Book: Alliance (The Paladin Prophecy, Book 2)
Author: Mark Frost
Pages: 352
Age Range: 12 and up
Alliance is the sequel to Mark Frost's The Paladin Prophecy. (This review may contain spoilers for the first book.) Alliance picks up a few months after the events of the first book, and again features Will, the genetically enhanced center of a group of five students at a special private school. Will is recovering from the physical and emotional traumas of the fall. As summer approaches, he again tries to understand how he fits in to a battle between good and evil. An encounter with someone who helped the teens in the first book sends them on a quest deep below ground, to find a special key. The plot involves physical confrontations, as well as historical investigations into the past, and personal quests to understand each student's special abilities.
It took me a long time to get through this book. To be fair, I was reading it during a busy time. But every time I would try to read it at night, I would fall asleep after just a couple of pages. I kept going because I was interested in the characters, but I eventually had to find time to finish it during the day. I felt that if the pacing had been a bit tighter, Alliance would have worked better for me. There was one section in particular, where the kids are planning a detailed campaign to gain access to a guarded location, that really dragged for me. I also felt like some of the characterization was a bit over-telegraphed, particularly Nick not being very bright and Ajay being absurdedly geeky.
But there are still things that I like about the book. As in The Paladin Prophecy, I love the way Will is guided by sayings that he learned from his absent father. Like:
"#24: YOU CAN'T CHANGE ANYTHING IF YOU CAN'T CHANGE YOUR MIND"
and
"IF YOU DON'T WANT PEOPLE TO NOTICE YOU, ACT LIKE YOU BELONG THERE AND LOOK BUSY."
An appendix lists all 100 pieces of apt advice.
There are also cool settings, including a castle-like building, and hidden tunnels and caves. There are neat gadgets. The kids have interesting abilities, and their interactions are reasonably realistic. They use their brains, and work to solve complex puzzles from sparse clues. Kids who enjoy adventures with a supernatural bent (like Rick Riordan's books, for instance) will most likely enjoy this one, too.
I could on principle do without Will being the love interest of both of the two girls in the group. But in truth, neither of the other two boys would work in that context. As far as content goes on the love interest side, there's a very small amount of kissing - nothing objectionable for younger kids.
Bottom line: Alliance didn't really work for me, but I'd definitely still purchase it if I were shopping for a middle school or high school library. And I won't be surprised if the series ends up in the movie theaters one day. There will certainly be at least one more book, as this one ends on a cliffhanger.
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (@RandomHouseKids)
Publication Date: January 7, 2014
Source of Book: Review copy from the publisher
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While getting ready for my surgery, I started accumulating books over the past few months, some from used book stores and some from Borders. (Alas, I won't be doing the latter anymore.) Some were adult books, and some were children's books. I started on the adult stack first, and was I ever surprised: Apparently my week in Paris a couple of summers ago burned its imprint into my unconscious; five of the books take place either partially or entirely in Paris. They are too many to review, so consider this post a thumbnail sharing of each.
I'll start with my least favorite first,
Gourmet Rhapsody, by Muriel Barbery. I'm sorry to put it that way, too, because my purchase was motivated by how charmed I had been by Barbery's first book,
The Elegance of the Hedgehog. In
Hedgehog, a young girl has given herself a date on which she'll commit suicide unless she can find enough reasons not to. I know that sounds like a morbid story, but the book captures small, luminous moments of beauty that make life truly worth living. So I was expecting to be deeply moved again in
Gourmet. Nope: A food critic lies on his deathbed, hoping to capture a favorite flavor that he can't quite identify in memory. Acquaintances and family each have a turn at sharing what they recall about this thoroughly unlikeable man. That's it, folks. some exquisite writing, because this author cannot turn out a bad line, but for me, the plot was . . . missing in action (pun intended).
But, next I read Cara Black's
Murder in the Bastille. Black is one of my favorite mystery writers. Her series stars Aimée Leduc, a private eye for white collar techie matters who keeps getting dragged into murder cases instead. To read any one in the series is to get a free trip to Paris. Black knows that city inside and out and places each new mystery in a different neighborhood. Because Aimée grew up in Paris, naturally she has little snippets of memory about buildings she passes or bridges or streets she traverses, and so in a completely non-intrusive way, the reader picks up scraps of French history and art history while Aimée chases or runs from the bad guys. Black's website is equally interesting: Press
here and go take a peek.
Then I read
The Girl at the Lion d'Or by Sebastian Faulks. This is a carefully sculpted story of a young girl cast adrift following World War I. It takes place in a small village outside of Paris where Anne has taken employment as a waitress in the Hotel Lion D'Or of the title. Her story unfolds by degrees: Her father was falsely accused of cowardice at Verdun and shot. Because of accusations, Anne and her mother were hounded out of their village and went to Paris. With no one to turn to after her mother dies, Anne hopes to find a new life at the Lion D'Or. Sh
I didn't know about the Cara Black series, so I've added it to my TBR list and looked it up at my library. I look forward to reading the first, Murder in the Marais!
I also read the Club Dumas. I agree with your assessment. I enjoyed it, but a bit weird, and fun. And I, too, love to read (and write) about Paris!
Thanks for sharing your Paris-themed books!
Oh, my. More books on my TBR list. I hardly have time for my TBW list! But I remind myself that reading is part of the job of writing, so that makes it okay. Thanks. I put a couple of these on my list that sound good to me.
I love how your blog makes me feel as if I've been on vacation without having to pack a suitcase or clean out the refrigerator first. :)
Thanks for these interesting reviews; I was especially intrigued to read about Dumas' 3 Musketeer novel, to hear it's good. I've never read it, just watched the movie. Same with The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas, which is a fabulous movie...so I'm wondering how the book compares!
Vicki, I have three of the series and want to get more. Each case is so different, and I like it that you learn so much in her mysteries simply by the nature of the mystery, without it ever being tedious. They are all page turners.
Rosi, glad you found sow new books to go in your TBR stack.
Michelle, if you think my blog makes you feel like you've been on vacation, Cara Black is a must read, any one of her books.
Carol, I saw The Count of Monte Cristo, too, but have never read it. Now I want to. The Three Musketeers was one of Dumas's early books. And you know how writers improve with each new book . . .
My hubs liked the Club Dumas and is big fan of the Three Musketeers. Sadly I have read neither!
Like Lydia, my hubby also loved THE CLUB DUMAS. Guess I will have to read it. :)
I haven't heard of these books. Thanks for the info.
I visited Paris for two short periods. (Both total about a week). I fell in love with the city and now love to read books with Paris as the setting.
Lydia and Alleged, it's nice to find yourbhubbies read and liked The Dumas Club. It's so . . . I don't know, esoteric? I bought it for the books-and-Paris angle, but i did wonder how good it would be, if someone had discarded it. have a hard time parting with books I like, which is why our house looks like a used books store.
Theresa, like you, I've been to Paris twice -- once for 5 days, and one for 8. But it only took me about 5 minutes to fall in love with the city.
I read The Club Dumas a couple of years ago. It disturbed me; I don't like the idea of people making packs with the devil, even though I do not believe in the devil.
Yeah, I agree with you there, Richard. But there are some crazies who do that. The guy who did in the book surely was crazy. Could you figure out, though, who the blode girl was supposed to be? I could never make up my mind.
I don't remember enough about the book or the girl to give an opinion.