Book Review

The rating system is out of a total of 10 thumbs up

The Children of Hurin - by J.R.R. Tolkien
Ok so it's probably not the best way to start off reviewing books with a book i didn't even finish. I tried reading this while out of town and just couldn't get through it. Admittedly i had never read the original Lord of the Rings but i'm guessing they were probably similar to this in writing style. This is what i mean, here's the first three sentences of the story:

"Hador Goldenhead was a lord of the Edan and well-beloved by the Eldar. He dwelt while his days lasted under the lordship of Fingofin, who gave to him wide lands in that region of Hithlum which was called Dor-lomin. His daughter Gloredhel wedded Haldir son of Halmir, lord of the Men of Brethil; and ad the same feast his son Galdor the Tall wedded Hareth, the daughter of Halmir"

WHAT ?????

If any of you were able to read and understand that, my hat's off to ya. The problem is that there was 300 more pages just like that. I was immediately lost with all the names. It didn't help the fact that almost every sons named rhymed with the fathers. This book should have come with a giant tree diagram to make sense of every character.

If you are looking for a casual read, this is NOT it. Like i said, i only made it about half way through, but if there had been some sort of comprehension quiz afterwords, i would have failed for sure.

So giving it the benefit of the doubt that it might have gotten a little better, 3 out of 10 thumbs up.






The Lightning Thief - by Rick Riordan
This is book one of a 5 part series called Percy Jackson & The Olympians. It's sort of like a combination between Harry Potter, The X-Men and Clash of the Titans. It actually starts off a lot like Harry Potter in that Percy is a troubled kid who doesn't know his father and soon discovers he has special powers. But it turns out, he doesn't have the powers because his parents are magical, as in Harry's case. It's because his father is one of the 12 Greek Gods. His mother is human, making him a half-blood. He ends up going to a special summer camp for other half-bloods but finds out he's even more special then all of them, goes on a quest with a girl and his best friend ... ya actually, it seem really really similar to Harry Potter now that i think about it.

Having said that, i actually really liked this book. It was fast paced. Very fast paced. The story seemed to really fly by. Even the way that ancient greek stories were mixed in, was quite interesting.

This was the first book in the series and like Harry Potter it did seem to be geared a little to younger kids. But i'm hoping that the remaining 4 books are a little more grown up. Also they are making a movie about this book, supposedly coming out in 2010. The director is Chris Columbus who did the first two Harry Potter movies. The trailer looks really cool, not a kids movie at all.

So having said all that, and with the intention of reading the other 4 books, i give it 8 out of 10 thumbs up.