The Tombs of Atuan

This book is the second in a series. It is about a girl who for all her remembered life has served the "Nameless Ones." To the city she is kept in, they are mighty gods of the dark. She is called Arha, the Eaten One, meaning she has no name. In this series, people have true names that they tell almost no one. Arha's name was taken away from her when she became the Eaten One. The Nameless Ones have a giant labrynth under the city that only she is allowed in. She must keep track of how many turns she has passed or she will become lost in there.

She is the High Priestess. Everyone must bow to her and address her formally. She enjoyes that. When people do not, she becomes irritated. She therefore needs a lot of power over.

The main conflict would be (wo)man vs. self. She one day finds Ged, the main character of the first book, who tells her who she really is. She is confused as to what she should believe.

This was a very good book. I would recommend this book (and the previous one- A Wizard of Earthsea) to anyone who enjoys fantasy books.

In case anyone looks for it, the author of this book is Ursula K. Le Guin.

Lord of the Flies

This book is about a group of boys stranded on an island after a plane crash. The book starts without telling you what happened beforehand and ends without giving you any clue about what happens next. The author starts out by vaguely describing the main character instead of saying his name. You never really find out what happened for a group of boys (all boys- no girls, no adults) to be on a plane at the same time without knowing each other and having it crash in the middle of an ocean. All they tell you is little bits like the plane was being shot down, there was a bomb, the pilot was on the other half, and so on. They then quickly change the subject. Therefore, the information is all around the book.

When you do find out the main character's name a few pages into the book, you find that his name is Ralph. He becomes the leader of the group. For him, the main need is survival. He has the group keep a fire going at the top of the mountain so that any ship passing by will see the smoke. Food isn't hard to get because there are plenty of fruit trees on the island. They collect the fresh water in coconuts for future use. Ralph does not seem to need the other needs as much as survival.

On the other hand, there is Jack. He was the head boy of the choir group. Jack needs a lot of power and fun. He meets the need for fun by taking the choir boys with him to hunt the pigs on the island. He meets his need for power at first just by staying the leader of the choir. He doesn't find that to be enough, though. Jack leaves and starts his own "tribe" on the other side of the island which ends up to include everyone but Ralph and one other kid. There, Jack is the ruler. He really had a large need for power over.

I didn't really like this book. The boys became very crazy quite early in the book, and they got crazier throughout. Also, there are more questions about what happened than answers by the end of the book. Another thing is that there really isn't any plot at all in the book. I do not recommend this book.

Things You Either Hate or Love

This book is about Georgia, fifteen, who is trying to make money to go to a concert. She applies for different jobs where she is eventually fired from. During the book, she watches the others go around in circles of who loves who. She finds and stays with just one person. She has no father and no siblings. Her aunt and uncle divorce. She finds out that her father, when alive, had large gambling problems. She goes through all this and stays sane.

Another thing she does is write lists in a little journal she gets for a present. Many times they have absolutely nothing to do with what is going on in her life. She probably is doing this so she can think of other things.

I think that Georgia needs a lot of love and belonging. She gets a lot of freedom and fun, but her mom is still getting over her husband dying. She does get some love and belonging from her friends and her boyfriend, but I am not sure it is exacly enough. She feels very jealous when her friend is hanging out with her own boyfriend and not spending time with her.

I didn't really like this book. I prefer fantasy and science fiction books. This was way too boring. I would recommend this book to people who like teen fiction.

Squire

I read the book Squire. It is the third book in the quartet Protector of the Small. Kel, the main character, is a "protector of the small" because she always helps younger or less significant people. Whenever she finds out that someone is being bullied, whether it's her maid or a commoner she has never seen before,she always puts a stop to it. Here the author is trying to say that you should always help those in need.

Also, she is training as a knight. She is the first known female squire in years. When she had first started as a page, she was given a lot of trouble from other pages. Most people hadn't believed that she would get through her first year. She proved that she could keep up with everything and became a squire. By now people have realized that she is better than some of the other male squires, also. She still needs to pass the Ordeal of Knighthood before she fulfills her dream, though. I think that the author is trying to say that even though it will be hard at times, you should always try and keep trying to fulfill your dream, whatever it is.