"Stealing Phoenix" by Joss Stirling

I am now reading the sequel to "Finding Sky" called "Stealing Phoenix". It follows the story of Yves Benedict, Zed's brother and how he finds his soulfinder Phoenix (Phee for short). Phee has been brought up by a community of bad savants who are made to steal things for the Seer who is the leader of the community. He makes all of the savants go and steal things with his powers and then he sells the stolen goods for money on the black market. Phee has never been to school though she is incredibly streetwise and has amazing common sense. Yves and Phee met while she was trying to steal something from him. Phee is the Seers best thief because of her power which is to freeze time for a few seconds, just enough to steal objects. So as she was stealing from Yves, he seemed aware of what was happening and broke her time freeze as he is her soulfinder. Yves power is the power to set things on fire with his mind, and when his emotions get out of control (if he loses his temper) he will set fire to anything. Phee comes from a really awful background and finds it really hard to trust people so when Yves told her about the soul finder thing she freaked out and tried to escape from him. Though slowly she is warming up to him and trusting more and more. I can't wait to read more. I love this series. I hope Phee will learn to trust Yves and will have the courage to leave her community. 

"Finding Sky" by Joss Stirling

I have finished this book. It was an amazing book with such an amazing plot. The characters were so vivid and the author really brought them to life. Sky was kidnapped by some evil savants, they took her all the way to Las Vegas. Zed and the rest of his family came to her rescue but it was too late one of the savants had already brain washed her into thinking that Zed had kidnapped her and that he was a bad person. They managed to rescue her but she was confused about what had happened for a few weeks and she had to go to a mental facility. Once she finally went back home, Zed and his family used all their powers on her to undo the damage that the evil savant had done including the information about her past that she had locked away.  Sky found her powers by unlocking her troubled past. Her power is pretty special, she can tell of someone is lying and peoples emotions. She doesn't get direct words but she sees colours so if someone lies then their colour would be a sickly yellow, if someone is happy it will be a light orange glow. After she found her powers she realised that Zed truly was her soulfinder and she felt like everything inside her clicked in to place. She knew that he was her one priority in life and she accepted the fact that they were going to be together forever. 

So far the animals have created there on life in the farm. After being attacked by the humans and loosing casualties, it only seemed to make them more united. You can see a series of political order taking place and how each group of animals have their own section of authority; with the pigs being at the very top.

Frankenstein chapters 9-10

Chapter 9
Justine is sentenced to death and is later executed. After this, Victor becomes depressed. He even considers committing suicide. However, he decides not to after thinking it would definitely cause pain to Elizabeth and his father. His father notices that Victor is always sad to tries to cheer him up and takes the family on a holiday. They go into the mountains and Victor starts to feel a pinch of satisfaction.

Chapter 10
One day, during a storm, Victor wakes up during the storm. He experiences feelings of despair. This is why he decides to travel to another summit to discover new landscapes alone, hoping he would sort of "revive" his feelings. When Victor arrives there, he is amazed by the views. However, he spots a creature running towards him at an extremely high speed. When the creature is close to him, he recognises that it is the monster. He shouts to the monster to go away, but he comes even closer. The monster asks Victor to come with him to a fireplace in a cave. Inside, the monster starts telling him the events of life...

"Finding Sky" by Joss Stirling

I am now half way through my book. I now know that the whole of Zeds family are savants. Savants are people who have an extra sense almost like a power. For example maybe they can tell the future or they can read your mind. Each savant has a soulfinder, which is basically your soulmate. Its the one who you were meant to be with since you were born, soulfinders have the exact same birthday as well once they find each other their powers connect and they become a lot stronger together. Its extremely rare to find your soulfinder and most savants spend their lives looking for them but as most of them don't find each other they become evil and they start using their powers for bad. Zed is completely in love with Sky as he knows that she is his soulfinder but because of Sky's troubled past she has locked away her powers mentally so until she releases her powers they wont be able to complete the soulfinder bond. I love this book and everything about it. It is the first in a series of five books. I can't wait to read the rest of them. I think that Sky has some major trust issues and as soon as she fully trusts and believes Zed she will be open to releasing her powers. As a child she was told that she was bad and evil because of her powers so until she fully remembers what happened to her as a small child she won't know what exactly her powers are. At the moment Zed and Sky aren't able to talk face to face as much as there is a Savant hunter on the lose trying to find Zed and his family so they don't want to put Sky in danger by associating themselves with her. Hopefully they will manage to get a handle on this hunter so Sky and Zed will be free to be together.

