Let's Go To Middle Earth!

      Hey Guys! I'm so glad you all enjoyed my friends first post. (I must admit I thought it was pretty good too.) So, I bet your all wondering what book I'm going to review now. Well I feel like taking a trip to middle earth, so I've decided to do a review on the Hobbit! I wanted to read the all the Lord of the Rings books before read this one but I can't fin my copy of them. It's somewhere around here and I'll find it some day but for now on with the Hobbit!

                        The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
    Come on a journey with one of our favorite hobbits, Bilbo Baggins. Who really rather have stayed at whole instead of going on his journey with Gandalf and the dwarves: Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, and Thorin. (One to many dwarves to remember, if you ask me.) Follow them through their journey through Middle Earth to get to the Lonely Mountain. What will they find? Who will they face? When is second breakfast?

    I rate this book a 4/5 stars. It was a good book, confusing at times but good. the only thing I didn't like is every thing after Smaug leaves the Mountain and doesn't come back. I felt it got dull and went on longer than it should have. Other than that minor "issue", it was a pretty good read.

   I'll do the same thing that I've done in the past with lists, I'll link the ones I've done so you can go back and read them again. Or read them for the first time, if you haven't read them yet. (There's only one right now but later there'll be more) Well I'm off to get ready for Afternoon tea! Talk To You All Later! -Kaitlynn

1.) The Silent Stars go by by Dan Abnett
2.) Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth
3.) The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
4.) A Study in Silks and A Study in Darkness by Emma Jane Holloway
5.) Beautiful Chaos by Gary Russell
6.) The Stone Rose by Jacqueline Rayner
7.) The Osiris Curse: A Tweed and Nightingale Adventure by Paul Crilley
8.) The Shadowhunters Codex by Cassandra Clare
9.) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Had to read for English but I'm reviewing it anyway)
10.) Three by Kristen Simmons (Haven't read but it's next on my list, I'll start it in a week or two...)

H.T. Rapinski Here to do the Camulodunum Chronicles

Hey guys! How's it going? Pretty good blog, right? Unlike my friend Kaitlynn I'd appreciate comments and critiques on my posts.  Here goes the first one.

The Camulod (Latin it's Camulodunum) Chronicles were written by a historical fiction writer by the name of Jack Whyte.  No not the lead singer of the White Stripes.  It's a great book series about the Romans in Briton during the start of the fall of the Roman Empire.  You follow the blood line down to the man who would be known as King Arthur.  In the first two books you follow Publius Varrus, a retired centurion who ventures back to his home town in order to rekindle his father's forge.  Varrus in the second book eventually forges the singing sword out of a meteorite that he found in Celt territory.  He creates a "colony" of Romans to hopefully survive the withdrawal of Legions from Briton.  This colony is made up of several Roman villas and a good friend and one time commander of Varrus' lives in one of these.  This friend is Caius Brittanicus.  The son of this man is Caius Merlyn Britannicus, middle name sound familiar?  The next four books are dedicated to following this astonishing man's life as he runs the colony. With all Roman troops having been drawn back in defense of Rome by Stilicho's orders Briton is completely open to invasion by the Picts from the north.  Merlyn, as he goes by,  deals with the problems of the colony and seals a peace pact with the nearby celts who's leader is Uther Pendragon.  This alliance goes well as the Pendragon clan is renowned for their ridiculously huge and powerful longbows.  Camulod is trained in the ways of Alexander the Great's armies in that they rely heavily on charging cavalry with infantry as support.  In the next two books the main character is passed on to Clothar the Frank who is good with the lance and earns the nickname of, you guessed it, Lancelot.  These books are the closest that we get to the time period in which King Arthur lived as Lancelot knows him personally.  I loved these books as a kid, but there is one caveat.  In about every book there is at least one sex scene.  In most books I'd skip these automatically but Jack Whyte makes it so that these scenes are, in many cases, critical to the plot.  There is a lot of fighting.  Whyte is great at describing both the individual duels and the large battles.  Likewise he cunningly twists the Arthurian tale into one that could fit neatly into history.  And what better than Roman history?

This has been H.T. Rapinsky. 

Silent Stars

     Hey Guys! I have a treat for all you "Whovians" out there. (Fans of doctor who, for people who don't know what a whovian is.) This isn't going to be a very good post because 1.) I haven't done a review in a while. 2.) I haven't read this in a while. 3.) I probably shouldn't have read it in the first place.... Before I make up any more excuses here's the review.......

