Going Bovine (BR #15)

By Libba Bray

Going Bovine takes place in the southern United States, beginning in Texas and ending in Florida. It is set in modern-day America.

Summary

In Going Bovine, Cameron Smith is an social outcast from a family that is rapidly falling apart when he starts having hallucinations about an angel, fire giants, and a dark figure. He discovers that he has Mad Cow Disease and that there is no known cure for the disease. As Cameron gets weaker, one of his hallucinations, an angel named Dulcie, starts talking to him. She says that his hallucinations are not hallucinations, but creatures leaking over from another universe. She says that Cameron must go find a mysterious Dr. X who has the ability to send the fire giants back to their universe and cure Cameron of his disease. With the help of Dulcie, a dwarf named Gonzo, and a lawn gnome claiming to be the Norse God Balder, Cameron makes his way to Florida to save the universe and himself.

Characters

Cameron Smith

Cameron isn't the most likeable of main characters. Yes, I understand that he is dying of an incurable disease, but he still isn't that likeable. At the beginning, Cameron is a character with no motivation or drive. He sort of drifts through life, smoking pot and being rather useless. Later on, he reminds me of Frodo in the movie version of The Return of the King. He keeps having what I tend to refer to as 'Frodo Moments.' Frodo Moments are when the character is in the most dangerous situation imagineable, but the character is either incapable of fighting/standing or he just faints altogether. This sort of character annoys me, but I realize that it is Cameron's development of strength as he weakens that makes the reader really want Cameron to succeed.

Gonzo

Gonzo is a dwarf who attends Cameron's school. Gonzo is very much into video games, but is deathly afraid of the real world. Gonzo believes that he has almost every allergy, disease, and virus imaginable and thinks that almost everything in the real world is unsafe. Gonzo's paranoia is a quite annoying characteristic, but like Cameron, I think the reader's not supposed to like Gonzo in the beginning and that it is the development of the character that makes the reader want to root him.

Dulcie

Dulice is the angel who gives Cameron his quest. Although she claims to be 'only the messenger', Dulcie is the one who helps Cameron on his journey and points Cameron in the right direction. Dulcie also has an insatiable craving for sugary products. She is one of the most likeable characters in the entire book, but she shows up the least. Again, that's probably the way the book was written. The perfect representation of happiness, joy, and hope is the most unobtainable. The hope that Dulcie brings is what gives Cameron the strength to continue.

Balder

Balder is a lawn gnome who was freed from his inanimate state by Cameron. He says that he is an invincible Norse God trapped in his lawn gnome body by Loki, the trickster. His story is pretty convincing, given that he can survive getting stabbed, strangled, and shot. For freeing him, Balder swore that he would follow Cameron on his mission. Balder believes that Cameron is his guide so that Balder can get back to his ship and to his home. Balder is a likeable character and lives in eternal hope of getting back to his ship that may or may not exist. Balder's hope might seem childish, but I like it that Balder lives in an eternal hope. He's a good guy.

Conclusion

Going Bovine is a good book which is both humorous and tragic. In many ways, it resembles The Odyssey, the epic journey through the strange to return to normality. The book was slow to begin with and the characters developed slowly as well, but overall, the book was good. I give it 6.5 waffles out of 11.

The Knife of Never Letting Go (BR #14)

By Patrick Ness

Setting

The Knife of Never Letting Go takes place in the colonial town of Prentisstown on the planet called New World. On New World, there is an alien race known as the Spackle. The Spackle went to war with the human colonists, and though they were wiped out, the Spackle released a germ that allowed animals to talk and another that allowed everybody to read everybody else's mind. These thoughts that people can hear is call 'The Noise.' The Noise was responsible for killing all of the women in Prentisstown. Prentisstown is now a slowly-decaying town so loud with Noise that it is almost unbearable.

Summary

Todd Hewitt is a boy in Prentisstown whose parents died. He lives with Cillian and Ben, both friends of his parents. Todd is the youngest kid in Prentisstown and was born shortly before all the women in the town died. When Todd and his dog Manchee find a spot without Noise in the swamp outside the town, his life changes. After he tells Ben and Cillian about the Silence, Todd has to go on the run, being chased by the men of Prentisstown. As he runs, Todd finds something he never expected: a girl. Together the girl, named Viola, Manchee, and Todd run for their lives from the men of Prentisstown, and Todd begins to realize that the life he has known has all been a lie.

Characters

Todd Hewitt

Todd is a boy from Prentisstown. In one month, he will become a man at the age of 13. Todd is an interesting character because of his ideas of becoming a man. Throughout the story, Todd tries to come to terms with the new truths in his life and tries to find out how this changes his definition of manhood.

Viola Eade

Viola is a girl from a crashed scout ship for a fleet of colonists who are coming to New World. She is very shy with Todd at first, but the two later make a good team and she keeps Todd from doing stupid decisions throughout the book. She is a very interesting character and I think she has the most realistic personality out of all the characters.

Aaron

Aaron is the crazy religious leader of Prentisstown. For some reason, he held Viola hostage at the beginning of the book and later chases both Viola and Todd through the New World. Throughout the book, you think he is just a madman, but you find out about his reason, even if they are still completely insane.

Manchee

Manchee is Todd's talking dog. He doesn't say much, but he is one of the most likable characters in the entire book.

Ben Moore

Ben is one of Todd's adopted parents. He is probably Todd's favorite person in the entire world and he helps to save Todd's life multiple times in the book.

Conclusion

The book is very interesting and keeps you on the edge of your seat the entire time. The ending was so good, though I hated it so much. This book deserves to be read by everyone. 9.8 out of 11 waffles.

