No Intention of Dying (The Internment Chronicles Novella 1.5) - Lauren DeStefano 

Daphne was a character whose presence haunted the characters on the first book of the trilogy.
This short story describes a scene from her past. She is one of my favorite characters, so I liked this short short novella!

The Heir Apparent (The Internment Chronicles Novella 2.5) - Lauren DeStefano  

Azure, Celeste's brother is learning some secrets of his kingdom in this brief novella.

Beware that both stories are extremely short (around 10 pages)

I posted recently about how I was very dissapointed with the first novella in this series, No Intention of Dying. It was very, very short, listed at 14 pages but less then 8 on my device and it didn't contain any additional information about the character, Daphne, that wasn't already told in the series. Basically it wasn't worth the $1.99.

Which brings me to The Heir Apparent. It is the second novella in this series which I had purchased at the same time I bought the first one. It's also very, very short- listed at 16 pages but only about 10 on my device with all the extraneous pages removed and it features the character, Prince Azure. However, where the first novella came up short on content, this novella actually contained a few things about the Prince and the Attraction Camps that wasn't in the original series. Was it worth $1.99? No, not really but I didn't feel like I got completely shammed like I did with the first novella. You definitely won't be missing out on anything important though if you decide to forgo either one of these novellas. 

I was going to die. I was never going to get past the first step of the game, and I was going to die. 

-Chapter 4

 

Between the barbarian hordes waiting at our northern border for the first sign of weakness, and the peasant uprisings in the east, now is not the time for an inexperienced sheepherder to play at being king.

-Chapter 8

 

Giannine is playing a virtual reality game called Heir Apparent, using a gift certificate from her father for her 14th birthday. But, a protest group attacked the facility and now Giannine is stuck in the game. Her only way out is to win the game, but her time is limited. If she doesn't defeat the game, the computer could fry her brain. She must use her intelligence and her sarcastic sense of humor to keep going, figure out the puzzles and be crowned king before time runs out.

I enjoyed this book. It is a fresh take on sci-fi. Giannine lives in the future, but she plays a virtual reality game that takes her to medieval times. Most of the time we are with Giannine in the game and it is exciting and frustrating to watch her try to get through the situations with no idea what the right choice is.

Giannine is a great strong female character. She is clever and persistent, but she still has flaws. She gets annoyed and frustrated by her lack of progress, but she never gives up. She has to deal with ghosts, a dragon, barbarians and a royal family who doesn't want her around.

Recommended to:

Grades 4-8. Readers who enjoy fantasy and adventure.

The Life of Martin Van Buren: Heir-Appar...

Usually I just use the name of the book as the title for my review, however in this case the full title, “The Life of Martin Van Buren: Heir-Apparent to the “Government” and the Appointed Successor of General Andrew Jackson: Containing Every Authentic Particular by Which His Extraordinary Character Has Been Formed: With a Concise History of the Events That Have Occasioned His Unparalleled Elevation: Together With a Review of His Policy as a Statesman,” made that a bit impractical. The author has a tendency to be incredibly long-winded, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Reading Rationale

Aside from the fact that there isn't a particularly wide selection of Martin Van Buren biographies out there (and the fact that this one was free), it was the author's name that really piqued my interest in this one. Due to an apparent lack of folkloric literacy, I was shocked to find that Davy Crockett was actually a real person. I thought the coonskin cap-wearing, cabin-dwelling guy belonged among the ranks of Paul Bunyan or (well, I was gonna say Johnny Appleseed, but it turns out he was real too).

In my defense, Disney's appropriation of Crockett as a character threw a wrench in my reasoning. Is Jack Sparrow real? Do I need to start watching out for Mr. Toad next time I'm on the expressway?

Crockett's Case

To put it lightly, Davy Crockett was not a fan of MVB. Though he certainly knew how to draw a crowd when canvassing the country to tell his tales in person, Crockett's thoughts on Van Buren were (evidently) too important not to be put to the page. 

Crockett's complaints were reminiscent of the anti-Kerry ads in the 2004 presidential race; MVB, it would seem, was a flip-flopper, and that (though he was basically hand picked by Jackson as his successor) he is no Old Hickory. Of course, Crockett puts things in different words:

“Every thinking man...must see that Van Buren is as opposite to General Jackson as dung is to a diamond.”

Yeah, Crockett keeps it folksy, which is fun—well, fun to a point. The thing about Crockett (to this modern reader) is that he undermines his clever turns of phrase by going on, and on, and on. For example: 

“Statesmen are gamesters, and the people are the cards they play with.”

Ok. Good analogy Davy, but then he goes on to list how this applies to shuffling, card tricks, games of whist, games of poker, and just about anything having to do with cards ever.

Martin Van Buren: the Original Pol

What Crockett says is true. MVB was happy enough to switch allegiances in order to get himself in position to be on the winning side of things. And was he (Van Buren) a “selfish and insidious deceiver”? Probably. After all, they did end up calling him the “Little Magician” for landing on the winning side of every debate.

Crockett can be given points for running an effective smear campaign (true or not, the facts offered are definitely of the “attack ad” flavor). But MVB landed in office nonetheless. 

Because this was a pre-election book (duh), I actually bothered to read another (mercifully brief) Van Buren piece, Martin Van Buren: lawyer, statesman and man. As to whether or not I will summon the strength to review that one, only time will tell.