Rise: Book one of the War Witch Saga by Cain S. Latrani

Genre: Adult, Fantasy

Source: I purchased a copy

WARNING; This book is full of erotic scenes.

I was asked to read and review this book. Let me make it clear that I do not usually read and review books that are erotic in nature. I was not aware of this at the time I agreed to read and review the book. I will not be reading any more in the series for this reason.

This was a hard book for me to review.  The writing itself is good. There is a great plotline, the world-building is awesome.  The story is reminiscent of Greek or Egyptian Gods.  In Greek mythology we often find the Gods playing with the lives of the humans as if it was all a game.  The characters, most who fall into the category of Heavenly Gods, or Demon Gods took on characteristics that reminded me of Egyptian gods.  You had a combination of characters you would not expect such as Trolls, Ogres, Werecats, etc.  Of course you have the humans within as well. 

The story opens with a young girl being hidden by her sister before she sees her violated and killed. She then sees her mother and younger brother burned alive in their house. The demon gods destroy everything they can. This young girl is saved by a heavenly god who saves her to teacher her to fight and bring vengeance on those who destroyed her village. Like I said the story line was great. What I didn't enjoy and skipped over was all the erotic scenes. I felt like the story would have been great if not for all of that. This is the first book in a series. No matter how great the story line I will not be reading the rest due the the sexual nature. I leave that decision up to other readers.

 

Student Saturday: Big Shot by Jeff Kinney

 

My student reviewer is Quinn M.

In this story, the main character is named Greg. He is a teenage boy that is kind of lazy. His dad gets mad at him for playing too many video games. He tells Greg to go outside or play a sport. Greg talks with his dad about which sport and. . . BASKETBALL! He tried to go on a team and it didn't work out so well. The problem was he had never played basketball! His team was really bad. They decided to practice. Their first game they weren't feeling so great. They got to their game and didn't score a single point. They kept on trying and had another game. They lost but not as bad. They kept practicing and got invited to the championships. Will they win?  You'll have to read the book to find out.

When reading this book I saw a connection to NASA. We've been reading about the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger. After this disaster, NASA didn't give up. If something was good they kept on trying. That's what Greg's team did. I would recommend this book to 7-13 year-olds because it can motivate them to keep on trying. Some kids need that boost. My over all opinion on this book is that it exceeded my expectation by a little bit. I love this series of Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. They give a great lesson

Student Saturday: Ground Zero by Alan Gratz

 This review is written by my student Axel L.

The book, "Ground Zero" by Alan Gratz talks about a boy named Brandon who is with his father in one of the Twin Towers. They both go to floor one hundred and seven where his father works. The dad took Brandon with him because he wanted to show Brandon where he worked and what he did.

One of the most important points in the book was when Brandon got stuck in an elevator after the plan crashed into the tower. The book makes the scene so realistic. Another important scene is when Brandon was trying to help a small group of people escape from a different elevator. When he tries the elevator falls all the way down. This was another realistic look at what happened to people on 9/11.

A connection I made was reading the book and seeing it from Brandon's point of view and watching things on the news about how other people helped each other escape. This is a great book and I would recommend it to everyone