Ghost Projekt by Joe Harris

Will Haley, an American weapons inspector and Anya Romanova, a Russian detective are called in to examine an abandon Siberian research facility where something, possibly a weapon of mass destruction, has been stolen.  After the weapon disappears, people who once worked on the project during the Cold War start turning up dead.  There's nothing to show how they died, aside from a strange red rash.  Will and Anya must figure out what's going on as fast as they can, and what was really happening behind the Dosvidanya Projekt.

This was a bit dark, and definitely for an older, more mature audience.  The weapon that is unleashed goes around killing lots of people, which are graphically depicted.  There's also disturbing images because of what happened to a little girl named Natalia.  I found that more upsetting then the people dying.

This is the first in the series, and it mostly felt like a set-up for the rest of the series.  It gets the story moving, but not a whole lot happens in terms of plot, and I'm still not totally clear what exactly Natalia is, and how it seems she can both kill and heal people.  I'm interested to see where this goes though.

I would recommend this for grade 11 and up.

Tower of Treasure by Scott Chantler

The first book in the Three Thieves series, Dessa's mother was killed and a stranger took her twin brother away when she was just a small child.  Now 14, Dessa is an acrobat in a traveling circus, still hoping one day to find her brother.  In the city of Kingsbridge, after a bungled treasure heist from the Queens own treasury with her friends Topper, a goblin like creature and Fisk a one-headed Ettin (they usually have two), Dessa comes face-to-face with the man who took her brother.  Unfortunately for her, the man is the Queen's chamberlain.  Dessa will do whatever it takes to learn the truth and find her brother.

This was lots of fun.  Dessa is strong, spunky and smart.  She's fiercely determined to find out what happened to her brother, even though she knows she's going up against tough odds.  She's got her two friends to help her, although they often cause more trouble than help.  There wasn't a ton of character development or back-story yet, which was fine because this is for middle school kids and it wasn't that long.  I'm sure as the series goes on we'll learn more about Dessa's past and more about her friends as the search for the chamberlain, who has disappeared at the end of the book, and try to find Dessa's brother.

I would definitely recommend this one for a middle school graphic novel collection.

Cold Kiss by Amy Garvey

The women of Wren's family have a kind of magic.  Wren's mother won't even acknowledge that they have it, so neither Wren nor her little sister understand their power.  When Wren's boyfriend Danny died in a car accident, all Wren can think about is getting him back, and she uses her power to raise him from the dead.  But it isn't quite the same Danny.  He's no longer dead, but he isn't really alive either, and he's confused and doesn't understand what's happened to him.  Wren is in way over her head now, and doesn't know where to turn for help.

I didn't even think about Danny being a zombie until I read the author's note at the end were she talked about how her zombie wasn't the brain eating variety by rather the kind one might create with Haitian voodoo magic.  And I was like, "Oh yeah, he was undead.  I guess he was sort of a zombie."  But since Danny wasn't stumbling around trying to eat people, I hadn't even thought of it like that.

Wisdom's Kiss Giveaway

We are on giveaway fire!  Our next fabulous giveaway is an ARC Catherine Gilbert Murdock's new book Wisdom's Kiss, which will be coming out in September.

Princess Wisdom, known as Dizzy, longs for a life of adventure far beyond the staid old kingdom of Montagne.

Tips, a soldier, longs to keep his true life secret from his family.
Fortitude, an orphaned maid, longs only for Tips.

These three passionate souls might just attain their dreams while preserving Montagne from certain destruction, if only they can tolerate each other long enough to come up with a plan. Tough to save the world when you can't even be in the same room together.

Magic, cunning, and one very special cat join forces in this hilarious, extraordinary tale by the author of Dairy Queen and Princess Ben. An incredibly creative tale told with diaries, memoirs, encyclopedia entries, letters, biographies, even a stage play, all woven together into a grand adventure.

This giveaway is now closed.