Mortal Engines (BR #13)

By Philip Reeve

Setting

Mortal Engines takes place on Earth several hundred years in the future. The world was destroyed in a nuclear holocaust known as the Sixty Minute War. This war led to a loss of technology along with several types of natural disasters, so traction cities, or cities on wheels, were made to escape these natural disasters. These cities would eat smaller cities. The idea of Municipal Darwinism came about, stating that large cities should eat smaller cities, and smaller cities should eat towns, and towns should eat stationary settlements. The main opposition to the traction cities and to Municipal Darwinism is the Anti-Traction League, which protects itself from the large traction cities with a mixture of natural and man-made barriers. In this world, archaeologists dig up pieces of Old Tech, or technology from before the Sixty Minute War, which they sell to cities for historical or technological purposes. The book takes place when traction cities are running out and cities are looking for new sources of prey.

Summary

In the book, the narrator follows Tom Natsworthy, a teenage boy from the city of London. He is an apprentice in the Guild of Historians in London (There are four guilds in London: Navigators, Engineers, Historians, and Merchants). His life is pretty normal until he tries to stop a girl, Hester Shaw, from killing Thaddeus Valentine, the head of the Guild of Historians. After Hester Shaw falls off of London, Valentine pushes Tom out of the city as well. As Tom and Hester try to make their way back to London, Katherine, Valentine's daughter, works with a young engineer named Bevis Pod to uncover the mysteries surrounding London, Valentine, and the Lord Mayor of London, Magnus Crome.

Characters

Tom Natsworthy

Tom was an orphaned child from London working as an apprentice for the Guild of Historians. He dreamed of adventure until he found his way into one when he is pushed out of London by Thaddeus Valentine. In the world outside of London, Tom is very inexperienced and just wants to get back home, but overall, Tom is a very interesting character who's life and attitude changes over the course of the book.

Hester Shaw

Hester Shaw is a girl who witnessed Thaddeus Valentine kill her parents over a piece of Old Tech. Valentine also cut Shaw's face, disfiguring it horribly, before Shaw was able to escape. She is completely bent on taking her revenge on Valentine. Shaw is also very interesting and is easy to relate too.

Katherine Valentine

Katherine is the daughter of Thaddeus Valentine, and she completely adores her father, but when Tom 'fell' out of London after saving Thaddeus from Hester Shaw, she begins to get suspicious of her father and of Magnus Crome, the Lord Mayor of London. She takes it upon herself to investigate what really is happening in London.

Thaddeus Valentine

Valentine is one of the most powerful men in London. He used to be an archaeologist, but something that he gave to Lord Mayor Crome led to his promotion to the Head of the Guild of Historians. Valentine's past is mysterious and he does whatever Crome asks of him. He acts as one of the main antagonists of the story.

Anne Fang

Anne Fang is an aviatrix, or pilot. Though airplanes are lost technology, pilots still fly blimps and balloons. Fang is also a spy for the Anti-Traction League. She, like Katherine, is trying to understand the mysteries of London. She is a likable character, but is not very dynamic within the book.

Bevis Pod

Bevis is an apprentice engineer in London. He knows some of the terrible things that are going on beneath the surface in London. He tries to help Katherine to find out what is happening in London, and later on, he helps her to stop what London is about to do.

Magnus Crome

Magnus Crome is the main antagonist of the story. He is the Lord Mayor of London as well as the head of the Guild of Engineers. He has plans to make London greater than any other traction city on Earth, though much of his plan is shrouded in mystery.

Shrike (Grike)

Shrike (or Grike in North America) is a stalker. Stalkers are metal men with human brains who were made before the Sixty Minute War. They cannot die unless killed. Shrike helped to raise Hester Shaw after her parents were killed, and later, under the orders of Magnus Crome, goes after her and Tom to kill them.

Conclusion

The book is very well written and develops its main characters well. The ending of the book is completely unpredictable and makes you sad, happy, and shocked all at the same time. I truly enjoyed this book. 9.5 waffles our of 11.

Brain Spill Book Review #12

The Gatekeepers

By Jacques Steinberg

Setting

The Gatekeepers is a nonfiction book that takes place in the late 20th Century and the early 21st Century. The story is focused around the Wesleyan University.

Summary

The book follows Ralph Figueroa, an admissions officer at Wesleyan, as he advertises Wesleyan and as he decides whether or not to admit certain applicants or not.

Characters

Ralph Figueroa

Ralph was an admissions officer at Wesleyan at the time when the book took place. Ralph comes from a Hispanic family from southern California, and he feels connected to the students from bad backgrounds that apply to Wesleyan.

Julianna Bentes

Julianna is a prospective Wesleyan student who attended Harvard-Westlake school on scholarship. Being that she is ethnically Brazilian, African, and Caucasian, she dances, and she has good grades, she is one of the top students in the United States. 

Migizi Pensoneau

Migizi is a Native American attending a prep school. Although he had below-average grades before attending the prep school, Migizi's ethnicity and SAT scores make him attractive to quite a few schools, including Wesleyan.

Jordan Goldman

Jordan is a student from Staten Island who is an aspiring writer. Although told not to, Jordan wants to send samples of his writing with is application. He also  is best friends with Devin, a boy who cannot stand on his own. His friendship with Devin is what he writes about in one of his college essays.

Becca Jannol

Becca is the president of  Harvard-Westlake. She has average grades and SAT scores and she once accepted a marijuana-laced brownie. When the student who brought the brownies to school was caught, Becca was the only student to admit that she accepted a brownie. After Becca decides to write about this in her admissions essay, the reactions from colleges vary, though Ralph wants to get Becca into Wesleyan.

