w  rd 2 the woss

Aditi Khorana’s novel, Mirror in the Sky, is a journey through the life of scholarship high school student, Tara Krishnan. Tara was in the midst of an astounding discovery from NASA,  a message has been delivered from an alternate Earth, a few light years away, meaning that on this new Earth, there is a another version of Tara that she believes is living life better and is more fun and outgoing.

As more news about this mirrored life on “Terra Nova” emerges, Tara’s life begins to change drastically too. She unknowingly attracts the attention of the most popular group at her school and soon finds herself a member of the clique. The start of her junior year at Brierley, appears to be headed in a good direction. However, Tara soon realizes that not everything is what it seems. First, her mother comes to a decision that could tear her family apart. Additionally, Tara realizes that the perfect image the popular high school clique displays is not as perfect as it  seems. She is soon caught up in a whirlwind of deception, betrayal and hurt as the story unfolds.

BY CARINA WATSON

There are many reflecting things in the two most famous novels by JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, with one of the most obvious being each group of adventures. The Hobbit has the thirteen dwarves and a hobbit with the occasional wizard to form Thorin and Company, and it’s sequel has the nine interracial beings that form The Fellowship of the Ring.

Purpose

Company: Put together by Thorin with the help of Gandalf, this group was formed to claim back the dwarvish homeland of the Lonely Mountain, and all the gold and precious things that Smaug the Dragon had hoarded therein.

Fellowship: The Fellowship of the Ring was made by Elrond, the Elvish Lord of Rivendell, to go on a quest to Mordor, and destroy the dangerous One Ring that Frodo carried in the fires of Mount Doom. They were meant to stay quiet and secret, and to represent all the free people of Middle Earth.

Members

Company: Thorin Oakenshield, rightful king under the mountain, leads the company, and indeed chose most of them as well. Gandalf the Grey, a wizard, sometimes journeys with them, but often leaves for long stretches of time, only arriving to get the rest out of complicated situations. The other twelve dwarves that make up the band are (let's see if I can remember): Ori, Dori, Gloin, Nori, Bifur, Bofur, Bomber, Dwalin, Balin, Oin, Kili, and Fili. Now, being very suspicious of the number thirteen, the dwarves decide to bring Mr Bilbo Baggins of Hobbiton into their group as a burglar, and the Company is complete!

Fellowship: The Fellowship is made of nine members, to travel quiet and swiftly, but still enough to rival the Nine Ringwraiths who are on their trail. Frodo Baggins, ring bearer, is the first to join, and fellow hobbits Samwise "Sam" Gamgee, Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck, and Peregrin "Pippin" Took later become members. Legolas Greenleaf, Prince of Mirkwood, joins to represent the Elves, and Gimli, son of Gloin (yes the same one) for the dwarves. Aragorn, son of Arathorn and Boromir of Gondor, both men (albeit different branches of) are also part, and last but certainly not least, Gandalf, the Grey wizard.

Fate

Company: I'll try not to spoil, but by the end of the book, the Company has succeeded reclaiming the mountain and its treasures, though not without a few casualties. The dwarves remain at the Lonely Mountain for a while, and Bilbo returns to his hobbit hole to raise his cousin, Frodo, and Gandalf goes off to continue on his searches. Some specific dwarves are mentioned in the beginning of The Lord of the Rings, such as Bombur, Gloin, and others.

Fellowship: At the end of Book One, Part Two of the novel, the Fellowship unwillingly breaks after an Orc attack. Frodo and Sam head to Mordor to fulfill the quest alone, Merry and Pippin are captured by the Orcs who think they have the ring, with Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas starting their own adventure to rescue them. Boromir, well, I'll just say he goes off by himself, and Gandalf, well, Gandalf unwilling left them a few chapters before, but comes back to Aragorn and his friends changed, and ready for The War of the Ring.... (PS there is a happy ending, and most of them reunite joyfully in Rivendell)

To conclude, both groups are interesting to read of and eventually successful, but I have to admit that the diversity and individuality of the Fellowship, along with their, well, greater and more important purpose, and their more exciting adventures, shows that they are better than Thorin's Company of The Hobbit.

BY JOCELYN KNIBUTAT

"You know the greatest lesson of history? It's that history is whatever the victors say it is. That's the lesson. Whoever wins, that's who decides the history"

-Anthony Doerr

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is, simply put, a book to satisfy the senses. The writing draws you in, wraps you up in a complicated web of words and hangs you out to dry. Rather than being focused on creating a happy story, the author includes the struggles of survival and the consequences of choices. This in turn makes the story realistic and fulfilling, rather than a false portrayal that leaves an empty impression behind. The emotions the author evokes from readers are heart wrenching, and focus on many different aspects of war that you might never have thought about.