Can't wait to read the rest!

Private Peaceful 14

The soldiers are leaving to the front and even if that means a greater risk of death, they are relived to leave the wicked sergeant Hanely and Etaples. Sining has always been a huge part of this book and we noticed that it occurs in happiness in sad times but most of all to reconcile feelings and as the boys are going to the front and walking past all the bombed houses and hospitals they are singing. Their new captain who is sweet and kind and treats them right how charlie puts it, has told the soldiers that they are going to an area where it has been quiet for a while.  They arrive in a village called Poperinghe and their is a pub their where everyone goes to drink the best beer and a good portion of egg and chips. As Tommo is enjoying is relaxing beginning at the pub he states "We're like camels filling up at an oasis that we've discovered by accident and may never find again" I believe Tommo is saying that they are Yoloing it meaning you only live once and that they are enjoying the moment as they know that between now and a matter of days or shorter than not everyone will be returning back to the pub.  Their is a girl in the pub with a sweet smile and I can already forecast that something is going to happen between Tommo and her.. In the next couple of pages The brothers go up into the line and from that moment on start experiencing the war whether is the crackle ahead of them or whether its machine guns every soldier began feeling the long road they are about to confront a road filled with miry and one where everyone is petrified. I have nearly finished the book I have around 5 more pages but I will blog up the rest in a summary and than I will write a conclusion to the book and how I have enjoyed reading it.

Private Peaceful 13

I have really pursued my reading and am enjoying it greatly. Both thePeaceful  brothers have been sent to a military training area where Charlie has been straight away taken a disliking to from a mean sergeant by the name of Sergeant Hanely who's soul purpose in life was to torture or torment Charlie because he was the only one out of all the trainees who was not petrified of him. When the boys arrived at the training centre in Etaples they all have had an easy ride in life and were stuns by the appalling conditions in which they had to live in and the mentally swell as physically challenging program that was forced upon them. During their time at the training centre the boys learnt all different types of salute marches and how to hold a riffle shoot, aim, dig a trench and respect certain fundamental rules. However everyone felt as if they were acting out their rules as if it was dress rehearsal until one day when training the sounds of the guns were approaching which meant that soon dress rehearsal was over. The recruitment's left the training centre onboard a nauseating ship to France when arrival the boys had their first ever glance of the after effects of the war when passing a bunch of pale faced, tired and hopeless soldiers.While the story is happening Tommo tells us little flash backs of incidents that had happened and how Charlie got into such a big fight with Hanely because he was trying to work Tommo into the ground that Charlie got field punishment number 1 attached to a wheel and struck. This story amazed me because during the punishment Charlie remained so calm and he got himself into trouble to save his brother which shows no matter what Charlie did in the past that hurt Tommo he would sacrifice himself for his brother and that to me shows real love. I can't wait to continue reading and find out more about the Peaceful brothers adventures.

Count of Monte Cristo

As I previously said, I am reading the book "The Count of Monte Cristo". I have already read quite far and I love it. It is very interesting and full of adventure. What happened so far is that the main character was betrayed by these three men who he considered as friends. They were very jealous of him for various reasons and decided to put him in prison for his political views. In prison, he met this priest, who was considered crazy for thinking there is a huge treasure hidden on a very small island in the region. The two figured out a plan to escape, but the priest, Faria, had a heart attack and was sick and died not much later. I am not going to spoil what happens next, in case you want to read the book yourselves, but I definitely recommend it. It is not only very "fast flowing" and despite that it is easy to read, it is also very beautifully written. It is a translation from French so each edition is written in a different way, but I do like the one I picked up a lot. There is also the theme of revenge, which has already started to show where I am right now, but I am guessing that it is going to get more and more powerful as I continue.

Shōgun by James Clavell

Shōgun

Hey there, Peter here. Recently, I just started a new book 'Shōgun'. Shōgun is a Japanese word for a ruler in the feudal times (medieval era). The Shōgun has the highest authority in Japan, sometimes even higher than the son of god (Emperor).

