Review of Howrse.com

Check it out yourself! http://www.howrse.com/

Brand New READ Posters from the ALA starring the cast from Harry Potter!

Daniel Radcliffe

Emma Watson

Rupert Grint


In celebration of the Harry Potter phenomenon readers Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson join the READ campaign. Get them while they last! $16.00 each  ALA Store

Halo video game review by Austin

Bent on Humankind's extermination, a powerful fellowship of alien races known as the Covenant is wiping out the Earth's fledgling interstellar empire. You and the other surviving defenders of a devastated colony-world make a desperate attempt to lure the alien fleet away from Earth. Shot down and marooned on the ancient ring-world Halo, you begin a guerilla-war against the Covenant. Fight for humanity against an alien onslaught as you race to uncover the mysteries of Halo.

My Review

Ah, Halo: Combat Evolved. One of the best video games that I've ever played. Well, one of the best video game series I've ever played. Since Halo: Reach came out a few weeks ago, there are now six Halo games. And I've stayed with 'em through every game.

Years ago I got an Xbox (this was before the Xbox 360 came out) and the first Halo game. And I played. And played. And played some more. I could not get enough of this awesome game that would soon become one of the most well known series of video games in existence. A few years later, Halo 2 came out. I stayed up all night long playing. I was honestly amazed by the quality and sheer awesomeness of that game. And finally, Halo 3. Insanely cool. Drew and I beat it on Legendary the night it came out. Which is hard. Really hard.We even dedicated a meal we had that night at four in the morning to Halo. Hot dogs and potato chips. And every time I eat a hot dog I remember Halo. Since then, Halo Wars, Halo: ODST and Halo: Reach has come out. These games tell the story of when The War starts.

Halo Wars is pretty much just a strategy game. You are commanding troops into battle, telling who and what where to go. You build bases, claim territory and pretty much do everything you need to do to win a war. You are the eyes and ears to all human infantry. Now, a lot of people don't like this. The whole time you are invisible, floating eyes flying over battling people/aliens.  If you don't like the sound of this, buy the game anyways. The cut scenes are friggen' awesome.



Halo: ODST is the same as the first three, game play wise. But, long story short, it was a rip-off. The story line was completely pointless and just plain boring. This is by far the worst of the Halo games. I was extremelly disappointed. I have nothing else to say.

Halo: Reach. The newest of the Halo games and, sadly, the only one that I have yet to play. I have little knowledge on it but am anticipating the moment that I am able to play it. I've heard great things about it. But I do know one thing about it. There are few words to describe it and I am sure that one of them is epic.

Halo is great. End of story. Sorry all of you Call of Duty lovers but in my opinion, it's just better.

-Austin

Hey all you people who read for fun. U R COOL.

*Rated M for mature. There is some brief language (pg-13) but the battle scenes and violence is what gives this game an M rating.

Review: Forts:Fathers and Sons by Steven Novack

Paperback: 352 pages

Publisher: Canonbridge LLC (March 20, 2010)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0981843158

ISBN-13: 978-0981843155

Forts: Fathers and Sons by Steven Novak
 





For Tommy Jarvis, life has never been simple - quite the opposite, in fact. It is, however, about to become decidedly more difficult. Moments after stumbling through a doorway to another world, Tommy and his friends discover they are the key to ending a war in which the casualties are too great to count and their chances of survival are almost nonexistent.
 
 
My Review -
 
This was a pretty good book. The very imaginative scenario and creatures were awesome.
 
The writing for Forts: Fathers and Sons honestly just wasn't great at times. It wasn't completely terrible but it seemed a little immature.  But it wasn't the only thing that was immature. The characters were also immature. For example, one of the main characters was eleven years old, but, behaved like an eight year old.
 

The author sketched this inside my book!

Now, the flaws in the writing are made up for, somewhat, by the creativeosity (if that's a word) of the whole story. If you like 8-foot-tall turtle men who's fastest sprint is about the same speed as the average walking speed of human, you will like this book. If you like little red dudes who are tougher then most fully grown men, you will like this book. I was delighted to read another book that could have limitless possibilities. Now, when I say this, I mean that the story could go anywhere and go on practically forever = limitless. Harry Potter is like this. Lord of the Rings is like this. Since the world of Forts (worlds) is so large, the story could go on in the book for hundreds, maybe thousands of years, introducing new characters and places. I will sometimes do this in my head with, say, Star Wars. Make up a new character. Make up his/her attributes and powers. See how he/she would fit in with the world of Star Wars and how they would effect everything. This is possible with Forts because Steven Novak made it limitless (I'm starting to say that word a wee bit to much).
 