This story takes place from the mid 1930s, around the time of World War II, to when the book was published, in 2014. The central focus of this book is placed on two main characters; Mary-Laure and Werner. Marie-Laure is a blind girl who, as a result of the invasion of France, leaves everything she knows behind and goes to live with her uncle, Etienne. Accompanying Marie-Laure is her father, who carries a very valuable and cursed jewel. Werner is an orphan with a talent for building and repairing, and he is enlisted into the German army. While switching between the perspectives of both characters, the author is able to build a story that can be interpreted as an accurate representation of some of the situations people might have gone through at that time.

The only problem I really had with this book was the mildly confusing narrative. Due to the shift in viewpoints and disruptive order in which the events are told, it is slightly difficult to follow. Fortunately, the writing is able to significantly reduce the impact the disorder had when I was reading the book. This is because of how the author was able to communicate sensations, and force the audience to visualize his scenes.

Numerous questions arise from the text, and are left for the reader to shed light on. Characters suffer and long for that which is not in front of them; longing that can be a source of strength or weakness in the mind of a character. Some grow sane in the face of madness, and some abandon their morals to achieve their goals. There are so many diverse characters, ideas and perspectives on which this book takes.

I really did enjoy the writing but I had some trouble following the story line due to the order of the events. The struggles, victories, and defeats of the characters provide an insightful development into what our perspective may be on war. The gut-wrenching tragedies that arise in this book make you wonder about what you would do in that situation, and whose side you would take. In terms of age, there is some mature content and, of course, the consequences of war in this book. It may not have the ending you were looking for, but All the Light We Cannot See is an exceptional novel with depth, hope, despair and gorgeous writing; factors that should not be overlooked.

Rating: 8/10

Other books by Anthony Doerr: Memory Wall, Four Seasons in Rome, About Grace, and The Shell Collector.

BY JOCELYN KNIBUTAT

Seven Ways To Die

What if you died, and then repeated that day over and over again? Would you resolve your last regrets? Go wild? For Samantha King, the answer might as well be both.

Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall, is a young-adult novel which raises many questions about love, death, and the value of something you consider important. To the protagonist of this story, she discovers the meaning of these things only after she dies...a few times.

On Friday, February 12, Samantha King died. However, the next morning she wakes up to find it is once again Friday. She experiences this cycle seven times, and each time she finds out more about herself, her friends, family, and the people around her. In particular, she encounters Juliet Sykes, a girl she has bullied. Upon the night of Sam's death, she attends a party in which Juliet shows up and declares her hatred for Sam's friends and then, after getting chased out of the party, attempts suicide. This event is what Sam considers this integral to her "unfinished business", and furthermore what she needs to resolve in order to stop the cycles.  As the novel progresses, Sam finds her values have shifted, and in the little time she realizes she has left, she chooses the best path for her. 

I found it completely believable to see the genuine friendship between four girls who could only be considered shallow by their peers. This book exposes another side to the stereotypical "popular gang", and strips away their façades to expose the sacrifices they make and the secrets they keep hidden. Also, it gave more meaning to family, something Sam neglects for what she believes is important.

I loveD the ending, and the beauty of the ending. The ending made some of the aspects of the novel I did not like worth it. A common criticism of the novel is are some of the structural issues in the middle section of the novel but Sam's character development completely outweighed any issues in the novel. As the people around Sam were given their own lives and struggles, it became blatantly obvious to me that this is one of those books in which you grow along with the characters.

So to ask again, if you knew you were going to die seven times, what would you do and who would you become?

RATING: 8/10

Some other titles by Lauren Oliver: the Delirium series, Panic, Liesl & Po.

By: JOCELYN KNIBUTAT

In this world, gas is almost gone. Luxuries like hair products, refrigerators, electricity and of course transportation are expensive, with prices rising almost daily, and the stock market rapidly crashing. Natural disasters are becoming more common and harder to recover from, while wars are breaking out and food shortages are increasing. The year is 2020.

Empty, by Suzanne Weyn takes place in the US and follows Niki, Tom and Gwen, providing different perspectives of teenagers, from several levels of society. Niki is from a rich family and does not understand the value of what she has, nor does she appreciate it. However, with the loss of her dad's job she is forced into a reality in which her family is starting to fall apart. For Gwen, it is more so the opposite. Her mother ran away and left her in the care of her older brother, who deals in the black market. Tom is someone who can be considered somewhere in between, living more comfortably in terms of family than Gwen, yet without the excessive luxury that Niki once had.

I find this book very informative on its subject, and I enjoy how the writer included so many opinions, with the variety of different perspectives. I also found that since page one, I had no clue as to what would happen, nor how the author would decide to conclude the book. However, I did find it lacking in substance, one example being the relationships between the characters. For the three of the main characters, there appears to be some sort of love triangle, however the author hardly touches on it. I also found that the author glossed over certain issues like the investigation into Gwen and her brother.

For the most part though, the novel was very interesting and the plausibility of both the event and the author's solution to this issue seem to be realistic. Suzanne Weyn promotes awareness to a matter we hear about constantly, and gives us as readers an image of what might actually happen to accompany it. For those who like realistic fiction, or are curious as to how one may start to solve an environmental crisis, I definitely recommend this book!

RATING: 6/10