This book is obviously set in Medieval Japan. The story circles around an English pirate, John Blackthorne and his Dutch crewmates. Their job was to rob coastal Spanish towns in the New World during the war between the Alliance of English and Dutch against the Spanish. Unfortunately, his ship was shipwrecked on the Japanese Coast and they were taken hostage by the local Japanese Daimyo (lord). Blackthorne encountered a Catholic Portuguese monk (also an enemy of the English). Of course, the two were hostile towards each other. During his trial at the local court, he was extremely aggressive and broke the wooden cross of the Portuguese Monk. He and his crews were sent into the prison. Now the crews have to fight their way out of their custody.

My opinion on this book: even though this book is quite thick and old, I find it very amusing to read. This book highlights the cultural difference and what the two sides thought about each other. They called each other 'barbarians' and 'savages'. It seems that right now they are having trouble understanding the difference in their cultures.

Heart of Darkness

I started to read a new book called "Heart of Darkness" written by Joseph Conrad. I've not read much so far since it has been very challenging to read and having to go back and read over each page once I have completed it gets very tiring and rather frustrating.

The plot so far is mainly based around a character called Charles Marlow who describes his childhood adventures as a child and mainly on his journey down the Congo River. As a child Marlow always wanted to explore and discover blurred out marks on the maps which had not yet been discovered, so he decided to set off on a journey to Africa, then up the Congo river. He took up the post of riverboat captain with the Belgian Company and sets off his travels towards Africa and further on to the Congo, he encounters lots of brutality from the company along his way.

Frankenstein chapters 7 and 8

Chapter 7

When Victor returns to his university, he realises that his father had recently sent him a letter. The letter informs Victor that his younger brother William has been murdered. Victor immediately goes back to Geneva in shock, feeling very sad. He arrives to Geneva at night, when the gates are closed so he walks around the woods until morning. He spies the monster when he goes to the spot where his brother's body was found and assumes that he is responsible for the murder. However, when the gates open and he goes to Geneva, h finds out that Justine is accused of the crime. A picture in Caroline was also found in Justine's pocket, last seen in the procession of William. Victor speaks out, saying that Justine is innocent, but the evidence against him seem overwhelming and goes beyond any possible reasonable doubt. Victor, however, refuses to further explain himself as he is scared that he will be labelled as mentally insane.


Chapter 8

Justine officially confesses to the crime. However, he then tells Victor and Elizabeth that she is only doing this as she has a bigger chance of not being executed if she pleads guilty but is actually innocent. Victor fully believes this and feels extremely guilty as he is convinced that he is actually indirectly responsible for the murder via the monster he has created. 

"Finding Sky" by Joss Stirling

Sky and Zed have just made another weird connection. Sky was forced to play a football match, girls against boys, she absolutely hates to play sports. She put herself in the goal as she wanted to be as far away from the game as possible. She managed to let 10 goals in, which wasn't great but then when Zed was about to shoot a ball in the goal. He spoke to her in her mind and told her which way he was going to kick the ball. Sky managed to save the ball and then she spoke back to him in his mind telling him thank you. This was really strange as usually Zed acted like he was too cool for Sky and that he was better than her. But ever since that moment, he has been acting kinder to her and he's even been flirting with her. Sky has been trying to confront him about what happened on the football pitch but he keeps avoiding the subject though he seems like he's keeping so many secrets about himself and her. They are about to go to a basketball match and Sky is determined to confront him and find out about what happened between them.
I can't wait to find out what is going on between them and why they can speak to each other in their minds!

Dead End in Norvelt

 This book is pretty interesting and I enjoy it a lot.  I did a little summary of what I read in the last blog and this is the continuation.

 She regretted cooking her hands on the pan because it became all yellow and slimy. But, the point of him going to Miss Volker's house was about writing obituaries and stories. The boy, Jack, helped her to do so because Miss Volker was now unable to write, so she told Jack stories about families and about their death, which was pretty interesting. She was also talking about the people of the town they live in, Norvelt. He wrote it on paper then typed it up after typing ,he brought it to Norvelt Newpaper company and they would publish it.

So far in Animal Farm the animals have managed to escape and are now trying to build there own life. They want nothing to do with the humans and made a rule that anything with two legs and no wings is an enemy. They have managed to harvest the crops from the farm and are learning to adapt to the new situation. The pigs are the natural leaders of these animals as they are the smartest.