Aggie Ramirez

Aggie is from a Hispanic background. She attends a private school and is school president. She, unfortunately, has low SAT and senior year grades. The rest of her grades are fine, though. She also says that her bad senior grades are due to her overload of extracurricular activities. She is, though, a prospective student at Wesleyan.

Tiffany Wang

Tiffany is a northern Californian Asian-American. Tiffany had average grades and was active in extracurricular activities, but she fails to expand on them in her essay. She does have a chance at getting accepted at Wesleyan, though.

Conclusion

The book was very interesting and really gets the reader connected with the characters. The book does go off on several rabbit trails, though, but I liked it. 7 waffles out of 11.

Brain Spill Movie Review #8

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

Setting

Journey 2 takes place in the modern world sometime after Journey to the Center of the Earth took place. In this universe, the works of Jules Verne were actually true. There actually was a way to the center of the Earth and a Mysterious Island. Those who believe that the works of Verne are true are known as Vernians. 

Summary

After Sean Anderson, a Vernian who was present in The Journey to the Center of the Earth, has received a radio message in code from a Vernian, Sean and his stepfather, Hank Parsons, decipher the code, which gives the location of the Mysterious Island. Sean believes the message was sent by his grandfather, who has been missing, so Hank and Sean, along with their helicopter pilot, Gabato, and his daughter, Kailani, travel to the Mysterious Island, where they crash land on the beach. They soon meet Alexander Anderson, Sean's grandfather, but they also discover that the island will sink within the next few days, so the five of them read through Verne's book to discover how to survive and escape the Mysterious Island.

Characters

Sean Anderson

Sean Anderson is the only connecting character from the first movie. His father died while trying to discover the passage to the Center of the Earth. He relationship with his stepfather, Hank, is very tense because of the fact that some many people have deserted Sean in the past. Sean is also the main expert on the works of Verne and other authors brought up throughout the book.

Hank Parsons

Hank Parsons is Sean's stepfather. He, throughout the movie, is trying to build a solid relationship with Sean. He does have a rather tense relationship with Alexander Anderson, who is constantly making fun of Hank. Hank seems to be from retired military, and he is probably the strongest person on the team from the Mysterious Island.

Kailani

Kailani is Gabato's daughter. She helps him with his helicopter tour company, but she really wants to go to college. The only reason Kailani and Gabato agree to transport Hank and Sean is to get money for Kailani's college. Her main purpose, though, is to serve as a love interest for Sean. 

Alexander Anderson

Alexander Anderson is a Vernian and Sean's grandfather. Alexander is the one with knowledge of the Mysterious Island and knows how to navigate and survive the island, because he's been living there for about two years. He has a strained relationship with Sean because he has never really been there for Sean, even when Sean's father died.

Gabato

Gabato is Kailani's father and the owner of a helicopter tour company. His only real purpose in the film is as a source of comic relief throughout the film. In the story, he sort of has a real goal, which is to get his daughter to college, but even this just leads to more comedy. 

Conclusion

The movie is funny, fun, and interesting. It develops all its main characters fairly well and has a consistent pace. It makes good connections to the Verne books it references, but sometimes they stretch the examples a bit too far, like with Stevenson's Treasure Island or with Swift's Gulliver's Travels. The movie was , overall very fun. 6.55 out of 11 penguins.

Brain Spill Book Review #11

As I Lay Dying

By William Faulkner

Setting

This book takes place near Jefferson, Missouri before or during 1930.

Summary

Addie Bundren, the mother of the Bundren family, dies, but her final wish was to be buried over the river in the city of Jefferson. Her family builds her a coffin and starts to transport her to Jefferson, but along the way, they run into many difficulties, including broken bridges, broken legs, burning barns, and dead mules.

Characters

Darl

Darl is the second child of Addie and Anse Bundren. He is also, in my opinion, the main narrator of the book, though there are fifteen. People talk about him because he is a bit different, but he seems to be more level headed than most. He does do some strange things, though. For example, he set a barn on fire.

Anse Bundren

Anse is the father of the Bundren family. He is known for trying to find the way to finish a job with the least amount of work, but he promised Addie that he would bury her in Jefferson, so he won't accept any alternative plan. He tends to mumble to himself a lot and doesn't accept help from anybody when he is in need of some.

Jewel

Jewel is the third son of Anse and Addie. He has a horse that he worked to get and is so obsessed with the horse that Darl says that Jewel's mother was a horse. He likes to yell and cuss at people and is one of the more annoying characters.

Cash

Cash is the oldest son of the Bundrens. He is a good carpenter, but like his father, Cash tries to do things the easy way. He does, however, work hard on his mother's coffin. His role is as the narrator when other people  are doing things more important.

Dewey Dell

Dewey Dell is the daughter of Anse and Addie. She is a caring sister. A bit too caring, though. By the end of the book, it becomes obvious that she is pregnant, but then the book ends, and nobody important knows she is pregnant and nothing happens about that.

Vernon Tull

Tull is the neighbor of the Bundrens, and tries to help them all the time, but every time he does, Anse turns him away.

Vardaman

Vardaman is the youngest Bundren brother. His is a bit crazy and thinks that his mother is not the dead lady in the coffin, but the fish he caught and cut up earlier that day. He doesn't really do anything else in the book than say that his mother is a fish.

Addie Bundren

She is a dead person, but for some reason, she is still able to narrate part of the book.

Conlusion

Very little happens in the book and what does happen is not interesting. All the characters are annoying and make stupid decisions. 3 out of 11 waffles.

