Triology: Mistborn

Books in Trilogy: Mistborn, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages
Author: Brandon Sanderson

Pages - Mistborn: 643
The Well of Ascension: 763
The Hero of Ages: 724

Rating: Very high on the PG-13 scale. The books are pretty violent, and some of the scenes are rather gory and disturbing.

Summary: 
Mistborn:
For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the “Sliver of Infinity,” reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler’s most hellish prison. Kelsier “snapped” and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark.

 

Kelsier recruited the underworld’s elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Only then does he reveal his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot.

But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel’s plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she’s a half-Skaa orphan, but she’s lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets, and gotten it. She will have to learn to trust, if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.

The Well of Ascension: Evil has been defeated. The war has just begun.

They did the impossible, deposing the godlike being whose brutal rule had lasted a thousand years. Now Vin, the street urchin who has grown into the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and Elend Venture, the idealistic young nobleman who loves her, must build a healthy new society in the ashes of an empire.

They have barely begun when three separate armies attack. As the siege tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension or what manner of power it bestows.

It may just be that killing the Lord Ruler was the easy part. Surviving the aftermath of his fall is going to be the real challenge.

The Hero of Ages: Who is the Hero of Ages?

To end the Final Empire and restore freedom, Vin killed the Lord Ruler. But as a result, the Deepness---the lethal form of the ubiquitous mists---is back, along with increasingly heavy ashfalls and ever more powerful earthquakes. Humanity appears to be doomed.

Having escaped death at the climax of The Well of Ascension only by becoming a Mistborn himself, Emperor Elend Venture hopes to find clues left behind by the Lord Ruler that will allow him to save the world. Vin is consumed with guilt at having been tricked into releasing the mystic force known as Ruin from the Well. Ruin wants to end the world, and its near omniscience and ability to warp reality make stopping it seem impossible. She can’t even discuss it with Elend lest Ruin learn their plans!

The conclusion of the Mistborn trilogy fulfills all the promise of the first two books. Revelations abound, connections rooted in early chapters of the series click into place, and surprises, as satisfying as they are stunning, blossom like fireworks to dazzle and delight. It all leads up to a finale unmatched for originality and audacity that will leave readers rubbing their eyes in wonder, as if awaking from an amazing dream.

My Thoughts: Other than the fact that these books are monstrously long and it took me almost two months to read all three, completely consuming all my free time until I could finally just be done with them....I really enjoyed them. =) Sanderson is a very good writer. I have to admit, at the beginning of the first book I couldn't imagine why he needed such long books to tell the story. But by the time I got to the third one, I just had to keep reading to find out what happens, and was actually disappointed when it all came to an end. That's the mark of a good writer right there. Writing enormous books that still leave you wanting more.

Sanderson is a master storyteller. He weaves in little clues and hints and foreshadowings that you don't even realize are important until they come up again entire books later. Every time I thought I figured things out, I was totally wrong, although there were a few times I came to the correct conclusions long before the characters did. There's also the element of newness, because Sanderson thinks up stories that are like nothing you've ever read before, and by the end, it seems like the most logical kind of storyline ever.

In these books, Mistborn are those who have the power to "burn" metals. When they ingest certain metals, they gain certain powers, like extra strength, heightened senses, etc. It's a pretty elaborate invention. Sanderson also seems to enjoy making up elaborate religions that he weaves through his books, and these are no exception. There is one character, Sazed, who has dedicated his entire life to seeking out the world's religions and recording them, since they were mostly all wiped out by the Lord Ruler, who basically set himself up to be a god. I enjoyed the commentary on the importance of religions, and why they exist. In fact, toward the end, Sazed has gone through all of his religions trying to find any one that is true, and he finds that there are intense flaws in each of them. He is completely disappointed because he wanted so badly to find one that he could belive. Finally, he realizes that while not one of the remaining religions had been entirely true, they all had elements of important truths in them, and when you put all of those truths together, you get something worth believing in.

Again, my biggest complaint about these is the amount of time it took me to read them, but I don't regret reading them. They were definitely entertaining and good. And, I will give one thing away. Even though each page you turn seems to bring a fresh disaster and everything starts looking really hopeless, the ending was really good and very satisfying.

