Gone

Gone by Micheal Grant

One of my favorite dystopian books. Which is about equal to one of my favorite books.

Imagine you are in class. And then your teacher disappears.

That is about the pace that the start of this book follows. Most of the character development is how they react to the situation and the action that is taking place. And I like that. It makes the characters seem more real, and less of a standard "tough guy" or "leader" or "smart person" character role. The events are gripping and quite often do not end up badly, and half of the people in the book are insane. And not just "crazy", but clinically insane.

Oh, and they have superpowers. The story explains this slowly throughout the overarching plot line that is carried out through all of the many books. If you didn't catch on, the basic back story is that everyone over 15 dissapears, and so the remaining kids have to take care of their small portion of the world. This includes dealing with differences between the older kids, babies requiring care, 10 year olds going around and looting all of the good food, which happens to be the stuff that goes bad last, and dealing with the fact that there is a group of cutthroat super powered teenagers set lose on the city.

The Testing

The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau

This is another one of the dystopian books that I just can't seem to get enough of. I hope you like those.

The Testing follows the adventures of Cia, who just graduated high school in the dystopian world of post-vague tragedy-centrally ruled-technologically setback in most places- struggling to survive America, called the United Commonwealth. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read The Hunger Games. Graduation is a big time in the colonies, because at that point, the best and brightest of that gradating class is chosen to go through the Commonwealth run Testing, which selects the best and brightest from the best and brightest. Those who pass go on to University,  become some of the leading minds of the nation, accomplishing high level tasks such as running the government and regrowing the scourged land that they live in. Those who fail, well, they surely just work in the capital where the tests take place. Surely. Right?

Spoiler: They don't.

After graduating, Cia goes on to do what is quite obvious because this is a book with a plot. She - surprise surprise - doesn't get into the testing. When I first read that, I was very confused. Was this book leading up to something new and different? Nope, just a train delay :). After the train arrives, she is selected for the Testing, and she quickly goes to the capital with some of her friends who have also been selected, expecting a paper test and maybe some projects or something.

Spoiler: That's not what happens.

From that point on, it gets interesting, but you'll have to read it for yourself. I really enjoyed this book, like I enjoy most dystopian fiction. It isn't the best book I have ever read, but it is a good book. It has an interesting plot and some points where it shows how people react in terrible situations, which I think is why I enjoy dystopian literature so much. Overall, a good book.

Hatchet

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Happy New Year! This is a little late, and I haven't been posting in forever, and I'm sorry. But this will NOT be one of those blogs that is just an endless row of sorry posts! NO! I will be sorry, and then I will POST something! So here it is.

Brian is a thirteen year old who is flying in a bush plane (for those who don't know what a bush plane is, I can tell you that it is not a plane made of leaves. That's about it. Sorry) to see his father up in Canada. He has an uneventful flight, but when he arrives at his father's house, tragedy strikes. There is no pudding. No, it is nothing anywhere near as dramatic as that. Actually, most of the story happens on that plane flight. He is just cruising along, looking out the window, and the pilot's having a heart attack, you know, nothing much. So the pilot dies, and he crash lands in a lake.

From that point on, Brian must find food and shelter, before the cold of winter sets in. Also, before the moose comes home. He faces a number of challenges throughout the book, including one moose on his way home. It is a very good book, really makes you realize how lucky we are to be able to go down to the grocery store, grab a sandwich, and not be harassed by meese on the way there. Anyways, I recommend this book to you all, and all that stuff.

Oh, and apparently there are sequels! I will have to read those. If you want to read them, the second one is either The River  or The Return or Brian's Winter or Hatchet: Winter. Tell me which you read first, and I might not be as confused about it.

12/12/12 12:12

Happy 12 day! As you may have noticed from the title, today is the 12th day of the 12th month of the 2012th year. 12/12/12. Also, at that this posted, it was 12:12 on that day. But this is not any day in which the numbers are all the same. This is the LAST TIME that it will happen until 2101. That is a very long time. So celebrate it! Happy 12 day!

Looking Glass Wars

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

This is a retelling of Alice in Wonderland, and I think retellings (apparently 'retellings' is not a word. Then what is the plural of retelling! retellingi?) are amazing. So read it.

