Wall-E - Reviewed by Patrick Walsh

The movie Wall.E is a 2008 computer animated science fiction film directed by Andrew Stanton and produced by Jim Morris. The main actors are the voices of Ben Burtt the sound engineer for WALL-E which stands for (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-class), Elissa Knight as EVE (Extra-terrestrial Vegetation Evaluator) Jeff Garlin as the Captain and Fred Willard as Shelby Forthright. The movie goes for 98 minutes

In the early 22nd century the Mega Corporation “Buy n Large” assumed every economic service on Earth, including the government. Overrun by un-recycled waste, the planet eventually became so polluted that it could no longer support life (it was literally covered in trash).
Buy n Large CEO Shelby Forthright developed a plan that would have humans spend the next five years aboard fully-automated star liners, while an army of "WALL-E" robots would compact the waste into skyscraper-like towers for easy disposal. However Forthrights plan failed dramatically. The oxygen on earth became unbreathable which made the earth virtually unbreathable. Shelby made the star liners stay their course, for the next 700 hundred years. Over several generations in a micro-gravity place which resulted in the loss of bone mass this then resulted in the humans becoming really obese and not being able to anything without the help of robotic assistance. On earth the Wall.E robot have failed except for one. This remaining robot still carries its duties but, after centuries of prolonged activation, it has developed a sort of personality and is very curious, befriending a cockroach, and watching an old video tape of Hello Dolly to learn about human emotions such as love.
During an average day at work Wall.E find a new plant growth inside an old fridge he places the plant inside a shoe for safekeeping. Later that day a space ship lands deport an EVE probe to search the land for new plant growth Wall.E fell in love with EVE at first sight even though eve is much more concerned on for filling her mission but is doesn’t worry Wall.E he follows her around for the rest of the day. When EVE was fed up with finding negative information she became more interested in Wall.E. Wall.E takes EVE back to his home to show her all of his stuff he has collected over time when Wall.E shows eve the plant eve scans it. EVE's automatic programming initiates, causing her to seize the plant and store it inside her. Wall.E is unable to wake EVE, but he goes to great length to protect her from the elements, as well as taking her motionless body out on dates. EVE’s space ship later returns to take EVE back t the axiom when the space ship came Wall.E was out doing his daily work Wall.E sees the space ship and goes as fast as he can to try to save EVE. When he is climbing up the side of the ship the ship takes off with Wall.E hanging on the side when the ship returns to the axiom, the flagship of the human star liners.
When Wall.E boards the axiom he discovers that EVE is part of the axioms programming to determine if the Earth is capable of supporting life. When the plant sample EVE carries is positively identified in the ship's holo-detector, the ship will return to Earth with its hyberjump engines, allowing humans to recolonize the planet. However, the ship's autopilot, referred to as "Auto," had received a final directive from Forthright those hundreds of years ago, incorrectly asserting that Earth had become too toxic to ever support life, and told the autopilots to stay the course in space. Auto takes measures to stop the plant from being delivered to the holo-detector by attempting to destroy it, having one of the robots under his control secretly steal the plant from EVE and attempt to launch it in a self-destructing escape pod. At first, EVE thinks WALL-E took and lost the plant and becomes really angry with him, and things only worsen between them when his clumsy antics at the robot repair ward get him and her into trouble by accidently letting all the broken robots escape. But when she tries to send WALL-E back to Earth in an escape pod, they both witness the true thief deposit the plant into the pod. WALL-E safely retrieves the plant for EVE who, out of gratitude, kisses him and shares a dance with him in space around the ship.
WALL-E and EVE try to return the plant to the ship's Captainso he can put the plant into the holo-detector, but Auto prevents them from bringing the plant to the holo-detector because of the message he had been sent 700 hundred years ago. The Captain understands that the plant is living proof that life is again sustainable on Earth, as well as a sign that they have to return to Earth to make amends, but Auto does not and drops WALL-E and EVE down a garbage chute into the Axiom's waste chambers. WALL-E is significantly damaged, and the only parts that can save him are those he kept on Earth. EVE, having realized her true feelings for WALL-E after observing through her own security recordings how he protected her while she was dormant, determines that the only way to return to Earth in time is to get the plant into the holo-detector and initiate the hyperjump. With the help of the humans and other robots, the two attempt to get the plant into the holo-detector, but are continually thwarted by Auto's control of the ship and security systems. The Captain manages to stand up on his own and deactivates Auto, allowing the plant to be placed in the holo-detector and sending the Axiom back to Earth, though WALL-E is damaged to an even greater extent in the process.
After the Axiom lands on Earth, EVE frantically attempts to repair WALL-E. Though she is able to restore his body, his memories and personality seem to have been erased, his waste-disposal programming taking over. EVE is heartbroken and mournfully gives WALL-E a farewell "kiss", resulting in an electrical spark that reboots WALL-E's memory. The two robots embrace happily as the humans from the Axiom take their first steps on Earth, carefully replanting the seedling that brought them back and begin working alongside the robots to restore their home.




after Wall.E, Wall.E escapes just in time he uses a fire extinguisher to propel himself back to the axiom. When Wall.E gets back on to the axiom he and EVE are on a mission to get the plant into the holo-detector to trigure the hyberjump engine to get back to earth but getting the holo-detector open and the plant inside it will be so hard because the autopilot (Auto) has control over the whole ship. After Wall.E has stuck himself under the holo-detector to keep it open Eve Evenly gets the plant inside triggering the hyberjump back to earth. When Wall.E had stuck himself under the holo-detector he was badly injured and also before that when he had been electrocuted by Auto (the ships auto pilot) Eve knows that the only spare parts are back on earth and they have to get there fast. When the axiom finally gets back to earth EVE is franticly trying to fix Wall.E when she had fixed him he went back to the way when he was just made which meant that Wall.E didn’t remember anything that had just happened. EVE was so upset she gave Wall.E a hug and when she did a little spark happened and Wall.E remembered everything again. The humans buried the plant that had brought then back to earth and began working alongside the robot to restore here homes.
The movie Wall.E is really a love story

Except instead of humans its robot this was a great movie I saw it three times I would really recommend this movie to the younger people.

Awful end - Philip Ardagh - Reviewed by Simon Mackenzie

Awful end is the first book of the Eddie Dickens trilogy written by Philip Ardagh this book is full of random but very hilarious subjects. This book would suit anyone from the age of 8 and up as long as they have a sense of humour.

Awful end is set in old days, it is the story of a young Eddie Dickens who has to move out of his house to get away from his parents who are extremely ill described in the book as “all yellow and crinkly around the edges” and he is taken away with Mad Uncle Jack (Eddies mad great uncle jack) “the thinnest of thin beaky-nosed gentlemen” who comes out of a wardrobe and his Even Madder Aunt Maud “a force o be reckoned with, with a stuffed stoat called Malcolm”. Together Eddie, Mad Uncle Jack and Even Madder Aunt Maud set of to Awful End although on the way they have many unexpected encounters.

I personally got into this book when I went to the city to see some authors speak which to me meant an afternoon off school until Philip Ardargh got up and spoke and got me interested, he was funny which to me didn’t happen in books until then books to me were boring words on paper that we had to read for school but Philip Ardagh opened my eyes in his speech and immediately I bought the book and cold not take my eyes off it until I had finished. This book means a lot to me as it opened my eyes to books because it is like no other book it is very random which I find funny.

This is a great book about a boy who has to be taken off kicking and screaming with his mad relatives, during the book Eddie gets entranced by a handkerchief, has a revolver pointed to his head, escapes inside a cow and many more crazy adventures. This is a great book which I highly recommend.

The Sleepwalker - Robert Muchamore - Reviewed by Richard Skok

Robert Muchamore has written a series of books called the Cherub series, consisted of many books including the Sleepwalker, the most recent of them all. The general genre of all these books is adventure and action. The age group that I think will best suit this book will be from the ages 8 – 15. I think this because it is an action packed book that will get young readers very interested.
An airplane experiences mid flight problems that causes it to crash over the ocean killing all passengers. CHERUB investigators (all 18 years old or less) are called into action. A help hotline is opened which causes a young boy from England to call accusing his father of doing it after he overheard strange conversations between him and his mum. This turns out to be partly true as he did have some involvement but it was also to do with a big trading ring.
Personally I thought that this book was very good. It was full of action which kept me very interested throughout the whole time I was reading it. It was the sort of genre that I like reading as well. Also the author, Robert Muchamore definitely earns his pay.
The genre of this story is adventure/action, a mixture of both. It is story that is fast paced with different things happening every chapter so that I being the reader am not bored whilst reading the book.
This book is the ninth instalment in the CHERUB series with a tenth, eleventh and twelfth to come. All books are based on problems that are occurring in the world where CHERUB agents are sent into action because no one ever expects a kid to be a spy.
The Sleepwalker is a book that relies on action to keep the reader interested and that is what it has succeeded in doing. This book along with the others that he has written have taught me how to write in this type of genre. He (Muchamore) has shown me that if you are going to write an action packed book you have to always keep it flowing, introducing new characters and making new and interesting things happen.
A great book!!

