Family Reads

Epic

Epic

by Conor Kostick
© 2004, 364 pages Level 5 (all about levels)Amazon Reviews

 

A book is truly amazing if it inspires you to write your own book just like it. Only a few books have done that to me: Warriors, The Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. And now Epic.

Epic is a game the people of the New Earth play to settle disagreements and to gain wealth in the real world. When you play, Epic recognizes most of your motions and words and makes your character do them in the game. You can also input commands into the system such as #smile.

When Erik, a young teenager, loses once again to the evil Inry'aat the Red Dragon, he decides to take a different approach to the game. He creates a new character and spends all of his starting points on beauty, which most players consider a waste. Then, he picks an almost unheard of class of Swashbuckler and names his character Cindella. Erik notices an odd thing happening: other characters are noticing him and waving, which doesn't usually happen.

Erik and his friends, Injeborg, Bjorn, B.E., and Sigrid, want to challenge the evil government, Central Allocations, to a duel to help the world, but their characters don't have enough money to buy good enough equipment. The main way to get loads of money in Epic quickly is to slay a dragon, an event that has only happened twice in the history of Epic. Erik has found a loophole in fighting Inry'aat though, so he and his friends set out to kill the dragon.

Epic is definitely a Best Read. I am very excited about the sequel that's coming out in May, Saga. Now, I'm going to go work on my book!

Septimus Heap: Flyte

Septimus Heap: Flyte

by Angie Sage © 2006, 532 pages Level 5 (tell me about levels)

 

Septimus Heap: Flyte is the second book in the Septimus Heap series. The book starts off abruptly, with Simon Heap kidnapping the princess Jenna. Septimus Heap tries to stop Simon, but fails. Jenna is taken to Simon's lair where, during the dead of the night, Jenna steals Simon's horse, Thunder, and runs away.

Meanwhile, Septimus and his brother, Nicko, decide to go rescue who they used to think was their sister-Jenna. They meet up with Jenna near the port, and they go to their Aunt Zelda's house to visit a magical boat called the Dragon Boat.

Back in the castle, Marcia Overstrand, the ExtraOrdinary Wizard and Septimus' master, is being haunted by an evil shadow. There is something evil about the Magykal Darke Shadow, but Marcia just can't put her finger on it. What will happen to Marcia, Septimus, and Jenna? Who knows? Only you, if you choose to read the book.

There are two wonderfully odd things about the Septimus Heap series. First, whenever a spell is mentioned in the novel, it's bold, capitalized, and in a different font. The second thing is that the book uses turns words like magic, flight, or fire into magyk, flyte, and fyre. These two things make this book quite entertaining, as well as does the plot.

I highly recommend Septimus Heap: Flyte. The book has humor, magical spells, character development and an enthralling plot.