The first book chronicles how the evil Redd takes over Wonderland, and how Alyss of Wonderland and Hatter Madigan adventure through London, ultimately making their way back to Wonderland to free it from the evil clutches of Redd Heart. I haven't read it in a while, so I can't quite remember how it happens, but there are cats that fight hats, and chesspieces. That I can assure you of. Especially the cat bit. In fact, there is but one cat, named: Cat. And there are a few giant caterpillars. It's a weird book. But a good one.

It has sequels, and I will review them eventually.

The Alchemyst

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott

I'm a little nervous about writing this, because it was the first book I ever reviewed. I wrote it for the school newspaper, which failed miserably. Instead of the official-looking news-packed bundle of paper we thought would make us all lots of money, we ended up with two badly printed pieces of paper that were handed out to the whole class ten minutes before school ended for the year. Ah well, we tried.

But back to the book. This is a good book. In fact, it is one of my favorites, along with the rest of the books on my expansive collection of shelves. However, it is one of the only series's (series? seriess's? Who knows.) that I have read more than twice. The only other two that I can think of are the Septimus Heap series (Very good, will be reviewed soon), and the Chronicles of Narnia. Narnia I read over and over because it's amazing, and the other two because I keep forgetting what happens. Which is why I have to get around to actually writing the review before I forget what happens.

This book is about two twins, Sophie and Josh Newman, who work across the street from each other. Sophie works for Perry Fleming in a tea shop, and Josh works for Nick Fleming in a book shop. Due to the occurrence of a "gas leak" the bookshop explodes, and everyone has "hallucinations" of "magic" and "mud people" walking across the "street" to the "bookshop" which "exploded." Oh no. I can't stop it, I'm about to go on a completely unrelated tangent and I will have to retype the entire review again. And now I'm discussing getting sidetracked. Anyways, the things that I was reminded of are A: a really funny bit from one of Dave Barry's book, can't remember which one, and B: this all sounds like Matrix doesn't it? Anyways, the "magic" and the "mud men" were all real.

And they have a big battle of magic and explosions and cool stuff, and then the evil guys (identified by black clothing) steal a book and run away, and manage to kidnap Perry too. After the battle Nick Fleming reveals that he is actually Nicholas Flamel, who (and you would know this if you read the front of the book) is both immortal, and has secrets. And he's an Alchemyst. Little does he know, that is not how you spell Alchemist! However, there is already a book called The Alchemist, so to avoid being sued by an auther with a computer, the immortal magician and alchmyst who has been defending the earth for over a hundred years needs to change the name of his entire occupation.

Also, the book that was stolen is the only thing keeping Nicholas and Perrenelle alive, and it has the key to destroying human life. And it is in the hands of EVIL. <insert dramatic music here>

All in all, it's a good book. The action is...um...ahh... actioney. It seems realistic. Well, as realistic as a magical duel can be. And the characters seem like real people with feelings, not bodies to imbue with magical powers so you can get good action scenes.

Reading that last paragraph again, there is one thing that has me thinking: what on earth does the phrase "all in all mean"?
Thank you Google, now I know that it originated in the 19th century and means "when everything is considered". Thanks to advertising I also know that if you want to lose weight you should never eat banana's that are infested with flies (why would eat those anyways?) and that there is a shirt in existence that is just one big picture of a cure dog face. Isn't the modern world wonderful?

Insurgent

Insurgent by Veronica Roth


This is the sequel to Divergent, another wonderful book.

This book is set shortly after Divergent, so if you haven't read it yet, you should probably wait to read this post.



As the war with Erudite gets more and more intense, the remaining Dauntless realize that they need allies. Amity proves to be useless in war for obvious reasons, Candor is only good for interrogating people, and Abnegation is pretty much dead. This leaves the Dauntless with only one choice: the Factionles. (Dramatic music). But the Dauntless keep getting killed, and Triss is locked in a struggle with her own feelings, leaving her almost useless. The Erudite have almost perfected the Simulations Serum to work on Divergent, and betrayal strangely doesn't occur to anyone. And history repeats itself with...

Another twist ending! Reminds me of a book called Maze Runner. Maybe I should review that, it was a good book. Or maybe you should just read it. And read Divergent, and Insurgent. I wonder what the next book will be called. My uncle had a few ideas: Detergent and Very Urgent. Any other words that rhyme with "insurgent" should go straight to the comments section.