Brain Spill Movie Review #4

The Hunger Games

Setting

This setting is exactly like the book The Hunger Games. Twelve Districts are controlled by the tyrannical Capitol in the country of Panem, somewhere in the future. Each of the districts must send a boy and a girl as tribute to compete in the Hunger Games, where the 24 children must fight to the death. The winner is showered with fame and wealth.

Summary

In the story, the main character, Katniss Everdeen, volunteers as tribute after her sister, Prim, is chosen as tribute. Katniss and the male tribute, Peeta Mellark, go to the Capitol to prepare for the games. In one interview, Peeta admits that he loves Katniss in order to gain support of sponsors, who could send the tributes supplies during the games. The story revolves around Katniss and Peeta trying to keep up the appearance of being in love as well as trying to survive the games.

Characters

Katniss Everdeen

This is the third time I've done a character description of Katniss. Like always, I think she is annoying and that she complains to much. I might even despise her more in the movie than in the book. Its really annoying whenever Katniss and her mom have an encounter because the movie really emphasizes their conflict.

Peeta Mellark

Peeta is an interesting character, but is focused on even less in the movie than in the book. Sure, he is a big character, but you just don't see too much of him.

Haymitch

Haymitch has a big role in the film, as he does in the book. They cast Haymitch very well, and try to reveal his emotions in this film. 

Cinna

Cinna is the stylist as fashion designer for Katniss. He plays a big role as one of the people who Katniss can relate to within the Capitol. 

Rue

Rue was one of the characters they got spot on. She was innocent, yet powerful and they cast the perfect person to play her. She, like in the books, brings out the best in Katniss. Katniss actually looks like a sort of nice person when Rue is around.

Effie

Effie looks scary.

Conclusion

The movie makes more sense if you have already read the books. I liked how they tried to use Katniss's hallucinations to reveal the back story of her father, but it wasn't done to well. I also liked their use of muted or silent scenes to change the feel of the scene. I didn't like, however, how they made Katniss's prep team so serious. I thought the prep team was nice and fun in the books, and I didn't like the take the movie had on those characters. Overall, it was a 'meh' film. 6.25 out of 11 penguins.

Brain Spill Book Review #10

Death of a Salesman

By Arthur Miller

Setting

Death of a Salesman takes place somewhere in New England in the 1950s. That's about it.

Summary

A salesman gets old and cranky and starts to hallucinate about the past. His family and friends try to help him and support him, but in the end, he dies.

Characters

Willy Loman

Willy is the salesman who is referred to in the title. He is an old man with a lot of regrets. He hallucinates about the past throughout the entire play. Willy is a very annoying character. He lies to just about everybody in the book and when people try to help him with his problems, he just starts yelling at them.

Biff 

Biff is the 34-year-old eldest son of Willy. His life dramatically changed when Biff flunked math in high school and didn't go to college. He has had a variety of jobs, but never held one for very long. His personality clashes greatly with that of Willy and they fight very often. Biff's actions towards the end of the book are really annoying.

Happy

Happy is Willy's other son. He has a steady job and is more successful then Biff. Happy does, however, have a thing about lying. He also enjoys picking up girls. He is, though, one of the most reasonable characters in the entire book.

Linda

Linda is Willy's wife. She absolutely adores Willy and everything about him. She has full faith in Willy and basically lets him do whatever he wants, even if it is dangerous, without question. She gets defensive whenever somebody starts to have an affect on the way Willy thinks or acts, but she won't do anything to Willy.

Ben

Ben in Willy's dead brother who went to Africa and made his fortune. Ben is greatly admired by Willy and is a major source of Willy's regret. When Ben went to Africa, Willy could have gone with  him, but didn't, and now regrets it. Ben died before the book began, but he appears a lot in Willy's hallucinations. 

Charley

Charley is probably the closest thing Willy has to a friend. Charley tries to help Willy, and has been for years, financially and mentally. Willy, though, likes to feel independent, and will not take a job from Willy when he loses his old job.

Conclusion

The play is tied together very nicely and the transitions are good, but the play itself is not that great. The play is very pointless and nothing really gets done in the entire thing, and the only plot twist is mentioned in the title, so there is no surprise when Willy does die. 5 waffles out of 11.

Brain Spill Book Review #9

Catching Fire

By Suzanne Collins

Setting

Catching Fire is a sequel to the book, The Hunger Games. This world takes place where the government, centered at the Capitol, has tyrannical control over the twelve districts surrounding it. Seventy-five years earlier, the thirteen original districts had rebelled against the Capitol, but had failed. The rebellion ended with the utter destruction of the Thirteenth District. As punishment for the rebellion, the Capitol creates the Hunger Games. In the Hunger Games, the remaining twelve districts must each send one boy and one girl (between the ages of 12 and 18) as tribute. These 24 children must then go into an arena and fight to the death. The winning tribute is returned home and lives a life of wealth. Every twenty-five years, though, the Capitol puts a twist on the Games, called the Quarter Quell, and the upcoming Games will be the third Quarter Quell.

Summary

Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen competed in the seventy-fourth Hunger Games, and with a stroke of good fortune, both won the Hunger Games by pretending to be madly in love with each other. Katniss is not in love, but Peeta is. Now living a life of riches, things are much different back at home. Peeta and Katniss are haunted by nightmares of the Hunger Games they were in. President Snow comes to meet Katniss, telling her that having both Peeta and Katniss winning has angered many citizens of the twelve districts. Peeta and Katniss must continue to pretend to be in love to continue to convince the districts that they were in love and to keep the districts from rebelling. Katniss fails, Katniss also begins to hear news of people rebelling in other districts. She hears stories that there might still be survivors in Disrict Thirteen. She wants to run away to avoid punishment for not stopping rebellion, but when law enforcement strengthens and Gale gets flogged for poaching, Katniss knows she must stay. To keep up the facade of love, Peeta and Katniss get publicly engaged. The president then announces that the next Quarter Quell will take previous winners of the Hunger Games and make them go through another game. District 12 only has three living winners: Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch, and Katniss and Peeta are chosen for the games. Now Katniss and Peeta must try to stay alive in the Hunger Games for a second time.

