Michelle

This is a book for children, we meet Max who is a very special boy, I personally didn't like Max, but that's because I really really don't like kids, I find them annoying and hate them. So having a story around Max was really boring for me, giving that Max has his special problems. I really hate kids

Letting that aside, this book was fine. Budo is an interesting character, is funny how we see the world through his perspective, and the fact that he is smarter than Max really helps.

When Max is kidnapped, we can see the desperation of Budo, who is unable of talking to anybody, well he does talk, but nobody listens. So he is the only one that knows what happened to Max but there is nothing he can do about it. Honestly, Budo wouldn't have made it, if it weren't for his other imaginary friends. So that a lesson there, ask for help and find friends

One thing that I really like is, Budo constant fear of dying, every time he is terrified that Max would stop believing in him, that he would just forget about him, and Budo just dies, disappears. He is aware of this mortality, normally an imaginary friend does not live long, and disappears once his human friend doesn't need him anymore, so he has seen his friends died in front of him. He really doesn't wanna die, even comes to a term where if he doesn't save Max, he would live forever, he really considers that possibility. But in the end, he accepts that the best thing to do is to save Max, and he would be saving his parents too.

So in the end Budo sacrifices himself so that Max can live. So that Max grows up and becomes a better child. Budo really loves Max, so he was willing to do that, even if that costs him his life

Regular

Me pareció un poco inadecuado la manera en la que se comunicaban los protagonistas para su edad. Ellos estaban terminando el colegio y el libro termina cuando entran a la Universidad. Por lo que debían tener entre 17-18 años. Sin embargo, hablaban como si fueran niños de 13 - 14. Creo que la historia hubiera estado mejor desde un punto de vista más infantil e inmaduro.
No fue un buen romance, solo fue amor a primera vista, hubiera sido bueno ver como la relación progresa, pero solo hubo peleas.
Dejan un final abierto que no satisface y no indica ningún tipo de crecimiento entre los protagonistas.

Aunque si hubo temas interesantes como diferencias sociales, expectativas de los padres, elegir tu futuro, embarazo juvenil, trabajar al mismo tiempo que estudiar para mantener a tu familia, tratar de mantener tus amistades cuando sales del colegio. Nunca se exploraron estos temas.

Sadly these poems weren't for me

I think they were a little too specific to British people, alcohol and bad men for my liking. I just couldn't relate to any of them.

If you are more interested in character development than in action, this book is not for you.

The Hunter is just an action book, Parker wants revenge and he will beat everyone with his bare hands to get it.

The most interesting parts of this book were those from the perspective of everyone but Parker. The other characters had hopes and regrets. Parker was just very bland, and reading everything from his perspective got tired.

Typical Stephen King coming of age story, about a boy, who is too nice and too smart for his age, and an old man, who reluctantly becomes his mentor.

So the first part of this book is really good, where we meet the characters, and we understand that the old man is hiding a secret about gold and monsters, and that he may be older than he seems. So we follow the boy as he helps the old man and discover a portal to a new world. In this new world there is a fountain of youth, that he wants to use to put his dog on it. So it is a quest to another world to save his dog.

Spoiler
So he does it, he saves her. But when he is trying to leave, he gets capture and is put on jail. Since that moment the story falls very flat. The story stops being just him and his dog, but there is a prophecy of the prince from another world, a revolution and oppressed town people. And I didn't like it. There are like 10 other characters in jail with him, and they have to fight till death and only one will survive. But I didn't care about any other characters, they'll just die and nothings happens. Then they just escaped and kill the Giant with one bullet. And, I don't remember the end, it was anticlimactic.

He comes back home, after months missing, and seals the portal so no one can come through again.

Good book

It is about friendship and love. Sam and Sadie, two soulmates.

Sam and Sadie have been friends during all their life, and during all their life they have had problems, miscommunication, fights and reconciliation. As someone who has had friends for over 10 years, I appreciate how believable their friendship is. The ability to reconnect seamlessly after months without talking to each other. Knowing someone more than you know yourself. Sharing hopes and weaknesses.

