I did!

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Goose Chase by Patrice Kindl

In Goose Chase, Alexandria Aurora Fortunato has only had the company of her twelve geese since her mom died. She was a simple goose girl until an old witch cast a spell on her for her kindness. From now on her hair will shed gold dust, her tears turn to diamonds, and she is extremely beautiful. So because of her gifts she is locked in a tower until deciding either to marry the king of Gilboa or Prince Edward of Dorloo.

One day her geese come and save her from the tower. They take her into the woods though, and she gets captured by ogresses. Luckily, she can cook so they don't eat her right away. They also catch prince Edward, who was looking for Alexandria. He helps her escape and they get far from the ogresses.

When they traveled awhile they get caught again by the king of Gilboa. The king's betrothed tells Alexandria to never tell anyone her name, especially the king. But what is so important about a goose girls name?

The main characters are Alexandria, Edward, Smeat, her geese, and the king of Gilboa. The minor characters are the baroness, the ogresses, and the old witch. My favorite is Prince Edward. At first he seems quite dense, but it turns out he is actually very smart. He can read, tell direction by the sky, and is really good at thinking of things to help them escape. He is also very kind to Alexandria and her geese even though they don't like him at first.
My least favorite characters are the three ogresses. One of them has two heads, another has extremely long arms, and the last is just hideous. The thing they all have in common is that they love to eat human flesh. They are ruthless and mean, even to each other.

The funniest part was when Edward got captured by the ogresses. Alexandria pretends she cooked his horse so the ogresses won't be hungry for meat for awhile. Edward is horrified that they are eating his beloved horse. He keeps sputtering and getting sick as Alexandria tries to feed him. I can imagine his face during that time and it is hilarious because they are just eating a sadle.

My favorite part is when the geese save Alexandria. They each take a part of a featherbed in their mouths and push Alexandria onto it. Once she is on, they rise in the air and fly with Alexandria. That would be the most fun experience ever. Imagine soaring in the sky on a comfortable featherbed with your geese all around you.

There is foreshadowing in the story because it is written by Alexandria. She hints about some of the upcoming events. Sometimes it is just her dialect that gives clues to the ending.

This book has an entertaining plot and a good number of pages. All the characters are very well developed. The only thing I don't like is the title and cover. For awhile I saw the book in the library, but I didn't want to read it because of the cover and title. I'm glad I gave it a chance.

This was a really entertaining book and, though it seems like it would have a predictable ending, it has an unexpected end. If you like adventure you'll like this for sure.

Elaina

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The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau

So the people of the city of Ember are free, now what?

In The People of Sparks: The Second Book of Ember (Books of Ember), the sequel to the The City of Ember (Books of Ember), the four hundred people who escaped from under ground search to find a place to live. And they do.

The city of Sparks is one of the last surviving cities since the Disaster that caused people to put the Emberites under the ground. They were expected to be the last people left on the earth, but they are not.  The people of Sparks and a few others survive.


The city of Sparks have 322 people and are overwhelmed when 400 more people come. They will let them stay for six months and teach them how to live until then. But then conflict arises.


The Emberites aren't getting enough to eat, but the people of Sparks say they can't spare anymore. Rude messages and poison ivy have appeared where the people of Ember sleep, but the people of Sparks say Emberites are the ones causing destruction. And there is a boy from ember and one from sparks who enjoy the war beginning. They want destruction.

Meanwhile Lina sneaks off to find the city she dreams about with a roamer- a person who scavenges the old ruins to find things to sell. Doon is missing her and caught up in all the fighting, that could turn into a war if gone unchecked. Will another Disaster happen? Will the human race really be lost? Forever?
I loved this book because it's so interesting and suspenseful. It is set far into the future when the Disaster (nuclear warfare, natural disasters, and war) destroyed most of the Earth. Light is also a symbol in this book as well as the last. The characters in this book want to rediscover all that was lost in the Disaster. Cars, airplanes, phones, electricity.They know these by book and have seen them, but cannot get than to work. Electricity is their main focus and the light it will bring.

I like how naive the people of ember are about war because they have never seen, heard, or experienced it. Lina knows it destroys, but needs the help of a new friend to tell her how much. And how conflict can be stopped.

I was so relieved that Jeanne DuPrau wrote an entire series about the city of Ember, because otherwise the cliffhanger ending would have driven me nuts wanting to find out if they all really got out. I think this book is just as successful as the last and I look forward to finishing the series!

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