Review - My book's genre

With the element of time travel so prominent in the story, my kneejerk reaction is to classify Tempest as science fiction, but so far in the plot, there hasn't been that much science, its just something that Jackson can do, like, with his body.

Therefore, I think it's better to say that this book is magic realism, since events Jackson's powers take him to all take place in the real world, mostly around New York, which, in fact would be hard because in the late 1930s, Manhattan actually had a lot of time displacement energy spread around it. Which makes time travel in New York really difficult. Anyway, the story has very real world elements such as romantic tension, when he meets his girlfriend before she knows him, and family ties, what with his adoptive father maybe being out to get him.

Reflection 6 - My Genres of Fiction

My reading hasn't changed as far as which genre I enjoy reading, but it has since matured. When I was younger, I tended to like magic-realism, stories that were fairy tale-esque, but set in the real world. Series like The Magic Treehouse, The 39 Clues, and A Series of Unfortunate Events help my attention and loyalty for long periods of time, and between 3 book series, I was always looking out for the new release.

I don't really find myself reading heavy supernatural or horror books. I never got on the vampire/ghost/werewolf teen train, and even if it is something I can stomach, I'll put the book down when it gets gory. Thrillers also don't get much of my attention, but mostly becasue I'm alone when I read and that can be creepy.

As I got older, I got more into science fiction and fantasy. Series like The Hunger Games, Uglies-Extras, and Sherlock Holmes got me into mystery and dystopian. The arrival of Doctor Who in my life in 2008, however,  pulled me further into the science fiction genre. I really like stories that center around nonlinear time travel (like my current book, Tempest, and some of my own fiction.) I guess that means I like dystopian, but I don't like to think of the future as ruined. Time is in flux, and people can change.

Cool Sherlock cover

Book-Chair

Review 2 (Tempest)

Tempest: Book Cover

I'm going to have to mix up an intorductory review with things about the cover, since I switched books from whatThe cover of  my new book, Tempest, doesn't reveal too much about the plot. It's obvious from the the get-go that it's about two people trying to reach each other. Duh. There's the element of time travel, so in the falling shards behind them we can see different events that Jackson passes through. Here's the story so far.



 Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal college, junior, with a girlfriend… and the ability to travel back through time. Nothing really changes in the present after his jumps, timey-wimey issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless experiments for him and his friend Adam… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Reflection 5

My pet peeves concerning book covers and reasons that a book cover might possibly discourage me from reading a book that it was on:

• When the cover clearly defines a character, object, or other element of the book that is better left up to the imagination.
• When the thing on the cover are not relevant to the story or have no clear connection to the plot
• When the cover is boring or bland, however if it just looks that way at first, but then actually has a subtle design, we're back in business.

While these things can make me uneasy about reading a book, the cover is hardly ever a deciding factor for whether or not I read a book. I'd be shocked if anyone did this assignment without using or at least thinking of the old addage "You can't judge a book by its cover."

Even though this is a common belief, there's still a lot of pressure on the book cover. When you're in a book store, wandering around, that's the thing that will grab your attention and draw you towards a potentially captivating story.

Review 3 (Ender's Game)

The Language of Ender's Game

The boys at the Battle School have their own special little slanguage that the student body has developed from their native languages over time. Frequently, someone will be called a name that is an actual word from a distant or old language, and usually that word wither means something insulting or honorable. For example, 'doll back' is used to call someone a screwup, but it's derived from the Russian word 'dolbak', which basically means the same thing.

A while back I mentally compared this book to Lord of the Flies. These kids in battle school go unchecked as far as Ender, it feels like there's not as heavy an adult presence as there actually is. In  Lord of the Flies, the boys' lack of guidance and leadership drive them to tribal behavior.

A much more civil form of this happens in Ender's Game, but aside from the obvious parallel of armies to tribes, we also see this primal behavior when children reach to express things with the language of their home land instead of the common language of the International Fleet.

Reflection 4 Book & Movie Awards

Movies; Best Adaptations
Hugo - The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Best Teen book adaptation:
The Hunger Games

Best Children's book adaptation:
Meet the Robinsons

Best Sci Fi adaptation:


Best Mystery Series Adaptation:
Sherlock (BBC)

Surprisingly Childish Movie:
The Pirates: Band of Misfits

Review 4 - Project Memes

In the first army he is put into, Ender's commander, Bonzo, grossly underestimates him and orders him not to do anything in battle. Since nobody in the other army sees him as a threat and he never fires his weapon, he  statistically ended the fight with a perfect record.

When Ender thinks that the final test for command school is fixed because the odds are so heavily against him, he throws caution to the wind and uses ridiculously reckless commands to win the battle, thinking that he'll fail for not winning by some sort of conservative strategy.

While Ender is using what he is told is a battle simulator at command  school, he is actually commanding the fleet of Earth ships across the galaxy as it assaults the alien Bugger's homeworld. As I mentioned in the meme above, Ender uses reckless tactics in this battle. He basically crashes the fleet into the planet, setting off their weapons at once to disintegrate the entire world.

This one is pretty self-explanatory. When Ender needs a mental kick in the backside to get moving on his training, Colonel Graff arranges for him to meet his sister, Valentine. Ender's love for her is something that has always motivated him to fight to protect their home.