Characters

Katniss Everdeen

Katniss is the narrator of the story. She is still as annoying as in the first book, but now she actually has a reason for her complaining. She is caught in a love triangle. Gale is now a love interest, and one that she has known all her life, but she also sort of likes Peeta, and the Capitol continues to pressure her into the relationship with Peeta. She also has nightmares about the previous Hunger Games to complain about. She changes quite a bit in this book, where she decides to take up the cause of the districts and try to rebel. In the Quarter Quell, she also learns how to trust people more freely.

Peeta Mellark

Peeta is still madly in love with Katniss, though she still is not. They are, though, on good terms with each other. Peeta is not chosen to go into the Hunger Games, but volunteers in order to protect Katniss. He doesn't change to much. He just can't run well on his artificial leg and is always just in love with Katniss.

Gale

Gale is Katniss's other love interest. His two main characteristics are his love for Katniss and his ongoing anger at the Capitol. He becomes the main voice of rebellion in the book. He really doesn't appear for most of the book, though.

Haymitch

Haymitch is still important. He is now one of the few people that Katniss can confide in. He also works to help Katniss and Peeta survive in the games as their coach again. Haymitch also becomes a voice of reason when it comes to hopes of life in District 13 and of successful rebellion. Haymitch becomes much more of a respectable character over the course of the book.

Finnick Odair

Finnick is one of the other tribute chosen to fight in the Quarter Quell. He becomes a very helpful character and ally to the District 12 tributes in the games. He is also one of the more interesting characters, who can see deep into his emotions and the book continues.

President Snow

Finally! There is now a real antagonist in the books! President Snow becomes the voice of the Capitol and represents the force that the Capitol has in Katniss's life. 

Effie

Yeah. She is still here.

Conclusion

This book was actually very good. I don't enjoy the characters as much. The character development feels very rushed, but I really enjoyed the plot and how the entire book comes together. It was a very good book. 7 out of 11 waffles.

Brain Spill Book Review #8

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents

By Terry Pratchett

Setting

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents takes place in Terry Pratchett's fictional world, Discworld. For those who don't know, Discworld is a giant disc that is balanced on the backs of four elephants who are standing on the back of a giant turtle that is flying through space. The story takes place in the city of Bad Blintz, located somewhere on the disc.

Summary

In the story, the main character is Maurice, an educated, talking cat. He is travelling with a kid named Keith and a colony of educated rats. Maurice, Keith, and the rats travel from city to city. the rats scour the city, openly showing themselves to the locals while pretending to be dumb rats. When the people get fed up with the rats, they call for a rat piper. Keith, a regular piper, pretends to be a rat piper, who is paid to pipe the rats out of town. Maurice organizes the whole con. Maurice, Keith, and the rats split the money. Maurice wants the money to set up a nice cat retirement. Keith just wants to play his pipe. The rats want the money to buy a boat and find an island where the rats can live in peace, away from the humans. The group is trying to con Bad Blintz when something suspicious begins. There are no other rats than the educated ones, the rat catchers are sketchy characters, and there is an abundance of poison and rat traps. Something is up in the city, and Maurice, Keith, the rats, and a local girl, named Malicia, try to figure out what is going on in the city.

Characters

Maurice

Maurice is an educated, talking cat who is set on making his fortune. He has a questionable set of morals and has no problem conning people. His dream is to have a cushy life where he is fed well and gets pet a lot. He is a very practical, realistic person, which leads to conflict between him and Malicia. As time goes on, Maurice grows closer to the rats and to Keith, and learns to let go of his own wants in order to help those he cares about. He is a very interesting main character, being a person whose actions the reader wouldn't normally approve of.

Keith

Keith is an orphan who was raised by the Musician's Guild in Ankh-Morpork. He learned how to play the pipe there. For most of the novel, Keith is referred to as the stupid-looking kid, and for much of the novel, he acts that way. Keith's only want is to be able to play the pipe. Keith identifies himself more with the rats than with humans, and this is what leads him to realize that he must assert himself into te ongoing events rather than just playing his pipe.

Malicia

Malicia is the daughter of the Mayor of Bad Blintz. She has a very active imagination due to th amount of books that she reads. She believes that real life should be like a fantasy stories, and is always looking for secret trapped doors, fantasy-like back stories, and other common book plots. As the story goes on, she realizes that life is not just a big story and the ending is not always exactly like a storybook ending.

Dangerous Beans

Dangerous Beans is the intellectual leader of the Educated Rats. He is physically weak, small, and is an albino, but makes up for it with his brains. Dangeroous Beans sets down the moral code for the rats and organized their goal to find a human-free island for rats to live on. He is, though, fascinated by the ideas of the book called Mr. Bunsy, in which humans and rats live in harmony, but he has little hope that this is possible in real life.

Peaches

Peaches is the first educated rat that Maurice met. She is the scribe for the educated rats, writing down the moral rules that Dangerous Beans thinks up and created an entire written rat language. She also carries around a copy of Mr. Bunsy with her at all times. She and Dangerous Beans are the two most intellectual of the rats, and are the main promoters of the rat island idea.

Hamnpork

Hamnpork is the leader of the educated rats, and represents the older generation of rats. He appoves more of the old ways, before they were educated rats. He is the "back in my day" generation. He fears getting his power overthrown by a younger, more powerful rat. He, by the end of the book, also changes his ways, realizing the need for the new ways of life as well as the old.

