Nicolae (reviewed by Isaac Lester)

It has been nearly two years since the mass disappearance, called the Rapture.

In Nicolae the saga continues as Rayford, his new wife, Amanda, and Buck and Chloe (now married) make it their mission to win as many people to Christ as possible. The seven-year tribulation is nearing the end of the first quarter, when prophecy says "the wrath of the Lamb" will be poured out upon the earth.

As the seven-year period hurtles toward the midpoint, the Tribulation Force faces conflict at every turn in their holy war against Nicolae Carpathia, the ruler of the new Global Community.

Rayford and Buck work directly for Carpathia, who knows of Rayford's true allegiance, but not of Buck's.

In Nicolae, the most explosive of the three books thus far, Rayford becomes the ears of the tribulation saints at the highest levels of the Carpathia regime. Meanwhile, Buck attempts a dramatic all-night rescue run from Israel through the Sinai that will hold you breathless to the end.

Silverfin (Isaac Lester)

n the 1930s in the Scottish Highlands, fourteen year old Alphie Kelly sneaks under a fence that contain dead animals and other keep out trespassing notices to go fishing at Loch Silverfin. However, strange behaving eel attack the lad.

At the same time that Alphie vanishes, James Bond enters Eton after spending the last couple of years living with his Aunt Charmian following the deaths of his parents in a mountain climbing incident. He runs into trouble from the start with an older student, American George Hellebore and the teen's father weapons tycoon Randolph.

James heads to Keithly, Scotland to spend the Easter holidays with his beloved aunt and his ailing Uncle Max. On the train, he befriends Red Kelly who is heading to the same area to search for his missing cousin. In Keithly, James and Red breech the perimeter fence, trespassing on Randolph's property where he is conducting experiments on a super soldier that will eliminate the frailty of those he observed during the last Great War.

Silverfin is a fine young James Bond tale in which the lad shows glimpses of the cool spy, but just as often displays young teen bravado to hide a lack of confidence. Thus the middle school audience that this novel targets can believe that this is indeed James during his school years. The investigation is intriguing and Randolph is a solid Bond villain. The Eton chapters set the tone for James and his allies vs. the father and son Hellebores. Fans will enjoy their altercation that makes up Part Two of the fine novel.

Tribulation Force (Isaac Lester)

Rayford Steele and his daughter Chloe are settling into post-Rapture life in Chicago. Rayford misses his wife and son, but knows they will meet again in Heaven. In the meantime, they want to watch world events and live their truth - their salvation in Jesus Christ. Cameron "Buck" Williams has been reassigned to his weekly magazine's Chicago office, but he hasn't lost his big story writing job. He is happy with the reassignment even if it is supposed to be punishment. Now he can be near Chloe and their mentor Bruce Barnes. He knows he, Rayford, and Chloe still have a lot to learn about their faith. Bruce is the person to help train them.

Nicholae Carpathia is the new director of the United Nations. He also is taking over the world, becoming the predicted anti-Christ. Buck had personal experience of Carpathia's evilness. He had witnessed Carpathia murder two men, but no one else in the room remembers the events the way they happened.

Events are moving quickly. They can see the beginning of the predicted Tribulation. They see Carpathia taking over the world. There are two prophets in Jeruselum who cannot be silenced or hurt. The world is moving to one currency. Communications companies are consolidating. Yes, the Tribulation is coming.

What Rayford and Buck don't expect is Carpathia's interest in them. He wants both of them to work for him in their special capacities. Nor do they expect the actions of the President of the United States. Bruce is trying to mentor them as well as beginning to minister to the world. He wants to share the truth he wouldn't accept until too late to stay with his family.

In this sequel to Left Behind, LaHaye and Jenkins use fiction to explore the prophecies of the End Times described in the Christian New Testatment. They have done an excellent job in these first two novels. While Tribulation Force doesn't have the in-the-face impact of Left Behind, it is a worthy follow up. I found myself forgetting these were fictional characters and chiding them or cheering for them

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams (Logan)

"Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" by Douglas Adams is described on one edition's cover as a "thumping good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic" and I believe that just about sums it up.

It is difficult to describe the setting of this book. There is a time machine, so the span is from about four million years ago to present. As for location, there are several places of interest. A majority of the book is set in St Cedd's college, Cambridge, England. Other times are spent in the main character's houses, Dirk Gently's office, and even Mauritius (a small island east of Madagascar).

The main characters are Dirk Gently, Richard MacDuff, Professor Urban Chronotis (Reg), Gordon Way, Susan Way, Michael Wenton-Weakes, and an unnamed alien ghost. Dirk Gently is intelligent but lazy, possibly clairvoyant, and rips off old ladies with missing cats as a detective. Richard MacDuff is a young software engineer who works for WayForward technologies II. His Anthem software is extremely popular, but he fails to meet many of his deadlines. Reg is a professor at St Cedd's college. He operates a time machine and is "on the older side of completely indeterminate". His position, Regius Professor of Chronology was appointed by King Richard III. Gordon Way is the founder of WayForward technologies. He is the brother of Susan Way. Susan Way is a professional cellist, Richard's girlfriend, and Gordon's sister. Michael Wenton-Weakes is a spoilt son of publishing giant Lord Magna. His magazine, Fathom, was sold to Gordon Way after his mother took over the family business. This upsets him and makes him susceptible to hypnotism and possession. I will not describe the alien ghost's background as that would spoil the story.