                The Silent Stars go by by Dan Abnett
          The Doctor, Amy, and Rory meet a species called the Morphans. The Doctor hadn't intended for them to meet, he meant to show up on Christmas for Rory. Instead they must try and solve a mystery of who has been taking the Morphans, while trying to keep both sides of  the mystery from killing them. Can they do it or will it be an end to all their adventures?

     I gave this a 3/5 stars. It was ok, I didn't realize that it was the eleventh doctor until I got home. So that's why it has such a low rating, I didn't get it. Maybe I'll reread it some day, when I've watched seasons 5-7 of Doctor Who. I also think that it was a bit to short for the story the author was aiming to tell.

   I wish I cold have done better, but it has been about a month since I've read it.... I'll just have  to do better on my next review! (I might go out of order and maybe pick one in the middle because I remember it better. Who knows...) I've talked to my friend about coming and doing reviews. They said that they would be more than happy. I don't know when they'll post but I hope they do a little better than me. Well I leave you with the list of books left to review, just to antagonize over what review comes next. Talk To You All Later! -Kaitlynn

1.) The Silent Stars go by by Dan Abnett
2.) Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth
3.) The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
4.) A Study in Silks and A Study in Darkness by Emma Jane Holloway
5.) Beautiful Chaos by Gary Russell
6.) The Stone Rose by Jacqueline Rayner
7.) The Osiris Curse: A Tweed and Nightingale Adventure by Paul Crilley
8.) The Shadowhunters Codex by Cassandra Clare
9.) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Had to read for English but I'm reviewing it anyway)
10.) Three by Kristen Simmons (Haven't read but it's next on my list, I'll start it in a week or two...)

Title

THIS IS YOUR NEW BLOGGER

Alright I go by the sudoname H.T. Rapinski but you can call me H.T. Rapinski.  I love alot of Roman stuff so the nonfiction I read is pretty much only Roman history.  I also read the Camulodunum Chronicles which are historical fiction about King Arthur. I'll be doing a couple of posts so have fun with that.

I Haven't Fallen of the Face of the Earth!

     Hey Guys! I haven't fallen of the face of the earth, like the title says, but just been busy trying to survive the crazy school I've been "imprisoned" in for the past couple of months. But don't think I haven't been reading, I don't think I could live a day with out reading something book related. (Books included) Which brings me to the next reason (excuse), my friend got me seriously addicted to Google plus. I fully admit to it, and that maybe part of the reason this has been sort of... neglected. Now that I am free (or mostly free) for the summer I will try posting more often! I know I've said this before, multiple times, but this time I am going to try and follow through with it. I'm even going to put up a list of all the things I've read so you all can hold me accountable for all the things going on this list. This also means I may be posting "two for one" posts just to catch up if I feel the need to. (It's a good thing our library allows you to see a list of all the books you have checked out. I like that about our library, it off sets the fact that there is no interaction with the librarians themselves.) I am also up for suggestions on what I should read next! I've got about two months before I have to go back to school, I want to make the most out of my time and read as much as I can. Before I completely waste all my free time and a fair bit of yours, let me give you the list of books I've recently read......

1.) The Silent Stars go by by Dan Abnett
2.) Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth
3.) The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
4.) A Study in Silks and A Study in Darkness by Emma Jane Holloway
5.) Beautiful Chaos by Gary Russell
6.) The Stone Rose by Jacqueline Rayner
7.) The Osiris Curse: A Tweed and Nightingale Adventure by Paul Crilley
8.) The Shadowhunters Codex by Cassandra Clare
9.) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Had to read for English but I'm reviewing it anyway)
10.) Three by Kristen Simmons (Haven't read but it's next on my list, I'll start it in a week or two...)

    I swear there was more.... Well if I remember them I'll add them to the list. (It's probably going to take looking at my newly organized book shelf for me to find them. Had to double stack several shelves to make my room appear slightly cleaner than usual....) I'm thinking about having a close friend of mine come do reviews. They read a lot of non-fiction and I thought it would be a nice change of pace for what I do. I hope that they can post more than once and that you guys enjoy them. But I'm going to let them introduce themselves to you. I think that is all for right now, minus me finishing the fourth season of Doctor Who and the third season of Sherlock, so I hope you guys are excited as I am about this summer! Talk To You All Later! -Kaitlynn