Bloodhound

Bloodhound by Tamora Pierce


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Book 2 in the Beka Cooper series picks up a few months after book 1 leaves off. This time, Beka is no longer a trainee "puppy" but a real "Dog" (i.e. police officer) in the middle of unraveling where all the counterfeit money is coming from and halting the spread of it. It's a pretty good read, as with all of Pierce's books.

If you're recommending it to teenagers, be aware that there is some sexual content (more than the first book). Nothing graphic, but definitely some hormones happening, and Beka does actually have sex a couple of times. (Frankly, I wasn't all that impressed with the guy she chose, but for a teenager, she handled it maturely.)

According to the Find a Book website, Bloodhound is categorized as "High/Low," meaning that it's high interest but low reading level (for vocabulary). I don't think I agree with that because so much of the story is told in what Pierce--via Beka--calls "street cant." Think: fictionalized fantasy version of Cockney. It's fun to read, and Pierce does include a glossary at the end of the book, but someone who struggles with reading in general may have trouble with the made-up words and phonetic spelling.

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The Invention of Hugo Cabret

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

First, let me clarify that actually I'd give this book 3 1/2 stars, and second, it's not strictly a graphic novel. It's a big, thick kid's book that reads really fast because probably 2/3 of the pages are pencil illustrations, and some of the pages of text have only a few lines on them. The result is a very fast-paced story about an orphaned boy living in secret in a train station in 1930s Paris, France. The illustrations move the story along and remind me of a filmmaker's storyboard...which makes sense, given how the story turns out. (I won't ruin the mystery for anyone who hasn't yet read it, though.)


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Eclipse

Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars, actually--if the characters had figured out what was going on as soon as I did, I might have given the book 4 stars. (That would have dramatically shortened the novel, though.) It was still a compelling, fast read, despite my impatience.

One thing that puzzled me, however, was why in the world nobody saw the parallels between Sam & Emily's "imprinting" and Bella & Edward's connection. Unless I'm missing something, it seems to me to be the exact same type of thing. ...Which means that Jacob should fully recognize and accept the implications. The fact that he didn't makes me wonder if Stephenie Meyer realized that it would necessitate a major re-write of the end of the book, and she was unable or unwilling to do that? Maybe she knew teen fans love angst and didn't want to deprive them of so much of it?


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