I also loved the absence of any romantic element between Sam and Sadie, showing that man and woman can be friends, and have a beautiful platonic friendship, without ending up together. Because what they have is more special than any relationship. Because they are soulmates. I believe in the concept of soulmates, not in the romantic way. But the fact that there is that one person who is going to “Speak your same language” and understands you and completes you in every way. And once such a connection is found, it becomes unbreakable, Even if you try, you won't lose it.

We follow Sam and Sadie as they become business partners at a young age, and it makes you hope that you can do that with your friends. Leave college and create your own video game. Also love how video games were referenced, the love and passion the protagonists feel towards video games, on how it saves them in different ways.

The only thing I didn't like was that some characters or stories felt incomplete, like, their problems and motivations were introduce, but they were never resolved. The best example I can put is where: SpoilerAlert The friend dies, and we are introduce to this couple who loves Ichigo and the idea of working with the company. But then, the shooting happened and they left some drawings there. So months later Sam finds them and.... nothing happens, that was the plot twist, the most impactful scene. Mark died because he went to that meeting thinking it would be great for the company. And later, those people appear showing that they work there. And that's it, one line. We never see them again, and we don't see the game either, Mark's last wish for the company feels left to the air. Things similar to that happened two more times, where I felt the story was missing.

Overall very good book.

This book promise more than it could handle

The one chapter about the rollercoaster was fantastic. The idea of having to decide to euthanize your own child so it doesn't suffer is haunting. Really well done.

The rest of the chapters though, are very lacking, some feel incomplete, the general story never progresses. Really forgetful.

I dislike the book.

The premise promises a girl who will rescue her trapped cousin from a gothic mansion, yet the story disappoints as she never does anything and nothing happens.

The book is very slow, for such a small book, it took ages for something to happen. The problem is that the girl does nothing for the majority of the book and nothing happens. Just her being confused all the time and the whole family acting suspicious and evil. For instance, they deny her seeing her cousin, that is the whole reason she is there, to save her from her husband, and they put all of this excuses and rules of why she can't just talk to her. And lots of time passes. Months after she has arrived at the mansion and we are exactly the same as on the first day she arrived. Nothing has been discovered, and the interactions are repeatedly interrupted after only two brief encounters.

There is a great deal of Lore, but the way it is presented is boring, just people telling the protagonist information or she having visions. I believe that a better way to show that information would have been from the perspective of another character. Instead of relying on the protagonist being confused and doesn't know what is happening while she sees past lives.

I also didn't like the protagonist, she's presented as super smart but she just complains and didn't even win one discussion.

Finally, up to the end is where the book starts to get interesting, and by that I mean, something starts to happen.

In conclusion, I don't recommend it

It was fine. I like the way Cornelius's character remained true to himself without following the typical “good to evil” arc, he has always been what he is.

I also like how they gave Lucy Gray unique traits and were very different from Katniss.
However, I felt a bit disappointed with the portrayal of the games. It would have been more captivating to experience the games from the perspective of the other characters, as it would immerse readers in the intensity of the challenges they faced. That and the song definitely will work better in the movie adaptation. Everything was from the perspective of Cornelius so the initial games were a bunch of waiting for everyone to die, we didn't know who was alive, who was dead. and that is why he decided to change and improve the games to make it more entertaining, so seeing that was also very interesting, but it could have been better.
The other problem was that some parts felt a lot rushed. For example, we were waiting for something to happen for chapters, and when it finally happens, it's just over. There is a lot of anticipation but not a great payoff.

Predictable

Excellent book

In the first part we follow Juan, who is traveling with his son Gaspar after losing his wife. And all he wants is to protect his son from The Order, a secret Society.
Little by little we start understanding that this is not your typical father and son story, and there is a lot more going on. This book is filled with secrecy, hidden spirituality, occult, dark magic, politics and power.

Then we follow Gaspar, and other characters. We jump between different decades, bit by bit uncovering information and tying up dots.