The General - Robert Muchamore - Reviewed by Jack Fry

Target Group: Teenagers

James Adams is back. The General is the latest release from incredibly successful teenage writer Robert Muchamore it is the 10th book to be released in the action packed Cherub series. This book alone has sold more than a million copies so far! It’s witty, exciting and of course a diarrhea filled story line will have you from the very first word. This novel offers an escape from the real world for the average teenager.
The General is set in modern day America where the world's largest urban warfare training compound Fort Reagan is playing host to the world’s biggest war game ever, but the British posses a secret weapon - a team of British cherub teenage spies lead by one of the most deadly men on the face of the earth.
Although the storyline sounds somewhat basic from a far, it is filled with twists and turns that will keep you guessing to the very last word. The story is able to introduce new characters onto the scene that only help to give the novel more life, for example we find out more about Kazakov, a Ukrainian training instructor whose brutal tactics and war expertise come right into play when he's asked to head an insurgency against an entire American battalion. The novel is also able to tie these super spy teenagers to everyday emotions, joy, sadness and a thirsty sense for adventure quite successfully by the end of this book you will feel like have met each character face to face. I would not hesitate to say that The General is a new breed in the world of teenage spy fiction - it really does leave Alex Rider kicking and screaming in a puddle of his own blood simply because it is more realistic. Robert Muchamore is defiantly one of the only writers that can make teenagers want to read again.
Writers tend to go with the basic Hollywood script allowing the reader to not think too much while reading but Robert Muchamore has defiantly gone above and beyond with his latest release - it’s as if the characters are right there in the room with you. These character aren’t the “die hard” type, in fact in this book, war is more than often fought with words than weapons. For instance, Muchamore seems to have an irreverent view on the American Military tactics and he expresses this by using the phrase: “that’s why you idiots lost the war in Iraq”. But in the end the novel is not one of a political nature and more than often has something blown up. But basically the back story is all about teen interaction, basically the same sort of storyline you’d pick up for teenager these days.
Basically this is a light and easy book to read, it does not even require the reading of previous books to know what is going on, although it does help to get an idea for the characters. This book is defiantly alright for younger readers from about ten years and up, but parents should keep in mind that sex, drugs and alcohol are bought up in this and previous books.
You might like this book if you also enjoyed the Boy Soldier series by Andy McNab, The Young Bond series by Charlie Higson and all of the other books in the Cherub series, and the Henderson's Boys series by Robert Muchamore.

Eragon - Christopher Paolini - Reviewed by Gianni Mancuso

Eragon (2003) is a compelling novel written in the genre of high fantasy. It is the first in a series of three other books written by Christopher Paolini. Set in the Ancient times, Eragon explores significant changes in life, for example the change from boyhood to manhood or more simply the ‘coming of age.’
This book will appeal well to any one from 11 to 18.

When Eragon, a simple farm boy in the village of Carvahall finds a polished blue stone while out hunting in the dangerous mountains known as the spine, his life is changed forever. He tries to sell it for money and unsuccessful in his attempts, he leaves the stone sitting in his cabin until it hatches into a majestic, glittering blue dragon. After a trip to the town storyteller, an old wizened man named Brom, he names the dragon Saphira. Eragon and his partner have stumbled upon the long lost legacy of the dragon riders, a secret group of heroes astride magnificent dragons fighting for order and peace in the country of Alagaesia. Unfortunately, Eragon is the only rider left apart from the malevolent King Galbatorix. It is his duty to restore peace to the land.

Although the glittering dragon has brought nothing but danger towards his only remaining family, Uncle Garrow and his cousin Roran. With the murder of his uncle by putrid servants of the King and the shocking departure of his cousin Eragon decides there is nothing left for him in Carvahall. He leaves in pursuit of the beasts that destroyed his home and killed his Uncle. With the help of Brom, Eragon faces his destiny. On his journey Eragon learns sword fighting, magic and the art of the ancient language. He will encounter many difficulties and events that no ordinary fifteen year old boy would even dream of, from fighting a shade and hordes of angry Urgals or fighting alongside dwarves and conversing with the mysterious Elves.

The most interesting aspect of Eragon was the many twists and turns that were intertwined in the plot. Several times throughout reading the book I was surprised and at times shocked with some of the events that occurred. Another interesting aspect of Eragon was the particular way Paolini has used many words from Old Norse and other languages and adapted them to use them in his book as the Ancient Language. As well as the many races in Eragon being a blend of different ancient cultures.

Christopher Paolini’s style of writing is very descriptive. He tends to put a lot of detail into every single aspect of the book. He uses a lot of similes and metaphors to put depth into his writing. Eragon shows that he is a very descriptive writer. In my opinion every single chapter of this book seems to be written with great enthusiasm. It seems as if Paolini has thought of a story and wanted to get it down on paper as soon as possible, without sacrificing quality.

Eragon explores the change from boyhood to manhood although with the addition of a dragon. This book also explores the many dangers and surprises life can throw at you and how you can deal with them. One of the issues explored is the responsibility of becoming an adult.


It is hard to write a fantasy novel that is not similar to others in a way. Tolkien wrote the first high fantasy novel, Lord of the Rings and since than it has been hard for other writers to come up with a novel as good as that. A lot of fantasy novels have been criticised for being similar to Lord of the Rings and Eragon has been a victim of that as well. The story line was not similar but the actual characters were criticised for being similar. For example, Tolkien was the first to use Elf’s that were almost human in character and Paolini himself has used elf’s similar to Tolkien’s version of them. As well as the fact that Paolini has been criticised for using an Orc like race called Urgals. Aside from the criticism Eragon has received it is a very unique book.

Eragon is a fantastic book, and I would recommend it to any other fantasy/adventure fan. It is a brilliantly written book and is a genuine page turner for anyone between 11 and 18. Eragon was written by a young first time author and could not be considered to be as good as Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings but it is still good enough to be named a ‘literary masterpiece’.

The Ersatz Elevator - A Series Of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket - Reviewed by Youssef Elias

The Ersatz Elevator is the 6th instalment for the Series Of Unfortunate Events. There are 3 main characters named; Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire. Violet, who is the eldest is known for her creation of inventions. Klaus, is the 2nd eldest, is known for his knowledge of books since he reads a lot. Sunny, is the youngest, is known for her very sharp teeth to cut things. They are orphans since their parents died in a house fire. The caretaker of the Baudelaire’s finances is Mr. Po. He is the person to put the three children in a book but something always goes wrong. Their enemy, Count Olaf, always follows them and tries to steal the Baudelaire’s fortune as their parents were very wealthy.

Plot Summary of the book:
Mr. Po sends them to stay with 2 wealthy people, Esmè and Jerome Squalor. They live at 667 Dark Avenue. The children had to climb 66 flights of stairs since the elevator was closed.

Throughout the book, Count Olaf is disguised as Gunther in an auction as they could see his one monocle to correct his vision and the high boots to cover a tattoo on his ankle.

Klaus recognises that all of the floors have one elevator, but the top floor had an extra elevator. They investigate the area for clues. They find out that it is an Ersatz Elevator, despite that it is empty without an elevator. So they went down the shaft and find 3 Quagmire children and said that Gunther was going to steal them and hiding the Quagmires in an item which he would win during an auction.

Klaus looks at an auction catalogue and notices item number 50 which is VFD. He does not know what it is. They rush to the auction and asks Mr. Po to buy item number 50. They bet $1,000 and they won. The box contained Very Fancy Doilies (VFD).

During the auction, Count Olaf is revealed since the wind blew his monocle and boots, seeing the eyebrow and tattoo. He flees and the Baudelaire’s move to another home, hoping that Count Olaf will never follow them again.

The most amazing part of the book was when Klaus found the Erstaz Elevator and down the shaft found the Quagmire triplets finally.

Why I recommend the book:I recommend this book to people who like Mystery, Action and Fantasy. Each of the main characters has an identity and something that they are good at. If you have seen the hit-action/adventure film: Lemony Snicket – A Series Of Unfortunate Events, I would start picking this book up and reading it.

2002 AFL Grand Final - Reviewed by Daniel Cookson

On a wet, miserable day in the city of Melbourne, the Brisbane Lions vying for back to back flags took on the young Collingwood Magpies who were aiming to win their first premiership since 1990. The lions started warm favourites but nobody was ready to ride off the Magpies who had defeated the reigning champs earlier in 2002.

The Brisbane side would carry in warriors such as Michael Voss, the gutsy captain who would lead from the front. Jason Akermanis, the 2001 Brownlow Medallist who could turn a game on its head, and of course Simon Black, the young man with silky skills, who had won the Brownlow Medal the Monday night before the huge game. The Magpies on the other hand, had the likes of Nathan Buckley, the inspirational captain who would always damage the opposition with his disposal. Anthony Rocca, the gun forward that was capable of kicking a bagful, and Chris Tarrant, the other key forward that had proved a handful on many occasions throughout the 2002 season.

