This was the first Goosebumps book I read as a kid. I distinctly remember getting it for Christmas in 1994 and starting it that night. I loved it then, and I’m really happy to say that fro the most part it holds up. It struck a near-perfect balance of horror and adventure. From being chased by a creepy man to then being left by their tour group in a strange foreign city, there was a great escalation in scares with each scene. The memory loss bit was particularly frightening. I blame this book for planting the seeds of my first existential crisis as a young adult. My biggest issues in the book had to do with the actions of the adults around Sue and Eddy. The first and most obvious is the way the kid’s tour guide left without them. That place would be crawling with police if two kids went missing while on a tour. I won’t get into specifics on the rest because of spoilers, but you can read my thoughts on that after the jump. I was also a bit frustrated with the rushed ending and felt it could have been done better. A Night in Terror Tower stands out from the pack for the way it was based on actual historical events; the only other books in the series that do anything like that are Curse of the Mummy’s TombandReturn of the Mummy. Overall, it mostly lives up to my nostalgic love and was still fun to read in spite of knowing all the twists. A Night in Terror Tower is easily one of the strongest books in the series.
Score: 4
A full review with memes, spoilers, and snark can be found over on my wordpress blog:
Zachary Ying never had many opportunities to learn about his Chinese heritage. His single mom was busy enough making sure they got by, and his schools never taught anything except Western history and myths. So Zack is woefully unprepared when he discovers he was born to host the spirit of the First Emperor of China for a vital mission: sealing the leaking portal to the Chinese underworld before the upcoming Ghost Month blows it wide open.
The mission takes an immediate wrong turn when the First Emperor botches his attempt to possess Zack’s body and binds to Zack’s AR gaming headset instead, leading to a battle where Zack’s mom’s soul gets taken by demons. Now, with one of history’s most infamous tyrants yapping in his headset, Zack must journey across China to heist magical artifacts and defeat figures from history and myth, all while learning to wield the emperor’s incredible water dragon powers.
And if Zack can’t finish the mission in time, the spirits of the underworld will flood into the mortal realm, and he could lose his mom forever.
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A thrilling story with very compelling character dynamics. Especially Zack with all of his 12 year old sass & his ghostly ancestor Qin Shi Huang who’s straight-up a supervillain who Won. The world building is intricate and easy to follow, which introduces the audience to an entire library of legends, history & folk tales that may have been out of easy reach from their cultural lexicon. The world isn’t black & white, good vs evil, light vs dark, but as complicated as real life tends to be. I’m excited to follow this series into the future to see how Zack & his friends (and his enemies) change and grow.
Since their mother’s death, Carter and Sadie have become near strangers. While Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, her brother has traveled the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane.
One night, Dr. Kane brings the siblings together for a “research experiment” at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, he unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives.
Soon, Sadie and Carter discover that the gods of Egypt are waking, and the worst of them —Set— has his sights on the Kanes. To stop him, the siblings embark on a dangerous journey across the globe - a quest that brings them ever closer to the truth about their family and their links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.
I spent my childhood going to museums and my favorite exhibits were always the ones about Egypt. When I found out one of my favorite authors was writing a series about Egyptian mythology I was ecstatic! I couldn’t wait to see how Rick Riordan would weave his story.
Here are a couple of things i enjoyed about The Red Pyramid(very minor to minimal spoilers ahead):
The world building was phenomenal! I loved how Riordan blends his stories with realism and mythology.
The character building. The way the author writes his characters and makes you become attached despite your best attempts to not become attached because let’s be honest here, Mr. Riordan is not the kindest when it comes to characters. He can enjoy seeing them suffer.
The fact that incest is actually addressed. There is a lot of incest in Ancient Egyptian history. It actually makes learning more about the culture of the pharaohs a little difficult. The way Mr. Riordan handles it is graceful and leaves no doubt in your mind that there is no incest in his books.
I have always enjoyed how the love story is not a big deal in Riordan’s books. It helps us keep in mind that the character are in their young teens. No young teenager needs to worry about being in love and finding the love of their life. There is plenty of time to do that when they are older.
In Chapter 9 she says ‘My dear, i’m a cat everything i see is mine’. I have always loved cats i have 3 of them. They are simply the most precious and sassy animals in the world.
Not many authors are comfortable about addressing race in their books but something Riordan has always done well is talk about the realities of being one race or having a specific belief. In The Red Pyramid the relationship between PoC(in particular African American men) and the Police. He is very open and honest and states things exactly how they are. He does not gently blow this topic off(which would be difficult since one of the main characters is a PoC)
One of the final things I appreciated in this book is the fact that Riordan makes little references to his other books. In particular he references the Percy Jackson Series. If you have not read the Percy Jackson books you won’t understand the reference but if you do you will immediately be saying to yourself ‘I see what you did there’.
This book is perfect for anyone who wants a story that has an adventure but isn’t all consumed in romance. I feel like most adventure books are more absorbed in the romance and use that as a point to move the plot along but in my opinion none of Riordan’s books do that. This book is technically middle grade so it is also very easy to read.
It’s been a long climb to get to this point, but my new middle grade novel HUNTER’S CHOICE will be published March 2, 2021. It’s a fun outdoor sporting life adventure novel.
I can’t believe we’re here once again talking about my favourite books of the month, but yet here we are!
I have three five star books I read this month that I want to talk about with you all, and I hope in them is something you might enjoy - let me know what you’re reading and if you have any other recommendations! (particularly portal fantasy, I love that stuff!)