Rules

Author: Cynthia Lord
Pages: 200
Rating: G

Summary:
Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She's spent years trying to teach David the rules from "a peach is not a funny-looking apple" to "keep your pants on in public"---in order to head off David's embarrassing behaviors.
But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a surprising, new sort-of friend, and Kristi, the next-door friend she's always wished for, it's her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?

My Thoughts: This is a great book for the elementary level to help kids learn about and understand kids who may be different from them because of an illness or disability. Catherine loves her brother and she understands that he's not like other kids, but she struggles with the face that David demands more attention from her parents. She also really struggles with the way other kids treat David. She doesn't like it when he is made fun of or treated like he is stupid. At the same time, she wishes she could fit in with other kids and not have them pity her because of her brother. The book is not very long, and it's not very complicated plot wise, which really makes it a perfect book for elementary school kids.

All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood

Authour: Jennifer Senior
Pages: 265
Summary:

Thousands of books have examined the effects of parents on their children. In All Joy and No Fun, award-winning journalist Jennifer Senior now asks: what are the effects of children on their parents?

In All Joy and No Fun, award-winning journalist Jennifer Senior tries to tackle this question, isolating and analyzing the many ways in which children reshape their parents' lives, whether it's their marriages, their jobs, their habits, their hobbies, their friendships, or their internal senses of self. She argues that changes in the last half century have radically altered the roles of today's mothers and fathers, making their mandates at once more complex and far less clear.

Recruiting from a wide variety of sources—in history, sociology, economics, psychology, philosophy, and anthropology—she dissects both the timeless strains of parenting and the ones that are brand new, and then brings her research to life in the homes of ordinary parents around the country. The result is an unforgettable series of family portraits, starting with parents of young children and progressing to parents of teens. Through lively and accessible storytelling, Senior follows these mothers and fathers as they wrestle with some of parenthood's deepest vexations—and luxuriate in some of its finest rewards.

Meticulously researched yet imbued with emotional intelligence, All Joy and No Fun makes us reconsider some of our culture's most basic beliefs about parenthood, all while illuminating the profound ways children deepen and add purpose to our lives. By focusing on parenthood, rather than parenting, the book is original and essential reading for mothers and fathers of today—and tomorrow.

My Thoughts:  I thought this book was fascinating, but that may be just because I am really interested in the ways our behavior is shaped and changed based on our home environment. I thought it was a  really neat viewpoint to take - how do children effect their parents? There isn't exactly any parenting advice in this book, more just information. And information always helps me to understand actions. There's more of an explanation of why parents are often frustrated with their teenagers and what this can mean for parental relationships as well as other relationships in the family.

Senior also explores the development of the modern childhood. Childhood as we know it is relatively new on the scene. It didn't start to emerge until the 1940's. Up until then, children were primarily workers and people had them out of  a sense of duty, but also to add more helping hands to the family. Now that we are able to control when we have children and how many we have, they have become more of a coveted commodity when they finally do arrive. Combine that with child labor laws, and children really don't have much of a purpose besides learning about the world around them. Parents are having to adjust their parenting techniques to an ever changing world, as technology evolves faster than we can keep up with it. Reading this book and seeing how the different families struggled with how to raise their children made me grateful for the gospel and how it gives us a framework for how families should be run and what moral values to teach our children. That's never going to go out of style.

If parenting and child development are your thing, I would definitely recommend this book to you. I thought it was just fascinating to read.

The Fault in Our Stars

Author: John Green
Pages: 313
Rating: PG - there is one sex scene, but it's very non-descriptive.
Summary:
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning-author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

My Thoughts: I thought this book was good, but I ended up wondering what exactly caused it to immediately become wildly popular and made into a movie barely two years after it was published. It was a good book, don't get me wrong, but I've read LOTS of books about kids with cancer, and I didn't feel like this one was leaps and bounds better.

The one thing I did like was that both kids had cancer, and it was just kind of a "dealing with illness" type of book. You really get sucked into their world, and start to understand what it might be like to be in that kind of situation. There were a lot of funny lines and good quotes, and the characters were very likable. Augustus is pretty hilarious, and the type of kid you wish you could have had as a best friend.