In a somewhat dull start to the game, the slippery conditions made it difficult for both teams to score. Skill errors and ‘clangers’ played a major part in the opening term, with mistakes coming left right and centre. Although frustrating to watch at times, you knew you had a close, tough contest on that last day in September. The first goal of the fierce battle came late in the first quarter from a long, Anthony Rocca bomb. In fact, it was the only goal of the quarter, which set the low scoring trend for the day. It was the beginning of an epic.

The second quarter saw a body crunching display. The lions hit back hard with four classy goals, however the Magpies wouldn’t give in, and were only behind by eight points at the main break.

The third quarter, known by many as ‘the premiership quarter’ would prove pivotal in who would take home the silverware. The quarter saw Nathan Buckley, and Michael Voss, captains of either side playing their hearts out to get their side across the line. The Collingwood side pulled away to an eight point lead before the experienced Brisbane players lifted into another gear. Jonathan Brown and Michael Voss kicked two inspirational goals just before three quarter time to give the Lions the lead, which set up a phenomenal final term.

It was a genuine nail biter. Fans were on the edge of their seats. Everyone knew what was at stake, the 2002 AFL Premiership.
The quarter started with tremendous ferocity, as players dived on the ball from everywhere, doing anything they could to knock the ball forward. It wasn’t long before the Collingwood faithful were roaring again, after a Josh Fraser goal to open the quarter. Alastair Lynch, the Lions spearhead answered with a goal moments later which settled the Brisbane nerves. A controversial goal umpiring decision was then the centre of attention after an Anthony Rocca shot on goal was paid a behind. Collingwood fans were ropeable but as they say, you take the good with the bad and that’s football. Unfortunately, the Magpies players showed inexperience after this and were beaten to the ball on a number of occasions. The Lions’ big bodies were proving too good in the wet weather. With five minutes remaining, nerves were at an ultimate high. The ball was bottled inside the Brisbane 50m arc and didn’t look like it was coming out. Enter Jason Akermanis. The big-mouthed midfielder after having had a quiet day kicked a miraculous left foot snap to seal the Grand Final. The siren sounded shortly after. The Lions had snatched victory by 9 points, and had become the first team to win back to back premierships in five years. What a day, what a team, what a grand final!

Resident Evil - The Umbrella Conspiracy - S.D. Perry - Reviewedby Pat Prostamo

4/5 Stars

1998
Science Fiction, Horror (mixed genre)
304 Pages
Paper Back
First Book of Seven in series.

Resident Evil - The Umbrella Conspiracy (1998) is a novelisation of Capcoms popular video game Resident Evil (1995) this book was published during the time when the world was in a science fiction craze Perry seized this opportunity and published this book, the video game was loved by the world and this novel was sure to follow in the game’s footsteps. This book being a novelisation of the original resident evil game has the exact events occurring plus S.D Perry’s talent of creating a more in depth experience. Resident Evil - The Umbrella Conspiracy features the classic S.T.A.R.S (Special Tactics And Rescue Squad) in a critical situation that was the foundation of this multi-million dollar gaming series; Resident Evil. This was the situation that started it all! 1998- (The Mansion Incident).

The story starts in Raccoon City a mid-western town in America. There has been a series of grizzly murders in the Arkley Mountains near the old Spencer estate on the outskirts of raccoon city, the S.T.A.R.S Alpha Team are sent to investigate. Back at the base the alpha team doesn’t respond to radio calls made by fellow team mates, and after a while the bravo team leader Albert Wesker a cool, sly character who appears only in sunglasses and dark combat gear (this is his trade mark costume) is worried and orders the S.T.A.R.S Bravo team to move out and investigate. Whilst on there investigation night falls upon them, after searching for a few hours they see billowing smoke rising from the dense trees, here they find a the wreak of the Alpha teams Chopper they arrive at the scene and find no one at the crash site. At that moment no one knows what’s going on could this be a sick joke? What about the cannibalistic murders a sick ritual of some crazy cult? What about that big old mansion? The S.T.A.R.S team are in for a shocker.

Resident Evil - The Umbrella Conspiracy isn’t like any other of S.D Perry’s work
Its truly one of a kind her descriptiveness used in the book it really fantastic but there is one similarity to her other writing, the suspense and twist no other author can replicate the in depth explanations and background of the character making the reader feel what there about and perhaps relate to it in some way, to the extent that people actually think these events in the book are possible this is Perry’s way of writing. This book was the biggest success of her career.

For a fan of the game, the Umbrella Conspiracy by S.D. is a real treat me being a huge fan I loved it and rated it 4 out of 5 stars for its colorful back-story to the game also the author’s use of words that really made everything fit together. And even for newbie’s of the series, it helps to get a grasp of the timeline and the story itself. I a really good read that makes you feel one with the storyline. I personally recommend it for people who are sick of reading the same type of author and styles of writing over and over again get out there feel the Perry difference!

Stormbreaker - Anthony Horowitz - Reviewed by Frank Fotopoulos

Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz is the first book in the Alex Rider series. This book is in the action genre and can be enjoyed by people of all ages as long as you love explosions, gadgets and people dying. If you enjoyed watching the James Bond movies, this is a book for you.

Alex Rider was just a normal school boy until one day his uncle was killed. Alex discovers that his uncle was actually a spy who works for a company called M16, and is soon recruited by a man named Alan Blunt to finish off his uncles mission. In this book he is sent to a place called Cornwall to investigate a new computer system that was created by a man named Darrius Sayle. Sayle plans to give the computer systems to every school in the country and Alan Blunt thinks that he is planning something much worse. Alex Riders job is to find out what is really going on.

The most interesting part of this book and the rest of the series is always when Alex Rider is given new gadgets. I find this really interesting because when he obtains them it makes me wonder if he is ever going to need to use them in the book but in the end, they always come in handy for him at one stage or another.

Anthony Horowitz’s style of writing is full of imagination, action and mysteries waiting to be solved. I enjoy reading these books not only for the explosions and deaths but because they make you think about what is going to happen next and no matter what, you never guess it right. I think this is what makes a great writer, not only for his great choice of words but his great imagination.

If you are interested in reading the Alex Rider series, it is best to read it in the right order so that you understand the whole story and what is happening. All I can say is that this book is a great read and I recommend it to everyone. Overall I rate it an 8 out of 10.

Raven's Gate - Anthony Horowitz - Reviewed by John Apostolopoulos

Raven’s Gate by Anthony Horowitz is a fictional novel with a supernatural theme. It is first in the Power of Five series in which five children learn they have special powers which they need to use to defeat evil. This book has similarities to another series by Anthony Horowitz, the Alex Rider series, which also involves a teenager who is thrown into trouble and has to get out of many difficult situations.

In this novel, Matthew Freeman is a fourteen year old boy who gets into trouble with the police and is sent away to be fostered by an old lady in a small country town. When strange things start happening, Matthew learns that he is different and is thrown into battle against ancient evil enemies called the Old Ones. Not only does Matthew have to fight the enemy but he also has to struggle to come to terms with the fact that he is different from other ordinary people.

I find Raven’s Gate an enthralling book that has a great storyline and many clever twists in the plot. The story starts off slowly but builds into scary adventure of supernatural beings and the struggle to keeps evil at bay. For Matthew Freeman, things just gets worse and worse and it seems that his troubles are never-ending so when you’re reading this book, there is always suspense and a sense of dread for Matthew. It really makes you enjoy the book and get into the excitement of the adventure. It is able to capture you without becoming over the top or silly and unbelievable.

Raven’s Gate is the first in the series which means the book ends with suspense and leaves you wanting to continue reading the rest of the books in the series. Just when you think Matthew has solved all his problems more of them appear, paving the way for many books in the series.

Protect and Defend - Vince Flynn - Reviewed by Adam Rajic

Vince Flynns latest installment of Mitch Rapp’s thrilling exploits is a book that you wont be able to put down until you have finished it. The book takes you deep into the world of espionage, death and politics.
Protect and defends action starts in the heart of Iran where the Iranians are creating a nuclear weapons facility only to be destroyed by a threatened Israel which creates a landslide affect in Iran. And they demand retribution but some in the Iranian government want much more. They want to destroy the people behind it Israel and their U.S backers. Mitch Rapp sees away to embarrass the Iranian government so they can gain little from lee way with the world leaders. This involves sending the C.I.A’s director Irene Kennedy to have a secret meeting with Iran’s head of intelligence. America isn’t the only one making plans. Iran’s president calls upon Hezbollah’s master terrorist Imad Mukhta. As Irene Kennedy meeting turns into a disaster with Irene being kidnapped Mitch is given 24 hours to do what it takes- no questions asked- to save her.
The most interesting part of the book is near the end where Mitch Rapp has three terrorists hostage and has to find out where Irene Kennedy is being held. But bureaucracy keeps trying to get in the way of Mitch and bring him in. So he decides that his career is worth the life of Kennedy. So stops caring about bureaucracy and what they think of him and what they will do when he gets and sets his mind on his mission “to save Irene Kennedy”
The issues explored in this book are the bureaucracy that holds back Mitch back when he is on his mission to save Irene Kennedy from certain torture and death. The political instability in the regions of the Middle East where Israel is surrounded by its enemies and is fighting a battle to survive and how this battle is a helpful for the Americans sometimes it also creates some of the biggest problems for them. But one of the main issues in this book is about global terrorism and how America is bringing the fight to the terrorists and winning.
This book is a little similar to the other books in the series and also to books by Andy Mcnab and Chris Ryan. But unlike all those other books it is in a league of its own with a thrilling piece of literature, it is a no holds book willing to say anything about anyone. It will show you how bureaucracy has gone mad yet how great it is. This book is unique in that way.
This book is one of the best books I have ever read it is a political thriller full of emotion, excitement, action and drama. This book is for all the people who read military type books, want something harder want to read about spies but it is not for the faint hearted. This book will make you crave to read all the books in this series. It will make you hunt out other authors that write their books