My only complain is that despite this book being over 600 pages, you feel as is you are still missing 100 pages. You still have unanswered questions.

Perfect and wholesome in every way.

Mr Baker works for the government and his job is to visit orphanages and check if the kids are safe. But these are not ordinary children, these are magical creatures. He is very good at his job, but that is costing him his personal life, he has no friends, only his cat.

His whole world changes when he has to visit a Top Secret House, filled with dangerous creatures. Including, a Gnome, a Wyvern, a Sprite, a Pile of Goo, A boy who transforms into a Dog, and of course, the son of Lucifer.

Mr Baker, after being scared to dead, ends up falling in love. Forming a new family and filling the loneliness they all felt before.

My only little complain, is that the book is too wholesome. For someone who is not use to books with happy endings, I was wanting for something to go wrong all the time, but it didn't, everything was perfect and happy and warm, as life should be.

Hope Springs Eternal

Shawshank Redemption is about hope.

I have problems writing this review because I like the movie better, it was way more memorable than the book so most things that I remember are from the movie.

We see what prison takes from people, not only their freedom for some amount of years, but it takes their will to be free. There is a nice metaphor: If you cage a bird, and years later you let it go. It will die because it doesnt know how to survive in the new world. So you rather stay locked forever because you are terrified of leaving and being alone. In the movie, they explain better the life of Brooks, and his sad ending, where he couldn't stand it, he couldn't survive in the new world, so he kills himself.

In the movies is also better the way Andy gets his money, by deceiving the guards and stealing everything from them. In the book it was something that he had outside, hidden under a rock. It was interesting that he didn't know if that was still out there, we just hope that is out there. The movie Andy outsmarting everyone else is perfect.

## Summer of Corruption

Apt Pupil is about being careful what you wish for

Todd is a really smart boy who gets obsessed with Nazis, like every kid his age. For his luck, he finds a Nazi commander in his neighborhood and blackmails him, into telling him everything about the concentration camps

The relationship between Dusander and Todd is really interesting; they are meant to be, you can consider them friends that pull each other down.

I like the movie better, especially the ending. In the movie Todd is really smart, you are amazed by the way he solves problems, but in the book, we find out that Dusander was the one telling him what to say, especially the part about the letter, I was in awe in that part, but finding out that it was Dussander´s idea is a bummer.

And the ending !! I am still mad about it. The ending of the movie is amazing. Todd is really smart, you realize that he is a monster. That all the influence of Dussander got to him, he is indeed an Apt Pupil. And in the book... he got carry away by his emotions and ruins everything. I really didn't like it.

## Fall from Innocence

The Body is about the journey more that the destination

A group of boys who want to see a dead body and deal with different emotions along the way. I also like the movie better in this one. We get to know everybody, their fears, how they interact with each other. The movie made few changes, the first one with Chris's character saving his friend, and he always has. That scene shows us that he is the leader, and why Gordi likes him so much. In the book, Gordi is the one who saves him, and that doesn't go much with his character. Another difference and the main one is the relationship between Gordi and his brother, who is dead. In the movie Gordi really loved his brother, and he misses him, he was the one protecting him, and the only one that supported him, because to his parents he was invisible, so you can see the dynamic. In the book, Gordi is invisible to everybody, even his brother and he doesnt feel sad about his death.

## A Winter's Tale

The breathing method is about determination

This was my favorite tale, maybe because there wasn't a movie to compare it to. I always enjoy stories between stories. And the story of giving birth after being decapitated is really gruesome, Stephen King's style. I like twitching as I read, it is the reason you read horror.

The book is fine, It is about a sister always having to clean up her sister's murders. So it is kind of funny, she realizing that the murders cannot be accidents any longer. Maybe one is an accident, okay, maybe two. But 3 !! that can't be an accident, so her sister is a serial killer, and she always has to help her dispose of the body and clean everything.

The turning point of the plot comes when you can truly feel the protagonist's struggle between saving her sister or turning her in. She can't take it anymore, felling so nervous around the cops while her sister doesn't help. Furthermore, that is the thing I didn't like: her sister.