Xenocide

Xenocide by Orson Scott Card




This is the sequel to Speaker for the Dead, which in turn is the sequel to Ender's Game, and the prequel to Children of the Mind.

This book is about religions and feelings and emotions and self sacrifice and philosophy and ethics and the like, which makes it very hard to review because writing about feelings is hard.

Anyways, the book is set on two planets, Lusitania and Path. Lusitania is home to a small colony of humans and the only existing buggers and piggies (two alien species) in the universe, and a deadly virus that may or may not be intelligent called the Descolada. The Descolada is essential to life for the piggies, but requires constant work to keep it from killing all the humans. Path is a religious world that worships gods and their messengers, the wise godspoken. To solve the problem of the Descolada, the Starways Congress launches a fleet to annihilate the Descolada and the world of it's origin. This is bad.

The fate of the only two known  sentient life forms in the galaxy rests on the shoulders of Jane, a hyper intelligent computer system. She can save the world by sacrificing herself, and that provides a very interesting plot. You should read the book. It is awesome.

Science Fair

Science Fair by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson


No, I'm not desperate for help with my science fair project that will count for 40% of my science grade, I'll freak out about that this summer. Ideas appreciated.

This is a book that combines the wonderful story telling skills of Ridley Pearson, who wrote another book that was awesome but I can't quite remember what, and the funny touch of Dave Barry, who writes funny things. This book is about a school. In this school is a lot of people, but in specific three of them. And a frog. And with this frog will be involved in a science fair experiment. And within this science fair (grand prize: $5,000) there is a chance that the U.S. government will collapse. And there is a Robot Owl of Death. But not in the science fair experiment. Or the government. And the book is funny. And you will read it, or be hunted down by the Robot Laser Owl of Death. Oh, and one final thing:


Beware the might of Krpsht.


I would just like to say that the spelling suggestions for the word Krpsht are Sharpshoot, Grapeshot, and Krypton.

Makes me wonder, does the word grapeshot mean grapes that are hot, a single grape that has been shot, or a pairing of the rare grapesh and an ot (abbreviation for otter).

Khan Academy

This isn't a book, but a really cool website for learning things. Khan Academy is an online repository (my stupid computer says "online" isn't a word) of knowledge in the form of videos. It has videos on math, from addition to calculus and statistics and trigonometry, (which I have discovered is fun and not that hard), all ranges of science, lots of things I don't understand on finance and economy, and even a bit about humanities and civics and the like. Also, if you make an account, you can earn badges for doing things like getting a streak of 5000 trig problems right in a row (almost there!(no, I'm not)).

Note: I am not being paid to say this, but I should be :)

So if you have some spare time, check that out.

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

This is a most hilarious book. It is set on Earth, and follows the adventures of one Arthur Dent, who likes tea but is relatively unremarkable. He learns that his house is going to be demolished to make space for a highway, and he isn't happy about it. So he lays in front of the bulldozer. All morning. Until his friend, Ford Prefect comes to show him something, somewhere else. However, Arthur reasons that he can't, because he has to keep the people from destroying his house. Eventually, Ford convinces the destruction team that they don't actually need Arthur to lie in the mud, and he can go do something while they lie in the mud. So they go of the get a drink, and Ford informs Arthur that the Earth is about to explode. Then it does. The end.

No, actually, they hitch a ride on the Vogon ship that blew up the planet. Then they are expelled out of an airlock. Then they died.

No, actually, something else happens involving penguins. But I won't tell you, because then you won't read it. So read the book. But I'll tell you that it involves an improbability drive. And a two headed three armed alien.

Philisophical Questions

One of my friends randomly forced a piece of paper containing a bunch of questions titled "Philosophy Questions" and walked away. So now I'm gonna answer them, and you can reply with your answer, and then we'll get into a big debate, and our brains will be smarter. So here are a few from the list of 40 that I have:

4. Should you let little things bother you?
In general, no. If something is really bothering you, then you should find out why, and then the problem will solved and everyone will be happy.

5.Is it your duty to give to charity?
Not really, I don't think you have a duty to help anyone, unless you have promised to. From an evolutionary standpoint (ya know, the survival of the species one.) it could go either way. If you did give to charity, then you would increase the chance of others survival, which would rebound in the long term to help you, but it could potentially endanger your survival in the short term.

