Two for the Price of One

Today I'm writing about two books by the same author, yay, hence the title of the post.

I love this author's name, Vivian Vande Velde. It sounds so fantastical. I'm sure that it's a pen name but still. Okay, I just wanted to get that out there before I started to talk about the books.

Dragon's Bait

By Vivian Vande Velde

Accused of being a witch by a greedy neighbor Aly is left as an appeasement to a dragon that has recently moved into the area.

The dragon isn't interested and would have passed by but Aly herself unwittingly draws his attention. 

Now Aly is faced with the decision of whether or not to take the dragon, Selendrile, up on his offer of revenge, and is that really what she wants?

Dragon's Bait is a very short book, only 196 pages. It was the first book by this author that I ever read and it was a good representation of the kind of books she writes. Quirky, yet it seems like a straightforward story at first glance. It's probably most suited for 10-15 years old but its an entertaining simple story anyway.

There are many classic fantasy elements to this story: A falsely accused main character, a young female left as an offering to a dragon, a quest of revenge, disguises that may or may not work in real life.

There are some twists as well, dragons can speak any language but only when they have taken on that shape which uses that language.

I have to confess I hate books that seem to have an obvious moral to the story. It always makes me feel like the author just created a story for the sake of rubbing a moral in my face. But someone else pointed out to me that there is a small moral at the end of this book. And I'm not telling you what it is so you have to go read it yourself.

Heir Apparent

By Vivian Vande Velde

At an unspecified point in the future, technology will have progressed to the point that you can go to gaming centers and be completely immersed in a variety of games. 

You are the character and the character is you. Your thoughts are your character's thoughts and your character's pain is your pain.

For Giannine's birthday her father's secretary sends her a gift card to Rasmussen Gaming Center and she's determined to make the most of it even braving a protest to get into the center.

Heir Apparent is a game with many ways to win. All you have to do is survive long enough to be crowned king. Unfortunately Giannine isn't as good at this as she would like and she keeps dying. 

Then something happens. It's different this time and she receives a message from outside the game. The equipment she's connected to has been damaged and they can't pull her out because of her immersion. The only way to get out is for her to win the game, but she only has a few hours left before permanent brain damage occurs. 

Now Giannine is stuck in a court full of deceivers with no idea of who to trust and time is running out.

I found Giannine a little annoying at first but I kept reading because I found the premise of the book to be so intriguing.

This is a little longer than Dragon's Bait, about 250 pages I would guess. It's perfect for 12 and up.

Life as We Knew It

Life As We Knew It

By Susan Beth Pfeffer

Miranda is an average American teenage girl. She talks about friends, family and complains about school. Especially all of these extra homework assignments about the moon that all of her teachers are giving. 

Who cares if some asteroid is going to hit the moon? Stuff hits the moon all the time, but everyone's making a fuss because it's big enough that you're supposed to be able to see it hit.

Suddenly it matters though. The asteroid is bigger and denser then predicted and it knocks the moon off kilter. Suddenly everything is in chaos and the ocean is raising and volcanoes are erupting worldwide.

May 18th is  the day that the world as we know it changes.

Gas prices jump to five dollars in a day and in a week you're only allowed five gallons per person and it's close to seventy dollars. People are frantically buying supplies and soon the stores will be all empty.

First the power starts to go and then it shuts off altogether.

Ash from volcanoes is always in the sky turning it a perpetual grey. Some days you can't even see the sun.

Sickness sets in and medicine runs out.

There is virtually no one untouched by the disaster and everyone knows someone that didn't make it.

This was written in 2006 so the idea of the price of gas leaping to five dollars was a little more dramatic but it was kept fairly timeless in the sense that it's not set in a particular year and doesn't have anything that would make you think 'Oh, this is set in ___.'.

I am not a crier. I very rarely cry but both times I have read this I have teared up and had to watch something happy. There is character death in this book so if you are looking for something lighthearted this is not that book.

The book itself is only 337 pages and it's written in a diary format. It's target audience is 12 and up. I think that I had a little more perspective about the magnitude of the disaster when I was a little older then 12. I read this for the first time when I was 14.

The main character is definitely a teenage girl, especially at the beginning, but it's necessary to the story to show how it changes everyone either for better or for worse.

It actually made me think a lot about what would I do and how I would cope with all of the uncertainty and death.

There are other books in the series that are basically the same event from different characters point of view in different parts of the country. I haven't read any of them. I want to but I haven't gotten to them yet.

While this book can be sad at parts I still think that it's a good book that people should read. This author also write some very good children's books that I recommend and are not nearly as sad as this one.

I know I've recommended this to people before and I'd like to hear your thoughts on this book.