The sentence at the start is a good indication of all the themes. The name Holistic Detective Agency refers to Dirk Gently’s “conviction that what we are concerned with here is the fundamental interconnectedness of all things”. This book suggests an afterlife, and makes links from this to the interconnectedness and perfect music. There are several puzzles the characters face in this book. Richard has a sofa that is wedged in his hallway, and his computer simulation shows it is impossible to get out or into its position without fundamental restructuring of the walls. Reg performs an impossible conjuring trick involving an ancient pot and a salt shaker. Samuel Taylor Coleridge is possessed by a spirit who influences his poems the Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan. This book also goes into computer generated music, suggesting that natural beauties are actually complex maths.

This book is very entertaining to read and interesting to think about. At the start many of the events seem unrelated, but as the book progresses you notice the fundamental interconnectedness of things. It was just as amusing, if not more, to read for the second time, as you find many intricate details. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants an intelligent comedy read. There is also a sequel which I have not read but should find a copy of.

-- Logan

"The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare

One of Shakepspeare's favourite classics, The Merchant of Venice has all the thrill of justice, cruelty, friendship and love.

Antonio, a rich venetian merchant takes the risk of a pound of flesh in order to borrow 3000 ducats from Shylock, a Jewish money lender. The money is then used by Bassanio in order to woo Portia, a rich woman from Belmont. After Antonio fails to pay back the borrowed sum, the story pledges into action with everybody ending up in court to debate the case...

Will Antonio's flesh get cut by Shylock? Will anybody stand to prevent such result? Read the book to find out more - It will certainly not disappoint you.

Snake Head by Anthony Horowitz (Logan)

Snake Head is the seventh book in the Alex Rider series (eight books by Anthony Horowitz). In these books Alex Rider, a teenage spy, is persuaded by intelligence agencies from all over the world to work for them.

Alex’s father was a talented spy who died with his mother in an “accidental” plane crash when Alex was young. Alex was brought up by his uncle and a young housekeeper. The series begins with his uncle’s death. Alex finds that his uncle was also a spy. Alex is ideal for the use of the MI6, ASIS and CIA as he is a skilled skier, mountain biker, scuba diver, climber and has a black belt in karate (almost as though his uncle had been grooming him with useful skills for a spy). He also thinks fast, weighs up all the options and makes sensible decisions.

In this book Alex travels widely, starting by splashing down from space in the Australian ocean. He goes to Bangkok with his godfather Ash, gets taken to Darwin in a cargo boat by the snake head, he gets taken to an illegal organ transplant clinic hidden in the Australian bush and finally escapes and stops the Royal Blue from detonating and causing a tsunami that would wipe out Australia. Alex is at first persuaded by the ASIS to work for them act as a cover for his godfather Ash like he did in Skeleton Key. He chooses to cooperate in hope that he might learn about his parents, who knew Ash well. He ends up fighting for his life against terrorist groups Snake Head and Scorpia.

I think Snake Head is the second best book in the series so far. The best was Point Blanc, in which Alex is sent to a French school for rich boys to find out about the assassination of the fathers of two of the boys there. I liked Snake Head because of the good variety of characters and plot. The plot is also topical in that it features illegal organ harvesting, a pacific tsunami, refugee smuggling and state of the art modern weaponry.

-- Logan

Being By Kevin Brooks (Josef)

Being
By Kevin Brooks

This book is about a 16 year old boy named Robert Smith, who lives in Essex, England. He goes into the hospital for a routine endoscopy. His safe and comfortable life is soon destroyed by an intense discovery made by an innocent and unsuspecting doctor. What is he? Is he an alien from outer space? Is he a monster from the sewers? Is he a lab experiment gone wrong? So many questions, no answers. What he does know is that he needs to run away from a man named Ryan and his men, because they want 2 cut him up and find out whats wrong with him. Robert goes to the only person he can trust, Eddie. Will they run away and hide successfully or will Robert end up being cut up to pieces?

This book has a lot of description and vocabulary but is still easy to understand.
"Memories about his birth parents feel manufactured. Hopping around from foster home to foster home through the years, he doesn't recall ever getting sick or seriously injured. All he has are his dreams, and those bad dreams feel real enough."
This extract shows us the extensive use of vocabulary that the author has used. He uses a lot of description to introduce us to the environment. He uses all the five senses, sight, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting. This is, why I think, he wrote this book excellently.

I recommend this book for anybody aged 12 - 16 who likes a slow but intense action book.