Teen Book Reviews

In this final book of the How to Train Your Dragon series, it seems as though all the cards are stacked against Hiccup. The Doomsday of Yule has arrived, and Hiccup only has 24 hours left to save everyone. Alone on Hero’s End, he has to recover the ten lost things from Alvin the Treacherous and become king before it’s too late.

This book is an amazing end to an amazing series. Seemingly meaningless events all come together in this final installment. The plot twists and turns are so well written, and the foreshadowing is very well done. The characters’ interactions with each other are well written and all of the characters have defined personalities, and most of them are very dynamic characters. It’s a very good finale to the book series as it’s very dramatic and fast-paced. I love how there are so many lessons and also that there are still surprises even when you think all has been revealed. Overall, this is one of my favorite books, and I would definitely recommend it.

This book follows captain Alosa, a 17 year old pirate, who was sent on a mission to find the missing part of a map for her father, the Pirate King. To search for this hidden parchment, she intentionally gets captured by the enemy crew of the Night Farer ship, which happens to have a handsome first mate, Riden. As she plays her role, she has to be careful who to trust and what to believe.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who loves strong female protagonists, action-packed plots, slow-burn romances, and sarcasm at its highest. I love how Alosa is a girl my age who is intelligent, loyal, and brave because it is very inspiring and allows me to relate to her. Alosa's character has depth, as shown through her rough past with her cruel father and through the other supernatural side of her that hardly anyone knows about. As well, I love the enemies-to-lovers romance that grows along with the characters. We get to see Alosa and Riden battle between their heads and their hearts, while both keeping secrets. Overall, this book will make you laugh, empathize, and hold your breath all at once. I love how Tricia Levenseller kept me on my toes and ended the book with a shocking cliffhanger that she led with into the, once again excellent, sequel.

In this twisted fairytale, a 16-year-old cyborg finds herself in the middle of a dangerous game. Cinder doesn’t know why she is being targeted, but she is determined to find out. Along the way, friendships are made and slowly Cinder finds clues about her past. Her life soon becomes intertwined with Prince Kai’s, who eventually trusts her. To prevent war, Cinder must find out about her past and do it before she is caught.

Cinder is a sci-fi twist of the original Cinderella fairytale. Meyer took certain parts of the fairytale and made it her own. Cinder is a compelling take on the original Cinderella story. It tells its own tale, while incorporating pieces from Cinderella. Personally, I believe that it is an amazing take on the fairytale. There is sci-fi, action, romance, and mystery. Even if you’re not a science-fiction reader, the book will still be entertaining. Before you realize it, you’re slowly joining the characters on their intriguing journey. I recommend this book to all types of readers. There are many different components to this book that makes it a good read for all readers. As someone who doesn’t enjoy reading sci-fi, I thought this book was amazing. Cinder is definitely a must read for all readers.

Murtagh is a continuation of the Eragon series by Christopher Paolina that centers around the character Murtagh and his dragon, Thorn. Murtagh and his dragon have been exiled by society for what they have done in the past and now work in the shadows to protect the land of Alagaesia. When they see firsthand a new evil power rise up, the protagonist sets himself to put a stop to it because no one else will.

It's tough to give this book a recommendation to everyone because it is heavily flawed. Murtagh and Thorn are well developed characters but aside from them and just one or two others no one else is really that interesting, providing boring interactions for the entire first half of the book. On top of that the pacing of the book is terrible because while a big mystery is introduced pretty quickly into the book the main characters don't really do anything about it until the second half of the book and in a seven hundred page book it feels like a long slog. Where this book truly shines is that it is a continuation of a great series, Eragon. It explores the already existing world providing fans good insight into the land of Alagaesia. So if you enjoyed Eragon, I would recommend this book otherwise I would leave it alone.

In Turtles All The Way Down, John Green follows the story of Aza Holmes, a teenage girl who suffers from anxiety and OCD, when she begins her search for a missing fugitive billionaire, her neighbor’s father. As Aza furthers her search, the book explores her friendship with her best friend Daisy, and her confliction when she starts to have feelings for her neighbor, despite the fact that she’s still searching for his father.

I recommend this book to anyone over the age of 10, because it deals with complex topics such as mental health issues that should be taken seriously and understood. John Green does an excellent job of conveying Aza’s emotions throughout the book, and I personally enjoyed reading the book. Whether you can relate to her struggles or not, it provides great insight into Aza’s mind, which is a hard feat, considering how much her anxiety continues to plague her throughout the book. The plot is well-written but can be hard to follow at times due to the amount of subplots.