Friday, August 21, 2015

Review: The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #3)

The Titan's Curse is the third book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.  In this installment, the Hero's and Hunters need to work together to save Artemis, the Goddess of the Hunters, and Annabeth, who went missing early on in this book.  The Oracle informs one of the hunters, Zoe Nightshade, that... 

"Five shall go west to the goddess in chains, 
One shall be lost in the land without rain, 
The bane of Olympus shows the trail,
Campers and Hunters combined prevail,
The Titan's curse must one withstand,
And one shall perish by a parent's hand."

Percy, Thalia, Grover, Zoe and Bianca must rescue Artemis and Annabeth prior to the winter solstice, which is when the Council of the Gods is scheduled to take place.  To add to the excitement, Luke and Kronos are still trying to conquer the Olympians.  They will stop at nothing in their attempts to prevent the hunters and heroes from completing their quest.

I really enjoy seeing how Rick Riordan twists Greek mythology into these stories.  We meet several Gods and Goddesses including Apollo, the son of Zeus and the twin brother of Artemis, who offers the heroes a ride in his sun chariot.  The hero's also receive assistance from Annabeth's mother Aphrodite...the goddess of love and beauty.  We discover that the "Titan's Curse" has to do with Atlas bearing the weight of the heavens on his shoulders.  

I have been reading this series with my ten-year-old son and he has really enjoyed learning about the Greek Gods and Goddesses.  Unless a student decides to study Latin, which I did in high school, I don't believe kids are exposed to these ancient stories.  Riordan does an excellent job of weaving the myths into an action packed and entertaining story that people of all ages can enjoy and appreciate.  I would definitely recommend sharing this series with elementary and middle school children as well as reading it for your own enjoyment.

Monday, August 17, 2015

Review: Finding It by Cora Carmack

Finding It (Losing It, #3)

Finding It is the third book in the Losing It series.  While I would definitely recommend reading all three books in order, Finding It can be read as a stand-alone.  I did not feel like that was the case with the second book in the series, Faking It, which carried over quite a bit of content and tension from the previous book.

This book  focuses on one of the secondary characters in Losing It, Kelsey Summers.  She recently graduated from college with a degree in acting and decides to travel across Europe before settling into real life back in the states.  She is from a wealthy family, but contrary to her father's belief, money can't buy happiness.  She has had a difficult past and is trying to cope in not the most positive of ways.

Kelsey meets Jackson Hunt in a bar and is VERY interested in him.  He doesn't seem to show the same level of interest, but we quickly learn that he is battling his own demons stemming from his time in the military.  We don't learn much more about him or the events that caused him to take some time off to find himself, but these two lost soles seem to gravitate to each other.  They spend a week traveling and are having the time of their lives until something is revealed that could tear them apart forever.

I don't think this book was nearly as good as the first two in the series, but I did enjoy the story.  The characters were interesting, but I wish Cora would have revealed more about Hunt earlier in the story.  I would have liked to have connected with his character a little more.  I also couldn't relate to the way Kelsey was trying to drink and party her problems away.  It must be nice to have your parent's credit card to travel Europe for as long as you want, but it didn't seem realistic to me.

By the end of the book, Kelsey did change considerably.  She began to take responsibility for her life and became an independent character one could actually admire.  I felt like Jackson and Kelsey were a great source of support for each other and brought some much needed light back into each other's lives.

I ended up giving this book 3 stars and used it for my COYER Scavenger hunt entry for topic 75 - "Step out of your comfort zone and read a book in a genre you have read less than 5 times this year."  This is my 4th New Adult book of the year.