In the summer of 1992 Chris J. McCandless walked into to the Alaskan wilderness only to never come out. Into the Wild is the thrilling true story of Chris J. McCandless’s long struggle to fulfil his craving for adventure.
This story, written by Jon Krakauer, is about adventure, resistance, exploration, and survival. McCandless pushes his limits as he travels across America living on what little money he has and the will to survive. Trying to recover from some childhood issues he struggles to escape from the society he hates so much. Never staying in a place to long McCandless ultimate goal is to survive in Alaska. Along his journey he makes some unexpected relationships that influence him along the way. Into the Wild uses many descriptive, vivid details to create a clear image of the setting and characters. Jon Krakauer connects his readers to the characters by making their personalities lovable and enjoyable. Krakauer also adds many exhilarating back stories of different characters, in different times, to let us have an easier understanding of McCandless’s actions and his way of thinking. Straight from the beginning Into The Wild captures the reader's attention with a wonderful hook. One can’t put the book down until they finish this unbelievable and satisfying story. Even though Into The Wild was an overall astonishing book there were some problems with it. The introduction of the book tells us the end of the story, and eventually ruins the plot. Through McCandless’s journey Jon Krakauer interrupts the story multiple times with almost too many off topic stories. This drags out some parts and slows down the story. It also makes some parts more repetitive and unexciting. With not too many maps and pictures of McCandless, chunks of the book become confusing and misleading. McCandless went into the wilderness to experience the ultimate adventure and find what he was searching for. He found this in nature and his heart. What he realized was that these feelings were best shared with someone. This book outlines McCandless’s long journey to find himself. Jon Krakauer brings all of McCandless traits to life in Into The Wild. With clear and descriptive details one feels like they are talking the journey with McCandless. This book is a MUST READ. Recommended for ; 7th and up, some mature content
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Dragons make everything harder. On their scaly hides, they bring magic, evil kings, and many a battle. But if you know how to handle them, like author Christopher Paolini, then they open up a world of possibilities for amazing books and adventures. The Inheritance series, with it’s various well developed characters and plot twists, will captivate you from page 1.
The plot in the Inheritance series starts to get going when Eragon, a poor farm boy living with his uncle and cousin discovers a dragon egg in the forest. But when Galbatorix, (the broken king of the country Alagaesia)who is trying to kill free dragons and take their power for himself finds out, Eragon must leave his small town for his safety and for the safety of the others in his village. He and Saphira, his newly hatched dragon, set of on an adventure across the world of Alagaesia, meeting the Dwarves, the Varden, the Urgals and the Elves, who all help to shape him and Saphira into the dragon and rider he needs to be in order to have a chance at defeating Galbatorix. What really makes this series amazing is the amount of deep thinking that Christopher Paolini so clearly puts into the characters, plot, writing, and the whole world of Alagaesia in general. There are so many amazing complex characters. One example is Murtagh, the escaped son of one of Galbatorix’s closest accomplices, Morzan, and kind of like the Severus Snape of this series. Murtagh hates Galbatorix, but because of his patronage, and other plot twists as the books progress, we can’t be sure who he’ll fight for. Another great complex character is Brom, Eragon’s initial guide through the world of magic and dragons. He is later revealed to be much more to the world and Eragon than just the village storyteller. However, Galbatorix is surprisingly undeveloped all the way til the very end, and for much of the books, you just have to accept his evilness without question. The dragons are really interesting and well thought out. They speak with their minds, and they sound much more refined than the other races, even the elves. There are many scenes where the dragon is the supreme power: everyone listens to them, and they often have the wisest and best ideas. Saphira (Eragon’s Dragon) always refers to Eragon as “little one”, and often offers him advice, even though she is years younger. The romance in this book is all well developed, with secrecy, betrayal, and rejection all at it’s heart, and yet it fits with the medieval feel of the rest of the book. There are three separate romances in the series, two that go all the way through, and one at the very end. Eragon and Arya’s seemed very realistic, if a little slow, but Roran (Eragon’s cousin) and Katrina’s was unbelievably fast. They both took many twists and turns, most of which were really surprising. In fact, romance was one of things that seemed to stay all relatively the same all the way through, and helped to connect the different parts of the story to each other. On the other side of the sweetness scale, the battles were quite long, boring, and gory. One scene goes into disgusting detail of Roran climbing a pile of bodies as he slays a total of 193 enemy soldiers afterwards remarking “seven more and it would have been an even two hundred.” However, the battles redeem themselves somewhat when after the battles many main characters express their dislike of battle and taking other lives. The dragon battles were really different, as they were aerial, and did not involve weapons at all. It was surprising how little the riders could do while the dragons were battling, but I guess it just adds to the idea that dragons are better at everything than anyone else. The ancient language, a language of “true names” and power, and the language that magic is performed in, was very impressive. Paolini really thought it out and the complexities were explained in a way that was easy to understand, yet some questions were left unanswered. This was something that held true throughout the series-relatively easy to understand, yet still mysterious and with a really nice tone. There are also some really neat scenes that seemed to make a point about real life, the most obvious being Eragon and Saphira’s trip to Vroengard, which was transformed into a wasteland by magic. It is no longer habitable by humans; creepy trees, six foot tall snails and other mutant creatures have taken over the landscape. Another connection to real life was Nasuada, the leader of the varden in some books, who happened to be black, when everyone else except her father was white. Others in the books wonder if her skin is dyed, because nobody in this medieval age had ever seen anyone like her. The neat thing was that even in their confusion, they held no prejudice against Nasuada for her skin color. And as it turns out, she was the greatest leader the varden could have asked for. Another pleasantly surprising thing was the amount of female power in the later books. The leader of the Varden was female, the leader of the elves, and a best friend (and sometimes more) of Ergons all the way through the series is a very strong female. And, of course, Saphira was female, in fact the last female of her kind, which helped to give depth to her character. Overall, this was a great read. The series was captivating: from the moment Eragon found his dragon egg, to the final battle. The characters are well developed and complex, with real thoughts and emotions. The plot was like a roller coaster - lots of ups and downs, but it all went together and made sense through the various twists and turns. This is a series that really leaves you wanting more. This series is great for anyone who’s even remotely into fantasy, because it is such a great read that anyone can enjoy it! I would recommend this series for middle school and above aged kids. I read The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisenberger in hopes of reading a funny and witty fashion novel. After all, the movie was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen., Boy, how I was wrong. The Devil Wears Prada is about a young girl straight out of college Andreah Sachs (Anne Hathaway) who moves to New York with her boyfriend Nate (Adrian Grenier) to become a journalist for The Newyorker only to get a job as an assistant at a fashion magazine with a tough boss Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) and a sarcastic co-worker/mentor Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt).
