adventure

Nobody's Princess is a great historical fiction story about Helen of Troy. It does not support history but tells a mythological fiction story about her based on what we know. This was such a great girls disguised as boys themed book. I am looking forward to reading the sequel about our main woman of steel Helen. It is a very good book but it drops off at the end so you need the sequel about Helen's adventures in the Mediterranean Region.

In this book Helen starts out strong with some great adventures. Long before the Trojan War there was a young girl named Helen who was good at disguises

Brilliant psychic ice queen meets gregarious and equally brilliant changeling Alpha bear and hijinks ensue!  Author Nalini Singh returns to her popular psy-changeling world with this first in a new sub-series. It is a great jumping in point for for fans of paranormal romance/adventure who are not familiar with her work. Full of complex characters, over-the-top heroics, humor and unexpected warmth; this author just keeps me coming back for more and this may be the best book yet!

Yes, Silver Silence is a paranormal romance/adventure but also so much more! The main characters and all their

Baked beans, bog mutants and interdimensional travel are the ingredients in this hilarious middle grade debut novel by John Cusik. 

I listened to the audio version of the book, which I highly recommend.  The narrator, Gary Furlong, does a remarkable job of giving life to the full cast of strange and quirky characters with the added bonus of doing so with a British RP accent. 

The story begins in the 21st century.  Lola Ray, a typical, responsible older sister, is looking forward to a vacation away from the annoyances and hassles of her everyday life.  However, at the airport something

You’ve heard of Dungeons and Dragons.  Right?



It’s been around for 45 year and been in everything from Simpsons to Stranger things. 



What is it? 



It’s a pen and paper Roleplaying game.  A set of rules to tell a shared story with friends and family with a backdrop of classic sword and sorcery in the vein of The Lord of the Rings.

Pretty simple right?  Well that’s what Tales from the Loop is.  A very rules-simple pen and paper Roleplaying Game!  Only it ditches the old tropes of Dwarves, Elves, Dragons, and Goblins for a more contemporary setting.

You and your friends play as

The Legend of Zelda, the Wind Waker HD is an outstanding, unique entry in the already well-loved Legend of Zelda video game series. This time, our courageous hero, Link, lives with his sister, Aryll, and kindly grandmother on peaceful and remote Outset Island. Great floods have submerged the once mighty kingdom of Hyrule and left only small, scattered islands in an endless ocean. One day, as Link and his sister are out exploring, Aryll is snatched and carried off by an enormous, malevolent bird. Link must brave the vast ocean with the help of his talking boat, a crew of dastardly pirates, and

This isn't going to be a review, so much as an essay on my journey into the world of Dungeons & Dragons and general Role Playing Games (RPG) starting in my late 20's, so strap on your sword and buckler and get ready for an adventure!

Like a lot of you, I "knew" about D&D through the zeitgeist.  Seen it mocked in movies, sitcoms and sketch comedy. Had friends that played in quasi-secret for fear of shaming in high school and college. Even sold the books when I worked in a bookstore without ever opening one. I "knew" what it was, and my opinion was set. And it should be obvious at this point

The Haunting of Fabian Gray is a classic action and adventure story with some wonderful twists that are fitting for comics. The reader follows Fabian Gray, a treasure hunter, in search of his missing sister after a supernatural incident made her disappear and gave him special abilities.

Fabian Gray is torn, possessed by five ghosts: The Wizard (much like Merlin), The Archer (much like Robin Hood), The Detective (much like Sherlock Holmes), The Vampire (much like Dracula), and finally, The Samurai (much like, well, a samurai). He uses their spirits to enhance his own prowess. I enjoyed that

This is a hands-down fabulous book! It’s an adventure. In space. On Mars. What more do you need? But on top of that it’s witty and science-y with a hint of impending doom.

Mark Watney, astronaut-botanist, gets left behind by his crew and must find a way to survive on this uninhabitable planet, alone, until rescue is made possible. The Martian is written in journal form from Watney's perspective. He details all the ways he fixes and rigs the Hub (his home far away from home), finds ways to grow eatable food, and tries to communicate with NASA. But the writing isn't all science jargon, Watney

“They lived in a house at the end of the road and were friends to mankind”- Kinneson family motto.

In 1930, in the Vermont town of Kingdom Common-- sharing a border with Canada-- lives the fiercely independent Miss Jane Hubble Kinneson, known to most as Miss Jane. On the dawn of her 50th birthday, she finds herself embroiled in a battle with her cousin, Eben Kinneson Esquire, for the preservation of her beloved land, Kingdom Mountain-- some of the last untouched wilderness and home to glacial ponds, flora and fauna, and wildlife dating  back 10,000 years. Enter Henry Satterfield, a weather

While exploring the new home Coraline and her family have just moved in to, she stumbles upon a small, mysterious door hidden behind wallpaper in one of the rooms. Through it, she discovers a world very much like her own, and yet very different, including alternate versions of her parents and neighbors. This alluring world turns dark when she finds that her parents have been kidnapped and she is slowly becoming trapped in a web of her Other Mother's making.