I don't know, maybe I"m just not in the right period of life to have fallen completely in love with this book. Maybe it helps if you're a teenager when you read it. It has been growing on me though. I do recommend it to anyone who hasn't yet read it (if there's anyone left...). And maybe I'll like it better when I see the movie. I don't know, I just felt like it was a book for teens and I just couldn't fully resonate with it. But I still liked it. I read it really fast, so that means it was good!

The Infinite Atonement

Author: Tad R. Callister
Pages: 335
Rating: I'm not giving this a rating, per se, because it's just not that kind of book. But, I will say, this is a book for young adults to adults, just because the subject matter would go way over the heads of anyone too young. It might be ok for a very mature teenager.

Summary:The Infinite Atonement is rapidly becoming a classic, as it offers what may be the most comprehensive treatment of the Atonement in our day. With clarity, testimony, and understanding, Tad R. Callister teaches us rich and wonderful truths about this “doctrine of doctrines,” and elevates our spirits as we contemplate the perfect love of Him who gave us all that we might receive all.

My Thoughts: I thought this book was phenomenal. If you have ever wished you had a deeper appreciation for the Atonement, go out and get this book right away. Elder Callister just breaks it down, starting with why exactly the Atonement is so important, and what the purpose of it is. That was really enlightening, because I think we all know on a basic level why we have the Atonement (without it, we would not be able to return to God's presence) but to know that exact same thing on a deeper level is really what this book helped me to do. Then, we go into the nature of the Atonement: what happened, how it happened, what the results were. It's amazing. Again, if you feel you need to have more appreciation for the Savior, read this book. My thoughts during the Sacrament the Sunday after I read the chapters detailing everything that happened in Gethsemane were much more sober and focused on the Savior. There were numerous quotes from General Authorities, scriptures, etc that just brought everything to the surface, trying to describe as accurately as possible all the transpired there in the garden. It's humbling, really. I definitely recommend this book. I think I will probably read it again and again. 

The Persian Pickle Club

Author: Sandra Dallas
Pages: 196
Rating: PG-13 (1 F-bomb, some other mild swearing, one character is almost raped)

Summary:
It is the 1930s, and hard times have hit Harveyville, Kansas, where the crops are burning up, and there's not a job to be found. For Queenie Bean, a young farm wife, a highlight of each week is the gathering of the Persian Pickle Club, a group of local ladies dedicated to improving their minds, exchanging gossip, and putting their quilting skills to good use. When a new member of the club stirs up a dark secret, the women must band together to support and protect one another. In her magical, memorable novel, Sandra Dallas explores the ties that unite women through good times and bad.

My Thoughts: I have to say, I was about halfway through this book and thinking, "Ok...what is this going to end up being about?" It's seems like just a nice story about a bunch of farmwives who like to quilt and who support each other during hard times. But then it suddenly turns into a murder mystery, and it all gets pretty interesting. I liked the book because the characters seemed very real. The way the members of the Persian Pickle Club take care of each other reminds me of Relief Society. So that part really connected well with me. I also enjoyed that it was nice and short, but it was surprising. I had no idea what was going on until the end. Like I said, it seems like a book about a bunch of nice, tame little farmwives, but you find out...that's definitely not who these ladies are all the time. It was good for a quick, but surprising read. 

Blackmoore

Author: Julianne Donaldson
Pages: 279
Rating: G

Summary:
Kate Worthington knows her heart and she knows she will never marry. Her plan is to travel to India instead if only to find peace for her restless spirit and to escape the family she abhors. But Kate s meddlesome mother has other plans. She makes a bargain with Kate: India, yes, but only after Kate has secured and rejected three marriage proposals.
Kate journeys to the stately manor of Blackmoore determined to fulfill her end of the bargain sooner rather than later and enlists the help of her dearest childhood friend, Henry Delafield. But when it comes to matters of love, bargains are meaningless and plans are changeable. There on the wild lands of Blackmoore, Kate must face the truth that has kept her heart captive. Will the proposal she is determined to reject actually be the one thing that will set her heart free?