Darktan

Darktan is the leader of the Trap Disposal Squad, whose purpose is to dismantle all of the rat and mouse traps before someone gets hurt. He is strong and is a viable replacement for Hanmpork as leader, but Darktan does not want to be leader. He enjoys his work as a Trap Disposer. He is practical, and at the beginning of the book, finds little use for intellectual thinkers like Dangerous Beans and Peaches. By the end of the book, though, Darktan realizes that everyone has there purpose. He realizes that the intellectuals are important for the future of the rats and that it is his destiny to become leader someday.

Nourishing

Nourishing is not much of a main character, but is a very interesting character nonetheless. She is a young, scared rat that has not yet found her place in the colony. She is usually found helping out Darktan with whatever he is doing. Over the course of the novel, Nourishing overcomes her fear and becomes a strong, brave rat herself.

Sardines

Sardines is an educated rat he grew up around a theatre. He wears a hat and has a cane and he dances. He is one of the most outgoing rats when it comes to getting the local people's attention. He has been known to swim, dance, and steal dentures out of people's mouthes. He is not exactly a main character, but he is funny and is important in turning Darktan into the leader he was meant to be.

Conclusion

This book is one of the best I have ever read. It has so many main characters and so many that change over the course of the book. The book ends well and is unpredictable up throughout the book. It also has a perfect mix of humor and seriousness. 9.5 waffles out of 11.

 

Brain Spill Book Review #7

The Hunger Games

Setting

The Hunger Games is a book written by Suzanne Collins about America in a distopian future. The Capitol is the center of wealth and the government and controls the twelve districts around it. The twelve districts were forced into submission after a large inter-district rebellion. As a warning to the other districts, the capitol completely destroyed a thirteenth district by bombing it. As part of the post-rebellion agreement, each district must give the resources it produces to the people back in Capitol. Also, once a year, each district must provide two tributes, a boy and a girl, for the Hunger Games The tributes, all of which are between the ages of 12 and 18, will then be put in a large arena where they must fight to the death.

Summary

Our story is told from the perspective of Katniss Everdeen, a 16-year-old from the poor area of District 12. Katniss lives with her mother and younger sister, Prim. To feed her family, Katniss illegally hunts outside of the borders of her district with her friend Gale. When her sister is chosen as tribute for the Hunger Games, Katniss volunteers to take her place. A boy named Peeta is chosen as the male tribute from District 12. Peeta and Katniss, along with Effie and Haymitch, their trainers, go to the Capitol. The story revolves around the two tributes trying to gain the support of sponsors from Capitol and fighting for their lives in the Games themselves.

Characters

Katniss

Katniss is the narrator of the story. She is also, in my opinion, the most annoying character in the entire book. The whole time, Katniss is always angry, or sad, or suspicious, and that's not all. Katniss goes on to describe in detail how angry, sad, etc. she is at certain people. Yes, I understand she is fighting for her life, but can't she just show happiness a bit more? The one time she does show trust and is not acting is when she is with Rue. 

Peeta

Peeta is the other tribute from District 12. He seems better than Katniss because at least his actions are nicer and are actually nice instead of pretending to be nice for personal gain. He does happen to be lovesick with Katniss, which is his main annoying quality. He doesn't seem to realize (even though he helped plan this) that Katniss is only pretending to be in love so that she can get them sponsors and get them out alive. Whatever.

Gale

Gale is Katniss's hunting buddy from District 12. He's sort of not really mentioned too much other than that he is, like Katniss, in a situation where he is supporting the rest of his family. He mainly appears asa kind-of-sort-of-maybe love interest for Katniss which is keeping her from falling for Peeta. We know he is annoyed at the Capitol and that he takes his anger out while he's in the woods. He also helps to support Katniss's family when she leaves for Capitol.

Haymitch

Haymitch is the coach of Katniss and Peeta. He's their coach because he's the only living winner of the Hunger Games from District 12. He is also a major drunkard. He is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting characters. We can see his fear of the past through his continual drinking, which he uses to keep down the memories of his time in the Hunger Games and his time coaching tributes who he watch die in later Hunger Games. We can also see his attempt to save at least one of the tributes by focusing the sponsor's gifts on Katniss.

Rue

Rue is a tribute from District 11 who becomes allies with Katniss partway through the games. she brings out the best in Katniss, mainly because she reminds Katniss of Prim. Rue is 12 years old, and is the youngest tribute that year. Katniss allies with Rue because Rue reminds her of home. Because of this, Rue brings out the little happiness we see in Katniss, which is, besides herself, something that only Prim, Gale, and (until he died) Katniss's father.

Effie

Effie isn't really important, but I want to clear something up. Some might say that Effie is more annoying than Katniss, but that is not true. Effie, with her strange catchphrases and colored wigs, is a comical sort of annoying. She brings a sort of light tone to a dark plot. Katniss is just depressing.

Conclusion

The book is a good, intense read, even though I don't like Katniss. The book mixes moments of emotion with moments of action. In the book, the idea of an over-powerful government which people are fighting against is always interesting and always popular. I give it 7 waffles out of 11.  

