Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City

Ok, so I think we all know that I have been a little (ok, really) behind on my reviewing lately. But its not entirely my fault. I am a little discouraged by the fact that you haven't been reading my reviews. *sigh* Oh well. Anyway, I finished Kiki Strike quite a while ago and I've been meaning to review it. So away we go...

Manhattan is a big place, with many great things about it. It is right there in the Big Apple, the residing place of hundreds of amazing authors, and the place thousands of tourist flock to every hour. But something you might not know about it is what is underneath. No, I am not talking about gas lines, and water pipes. Or, for you Peeps fans, I am not talking about giant worms, or apocalyptic rats. Although there are a lot of rats. No, I am talking about The Shadow City. The Shadow City is an intricate city of tunnels used hundred of years ago by criminals and thieves, but no one has set foot in it in decades. And that is where the story beginnings.

Our story starts off with twelve year old Ananka Fishbein, who discovers a large sinkhole in front of her house and goes down in to investigate. This is her first encounter with The City. But when the sink hole is filled, Ananka befriends the mysterious Kiki Strike in order to find another entrance. Kiki Strike is a ghostly pale, short, elfish girl with white-blond hair that showed up in Ananka's ritzy private school only a few days after she saw the sink hole. A little background info on Ananka, she is not rich. Her great great grandfather (or something) was very rich, but he put his money into a fund that would all and only go to his descendants schooling. Therefore, Ananka and her parents own a huge library of books about everything that fills their apartment, and Ananka gets to go to the best school in Manhattan. Together, Kiki and Ananka gather a team of delinquent, twelve year old girl scouts and call themselves the Irregulars. We have Luz, a super technical and inventive mechanic, DeeDee, a genius chemist, Betty, a master of disguise, and Oona, an expert forger and (later on) lock picker. Together, the Irregulars make a plan to map out the entire Shadow City, so that they can have control of it. But in trying to open a particularly difficult door, DeeDee causes a mass explosion that breaks a water line and knocks her out. The Irregulars rush her to the hospital, but when they arrive, Kiki has disappeared.... This is a story of a mysterious underground city, a hoard of man-eating rats, and kung-fu fighting princesses.

I loved this book. It had lots of great action and suspense and never once did I feel bored. The characters, plot, setting, everything was set up beautifully. It was also funny, which is always excellent. I was reading it under my blankets in bed to finish it. That is how good it was. Unfortunately, the absence of romance brought it down a point. So, I dub Kiki Strike: Inside the Shadow City 7.5 kinds of fawesome.


Shadow City exploring, kung fu fighting, man-eating rat escaping and yours,

Review Numero Uno: An Abundance of Katherines

Ok, so this is kind of cheating the system, because I already posted this review Here on my other blog, but I am posting it again! *Maniacal Laugher*

As my first attempt, I have review John Green's book An Abundance of Katherines. Colin Singleton is a -- or was a -- child prodigy, but he's not really a child anymore. After graduating highschool at age 17 and having been dumped by his nineteenth Katharine (K-19), Colin feels like he just doesn't matter. Colin had dated 19 different girls named Katherine --well technically only 18 different girls but you have to read the book to understand. No Kats, no Katies, god forbid a Catherine. K-A-T-H-E-R-I-N-E. But even after being dumped by each and every one of them, K-19 finally broke his heart. So instead of continuing to lie face down in his carpet, Colins best/only friend Hassan (don't worry he's not a terrorist) takes Colin on a road trip to ease the pain. This road trip take the dynamic duo all the way from Chicago to Gutshot, Tennessee, population 864, where Colin meets Lindsey Lee Walls who's mother owns the local tampon string factory and offers Colin and Hassan jobs interviewing the townspeople. So Colin and Hassan end up in Gutshot, and... well I'm not going to tell you. *evil laughter* you will just have to go read the book!!
Ok, opinion time! I really did like this book in the long run. It had a solid plot, romance, deep characters, even a bit of mystery, not to mention LOADS of humor!! :D And on top of all that it has a good amount of beautiful math that would make Dess* proud. Oh! oh! and it also has tons of random fun facts that would even make Hunter** jealous! So yes I liked this book a lot. But what I didn't like was the constant profanity (I'm sorry I just can't help it). Although John managed to only drop one F-bomb ("fug" is like every other word though). Also there were a few -- ahem -- "naughty" scenes. Nothing real bad but again I can't help myself. It just bugs me. So as long as you are over the age of 13 and know how babies are made (or at least have a general idea) then don't be afraid to read this book. Overall, I rate it 6.5 kinds of fawsome.


Cheating-ly, fugging-ly, anagraming-ly yours,


*What? You haven't read Midnighters?!? Come on! GO READ IT NOW!
**Again, have you not read So Yesterday?! Ouch! Now you're going to tell me you haven't even read Uglies. You have read Uglies haven't you?!

UPDATE: Oh my gosh! I almost forgot to mention, Colin loves anagraming. I also loved that about the book.