Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Book Review: Solo

Title: Solo
Author: Kwame Alexander
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Teen Reviewer: Se Choi

Blade was born to a rich Rock Star, Rutherford Alexander. His father was an alcoholic and ruined his career for his reckless behavior. Because of this, being Rutherford’s son meant that Blade was also that bad in some people’s eyes. Only his girlfriend knew who he truly was. Even then, they were hiding their relationship from his girlfriend’s parents. Blade truly felt as though she was the only one that could support him. When his dad ruins a song that he was going to play in front of the school it leads him to fully loath and distrust his dad. He is also pressured by his sister “Storm” to respect and forgive Rutherford. Getting Storm mad for disrespecting their dad, she reveals that he was adopted. Torn apart, he stopped playing music and decided to look for his real mother. Finding that she was doing work in Africa, he books a plane ticket. Still angry, confused, and hurt he goes to his girlfriend for a shoulder to cry on but finds that she was with another guy. Now left with nothing, he leaves for Africa. There, he goes to the village where his mom is supposed to be, but finds that she is in the mountains for some time. There in the village, he meets a girl that he falls in love with. He spends time with the villagers and enjoys his time until his dad comes to the village to spread and generosity and let the public know that he’s a good person. After him promising to build a school and helping those in the village, Blade begins to trust and start loving him again. Rutherford comes with Blade to see his mother in the mountains. Apon meeting his mother, he accepts that Rutherford is his family and that music is his life.

I loved how the book is written in poems and songs but still has a good story, meaning and many surprises. You get to understand Blade’s thoughts and raw emotions because of the wonderful writing the author gave us in the form of lyric.

Saturday, March 3, 2018

Book Review: Retribution Rails


Title: Retribution Rails
Author: Erin Bowman
Rating:4/5
Teen Reviewer: Se Choi

Synopsis: Reece Murphy was stuck in a gang ever since he was little, forced to kill and rob trains. He was called the Rose Kid among the people of the West, and had a very nasty reputation. If Reece tried to run away, he would be beaten and they would go and cut off a finger of his mom for every time he tried to run. In one unfortunate train robbing, Reece was to search a young lady for valuables, but she reacted quickly and shot Reece’s boss with a hidden pistol. They got away with all the money, but their boss was furious because of the incident with the girl. The girl, Charlotte, wanted the gang to pay for what they did, so she went to the local sheriff to handle things and to catch the gang. The sheriff caught up with the gang when they were in that town and caused havoc for the gang. During all the chaos, Reece was separated from the gang and decided that he would try to run away from them. He stole a seemingly empty carriage, but when he checked again he found Charlotte unconscious inside. Knowing that the gang would come for him, he decided that he would find who killed his boss’s brother to make up for what he did. He arrived in a city where that killer supposedly lived, but was intercepted by the gang. He met a lady that was also running away from the gang and also met with Charlotte to go into hiding. When they were in hiding, they devised a plan to kill off the gang once and for all. He killed his boss and went into hiding but kept in touch with Charlotte, who became a famous journalist and wrote of Reece’s true story.

Review: In the short summary above, there’s only a simple plot. Each character’s story and the details of the book is what make it a good read. It’s interesting to see how all the points of view of each character piece together to make a grand finale in the end.