


MY FAVOURITE NOVELS

This is my all time favourite novel from my childhood. I remember grabbing this book from my school bag in Year 6 and avidly reading it through our special Reading Time. It was my best time of the day for me. The story embodies so many traits I love; Greek Mythology, Mythical Creatures, Identity, elaborate and beautiful settings, and a strong, powerful and brave heroine.
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Halo details the tale of Halo, who washes ashore as a baby in Ancient Greece and is raised by a family of Centaurs as their own. She is then kidnapped by a fisherman and sold into slavery. She begins to realise that in the unfair World that she lives in, her only way to survive is to disguise herself as a boy. She escapes and begins her journey; she is schooled by Spartans, trained by Athenians as a Doctor and a swift Archer and finds her true identity and family. It is an educational and mythical tale that is great for young readers who enjoy stories about Ancient Greece.

This is from a selection of books I read in my early teens where Dystopian novels (YA were all the rage for Teenagers and Young Adults). Mind Games was one of my favourites from that era as it's plot had a twist that made it stand out from the likes of The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Maze Runner.
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In a future world, life is controlled and monitored by corrupt company ParecCo, who have created RealTime, a virtual world in which people connect to live out their 'real lives'. Out of the crowd is misfit Luna who has never been able to connect to RealTime; she has to hide this fact from her friends and family. Unfortunately, she has been noticed by PareCo, who want her for their secret project Think Tank. Mind Games details how Luna uses her secret powers to fight the oppressive organisation and fight for her true self. I loved this book because it was so detailed and different in the worlds in created and the characters, especially Luna, were smart, brave and very likeable.