Ready Player One

by Ernest Cline

Reviewed by Akshat Garg

REVIEW: READY PLAYER ONE by Ernest Cline

ISBN#: 97080404190145

THE STORY:

Wade is introduced as a poor 18-year-old kid, living in a dystopian world filled with overpopulation, poverty, and drugs. The only escape from a crumbling reality is a computer simulation software called the OASIS, which is accessible to everyone. He goes to school on a free planet, Ludus, where years ago he met his best and lifelong friend, Aech. When Wade was young, the owner of the OASIS, James D. Halliday, died and left his entire fortune,

Ready Player One

by Ernest Cline
Reviewed by Caleb Chang

REVIEW: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

ISBN#: 9780804190145

THE STORY: 

Ready Player One takes place in the future where virtual reality has taken over everyone’s daily lives, called the OASIS. Halliday, one of the creators of the OASIS, has just passed away and has left no one inside his will. Instead, he started the “egg hunt” inside of the OASIS. The rules are simple, there are three keys and three gates, and the first one to find the keys and pass the gates wins Halliday’s entire fortune. One riddle, for the first key, is announced to the public.

The House of the Scorpion

by Nancy Farmer

Reviewed by Anshika Yetchina

Fall 2021

REVIEW: The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
ISBN#: 978-0-689-85222-0
REVIEWED BY: Anshika Yetchina


SUMMARY:
Matteo Alacran was conceptualized in a glass plate, and birthed by a cow. He isn’t boy or machine, but he still is scorned on all the same. A clone of the twisted but great El Patron, Matt was raised in the Big House, in the intersection of the United States and what used to be Mexico, by a servant named Celia and branded with “Property of the Alacran Estate" on his foot.

Ready Player One

by Ernest Cline

Reviewed by Harvy Chang

Fall 2021

REVIEW: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

ISBN#: 978-0-307-88743-6

THE STORY:

Wade Watts, a young man, lives with his aunt in the mid-southern United States in the mid-2040s. In this time period, Earth is trashed, and people turn to the OASIS, a massive multiplayer metaverse, for an escape from the Earth. After the death of James Halliday, the creator of the OASIS, Wade is dedicated to finding the easter egg Halliday hid deep inside the metaverse before his death. Wade starts the search for the Copper Key, the first of six steps to finding the egg.

Fahrenheit 451

by Ray Bradbury

Reviewed by Jennifer Cai

Fall 2016

REVIEW: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
ISBN#: 9781451673319

THE STORY:

Guy Montag is a fireman, a man who burns books. He lives in a setting that shows a desolate, bleak future where books are outlawed. He is a fireman, expected to burn illegal works along with the houses in which the books are found. When his quaint and youthful neighbor Clarisse McClellan moves in, he begins to question his actions. Tempted by curiosity, Montag commits the crime of book reading, and meets up with Faber, a retired English professor, to discuss the value of ideas.

The House of the Scorpion

by Nancy Farmer

Reviewed by Timothy Cho

Fall 2016

REVIEW: The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

ISBN: #0689852231

THE STORY:

Matt Alacran, the clone of a powerful Mexican drug dealer, lives on the American-Mexican border with his caretaker, Celia, sometime in the near future. This time in the future is a time of relative stability, since El Patron, the man that Matt is the clone of, has controlled the drug trafficking on the US-Mexico border. Throughout the book, Matt questions his existence. One event that made him think about his origins was when his worst enemy, Tom, showed him a clone about to be killed. This made Matt think about where he was from. He asks his mentor, Tam-Lin, about this issue. Tam-Lin tells him how he was “made to exist”, and

Simon Bloom: the Octopus Effect

by Michael Reisman

Reviewed by: Ramya Paravastu

Fall 2016

REVIEW: Simon Bloom: the Octopus Effect by Michael Reisman

ISBN#:9781101082324

THE STORY:

Simon Bloom is a gifted middle schooler who has the power to control physics formulas. He and his friends, Owen and Alysha, are part of the Union, in which there are Keepers of Books of different branches of science. Keepers can bestow scientific formulas to certain deserving people, who in turn can use them to control specific aspects of science for the greater good. Though most Union members

Stung

by Bethany Wiggins

Reviewed by Yash Mishra

Fall 2016

REVIEW: Stung by Bethany Wiggins

ISBN#: 9780802734198

THE STORY:

Fiona Tarsis wakes up with a mark on her hand, a strange mark of an oval with ten lines dashing out of it. She looks around the house, filthy, trashed, and deserted. She then went outside, and was shocked by the change in her world. A child named Arris comes and saves her from some dogs that were chasing her. They camp out for a night in the swamp as Fiona tries to remember what had happened to her. Arris gives trades with her and gives her some guy clothes. Arris seems very sly and clever in this world, a world Fiona didn’t belong to.