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.