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Geeks and the Holy Grail (Camelot Code #2), by Mari Mancusi, for Timeslip Tuesday

The first book in the Camelot Code series, The Once and Future Geek , mixed time travel between the medieval world of King Arthur and our own, and it is a very entertaining book.  The second book in the series, Geeks and Holy Grail (Hyperion, October 2019), is also entertaining (though not quite as funny; King Arthur as a modern day high school student is hard to beat....). When Morgana, sworn enemy of King Arthur, attacks the druids of Avalon, Nimue, the youngest of them, takes the Holy Grail and runs with it.  King Arthur is dying, and only the Grail can save him.  Desperate to keep it from falling into Morgana's hands, she stumbles into Merlin's Crystal Cave.  But instead of Merlin there to help her (he's on vacation in Los Vegas, in our time), there's only his very inexperienced apprentice, Emrys.  His attempt to hide the grail works, in a sense--as a small, flatulent dragon, it sure doesn't look much like a grail.  But it isn't much use to Arthur as a...

The Secret

'Stork' by Wendy Delsol


Firstly, I must mention that normally, I'd never read, not even mentioning picking up, a book like this. If I hadn't gotten it for free (thank you), I don't think I'd ever read it. In terms of manga, it's unarguably shoujo. I tend to dislike those - the fantasy romances that always have a happy ending. This book was pretty interesting, but... well.

It starts with the blatant, oh I'm a new girl moving in, everyone hates me this is a dumb countryside. Blegh. She has a
cool name, though: Katla Leblanc. The mishmash of two different languages. She's trendy, bold, and attracting attention - and her head itches, badly. It turns out that she's part of a secret society named the Storks, or something like that. They deliver babies. In a magical way. And there's an old lady.

There's plenty of romance. That I kind of skipped in my brain. I can't give a summary of that.

There's a shocking secret about Katla's past, including ice, amnesia, and that cute farm boy that always is showering attention on her. Yaaaaay.

To be honest, when I saw the galley in the racks for a sequel, I was pretty shocked. I mean, it's a decent book, but it's not really series, or even trilogy material. I just... the plot isn't that good. Plus, I can think of a zillion better books for a sequel - I mean, better suited for a sequel
. Like 'The Night Circus'. Maybe 'Divergent'.

Quote time! “I was drinking in the surroundings: air so crisp you could snap it with your fingers and greens in every lush shade imaginable offset by autumnal flashes of red and yellow.” Y'know, too perfect and everything. You can just see the potential battle scene. Hey, I don't remember - maybe there is one.

Overall, this book is a 2. I guess you could read it, if you like this sort of thing. I would say (ohgod must think of a white food to fit the color scheme) this book is... a bread bun, like so:
Pretty bland, no real substance. Some people eat it right up, though, but in the end, it'sjustfiller food for the wait until the next delicious meal. (That said, I actually love those kinds of buns in the picture, so perhaps it wasn't the best example. Oh well.)

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Order of the Majestic, by Matt Myklusch

Order of the Majestic , by Matt Myklusch (middle grade, Aladdin, May 7 2019), is one to offer kids dreaming of magic, and hoping it will find them one day. 12-year-old Joey Kopecky wasn't one of those kids.  He was content flying under the radar, living an unambitious life of computer gaming in New Jersey, when his life was upended by perfect standardized test scores.  Now he's been offered a place at one of the most exclusive schools in the country, where every kid is a genius.  He feels like a fraud--knowing how to take tests is a skill, certainty , but is it really a hallmark of genius? But one final test, a strange one involving 150 magic tricks to solve, leads to a 151st trick that transports him to the ghostly shell of a once grand magical theater, the Majestic.  It's fallen into ruins, and to get inside Jack must pass through spooky wraiths, but once he makes it, he finds the magician who once made it famous, the Great Rodondo.  Rodondo was once the leade...

this week's round-up of middle grade sci fi and fantasy from around the blogs (7/14/19)

Here's what I found this week; please let me know of anything I missed! The Reviews And All Between (Green Sky #3), by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, at Say What? The Book of Dust, by Philip Pullman, at Girl With Her Head in a Book Brightstorm, by Vashti Hardy, at Charlotte's Library Changling (the Oddmire #1), by William Ritter, at Metalphantasmreads , Storythreads , and Bookworm for Kids The Haunting of Henry Davis, by Kathryn Siebel, at From My Bookshelf The House with Chicken Legs, by Sophie Anderson, at Arkham Reviews The Longest Night of Charlie Moon, by Christopher Edge, at Middle Grade Mafia The Lost Tide Warriors, by Catherine Doyle, at Book Craic  The Magic Bed-Knob, by Mary Norton, at Fantasy Literature Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow, by Jessica Townsend, at Heather's Reading Hideaway The Rithmatist, by Brandon Sanderson, at Read Till Dawn Serafina and the Seven Stars, by Robert Beatty, at the B and N Kids Blog Ship Rats: A Tale of Heroism on the High Seas, by R...

The Shores Beyond Time, by Kevin Emerson

The Shores Beyond Time , by Kevin Emerson, is the third book in the Chronicle of the Dark Star series that began with Last Day on Mars , and continued in The Oceans Between Stars (links to my reviews).   Basically the premise is humanity, and an alien race with whom humanity is at war, are out among the stars after our sun went nova (and some other stars have too), both races looking for new homes (the aliens because humanity decided the Telphon's planet would be a great new home, and essentially nuked it, so there are only about three hundred of them left).  One human boy, Liam, and one Telphon girl, who goes by Phoebe, became friends on Mars and Liam met an ancient time travelling alien of a different species (as told in the first book) and were both separated from their people on a long lonely space flight, and Liam started travelling in time himself (the second book). In this third book, Liam and Phoebe find themselves at the heart of the mystery of the supernovas and the...

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