Junior Review: The Sun and The Star

Nico Di Angelo is more than used to the Demigod lifestyle. He was the son of Hades - nothing came easily. 

Gruesome monsters appearing at every turn? Easy. Another quest? Predictable. So, Nico is hardly surprised when he is berated with vivid nightmares and a tortured voice, especially when he suspects it is being sent from the underworld by his old friend, Bob the Titan. 

Now that a prophecy has been sent his way and the nightmares are getting worse, Nico has no doubt about it - he must go deep into Tartarus and rescue Bob.

Nico’s boyfriend Will Solace, son of Apollo, does not want to see him go alone. But Nico doesn’t even know if Will can survive a place as dark and horrendous as Tartarus, the farthest place from the sun. 

Review: If You Could See The Sun

Alice Sun has always felt invisible at the Airington International Boarding school, where she stands out from the crowd of China’s richest teenagers. 

But after her anxiety is triggered by her parents’ financial situation and inability to pay the schools tuition, she starts uncontrollably turning invisible. 

After weeks of trying to harness her invisibility power, Alice decides to use her power to her benefit, turning to her rival Henry Li for help with her new project, The Beijing Ghost. But soon after she starts her work, she uncovers hidden secrets about her classmates, and that their lives were not as perfect as she once thought. 

Soon her tasks started escalating from scandals to crimes. In order for Alice to succeed, she must decide if her education is worth losing her conscience or her life.   

I really enjoyed If You Could See The Sun. It is amazingly written and explores parts of being a teenager that not many books confront. I enjoyed seeing the growth of Alice Sun and how her relationship with Henry and her classmates grew throughout the book. 

I highly recommend this book for anyone 12 and over.  

Title: If You Could See The Sun
Author: Ann Liang
Publisher: Ink Yard, $19.99
Publication Date: 3 November 2022
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781335915849 
For ages: 12+
Type: Young Adult

Junior Review: Wings of Fire: The Flames of Hope

The world is changing fast, and not for the better. Luna has always wanted to change the world, to repair it and make it better then it has ever has been - even when the task seemed impossible to do alone.

But now that Luna’s friends, family, and all of Pantala are in danger, she must fly home on a rescue mission with an team of close friends. Luna is sure she can remain calm and useful for her friends’ sakes. 

However, with the prophecy’s instructions sounding easier said than done, Luna is beginning to lose hope. As she, burns, claws and jabs her way toward a future where humans and dragons can all live peacefully with one another, Luna realises she must unite friends, family and enemies and ignite her powers further if she wishes to save the world. If not, she might have to wave goodbye to it forever.

Junior Review: The Blood Traitor

Kiva had always been closed off, never wanting to be hurt or vulnerable. She had been scared of loving for years, but now she had grown to love her family’s worst enemy. And now that everything had fallen apart, Kiva would do anything to get that love back.

After the traumatic events at the palace, Kiva is longing to be able to contact her friends and family and find out if they are safe and if they would ever forgive her. 

But Kiva has more to worry about then her shattered heart. With all the kingdoms of Wenderall on the brink of war, Kiva must learn to adapt and overcome her conflicted emotions in order to save all the kingdoms from destruction.

This new start comes with a seemingly impossible quest. Untrusting allies and plotting enemies are forced to race each other toward a future that will either destroy Evalon or save all of Wenderall. 

Junior Review: The Greatest Thing

On the first day of grade ten, Winifred is struggling to learn to love herself, developing an ever-growing self-hate. 

Ever since her only two friends transferred to a private school, Winifred has never felt more lost and alone. She doesn’t want to navigate highschool alone, and thankfully she doesn’t have to.

She meets Oscar and April -  rebellious, creative, and different teenagers who are everything Winifred can only dream of becoming. Two new friends who love her for who she is, no matter her appearance and obvious insecurities. 

But even though Winifred is learning how to break out of her shell with the help of her new friends, she has one deep dark secret that she can’t tell Oscar or April and struggles to tell herself. It threatens everything she worked so hard to achieve.

Junior Review: Truly Tyler

After Emmie reveals her crush toward Tyler, no one can leave either of them alone. Especially when Tyler starts to hang out with her. 

He has to decide how he should avoid embarrassment before he becomes the laughing stock of the entire school. Should he end his friendship with Emmie before it’s too late? 

Or should he deal with his friends’ constant teasing?

Meanwhile Emmie is worried that it is her fault that Tyler is being constantly harassed. 

She decides if she is to hang out and complete an exciting comics project with her crush then it is time for a whole new reinvention. 

