Windtalkers - Book Review

Based on a true World War 2 operation, the Navajo Indian Codetalkers, this book is written by Max Allan Collins.
Joe Enders, a Marine, was a soldier fighting in World War 2. During one of the battles at Tarawa Atoll, he was the only one who survived. All his companions died because he had caused their deaths by sending them straight into the Japanese enemies' firepower. Enders was racked with guilt and was haunted by the deaths of the men he had caused.
By chance, two men with different backgrounds met when Enders and his men were on a mission to protect the Navajo "codetalkers" from falling into Japanese hands. The Navajo code was a secret code used by the Allies, which baffled even the best Japanese codebreakers. If the secret of the code were divulged to the Japanese, they would have the upper hand in the world war.
Enders, a marine who is fighting his past guilt and Ben Yahzee, a Navajo codetalker battling prejudice and inner fears, join in the hell of the war-torn Pacific. Through the battles they fight together, Sergeant and Private eventually become close friends.
Finally, Enders met his match in a battle with the Japanese. He dies, but with the satisfaction that he had fought bravely in the war and that he was going to join his dead companions in the afterlife.
All I can say is that it is a great story about courage and how terrible a war is like.

Book Review - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Max Allan Collin's novel, based on the movie by Rob Cohen in the Mummy series, may as well be the best movie novelization I have read.

The novel tells the story of a young adventurer Alex O' Connell, who discovers the tomb of the Dragon Emperor Han, who built the Great Wall of China. He succeeds in getting the mummy into a museum in Shanghai, but only after being attacked by a mysterious assassin. Meanwhile, Alex's parents, Rick and Evelyn O' Connell, who starred in the previous adventures, are entrusted the job to take precious gem, the Eye of Shambhala, or rather the Eye of Shangri-La, to Shanghai. Coincidentally, son and parents meet in Evelyn's brother Jonathan's nightclub in Shanghai. They went to meet an old friend, Wilson, in the museum where the mummy was stored but it turned out that Wilson had betrayed them to a nationalist paramilitary group, who want to resurrect the emperor. The emperor is revived using an elixir stored in the Eye of Shangri-La. It was then that the assassin who tried to stop Alex from retrieving the mummy revealed herself and tried to kill the revived Emperor, but failed.
The assassin's name was Lin and she agreed to help the O' Connells (with Jonathan) to stop the mummy once and for all. So they traveled to the Himalayas, to seek the help of Lin's immortal mother, Zi Yuan, and to stop the Emperor from regaining his human form. It turned out that Zi Yuan had cursed the Emperor many years ago to turn into terracotta. However, the mummy and his servants from the nationalist paramilitary group managed to fully resurrect the mummy using the enchanted waters of Shangri-La.
The group then chases the Emperor to the Great Wall of China, where the Emperor unleashes his army. Zi Yuan calls upon the dead buried under the Wall to take revenge on the hated Emperor. A final battle takes place, where by Zi Yuan sacrifices herself to get the only weapon which can kill the Emperor - a cursed dagger. The epic battle finally ends when Alex slays the Dragon Emperor with the dagger. At last, the dead buried under the Wall could rest in peace and all was well for the O ' Connells, Lin and Jonathan.

Like the summary? Read the book!

Erak's Ransom - Book Review

This is another book in John Flanagan 's captivating Ranger Apprentice series. I read this novel while I was on holiday, and I finished the thick book within three days. Obviously, because I liked the book so much that I could not "un-stick" my eyes from the pages.
In this fantastic novel, it talks about Will, a Ranger's apprentice, in his final year of apprenticeship. A call for help by Svengal, the Skandian second-in-command, brings Will, his teacher Halt, his friends Horace and Gilan, as well as the Araluan princess Cassandra to the desert land of Arridi to secure the Skandian King, or Oberjarl's, freedom.
How did all these happen? It all started because Erak, the Oberjarl, felt bored and wanted to do some raiding in Arridi, so he went there by ship to raid the place. Unknown to him, he had been betrayed by one of his kin, so when Erak arrived with his men, they were ambushed and caught by the Arridi soldiers. Demanding a ransom, the Arridi people released only Svengal and the other men to gather a ransom in exchange for Erak's freedom.
Journeying through the perilous lands of Arridi, witness how Will and his friends finally rescue Erak and how Will earns his badge as a fully-fledged Ranger after his graduation.
Want to feel the excitement of this book? Don't regret it by not picking up this book from the nearest bookstore! The more you delve into this book, the more you will feel there is more meaning than you think there is.

