Teen and Staff Reviews

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the most recent new Zelda game. It feels very unique as opposed to older Zelda games, which, while good in their own right, often followed a dull and very similar pattern. Breath of the Wild, or BOTW, changes this up, giving players the freedom to explore the world and complete tasks in any order that they see fit, or even skip tasks completely.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, written by Grace Lin, is a fantasy novel inspired by Chinese mythology and folklore. The book follows Minli, a young girl who lives in the Village of Fruitless Mountain, working hard and farming despite the terrible land of the Fruitless Mountain. Her father tells her stories and she wishes to have an adventure of her own. One day, she uses her money to buy a goldfish, and it turns out that the goldfish can talk.

Ender’s Game follows a brilliant 6-year-old kid named Andrew “Ender” Wiggin. Set in the future, humans are fighting a war with an alien race called “buggers”. The humans win the war, but are fearful of another attack, and so they train gifted children in a satellite called the “Battle School” to become future commanders against the buggers. Ender is born as a third child in a world where only two children are allowed due to the giftedness of his siblings, Peter a sociopath and Valentine, a caring sister.

Rebecca Hanover’s sci-fi thriller, The Similars, is the first book in a duology of the same name. In this novel, six clones, the Similars, were made of six socially elite students. The Similars arrive at the exclusive Darkwood Academy, and Emma, a student at Darkwood, doesn’t know who to trust as her friends keep disappearing. To save everyone at Darkwood, especially the Similars, Emma and her friends must push back against the hidden motives that plague the school. This book was fantastic!

Twelve-year-old Torak’s life is suddenly turned upside down when a bear attack suddenly leaves Torak without his father. Now, Torak is faced with completing the oath that he promised his father he would complete: To find a mountain that nobody has ever found, to solve a riddle that nobody has ever solved, and to kill the bear that killed his father. Luckily, Torak has a guide, in the form of a wolf cub. Together, Torak and Wolf travel together, avoiding enemies, collecting pieces of the riddle, and finding a way to make it to the mountain.

Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander is an example of a textbook someone would find at Hogwarts. It gives a history of magical creatures in the Harry Potter universe, as well as notes from Harry and his friends. Along with the history, it also gives specific information about the creatures within the magical world. Along with the information, it tells the reader how dangerous the creature is. Not to mention, information about Newt Scamander himself.

The sixth and final book in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead, Last Sacrifice, was a great finale. Queen Tatianna is murdered, and Rose is framed by an unknown source; Rose, Lissa, and friends must figure out who framed Rose and find Lissa’s hidden half-sibling to make things right. This installment was much better than Spirit Bound; it took on more of an exciting and mysterious thriller quality than its predecessors, and Rose seemed more like her old self.

Spirit Bound, the fifth novel in Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series, was all over the place. After returning from her journey to Siberia, Rose is caught up in the hope of turning Dimitri back into a damphir. Rose recruits Lissa, Eddie, and some unlikely friends to return Dimitri to his original state while preparing to become an ocial guardian. This book was more drawn out than it needed to be; it was especially slow initially; however, things did pick up closer to the middle of the book.

Steelheart takes a realistic look into a world of superpowers. Unlike most traditional stories of superheroes who are role-models that use their powers for good, these superheroes are corrupt, evil dictators who have transformed Earth into an authoritarian wasteland. Called Epics, they were created by a comet which flew over the Earth a few years prior to the story.

The third book in The School for Good and Evil series by Soman Chainani, The Last Ever After, was surprisingly unpredictable. While Agatha and Tedros are transported back to Gavaldon, Sophie is living with the School Master. Although the girls’ story was supposed to be closed long ago, their separation causes their story to be opened once again as evil takes over and old villains return from their graves.