7.Should you ever tell a lie?
Yes. Sometimes a lie makes everything go smoother and everyone happier. As long as the end result is the same as if you told the truth, but better, whether that means faster of happier or less sad, lies are sometimes good, when used carefully.

10.Do we control technology or does it control us?
Interesting. In a literal sense, of course we control tech, after all, we're the ones pushing buttons and pulling levers. But in a philosophical sense, well, I don't know. Please comment.

13. Can you doubt that you exist?
Well of course, look at Matrix. That entire movie was about our nonexistence. But I think that even though we can tell ourselves that we don't think we exist, our brain is wired to believe that we do, and that we must be preserved, because if it wasn't, we would all die.

14.Does a tree make a sound if it falls in a forest with no one around?
The only way I can answer this is YES of course it does! Sound is a vibration of air, and air vibrates whether our ear is there to pick it up or not.

18. Can you lie to yourself?
Yes, look at my answer for number 13. You lie to yourself that you believe that you don't exist, but deep down you believe that you do. Or maybe we all lie to ourselves that we do exist, but deep deep down we know of our nonexistence.

20.Can computers think?
Computers use algorithms to figure out what to do. These algorithms can be very simple, or extremely complex and learn that with these parameters present, this method fails miserably. What are our minds but the most complicated algorithm in existence?

22.Does anything ever happen by chance?
Well, my first instinct is that no, if you know all the information and how it goes together, which is literally impossible, you  can predict things. But, when you have a spinner with a 50% chance of landing on blue and a 50% chance of landing on red, can you know which it will land on? Maybe.

24.Are numbers and people equally real?
No. People are something, numbers are imaginary things that we have thought up in our heads to express an amount of something.

28.Do you have free will?
Do you have free will, I love this one. I like the point argued in a wonderful book by Orson Scott Card, Xenocide, which I will review, that all actions are determined by past actions, which are influenced by more past actions, and we are really just playing out a set chain of events that cannot change, and that free will is only a figment of our imagination to keep us playing out this story of the universe. This idea should have a name, such as "The Fate Theorem".

32. Should you always listen to the opinions of others?
Yes, because others are smart, but you shouldn't necessarily act on them.

33. Should you criticize people and their opinions?
If you didn't, how would they know you disagree?

35. Is it always easy to tell what causes things to happen?
Why do humans think? I think the answer is a resounding NO.

39.Can something logical ever not make sense?
This brings to mind and episode of Doctor Who (It's a show about aliens ans time travel, not doctors with no faces) in which they  are investigating a grave that is missing a body. The ground on top wasn't disturbed, the sides of the grave were wooden, and only the bottom remained. Logically, the ground, or something in it, eats people. But does that make sense? No. Actually, it was an ancient race of subterranean lizard people called Sillurians, or homo reptilia. Yes, I memorize the Latin names of aliens.

Alphabet Juice

Alphabet Juice by Roy Blount Jr.



First of all, you need to know that this not any ordinary book. Nor is it a turbo book with movies built into it, just by the way, if you were wondering. It is more of a dictionary thingamajig. Hey, the computer recognizes thingamajig, but not thingamajigy. Weird. The book is composed of seemingly random words and phrases, in alphabetical order, of course. For example, the H section begins with has been, hater, headlinese, heebie-jeebies, etc. Each word has a description of where it came from, how sonicky it is, weird things about it, and some other random stuff. One of my favorite entries goes as follows:

Well, never mind. I cant find the quote. I looked through most of the book and it wasn't there. :( But it went something about a book, which was in quotes, and the book quoted a person quoting a newspaper, quoting a phrase, quoting somebody. Much quoting. Tell me if you find said words.

Overall, this is lots of fun and laughs for an older audience.

Rangers Apprentice

Rangers Apprentice by John Flanagan

The Rangers Apprentice is set in medieval times, and follows the life of a young orphan named Will. He has always wanted to be a warrior, who he somehow knows was a great warrior, despite having never met either of his parents. However, on the day when orphans are chosen for a job, he is deemed to weak to be a warrior. The baron of his feif, whose job it is to choose a job for orphans, is given a letter from Halt, a Ranger (more on Rangers later). Desperate to know the contents of the letter, and fearing that he will be sentenced to life as a farmhand, he sneaks into the barons chambers at night. Now I would just like to say, this is no easy task. The barons chambers aren't a little building in the middle of nowhere. Were talking about a huge, heavily guarded, stone tower 50 feet in the air. At night. So anyways, he sneaks into the tower and gets caught by Halt. Will is very afraid, because Rangers are thought to use witchcraft and stuff. Turns out, the letter says that he will be sentenced to life as a Ranger. If you think that thats a spoiler, look at the title of the book. Rangers Apprentice. 