My Thoughts:  Along with Edenbrooke, this book has been all the rage in the LDS community, mainly because it's a clean romance novel. I'm personally not super impressed. Yes, it is a clean romance novel, and it's entertaining enough, but I felt like there wasn't really enough meat to the story, and I also knew exactly who Kate was in love with and would end up with in the end when I was barely 2 chapters in. It was a bit of a surprise how she actually got there, and of course, very romantic, but overall, I don't particularly enjoy knowing the ending before I even get very far. Regardless, it is a good read, nice and short, and plenty sappy.

The Host

Author: Stephanie Meyer
Pages: 619
Rating: PG - There wasn't anything inappropriate or overly violent in it.

Summary:
Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away.

Our world has been invaded by an unseen enemy that takes over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. But Wanderer, the invading "soul" who occupies Melanie's body, finds its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she's never met. Soon Wanderer and Melanie-reluctant allies-set off to search for the man they both love.

My Thoughts: I know I'm super behind since this book was a big deal when it came out forever ago, but now I've joined the crowd. Loved it! It was a very clever story and I like how Wanda (Wanderer) is initially seen as an enemy but by the end of the book you feel a lot of compassion for her and you even care about her. You get to see Wanda's side of things and you understand her alien race. I love that Wanda herself even begins to care about the humans and feels that her race has not done the right thing in occupying Earth. It's a great book, I just wish it wasn't quite so long. I got very absorbed in reading it and it was hard to stop.

Here's a bit better of a synopsis. The souls have come to occupy the planet of Earth. Souls cannot exist outside of some sort of host body, and Earth is not the only planet they have colonized. However, it is the first planet that has the issue of resisting hosts. Melanie is such a host. She does not go away when Wanda takes over her body, and soon she convinces Wanda to go in search of the people she loves. Wanda is not received well at first, but eventually she convinces the colony of hiding humans that she is not a danger to them and has no desire to give them up as hosts to other souls. However, she eventually gets caught between Melanie's boyfriend, Jared, who still loves the girl he knows is inside the body somewhere, and Ian, a boy who falls in love with Wanda herself.

My brother said the movie is terrible. I don't know, I haven't seen it, but I did watch the trailer and it looks like it's considerably more violent than the book, which is not really that violent at all. Since the humans are trying to avoid soul-possessed bodies at all cost, there are no real fight scenes in the book, and if there are, it's mostly between humans who are upset with each other over something. The souls do not like to resort to violence, as they are a peaceful race, so it seems that the fighting that happens in the movie is not very reflective of how it actually happens in the book. Anyway, if the length of this book doesn't scare you, and you like science fiction with a little love mixed in, I would say give it a read.

Oh, and don't be thrown off by the fact that the book is written by Stephanie Meyer. I'd say The Host is WAY better than Twilight, and isn't nearly so ridiculously lovey-dovey. There is love in The Host, but the love "square" between Melanie, Jared, Wanda, and Ian makes things difficult, and honestly there is too much else going on to dwell on the relationship aspect much.
 

Edith's Story

Author: Edith Velmans
Pages: 239
Rating: PG - Edith never goes to any of the camps and doesn't have to witness many horrors
Summary:
In 1940, while the Germans occupied Holland, fourteen-year-old Edith van Hessen was filling her diary with the intimate, carefree details of a typical teenager's life — thoughts about boys, school, her family, her friends, her future. By 1942, as Edith was contemplating her first kiss, the Germans had begun to escalate their war against the Jews. Soon this bright, fun-loving girl was grappling with one of the most unfathomable events in human history. Edith's family — assimilated Dutch Jews — were caught in the cross fire of the Holocaust, and Edith began a bitter struggle to survive.

In this extraordinary work, Edith Velmans weaves together revealing entries from her diaries with reminiscences and letters smuggled between family members during the occupation. Edith's Story stands as a profoundly important addition to the literature of the Holocaust, documenting one girl's grief, loss, courage, and ultimate triumph over devastating tyranny and despair. For as Edith is hidden in plain sight by a Christian family, we witness how a young woman must deny, bargain with, and finally face the horrors of war — and how, confronting evil as a child, Edith survives to become an extraordinary woman.