The Bookshop Cat

The bookshop is a place full of stories, adventures and of course, the bookshop cat.

In a small town, a black cat struggles to find his dream job. No matter what jobs his family puts on offer, his only desire is to read. 

After seeing a bookshop in need of help and meeting a boisterous girl called Violet, the black cat seems to know what he wanted to do. 

He wanted to be a bookshop cat. 

Yet, when a disastrous event occurs, the bookshop is deserted, and no one wants to come in. 

Junior Review: Left-Handed Booksellers of London

It is 1983 and 18 year old Susan Arkshaw has just been wrapped up in a surprising, frightening world. First, she discovers her mother’s friend, Uncle Frank Thringley, is a Sipper (some sort of Vampire). 

Then she meets Merlin, a handsome blonde-haired man who explains to her the ways of two worlds - the one the humans live in that we call ‘Reality’ and another that is called the ‘older world’. Sometimes these worlds merge and monsters can emerge from the shadows.

Susan has been attracting unwanted attention from all sorts of monsters, from scaley goblins to dangerous Fenris wolves. 

The booksellers in all their shops agree she is a danger and their Great Aunt Merrithew and Great Uncle Thurston think of her as a definite threat.

Junior Review: The Boy Who Stepped Through Time

When Perry into a Roman ruin while on a holiday in France, the last thing he expected was to be transported back 1700 years to Villa Rubia.

Now he must blend in as a slave (giving himself the name Peregrinus) to avoid arousing suspicion while he struggles to find his way home.

This adventure creates a lot of joy and curiosity as Perry gets entangled in the ancient ways of the Romans at Villa Rubia in a life he could never have envisioned.

When new threats arise and a friend is in danger of a terrible fate, Perry is confronted with an impossible choice. What is more important - his family or the life of an ancient friend?

I really enjoyed this book! As soon as it began, I was on the edge of my seat waiting to discover what would happen next.

Junior Review: Mortal Engines

In the dangerous future, moving traction cities travel throughout the world, feasting on each other for survival. 

After London catches a small town, Salthook Tom meets a mysterious assassin, Hester Shaw. They must work together to discover the deadly truth about London’s Mayor Magnus Crome and his historian pet, Thaddeus Valentine.

They must trek across the sodden earth, ride together as prisoners in a small town, ride in an airship and survive multiple fatal situations. 

Tom tries to find hope that not all of London is evil, but all hope is lost once he discovers that Magnus has engineered the deadly MEDUSA, an extremely cruel machine that will help London to survive for hundreds of years by destroying other towns, leaving no survivors.

Junior Review: Music For Tigers

Louisa’s mum has shipped Louisa halfway across the world to spend her summer holidays with her bizarre Australian Uncle Ruff, who has an uncanny interest in endangered and ‘extinct’ wildlife. 

From the moment she landed in Tasmania, Louisa feels she would have rather stayed home in her hometown, Toronto, California playing her violin for her music audition.

A her experiences in the Talkine rainforests become more mysterious and exhilarating, she learns the importance of nature and the survival of endangered species. She also learns that the supposedly extinct Tasmanian Tigers have interesting taste in music. 

Junior Review: The Iron Raven

Puck the protagonist, joker, prankster and fool has had a lot of adventures in the past, fighting alongside his best friend and longtime rival Ash the Iron King and best friend Meghan the Iron Queen. 

He encounters Keirran (who is attempting to contact his mother, the Iron Queen, about some disturbing events in the Between) and Nyx (an assassin who works to protect Keirran) and must go on a thrilling journey with his beloved friends and new companions.

In the subsequent battles with a terrifying shadow beast, Puck clashes with his bitter past and long-buried secrets and has to find his way back to his true self. 

What follows is a story filled with sarcasm, pranks, battles, heartaches and friendships.

Junior Review: When This Bell Rings

Tamsin, an eleven-year-old girl’s lives next door to her favorite children’s author and artist, Edie St Clair, but has always been too self-conscious to start a conversation with her. 

Now Edie St Clair is a week away from completing the last book of Tamsin’s favourite series and the world is holding its breath, waiting for the delightful ending.

But Edie St Clair is stuck on finding the perfect ending. She cannot decide on the proper ending for her characters and requires Tamsin’s help to decide on the perfect resolution. 

But it is difficult when the fans and media are expecting a final battle and not a peaceful compromise. 

Then Tamsin discovers a dreadful secret about herself and her task becomes a lot harder. Read the book for an incredible tale of secrets, stories, art, and mysteries.

