Top 5 Books I Devoured

*Note* Top 5 Wednesday is a Goodreads group where blogger/vloggers post about a bookish topic every Wednesday. You can check it out here. https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/118368-top-5-wednesday
     This is a fun topic because I can rank these books in order of how quickly I finished them. However, I must admit, when I was reading many of the books on this list, the biggest lie I told myself was “one more chapter.” In my defense, once I got to the last chapter of each book I was honest when I told myself “One more chapter.” That is until I ran to my library to borrow the sequel if it existed. 

                                                             5.    Chosen by Ted Decker 

     In book club, it seems for every book we read there is one person who finishes it way faster than everyone else. Almost everyone got through  Chosen relatively quickly, but I was well ahead, and literally finished it in half the time as everyone else. It took everything I had not to spoil what I had read during our meetings. It actually took me about a week to get through this and although that isn’t the quickest I have read a book, this is the fastest I was able to get through a book since I began  college. 

3.    The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

     It actually took me two days to finish this one which again, I have finished books in much less time. However, given the size of this one I have to say, I impressed myself. I was sick during the summer and I didn’t have anything better to do so I just kept reading and reading until the story was over, and then I went into the appendix. I remember my sisters face when I told her I finished Return of the King. She thought I was joking until I started telling her what happened in exact detail.   

1.    The False Prince by Jennifer Neilson

     I don’t remember how long it took me to finish this one, but I recall carrying it with me wherever I went. I also stayed up reading this book by flashlight until eleven pm. (Which was a huge act of rebellion for fifteen-year-old me) The moment I woke up I started reading this book until I finished it, and after that was achieved I begged my mother to let me take the car out so that I could go to the library and borrow the next book in the trilogy. 

1.    Cinder by Marissa Meyer

     The day before I read this book I had gone on a hike, which was very difficult and the trail was about eight hours long. It was a beautiful hike and I had a great time, but the next day my legs were very sore and stiff. I couldn’t go anywhere without my gate resembling that of a penguin. To pass the time, and to keep my mind off the AGONYof my legs, I raided my sister’s most recent library haul and found Cinder. The cover looked cool so I read it. I started reading around seven in the morning and I was done around supper time. This was the first time I have read a novel of that size in one day. I have no clue how I managed though. I tried to get through Cinder just as quickly last summer, but I couldn’t do it. 

1.    A Lady at Willowgrove Hall by Sarah E. Ladd 

     I have the ability to read in a moving car without getting motion sickness. I’m not sure how, but some of my friends have treated this like some kind of superpower. I’m sure there are lots of other people out there who can do this to. Anyway, I finished this book during the course of a nine-hour car trip, not counting stops for food and bathroom breaks. Would I have finished this book quickly if I didn’t have to sit in the same spot for most of the day? Absolutely, but I wouldn’t have don’t so in one sitting because if I were home I couldn’t just read all day. There’s these things called chores and Homework that often get in the way of reading. *sigh*

Why Chosen Would Make a Better Video Game than Book

A few weeks ago, I posted my first book review on this blog, The Breeziest Epic I Have Ever Read,where I focused on what I took away from Decker’s YA Fantasy Epic. It wasn’t the worst book ever, but it wasn’t the greatest book ever either. I found it to be very disappointing and making itself appear to be stronger than it actually is. I don’t want to go into so much detail here because I would end up repeating the review. If you want a more in-depth view of what I think of this novel you can read my review here: http://charmingchum.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-breeziest-epic-i-have-ever-read.html, but finish this post first of course. Please, don’t go.

      Anyway, Chosen simply wasn’t working well for me as a novel, but when I was halfway through the book I realized: this story would make an awesome video game. It does sound strange, but I am sure I would’ve enjoyed Chosen much better if it were some form of open-world RPG. 

       Imagine a game where the world from The Lost Books is rendered in 3D and you could explore it.  Perhaps finding and carrying water to keep from getting the horde disease could be a mechanic in the game. Before going off and searching for the books the player would have to make sure he/she brought enough water to last until he/she reaches the destination. 

      The beginning of the story with the vague prologue reminds be a great deal of the ones I have seen in other RPG’s Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia andThe Legend of Zelda: The Wind Wakerare the first two that come to my mind. The first few chapters were the slowest part of the book with the elite kids searching around for the ball while Thomas yells at them to think, for the love of all that is pure and lovely just think!!! However, this could be the first tutorial in the game where the play is introduced to the early game mechanics, and Tomas explaining everything would be much more welcomed.  When the four new leaders are sent out to retrieve the cactus, would be where the majority of the gameplay begins. *Spoiler Warning* When the two main Roush show up they tell the new recruits what to do and how to do certain things, like how to defeat the evil black bats. As a reader, I was slightly bothered by this info dump, but this would be a good way to teach the player new skills in a video game. *End of Spoilers*

      Although the book is an easy read, I didn’t feel like it was a strong story on its own. However, the more I thought about itChosen could make a better video game. I know standards are changing, but for the most part, I have noticed many video games have shallow plots that can be partly forgiven with good gameplay. I think if Chosen were and RPG I may have enjoyed the story much more. 

The Breeziest Epic I Have Ever Read

     

From the description on the back of the book, Chosen sounds like an epic fantasy story. Although the books itself is very short, when I think of epics they are normally longer than 300 pages. I should mention Chosen is the first in a series, The Lost Books, which takes place in between two books in another series by Dekker, The Circle Series. I haven’t read Green, the book that comes before Chosen, and I am not entirely sure I need to as Chosen's plot is easy to understand without it.  It’s hard not to when the author constantly tells you what happens in the simplest terms.

       At many points in the story, a character will point out something that is obvious and then the narrator will say “stating the obvious”. Because the reader already knows what the character is saying is obvious there is no reason to bring this to his/her attention. On second thought, if it is obvious then why have the character say it in the first place?

      Another flaw that stood out to me is how long it took the author to mention certain details the reader should know from the beginning. The story starts during trials where new leaders of The Forest Guard (the good guys) are to be picked. This event is crucial and everyone is in attendance. If the entire town was watching I would like to know what Jonas’, the main character, sister was doing during this event because there was not mention of her until several chapters later.  The sister is not incredibly relevant to the plot of this book, but I don’t think the author should wait more than 50 pages to mention the main character has a sister. Another time where Dekker misses some important details happens is a spoiler so if you haven’t read Chosen I recommend skipping over the next paragraph.

  *Spoiler* Towards the end of the first quarter of the book we learn Jonas is a chosen one of sorts. Evidence for this is a birthmark Jonas has behind his ear. This isn’t mentioned until over 60 pages into a short book and it is never spoken of again. I felt something this important could’ve been mentioned earlier in the story. It’s clear Jonas is concerned about his size in the beginning. The birthmark could’ve been introduced here as something else he’s self-conscious about.

     Throughout the story, Dekker is building up tension between the forest people and their enemies, the horde. Towards the end of the book the leader of the forest guard sets up a trick to make the forest army are much larger than they actually are and the horde just retreats when they notice the forest has more soldiers than normal.  I wouldn’t be bothered about this except there were many chapters building up to this with both armies plotting and to end it in such an anti-climactic way was very jarring. *End Spoiler*      

     I didn’t find Chosen to be an extraordinary book, but it isn’t a terrible book either. It’s just okay. I read it for book club and I was able to get through it very quickly both because the story is easy to follow and the writing is addicting. Although I flew through the chapters there is a glaring issue with the story. It pretends to be something it is not. Chosen acts like it is a grand epic on par with the old masters, but it's not. It's a breezy YA fantasy and that is all it needs to be.