My Thoughts: Edith Van Hessen has been called "The Anne Frank who lived." I felt like this was a very fitting description for her because, like Anne Frank, Edith kept a diary for a large part of the war, and she was also extremely optimistic. There's a quote from Anne Frank's diary where she says something about how she strives to see the good in everything and everyone, and that's very much how Edith was. She did her best to keep a sunny outlook and cheerful disposition, trying to find the best in every situation, no matter how difficult her life became.

I personally loved this book because it was so different from the other Holocaust survival stories I've read. Edith and her familiy had managed to secure visas to America before the Nazis occupied Holland, but they didn't leave because they were unable to get a visa for their grandmother and they couldn't bear to leave her. Edith had two older brothers, and it was decided that the oldest would go. Edith is hidden with a friend's family, in plain sight. She is explained to the neighbors as a family friend who came to visit just for the summer, but then her parents were both in the hospital, so they couldn't bear to send her home. No one suspects a thing, and Edith survives without any difficulties. However, she goes through the guilt and the horror of surviving and living just fine when her family members are having to deal with unkown horrors. She has no idea what is happening to them, and will not find out about it until after the war is over.

I really just enjoyed this book a lot. It was amazing to see how Edith refused to succumb to hoplessness and despair even when everything around her was crumbling. She kept her head up and rarely asked "why me?" It was inspirational.

Odds Are, You're Going to Be Exalted

Author: Alonzo L Gaskill (assistant director of Church history and doctrine at BYU)
Pages: 109
Rating: G
Summary: Many Latter-day Saints worry whether they are capable of reaching the celestial kingdom. Are these anxieties born of a sense of unworthiness or is it just that we just don't think we can "do it all"? Author Alonzo Gaskill believes that such pessimism results from misunderstanding God's great plan of happiness and what it is the Lord actually requires of us.
In this hope-filled book, Brother Gaskill reminds us of God's declaration: "For behold, this is my work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man" (Moses 1:39). He explores the teachings of the scriptures and modern prophets, which testify of God's unfailing love and mercy and of His power and desire to bless His children.
This book is a joyful affirmation of each individual's potential and ability, through the atonement of Christ, to achieve all that God has in mind for us. When our Father in Heaven introduced the great plan of happiness in the premortal world, it's objective was that we might not only be saved from death and sin but also ultimately exalted.

My Thoughts: This is a wonderful book for everyone to read! Sometimes we can get discouraged and feel like the task of making it to the Celestial kingdom is too much. When we ask ourselves if we're going to make it, we feel like maybe we won't. We are trying, but maybe it's not enough. This book uses scriptures and words from modern prophets to give us a good deal of encouragement! We do not need to feel afraid that God will only save a very small portion of his children, or those who have been THE MOST faithful in their lives. Why would a loving God consign the majority of his children to misery? His plan was created so that actually the MAJORITY of his children would return back to him.

The book contains some wonderful explanations on the concept of grace (something I think most Mormons don't fully understand) and the power of the Atonement to overcome all. I love the quote, "We must recognize that grace and works are not opposties, but rather two ends of the same stick; two facets of the same eternal plan; two necessary parts of the same redemptive act - the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ."

Another great quote I loved, "All too often we assume that only a small, select few will return to the Father's presence, there to dwell with Him for time and for all eternity. Yes, only the select will have the honor and privilege of so doing. But who is it that the Father has selected for this great blessing? Our answer - all  of His children!"

The book also points out that while it may seem that there are very few good people on this earth today, we have to think about all those who have already lived. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we believe that those who do not hear or understand the word of God in this life will have the chance to accept it in the next, and thereby still attain their exaltation. We also believe that all children who die before the age of 8 are automatically saved in the kingdom of God. If you look at all of human history, the book states, more than half of the human family has died before reaching the age of 8. HALF! All of them have made it back to God's presence. Then, if you take into account all the mentally handicapped people who have lived on this earth - they also are automatically heirs of exaltation. Just those numbers alone account for billions of people who will be there in the Celestial Kingdom.

If you ever need a pick-me-up, a reassurance that you are doing ok, that you CAN and WILL make it, pick up this little book.