The Help: Movie Review

Last night, a gaggle of fellow librarians (and one non-librarian roommate) and I went off to see The Help, which is of course based on Kathryn Stockett's novel of the same name.  We had all read (or in Jamie, Anna and my case, listened to it on a particular very long car ride to Washington, D.C.) the book and were interested to see how it would be translated into a movie.

I will say that overall I was quite happy.  I thought the essence of the book was there on the screen.  The Help is a long book, so of course the movie got distilled down to the main plot: Skeeter trying to get the maids of Jackson to give her interviews so she can write her book.  We saw some of the side plots, like Skeeter's relationship with Stuart, and Hilly's bathroom initiative, but they weren't as fleshed out.

The casting was excellent.  When I first heard Emma Stone was going to play Skeeter, my initial reaction was, "Oh no!  All wrong!"  But it turns out I really liked her in the role, and all the other characters were well cast too, especially Minny and Aibileen.  Aibileen was played by Viola Davis and Minny was played by Octavia Spencer and they were both just perfect.  Spencer especially I just loved as Minny.  She gave her all her spunk and humor from the book and she was hysterical.

The reaction from the audience last night was very positive as well, and I haven't been to a whole lot of movies where you can really tell how the audience was feeling.  For whatever reason, there was a very vocal audience last night.  Especially in terms of gasping.  There was a whole lot of audible gasping going on!  I started laughing every time it happened.  Clearly some people had NOT read the books.  There was also plenty of heartfelt laughter and a good bit of sniffling.

Spoilers ahead for those you haven't read the book and/or seen the movie.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

The year is 2044, the world is suffering from poverty, crippling unemployment, on-going energy-crisis, catastrophic global warming, starvation and homelessness. The only escape is the alternate online 'reality' of OASIS.

After the death of creator James Halliday, OASIS isn't just a virtual utopia, it's also a hardcore game where the hidden Easter Egg means not only controlling stock of Gregarious Simulation Systems (Halliday's company) but also $240,000,000,000. Everyone makes an attempt at winning, but after five years no one has made any headway on the cryptic clue... Until seventeen year old, poor, Halliday-obsessed, anti-social Wade discovers the first key to winning it all.

Let the games begin.


I'm going to flat out say that my little summary of this book is quite trite. There is much more to this book than what I've described. Not necessarily depth, but detail. Lots and lots of detail. Ernest Cline is obviously writing from a huge nerd's perspective.* Thank God. The ridiculous amount of information in this book is absolutely perfect. I cannot tell you how sad it would have been if someone else would have written this book, unless it was written by a bigger nerd than Mr. Cline and I'm not sure if there is one.

*Sidenote: I would just like to mention that I mean nerd in the most complimentary terms. I consider myself one, and would probably ask Ernest Cline to marry me if he weren't already married with children.

This book while Wade's story seems like a love story written for the 80s - War Games, Voltron, Four Square, Ms. Pac-Man - They're all represented and the games, movies, television shows, just get more obscure and wonderful from then on. It made me laugh when Wade gets teased by his friend Aech for his love of Legend and Ladyhawke. Awesome. It's not all about 80s pop culture references, it gives a completely reasonable explanation of computer software and gaming gear even for a person who never owned a gaming console until 2007 like me.

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine to spotlight an upcoming release that we're excited about. This week I'm waiting on Ruse: The Victorian Guide to Murder by Mark Waid and Jackson Guice.

Renowned as the Victorian world's greatest detective, Simon Archard is the most intelligent of men. But when he crosses paths with the mysterious and enchanting Emma Bishop, has the smartest man in the world met his equal? Brought to readers by superstar writer Mark Waid (Amazing Spider-Man) and red-hot artist Mirco Pierfederici (Tron: Original Movie Adaptation), this is the new comic series that'll leave you breathless. (Summary by Goodreads)

I'm quite excited about this, I just finished the first volume and it was AMAZING! Beautiful artwork, fantastic characters, awesome plot. I thought the fantasy attributes were a little strange in the original, but from what I hear those will be gone in this revival of the series. Yay! I also have to admit that I L-O-V-E mystery graphic novels.

Ruse: The Victorian Guide to Murder comes out Oct. 5.