The Accident Man - Tom Cain - Reviewed by Gary Yang

The Accident Man by Tom Cain is about a hard-nosed, steely-eyed assassin by the name of Samuel Carver and one of the biggest worldwide events in the last decade, the death of Princess Diana. Carver is a former Royal Marine, who works for an organisation called the Consortium. Carver kills people for money, using his former military background to help him make the deaths looks like an accident.
Samuel Carver is on holiday, he wants to quit his job as a professional killer, but at the last moment he gets a call from his boss, known to him as only Max, it is a job that he cannot refuse, 3 million dollars, to kill an Islamic terrorist. It seems like a straightforward job, set up a car crash in a Paris underpass, Carver decides this is his last job, one last hit before he retires. What Carver doesn’t realise is that he has been set up.
When the car arrives, with a motorbike behind it making the car speed up by pretending it was paparazzi, Carver is using a long barrelled torch, which emits a beam of laser which will temporarily disorient anyone when shone in their eyes. All Carver needs to do is to shine the beam into the driver’s eyes and the driver would do the rest for him. No trace would be left behind, it would be there and then it would be gone, the perfect weapon to cause an accident. As soon as the light is shone into the driver’s eyes, the car goes out of control, and crashes, killing everyone on board.
The two people on the motorbike then chase and attempt to kill Carver, who escapes capturing a beautiful Russian woman and three hours later Carver realises why he needed to die, he has just killed the most famous woman in the world, Princess Diana.
Carver soon falls in love with his Russian ally, Alix, but his love may be short lived as he gets captured by the man he knows as Max and his bosses. Could Alix, the love of his life, have double crossed him from the very start? Carver then gets tortured and nearly killed as he tries to escape from the clutches of the Consortium.
I really enjoyed this fast-paced thriller, I found myself not being able to put it down and recommend it for anyone who likes books by Lee Child, Matthew Reilly and the like. This is a very authentic and original book, and is a great read, it is the first great book of hopefully many by a new up-and-coming thriller/crime writer.

The Recruit - Robert Muchamore - Reviewed by Hugh Golden

The Recruit is an action packed, crime and and adventure fiction book written by Robert Muchamore. It is the first of the Cherub Series which is a series of books based on a organisation called Cherub. Cherub is basicly a’ CIA’ style group, where kids and teenagers aged between 10 and 18 are trained and sent on secret missions to do things adults can’t.
The series follows a boy named James Adams and his little sister Lauren.Their Family have had a lot of bad luck. After their mother died, the siblings ended up separated. James was then taken to Cherub with Lauren he then goes through the hardest thng he would ever do basic trainning, with the prospect of his first mission looming ahead if he can get through in one piece. Other people in James life at Cheurb are his roomate and his new best friend Kyle, his partner in basic trainning Kerry, Amy who teaches james to swim before basic training and mac the head of cherub.
The First thing that made me feel interested in this series is the quote on the back which reads “A terrorist doesn’t let strangers into her flat because they might be undercover police or intelligntce agents, but her children bring their mates home and they run all over the place. The terrorist doesn’t know that one of the kids has bugged every room in her house, made copies of all her computer files and stolen her a address book.The kid works for Cherub”.
This made me feel intreeged by this book and from the first chapter i have enjoyed it . The reason i was drawn to this book was because i love action and suspense books because they erge me to keep reading.

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea - Jules Verne - Reviewed by Saeed Sidaoui

“20,000 leagues under the sea” it is an amazing fictional action packed novel that was first published in 1872.
It starts off in 1866 when newspapers all over the world are writing terrifying stories about a creature that has been terrorising the earth’s oceans.
Professor Pierre Aronnax and his servant and his master harpooner join the global hunt for a so called creature of the deep. They search and search again but like the rest of the planet they find nothing. One day when they fear all hope is lost they spot something far away in the ocean, as they approach the mysterious object in the distance they seem to realise that it is moving fast. As they approach it they come to realise that it is the mysterious creature of the deep after all. They are now on the chase to catch the monster, they harpoon the creature but the harpoons just seem to bounce right of its skin. As they continue in an attempt to kill the creature. The monster comes to a halt in the middle of the ocean and the professor and his crew stop their ship right next to the monster with harpoons ready. The monster is absolutely magnificent, it is shaped like an extremely large fish with a large metal fin at the top used to ram and destroy other ships. The camouflage of the ship is amazing it looks like a large fish, to their amazement people arise from the monster and board the professor’s ship. As they capture the professor and his crew and take them into the monster which they soon come to realise that it’s not a monster at all, it’s a submarine. As they are thrown into the submarine they become extremely scared and they expect anything. A man comes from a room and introduces himself to the professor and his crew, “Let me introduce myself, I am Captain Nemo captain of this ship. The Nautilus”. The professor and his crew grow to think that Captain Nemo is extremely mysterious and a little scary. They become members of the crew on the Nautilus and begin to terrorise waters and go on extremely exciting adventures like venturing out and discovering the lost city of Atlantis. There is an exciting twist at the end concerning captain Nemo and the Nautilus.
This book is absolutely amazing that’s why it has earned my favourite book of all time because it keeps you on the end of your seat the whole way through it.

One Piece - Reviewed by Yuta Takahashi

One piece is a fantasy and adventure filled fiction manga (a Japanese comic this term will be often used) series written and illustrate by Oda Eiichiro. It is about a pirate going through many islands to reach the one piece and become the pirate king. This manga is suitable for people aged over 9 years old. In Japan there are adults reading this manga even in Australia that is hard to believe.

The manga is situated in an age of pirates where every pirate in the world wants to be the pirate king. To be a pirate king you must find the treasure known as “One Piece” which was hidden by Gold Roger when he was the first pirate king. This treasure is known to hold power, wealth and everything human desires.

The main character, a pirate named Monkey. D. Luffy. ate a cursive fruit which allows the person who ate the fruit to have supernatural powers but suffer the consequence of not being able to move in water. Luffy ate the “Gomu Gomu fruit” which gave him the power of elastic. This allowed him to stretch his body and deflect solid non sharp object like a rubber band.

In one piece nothing is impossible there are many things like humans turning into flames and mere folks which are half fish and half human creatures and other things which seem ridiculous. The author inspired me and reminds me when I write fictional stories that it doesn’t have to be normal to be good it just have to be something that I enjoy writing about.

Luffy cares most about his “nakama” which means friend, mate, family and other people who he cares about. In his case it is his crew mate which travels and goes through fun times and hard times together. He does not get angry easily but when his nakama is physically hurt or when they do not give any respect at all to them he will get extremely angry. He will do anything to get revenge or return the pain or agony that his nakama felt to whoever inflicted to them. He does not get angry because he hates the other person but because he cares about his nakama.

This manga shows how important friends, family and other important people in a very action filled adventurous way. If you enjoy reading fantasy novels then you will hopefully enjoy this manga.

Sea of Trolls - Nacy Farmer - Reviewed by Aaron Syrjanen

Nancy Farmer is an award winning author and 2 of her books have won awards and one of the books is the House of Scorpions and the other is the Sea of Trolls. The Sea of Trolls is a fantasy book crossed with an adventure book because there is fighting and there is made up creatures and if you like the Hobbit, you would probably like the Sea of Trolls. The book explores war against countries or places and this is noticed when it is found out that the humans are against the trolls (the evil.) Since this book has won an award, it has been very popular and many other people read it because it is a lot like the Lord of the Ring trilogy and the Hobbit.

