Stealth

Author: Karen Miller

Series: The Clone Wars Gambit #2

Genre: Young Adult/Fantasy/Science-Fiction/Adventure

Planet by planet, darkness creeps across the galaxy. Among warriors and generals, among ordinary beings living in far-flung worlds, the fear will not go away: We are losing this war. . . .
 
Anakin Skywalker feels it, too. The Separatist Alliance, with ruthlessness and treachery, is beating the Republic to every strategic target. But after a costly clash with General Grievous for the planet Kothlis, Anakin has a mission that will focus his anxious mind. Alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi, he is posing as a long-lost native of Lanteeb, an impoverished world on the Outer Rim. This seemingly unimportant planet has drawn the interest of the Seps—and Anakin and Obi-Wan soon discover the disturbing reason: A scientist enslaved by General Lok Durd is drawing on Lanteeb’s one natural resource for a devastating bioweapon. Now Anakin and Obi-Wan have entered the eye of a storm. Their presence has been exposed, Lok Durd’s plans unveiled, and a fight has begun for survival behind enemy lines—and a chance of winning a war that must be fought at any cost.

Positive Content: Even though it can be strained at times, the relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin is strong and loyal. Anakin makes several headstrong decisions, but sometimes foregoes them after Obi-Wan tells him not to. Anakin also loves his padawan Ahsoka and is constantly worried for her welfare, and vise versa. He also loves all of his Clone troops and knows them individually; consequenly, he is devestated when they are killed or injured in attacks. His big heart gets him into trouble when he promises more than he can possibly give, at the expense of others.

Negative Content:  The derrogatory term “Barve” is used frequenly, as is the made-up expletive “Stang.” Taria was a former lover of Obi-Wan. Anakin and Padme have an intimate moment at dinner that includes a rather heated kiss.
The book begins with a battle sequence on Kothlis that results in several characters (including Obi-Wan) being injured. Lok Durd abuses Bant’era and threatens her family and is reponsible for the deaths of many other people. Anakin is headstrong and stubborn, and lies about his relationship with Padme.

Summary: This is my favorite Star Wars book I’ve ever read. I loved it. The author did a great job of writing the characters personalities – you could practically hear them talking. (Some authors will write well-known characters, and totally change their personalities. PET PEEVE! This did NOT happen here). The banter between Obi-wan and Anakin was absolutely priceless and made me laugh several times. All-around, I really loved this book and was VERY ticked off when the library didn’t have the others in the Gambit. I’m hoping to buy them for myself sometime soon.

Ages: 16+

5 out of 5 stars

Pretties

 

Author: Scott Westerfeld 

Series: Uglies 

Genre: Adventure/Sci-fi/Young Adult 

Tally Youngblood is no longer an Ugly – she has become a Pretty. And she has forgotten everything about the Smoke. 

But when she and her pretty friend Zane fine two pills that are the cure for the brain lesions placed in Pretties’ heads by the Specials in order to make them complacent and thoughtless, things take a turn for the worse. The pills work, curing them of their emptyheadedness, and they hatch a plan to escape back to the Smoke and take as many Pretties as they can with them. 

This book was GREAT! I really enjoyed it – it was hard to put down! Scott Westerfeld is a really good author. The positive elements are a lot – loyalty, deciding to do what is right, making the right choices. 

But there are also a few negative elements you should know about. 

Number one – there is a *lot* of kissing, mainly in the first half of the book. It’s not graphic, but still, it’s like “Okay, could you cut it out already!?” 

Number two – it is mentioned that Tally has been sleeping with Zane for a month. Now there is no sex in the book – but mentioning it was annoying and  unnecessary. 

Number three – the Rusties - us – who nearly destroyed the earth two hundred years previous to Uglies – had problems. We relied on gas to take us everywhere. We cut down trees. We polluted the earth. And hey, we even overpopulated the earth! (Physically impossible, by the way, as you could fit everyone in the world in the state of Texas…) So goodness me, we Rusties really are environmentally irresponsible! What do we have to look forward to in two hundred years? MANY less people – as in, less than 10,000 at a time - and being tricked by the authorities who do everything ‘for our own protection’ and run every inch of our lives and indoctrinate us with pretty knowledge. 

Number four – Evolution was again, subtly pushed in this book. Very annoying, and rather ironic since several pages of the book are devoted to explaining how complex the human brain and body is. 

Number five – It is said that Rusties - us – foolishly worshiped “Invisible superheroes in the sky.” Not a great dig for Christians. For a few chapters of the book, Tally stays with a very primitive group of people who think she is a ‘god’ – as they refer to everyone ‘pretty’ (they don’t see many Pretties). So there’s a lot of that. Of course, Tally doesn’t believe in gods/goddesses… but there’s still that whole scenario. 

Now, like I said – this book was exciting, fast-paced, humorous, and really well-written. And there were only about three swear words in the whole thing. And no sex. But if you want to read it, it would be wise to have your biblical world view working properly before doing so. 

Ages 16+ 

4 out of 5 stars