Brain Spill Book Reviews #6

Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen

By H. Beam Piper

Anybody who has done a little bit of reading in the genre of science fiction knows the idea of alternate universes. This is the idea that whenever somebody or something makes a choice, two universes are formed: one where the person made the chose one thing, and one where a person chose the other. Lord Kalvan is an alternate universe book, but to the extreme level. A group of people, known as the Paratime, are able to travel through the thousands of alternate universes that there are, and they have taken it up upon themselves to keep order within these universes. One time, on accident, a Paratime trooper accidentally encounters a Pennsylvania policeman, Calvin Morrison. Morrison shoots the trooper, but is accidentally transported to another universe, which Morrison refers to as Otherwhen. Calvin, known as Kalvan in Otherwhen, becomes a powerful leader in the Otherwhen kingdom of Hostigos. The story revolves around the Paratime trying to track Kalvan, the wars between Hostigos and other kingdoms, and Kalvan trying to bring down the over-powerful house of Styphon, a religous group with the only knowledge of gunpowder. Although much of the story is politics and war strategy rather than action, the book has an interesting concept and plot. One of the most interesting things the book brings up is the reorganization of language and territory in eastern North America.

Picture from http://www.listal.com/viewimage/50412h

Brain Spill Book Reviews #5

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

By Douglas Adams

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a very random book. The book basically created the genre of random comedy. In the book, a man named Arthur Dent is taken by his friend Ford Prefect, an alien from a planet in the vicinity of Betelgeuse, off of the planet Earth seconds before the Earth is destroyed. Soon, the two hitchhikers catch a ride on the stolen ship, Heart of Gold, with ex-president of the galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox and a fellow human, Trisha McMillan. The four of them, along with a depressed robot and an overly happy computer, go on a quest to find the legendary planet of Magrathea and in search of the question of life, the universe, and everything. The book is filled with plenty of random events and characters and makes it the father of all random books. The book is very well written, 8.5 out of 10! Hurrah!

Brain Spill Book Reviews #4

The Looking Glass Wars

By Frank Beddor

The Looking Glass Wars is a book that starts off in the magical kingdom of Wonderland, where a select few people are able to make things happen simply by using their imaginations. Princess Alyss Heart is celebrating her birthday party, when her evil Aunt Red crashes the party, brings news of how she killed Alyss's father, proceeds to kill Alyss's mother, then takes over the kingdom. Alyss is forced to leave the palace by her bodygaurd, Hatter Madigan, but the two of them accidentally fall into a portal to Earth. Alyss comes out in England, while Hatter comes out in France. Hatter searches for ten years to find Alyss. When he finally does and they go back to Wonderland, they find that Red has completely messed up Wonderland, and they must fight Red to retake the kingdom. The book is a cool new take on Alice in Wonderland, though not as whimsical as the original. The book, though, was thoroughly interesting and thus deserves 8 stars out of 10! Yay! Congratulations! You earn 5 imaginary Golden Duckets!

http://media.gunaxin.com/the-looking-glass-wars-stomping-fairy-tale-ass/38014

Brain Spill Book Reviews #3

Flatland

A Romance of Many Dimensions

By Edwin A. Abbott

Flatland is a book written by an English schoolteacher and theologian named Edwin A. Abbott. Flatland is basically a a book written from the point of view of a square who lives in a large two-dimensional world. The book was actually published under the pseudonym, A. Square (Get it?). The book is divided into two parts. The first part simply explains how a 2D world is able to work. This section, though cleverly thought out, is long and somewhat boring. The second part gets to the plot of the whole story. In the story, the square has a dream that he saw Lineland, a land in the 1st dimension. He tries to explain the second dimension to the King of Lineland, but the King does not listen and eventually tries to kill the square. The next day, the square is visited by a perfect circle, claiming to be a sphere. The sphere explains the whole 3rd Dimension to the square, but the square tries to kill the s0-called sphere, refusing to listen. The square is taken by the sphere and is shown the 3rd Dimension (Spaceland) and the land with no dimension (Pointland). The story is interesting, yet somewhat boring at the beginning. 6.5 stars out of 10! Yay for books!

Picture from http://romeda.org/rePublish/.

Brain Spill Book Reviews #2

Larklight

Setting

Larklight is a book written by Philip Reeve that takes place in the 1800s if Isaac Newton had invented space travel. The story begins in a house which is a satellite in space. In thsi world, the British Empire has expanded to the moon, Mars, the Asteroid Belt, and the Moons of Jupiter. Most of the (human) characters act like people out of a Charles Dickens novel, but in space.

Summary

 The story starts when giant spiders attack the (floating space) house of Myrtle and Art Mumby and they escape to the moon, where they are taken onto the ship of pirate Jack Havock. The book, told from the viewpoint of Art Mumby -- with some excerpts from Myrtle -- and tells of the tale of how Art, Myrtle, and Jack try to discover who the giant spiders are and what they want with the house of Art and Myrtle.

Characters

Art Mumby

Art is the narrator of the story and the main character. He dreams of exploring deep space and going on adventures, but is stuck in his floating house, Larklight, listening to his sister play piano. He is a fun character, but even as the narrator, very little is learned about him.

Myrtle Mumby

Myrtle is the most annoying character in the entire book. Not only does she insist on playing piano all the time, she always tries to be lady-like, which drove me mad about halfway through the book. She changes more than most characters, but it is a very sudden, unusual change and is probably not the book's main character.

Jack Havock

Jack Havock is the most famous pirate in all of the British Empire, though he is younger than he is thought of in the papers. He roams the Solar System with his very eclectic crew of alien-escapees from a lab in London. Havock has a sad past, that I will not spoil, and is one of the deeper characters in the story. He saves just about everybody in the entire cast of characters from certain death.

Mr. Webster

Mr. Webster is the name of the head giant spider who attacked Larklight and kidnapped the Mumby children's father. He is the antagonist of the story and his race and intentions unfold very nicely as the plot continues.

Nipper

I just put Nipper in this character summary because he's a giant crab.

