Tag: reading

Sufficiently Advanced Magic

Adventure awaits in this land of magic and mythical gods!

Five years ago, Tristan Cadence disappeared during his Judgement – a potentially fatal quest to earn a magical attunement. Now, it is Corin Cadence’s turn to enter the Serpent Spire for his Judgement, and Corin has only one thing on his mind – find his brother.

By completing the Judgement, Corin hopes to earn a powerful attunement that will enable him to find his brother. As with all heroes, things never go as planned. While Corin does survive the Judgement, the attunement he receives is not one he was hoping for; furthermore, his actions in the Spire may have put him on the wrong side of the gods. And the last thing any teenager wants, is to be an enemy of the gods.

Sufficiently Advanced Magic, book one of the Arcane Ascension series, by Andrew Rowe quickly draws readers in with it’s easy to read (or listen to) writing style and well developed characters. Once you start, you won’t want to stop.

Arcane Ascension is one series I will be adding to my “favorites” list for teens and adults.

In terms of content, I give book one, Sufficiently Advanced Magic, a PG rating and book two, On the Shoulders of Titans, a PG-13 rating. The series contains some brief references to LGBTQ issues/topics. For the most part these references are quick and almost feel like they were thrown in there for the sake of being politically correct. However, because the second book has a few more references and contains some innuendoes, I would be hesitant to recommended it to younger children. (I will note that books one and two did not contain any sex. I have not read book three yet, but I hope it continues to remain relatively clean.)

Rockslide by Michael Wisehart

Rockslide2Michael Wisehart is one of my favorite authors, alongside Michael J. Sullivan, John Bierce, and Brian McClellan. So, I was extremely excited to be part of the “review team” for Rockslide, the third installment of the series Street Rats of Aramoor.

In this book, Ayrion finds himself responsible for a group of outcasts from the various street tribes of Aaramoor. Starving and harassed by the other tribes, the outcasts are struggling simply to survive. Feeling the burden of leadership, Ayrion and his friends Reevie and Sapphire endeavor to save the outcasts as well as the members of Hurricane by earning entrance into the Guild. However, nothing is ever easy, and several members of the Guild are eager to see the demise of Ayrion and the Hurricane tribe, so they ask an impossible price, one that Ayrion cannot pay without extreme risk to his life.

If you have not already done so, I suggest re-reading Hurricane (the second book in the series). It has been a long time since I read it, and consequently, when I started reading Rockslide, it took me a while to recall who the various characters were and how they related to one another.

As I said before, Michael Wisehart is one of my favorite authors. I enjoy the way he writes. Personally, I thought Rockslide was a little slow, but that may be due to the fact that I know where the story is going. I have read, and truly love, The Aldoran Chronicles and know the role that Aryion plays in that series. Consequently, I am very eager (one might say impatient), to see how he gets there. However, Rockslide, like the other Street Rats books, primarily still deals with Aryion’s life on the streets of Aramoor. So, I guess I will just have to learn to be patient while I wait for Aryion to grow from being a street rat to the character he is in The Aldoran Chronicles.

A little bit of waiting never hurt anyone….right?

Keep Yourself Entertained

It can be a struggle to find things to do during this time of quarantine. I’ve compiled a list of resources that I’ve found, a lot of them I got from Peters Township Public Library’s website.

Library Resources

Most libraries have an abundance of digital resources from online classes to audiobooks, e-books, and movies. Be sure to check out your local library’s website. If you don’t have a library card, don’t worry. A lot of library cards are giving patrons the option of obtaining an e-card so they can still access online resources.

Resources for Kids: 

Audible: Audible is offering free stories for kids (and some classics that might interest adults). They also have stories in different languages as well. https://stories.audible.com/start-listen

Story Time Online

Ranger Rick: Free digital subscription

International Children’s Digital Library

Story Time in Space: Books read to children by astronauts in the space station.

WQED Education: Videos, lesson plans, and activities that support learning at home. Daily activities relating to PBS series. How to Talk to Your Kids about Coronavirus: 

Kahn Academy: They have videos on a number of different subjects for all ages. They have even come up with a suggested “school schedule” for parents working with their kids at home. They have made it easy to access age-appropriate videos on their site by viewing this page and selecting the appropriate age category. 

Scholastic Learn at Home: Resources for Pre-K through High School

San Diego Zoo Live Video Cams: San Diego Zoo has live video cams on their animals.

Cincinnati Zoo Home Safari: The Cincinnati zoo is live streaming animal videos daily at 3 p.m. EDT. on their Facebook page. You can also view past videos on their website.

Air Force Museum:

Virtual tours of the National Museum of the United States Air Force. There is also a link for an app that allows you to see inside the cockpits. That app is pretty cool.

Adults/Older Teens:

Crash Courses: Geared more for high school and older.

Duolingo: Learn a Language

iSeek Naturalist: Nature app

The Prisoner of Cell 25 (Michael Vey #1)

Michael VeyThe Prisoner of Cell 25 by Richard Paul Evans is the first book in the Michael Vey series. It was entertaining and is a series I am currently enjoying. It started off a really slow, and if it wasn’t for the fact that I was looking for a book for the family to listen to when we went on vacation, I probably wouldn’t have continued listening to it, but I’m glad I did. Right now, I’m on the second book, and it starts off a lot faster because you don’t have to get to know the characters. Unfortunately, this is not a book series that you can’t just start with any book, you need to read the first book. But, I highly recommend putting up with the slow speed of the book. It’s worth it.
I will say that it was a little more violent than I had anticipated from a kid’s book, and I think the reason was I’m not used to there actually being kids who are villains. There are a couple kids in there who seem to lack a conscience (and the reason being is thoroughly explained and understandable), and whose maliciousness when it came to hurting people surprised me. Again, I think it is because I’m not used to kids being the “evil” ones. Although !SPOILER-ISH! one kid does change his ways.
I also really appreciate that the main character has turrets syndrome. I think it brings a nice aspect to having a hero/main character who isn’t perfect (like Thor or Captain America). This is just a normal kid (who actually !SPOLIER-ISH! has an electric power). However, he is living with turrets which gives him an aspect of humanity, more than your average super hero; he is more relatable because we all have struggles in our life wither physical, emotional or neurological, etc.