I hate her, honestly. Everything in me was saying: Just turn her in, she is not worth the struggle. The sister is constantly portrayed as someone who has never faced consequences. This is a personal pet peeve of mine - people who lack empathy towards those they hurt or fail to appreciate those who help them. Just let her clean up her own mess for once. But the sister was so gorgeous, she has always managed to get away with everything. It was amusing how men reacted in her presence, she had every man trembling at her feet.

And at the end, we finally get a glimpse of their sisterhood, and all the reasons why she feels compelled to help her, despite everything, she is her little sister and they both only have each other.

Some stories are fantastic, others not so good.

A recurrent problem is that a lot of these stories end in a cliffhanger, so you will end up always wanting more.
After the first cliffhanger I thought we will get some references or conclusion in the other stories, but no. So keep that in mind. The stories end, even though it seems like they are just getting started.

Este libro cuenta una linda historia de amistad entre los protagonistas., la dinámica entre los dos personajes es entretenida, por un lado tenemos a Claudia, una niña inocente pero al mismo tiempo valiente y decidida, por el otro Knaach, un león que habla y puede ser muy arrogante pero muestra gran preocupación por aquellos que le importan, juntos llevan la historia hasta una batalla galáctica.

So this book was fine, I really like the scenes of suicide, those were really powerful, showing how a little drop of doubt, of insecurity, can spread through your whole mind. A little voice that whispers hate and disgrace into your head... It's not easy to shut it down and every time the little voice starts to win volume and its grows and stretches, so you listen to it. It starts making sense, it hijacks your thoughts, so you listen to it. Each time more and more. It screams at you, so you listen, and realize it does make sense. It is the only thing that makes sense. A way to take away all your pain and worries. It sugarcoats your decision until you succumb to it.

Even though there were some supernatural elements to this story, they didn't bother me. In the previous book, we are already told that this story will contain supernatural elements, so it's not annoying. We already know that it's going to be that way.

The only thing I didn't like was the ex maquina ending. If it wasn't for Jerome, everyone would be dead

This book is about obsessions, letting something consume you, the only thing that makes you stay alive can also be the only thing that leads you to your death.

The protagonist Pete Saubers is the perfect boy, how he cares for his family is unimaginable, her little sister Tina, being the light of his life. He, as the older brother, is very mature, intelligent, and dedicated. Loves reading because books bring him to other worlds.

There is a similitude between him and the antagonist. Morris. Both of them obsessed with the books, the Jimmy Gold novel, they lived in the same house, think of the same hiding spot. It makes you think, what would have happened if the Saubers family had never recovered, would Pete become someone bad?. If the arckys barckys never stopped. He would be a completely different adult. In a way, that vault of money saved him, saved his future, not just financially but psychological too. It saved his humanity.

Or maybe not, maybe one is born bad. Nothing indicates that Morris suffered in any way. He had a bad relationship with her mother, but that was it. Nothing terrible. He has always been that way. A wolf.

Is true that this book would have been fine as a solo, not necessarily with the Bill Hodges trilogy. Bill is almost absent. The whole story is for Pete, so Bill kind of feels like an Ex-Maquina. He appears in the end just to save them. And doesn't really contribute to the story. I really wanted to see how would Pete have won, on his own. Stephen King makes these fantastic stories for kids, and how would kids win against a greater evil. So is really interesting to see what would he have done, alone. Would Pete have burned the notebooks on purpose??, because it was an accident. But we'll never know. Could his plan work?? The notebooks in exchange for his sister?? Maybe. Morris was desperate. They both were enchanted, “My precious”

The only thing I didn't like about this book is what they did to the Mercedes Killer, giving him powers. Stephen King has this trademark that people with a hit on their head, get powers, like in the Death Zone, where the protagonist becomes a psychic. I didn't like it because it's another genre. This book has something special for me, and that is that this story is completely real. There is nothing paranormal or supernatural. So putting that little hint feels kind of off. Doesn't really goes well with the story.