Book: Daniel X:Watch the Skies
This book takes place after the first book, The dangerous days of Daniel X.
RL#1: Monday September 19th, Topic #1-Characters
The main character of this book is Daniel X, an alien. Daniel has many powers, " So what's the coolest of my superpowers, you ask? The way I can smell alien sweat from ten miles away even while speeding along a highway with my helmet on? The way I've recently learned to make high-performance, hybrid engine racing bikes that can travel three thousand miles at seventy-five miles per hour on a tank of gas? The way I can pop a wheelie...on my front tire? Well, that's almost unstoppable, but, no, the coolest of my superpowers is the one with which I can create my best friends - Willy, Joe, Emma, and Dana - out of my imagination.(pg.16)". This shows he has quite the arsenal of powers and more some of which were revealed in the first book. This four friends were also characters in the first book, in this book I believe their roles may be similar to the first book. Since this book is in first person, Daniel says, " Joe is great with video games and computers, and otherwise is basically a life support device for the world's fastest-moving mouth.(pg. 16)". In the book Joe is like the stereotypical friend that plays a lot of games, and as a side effect developed a fast-taking habit. He also says, " Emma is our moral compass.(pg. 16)". Emma is being the 'moral compass' is that friend that tells you if your actions are right or wrong, and tries to keep you from doing wrong things. He goes on to say that, "Emma's older brother is Willy. He's the ultimate wing man, built like a brick and slightly harder to scare than one too.(pg. 16-17)". Realistically he would probably he that friend that is everyone's friend and will be there with you, a lot like a right-hand man. Finally he goes on and describes Dana, "Finally, Dana is, well... she manages to be both the most beautiful and most grounded person I've ever encountered. (pg.17)". Now in the series she is used as motovation for Daniel, she's someone he wants to protect, but personally I don't think she should be the 'damsel', mostly because she is from his imagination, which is actually really weird, being in a relationship with your imaginary love interest. For the most part these four friends have multiple layers and their own personalities, but through the last book they didn't really developed I believe the only character to develop will most likely just be Daniel. From the first book to this one Alex has learned to cope more with what happened in his past, but still wants to confront the Prayer, the alien who murdered his parents.
RL#2: Thursday September 22nd, Topic#3-Plot
The main plot in this story is that Daniel has to defeat an alien causing trouble. This particular alien is not just any alien though, it is alien number five, number on the list of most wanted aliens. The entire book had an ominous feel to it, and as the plot thickened, it added an erieness to the conflict. Number five reeks havoc all for a t.v. show, The 'show' isn't one you'd find on your own t.v. or anything it involved something more, "In the hallway he collided with his father but didn't say a word. And now his mom and sister were pushing as him from behind, and the entire family tumbled down the front stairs to the living room. It was weird, though, the boy, because he was pretty sure he hated dancing. But now he couldn't stop himself. He strode to the center of the living room and somehow knew exactly what moves to make, and - except for the look of terror in his eyes - he boogied his heart out like a pimply, pajama-wearing John Travolta.(pg 6)" by involved something more it seems like someone, or in the case of aliens something was controlling them, perhaps possessing them, and by them I don't mean Daniel, this family in terms of story telling are expendables. After this scene, a crew of aliens say how amusing it is to watch people dance around, but a shame they have to kill them It is soon reveled that number 5 could have been there when Daniel's parents were murdered by The Prayer, " 'So you've really never seen it?' he asked.
I raised an eyebrow at him.
'The scenes where Number 1, (The Prayer) killed your parents? You didn't know I was there filming the whole thing?'
'NOW I KNOW you're lying,' I said. 'I was there when my parents were killed.'
'Sure. But were you upstairs with me and Number 1? Or were you down in the basement, playing with your toys?'
How could he have known that?(pg 186)", this conversation on top of adding to the plot, gives Number 5 and his t.v. show more depth. If he had his show way back when Daniel's parents were murdered that means he used it as entertainment, but Daniel doubts he was even there back then, but then he starts to consider the possibility, showing that James Patterson most likely planned it when writing this book, not the first. Why? because in the first book though not clearly said there wasn't anything that showed there was another alien, because after the Prayer left Daniel fled and came found the list (Of most wanted aliens). In this book though Number five said he split Daniel's parents's corpse. There is an inconsistency. if Daniel found the list that would mean he would have also seen his parent's corpse split but that has never been mentioned through both books until now. There's also another thing I find with the plot of both books, when Daniel is in trouble his dad usually tells him about this dues ex-machina power he has, but this isn't effective in the next book anymore. Putting this aside though this book is cohesive and adds more depth to the series, hopefully the next book raises the stakes.
I raised an eyebrow at him.
'The scenes where Number 1, (The Prayer) killed your parents? You didn't know I was there filming the whole thing?'
'NOW I KNOW you're lying,' I said. 'I was there when my parents were killed.'
'Sure. But were you upstairs with me and Number 1? Or were you down in the basement, playing with your toys?'
How could he have known that?(pg 186)", this conversation on top of adding to the plot, gives Number 5 and his t.v. show more depth. If he had his show way back when Daniel's parents were murdered that means he used it as entertainment, but Daniel doubts he was even there back then, but then he starts to consider the possibility, showing that James Patterson most likely planned it when writing this book, not the first. Why? because in the first book though not clearly said there wasn't anything that showed there was another alien, because after the Prayer left Daniel fled and came found the list (Of most wanted aliens). In this book though Number five said he split Daniel's parents's corpse. There is an inconsistency. if Daniel found the list that would mean he would have also seen his parent's corpse split but that has never been mentioned through both books until now. There's also another thing I find with the plot of both books, when Daniel is in trouble his dad usually tells him about this dues ex-machina power he has, but this isn't effective in the next book anymore. Putting this aside though this book is cohesive and adds more depth to the series, hopefully the next book raises the stakes.