Amari And The Night Brothers by BB Alston - What frustrates me the most about this book is that I hhad just written a post for this blog about favourite middle grades, then I read this, this would and should be on that list. An incredible plot that moves like a jet and characters that just root for from the beginning, I loved Amari and I can’t wait to read more of her story. Kids these days get all the literary luck. (Middle grade, fantasy, contemporary).
In An Absent Dream by Seanan Mcguire - I adore The Wayward Children series so much and this book continues in this fantastic series footsteps as being perfect. Every character, every idea, every page is just another treat to read in my opinion. The characters jump from the page and portal yourself straight into a new incredible and unique world. I love this series and will definitely be trying to get to the next book as soon as I can, I just love this series. (Adult, fantasy, historical fiction).
I Want To Die, But I Want To Eat Teokbokki by Baek Se-Hee - I am not going to go on and talk about this book much as I have a review coming up soon about it, but genuinely one of my new favourite books of all time. Insightful, compassionate and brilliany, this book is a rare insight into the world of anxiety and how to deal with it and how a psychiatrist reacts to that. I really loved this book and I totally get why RM would be a fan.
What have you been reading this month? Let me know!
Thank you for following this blog, I really appreciate your thoughts and interest!
I love middle grade books, in fact I’m practically jealous of middle graders these days. All this representation, all these great plots, all this confidence to kick a bully’s ass.
I’ve been reading alot of books recently in this area from a range of genres and here are a few books that aren’t Nevermoor (I love Nevermoor do not get me wrong, I couldn’t sleep after reading the ending of the last book released) and I think that anyone of any age could really get into.
King & The Dragonflies by Kacen Callender- (Comtemporary, LGBT, Magical Realism) I don’t think you can read a more beautifully written book than this one. Beautifully crafted throughout with a plot that is heartbreaking and purposeful, the story of Kingston and his best friend are incredible to read and I would shove this book in the hands of anyone looking for a good book.
Malamander by Thomas Taylor (Fantasy, Mystery, Horror) - Malamander is such an incredible book and I am hoping to get to Gargantis soon and I’m sure that is just as good. The story of Herbert and Violet as they become friends and solve the mystery of the disappearance of Violet’s parents, this book is an absolute joy and I really need to get on with reading the next book!
The Aveline Jones Series by Phil Hickes-(Mystery, Horror, Adventure) - I love this series so much and I will probably read whatever this author writes, this series is just that good. The stories of Aveline so far are captivating, gripping and left me hanging on the edge of my seat and I am a whole grownup, like an actual adult. Go read this series, it’s so good. So good.
Adventures on Trains Series by M.G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman (Mystery, Adventure, Contemporary) - I do love trains, they are my nerdy Achille’s Heel and these books all take place of trains. I read about train journeys and think I want a book on that train route, these books are just that good. I keep two next to me for the artwork which is incredible throughout these books. I just love these books so much, gripping, fun and always entertaining.
The Tea Dragon Society Series by Kay O'Neill (Fantasy, LGBT, Contemporary) - These are such beautiful graphic novels. The story of a found family, I would say who look after cute baby dragons and the characters as they learn about themselves. These stories are delivered with some of the most beautiful artwork that leaves you wanting to hang these books on your wall just to be able to take them in a whole new way. Probably my favourite graphic novels, these are a slice of joy.
I will probably do another one of these in the future! I think this really some where I would begin with reading, but as I delve deeper I will share more!
Introducing “Head & Heart: A Keeper of the Lost Cities Podcast”
@shadowqueendiangelo and I are so excited to announce that we are making a sister show to our podcast “Fire & Water”, all about KOTLC (with a Sokeefe focus ).
Keeper of the Lost Cities fandom rise up! We hope to see you there. Reblog to spread the word!
PERCY JACKSON and THE OLYMPIANS (The Sea of Monsters)
Rating 4/5
I think if I hadn’t seen this as a movie I would’ve liked it a lot more. The book was in fact better, but the big end chapter when Thalia is brought back to life would have been so much better to read if I hadn’t already known. I gave it a 4 however because I literally have never laughed so much reading a book! This book was FUNNY! Percy is so sarcastic and well, so perfectly 12 years old! I like that these character are so young, and they fall for things that an older character might not fall for. They are so brave too. Happy to continue the series! Going forward it is all new to me; I’ve never read this book series and there are no movies for the rest of it.
My book cover for KEARA’S RAVEN: ESCAPE, which will be in stores March 19. Pre-orders are up now! It’s the rerelease of DARKBEAST, now published through Snowy Wings Publishing.
AAAAH WHAT GREAT NEWS! The novel formerly known as “George” is now being published under the (much more correct) title “Melissa.” This reflects the main character, whose real chosen name is Melissa, while George was her deadname. You can read about how the book came to be called “George” initially and what the process was for changing it at the link (and please do before commenting, I promise it’s not as malicious or ignorant as it first appears to be!). The author, Alex Gino, is genderqueer (they/them) and has been mulling this over for a long time, and it’s really exciting to see Scholastic fully supporting them.
If you already have a copy of the book under the old name, you can print materials to change the cover here:
Hiya! You can now get Glitch on my online store! It comes signed, personalised and doodled in, and you also get a free bookplate and an Izzy enamel pin while stocks last! We ship worldwide!
Glitch is my brand new graphic novel all about Izzy, a girl who can enter the world of her new video game! You can also get it from all good book and comic shops, both online and in the real world!
Best of the Year: Continuing today’s theme, THE MISCALCULATIONS OF LIGHTNING GIRL by Stacy McAnulty is Darlene’s middle grade pick and ORPHAN MONSTER SPY by Matt Killeen is her top YA!