Junior Review: Trials of Apollo: The Tower of Nero

Apollo (AKA. Lester) has spent six months in the mortal world, and now must face his final trial. 

This end game will either result in his return to Olympus or he will face his death in the bowels of the earth battling against his enemy, Python.

Although the battle for Camp Jupiter has been won and Rome was safe once more (for now at least), the war has not been won. 

For Apollo to claim victory he must travel back to Manhattan, the beginning of his adventures, gain an unexpected ally and defeat the last Triumvirate king, Nero.  

Apollo also must find the courage to face his enemy, Python and prevent him from controlling his oracle Delphi.

But the problem Apollo is more concerned about is if Meg will be able to face her old captor and keep her stubborn independence without snapping under the pressure of returning to her horrid childhood home. 

Junior Review: The Rise of the Remarkables: Brasswitch and Bot

Until today being called a Brasswitch would have gotten you killed. Now, it might save your life.

Sixteen-year-old orphan Wrench lives in York during a disturbing time where machinery is relied on heavily to move the people forward and magic is regarded a curse to their society.

When Wrench is forced to reveal her lifelong secret of being a Brasswitch, by stopping a train crash similair to the one that killed her parents, her ordinary engineering life is driven toward a great adventure where mysterious secrets lie in each corner. 

When a humanoid mechanism called Bot recruits her for the sinister Department of Regulators that hunt down Remarkables like her, she must learn of the hidden danger that threatens York.

Junior Review: HOPE: 50 Ways To Help Our Planet Every Day

Think you can’t do anything about climate change? Have HOPE!

Hope is a brilliant book outlining the ways we can save our environment in 50 simple actions. 

This book teaches you ways you can open your eyes to the catastrophic events we are hammering at the environment and find our way to help our planet every day. 

This book is directed to the children of our earth to help encourage them to advise our community to pick up rubbish or do plastic beach collections on Clean Up Australia Day. 

Junior Review: Orla and The Serpent's Curse

Orla Perry’s family holiday had turned from a beach vacation in Cornwall to a mystery waiting to be solved. 

The wildlife in Cornwall has disappeared, the forests seem to be watching her and why was there a hooded figure outside their cottage on their first night there?

Orla needs to know what is going on. After finding a necklace in an oak tree that fell by the nearby stream, she begins to dream about a single crow with an urgent message about a young peller called Pedervander Mazey who died centuries ago. (A peller is a witch that can defeat dark magic).

But why is Orla having these imaginings? How is the necklace she found, the Nagasalohita, related to an evil witch or Peller’s curse?

Junior Review: Ninja Kid 6

It is October, which means Halloween is coming and the Fair is in town. 

This year Nelson and Kenny will be tall enough to go on all the new, scary rides after many years of stretching and growing. 

But after testing their Grandma’s invention without permission, they are abruptly too small to go on any of the new rides. 

They are even too small for the merry-go-round and Grandma will not have the invention fixed until this AFTERNOON!

Unless they think of good reasons (and disguises) to be small, their hero identities will be discovered. 

Junior Review: Wonderscape

Arthur has always had a simple, ‘normal’ life. He would go to school; enjoy his science lessons and he’d love to spend time with his father. That was until he and his friends Ren and Cecily discovered a portal to the future.

There had been exploding gnomes outside the house the same morning and Arthur, Cecily and Ren all went in to investigate. Before they knew it, they were transported into the extraordinary game Wonderscape.

This was not just any ordinary game. This was a game where the player was transported into a real dimension. There was a catch though.

Arthur had always lived in the 20th century, but they had now been transported to the 25th century into a live video game populated by characters from throughout history.

And if they stayed in this Wonderscape game for more then three days, they were condemned to turn into snot. To find their way home they had to find the missing Milo, the creator of Wonderscape, and his time key. On the way this small trio met many allies and friends which they will forever treasure.

Junior Review: The Verindon Alliance

The Vendel and Verindal races have been at war for centuries, attacking each other and conspiring against each other.

Vashta is the youngest of the Vendel princesses and hates to get trampled on by her older siblings. She is the most skillful fighter of her family and loves the anticipation of battle.

Brandonin is the prince of Verindal and his sister Larinda is the princess. Brandonin wants peace with both the races and will do anything to have his way.

But when the Vendel royal family is visited by the Verindal heir, Brandonin, they discover that a new alien species, the Arctals, is attacking both their races.

Vashta and Brandonin must unite their races before both the Vendel and Verindal become extinct.