Battle for Cascadia by Kenneth G. Bennett Review

I won a copy from Goodreads First Reads/giveaways.

"When Warren Wilkes, age 13, stumbles upon a mysterious relic deep in the Cascade Mountains (The Gaia Wars) wonder reigns. Brimming with secrets and sentient energy, the relic leads Warren to a fantastic chamber, and to shocking revelations about his identity.

Now wonder has turned to dread.

A forgotten terror-- a demon that knows Warren better than he knows himself-- has risen again and is gathering power with a singularly evil goal in mind: to capture and enslave the wild spirit of the Earth itself.

Warren must fight or see all that he cherishes destroyed."

The cover for both books, The Gaia Wars and The Battle For Cascadia, are creepy. 

This book was good, then exciting, and finally confusing.

The good parts...

The changing POVs. Like what I said in the review of the pervious book, the POVs were strong and made the book much more exciting. It revolves around Warren, the evil doers, and the Earth Mother/Warren's Mother.

The descriptions. I love how the author uses words to describe the setting. Everything was well described. *applauds*

The way the author sticks with the character's personality. And knowledge. I love how the author keeps the characters ignorant sometimes.

The ending of the conflict mentioned in the first book. The ending for many books are disappointing or not as dramatic as I wish. For example: the Pendragon Series. The way St. Dane died/diminished was so disappointing  Many of us readers, after reading ten books, would appreciate an awesome, showdown-like ending.

The characters changing. I found the change of characters unique. I love it. Especially Todd Jr's transformation. Some parts of his traits were the same, but overall there were a lot of changes in his character. It was a beautiful sight to read.

The plot was good. Even better than the Gaia Wars. (I was thinking that this book, Battle for Cascadia, was where things go down and awesome. How right I was).

The neutral parts...

Yes, there are neutral parts. The writing. I won't complain about it this time, but I thought it was a bit better than the previous books.

The bad parts...

The ending. Seriously? I just don't get it. I felt that Mr. Bennett just randomly threw in that twist. So... Is there going to be a third book? Is the series over or not? I'm so confused.

The book itself. I felt that this book could have been part of The Gaia Wars. Then this series would just be a novel. It would had been better if it was just one book instead of two.

This book's rating is a three out of five.

The Gaia Wars By Kenneth G. Bennett Review

I won a copy from Goodreads Firstreads.

The Gaia Wars

"DEADLY SECRETS have been buried in the Cascade mountain wilderness for centuries. Hidden. Out of sight and out of mind. 

Until today… 

Warren Wilkes, age 13, doesn’t like what a greedy housing developer has done to his peaceful mountain community, so he vandalizes the developer’s property, flees into the wild, and stumbles upon an ancient human skeleton revealed by torrential rain. More than old bones have been exposed, however, and the curious artifact Warren finds makes him question his own identity, and his connection to an ancient terror. A terror destined to rise again and annihilate all that Warren loves. He must fight or see his whole world destroyed."

To me, this book could use a little more humor. A little more laughter would have made this book similar to I Am Number Four and The Rise Of Six. Except they have way different plots.

Before Reading: I was excited! It was the first book I had ever won from Goodreads First Reads Giveaways. The second book I had won from just giveaways. (Scarlet by Marissa Meyer was the first book).

During Reading: Fascinating. Whoa! That is creepy. OMG! I knew it!

After Reading: What!?! You can't do that Kenneth Bennett!

The strong parts...

The characters. Many of the characters were well developed. Especially the enemies, Warren, and Ina. They were written well. I love the characteristics of Warren. His carefree manner. His carelessness. His recklessness. And his cleverness. Warren is the outdoor type like his parent, Eric and Lisa Wilkes. His love for the parks shine bright through the book. Warren doesn't seem really like a thirteen years old. He seems to be more and more mature as the book goes on.

The description of the setting, actions... The author has done a brilliant job describing the situation, the setting, and the actions of the characters. It was really easy to visualize the characters/creatures doing these things. The setting was descriptive.

The everchanging POVs... Now that is an excellent weapon of this story. The POVs, usually useful to help expand the story a little more, is an lethal weapon of The Gaia Wars. It's the second strongest point, perhaps even stronger than all of the parts. The POVs revolve around Warren, Todd Jr., and some secondary characters with major roles in the series.

The pacing was good. For a book like this, it better be fast paced.

The weak parts...

The ending... I hate how the ending just ended like that. I felt that the cliffhanger wasn't cliffhanging enough. It could have ended at a different part.

The writing... I felt that the writing seemed a little awkward and rough. Maybe it is because of the looser grammatical rules of the English Language we have today. It might be hard for the younger audience to read this book because The Gaia Wars follows the old grammar rules.

“This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.” -Winston Churchill, Ex-British Prime Minister

 Ha, ha. I love Winston Churchill. Sadly most of my peers don't even remember who he was, much less remember this timeless quote.

This book's rating is a three of five. Fair.

SO MANY REVIEWS TO WRITE

Oh my goodness, there are so many reviews to write. (NOT KIDDING)

On my list are these books:

1. The Gaia Wars (The Gaia Wars#1) 

"DEADLY SECRETS have been buried in the Cascade mountain wilderness for centuries. Hidden. Out of sight and out of mind. 