The Switch - Book Review

The switch - what kind of a title is that? It can mean many things, for example: a story about a light switch, a story about a kidnapping case whereby the kidnapper switches the hostage for ransom money etc. That was what I thought before I read this book.
Once again I blog about a book by Anthony Horowitz, one of the best writers in history. Right, now back to the story. The book is actually about a rich boy, Tad Spencer, who wishes to be someone else. Guess what? His wish comes true! But it swiftly turns into a nightmare. He had switched bodies with a boy who lived with his not-too-good parents in a caravan! All his luxury had gone as he was no longer rich.
As he explores the perilous new world of his new host body, his fate soon became entwined with the murderous Finn, himself (the person who was now in his body) and his own parents (from his previous body). Find out how Tad discovers a dangerous truth and how everything is resolved in the end in this story spun by Horowitz.
Every tale has its own moral. In this book, we can see that wishing for something extra when we already have so much is never good. Also, how everything we know about someone or something is just a web of lies and deception.
Do read this book. It is really a good read.

Granny - Book Review

Grannies are always gentle, kind and caring, right? But not for Jordan Warden. Jordan, rather known as Joe, is a boy starring in the horribly funny book by Anthony Horowitz. He is unlucky enough to get uncaring parents, but worse still: a harsh, cunning and evil granny.
Through this humorous novel, Horowitz takes you through a string of events depicting how Joe escapes from the grasp of his evil granny, more evil grannies and last but not least: The Grannymatic Enzyme Extractor. What makes the book more entertaining is the funny quotes, actions or remarks Horowitz includes in his novel (e.g. Granny went to the drinks cabinet and grabbed a bottle of brandy. She pulled the cork out with her teeth [although she very nearly pulled her teeth out with the cork] and took a large swig.)
Character Analysis
Now I shall do a brief character analysis on the main characters Joe and Granny.
Joe
-Hates being treated like a child
-Clever; the only one who knows that Granny is evil
-Feels lonely because nobody believes him

Granny
-plain evil, horribly nasty
-plots to kill Joe in order to become young again
-deceiving; tricked Joe 's parents in believing that she means well for Joe
-cunning; plotted to kill Mrs Jinks (the nanny) and Mr Lampy (the gardener)

The Roar - Book Review

Hail all science-fiction enthusiasts! If you have watched George Lucas 's "Star Wars", seen Arnold Schwarzenegger star in "Terminator" or played the video game "Halo", you will definitely like this book.
In this magnificent new science-fiction novel, Emma Clayton concocts a story about the future, where everything is high-tech. In this future, there is said to be an animal plague, and humans are squeezed into England, behind a huge wall which was built to protect the poeple from the plague animals. Within the densely-populated area, it is divided into three parts: the Golden Turrets (the apartments where the ministers stay), the houses in the slums (for ordinary people), and finally the Shadows, where the extremely poor dwell. The ordinary and the poor could only afford Fab food, which was made up of mould and colouring. Only the people staying in the Golden Turrets could afford real food.
The story revolves around Mika, a twelve-year-old boy living in the "ordinary people zone". He had always been upset after his sister, Ellie, had supposedly gone missing and assumed dead. Mika did not believe that his sister was dead as he had dreams and feelings which told him that she was not dead. That was why he resolved to find her one day.
Through an perilous adventure and a desperate search for Ellie leads Mika to the truth - everything the people living behind the Wall had told was all lies.
After reading this book, I can see that one of the themes in this book is poverty. Mika's family and the other normal or poor people living in the slums or Shadows eating fake food is a sign of poverty. We should not take what we have now (living outside slums, eating real food instead of mould etc.) for granted as a similar situation like that in the novel might happen to us in the near future.
Well, I cannot tell you any more. If you want to satisfy your curiosity, do go to a bookstore or library to read this amazing book!