Conclusion

The book is well written and unfolds very nicely and evenly. I enjoyed the majority of the book as well as the hover hogs. The characters do not develop much throughout the story, but this more of a 'show-me-a-new-world' story rather than a hero's journey story. 8.5 out of 11 pancakes.

*Pancakes are not provided by blogger.

Picture from http://www.scificool.com/tomas-alfredson-to-direct-larklight/

Brain Spill Book Reviews #1

The Fuzzy Papers

Recently, I read The Fuzzy Papers, by H. Beam Piper. In the book, a man named Jack Holloway finds a little furry creatures in the forests of the planet Zarathustra. He names the creatures Fuzzies. The creature seems to be intelligent, but when the local charter company finds out about the creatures, they are out to disprove the claims of Fuzzy sapience. This book is actually two separate books: Little Fuzzy and Fuzzy Sapiens. The majority of the book is about laws, politics, and science... but this is space laws, politics, and science! Yay! This book is awesome when it comes to a science-fiction story that actually makes you think. It questions if we really can know if something is an intelligent creature or not, and the author really writes about it well. And, if that isn't good enough, Fuzzies are awesome. 9 stars out of 10. Huzzah!

Picture from http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7637149-fuzzy-sapiens

Just Desert

So, I was cleaning my room one day, and I found a discovery. A book of my own stories, written when I was in 4th and 5th grade! The book was titled 'Mysterious Writing Book' due to the strange disappearance of the creator of the pictures in the book. Nobody knew who he was or where he went. The person who had received these pictures published them and allowed people to try to come up with stories to these pictures. My class got to write stories for these pictures. Although mine are not that great, they are funnyish. Yes, I know the picture shows a person in the kitchen, but the title is "Just Desert", not "Just Dessert". I hope you enjoy the story!

Just Desert

"She lowered the knife and it grew even brighter"

She was just making pumpkin pie, but the pumpkin exploded. It had grown larger and larger and then it exploded. Anna screamed when she saw the monster inside of it. The monster was small, round, and green. It's eyes were huge and there were five of them. The monster rolled around like a ball. It also could hop. It hopped on Anna and bit her head off, and went on with his plan to conquer the world. Muahahaha!

Please remember that I was in 5th grade when I wrote this.

This is just one of many stories that I wrote in that book. over the next few weeks, I will be showing most of these stories on my blog!

The Philippines - Day 3

Sunday, November 14, 2010; 8:35pm (Philippines Time)

Today, we had noodles and pineapple juice for breakfast. We all dressed up nice and went to church. Church there was long and the songs were really long. Someone in the back kept clapping very loudly. We then went and met some more of our mom's relatives. We then went back to the house and had

pancit (more noodles) for lunch. We went to the beach after that, but on our way, we went to see relatives. They are our Lola and Lolo, which is the equivalent of great uncles and aunts in America.

They had

pigs, piglets, puppies, and doves. Everybody there was sitting around watching Manny P

acquiao. Apparently, he had a big match that day. Afterwards, we went to the beach and played. It

was fun, wet, and sandy. When we got back, we played with our cousins until the Alinunu Elementary School principal came to see us (My sister had started a book project a short while back, whose goal was to giv

e books to the Alinunu Elementary School for the kids there. For more information on this project, go to http://www.alinunubookproject.blogspot.com/ ).

Rabk - Part 18

Rabk

Facing Death

Part 18

When he heard Jeeves, Dodgers hopped up from his chair, and motioned for the others to follow him. As they went through the door, Wooster burst through it, scattering the travelers. Teatime followed Wooster through the door soon afterwards. Wooster jumped over the couch and turned around. "Stop this now, Teatime," Wooster pleaded, "Why would the Assassin's Guild want me dead, anyway?" In an eerily calm voice, Teatime replied, "I haven't the slightest idea. I'm just doing my job." Wooster tried to speak again, saying "Now I'm sure we can work this out--", but by the time he had said it, Teatime had thrown a knife at him, and it was now lodged inside Wooster's chest. Wooster looked at the hilt of the knife, looked up, and said, "Oh, bother". He then fell to the floor with a thump, and the travelers gathered around. Jeeves just glanced down and walked out of the room. As the travelers watched the dying man, Teatime came up, pulled the knife out of Wooster, and left. A few seconds later, Wooster muttered a few words about pancakes and closed his eyes for good. The crowd around the dead man sat silently watching the motionless body. As they sat there, a deep voice came from behind them, saying, "Excuse me, but I must get in here." The travelers jumped up and turned around. There, in front of them, was a tall skeleton with a scythe and a long, black cloak. "Who are you?" asked Burt. "Some call me the Grim Reaper, others call me Death, and some call me The End, but I like to be called Paul. Now please step back." As they did, Death waved his scythe over the body of Wooster and it slowly faded into nothingness. "Goodbye, now." said Paul and he was gone. Jeeves came back in again with a suitcase and a bowler hat on. "I'm sorry, gentlemen, but I'm going to have to ask you all to leave. I must go to find where Mr. Wooster came back to life at." Dodgers moved quickly, "Thanks, Jeeves for the vehicle." "Not at all, Mr. Dodgers." The travelers walked with Jeeves outside, and he pointed out their car. He then got in a car and drove off. Rabk didn't even wave. He was just staring at the car, which was a wooden wagon hooked up to a donkey with a kangaroo on its back. "That's our transportation?" asked Rabk. "Yup," said Dodgers as he hopped inside, "We don't need much." Rabk shook his head and got in, and off they went towards the mountain. After a couple hours of of riding down the road, a hissing noise sounded from behind them, and as the crew turned around to find the source of the sound, the back of the wagon blew up.

TO BE CONTINUED...