The plot is for the humans to find a young strong boy and they did. His name was Jack and he and his little sister were captured by some humans called Northmen (Berserkers.) The Northmen want Jack to defeat the evil Half Troll named Frith. Frith is over powering to the Northmen and commands them to give her Jack. He puts a spell on Frith by accident and is told to find a way to undo the spell which has made Frith quite sick.
Personally I think is one of the best books I have ever read because there is always action and the language used is very detailed and interesting. It’s a lot like the Hobbit and I enjoyed reading the Hobbit and when I read some reviews on the book and found out that it was a lot like the Hobbit, I decided to read it. I would rate it about 4 stars for the book continues action and even if you don’t like fantasy books you would probably enjoy reading the book for its action.
The language is very detailed and Nancy Farmer must have read the Hobbit before writing the Sea of Trolls because the language is a lot like the language of the Hobbit. The writing style changes sometimes for example when a group are at a forest or castle the writing might be different from when someone they go to another area or if someone is talking the writing style is different.
There are many problems that happen in the book, like when Jack and his sister get captured by the Northmen or when Jack gets banished from the Kingdom of Trolls. One of the biggest issues is when Jack gets sent out of the Kingdom because of putting a charm on Frith and making her quite ill and when he is sent out of the kingdom he has to find a well that will make Frith better and if he never finds the well he will never be allowed in to the kingdom again.
Like I said before The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien is a lot like the Sea of Trolls because the hero is the most unlikely of people and there are small issues along the way like in the Hobbit there are goblins and in the Sea of Trolls there is trolls. Another example is the evil sides in the book are a lot like one another. Everyone fears Frith because she is very powerful and can do a lot of damage. Smoug is also very powerful and most people are fearful of him.
Sea of Trolls can be like the Tale Ban because Northmen and people are quite afraid of the Half Troll (Frith) and army forces and people are very afraid of the Tale Ban because there is a high chance that you might get killed, by both, Frith and the Tale Ban. The book can also relate to kidnappings because Jack and his Little Sister (Lucy) get captured by the Northmen and quite often there are people who get kidnapped.

The Sea of Trolls has had a great impact on my by that it taught me to take more risks instead of and it would probably have the same impact on other readers than it did on me.

AFL 2008 GRAND FINAL HAWTHORN VS GEELONG by Annom

The 2008 grand final was set out to be one to be remembered, with hawks as the underdogs they had big names Franklin, Hodge, and the big Dew ready to fire, while the cats had the big names with, Garry Ablett, Jimmy Bartel, and the norm smith medalist from last year Steve Johnson. The grand final was set for all who love there footy to be one to be remembered. The cats having a big blow before the bounce seeing loving member Dean Voss not able to attend. Would this upset there chances of going back to back?

The grand final had a huge crowd of 100,012 attending. Two Victorian teams going head to head, could it be any bigger then this? Fighting for pride and glory some possibly playing there last AFL game. The entertainment before hand was over and the crowd erupted as the teams came out ready for the big bounce. All eyes were on the big man Stuart Dew, could he bring home the bacon like for Port Adelaide in 2004. The hawks won the toss and we were ready to go.
As the players went to positions little Mathew Stokes approached the gladiator in Luke Hodge and tested his ribs out from the previous match, where Hodge copped two big knocks to the ribs. Mathew Stokes had no impact on him, as Hodge just pushed him off, then big Dew came from nowhere and knocked little Stokes over. The players where pumped ready before the bounce. Geelong was sad to see that member Daniel Langford was in the crowd. On the way up to the coaches’ box, Geelong coach Mark Thomson and Hawthorn coach Alistair Clarkson, had a bit of a toufle before the game, from the previous night at the footy show were Bomber saw former Geelong player Sam Newman getting called Shrek by hawks star Shane Crawford.

The umpire bounced the ball and the two ruckmen went for it. Two minutes in the big story man, Tom Lonergan took a mark and slotted the first goal. The crowd erupted. What a story it has been for Tom Lonergen, as he lost a kidney in a game, and almost lost his life. The game was a tuff physical game, was as close as it could be at quarter time with the score reading Geelong 5.3.33 and Hawthorn 5.2.32. With big name for Geelong Bartel come out with 14 touches, and hawthorn Hodge firing up take some great marks on the last line of defense.

By the start of the second quarter the players were already tired and saw and it now was a big mental thing, and had to run till they can’t walk anymore. Geelong dominated the quarter, but were very poor in front of the goals leaving the hawks in the match. With Mooney firing in the first his confidence had dropped after missing two easy chances in front of goal. And Brad Ottens missing an absolute sitter, from 20m out on the run no angle. The hawks managed to take the lead at the half by 3 points with the scores reading Geelong 6.12. 48 and the hawks leading Geelong 8.3.51. Cats needed to lift and one man who really needed to was Mathew Stokes. With Geelong
coach going straight to him giving him a spray. Would Mathew Stokes be the one to lift?
The third quarter was ready to start, players pumped the hawks of to a great start with kicking the first three goals they were under the pump. Geelong was again poor in front of goal and this was looking to coast them the game. Hawks kicking straight, Geelong were kicking terrible. During the quarter the Cats made a come back and hit the lead as cats man Gary Ablett kicking a great goal on the run putting them in front by one point. The responded with a goal straight away with there big man Buddy Franklin. Then the game slipped away, as the big man himself Stuart Dew was inspirational kicking the next two goals pumping his guns as the hawks edged away from the cats. At three quarter time the hawks lead the cats with the score reading, Hawthorn 14.5. 89 and the cats 9.18. 72. The game was still on as the cats knocked on two late ones and were only 17 points down. Who will win? Can the cats come back, or will the hawks hang on? We are in for a great finish.

Last Quarter, now the battle of the fit. Hawks ready to go. Ablett ready to lift the cats. First goal is critical. Geelong wasted fist chances early to get them in the game and the hawks once again took advantage of this and put the game out of reach. It’s just not the cat’s day. Hawks can’t wait till the end as they enjoy the last quarter. Siren sounds and the hawks win by 26 points, cats were left stranded. Hodge winning best on ground, with the big Dew coming second. Hawks could not be happier. Hawks turn out to create a upset and are premiers 2008.

Max Kirwan

2002 AFL Grand Final by Annom

On a wet, miserable day in the city of Melbourne, the Brisbane Lions vying for back to back flags took on the young Collingwood Magpies who were aiming to win their first premiership since 1990. The lions started warm favourites but nobody was ready to ride off the Magpies who had defeated the reigning champs earlier in 2002.

The Brisbane side would carry in warriors such as Michael Voss, the gutsy captain who would lead from the front. Jason Akermanis, the 2001 Brownlow Medallist who could turn a game on its head, and of course Simon Black, the young man with silky skills, who had won the Brownlow Medal the Monday night before the huge game. The Magpies on the other hand, had the likes of Nathan Buckley, the inspirational captain who would always damage the opposition with his disposal. Anthony Rocca, the gun forward that was capable of kicking a bagful, and Chris Tarrant, the other key forward that had proved a handful on many occasions throughout the 2002 season.

In a somewhat dull start to the game, the slippery conditions made it difficult for both teams to score. Skill errors and ‘clangers’ played a major part in the opening term, with mistakes coming left right and centre. Although frustrating to watch at times, you knew you had a close, tough contest on that last day in September. The first goal of the fierce battle came late in the first quarter from a long, Anthony Rocca bomb. In fact, it was the only goal of the quarter, which set the low scoring trend for the day. It was the beginning of an epic.

The second quarter saw a body crunching display. The lions hit back hard with four classy goals, however the Magpies wouldn’t give in, and were only behind by eight points at the main break.

The third quarter, known by many as ‘the premiership quarter’ would prove pivotal in who would take home the silverware. The quarter saw Nathan Buckley, and Michael Voss, captains of either side playing their hearts out to get their side across the line. The Collingwood side pulled away to an eight point lead before the experienced Brisbane players lifted into another gear. Jonathan Brown and Michael Voss kicked two inspirational goals just before three quarter time to give the Lions the lead, which set up a phenomenal final term.

It was a genuine nail biter. Fans were on the edge of their seats. Everyone knew what was at stake, the 2002 AFL Premiership.The quarter started with tremendous ferocity, as players dived on the ball from everywhere, doing anything they could to knock the ball forward. It wasn’t long before the Collingwood faithful were roaring again, after a Josh Fraser goal to open the quarter. Alastair Lynch, the Lions spearhead answered with a goal moments later which settled the Brisbane nerves. A controversial goal umpiring decision was then the centre of attention after an Anthony Rocca shot on goal was paid a behind. Collingwood fans were ropeable but as they say, you take the good with the bad and that’s football. Unfortunately, the Magpies players showed inexperience after this and were beaten to the ball on a number of occasions. The Lions’ big bodies were proving too good in the wet weather. With five minutes remaining, nerves were at an ultimate high. The ball was bottled inside the Brisbane 50m arc and didn’t look like it was coming out. Enter Jason Akermanis. The big-mouthed midfielder after having had a quiet day kicked a miraculous left foot snap to seal the Grand Final. The siren sounded shortly after. The Lions had snatched victory by 9 points, and had become the first team to win back to back premierships in five years. What a day, what a team, what a grand final!

Daniel Cookson

The Power of One - Buce Courtenay - Nick Kenyon-Smith

This story is written by Bruce Courtenay who’s written a lot of great books. This story is about a young English boy by the name of Peekay. He comes from a family of just his Mother and his Grandmother.
Peekay is soon forced to attend an African Boarding school a long way away from home where he is tortured and treated like a slave to the older Afrikaner kids. Although Peekay finds a friend in an old chicken brought who he’s been looking after for several years.
He finds it very hard to mix in with the others seeing most of them were from other heritages including Indian, Zulu and other African countries.
When Peekay is at school without any friends or family, he’s alone to deal with all the older boys who make his life absolute hell. The boys realise Peekay is different when they see he has no ‘helmet on his snake’.
Peekay returns to his home very scared and tells his family about what’s been happening, but there really isn’t anything they can do about it.
Reading this book get’s you quite angry at some points but then can make you very happy by the way Peekay acts in different situations. It may not sound as interesting as it is when you’re reading as I was up very late at night and couldn’t put it down!
I would recommend this book not so much to younger children but mainly to years 13 and older. There are some parts in the story which are a bit confusing and hard to understand.