But what is a Ranger?

A Ranger is a master of everything. Master hunters, excellent archers, negotiators, spies, strategists, you name it. And they have cool horses that can speak in their mind. And they like coffee. A lot.

Amazing book, riveting action, I recommend it to everyone.

The Hunger Games Movie

The Hunger Games Movie directed by Gary Ross



I am going to assume that you have already read the hunger games or at least my review of it, so I wont get into storyline and things.

My friends had been telling me that it was going to be a really bad movie, and so when I went to see it, I was braced for a bad movie. But my friends, as usual, were wrong. It was a good movie. It followed the plot very well, and when it wavered from the book, the changes were minor and actually helped the story, instead of making it feel tampered with.

I dont have much else to say, except for five stars and go see it.

WAIT. I do have something else to say. Regarding violence and age level and stuff: of course it was violent, it was a violent book, and there are some frightening parts, but nothing actually disgusting or horrific. Now I'm done.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzzane Collins


If you haven't heard of this book, no offense, but you really aren't connected to society. That's how popular these books are. (very popular)


So anyways, here's what actually happens in the book. A girl named Katniss, (a type of plant formally called sagittaria, (also called arrowhead(this name makes sense because she is an amazing archer (hence arrowhead) and a good forager (hence he bit about being a plant)))(I think I am setting some record for number of parentheses all stuck together (but when i tried to google it all that popped up was some thing about tuples (???)))(Here ends the origin of Katniss's name in (parentheses))). Kaniss lives in district 12, who mine coal (this is set in future North America) for the capitol. And then, through some ritual that will be explained once you read the book, she is selected to go compete with 23 other children (she's like 16, by the way) in a battle to the death. :) That's about it. Except, of course, the fact that she meets an awesome little monkey girl named Rue, who d*#*@^.  Sorry just realized that I was about to spoil the book. She also gets chased by fireballs. And if you don't really like action, she might fall in love on the side or something.

This is an amazing book. Just ask anyone walking down the street with their Hunger Games shirt on wearing a mockingjay pin. Oh and if you haven't read the book yet, if you happen to be at a social meeting and someone says "may the odds be ever in your favor", laugh a lot or something because that's a line from the Hunger Games.

Just looking back on this review, I realize it's not my best work. I feel sorry for those of you who have nothing to do but read my blog. Maybe you should read a book. Perhaps even a book that you are reading about. However, It's not going to get better until spring break ends, because I'm in FLORIDA! So I don't care, 'cause I'm on a beach! :) And I don't have my computer, so I have to use one whose t-key sucks. In my opinion.

Also, there's a Hunger Games movie, which I'll review later.

PI DAY!

HAPPY PI DAY!!

For those of you who don't know, pi is a number that goes on forever. It starts with 3.
1415926538... The digits commonly associated with pi day are 3.14. the date is 3/14/12. Ignore the 12. But small super-nerds in my class (me included) are celebrating pi second! So I will post this post during pi minute for you, because the auto poster thing isn't that precise. (pi minute is 1:59, and pi second is 1:59:26). So, have a very 




HAPPY PI DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 










Oh, and if you want to know more about pi, here are the first bazillion digits: Lots o' Numbers