The Kite Runner pt1

For the beginning of this term,i have started reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, I have only just started tr novel but for now it is the story of two young boys, Amir and Hassan, live in Afghanistan in the 1970s right before the breakout of the war. I will update the blog weekly to share the story with you.

This term I have decided to read the Hobbit. I have seen the first two movies and I loved them because I was a huge fan of Lord of the Rings before. As I am reading the book I see amost literally what is saw in the movie. The book is pretty good so far so I hope that it will get better and better. As for the characters, I notices that Bilbo Baggins is quite shy and doesn't have the courage to speak his mind or asking people to stop because he thinks that it comes accross as rude. All we know so far about Thorin is that he is the most important elf and he acts the part.

The Count of Monte Cristo

This is my first blog post this term. I started a new book called "The Count of Monte Cristo". The beginning has been very interesting and I love it so far. I hope it continues that way.

I have started reading two books since the beginning of this term since I could not decide which one I should take, I have already read the first few pages or chapters of both of them and so far they seem very different but right to the point even at the beginning (exactly the kind of books I like). The first book which I have already read all the sequels to (3) is called Misty Falls by Joss Stirling it is a series of books to do with a savant family which is a family where each of the members has a different and special gift, these gift obviously have their consequences with mean and powerful enemies, there is also romance between different and powerful families of these savants involved. Each one of the books in the series was one of my favourite book till now so I am very excited to read it... 
The second book is called The pact by Jodi Picoult, I have never read a book of this author but I have looked at almost all of them and I figured out  that she writes about almost every horrific tragedy that can happen to a person.. example this book talks about a young couple which had a tragic ending consisting of the girl dead in the hospital. It is written in a very interesting way since it tells you the ending but you are so curious to know how it came to such a strange love story that you exactly want to know what happens ( basically backwards ). The book is slightly more challenging than he first one but that is part of the reason I chose it. She is also the Author of My sisters keeper ( alot of people must have watched the famous movie ) 

"Finding Sky" by Joss Stirling

I have read a few more pages of my book and it keeps getting better and better. Sky has a very troubled past even though she has repressed all of her memories of when she was a child. She was moved from foster home to foster home until her parents  Sally and Simon adopted her. They are both  very talented artists who love Sky with all their hearts. Sky is finally settling into her new school, she has already made a few friends but she is finding it harder and harder to hide her powers. She can feel anyones aura, meaning their emotions or their personality. She has kept it secret for her whole life. An odd thing though has been happening, every time she gets close to Zed her powers come out from under the rock she has been hiding them under in her brain. She can't help but feel everything that he is feeling and knowing exactly who he is. She really likes him even though she can tell that something is not quite right about him, he just seems a little bit off. Zed is like the bad boy of the school, he rides a motor bike and doesn't care about anything so he says but Sky knows better. He has dark hair and bright blue eyes. I can't wait to find out more about what happens with Zed and Sky.

Private Peaceful 12

Tommo is on his first ever train ride on his way to war, leaving behind the familiar the cosy to enter a strict barn world were death is on the door step. I believe that for his age he is keeping is cool very well and is handling any emotions that are flooding in. While driving through a tunnel Tommo  quoted a sentence that impacted me: "then we were in a tunnel, a long dark tunnel filled with din and smoke and blackness.It seems like I've been in that tunnel every day since." This sentence for me sums up how bad the war was or Tommo's life that he transitioned from a space of fresh air into a tunnel of smoke. Every chapter or so a reference to a time is maid e.g fourteen minutes past two and in that one page sums up Tommo's current emotions and it gives us a preview of what will come wether that is good or bad I have not yet discovered but it makes references to Charlie's name in the past which would indicate to me that something will happen to Charlie.In this passage Tommo quotes " I don't want to borrow any more time. I want time to stop so that tomorrow never comes so that dawn will never happen." Even though I am not in the same situation as he is I believe that this statement is very relatable to. That you don't want to face whats lying ahead and for Tommo I am presuming is to have to face another day of war and of confronting death face to face.  Tommo and Charlie have arrived at their destination where the next page opens up with "stand still!look to your front,  Peaceful you horrible little man! Stomach in, chest out Peaceful! Down in that mud Peaceful where you belong, you nasty little worm."From reading this I already know that the person saying this has issues with the Peaceful's which one I don't know yet and this man if very mean and corse with his language.

