The Walled City - Ryan Graudin

Run fast. Trust no one. Always carry your knife. These are the three rules you follow if you want to survive in Hak Nam, the Walled City where everything goes. Prostitutes, drug lords, murderers, thieves, and society's worst all make their homes in the poverty-stricken neighborhoods, away from the watchful eyes of the main city's law enforcement. But it's not just criminals who live in Hak Nam.

Based on a real place, the Walled City follows three young people who struggle to survive within the city's boundaries. Mei Yee was sold by her father and taken from her home to a brothel owned by the most notorious drug lord in the city, Longwai. There, she catches the eye of a wealthy client from the main city. He offers her the chance to get away from the brothel, but recent events give her mixed feelings about leaving. Jin Ling lives in Hak Nam as she desperately searches for her sister in every brothel she comes across. Forced to disguise herself as a boy to avoid scrutiny, Jin picks up the skills necessary to survive in Hak Nam and the enemies to use them on. Her inability to check Longwai's brothel on her own leads her to break one of the rules and work with a boy that says he can help. Dai is in Hak Nam after being accused of a triple murder in the main city. To avoid arrest, he flees to the Walled City for sanctuary while his family tries to clear his name. While there, he runs errands as a drug boy to collect information that could get him pardoned in the main city, but he is running out of time to complete his mission. When he tries to infiltrate Longwai's brothel, he takes on Jin as a partner to increase his chances of success. As the clock winds down for the Walled City, the three main characters are drawn together in a desperate struggle for survival.

This book had a lot of parallels to the Hunger Games, but it's very intense; there's no funny Capitol people to break up the violence of the arena and no reprieve from the madness in the city. Mei Yee's forced prostitution, and that of all of the girls she lives with in the brothel, is disturbing at best. Despite its intensity, I could hardly put the Walled City down, especially knowing that it's based on a real place. I stayed up long into the night reading to the end because I just had to know what happened. If you're looking for a read that's in your comfort zone, this probably isn't for you. If, however, you're interested in reading about the gritty struggle to escape a horrible life and the choices that came with it, you might try this novel.

Pros:

• Intense, non-stop action keeps you interested
• Historical storyline based on the Kowloon Walled City
• Well-developed characters

Cons:

• Language
• Intense, non-stop action might be a little much for some readers
• Mei Yee's situation (including sexual abuse) is definitely intense for young readers

If you prefer watching the book trailer, here it is.

Eragon - Christopher Paolini

Most people recognize Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings as popular fantasy series, but I think it's safe to say that many of those same people have no idea what Eragon is. In fact, the few times I've mentioned Eragon in a conversation, the reply has been "isn't that the ranger from Lord of the Rings?" This is usually followed by an outraged explanation of the difference between the two and a soliloquy on why Eragon should be teleported to the top of the individual's reading stack. Giving said soliloquies gets tiring after a while, which is why I'm making my very first post about this underestimated series. If you really don't want to read the full summary and analysis, skip all the way to the bottom for the handy dandy bullet list of pros and cons.

First, some background. The story is set in the mythical land of Alagaësia, a place where Dragon Riders once ruled. One of them, Galbatorix, gained power and betrayed them all, killing those who were in opposition and eventually becoming the King. This betrayal came about after the death of his dragon, which pushed him to the brink of insanity because of the severance of the bond between dragon and rider. When the story starts, Galbatorix is ruling the land with an iron fist and trying to get his grubby mitts on the few remaining dragon eggs so he can control the riders they hatch for and cause even more mayhem. A group of rebels, the Varden, does its best to overthrow his tyranny, but isn't very effective because of the lack of resources.

Okay, enough background and on to the storyline. Eragon, the main character of the series, is a farm boy who lives with his uncle and cousin in a small town in the middle of nowhere. During a hunting trip, he comes into contact with a mysterious stone. Hoping to make a buck or two, he takes it home but is shocked to discover that it's actually one of the only remaining dragon eggs. The egg brings all sorts of unwanted attention to the little town, and the end result is that Eragon leaves his home with the now-hatched dragon in search of the Varden. He travels with Brom, a gruff storyteller who works on training Eragon to be the next Dragon Rider. Galbatorix, of course, is not horribly keen on having an independent Rider, so he sends out various assailants to try to stop their progress. Permanently, if you know what I mean. Their travels take them across the length and breadth of Alagaësia as they race to reach the Varden. In the interest of not completely ruining the story for you, I'm not going to give any specifics past this point. Suffice it to say that there's lots of magic, fighting, and tragedy, exactly what you'd expect from a good fantasy novel. Hopefully, this is enough to convince you to give her a go.

In terms of how it reads, it falls right between Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. It's not as tedious to read as Lord of the Rings and it's not as easy as Harry Potter. If you aren't following what's going on, it's not hard to get lost in all of the name-dropping. Because of that, I'd say the age range starts in the teens and goes up indefinitely. 

I would be remiss in my duties as an honest blogger if I ignored the movie, as much as I would like to. I'm sure you've heard the expression "the book was better", and if you hadn't before, you have now. I'm sad to say that Eragon is the ultimate setup for "the book was better" complaints. It's not that they changed most of the major characters from their bookish selves (at least the ones they didn't completely eliminate), or that they totally changed the plot, or the absolutely horrifying simplification of an amazingly complex journey. I'm just joking, it actually is all those things. I can think of exactly one scene in the entire movie that went according to the book, and it was only about 30 seconds long. I was more disappointed than when I found out that Peeves wasn't in the Harry Potter movies and Tom Bombadil got cut from LOTR. I've found that the easiest way to deal with it is to pretend it's a standalone movie with no connection to the book. If you are interested in the movie, here's the trailer.



And, as promised, here's the summary of my summary.

Pros:

• HERE THERE BE DRAGONS!
• Intriguing and well-executed storyline
• Character development

Cons:

•  With so much name-dropping, it's not too hard to get confused by plot progression
• Does the movie count? No, seriously. 
• Did I mention the movie? 

This is one of my favorite series, and I really hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Happy reading!