Awesome books

[Hickory]

Hi guys, and I'm here to bring to your attenton some seriously under-rated books: Kid spies.

Some of you ma think, "child soldiers" but let's skip over that part and ge tot the awesomeness.

Here's by first series: The wildly popular Alex Rider books. It's about a teenager who finds out his uncle's a spy and he takes up the profession

Pros:
Excellent characters
Inventive weapons
Even better villains
Awesome evil plans

Cons:
Later into the series, complicated backstory
Cliches. Lots and lots of cliches.

Next series: CHERUB
This, instead of MI6, takes another awesome but less-spoken of organization: MI5, British national security. James, an orphan, is recurited for CHERUB.

Pros:
Interesting plot: not too hard but not too easy to follow
Dynamic characters
Something not featured in Alex Rider: girl/boyfriends
More realistic villains (ie: Smugglers)

Cons:
Supporting characters get more simple plots lines, glorifing the main character
A homosexual character. 

This is a female-oriented one:
Ruby Redfort, Lauren Child
Originally mentioned in one of her other books, she finally made Ruby's own series.

Pros:
Excellent supported characters (butler sidekick)
Cliches have a spin put on them
A unique ability not often found in other action-oriented spy books - code breaking

Cons:
Your typical sub-sidekick - a boy without specific powers, A.K.A. Robin
Derpy main villains

Well, that's all for now. I will post more novels later, but these are all I can think of.

[Jetthebinturong]

I read a bit of Archangel (Alex Rider) and the first five chapters of CHERUB but neither really caught me. I suppose I should give them another go, I think CHERUB at least was written for an older audience than I was.

[Lady Ashenwyte]

I would recommend the Silmarillion by J.R.R Tolkien.

Pros: Action. Lots of it.
        Awesome villains.
        The protagonists are not OP and do suffer defeats.
         Excellent plot.
Cons: It's written in the format of a history book, and as such involves no dialogue
          If you have a thing against the protagonists being defeated a lot, this book is not for you.



Also, Ren-kun, I think you should put the homosexual character in an interesting things to not section, as people will take offence to have a homosexual character being put in the con section.

[Jukka the Sling]

Um, no one in the Silmarillion was homosexual.... Tolkien was a devout Catholic who also lived in a time when homosexuality was a taboo.

[Hickory]

@Ash: I said that the homosexual character was in cons becuase of younger audiences.

[Lady Ashenwyte]

@Ash: I said that the homosexual character was in cons becuase of younger audiences.

Are there any explicit scenes with him/her in the book? If not, the thing deserves to be in a seperate category.

[Hickory]

In the second book. I don't remember the details, but better safe then sorry.

[Jetthebinturong]

I'd rename cons as "possible cons." Of course I'd also put it under "possible pros" because yay representation.

I would get offended but it happens too much for me to care anymore. The world is stupid and I accept that.

The Archived series:
Pros:
All characters are three-dimensional and fantastic.
Interesting mystery.
Compelling story.

Cons:
At times the mystery elements are played up and the solution is obvious. I guessed two things before the main character did.
Devolves into a teen romance book in the middle - this resolves well however.
Takes a while to get off the ground.


The Skulduggery Pleasant series
Pros:
The comedy is impeccable.
The horror is not overwhelming nor gory, its just the appropriate creepiness.
Lots of action.
Good mystery.
Fantastic, multi-faceted characters.
Good overarching plot.
Excellent writing.
Fletcher Renn.

Cons:
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. No.
Well, some people don't like to read about magic for some strange reason best known to themselves. It's not incantations and wand-waving though. Then again there is symbol magic so...

[Cornflower MM]

I would recommend the Silmarillion by J.R.R Tolkien.

Pros: Action. Lots of it.
        Awesome villains.
        The protagonists are not OP and do suffer defeats.
         Excellent plot.
Cons: It's written in the format of a history book, and as such involves no dialogue
          If you have a thing against the protagonists being defeated a lot, this book is not for you.



Also, Ren-kun, I think you should put the homosexual character in an interesting things to not section, as people will take offence to have a homosexual character being put in the con section.

I tried reading the Silmarillion. It put me to sleep after chapter two. Literally.

I do need to read at least one recommended book this summer, though. I'll try and check these out!

[Gonff the Mousethief]

I would recommend the Silmarillion by J.R.R Tolkien.

Pros: Action. Lots of it.
        Awesome villains.
        The protagonists are not OP and do suffer defeats.
         Excellent plot.
Cons: It's written in the format of a history book, and as such involves no dialogue
          If you have a thing against the protagonists being defeated a lot, this book is not for you.



Also, Ren-kun, I think you should put the homosexual character in an interesting things to not section, as people will take offence to have a homosexual character being put in the con section.

I tried reading the Silmarillion. It put me to sleep after chapter two. Literally.

I do need to read at least one recommended book this summer, though. I'll try and check these out!

I am trying to read it, and make sense of it. However, I am looking up stuff I still don't quite understand, and it helps.

[Jukka the Sling]

I tried reading the Silmarillion. It put me to sleep after chapter two. Literally.

The first few chapters tell about the creation of the world, the Valar, etc., but it gets more interesting later on.  You really should read it!

[Jetthebinturong]

Am I really the only person who has absolutely no trouble with reading and understanding The Silmarillion?

[Lady Ashenwyte]

Am I really the only person who has absolutely no trouble with reading and understanding The Silmarillion?

Nope.

[Hickory]

OK, so here's an update on CHERUB.

After rereading the second book I saw that the gay character just states that he's gay. THere's no gay scenes. So it's a clear read.

[Hickory]

Okay, guys, revised CHERUB paragraph.

By: Robert Muchamore
About: Orphan spies 10-17

Pros:
Realistic villains
Humor
Multi-ethical and diverse protagonists

Cons:
Lots and lots of luvvy-duvvy drama.
For younger readers, bad language
Slightly annoying main character.