El Dorado

Title: El Dorado (sequel to The Scarlet Pimpernel, or one of the sequels)

Author: Baroness Emmuska Orczy  (Her full name is Emma "Emmuska" Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála Orczy de Orczi.  No wonder she shortened it!)  

Summary: In revolutionary France, Armand St. Just, a follower of the Scarlet Pimpernel (aka Percy Blakeney, his sister's husband) falls in love with an actress, Mlle. Jeanne Lange, while working for his leader in enemy country.  (Percy, an Englishman against the French Revolution, is famed for rescuing innocents from the blade of Madame Guillotine under the guise of the Scarlet Pimpernel.  However, some in France know his true identity.  Percy's mission at the beginning of the book is to rescue the young Dauphin from a cruel prison in France.)  Jeanne is not a supporter of murdering "aristos" and saves Armand's life by hiding him.  She is arrested, giving Percy a double mission:  rescue the Dauphin and Jeanne.  Armand doesn't trust his leader, supposedly in the madness of his love, and goes back to save Jeanne himself.  The long and short of it is, Percy goes back to save Armand and gets captured himself.  The French starve Percy, trying to make him tell them where he's put the Dauphin.  Finally, after about seventeen days, he seems to give.  He says that he will lead them to the place.  They take Percy's wife Marguerite (also Armand's sister) and Armand as insurance.  Eventually, Percy trades places with one of the Frenchmen in a powerful position in the hierarchy and rescues his wife and brother-in-law.  

Stars: 6

Violence: 7.  Percy was kept on bread and water for seventeen days.  During this time period, he was also not allowed to sleep.  Every time the author talked about him, she mentioned something about a deathly appearance and waxy hands and sunken eyes and . . . well, it was extremely creepy.  

Romance: 7.  This book could partially be classified under "romance."  I didn't read it for the romance, though . . . I liked the mystery of the first book in this series and decided to read the sequel.  Believe me, though, the mystery was better in the first book (The Scarlet Pimpernel).  

Language: 5.  Lots of "demm'd."  There might have been some others.  

Appropriate for: Young adult or adult.  (I read the first book when I was, what, 10?  Oh well.  I get more out of it now that I'm older.)

Other: On Goodreads (yes, I am on Goodreads) the author profile for the Baroness mentioned that she was most famous for The Scarlet Pimpernel.  It also mentioned that she tried to write sequels, but they were not so popular.  I can see why.  The trick Sir Percy used at the end of this book wasn't at all like the one in the previous book.  I was amazed at the end of The Scarlet Pimpernel.  I had this feeling of "Oh.  That's it?" at the end of El Dorado.  I'll admit that the exchange of letters was clever, but I really felt that the Baroness could have come up with something a bit more original for the ending.  

The Lost Hero

Title: The Lost Hero (part of the Heroes of Olympus series, sequel to Percy Jackson and the Olympians)

Author: Rick Riordan

Summary: Jason wakes up on a bus with a bunch of strange kids.  He can't even remember who he is.  Piper and Leo, his friends, are duly unsettled, but they accompany the rest of the bus kids to the Grand Canyon.  In the Grand Canyon, storm spirits attack.  The teacher, Coach Hedge, is carried away.  Annabeth comes, steering a flying chariot, and brings the three demigods to Camp Half-Blood.  It is revealed that Percy is missing and the goddess Hera is being held prisoner.  Leo is claimed by Hephaestus, Jason by Zeus, and Piper by Aphrodite.  There's something odd about Jason, though.  He seems to prefer calling gods by their Roman names.  The three set out to rescue Hera.  Each is visited by strange phantoms:  Leo by "Dirt Woman" and his old babysitter; Jason by wolves; and Piper by a large giant.  They finally follow the trail through to the Wolf House and free Hera.  By the time they return, Jason has almost all of his memories back.  He recalls that Thalia is his sister, and that he came from a camp of Roman demigods.  Annabeth then understands that her boyfriend, Percy Jackson, is at the other camp.  Jason warns that they aren't as friendly over there . . .

Stars: 5

Violence: 5. Violence was in this book, granted, but it wasn't very graphic.  Piper cut off an Earthborn's six arms, but the monster didn't bleed or scream.  In fact, the scene was used for humor.  "The Earthborn looked down, very surprised. He mumbled, 'Arms go bye-bye.'"  When monsters died, they disintegrated into the ground.  No blood.  

Romance: 5. There were a few kisses discussed, including Percy/Annabeth and Jason/Piper.  

Language: 0

Appropriate for: See, I'm not really sure about this.  The writing style made me think 8-9 year olds, but the content made me think 14-15 year olds.  

Other: I wouldn't really call this good literature.  It's got a great plot line, but it needs a little bit of remodeling as regards the tone and vocabulary and all.