Agent 21 Codebreaker (New Book)

I started to read a new book called Agent 21 Codebreaker (picture down below) its a very interesting book about spies and a special mission that they were chosen for. I still wonder what awaits them on their mission.

I have started reading Animal farm. I find it very interesting so far. The animals have started planning to take over the humans after their leader passed away. They are split into to groups with the pigs being the smartest followed by the dogs.

Dead End by Jack Gantos

I started this a new book. It's about a school boy that finds his father's Japanese war trophy during his summer holiday. His holiday just started and he was already bored so he went to check out the war trophy. He played with his father's amazingly powerful binoculars and accidentally shot, his father's rifle. As a consequence, his mother got really mad and forced him to go to help their neighbour. He had to go there early in the morning. The first time he went to Miss Voler, the neighbor, he realised how weird she was because she was cooking her hand until they melted.

 

Private Peaceful 11

After the following bad news, Charlie as the older brother makes it his job to turn the situation around and make it into something positive. I admired his bravery and self discipline not to complain in order to save the feelings of his beloveds. Then to add more disappointment Tommo says that he is going and nothing will change his mind and that he could easily pass as seventeen. As much as I admire Tommo's courageousness I believe that he should of waited until he had to go and not voluntarily potentially sacrifice his life. I did not understand his choice. My question was soon answered that Tommo thought about his decision for tow years and it kept on coming down to the fact that he could not bear the separation from his brother as they had lived their lives together.Another reason he gave for his choice is that he loved everything familiar and that his family and his village and the countryside was the familiar to him and that he could not imagine another breed of soldiers walking all over his soil. I also believe that he was doing this choice to prove that he was manly enough and he had to prove to himself and to the old lady in the square that he was not a coward. Two days later after  Tommo's Mother many attempts for him not to leave, both brothers head of the the Eggesford Junction Station. I feel very bad for Mrs Peaceful as she could be potentially losing both her children in the spur of the moment and all at the same time. She must be feeling very upset. I am looking forward to see how the brothers deal with the war and hope that they survive.

Private Peaceful 10

I am still enjoying this book and am looking forward to unraveling the plot. Tommo has just ran away from the screaming parade where the old lady was harassing him to sign up for the army. Tommo was so aggravated by the old ladies statement "chicken" that he was persuading himself to join to show his strength for his family and especially for Molly. Dinner was served and Tommo straight away unravelled his points of you over the army and I believe one of the reasons he said it straight away was not for him to change  his mind. Charlie  leapt in immediately and said he would never want to kill a man and everyone said that he was to young and Tommo was upset that he did not have his moment but later on he was glad that the family shut down the conversation. I personally do not believe in war and even if I would not like to be considered a coward I would never voulunteer to be a soldier. During the week Mrs Peaceful received a visit from the "lovely" Colonel when Charlie and Tommo were at work. I knew from reading that passage that the Colonel came to speak about the army and later on I discovered that my hypotheses was right.In the book Molly and both the men for a walk and their she reveals that the Colonel asked very abel-bodied  to serve his King and Country and if not done he would remove the family from the cottage. I found that very cruel from the Colonel because he promised the Peaceful's when his wife died that he would always take care of the family, if he breaks a promise he made to his own wife who passed this shows his lack of manners. Molly continued and said that the Colonel demanded that Charlie need to go to war or the Peaceful's suffer the consequences.

"Finding Sky" by Joss Stirling

I have just started a new series called the "Benedict series" the first book in the series is called Finding Sky. 

I have read about twenty pages so far. The book is about a girl called Sky Bright who moves to a town called Wrickenridge located in the Rocky Mountains in the USA. Her parents who are artists take up a job offer at the locals art centre. Sky goes to the local high school where she becomes friends with Tina, Nelson and Zoe. She's quite shy and she's very beautiful with blue eyes and blonde hair. Even though she has made friends she still finds it really hard to fit in and trust people. She hates being the centre of attention. One day as Sky was at music practice she noticed a boy called Zed Benedict, she impresses the teacher as she can play 3 musical instruments - piano, guitar and saxophone. Zed is very good looking but at the same time very mysterious. 

I love this book so far and I can't wait to find out more about Zed!