A Good Way to Find Latin FUN!?

The City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare is the 5th installment of the Mortal Instruments series. Clare crafts a truly amazing story of her characters in modern day New York City; but this is urban fantasy and nothing is normal.

Humans are called mundanes, (notice this is a Latin root: mundus meaning mankind or pure among many other similar translations) where our story revolves around Shadowhunters who are half human and half nephilim (angel). Shadowhunters protect this earth from demons to keep mundanes mundane, werewolves roam around turning on the full moon every month, vampires that burn in the sun and drink blood and can’t say God, and the fair folk who are faeries that are pure evil and always tell you the truth. It’s an interesting world and there are definitely oddities that are truly appalling.

For awesome Latin searching to read and for you guys to see Latin “in action” then this is actually an amazing series for you to read. This series has an INCREDIBLY LARGE FAN BASE and a million reasons for anyone to read them.

Particularly in this book you get some interesting Latin quotes, vocabulary, and jokes that really make learning Latin fun. For example a character, Simon, is late to a meeting with the other Shadowhunters because there’s this Latin password to get into the place. He was told by the jokester that the password is Basica coquum . Then a shadow replies:

“’It’s ‘Descensus Averno facilis est.’ ‘The desent into hell is easy.’” said Alec. “You just said ‘Kiss the cook.”” By using all this Latin in these few sentences, you’ve made a comical excuse to use Latin AND make it all funny!

Latin was also used when the characters mention adamas meaning diamond. Just this casual use of Latin can make a story really appealing AND you use Latin. All this Latin truly makes Latin learning FUN!

“Quod tumeraris: per Jehovam, Gehennam, et consecratam aquam quam nunc spargo, signumque crucis quod nunc facio, et per vota nostra, ipse nunc surgat nobis dicatus Azazel!” This meaning: "What swells: By Jehovah, Gehenna, and this water which I now sprinkle, and the sign of the cross which I now make, and through our prayers, he dedicated to Azazel now arises in us!" is used in the story to affectively use Latin in a ritual. Again makes Latin appealing because we don’t know what this all means.

Now the grand slam of all Latin in this book! Clare uses Acheronta movebo in this book where this particular bracelet has this inscribed on it. The owner falsely translates it to ‘Thus always to tyrants.’ But if you know Latin quotes, such as ‘Thus always to tyrants,’ then you know the character is lying because the REAL translation of his English is ‘Sic semper tyrannis.’ With your awesome Latin knowledge you just found a gigantic clue to what will later happen! Deception!

So for those of you learning Latin, the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare is for you. It affectively uses Latin to make it interesting and fun to learn!

I truly loved this book and a true highlight in the series in my opinion and 100% want everyone to experience this awesomeness. SERIOUSLY! Plus Clare is a very talented writer and is a force to be reckoned with!

Son of Neptune Book Review!

I've officially written a book review for the Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan! I've always been pretty natural at book reviewing but I'm so caught up in book writing/ reading! (I should book review more often!) If you are looking to learn about the Son of Neptune, the skills of Rick Riordan, or are just looking for a beautiful and logical way to learn Greek mythology, THAN THIS IS THE BLOG POST FOR YOU!!! Here you go guys! Hope you enjoy this pure awesomeness :D

   After the Prophecy where Percy Jackson and the Olympians defeat the Titan Lord Cronus, all is well until Percy Jackson mysteriously disappears from camp. In the search for him, we follow the story of Jason Grace, a demigod who has no memory of his life or even who he is, who also mysteriously appears on a school bus for a field trip to the Grand Canyon with girlfriend, Piper; and “best friend,” Leo. At Percy Jackson’s disappearance, these 3 go on a quest to rescue Hera and Piper’s father from capture. There they discover the evil forces behind these impeccable captures as Gaea’s forces that are in a long awaited process to raise her once again to wipe out the Gods and Mount Olympus. Jason also learns after some recollection of memory after the quest that he is really from a Roman camp called Camp Jupiter and Percy Jackson has disappeared to this exact place. This flip-flop may be no coincidence we have ever heard of in any Greek mythology story ever told to mankind.