Nick Kenyon-Smith

The Recruit- Robert Muchamore

The Recruit (Robert Muchamore) is a thrilling action story of children being used as undercover government-based agents. The organization, CHERUB was created by Charles Henderson, who chose to make it when he saw the French in a war use children as messengers and scouts. At first he trained only 20 British boys, but when he died in 1946, CHERUB had thrived to an amazing 200 boys, all younger than 17 and with no parents.

James Choke, an average London boy goes to school, and lived a normal life, until his mother died of drug overdose, meaning he and his sister had to live in foster care, as they had no real father. This is when his life went down the drain. How he reacted was outrageous as he was into gangs, booze and stealing.

James is the reason why I like this book. He is a rebel and smart, but he doesn’t know what his limits are. This proved when he decided by extreme peer pressure to steal, the day after a police warning. If CHERUB hadn’t recruited him, his life would be messed up as he would have started on drugs, murders and alcohol. He is the reason why I keep flicking the pages in the story.
The Recruit is filled with many interesting characters like James, who takes his sister, Lauren and girlfriend, Kerry for granted. This proved lethal at times as Kerry hurts him and when he gains an appalling reputation of treating girls like dirt, but he always manages to get them back, because of his so called ‘good looks’.

Kerry tries to make James’ life easier when he goes through a 100 day real life test, as she had done half before, but only makes things worse as the instructors watched them more closely to see if any shortcuts were taken, which was done, resulting in serious punishments involving only teamwork to solve them. They did.

In a world like ours it may seem not just right to use innocent children who have no parents to guide them as undercover agents, but the only way to see how CHERUB’s lifestyle really works is if you read the book!

Michael Addamo

Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman

Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman is a thrilling fantasy book and the first in the His Dark Materials trilogy. It is aimed at young adults – adults. It is a well written book that is fairly easy to read. Set in a universe different but similar to our own, it has many twists and turns of events that eventually all connect to each other, as well as leaving open ends for the sequels.

Northern Lights is about a young girl named Lyra who lives in a world where everybody’s soul is a separate being, their dæmon (pronounced demon), who is in the form of an animal. Lyra has grown up an orphan at a college all her life, not knowing her intelligent and powerful parents. When her friend Roger is kidnapped by the ‘Gobblers’, Lyra becomes determined to rescue him. Her journey takes her north to Bolvanger, where scientists conduct horrible experiments that split away the child’s soul from their body.

I really enjoyed this book and others of its genre because of how it allows you to completely escape from reality and be absorbed by the magical themes of another world, where there are many different concepts. One of the most interesting parts in this book was how it combined a magical universe together with our own, and how each person can talk with their soul. It has an intriguing mix of reality and magic that compels the reader to keep on reading.
Northern Lights is fast paced and full of action whilst still having very good descriptive writing. The descriptiveness of the novel makes it seem a lot more real and convincing. The book often focuses on Lyra’s emotions, which are the cause of her journey to the north and later to the parallel universe.
There were many themes and moral issues in the novel. Loyalty and friendship was a major one of these, the main storyline of the quest was of Lyra rescuing her friend. Power was another theme raised in the book, most of this was controlled by the church. The church heavily influenced morals and ethics. The church did not agree with Lord Asriel’s (Lyra’s father) quest to prove that there was no God and so he was locked away. The church also did not really agree with the Bolvanger experiments of splitting the soul and body of children, but with Mrs. Coulter (Lyra’s mother) on both sides, they still happened. Another theme raised in the book was that of ultimate good. This involved Lyra and the Gyptians attempting to stop the Bolvanger experiments.

I found this book was similar to some of the concepts of Harry Potter, which also combines magic and reality. Again, Harry Potter is in the fantasy genre. Harry Potter also has the themes of friendship, loyalty and ultimate good overpowering evil.

Overall, I found this book to be a very good read. I enjoyed reading so much that I went out and bought the other two books in the trilogy. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy books such as Harry Potter.

Daniel Langford

West Coast Vs Sydney by Annom

The 2006 AFL Grand Final was relentlessly bursting with excitement and action. The game took place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground at around 2:30 pm. 90,000 odd thousand fans, saw the West Coast Eagles take on the Sydney Swans. The battle of the big birds. It was a close game all day but in the end the Eagles in a thriller won by a point.

West Coast were warm favourites after last years marginal loss of 4 points to the Swans so there was a lot of preasure on the Eagles to do well and show some pride.

Ben Cousins and Chris Judd had both won Brownlow Medal’s in previous years and were set to have a big Grand Final and they did. Ben cousins, Chris Judd, Dean Cox and Andrew Emble all had a great game for the Eagles, while Brett Kirk, Adam Goodes Tadhg Kennelly and Nick Davis all played well for the Swans.

Although the West Coast Eagles were very successful on the football field, behind the scenes it was a different story. Ben Cousins who had a drug problem had missed a quarter of the season, as a result of being suspended by the club for taking elicit drugs. The club also stripped him of the captaincy which he handed over to Chris Judd.

Andrew Emble for the Eagles who played well all day received a medal called the Norm Smith. The Norm Smith Medal goes to the player who has been judged by a panel of experts as being the best player on the day.

After the game it’s a tradition, for the premiership players to be presented with a premiership medal by 22 lucky kids involved in the Auskick program. However there was controversy with some players not shaking the child’s hand as the children present the player with a medal. It made the daily papers and the news the next day and embarrassed the players who did not give the kid a pat on the back or a hand shake.

The following day was a day full of celebrations for the Eagles and their supporters across the country. As for the Swans It was a day of disappointment and thinking about what could’ve been. They gained respect of the football public as they were gallant in defeat and know that they gave West coast a run for there money.

This particular Grand Final was one of my favourites, and I recommend that people start watch Australians Rules Football. Football can leave you anxious one minute and satisfied the next. AUSTRALIAN RULES FOOTBALL IS A MUST WATCH.

Mathew La Selva

Brisingr – Christopher Paolini

As with the other books in the “Eragon” series, this book is a thrilling read for all ages above 10. It offers an in depth story line as well as interesting characters. The plot is about a former young farm boy named Eragon. His world is turned upside down when he discovers a dragon into the forest near his home and through several events in brings him to the Varden, the main stage of “Brisingr”. From there he leaves to help decide the new dwarf king and uphold his oaths to the different races of Alagasia, a formidable task. Like “Eldest” this book also depicts the story form different people, such as Eragon’s cousin Roran or his dragon, Saphira. It shows how they perceive the world as well as others and makes the characters seem so much more alive!
Brisingr also explains more magic and how it works as if it were like learning a new language. It offers a look into Eragon’s parents and an unexpected twist that changes the story forever.

As well as continuing the story form “Eldest” (the previous book in the series) it also answers questions left hanging in the air at the end of Eldest. It also provides the perspectives of the characters and how they react to different situations. Paolini’s style of writing makes the characters seem so real it makes you feel like your reading about something that actually happened with real people, instead of reading a fiction novel.

Brisingr ends on such a note it makes you beg you could read just one more page. It sets the stage for the finale of the “Eragon” series and leaves wondering one thing. What happens next?

Jason Aravanis

The Recruit By Robert Muchamore

The Recruit is an action packed, crime and and adventure fiction book written by Robert Muchamore. It is the first of the Cherub Series which is a series of books based on a organisation called Cherub. Cherub is basicly a’ CIA’ style group, where kids and teenagers aged between 10 and 18 are trained and sent on secret missions to do things adults can’t.
The series follows a boy named James Adams and his little sister Lauren.Their Family have had a lot of bad luck. After their mother died, the siblings ended up separated. James was then taken to Cherub with Lauren he then goes through the hardest thng he would ever do basic trainning, with the prospect of his first mission looming ahead if he can get through in one piece. Other people in James life at Cheurb are his roomate and his new best friend Kyle, his partner in basic trainning Kerry, Amy who teaches james to swim before basic training and mac the head of cherub.
The First thing that made me feel interested in this series is the quote on the back which reads “A terrorist doesn’t let strangers into her flat because they might be undercover police or intelligntce agents, but her children bring their mates home and they run all over the place. The terrorist doesn’t know that one of the kids has bugged every room in her house, made copies of all her computer files and stolen her a address book.The kid works for Cherub”.
This made me feel intreeged by this book and from the first chapter i have enjoyed it . The reason i was drawn to this book was because i love action and suspense books because they erge me to keep reading.

