Book Review No.1: The Glittering Eye (Dated: 9 December 2009)
This story is about two different people from different dimensions kind of life and death balance which these two people are lacking of. The story took place in Egypt which is one of the places I had dreamt of going because it’s a place which is full of interesting past and beautiful sightings. One of the two people is at the modern Egypt, joining her whose father is a famous archaeologist and her father’s crew for Christmas. Her name is Amy Clayton. She is still carrying the guilt and blames on the death of her brother-in-law caused by a car accident tat they both were involved. Another was a boy who is at the Ancient Egypt, was once a Maryannu (The Young Hero) but found himself waking up in the barley field with no past, no memories and a identity of being a Shabti.
Both of these two people have past deeds that they have to face before anyone of them could move on. As there dimensions collided, they helped one another to confront their own past deeds. I’ve also learnt from this book that we often judged ourselves more harshly than the people surrounding us are judging us on the oblivious fact that we hid what we felt is ashamed, but it’s not true. This story reflected real life and even though its difficult to understand the story after browsing it for the first time. But after reading a few more times, one will find this story very captivating!
Book Review No.2: The Red-Headed Princess
This is the novel of Queen Elizabeth, daughter of King Henry VII. Before she became the Queen, she was a princess. And this novel is about her life before she was the Queen of Britain. Elizabeth’s father cast his 1st wife because she gave birth to Elizabeth’s stepsister, Mary. Then she divorced Mary’s mother and married Elizabeth’s mother Anne Boleyn but he beheaded Anne for adultery a few years after the birth of Elizabeth. His 3rd wife, Jane Seymour died of childbirth, after giving birth to a son, Edward. King Henry VII continued to marry Anne of Cleves but she was also cast aside. Next, he wed Catherine Howard but she was also beheaded for adultery. And Elizabeth’s father’s last wife is Katherine Parr.
This experiences she went though made her trust no one even though she wanted to. This novel is a story of the many obstacles she went though before she became Queen. Obstacles like after her stepbrother who first became King and gotten sick and died, her stepsister, Mary became Queen and forced her to be catholic. Sometimes she is welcomed in the royal court and other times, she is cast out in the countryside. It’s a portrait of her finding her way to the glorious destiny that lay before her.
Book Review No.3: The Riddle of Epsilon
It’s a book of fantasy, mystery, riddle-solving story. Jess has moved to a remote island and is encountering with a mystery being that do not follow the rules of the world, in other words, something that does not exist in the world. She found the “being” when she was exploring the island in a very old cottage. The being communicate with Jess by instant messaging at first and is named as V, then when Jess found who he is, it became E which stands for Epsilon. Thought there is no records or any traces of E in the chat room. After solving riddles after riddles, she unravels the mysteries of the island she was living in, Lume. She also found writings of a boy, Sebastian whose life contains unsettling similarities. And now, she finds herself dealing with the dangers that Sebastian had unearthed in 1894.
And now she had to solve the puzzles, riddles and codes in order to stop the dark being and save his mother before she ended up like Sebastian’s mother who had gone missing. Its an exciting story as it made me want to read in till the end without stopping to find out whose the dark being and who exactly is Epsilon and how is it that both Sebastian and herself had dreamed about each other.
Book Review No.4: Alice in Love and War
This is a story of girl named Alice Newcombe, who is going though stages of her life. Alice’s father died when she was eleven years old and she had to live with her uncle in a farm. She was trapped and unhappy on her uncle’s farm and when the royalist soldiers are billeted there, it changed Alice’s life. It was around 1644, during the Civil War. She fell in love with one of the soldier, Robin. And when the regiment moves on, Alice decided to run away and join the other army women on the baggage train to be with Robin. Her days were filled with excitement, she met friends, and she was able to be with her lover.
But all had changed when Christmas came and Robin left Alice to go home, even though Alice had broken the news that she was pregnant with Robin’s child. She still believed Robin would come for her and worked at the inn in order to stay there. Then one day, she miscarriage the baby when she was on her way to town though the windy night to order some pies for her employer. Her saviors gave her food and cared for her unlike the people in the inn. When the army troops were quartered again, she found out Robin is already a married man with two children when he first met Alice. But she still stayed to care for her pregnant friend, whom gave birth to a baby girl, Elen. She witnessed death and chaos right before her eyes. She even saw enemies killed her friends and slashed the women on their faces to mark them as whores even though they are not. She managed to save Elen and took refuge in the village where she met Jeremiah. She opened her heart to him and they married and gave birth to one boy and one baby girl. This book is very captivating because the book described the emotions of a young teenage falling in love for the first time and witnessing the cruelty of the war, so clearly!
Book Review No.5: War of the Witches
Anaid is short for her age, too smart to be popular to be like every other teenage. When her mother mysteriously disappeared, Anaid discovered what her real identity is – a witch whose mother is THE chosen one. Her mother was prophesied to end the bloody war between the two witch clans- the Omars and the Odish whom longs for eternity youth by drinking human blood. Taught and trained by four other women of her mother’s clan, they discover that Anaid is more powerful than any other witch they have come across. She seems to be the only one that can save Selene from the rival witch clan, the Odish.
But later it was discovered that the real chosen one who could stop the war and obtain the O’s scepter is Anaid herself. And the truth was revealed to her when she found her mother in the Dark World. And the real reason why her mother disappeared to go the her clan’s rival, the Odish to draw them away from her daughter and mislead them that she was the Chosen one, to protect her daughter. Her mother even made her special medicine and hair lotion for covering up her daughter’s powers and her red hair as it is stated in the prophecy that the Chosen One’ll have fire in her hair, in other words, a red-haired Chosen One. In the end, they got out of the Dark World safely and is ready for the upcoming battles.
