Request Literary Evaluation of a couple of Books.

[Steve]

--- "kempermentor" <kempermentor at ...> wrote:
>
> ---  "Steve" <bboyminn@> wrote:
> >
> > I'm hoping someone he is familiar with these books 
> > and can tell if they are worth the cover price.
> > 
> > Tom Sniegoski
> > "Sleeper Code"
> > "Sleeper Agenda"
> > 
> > These are in the Young Adult section, and appear to be
> > companion pieces.
> > 
> > 
> > John Connally
> > "The Book of Lost Things"
> > 
> > Recently released and found in the General section 
> > but is about a young boy.
> > 
> > 
> > I'm always looking for good books to read, but my
> > budget is so tight I can't afford to buy books and
> > be wrong.
> > 
> > Any opinions would be appreciated. 
> 
> Kemper now:
> I have 'the book of lost things' on hold at my local
> library. My first suggestion is try your library first.
> It's great for people on a budget... such as myself.  

bboyminn:

Thanks for the reply and the info. Our local library
has a very limited selection. Though they can get books
via inter-library loan. I have gotten some print and
audio books from them, but it's a question of which
books are even worth reading. 

I read one of the Alex Rider (teen spy) books, and it
was moderately interesting, but I got the sense that
the author was targeting 'young' readers. The plot
and dialog seemed over simplified.

The same with 'Children of the Lamp'; while it was
an interesting read, I got the sense that the author
was struggling to keep the plot and dialog down to
what he/she preceived a 10 year old's reading level
to be.

I recently, finished the Lois Lowry 'Giver' series
['Giver', 'Messenger', 'Gathering Blue'] again a
good read, but also again the sense that the author
was intentionally trying not to strain the reader
brain too much. Also, Lowry likes odd ambiguous endings,
though that is not all bad; it does stimulate the
imagination to fill in 'what happened next'. For
light reading, I do recommend it, just don't expect
to find any real depth to it.

Another light read in the same 'over simplfied' vein
is 'The Boy from the Basement' by Susan Shaw. While
it is over simplified, it is still an touching story
of an abused boy. It held my attention very well, but
not in the sense of 'can't put it down'. 

Again, these books are all light easy reading as well
as relatively short books. Plus I go them dirt cheap
so I'm not complaining, but because of the lack of
depth, they are probably not books that I will read 
over and over. Still, I do recommend them as an
entertaining read.

You would think that authors and publishers would have
learned that 'over simplified' isn't necessary if there
is a good story to be told. JKR CERTAINLY doesn't talk
down to her readers. Her plots are complex, he dialog
(vocabulary) is demanding, and she seems to think
that you should rise to the level of the story, rather
than the story being /brought down/ to the level of the
reader.


> Kemper:
>
> You once recommended Ender's Shadow, so I checked out
> at my library, read it, and decided to buy my own 
> copy.  Used or pre-read, but still mine.
> 

bboyminn:

You realize that there are 9 books in this series. There
are 4 books in the 'Enders Game' saga. Four books in the
'Enders Shadow' saga. And one book 'First Meetings' that
is the back story of how Ender met Jame, and the backstory
of his parents. All very interesting books. With the 
exception of 'First Meetings', all the books are in paper
back and you can get them at Walmart for $5 to $8 depending
on how new the book is. The continuation of the 'Enders
Game' story is available in a paperback Boxed Set for 
about $15 from Amazon.

Without hesitation, I recommend them all. If you go to 
Amazon.com, and read the review for these two series, you
will find that the are uniformly very positive.

Back to the main topic, I was going to order a three boxed
set of Artemis Fowl books for my nephew ($15), and 
discovered  Walmart had "The Book of Lost Things" for $15,
so I ordered them both. The reviews seemed positive enough
and the price was low enough, that it seemed too good
to pass up. Hope I'm not disappointed.

As to the 'Sleeper' series, these books are cheap enough,
so I might buy them later, but I can't help wonder about
the 'over simplified' aspect of them being Young Adult
books. 

Steve/bboyminn