Book: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
Book is by Jules Verne, who wrote Journey to the Center of the Earth (I've read), Around the World in Eighty Days, among other works of literature.
RL#3: Monday October 24, Topic #2-Conflicts
In what is marked as "Part 1" of the book, so far, the main conflict has been about an unknown cetacean. It has been described by witnesses as "'an enormous thing,' a long object spindle-shaped, occasionally phosphorescent, and infinitely larger and more rapid in its movements than a whale. (3)". Sightings of the same creature have differed though, as seen by a many saying that, "estimate of those who assigned to this object a length of two hundred feet, equally exaggerated opinions which set it down as a mile in width and three in length (4)". Though the size of this creature differ, people want to set out to find this creature. Professor Aronax, and two others, set out to look into this strange creature. This is a conflict between the Professor and the creature, essentially setting up the important events of the novel. The conflict is an external conflict, a Man v. and unknown creature, trying to figure out what have sailors been seeing out on the seven seas. Later in the story another conflict arises with Captain Nemo, another core member of the novel's cast.
RL#4: Monday October 24, Topic #4-Literary Elements and Devices
The novel 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea was written during the 1870, two decades after Moby Dick. The author Jules Verne makes an allusion to Moby Dick, referring to the story, "There appeared in the papers caricatures of every gigantic and imaginary creature, from the white whale, the terrible "Moby Dick (5)". This allusion was brought up because of the mystery of a sea creature. This subtly though directly mentions Moby Dick, because it is used to show what the mysterious creature can be. The novel also uses Moby Dick to possibly foreshadow a future event. The novel draws comparison of the creature to other monsters, "to the immense Kraken whose tentacles could entangle a ship of five hundred tons, and hurry it into the abyss of the ocean (5)." This foreshadows because so far the creature hasn't attacked, but nothing is stopping it from. The foreshadow can mean that a main character may lose their life to the creature, or many people.
Book: The Trials Of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle
This book is by Rick Riordan it takes place six months after the Hero's of Olympus's final book
RL#5: Friday December 2, Topic#1- Characters
The main character of this book and presumably the rest of the series is the Greek God Apollo. Apollo as we meet him is no longer a god, as punishment his father Zues turns Apollo into a mortal. In the first few chapter of the book we are introduced to a new character, Meg. Meg is as Apollo describes her, "She was small and pudgy, with dark hair chopped in a messy pageboy style and black cat-eye glasses with rhinestones glittering in the corners." Shortly after their encounter Meg claims Apollo's service essentially making him Meg's psuedo servant. We are then reintroduced to Percy Jackson, who has changed since we last saw him in Blood of Olympus, he is more worried about studying and doesn't want to get wrapped into another quest. Percy also has a baby sister on the way, " Besides, my mom's pregnant. I'm going to have a baby sister. I'd like to be around to get to know her." This is now a stange dynamic to Percy, though I doubt he will get much developement in this Apollo centric series. Apollo is a dynamic character, when he first arrives at Camp Half Blood he is still a bit arrogant, but soon feels the danger and troubles that we face. We also meet what looks to be the main antagonist, Python. Python took over Delphi, which has left the demigods without a way to get prohecies. It is also revealed that Meg is a demigod, daughter of Demeter.
RL#6: Friday December 16, Topic #2 Conflict
The main conflict of this book is Apollo trying to stop "The Beast" from gaining the control of the Grove of Dordona and Apollo attempting to get Delphi back from Python. Apollo is trying to keep "The Beast" from controlling all five oracles and in turn the future itself. This is a conflict because it is the basis for the events of the book. Also because if the five oracles are controlled there will be no way of getting prohocies to move foward. This conflict is mainly external, and happening in a way that would effect the world. The realization of the conflict is through a dialog with the mother of the olympians, Rhea who says, "Python has Delphi- that's the biggest problem. But you won't have the strength to take him head-on. You've got to pry their fingers off th eminor oracles first, loosen theri power. To do that, you need a new source of prophecy for this camp-an Oracle that is older and independent (246)." Meaning that in order to get back the powers of prophecy they must find the Grove of Dordona to get a prohecy, but at the same time keep "The Beast" from it. There is also another sub conflict, that will span across the series (presumably), and it is that the roman emperors are immortal and the person who they referred to as "The Beast" is actually, "The Christians called him the Beast becuase he burned them alive. Our enemy is Emperor Nero (253)." If I am to be honest this whole sub plot with the immortal Emperors is a bit of a weird element to the plot.
RL#7: Friday December 16, Topic #5 Depth and Complexity + Content Imperatives
The Imperative I connect this story with is Paradox. Apollo states, "The emperors made themselves gods. they had their own temples and altars. They encouraged the people to worship them", but if they are "gods" because of worship, how are they around now if no one 'worships' them. Apollo also says, "It's true for Olympians; It's also true for the emperors", but the emperors are not as strong an most likely don't have any divine powers, so there isn't much of a way for them to be a problem for the Olympians. If the same is true for the Olympians, how are any kind of these figures even around if they need to be worshiped? Most of the time we hear about Greek and Roman gods and roman emperors in history class, but to worship them is something completely different. Especially in the roman emperor's case, after the fall of Rome who at the time would have kept them in history?