A mysterious, transdimensional library that sends its librarians to alternate Earths to procure rare books? Brilliant! A clever, witty librarian and her new assistant, who is clearly hiding something, sent to find a collection of Brothers Grimm fairy tales? Cool! A steampunk/gaslight fantasy alternate Earth that operates along the lines of narrative drama and comes complete with sharp-as-tacks consulting detective and a host of conspiratorial secret societies? Wonderful! Faeries, dragons, and weird magic? Fantastic!

The Invisible Library, first book in Genevieve Cogman's new series, presents

Sunshine Superman tells the story of Carl Boenish, an intrepid explorer pushing the limits of physical experience, and an inventive cinematographer of that boundary’s edge. He was a skydiver, whose footage from the 70s and 80s shows people seemingly capable of the ultimate assault on reality. They could fly. 

Lest we think Boenish jumps out of airplanes and off of buildings for the dopamine alone, documentarian Marah Strauch looks at the motives behind his love of jumping. She shows us interviews, offers reenactments, discusses what it means to goad gravity, and delicately handles two aspects

The Travelers is a fast-paced, globe-trotting novel filled with CIA intrigue. What better cover for a spy than to be a travel writer? Travel writers go to far-flung, exotic locals, meet people, and there are no red flags on why they travel so much. Will Rhodes is a personable, intriguing character looking for perfection in all areas of his life; from drinking the perfect glass of wine to finding the perfect wall sconce. While on assignment in France, his life begins to turn upside down when he meets Elle Hardwick, a woman who may wreck his marriage, career and life. Caught in the middle of a

Vango is a thrilling adventure mystery set in Europe on the cusp of the second World War, focused on the mysterious identity of a young man on the cusp of adulthood. Not even Vango, said young man, knows the mystery of his origins, and no one believes he is constantly watched and hunted by shadowy figures. They consider him paranoid. Talented, pleasant, and promising, but strangely paranoid.

The novel opens with Vango's seminary graduation ceremony, but moments before he is made a priest the police burst onto the scene. Suddenly, Vango is scaling the walls of the cathedral while being shot at

Do you ever dream of working with monkeys in the Costa Rican rainforest?  How about teaching English in Thailand, or helping orphans in India?  Well John Marshall did and in a radical move to connect better with their teenage son and daughter, he and his wife quit their jobs and took a six month voluntourism break from life.  Wide Open World is the story of how six months moving around the globe volunteering changed all of their lives forever. 

As someone who loves to travel, I really appreciated Marshall’s honesty about the difficulties of the family’s trip, as well as, the wonders they

Steven Universe is everything I never knew I wanted in a show.

I was initially put off by the animation.  The character designs just struck me as weird and more than a little doofy.  Still, I'd heard a lot of good things about it, and I figured it couldn't hurt to try—each episode is only about eleven minutes, after all.  Plus, it's created by Rebecca Sugar, best known for her work on Adventure Time.

I was instantly captivated.  The titular character is extremely doofy in the most charming ways imaginable.  Steven is the kindest, most loving and generous soul you could imagine, while still

I used to read dystopian novels regularly believing they gave insight into the problems of our current world as well as hints of a difficult future if we didn’t pay attention.  Ready Player One also fills this role but makes it all so much more fun than the average tale of dystopian hardships.  Ernest Cline’s novel is set in a dismal future that has turned the global population toward a virtual computer-generated OASIS to escape the filth, crowding and poverty of reality.  When the creator of this online universe dies, his will offers his entire fortune to the online player who can solve his

Combining world travel, video games, puzzles, archaeology, advanced technology, mysterious parents, growing danger, and a group of ambitious teenagers, this is quite the adventure.

Ben's drill sergeant, never impressed Uncle Henry scoffs at his ambitions of becoming a basketball star, saying if Ben really wants to do something worthwhile with his time he should solve the video game Henry gives him. If Ben can do so in a week, Henry says, he'll get to join his uncle and parents on one of their expeditions as reward. Ben's parents are irate--about both the game and the promise--but Henry says

Over the top! There's just no better way to describe Angelmaker. 



The core plot is nothing new: A cautious lead character gets swept into a wild adventure that transforms him into a bold hero ... but with a lot more bells, whistles, and mechanical bees. It's a fun fantastical story, plus you get to figure out the connections among clockmakers, British secret intelligence, the gangster underground, elite craftsmen and plans to end the world as we know it. Take a gander at the book trailer. See what I mean?!



The ordinary Joe Spork is our hero, forced to intervene in a plot set to motion

If you've played the original PS2 versions of both of these games, then the PS3 upgrade doesn't make that much difference.  Sure, the games are prettier in HD, and the textures are gorgeous to behold (and if that's your thing, then I'm hardly going to discourage you!), but the glory of these games lies in the content, not the resolution.  If you've never played either of these, then this is a perfect opportunity for you.