        Percy Jackson, a previously famous Greek demigod-son of Poseidon, has returned to this new Heroes of Olympus series as a demigod with no memory waking up after a “long sleep.” The talking wolf, Lupa, has trained him for a month like every new roman demigod and has set him out on the world to find sanctuary at Camp Jupiter. He has no memory (like Jason Grace) of his previous life except a name…one name: Annabeth. After his month of running constantly from monsters and what-not, Percy Jackson must go on the ultimate quest: the Prophecy of 7 with demigods, Frank and Hazel who aren’t just any ordinary demigods off the street either. Frank, a son of Mars, has a secret that may kill him if anyone knew. Hazel is a half-sister to the Percy Jackson series’, Nico di Angelo- children of Hades, who also has a HUGE secret that makes her a bit unnerved to go back…let’s just say home. Camp Jupiter is located in the Middle Of Nowhere, Rocky Mountains USA, where the entrance is really in San Francisco, CA. The location for this quest is located in Alaska where these 3 must travel there and back to Camp Jupiter by June 24^th. This trio is more connected to the previous book’s characters, Jason Grace, Piper, and Leo, than you may think for most of this book.

        Percy Jackson MUST get to Camp Jupiter, except…the Gorgon sisters have been chasing him from state-to-state, not really dying and just reforming. Obviously the Underworld is having some serious problems that no one can really answer yet. Percy is desperate to get to the safety of Camp Jupiter, away from these undying monsters chasing him constantly. When he FINALLY finds the entrance in San Francisco, he finds this hippy named June, who gives him a choice: he can carry her to Camp Jupiter and across the highway and Tiber River to get his memory back and save the world…or flee to the safety of the sea to be safe and live a long, happy life. Of course he sees that the first option is the right thing to do down to his soul. He carries her where he meets Camp Jupiter guards, Hazel and Frank, who fight off the Gorgons while he runs to the camp. At the camp, Percy meets Reyna, the Praetor of Camp Jupiter where she knows something about Percy but unwilling to spill the beans. The hippy Percy has to carry past the Tiber reveals herself to be the Goddess, Juno (Hera). She announces to all Camp Jupiter (and Percy himself) that he is the Son of Neptune and has been sleeping for a month or two. The Camp of course wants Percy apart of their legion with all his amazing powers and abilities to fight like no other roman. During some battles against cohorts, Mars appears to the camp revealing that Frank Zhang is his son and that he must go on an INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT quest with two others.  As the quickly connected friends found among the trio: Frank, Hazel, and Percy; these three go on the quest. On this quest as Percy is trying to regain his memory, Hazel reveals that she died and brought back to life thanks to her half-brother, Nico, and the fact that the Underworld is in chaos for some unknown reasons. Frank also has a MAJOR weakness that turns out to be a stick but not any ordinary stick. This stick is literally his life force! If this stick is desecrated in any way shape or form, he will die. The farther on this quest goes by the hour, the more the fate of these heroes seems already planned out for them and the end result of the quest bigger than they could ever have imagined. The question is: what is really the cause for everything leading up to each of these demigods lives at this point? Everything that has happened in their pasts is no coincidence!

        When you read this book, a huge theme is INCREDIBLY EVIDENT that gives the overall purpose Rick Riordan wrote an entirely new series to connect to his Percy Jackson series! It is not just to play with some awesome new myths, monsters, and stories he hasn’t been able to put a spin on yet but gets to write a side where the only way the demigods and the gods can fight such a huge menace such as Gaea, mother Earth, is for these two completely different groups of people to work together. The only way you can defeat Gaea and her forces out to destroy the Olympic Pantheon is for the Gods and demigods to work together. This theory was proven in the end of the book where Terminus and Percy Jackson team together (kind of unwillingly) to take down the giant, Polybotes. Percy challenges Polybotes to a duel and deliberately calls to Terminus’ help to really see if this theory is correct to bring down the enemy where Percy ends up throwing Terminus’ head into Polybotes skull. Together a god and a demigod took down Gaea’s nearly indestructible giant!

