We're moving from the bitter reality of modern-day refugees to fantasy worlds, dystopian futures, alternative realities and the mythical past in this week's roundup!
This week Pheebz wrote a spookily good review of the spine-chilling Snatched by Richard Parker. In this novel Ruti's brother Simon goes missing on their way home from school, and Ruti and her friend Neil must uncover mysteries to discover what has happened to him...
'I absolutely loved this book because it was an excellent mystery story. The descriptions were so realistic it was like I was there with the three children... Snatched keeps you wondering what's going to happen right up to the last page. I definitely recommend this book to people who like adventure stories. You won't be disappointed!'
With similar aspects of entrapment and suspense, ShadowMaster wrote a tremendous review of Shadow by Michael Morpurgo. In this novel, Aman, his mother and a brave Springer spaniel travel across continents from Afghanistan to England.
'This book is Fantastic, Amazing, Brilliant, Interesting, Sad, Happy, Exciting, Incredible and Thought-out well! That's why you should read it! ... This book is an easy-to-read book and it looks very big but it is short because I read it in 2 days. I give it a 10/10 because I like war and adventure stories and this very well written book. I would recommend it to people who like war, adventure and family life story's... I think this book is aimed to children who are nine years old. I do recommend this book and most of Michael's collection.'
Meanwhile, moving into alternate reality now and considering a combat video game with a twist, Hetty99 wrote an excellent review of Gamer by Chris Bradford. Hetty99 superbly summarised the plot: 'Gamer by Chris Bradford is an action-packed novel that takes you forward in time to a world where combat video games are so real they hurt'.
'This is such an exciting and gripping story that my eyes couldn't leave the pages for even a second. You are really missing out if you do not read this novel as it is the complete action adventure for anyone up to the age of 12!!'
And back again after last month's Teen Book Club is the first novel in the Grisha trilogy, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, superbly reviewed by Sophie.A. This novel follows Sun Summoner Alina as she combats the dark powers threatening the once-great nation Ravka.
'I loved this book for many reasons, but one of them is definitely how sassy and funny Alina is... She's the kind of person who always speaks her thoughts so will happily mock herself and mock others. You could imagine Alina being one of your sarcastic, comical friends which for me was nice because I felt like I got her sense of humour and her character... The second reason I enjoyed this book was the Grisha... The Darkling was probably the third reason why I devoured this book so quickly... I think The Darkling is awesome, and terrifying. It's a real love-hate relationship you get with this character... In conclusion this was a fantastic book. The main character's strong, the plot winds in directions you never thought it would and the love interests are interesting (as they should be). I read Shadow and Bone in about four hours and spent most of them either giggling 'Yes, this is good, this is very good' or screaming at Alina to run for her life while she still could. It's just unfortunate I was on an airplane while I was reading.'
Moving on to an unusual dystopian tale where humans are devoid of feelings and emotion, silvercrab wrote a marvellous review of The Giver by Lois Lowry. In this story 12-year old Jonas is selected to be the apprentice of The Giver – the only person who knows and understands feelings – and experiences emotions for the first time.
'Overall, this is a great book. It shows how important it is for us as humans to 'feel'. Humans do cause wars and chaos but the book gives an idea of a society where no one 'feels anything' and how that can only makes us like robots, it is not the right solution to the problems of chaos and destruction that we face in our world today. That is what makes this book such a powerful read for me. I will give it 4.5 out of 5.'
And finally this week Amber sent in a brilliant review of the graphic novel Poseidon by George O'Connor. In this illustrated masterpiece the Greek god Poseidon goes on a journey to become the King of the Seas. Amber however, took issue with the cohesion of the storyline.
'Although I like graphic books, this one was a bit confusing and not connected. For instance: on one page Poseidon is in love with Aphrodite, and the next page he is her arch enemy. Complicated relationships are not well explained. Greek mythology is very interesting but this book could have done a better job of explaining it... Perhaps this book is meant for an older age group.'
And that concludes the roundup for this week! Thanks to everyone who sent in a review this week - as always, if your review has been mentioned in our roundup, email in to the children's site - childrens.books@theguardian.com - and we will send you an book-shaped gift from our cupboards.
Happy reading!
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