Hugh Golden

Just Tricking! – Playing Dead, Andy Griffiths

Andy Griffith’s Just Tricking! is an extremely humorous book, but there is one story in particular that just made me laugh. It was Playing Dead, which is a short story in this hilarious book. It is simply about a young boy who thinks it would be funny to pretend that he is dead. Will Andy pull off what he thinks will become one of his greatest “practical jokes”?

It’s a normal school morning, and Andy is still in bed. He truly believes that he can convince his parents that he is dead so that he doesn’t have to go to school. Andy thinks that if he can pull it off, it will become one of his greatest practical jokes ever. His father enters the room and Andy is holding his breath and making his body tight and still as can be. But what is going to happen when Andy’s father feels his pulse to see if he is still alive? This is one thing that Andy cannot fake, but luckily he doesn’t feel his pulse. Andy then has the opportunity to wake up and stop “playing” dead, but he doesn’t. Surprisingly, both his parents fall for the joke and they are both extremely sad, but this sadness feeling soon wares off, which is a bit weird. Perhaps Andy’s parents know that it’s a practical joke. Straight away they bury him in the backyard and it begins to get hard for Andy to breathe when he has piles of mud getting thrown on to him. He gives up immediately. He lies upright and screams out, “Just Tricking!”. What will Andy’s parents will say now, or did they know about the joke and were just trying to teach him a lesson?

This story is a great and hilarious short story that is very entertaining and easy to read. Playing Dead would have to be one of the funniest stories that I have ever read. Just Tricking! and many other books from the Just! Series are books that will just leave you wanting more and you’ll always want to read it again laughing to your self over and over.

Daniel Ridolfi

White Lies by J.C Burke

“White lies” is a great fiction story written by J.C Burke. This book was published in August 2002, and the book was notable in 2003. This book took me on journey through a very sad, tragic and hurtful part of young Mitch’s life.


This novel is about a student in high school called Mitch Davies who is struggling to understand his life and the people in it. Through little flashbacks in the chapters, I learned about Mitch's close relationship with his grandfather, Paul, since he was a young boy.


Mitch grew up sharing his passion of surfing with Paul and Paul, who was a professional surfer, was able to teach his grandson everything he knew. They have a special bond and Paul is the only father figure that Mitch has ever had. However, Mitch finds out his grandfather is suffering from leukemia but swallows the lies that he is told by his aunt and mother that Paul will fully recover. Of course, it wasn't long until Mitch discovers that the one reliable man that has helped bring him up won't live to see Mitch compete in an important surfing competition. Mitch began to lose faith in life and the meaning in surfing, viewing it as useless and such a minor thing, which is the last thing that Paul wanted. However, Diana, a girl that Mitch has been in a relationship with teaches him the importance of pursuing the gift that he has and forgiving his family.


I really enjoyed this book because this book related to me a lot, because I have been in many situations like Mitch. Mitch didn’t have a father and his grandfather was his father figure, and yet I had a father and my mother had to be my father figure. I was told many white lies as well: when my parents were divorced I was in China and I didn’t know until a year later. After knowing the shocking news I was shattered thinking everything will never be the same. But after going to church and year of face the facts and the help of my mother everything went back to normal. The only thing that wasn’t the same was that my father is living with someone else.

White Lies is an enjoyable book for all students in high school that involves important issues that teenagers experience today. It is a book that can make readers look at their lives in new perspectives and learn how difficulties and problems should be faced. I would recommend this novel to anyone and thought it was a well-written and interesting read. A book I could read over and over again.

Jono Xu

The Boys Who Saved the World by Sam Mills

"The boys who saved the world", the title of the book first made me think of Alex Rider and CIA agents. After reading the book I have to admit I was wrong, there was no CIA mentioned.

The story is based on a group of boys who have formed a new religion based on there leader's teaching, who god supposedly speaks through. At first you might think what a boring book, but I have not mentioned that these are devoted worshippers. When Jeremiah, the leader says there is a terrorist planning to plant a bomb in the school the group believe him and they agree, they must kidnap the terrorist.

I loved this book and the reason I did was because it raised morale questions and what is right and what is wrong. My favourite line in the book is when Jeremiah says "People who do bad don't realised there doing bad but they think there doing good". The reason this is so significant is because he is doing what most of society thinks as wrong but he is convinced he doing good.

I would recommend the book to people interested in cults or the world we live in. The story is set only over 7 days but it will be the most exciting 7 days you have ever remembered.

Marcus Saunders

Mao's Last Dancer Li Cunxin - Reviewed By Danny

Mao’s Last Dancer by Li Cunxin

Danny Bickerstaff

He came from a poor peasant family. Cunxin’s home consisted of 6 rooms. He lived there with his parents and 6 brothers as well as other extended family members totaling over 20 members. Because of this, in his house, there wasn’t much privacy.

Cunxin’s mother did all the housework so she stayed home and didn’t go to work. However, the other adults went to work on the farm growing food like rice to sell at local market. This didn’t bring in much money so the children would search around the village for used coal, which they would bring home so that they would be warm in the cold months.

Even though Cunxin and his family didn’t have many materialized possessions they were quite happy. They knew their neighbors well and they were always friendly with them.

As he was growing up, state officials gave his mother the Little Red Book, which contained chairman Mao’s ideology. His mother was supposed to read this book to her family to make sure they knew Mao’s message. However she took the book but chose not to read it.

State officials noticed that Cunxin was good at dancing so he was chosen to go to a dance school in Beijing. It was here that a visitor from America saw his potential and took him to America in the mid 1970’s. Here he was asked to join a dance company which performed around the world.

In 2002 Cunxin returned to his village in China and saw very little had occurred. The village was just the same as he had left it. His mother was still there but his brothers all left for different places.

Lord Loss - Darren Shan - Reviewed by Kris Michels

This book is a great read especially for people between 10-15 if you like horror/ adventure. The main plot is to stop someone from being a werewolf and to also save themselves.
The book is about a teenager called Grubistch and his uncle called Dervish trying to save Grubistch’s brother Billy. It all started when Grubistch was taken to his grandparents house and he didn’t want to go so he ran back home and found out that demons had killed his parents and sister. Everyone thought he was crazy except his uncle who took him in. Later his uncle asked Grubistch what happened the night he saw his parents die he said that he use some sort of magic to escape. His uncle turned out to be able to use magic and he fought demons with it. At the end of the book Billy turns into a werewolf thanks to a family curse. Grubistch and his uncle Dervish had to play Lord loss a demon master to turn Billy back to normal.
I think the best part of the book is when the demons attack them while they are playing chess at the end of the book. While one of them is playing chess the other one is being massacred by the two demon minions of lord loss the demon master.
All of the authors books are horror and have some magical/horror in them and there is always demons or vampires or something related in the theme of horror. The author has a style of writing that makes you not want to put the book down and all of his books end in such a way were you go crazy trying to guess what happens next waiting for the next book to come out.
I would rate this book 10/10 it’s a great read and I think anyone, any age would enjoy anyone of his books especially this series "The Demonta".

Step Brothers - Reviewed by Jadd Zayed

Step Brothers (2008) is a comedy movie starring Will Ferrel and John C. Reilly which focuses on two forty-year old adults who are forced to live together as step brothers when their parents marry.
Brennan Huff (Ferrel) is a sporadically employed loser who still lives with his mother Nancy, while Dale Doback (Reilly) is an unemployed forty year old who lives with his father Robert. When Nancy and Robert get married and move in together, Brennan and Dale are forced to live together as step brothers. At the thought of living with each other, immediately triggers them to hate each other. When they finally make up, they are confronted by their parents telling them that they must find jobs in two weeks, or they will not support them.
I was anticipating the release of this movie, and walked in the cinema expecting to laugh a lot as Will Ferrell’s movies have made me do in the past. I wasn’t disappointed. Seeing two step brothers fight in such an immature way is always funny to see is in a movie, but the fact that it is a bunch for forty year-olds who act the way eight year-olds would, just makes it that much funnier.
The film has a very solid, yet funny plot and cast which do an excellent job at creating a scenario of a brotherly fight. It is nice to see though that later in the movie they collaborate and it is at that time of the movie that, new characters are introduced.
Throughout the movie, I didn’t find any scenes that were perhaps boring, as they managed to fit some sort of joke in every single one of them. I laughed more than I had planned and have no complaints about it at all.
Before the movie had started I knew it would be funny, because of previous movies starring Ferrel and Reilly such as Talladega Nights which are equally as funny. So as soon as I had seen the trailer I knew this movie was not going to disappoint.
All together, the movie was funny and anyone who is in the mood for a lot of laughs should look no further and go see this movie.
Total Score: 8/10

Eagle Eye - Reviewed by Mark Aouad

Eagle is a movie about two different people who are thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. She threatens their lives and the lives of their families; she pushes Jerry and Rachael into dangerous situations and monitors their every move with modern technology. As the situation gets worse these two people become the country’s most wanted fugitives and they must work together to fight what is happening to them. They become the pawns of a faceless enemy who has limited power.
The movie was quick but boring; too many scenes were used to explain the movie and the story. The actors consumed a fair bit of time talking and running. It was intended to be a thriller but the story line was more of a Drama. The sound used was not detailed enough, which leads us to conclude that the director did not work on the detail of the sound enough.
Shia LaBeouf starred in this movie and did a terrific job. He really became the character and spoke his lines with confidence. I was surprised to see him star in this movie as it was not really his kind of movie .He usually stars in more action type movies. Michelle Monaghan also had a very big role as she works with Shia. Her acting is good but not very convincing with how she says her lines. Her role was not easy, therefore it was difficult to judge her performance ; the role was hard because her main job was to tell the audience basically what was happening without confusing them.
The scenes were shot very well, the perfect and most suitable locations were used and the light was not too dark, however in my opinion, there were some scenes where the light was used poorly not indicating whether it was night or day. Sound was not a very big plus in this movie either. The director clearly did not intend for his movie to be judged on sound, rather more on the story itself. I thought that the producers should have allowed themselves and the sound and art directors more time to improve their work, since there was no pressure for the movie to come out so quickly.
The music in the movie was great; they basically wrote all their music and only used a few songs that had previously been used .The music pulled the audience towards the movie; it was loud when the scenes were tense and softer otherwise.