This series includes monsters, gods and goddesses, and classics references from the world’s encyclopedia of everything Greek mythology! Monsters included in the series are: the Gorgon sisters, Stheno and Euryale. Creatures that frequent the series are harpies’ like a special harpy named Ella they befriend in Alaska; Arion the Steed of Heroes who has an amazing ability to run at a speed as fast as planes (maybe even faster…); Cyclopes like the Percy Jackson’s half-brother, Tyson; a hellhound: Mrs. O’Leary owned by Percy (previously owned by Daedalus; . Giants become a pretty important factor in the evil forces of Gaea like Alcyoneus, and Polybotes who have been known to help her over-throw the Gods of Mount Olympus with Gaea. Gods and Goddesses mentioned/ participating in awesome roles in the book would be like Juno at the start of the book (note that she had a role in the Lost Hero as well!); Neptune a.k.a: Poseidon; Mars turning out as Frank’s father; Thanatos, the god of Death, who they must rescue in this ultimate quest since he is chained up in Alaska, most likely a trap for our heroes and the reason why the Underworld is going crazy because he is not guarding the Doors of Death; and Terminus, the god of borders, who guards Camp Jupiter as this statue (torso and up) and is the WORST OCD/everything must be clean etc. Rome mentions of awesomeness include the Tiber River (located in the Rocky Mountains where Camp Jupiter is located by; Praetors, Roman commanders of an army (in this book’s case: Camp Jupiter’s army) where there are two praetors per legion where the only surviving legion after the Fall of Rome is the Twelfth Legion Fulminata; cohorts are also used in Camp Jupiter where Percy, Frank, and Piper are in the Fifth Cohort; and last but not least: part of what Camp Jupiter is shamefully missing is their eagle, the pride of the Twelfth Legion, that is located in Alaska where Thanatos is chained.

The Son of Neptune WAS OUT OF THIS EARTH-AMAZING!!! I can’t see any better way you could learn about the myths than reading these books! You learn so much about Greek mythology and the Romans in such a fun and creative way that I will never forget the god of borders, Terminus for being SUPER OCD, for example. Rick Riordan successfully established amazing, stocked packed, Greek mythology, awesomeness where you will never want to go to bed and actually rather read and never want to sleep BECAUSE LEARNING GREEK MYTHOLOGY WAS NEVER MORE FUN!!! This book I would recommend to anyone of any age! Rick Riordan is and has always been a fantastic writer and never gives you chances to put that book down! This book was truly amazing but I 100% give you the advice to read the previous books that are just as amazing! Read the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series first where the first book is The Lightning Thief (made into a movie in February of 2009) where there are 5 books in the series total. I guarantee you some unforgettable laughs out of this and a truly great time reading (even if you aren’t the reading type). If you need to learn Greek mythology for school in any way, this is the way to go and you won’t regret picking up these books what-so-ever.

The Specialty of Richelle Mead's writing

Her writing, I can personally say, is a lot like mine in the way her writing naturally flows. The writing has a plan, obviously, but it's a writing plan that goes off what ever comes to mind while sticking to the author's plan. It truely is amazing writing. It keeps you going like you really don't want to stop but your at the end of the book before you know it. The first two books were too short for this author's level of writing. She needs to write big books like her last 3 Vampire Academy books. Her writing gives you so many clues that I find the reader may not catch because it's so discreet that you smack your forhead later when she releases her surprises. That is deffinately the best thing about Richelle Meads writing and why she is so successful. I highly recommend looking into this style of writing by reading (or rereading) the Vampire Academy book series:
Vampire Academy
Frostbite
Shadow Kiss
Blook Promise
Spirit Bound
Last Sacrifice.
Last note about Richelle Meads writing; her writing is amazing but it also takes a successful book to possess a good story line, conflict that stretches throughout the series (not just in one book), awesom characters; (i.e. Christian Ozera, Dimitri & Rose, and side characters like Avery Lazar, Sydney, Robert Doru etc), also wanted to add character importance; i.e. Vasilisa Dragomir. In the Vampire Academy, Richelle Mead sets up a character that is important in one way but is really her grand fanally to the series in another way. Richelle Mead knew how she would end her series and she really hides it well through out her series. Thats A HUGE writing turner there. Absolutely brilliant and fits perfectly with her style of writing.
Another thing to add is something that Richelle Mead wrote in a blog post a while abo. Her and her friends went to Forks, Washington for Twilight. She regrets not making her Vampire Academy be in a real place. Just something to keep in mind if you plan to write a book one day, (I know I have :)).
P.S.: I know of an author I met at my local library once, who had all the right ways and idea's for what a book should have. But this writer had something crucial missing, good writing. As a writer, her writing bored me so much I still haven't finished her book.
- your future author, Ashley Bileau