Ico (pronounced EE-koh) is the first game in the series, and it's not without its flaws, but I feel that the flaws are vastly overshadowed by its brilliance.  You play as a

Great Caesar's ghost! I missed this series when it aired on ABC Family in 2008. Heck, I'd never even heard of it until a couple of weeks ago when I randomly stumbled across it. And boy, am I glad I did!

The Middleman (his real name is never given in the series) is the agent of an organization so secret, even he doesn't know who he works for. He's charged with saving the world from all kinds of amazing threats: alien invasions, mad scientists, zombies, ghosts, vampires, and super-intelligent gorillas. When he destroys a giant, tentacled beast and saves completely unfazed receptionist (and post

Ananna is the only daughter of the leaders of the Tanarau pirate clan. When her parents try to marry her off to the son of the Hariri clan, Ananna chooses to flee both families and the arranged marriage. The Hariri are so angered, they send a magic-using assassin after her. But when the assassin, Naji, confronts Ananna and she accidentally saves his life, he becomes bound to her through a powerful, magical curse. They set out on a quest to break this "impossible curse," all the while fleeing the angry Hariri clan and strange, otherwordly beings with a mysterious agenda.

The Assassin's Curse i

Zach, Poppy and Alice are at an age where they should be putting away such things as dolls. At least this is what everyone keeps telling them. By using their action figures, Barbies and dolls they have purchased from Goodwill, they have created their own unique fantasy world of pirates, ladies and one bone-china doll they have dubbed Queen. To save their friendship, Poppy takes Queen out of her mother's cabinet and strange things begin to happen. Queen convinces them to undertake their own quest where they take a bus trip, sail a sailboat and break into a library, all to fulfill what they

I'm generally proud of myself when I successfully make it home after a Saturday stop at my local wholesale store, but that's a drop in the bucket compared to the fantastical adventures that ensue during this run to the corner store for milk.



Mom is out of town for a few days, so dad is tasked with keeping the house in order.  Breakfast is delayed while he spends an inordinate amount of time venturing out to replenish that most important complement to breakfast cereal and British tea -- the milk.  Dad finally returns with a larger than life tale that features aliens, dinosaurs in hot air

Soren Bearskin has grown up in a United States colonized by the Vikings rather than the Puritans, a country where trolls hide in the mountains and Norse gods walk the land, where children learn how to sword-fight in school and every year the land is renewed by the god of light, Baldur, as he is resurrected from his winter death.  Except this year, Baldur fails to appear.  A search is begun, a boon is offered by Odin to whomever can return his missing sun, and Astrid Glyn, the daughter of the most famous seer in New Asgard, convinces Soren that it is their fate to find Baldur.  Together, they

Everything on Earth changed on the Day. On 6/6 buildings crumbled, power stopped, and Doloria De la Cruz was the sole survivor, in the California area, of mass genocide carried out on the people of Earth by aliens known only as the Lords. The Lords brought down Icons onto every major city, and with the Icons electromagnetic pulses instantly killed every human within their radius. Now, 16 years later, Dol and her best friend Ro are part of the Grass people, those that live off the land and try to survive away from the Lords and the corrupted cities. That is, until life as they knew it turned

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt by Caroline Preston is exactly what the title implies—it’s a story told through a book of photos, memorabilia and souvenirs.  The story begins in 1920 when, full of dreams and goals for the future, Frankie graduates from high school.  To mark the occasion, she receives a scrapbook and a typewriter which begin the chronicling of her life.  Although unconventional in its presentation, the author successfully conveys the rich, colorful detail of Frankie’s first experiences in sophisticated, adult society.  Her college years, first job, travels, and loves are finely

In Veronica Roth’s debut dystopian novel, Divergent, the society is not divided by religion, race or class, but by five factions, each corresponding to a different virtue that they value and foster above all. The Abnegation are the selfless, the Amity are the peaceful, the Candor are the honest, the Dauntless are the brave and the Erudite are the intelligent. 

Divergent opens as the main heroine, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior, faces the aptitude test designed to help her determine which faction she is suited for. The test is followed by the Choosing Ceremony where she will decide the rest

A plane full of teen beauty contestants crash lands on a tropical island. I was expecting either drama or fluff. What I found was satire aimed at the “ideal” female, reality tv and their sponsors, and beauty contests, with a nod toward foreign relations. While a bit over the top and exaggerated, on the whole I found Beauty Queens to be amusing and entertaining.  Interspersed with the story are commercial breaks and facts pages about the contestants, the ones who survived the plane crash. As the island melodrama unfolds, we learn more about the Miss Teen Dream girls, getting a look behind the

Lidie Harkness is destined for spinsterhood; at least her older step-sisters think so. She lacks interest in the domestic skills required of ladies in Quincy, Illinois circa 1850's.  She would rather spend her time reading, riding, swimming, and shooting. Seeking a solution to her questionable future, she is lured by the advertised prospects of pristine countryside and pleasant weather in Kansas (really!).  She is introduced to Thomas Newton who is headed to the Kansas Territory (K.T.) to stake a claim and support the abolitionists’ cause for Kansas to enter the Union as a free state.  He