Until today… 

Warren Wilkes, age 13, doesn’t like what a greedy housing developer has done to his peaceful mountain community, so he vandalizes the developer’s property, flees into the wild, and stumbles upon an ancient human skeleton revealed by torrential rain. More than old bones have been exposed, however, and the curious artifact Warren finds makes him question his own identity, and his connection to an ancient terror. A terror destined to rise again and annihilate all that Warren loves. He must fight or see his whole world destroyed."

2. Unenchanted (Unenchanted#1)

"Mina Grime is unlucky, unpopular and uncoordinated, that is until she saves her crush's life on a field trip, changing her High School status from loser to hero overnight. But with her newfound fame brings misfortune as an old family curse come to light. For Mina is descended from the Brothers Grimm and has inherited all of their unfinished fairy tale business. Which includes trying to outwit a powerful Story from making her its next fairytale victim.

To break the fairy tale curse on her family and stop these deadly events, Mina must finish the tales until the very Grimm end."

3. Second Chance Summer

"Taylor Edwards’ family might not be the closest-knit—everyone is a little too busy and overscheduled—but for the most part, they get along just fine. Then Taylor’s dad gets devastating news, and her parents decide that the family will spend one last summer all together at their old lake house in the Pocono Mountains.

Crammed into a place much smaller and more rustic than they are used to, they begin to get to know each other again. And Taylor discovers that the people she thought she had left behind haven’t actually gone anywhere. Her former best friend is still around, as is her first boyfriend…and he’s much cuter at seventeen than he was at twelve.

As the summer progresses and the Edwards become more of a family, they’re more aware than ever that they’re battling a ticking clock. Sometimes, though, there is just enough time to get a second chance—with family, with friends, and with love. "

4. Hidden (House of Night#10) 

"At last, Zoey has what she wanted: the truth is out. Neferet's evil has been exposed, and the High Council is no longer on her side -- but she's far from done wreaking havoc in the vampyre world. First, a mysterious fire ravages the stables. Then, Neferet makes a devastating move that will test them all.
With the seeds of distrust sown and Darkness breeding chaos at the House of Night, everyone must band together -- but that's proving to be more difficult than ever before. The twins are barely speaking and the House of Night's former enemy, Kalona, has now become their warrior, pushing their trust to the limit. To top it off, Zoey is pretty darn sure she might be losing her mind. She saw something when she looked at Aurox through the Seer Stone that she can hardly explain to herself, let alone her friends. Is it possible that Heath has come back in a different form? Is that why Zoey's so intrigued by Aurox, when it's so obvious that he's dangerous? And who would believe her if she told them? Zoey knows that following her instinct about Aurox might be just what they need to defeat evil . . . but if she's wrong, it could cause the destruction of those closest to her.
With the tension at a breaking point and friendships on the line, can the nerd herd come together to stop the spread of Darkness before it's too late?"

5. Seizure (Virals #2)

 "Ever since Tory Brennan and her friends rescued Cooper, a kidnapped wolf pup with a rare strain of canine parvovirus, they've turned from regular kids into a crime-solving pack. But now the very place that brought them together - the Loggerhead Island Research Institute - is out of funding and will have to shut down. That is, unless the Virals can figure out a way to save it.

So when Tory learns of an old Charleston legend about a famous she-pirate, Anne Bonney, whose fortune was never found, she can't believe her luck - buried treasure is exactly what she needs to save the Institute on Loggerhead! Trouble is, she and her friends aren't the only ones looking for it. And this time, the Virals' special powers may not be enough to dig them out of trouble . . ."

6. Hooked (Hooked #1)

"When Native American Fredricka ‘Fred’ Oday is invited to become the only girl on the school’s golf team, she can’t say no. This is an opportunity to shine, win a scholarship and go to university, something no one in her family has done. 

But Fred’s presence on the team isn’t exactly welcome — especially not to rich golden boy Ryan Berenger, whose best friend was kicked off the team to make a spot for Fred.
But there’s no denying that things are happening between the girl with the killer swing and the boy with the killer smile...

GET HOOKED ON A GIRL NAMED FRED."

7. Perfect Scoundrels (Heist Society #3) 

 "Katarina Bishop and W.W. Hale the fifth were born to lead completely different lives: Kat comes from a long, proud line of loveable criminal masterminds, while Hale is the scion of one of the most seemingly perfect dynasties in the world. If their families have one thing in common, it's that they both know how to stay under the radar while getting-or stealing-whatever they want. No matter the risk, the Bishops can always be counted on, but in Hale's family, all bets are off when money is on the line. When Hale unexpectedly inherits his grandmother's billion dollar corporation, he quickly learns that there's no place for Kat and their old heists in his new role. But Kat won't let him go that easily, especially after she gets tipped off that his grandmother's will might have been altered in an elaborate con to steal the company's fortune. So instead of being the heir-this time, Hale might be the mark. Forced to keep a level head as she and her crew fight for one of their own, Kat comes up with an ambitious and far-reaching plan that only the Bishop family would dare attempt. To pull it off, Kat is prepared to do the impossible, but first, she has to decide if she's willing to save her boyfriend's company if it means losing the boy."