Slathbog's Gold

Slathbog's Gold by M.L. Forman

I'm sick today, so I'm using the time that is usually  filled up with being bored to death in math with working on my blog.
Slathbog's Gold is a pretty good book, and the first novel written by Mr. Forman. It is about this guy named Alex, who is like me in that he is bored with some of his life (probably math) and wants to do something interesting. So he goes to the bookstore, where he sees a sign that says ADVENTURERS WANTED and that interests him. At first he looks away, and then he goes to look at it one more time, and it magically changes colors (I think) and now says ADVENTURERS WANTED:  APPLY WITHIN. So Alex goes in and tries to ask the bookstore keeper about the apparently magical sign outside. I say tries, because he fails miserably. The bookstore keeper, Mr. Clutter, pretty much signs a form for Alex. He could be evil, and just signed away Alex's soul, but he didn't, which is a pity, because that would make a very interesting book. he only got signed on to an Adventure, of which he knows nothing of, and is magically teleported through the back door with a dwarf and an elf, into a place called Telouse, where he buys a magic bag, a sword, and all the gear in the world. The magic bag allows you to hold lots of treasure and supplies and stuff weightlessly. I need one of those for my math book. The sword just happens to be an ancient magical sword, and the armorer said that he could also use a staff, which means he is a wizard, which means that he is ridiculously over powered. Oh, and the quest that they are on is to kill a dragons, named Slathbog, hence the title.


Some stuff I don't like


First of all, everyone can read everyone's emotions like a book, which is a little unreal
Secondly, everyone is super respectful, which is also a little unreal.
Third, people on a quest that needs to be finished do not go party all summer in the elven lands! They do their quest!
And finally, something that gets more problematic in later books in this series, is that Alex can literally destroy anything! I mean, even Eragon,  great dragon rider and stuff, gets bested in sword duels, has at least four people that he is afraid of, and he gets reprimanded by dragons! It seems more real if your hero/heroine has some problems!

Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies by William Golding



      Apparently, this is a classic, one of those books you are told that you have to read by the time you start getting a job and having no time to read and stuff, but when you finish them you start to wonder why these things became so famous, because they are really not that great, and it had a lot of repetition and metaphor and all that good stuff. Now I have nothing against metaphors, they are perfectly fine. But olden metaphors either make no sense, or they go on for so long that you forget what they are metaphoring. For example, do you really need an entire page to say what the wind is like? Really? So as you can see, I am still me, and I still require at least a paragraph to actually start writing anything about the book I intent to write about in the first place. For example (sorry, I get sidetracked easily. Like that one time...), This entire blog was supposed to be about books, but at least one fourth of it is about something else entirely. But anyways, this time for real...

Lord of the Flies by William Golding




      This one is a classic (see above).  It starts, and this is a little confusing, with some (two) school boys walking along on what they think is an deserted island, after there school plane crashed because it's World War Two and 50% of all planes crash, not including the ones that just crash into the end of the runway, and the ones that just explode when they engine starts. This is clear to the 19whenever-it-was (maybe 1960?) reader, because planes full of schoolboys were constantly crashing into islands (?!) at the time.
      So anyways, they find a conch shell, which they blow into, and all the little schoolboys come running. They form something that seems vaguely like a supposed democracy, that is actually a dual-warring dictatorship (a dictatorship run by two dictators who are subtly battling for power), with a touch of hippocracy, because that is just a word spelled wrong that sounds good in this situation, not because there were any hippos, political or otherwise. Basically the whole story is just the two popular kids, one of them that is moderately intelligent, and one who is moderately strong, fighting for dominance, and the only person who has any brains at all, you guessed it, the unpopular nerd (GO NERDS!!!) attempting to stop them all from dying. I think something sorts of dramatic happens at the end, but I was reading this kind of late at night, so I was half asleep. So I cant spoil it for you.

Leviathan

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld


But on to the book. It takes place in the age of Steampunk, which you should google if you've never heard of it, and I would google it for you, but the google at the coffee shop I'm working in is broken. So do it yourself. The two main characters, Alek of Austria-Hungary, and Deryn, a girl who is pretending to be a boy so as to get into the British Army of Britain. Europe is divided onto two factions, the Darwinists and the Clankers. The Darwinists cross-breed animals, such as flying whales (more on that later), and the Clankers make big machines, like the Stormwalker, which is really just a giant tank on legs. The story starts with Alek being kidnapped by his fencing instructor, who tells him that his parents (the important people of somewhere) were assassinated, which, in the course of a few weeks plunges all of Europe into war.Then, on Deryn's side of Europe, she is being tested into the British Air Service, which means that she must fly a Huxley, one of the earlier and harder to control fabricated beasties, way up in the sky, where she gets blown arounf in a storm and rescued by the Leviathan, the biggest airships in the world, and she is whisked of into an exciting adventure through the skies blah blah blah. And Alek goes on an exciting and dangerouse mission blah blah blah. But it's still a good book.