Reviews by Category: Fiction

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is an action-packed movie, but its weak storyline held it back. The movie takes place after the events of Jurassic World, where the park is abandoned, leaving dinosaurs to roam free and live naturally. Unfortunately, a volcanic eruption on Isla Nublar threatens the lives of the dinosaurs, forcing our protagonists to save the dinosaurs and uncover a sinister operation.

Gregorio's novel None of the Above follows Kristin Lattimer, a teenage girl who has it all: many caring friends, a loving boyfriend, and a promising athletic career. That is until Kristin discovers that she is intersex, causing her to spiral into a full-blown identity crisis while she also suffering from the discrimination of her classmates. This novel contains scenes of sexual assault, and discrimination against queer identities which may be triggering for some readers. 

Daimon by Jennifer L. Armentrout is a short story prequel to the covenant series. It follows Alexandria and her mother who have escaped to the mortal world. They try to live their normal lives, forgetting that life already has plans for her. As the child of a mortal and a demigod, Alexandria must live by the Covenant, even if that means getting into danger. But that danger finds her, and Alexandria is back to the Covenant without the protection of her mom.

Katy Swartz moved to West Virginia expecting a new start, but her new town is far odder than expected. Within the first few days, she meets her new neighbors, a bubbly girl named Dee and her annoying and annoyingly attractive brother Daemon. Everything should be normal in her new town and for the most part, it is but there are still small, weird things it's hard not to notice. And her new neighbors? They might be right in the middle of the strangeness.

14 Ways to Die by Vincent Ralph follows Jessica, a 17-year-old girl who just became the star of a new YouTube reality series: The Eye. The show follows five different people, each with interesting stories to tell. Each day of the week, a participant live streams their days, using the time to tell their stories. Jessica wants to help solve her mother’s murder, but instead of solving her case, Jessica becomes the new target.

Dating in Dragons follows the shy new girl Quinn Norton as she starts at her new High School. Quinn is nervous about making new friends because her past friends weren’t kind to her, but she stumbles upon a group of kids on her first day and they happen to share a love of Dungeons and Dragons. However, Quinn soon finds out this friend group is also a very well-known group of D&D streamers, and they have strict rules for joining their campaign.

The Incredibles is a very well-done movie that showcases a unique take on the superhero genre. The movie introduces a world where there are supers born with their powers who use their powers to save the world.  One day their powers are banned, and they have to live an ordinary life. Many years later they are drawn into action again by a mysterious message leading to the confrontation with a mysterious villain.

Despicable Me 3 is a good standalone movie but is disappointing and lackluster when compared to its predecessors. The movie starts off showcasing Gru and Lucy on a mission to retrieve the stolen diamond from Balthazar Bratt a former child star. They end up failing to capture him and up getting fired. In a surprising twist, Gru finds out he has a twin brother. This premise is fascinating, but it also resulted in a movie that does not execute the story.

Despicable Me 2 is a perfect installment to the series and ties up to the first installment perfectly. The movie starts off with Gru continuing his job of being a parent and turning to living an honest life, but then his life takes a turn as he is hired by the anti-villain league to partner with Lucy Wilde to find the culprit who stole the research facility with dangerous contents. Gru’s transition, from being a villain to a hero, was fun to watch. We see Gru develop as a character and become a better person.

Donner Dinner Party is part of the series Hazardous Tales, by Nathan Hale. This book features America during the Age of Discovery when people traveled the trail from Missouri to the West at Oregon or California. In this book, the Donner Family goes on a trail to California in a group of wagon trains. However, Father Donner tries to take a shortcut which ends up being longer than the real route and drains them of resources. Throughout the route, their oxen get stolen, and there are vicious fights between the company.