Mad Dogs - Robert Muchamore - Reviewed by Alex Rothnie

Mad Dogs is the eighth book in the Cherub series, by Robert Muchamore. “It’s punchy, exciting and what’s more you’ll completely whish it was true” says the Sunday Times. It is another espionage book but unlike others it keeps you guessing and wanting more from the first page to the last. Muchamore is an author that uses very creative and detailed language as he describes every single detail of the environment. He relates to the issues that are troubling our world today like global warming and terrorism. He explores problems facing our youth like friends, girls and boys, parties and alcohol.
Cherub is a secret espionage organisation that is run by adults but its operatives are kids and teens that have been orphaned in the assumption that everybody trusts kids. They undergo a gruelling training regime until they are permitted to go on missions. It’s H.Q is based in London but they are sent all over the world as the missions are set in countries such as Australia for a mind controlling operation, Russia for a terrorists operation and America for a prison break.
In Mad Dogs the debris from the last book is gradually clearing and the main character James Adams and his mate Bruce Norris were asked to go on a mission that was just put under threat when one of the girls that was working on it earlier was stabbed. There job is to infiltrate the mob called Mad Dogs, gain the trust of Sasha, the leader of the mob, gather enough evidence to convict him and try to stop a gang war between the Runts and the Slasher Boys which the Mad Dogs set up. The boys are introduced into the world of organised crime. They learn its trade and its twists! But at home, James’ sister is on her own assignment with her own difficulties.
Out of all the Cherub books I have read before, Mad Dogs has definitely been my favourite. It has been the most dramatic and suspenseful. It is a book that you think that appears predictable and then something completely unexpected happens. That is what I love about it – your mind begins to write the story but then the plot takes an unforseen twist. No other book is quite like it.
What can I say about Mad Dogs, you’ll never guess what is going to happen, you’ll never be bored and you’ll never get tired of kids being kids. I love the book with all my heart it is a great read for anybody teens through to adults. 10 out of 10!

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban - JK Rowling - Reviewed by Maxim Sheko

Joanne Kathleen Rowling’s book “Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban”, the third book in the series, and it’s when the real action starts to happen. This book and the others in the sequel are all fantasy and adventure stories where a lot of advanced magic and spells are used. In this thrilling story, Harry must overcome adversity, Hermione achieves the impossible using time travel, Harry develops his skill of conquering evil to a better level, and Harry, Ron and Hermione prove the innocence of the falsely accused. At the heart of the novel, the theme is discovering the true identity of people (Both Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew). This shows readers that you cannot assume someone is a bad person until you properly get to know them.

This is Harry’s third year at the enchanted Hogwarts. In the story, Harry discovers that Sirius Black, a supposedly murderous wizard, is after him. Harry’s arch enemy, Malfoy, insults Buckbeak (a hippogriff) in one of Hagrid’s classes, who retaliates and is then accused of being guilty. Using time travel, Harry and his friends prove the innocence of Buckbeak (saving him from execution) and Sirius Black (saving him from having his soul sucked out by dementors).

I liked how in the book, Harry, Ron and Hermione found out the true identities of people. In the story, almost everyone thought Sirius Black was a murderer and responsible for the death of Harry’s parents. But Harry and his friends tracked down Sirius Black and found out that it was really Peter Pettigrew (disguised as Ron’s rat) that did this. I also liked how in the end, Harry was able to repel the dementors with the Patronus Charm, to save Sirius Black from them. What I found most intriguing was that all this was solved by time travel.

Rowling’s writing style is descriptive. The reader is able to visualise the strange creatures (like dementors) or eerie scenes through the vivid descriptions. The dialogue passages also give us a very good idea about what certain characters and their attitudes are like.

One of the main issues in this book is whether Harry is justified in performing magic when his anger is pushed to the limit by the Dursleys’ cruel behaviour towards him, for example when Aunt Marge abuses him and his parents, which results in Harry casting a spell on her.
Another issue is one of Harry’s guilt at wanting to hear the voices of his parents when they were being murdered, because it was one of his few memories of them.
There is also the issue of Sirius Black’s innocence. Harry is deeply scarred when he finds out that Sirius is his godfather, and was partly responsible for the death of his parents. But, in the end, Harry learns that Pettigrew was guilty of Black’s supposed crimes.

The themes of this Harry Potter book and ‘Shrek’ are very closely related. They are along the lines of “Don’t judge a person until you get to know them”. In ‘Shrek’ it is about accepting people that are extraordinary. Fiona is not what Shrek had expected but he learns to love her. In ‘Harry Potter’ it is about not accusing someone of a crime until you know that person and what they have to say. Everyone thinks Sirius Black was a murderer, but when Harry confronts him, he learns that he is innocent and who the real culprit is. In both stories, getting to know a person gives us a fuller understanding.

This ‘Harry Potter’ book is by far my favourite of all the books that I’ve read so far. If you’re the type of person that enjoys fantasy, intricate plots and time travel, then you will love this book. I look forward to more adventure and magic in the next books of the ‘Harry Potter’ series. Keep up the good work, J.K Rowling.

Twilight - Stephanie Meyer - Reviewed by Sean Woo

Everything must have a beginning and Stephenie Meyer’s most popular series started with this book, Twilight. Stephenie Meyer takes you into a new world where vampires walk unknown and their predators silently hunt them, a new world with a twist of normality and fantasy with enough realism to make you believe it. The theme of the book may be revolved around the classic girl likes boy but Stephenie Meyer’s adaption brings it into the modern world. If fantasy based in modern terms with suspense and action is a genre you like then this is the book for you!

The main plot revolves around a young teenager Bella after she moves out of her mother’s place to stay with her father. In this new area Bella slowly learns to fit in but is fascinated by a group of extremely beautiful people with immaculate features, the Cullens. However they always skulk in shadows and are excluded from normality because of their peers. In a twist of events Bella soon befriends the Cullens, especially Edward Cullen. Bella knows their secret of them being vampires who are above killing humans. But in one innocent game of baseball Bella’s life is put in danger as she realizes all vampires are not the same.

I found this book really enjoyable. At first it does relate to real life struggles such as divorced parents and fitting in at a new school. It’s like a normal book, but slowly the story creeps into the mystery era of this book where the unknown is discovered. Stephenie Meyer puts a lot of emotion in this book and you can practically feel what Bella is feeling, her loneliness, her grief, her joy and her terror. Stephenie Meyer also tones down the fantasy part just enough so it seems possible. Her own adaption of vampires and werewolves are unique unlike the classic ones. So even though her ideas are ones that have already been written her own version is exciting, new and fresh.

The writing style in this book is a mixture. Some parts of the book it is really descriptive and in that particular moment, description suits it. However, other parts may be general but that is because it is meant to be. In those certain parts, Stephenie Meyer describes the emotion and that is what makes you feel the emotions that Bella feels. The author really makes you part of the story through her words.

The types of issues raised in this book are from the normal category. Although it is fantasy, the issues tend to be more realistic, such as fitting in a new school and what a teenager goes through in High School. Another issue raised is predators. There are people out in the world who hunt down others and kill them. In this book Stephenie Meyer has twisted the normal issues of life with the fantasy world and she does it perfectly.

This book is slightly similar to a book called Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause which relates to the vampire’s perspective of trying not to hunt humans and battle with who they are. It also relates to a popular TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the beginning of that series a young girl is thrust into the world of the unknown of vampires, werewolves and monsters. She struggles with what is going on, but soon accepts the world of the unknown. In Twilight, Bella accepts this as well now knowing about what was around her all this time.

This book is more than just a story; it’s an epic work of art which twists two different worlds together. The written words of this tale bring you into the book and allow you to become part of the story. Twilight is very popular with the teenage audience because of the epic danger which Bella must endure when she realizes just how hazardous the unknown world is. For me, Twilight breathes inspiration for new ideas for stories that I can put down on paper. It is a source for new beginnings of tales as it will inspire young writers if they just read it.