Book Blog #3: The House of Hades

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcHjcdtVDtI

The Premise

Annabeth and Percy were plummeting into Tarturus, the worst place on Earth, while the Argo ll defends itself as it sails to the House of Hades. The book, House of Hades is a dystopia book written by Rick Riordan. House of Hades takes place in two different places because the group is split up. Annabeth and Percy are in Tarturus, while Jason, Piper, Leo, Frank, Hazel, and Nico are aboard the Argo ll, sailing to the House of Hades in Epirus. In this book, eight demigods must reach both sides of the Doors of Death in order to restrain Gaea, the Earth goddess. One side of the doors are in Tarturus, where the worst monsters go, while the other side is in the House of Hades. Throughout the book, Riordan describes both groups monster attacks. The conflict in the book is Gaea trying to rule the world as the seven demigods race against time to get to the Doors of Death. This book is part of the Heroes of Olympus series. 

Significant Passage

…Ack!” The sorceress’s head smacked against the floor as Leo sat down hard on her chest.
For a moment, the three of them and the weasel were a pile of sprawling bodies and flailing limbs. Hazel tried to draw her sword, but Pasiphaë managed to extricate herself first. The sorceress backed away, her hairdo bent sideways like a collapsed cake. Her dress was smeared with grease stains from Leo’s tool belt.
“You miserable wretches!” she howled.
The maze was gone. A few feet away, Clytius stood with his back to them, watching the Doors of Death. By Hazel’s calculation, they had about thirty seconds until their friends arrived. Hazel felt exhausted from her run through the maze while controlling the Mist, but she needed to pull off one more trick, (Riordan 1219),"

I think this passage is important because it shows how difficult it was for Hazel, trying to beat the sorceress. Pasiphaë is an evil sorceress who wants to stop the heroes at any cost. Right before the passage, Pasiphaë made a replica of the labyrinth. The labyrinth is an underground maze the can totally get you lost. You might go in in New York, walk ten steps, and then be in California. In the passage, Leo is alongside Hazel as they work together to defeat the sorceress. Although, they didn't have all day. They were constrained on time because any minute, Percy and Annabeth were going to reach the doors of death, but, if they weren't there to press the button, Percy and Annabeth would disappear from life. This passage reveals how hard it was to get to each side of the doors and how hard it was to get to each side of the doors. The author showed what Hazel had done and what she still has to do with a lot of detail. The author also showed how Hazel wasn't angry, she was frustrated but motivated. 

This is Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson traveling to the doors of Death, which are located in Tarturus. As they are in Tarturus, both of them encounter monster attacks that leave them wounded. 

These are the seven halfbloods

the Argo II

Book Blog #2: Smile by Raina Telemeier

The Premise

I could never imagine having a tragic accident that causes my front teeth to be knocked out. On top of that, having to get braces and a head gear right after. In Smile by Raina Telemeier, that exact event happens. Smile is a graphic novel book about a character named Raina. The story takes place in San Francisco, California. In the beginning, we learn that Raina is nervous about getting braces. As the chapter continues, Raina is dropped off after girl scouts and she races home but trips. She slams to the ground landing on her face. Her front teeth get knocked out and there is blood everywhere. She gets taken to the dentist and gets a cast. Later, she gets the cast removed and gets braces and a headgear.

Writing Style

Overall, the writing seemed very simple but fun. In the beginning, the author explained Raina's life before and after the accident very well. I was delighted because most books just go right in and I have no clue what's going on. Throughout the book, since it's a graphic novel, it had pictures describing the event. The author would have detailed drawings that were not hard to understand. The characters would have clear emotions. You can see a page from Smile as attachment one. It demonstrates Raina before and after the accident. Overall, I thing the writing blended really well with the pictures and they both illustrated the book in a positive way.

Spoiler Alert

Throughout the whole book, the reader is wondering if Raina's teeth will ever get back to normal, or a least decent. Towards the end of Smile, we learn that Raina's teeth aren't perfect but nobody notices, nevertheless cares. Then, at the end, Raina discovers that it shouldn't matter how people viewed her life, it only mattered how she did. I thought this ending was very interesting because she struggled with this a little in the book. Overall, I thought the ending was very symbolic and teaches readers a cheesy lesson.


Attachment one:

Blog Post #1: The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

The Premise

I loved the Percy Jackson series so I decided to read the Heroes of Olympus series. The book I read was called the Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan. This book is dystopia and takes place in Camp Jupiter, CA and New Rome. The main characters in this book are Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Hazel Levesque, and Frank Zhang.  In the earlier books, we find out that these seven teenagers are demigods (half-human and half-God). Eventually, as the plot unfolds, we find out that these demigods are a part of two camps. The camps are Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter. Three demigods are Roman while four are Greek. In order to defeat Gaea, the Earth goddess who wants to rule the world and Olympus, the two rival demigod camps must unite before she fully awakes. In the earlier book, Jason and Percy (the main male characters) switched camps by Hera's order to unite camps.

My Reaction

In my opinion, the most suspiring part was when Percebeth (Percy and Annabeth) fell into Tarturus. Right before this, they found the Mark of Athena statue which would bond the Greek and Roman history. Then, the spider, Arachne, Annabeth had to fight in order to get the statue fell into Tarturus after battle and brought Percebeth down with her using a spider string. I thought this was really annoying because Riordan took away my two favorite  characters with no ending explanation all because Annabeth thought the string tied to her was a loose string and didn't cut it.

My Favorite Character

My favorite Character in this story was Percy. He is a Greek demigod and is the son of Poseidon. Percy Jackson has green eyes and black hair. I would describe him as brave because he fights for his life everyday. For example, he has had one-on-one combat with giants, hydras, titans, other demigods, and etc. He also seems smart. One example of this is how people are always saying he's smarter than he looks although, sometimes he can be clueless in some scenes. Finally, he also seems sweet because he fights for his friends and Annabeth.

Definitions

Camp Half-Blood: the training ground for Greek demigods, located on Long Island, New York

Camp Jupiter: the training ground for Roman demigods, located between the Oakland Hills and Berkeley Hills, in California.

Arachne: a weaver who claimed to have skills superior to Athena's. This angered the goddess, who destroyed Arachne's masterpiece and loom. Arachne killed herself, and Athena brought her back to life as a spider.

Gaea: the Greek earth goddess: mother of Titans, giants, Cyclops, and other monsters. Roman form: Terra

Poseidon: the Greek god of the sea