What Should I Read? Book Talks and More

Skulduggery Pleasant   by Derek Landy 12-year-old Stephanie's favorite and odd Uncle Gordon dies.  A strange man, Skulduggery Pleasant, cames to the funeral and reading of the will.  He is actually a living skeleton--people cannot always tell since he walks around bundled up like the invisible man. Stephanie inherited her uncle's home and, while she is there alone, she is attacked by Serpine who needs a magic item from the house so he can rule the world.  Luckily, Skulduggery Pleasant is watching out for her and comes to the rescue. Stephanie finds herself in a magical world full of secrets, mystery, and power.  She and Skulduggery Pleasant team up to fight Serpine and other frightening powers.  This supernatural adventure is very entertaining.   This title was renamed Scepter of the Ancients when the paperback came out.   I enjoyed these books--it is really a different and original series in the fantasy genre.  One o...

Cinder by Marissa Meyer Cinder is part robot and doesn't know why.  The people of New Beijing are not in favor of having cyborgs around, so Cinder hides this part of herself as much as she can.  Many suspect cyborgs are the cause of the plague which is killing lots of people.  As the title suggests, Cinder has an evil stepmother and two stepsisters (one awful, one sweet).   Cinder is a very good mechanic--possibly because she is part machine herself.  Enter the prince, who has a mystery problem with his nanny robot.  He seeks Cinder because she is the best.  Meanwhile, Cinder's sweet stepsister gets sick and the Prince gets engaged to the horrible Queen of the Moon, whose people seem to be just waiting to attack.  Cinder soon realizes that her past, shrouded in mystery, is related to the mysterious lunar people and she may be the only person who can save the earth. I read all the books in this science fiction inter...