Although the book was a disappointment there were moments that something funny was said by character when the book was a little slow. And the book had amazing figurative language and descriptive detail of places, Food, People etc. Now for the weaknesses. The beginning of the book was the most confusing part of a book I’ve ever read in my entire life. It starts during the mid-end of the book and then suddenly goes into her past life as a college student and interviewing for the job. Leaving the reader confused and not knowing who, where, or what we're talking about. And the main character Andreah Sachs is unlikeable. She has a great job that pays well close friends and family and a supportive boyfriend, but still finds a way to complain about work, leave friends, and screw over co-workers. And finally the scenes from the movie that made the movie great instead of good were nonexistent in the novel just giving me another reason to be disappointed. Author Lauren Weisenberger make a great attempt at the funny and witty fashion novel that I was hoping for But overall fails with boring writing and unlikeable. I am confused but grateful that this awful novel was made into a great movie. Mark Watney from The Martian (played by Matt Damon) written by Andy Weir is absolutely indestructible in the movie and book. Even with indestructible-ness on his side, you’ll be rooting for him all the way to the end. In both movie and book, his knowledge will make you marvel and his black humor will make you laugh. Captivated to the end, this is a must-see-and-read. There is a crew from NASA on the Red Planet, Mars. Crazy dust storms could happen anytime and anywhere. The crew (Johanssen, Beck, Vogel, Martinez, Lewis, and Watney) are extremely careful. When a large scale storm comes their way they are forced abort their mission and leave Mars. Unfortunately, Watney was left behind because they thought him dead. Watney, wasn’t dead; he was alive on an uninhabitable planet with no one else there to help. Until Watney is able to contact NASA or NASA contact him, he is stranded and must figure out how to survive. Overall, the movie version of The Martian was fairly similar to the book. Both the movie and book kept the “documentary format.’’ They also both kept the black humour of Mark Watney that will make you laugh even when it feels like you shouldn’t. One great example of Watney’s black humour is when he says that he’ll die; not because he’s stranded on Mars but because he ends up only having disco music for all listening options. Another great example is when he chooses to cuss (through a computer) on Live National TV. A difference between the movie and book is that the movie added some action that wasn’t in the book. For example, when Watney is flying through space, there is a point in both movie and book when the chances of him never being caught by someone and dying are high. In the movie, that part is much more dramatic and heart pounding compared to the book because the solution ideas are different. Although the movie did add some details, it left out some important aspects of the book. In the book, Watney is caught in a dust storm once again. Like last time, he wasn’t expecting it. So, in order to survive he had to figure out how to get out of the dust storm (which was massive). In the movie, that large-crisis moment was left out. It could’ve added much more detail and suspense. Also, the movie, understandably, left out some scientific facts. But, the book was based off of a scientist left on Mars so it was a little disappointing. Luckily, the movie did add some aspects that the book didn’t have. One of which was showing emotion. Because the book was written in almost diary form (Watney and other astronauts recorded their days in video format), it was hard to convey emotions. Even at NASA, it was harder to convey emotion because those parts were written in third person. However Andy Weir did have parts where people put their hands in the air and cheered. Something else that the movie added that the book didn’t/couldn’t have was lots of visuals. One example that was implied in the book but not shown, was when Watney found a potato sprout that could lead to saving his life. In the movie, they could show him take a second look and see the green speck in the sea of brown. That did add some effect. In conclusion, both movie and book pull out what makes us human. The fact that all of us will do our best to help someone if we can, even if we’ve never met them. It also includes disregarding authority and advice if it means we can save someone. Since the book is easy to relate to in the sense that if given the chance or situation, no matter what, everyday people like you would help even if the person you’re helping is completely new, - it’s inspiring. In fact, you will be rooting for Mark Watney while reading/watching the movie. Pressing the pause button or slipping the bookmark in and closing the book will be impossible because it is so heart racing. Although some parts from the book will be missed in the movie, this is a 100% recommendation to anyone; sci fi fan or not. Age Recommendation-12&up By: Luna Reid
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