Clariel

Author: Garth Nix

Genre: Fantasy 

Setting: Belisaere, the capital city of the Old Kingdom (the important part is that it is a large city)

Summary: Clariel, a sixteen year old girl and her family move from the small town of Estwael to the capital city of Belisaere. Clariel wants to live a simple life hunting in the Great forest, but in Belisaere, she becomes involved with a plan to trap a dangerous magical creature that is loose in the city. In addition, the governor and his son have a plot to overthrow the king. Clariel discovers a power called Free Magic, which is not normally taught and is difficult to control. When her parents are killed, she wants to avenge them and thwart the governor. With the help of her power and a magical cat named Mogget, Clariel must try to protect the king and avenge her parents.

This book is the prequel to the main series, which was written much earlier. I read this book and am about to start the main series. I don't think it would matter if you read this book first. I really enjoyed this book. There were very few confusing parts of the plot and I felt like I understood it. The writing was engaging and I never really felt like the story was too dragged out or slow. Overall, this was an interesting and entertaining book. I would recommend it to fans of fantasy stories.

The Red Pony

Author: John Steinbeck
Genre: Realistic fiction
Setting: a farm near Salinas, California - 1930's
What it's About: The book is made up of four short stories about a boy named Jody. He lives on his family's farm. In the first story, Jody recieves a red pony (thus the title) and trains it with the help of Billy Buck, one of the workers. In the second story, an old man comes to the farm saying that he was born near there and is not welcomed kindly by Jody's father, Carl Tiflin. The third story describes mare Nellie, and what Billy Buck and Jody must do to help the colt that she is carrying. In the last story, Jody's grandfather comes to visit and bores the family with his repetitive stories of westward expansion, which the family have heard many times before.

I had to read this book for my English class a week or two ago. The writing in the book was descriptive with several amazing uses of imagery. Also, Steinbeck did well in developing the characters, especially Jody, Billy Buck, and Grandfather. However, there were several times in the book  where it became less engaging and the plot moved slowly. I would recommend this book to people who enjoy descriptive writing, short stories, and stories about horses and farms.