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: Darkness Rising (Catmage Chronicles #1)

 

 

 



Pages: 258
Genre: Middle Grade, Magic
Publisher: May Publishing
Website: http://merylyourish.com/books/
Rating: 4 stars

Book Description: It's been hundreds of years since the Darkness last surfaced, a grim time when both humans and Catmages--cats with magical abilities and human intelligence--lost their lives. But now the Wild Ones--evil Catmages--work with humans again, and thirteen year old Andy Cohen gets the surprise of his life when a talking cat shows up in his front yard.

Goldeneyes, a powerful Catmage, needs Andy's help. Her grandmother [Nafshi]--the wisest, most powerful Catmage alive--is missing, and her trail leads straight to Andy's town. But there's a problem: Goldeneyes doesn't like humans very much, and Andy is impulsive and reckless. They have to learn how to work together, and they need to do it before the Wild Ones kill Nafshi and steal her powerful Magelight.

In the first installment of this new series, the reader enters a world of magical cats, dark powers, and a boy who finds himself entangled in their war.

My Review: I got this book through first reads on goodreads.com.

Darkness Rising was a very enjoyable read. It had many things I liked. There was humor, moments of suspense, friendship and some action. There were times in the book where I did not expect situations to go the way they did. Riveting moments. It had its sad parts too. I teared up around the last pages.

I have read books with cats before, but not like Darkness Rising. The Catmage culture was interesting. I will not look at cats the same way. My favorite felines were Letsan, Goldeneyes and Patches. Goldeneyes is at first not fond of Andy. She's rough outwardly, but a softie inside. The development of Goldeneyes and Andy's friendship was gradual and wonderful to be a part of as a reader. Letsan was easygoing and amusing. Patches was weird, but in a good way. Really all the Catmages were likable. Even Razor. This does not include the Wild Ones.

The story and character development was good. I liked Andy and his friends. Andy cares a lot about them. If only he took as much care of himself. Mike was funny and I like his dramatic antics. I also liked Becca. Then there is the villain.  He is despicable. He has his "justification" for doing what he does. It was only sort of revealed, so I would like to see more of his backstory in the next book.

There is also Taylor who causes some trouble for Andy. There was a small part in the book that revealed more about Taylor. It wasn't just I behave bad just because, which I liked.  I did find the dialogue among Andy's and his friends' parents awkward. I felt that people don't really talk that way. Other than that I didn't have a problem getting into the story.