June '19 Reviews

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Review by Bella

I can't make sense of the old English. I don't know what they're saying. I want to read it because apparently it's such a good classic, but I can't get past the second chapter. It goes on and on about how one of the sisters wants to marry Mr Bingley.

Rated: 3/5 Mr Bingleys




Scythe by Neal Shusterman, Review by Wei Li

I got so into this, I bought the book after I read the library copy because I loved it so much. It's a new world where they've beaten death. You can 'turn the corner' and reset your age, keeping all of your memories. No death, no wars, Thunderhead, the AI, manages humanity. Earth has limited resource, even though AI has improved the capacity to 10 billion. People barely ever die, and if they do they can be brought back to life. The Scythes, are people who are above the law. They are tasked with managing the population. Each year they have to kill a certain amount of citizens. The story revolves around two apprentice Scythes learning the trade. Only one can graduate at the end of the year -the other will be gleaned...

Rated: 5/5 Gleanings "I liked this book because it covered mortality, what it is, what is a perfect life and how people can go wrong in such a world. I really recommend it to everyone, there's minimal romance, but it's at the end and nobody cares"   

Coraline by Neil Gaiman, Review by Ciena

It's a lot creepier than the movie but not scary. Coraline finds the door pretty early on and her parents go missing straight away. There are a lot more rats in the book too. She has a dream about rats with red, glowing eyes. The story progresses as though you are Coraline, with no adults to help you...

Rated 4.5/5 Rats "It's a really short book, I found it in my school library and was intrigued"




What if it's us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera, Review by Eva


I wasn't that intrigues by the look of this, but I'm so glad I read it because it's so good. It's about Ben and Arthur, who go to New York for Summer.  One day Arthur goes past a post office and sees a really cute boy (Ben). They talk, but he doesn't find out his name because they get separated by a crowd. He really wants to figure out who he is so he goes on Craigslist to find him. His mum syays there are murderers on there.  He remembers the guy was wearing a coffee shop T shirt, which leads to a dead and he ends up making lost and found posters...

Rated: 4.9/5 Boxes. "plot twist - I started crying"

Mondays not coming by Tiffany D. Jackson, Review by Caitlyn

One weird and off-putting thing in this book is that it is divided into different time frames, and this makes it a bit confusing. It's about this 14 year old girl called Claudia who comes home after spending the Summer at her Grandmother's. Her best friend Monday never wrote to her even though they agreed that they would. Monday isn't around and she's not at school. Her mum won't let her go to her house because the area is dodgy. There's lots of slang.

Rated: 4/5 days "The time framing was the only reason it didn't get 5. It's really interesting and intense the whole way through. The underlying theme is dark but everyone is a bit oblivious the whole way through"

Throne of glass by Sarah J. Maas, Review by Emily

Really good. Basically it's about this 17 year old assassin called Selena. She's paid to kill people, and she's sort of a warrior too. She's really stealth about it. The King abolished magic because he thought it was all dark. She's been captured and sent to a salt mine called Endeavor. Women are treated like men's property. If you've been caught doing something wrong, - even just trying to get healed by magic, you get sent to a camp. She gets escorted from the camp to the capital, and the King asks her to try out for King's Champion, competing against all the warriors of the Kingdom...

Rated: 4.5/5 Wyrdmarks "It covers dystopia, death, romance and fantasy"

Birthday by Meredith Russo, Review by Sasha

It's about these best friends Eric and Morgan who were born on the same day. Each chapter alternates between them, and each four chapters capture another birthday. It's about growing up. It starts with Morgan's identity struggle as a transgender person.

Rated: 4.8/5 Candles "It's about birthdays!"