Now, would I recommend this book to you? Depends. Do you like hundreds of different creatures, each with their own unique traits, abilities, and personalities? Then yes. Do you like portals from Earth that leads to one hundred different planets? Then yes. All-in-all, Forts is a good book. Not great, but if a sequel is written, it has limitless (there I go with that word again) potential to be a purely awesome book.

 
 

-Austin

Hey, all you people who read for fun. U R COOL.

Masterpiece Monday: Godsmack Dueling Drum - Cover by Drew

My little brother, Adrien and I played this at a talent show at the library.

We definitely were the loudest act there, it actually made people grab their kids and pull them out of the room. Originally Godsmack did this drum battle and my brother and I thought it was pretty awesome, and we thought we are awesome, so we covered it. Adrien and I have been mastering this song for about a year.

Hopefully you think we are just as awesome.

Enjoy!



Second Hand Saturday! A Book-A-Week Giveaway 5

Welcome to Second Hand Saturday a once a week giveaway started by Reading Teen. In an attempt to clear our bookshelves, and pass on great used books to our stalkers followers, WE =  Austin, Andrew, Faith, Reagan, Anna, Bransen and Adrien have decided to hold weekly giveaways of some of the books on our bookshelves! Every Saturday, we will post the books available, and the following Saturday, we will announce the winner and our next challenge. The winner will get to choose a book from the list and we will ship it to that lucky person! Each week we will have a different challenge to complete (see below). YOU MUST BE A FOLLOWER TO ENTER!  Open Internationally.  Ends at 10:00 pm EST the following Friday!

Middle Grade

-  Middle School Confidential Books 1-3 by Annie Fox (PBR) 

-  Eragon (hardback) by Christopher Paolini (PBR)

-  Eldest (hardback) by Christopher Paolini (PBR)

-  Inkheart by Cornelia Funke (PBR)

-  Inkspell by Cornelia Funke

-  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling (PBR) (RT)

-  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (hardback no jacket) (PBR) (RT)

-  Mattimeo (library copy) by Brian Jacques

-  A Wrinkle in Time and A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle

-  Summer Ball by Mike Lupica

-  Half Moon Investigations (library copy) by Eoin Colfer

-  Island Girl (library copy) by Sandra Byrd

-  Hoot (paperback) by Carl Hiaasen

-  Tuck Everlasting (hardback) by Natalie Babbitt

-  Nothing But The Truth: A Documentary Novel (paperback) By AVI

-  Triss (Redwall, Book 15) (paperback) by Brian Jacques

-  Clovermead by David Randall

-  The O'Reilly Factor For Kids by Bill O'Reilly
-  Portal by Imogen Rose
-  Trackers by Patrick Carman
-  Nerds by Michael Buckley
-  Zan Gah by Allan Richard Shickman
-  The Carnival of Lost Souls by Laura Quimby
-  Star Power book 1 Supernova  by Catherine Hapka
-  A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
-  High School Musical: The Junior Novel Disney
-  High School Musical: Stories from East High #6 Disney
-  Animal Ark Pets books #12 - #16
-  25 (very small thin) books from The Babysitters Club (you pay media shipping)
-  Madison Finn #1 Only the Lonely Boy, #2 Boy, OH Boy! #3 Play it Again ( whole set)

To enter this week's giveaway, you must be a follower of this blog, and...

 Answer me this...

If you attended Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, What house would you want to be sorted into and why?


Gryffindor ~ courage and chivalry
Ravenclaw ~ intelligence and cleverness
Hufflepuff ~ valuing hard work, patience, friendship and fair play rather than a particular aptitude in its members
Slytherin ~ cunning & ambitious

For extra entries this week:  Fill out this form

Thank You so much for following. We could not would not do this without our followers. Come back next Saturday to see the winner and enter in for another book giveaway!

This week's winner is:

Scoot

Scoot said...

There are so many! I read most of the books I love many times. Recently I read The Host for the third time or so and still enjoyed it.

Thanks!

Email us at ReadingTween(at)ReadingTeen.net with your address and book choice!  You have a week to respond!


If you're a blogger and are hosting your own Second Hand Saturday, Link up!  Please only add your link if you have a Second Hand Saturday giveaway of your own!