Review: The Early Years (Dark Lord #1)

 

290 pgs

Genre: Middle-grade, Fantasy, Humor

Publisher: Walker Childrens

Website: http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/dark-lord-9780802728494/

Rating: 3 stars

 

Book Description: Greetings, Puny Humans:

 

In your hands, you are holding a tome of staggeringly evil genius . It is not for the faint of heart or for the whining masses. It is for those willing to serve as my devoted minions while I plan my greatest feat yet: surviving life as a human boy and returning to my rightful place as the ruler of the Dark Lands. Before I can exact revenge, I must infiltrate this world and learn its ways.

 

How, you might ask, is it possible that I, the Dark Lord, the Master of the Legions of Dread and Sorcerer Supreme, could be reduced to human form? And how is it possible that the Lord of darkness could be forced to attend school and befriend such pitiful life forms?

 

Only by reading my tale will you learn the truth behind the cataclysmic defeat that left me stranded on this accursed planet, Earth, But make no mistake, revenge will be mine... as soon as I finish my homework. Mwa, hah, ha!

 

Yours insincerely,

Dirk Lloyd

(aka the Dark Lord)

 

My Review: Expect a Dark Lord to be relegated to our world as a thirteen year old boy with his memory intact, but devoid of his magical powers. Well, most of them. What one gets is some mischief, humor at Dirk's misunderstanding of idioms and how he sort of adapts. Also, there are the adventures he has with Sooz and Chris as he attempts to get back to the Dark Lands.

 

I have to admit that my adult-ness is showing I was thinking too much because I did have a bit of trouble. I kept questioning the idea of a potentially real Dark Lord and a couple of questionable things Lloyd and friends do. However, once I shook those thoughts away and took the story for what it was: a middle-grade, fantasy comedy, I liked it.

 

I enjoyed this first book and want to read the next one, especially after the way The Early Years ends.

Review: Midnight City (Conquered Earth #1)

392 pgs
Genre: YA, Dystopia, Aliens
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books, St. Martin's Griffin
Website: http://us.macmillan.com/midnightcity/JMitchell
Rating: 5 stars

Book Description: Earth has been conquered by an alien race known as the Assembly. The human adult population is gone, having succumbed to the Tone--a powerful, telepathic super-signal broadcast across the planet that reduces them to a state of complete subservience. But the Tone has one critical flaw. It only affects the population once they reach their early twenties, which means that there is one group left to resist: Children.
Holt Hawkins is a bounty hunter, and his current target is Mira Toombs, an infamous treasure seeker with a price on her head. It's not long before Holt bags his prey, but their instant connection isn't something he bargained for. Neither is the Assembly ship that crash-lands near them shortly after. Venturing inside, Holt finds a young girl who remembers nothing except her name: Zoey.
As the three make their way to the cavernous metropolis of Midnight City, they encounter young freedom fighters, mutants, otherworldly artifacts, pirates, feuding alien armies, and the amazing powers that Zoey is beginning to exhibit. Powers that suggest she, as impossible as it seems, may just be the key to stopping the Assembly once and for all.
Midnight City is the breathtaking first book of the Conquered Earth series.

My Review: Received through First Reads.

I loved Holt, Mira, Zoey and Max. In Midnight City the reader gets to see how they meet, establish a relationship along their danger filled adventure and get past various obstacles encountered. Expect action, humor, suspense, moments of emotions and some romance.

The world in the book being set around the last survivors after an alien invasion also reads a bit like horror. It gave me a couple of nightmares to be honest. There was that one chapter that did not appear in my dreams nor directly involved aliens, which I am glad for, but was scary.

The last twenty, thirty pages had me turning pages and anxious to know the turnout for these characters I care for. A lot has been overcome, but there is still a lot for this group to cover. I look forward to book two.