Entry 4 (In Darkness)

One of the reasons I chose to read In Darkness is because of the cover. On the cover, it reads "In darkess-on the other side of the darkness is light." This is a very intriguing statement to me, and caught my attention. Also, I read the summary on the back, which really interested me. It talked about all sorts of problems he had to overcome and stories he tells, but yet he is stuck in a hospital trying to stay alive. I would recommend this book to somebody who likes to hear all the arguments/point of view of things.There is lots of talk about how much they hate the United Nations, and why they like their gangs better, even though thats for the most part, opposite f what we would think. The book has a great plot, and most anybody who is interested in the lifestyle of Haitian people could love this book.

Entry 3 (In Darkness)

"I am the voice in the dark, calling out for your help. I am the quiet you hope will not turn to silence, the voice you want to keep hearing cos it means someone is still alive. I am the voice calling for you to come  and dig me out. I am the voice in the dark, asking you to unbury me, to bring me to bring me from a grave out into the light, like a zombie." (Lake 1).

     This is the very first passage in the book, and is mostly intended to hook you to keep reading. My first reason for this is because it is the beginning, and the main goal of a beginning is to hook the reader. My second reason for this is the reader really has no idea what is going on or what the author is talking about, and they want want to find out.

Entry 2 (In Darkness)

In my book, In Darkness, Shorty is a complex character. In the parts of the book that take place present time, he either wants to die, or to get out of the rubble. He can’t decide and is in a constant mental battle with himself on which he should choose. Also, in each of the stories he tells us of his childhood, he becomes even more of a complex character because he desires many other things. For example, in the story of how Shorty and his twin sister, Marguerite, they save a dying baby from a trash can. Shorty wants to save the baby, but yet at the same time, he doesn't want to walk out of the city, where he could die, and the chances of finding someone who actually wants to and has the capability of helping are extremely slim. Another example is, in this book many of the Haitian civilians view the drug-dealing gang leaders as who should run the country, and the United Nations soldiers as invaders and should leave them to run their own country. Shorty doesn't know who to believe because to him, the UN soldiers are nice. My book is structured by taking place inside Shorty’s head. It jumps back and forth between past and present as he explains different stories to us and the thoughts he has inside the hospital rubble. 

Entry 1 (In Darkness)

I am reading the book In Darkness, by Nick Lake. It is hard to identify main characters in this book because most of the book so far are thoughts and stories from inside the main character’s head. There are main characters in each story, but they differ each time. So some of the major characters that repeatedly come up in each story are the young Haitian boy, Shorty, who is telling us the stories, his twin sister Marguerite, a gang leader known as “Biggie”, and Dread Wilme. The setting is also hard because there is the setting of the dark rubble under a hospital where Shorty is trapped as he tells us these stories, and then the setting of most of the stories he tells are in the small, poor town of Cite Seleil. The main overall conflict in my book so far is Shorty is trapped under the rubble of a hospital after an earthquake in Haiti. He is slowly dying of thirst, hunger, and insanity. He needs to get out. Also, there are many side conflicts in the stories he tells, such as fights between the gang members, crimes of other people, and as Shorty and his twin try to survive in the violent country of Haiti.

Final Blog Assessment

In my book, The House of Hades, Rick Riordan does an utterly tremendous job of building suspense. As some of you know, this book is the 4th of the series. The series is called "The Heroes of Olympus", and the previous book in the series is The Mark of Athena. That book left off on a huge cliff hanger, creating lots of suspense for the author to use. Also, in my book, its kind of telling two stories at once because the 7 original demigods got split up. This creates an opportunity for the author to end a chapter of one party on in suspense and continues the next chapter with the other party. Then the reader wants to figure out what is going to happen, and then he/she wants to read more. That is the main purpose of suspense; to make the reader want to read more. It almost makes him never want to put the book down. Suspense gives the reader feelings, like hope, fear, etc.- it can give many kinds of feeling that makes you want to keep reading.

#1:

When I use elevated, low, and abstract diction. I have a couple examples of each that I use in my post. My example of elevated diction is "In my book, The House of Hades, Rick Riordan does an utterly tremendous job of building suspense". Also, I talk about my opinions of the book, and what I think of it, which I think also adds some voice. I explain my opinions in this sentence, "That is the main purpose of suspense; to make the reader want to read more". 

#2:

In my first sentence, I use formal diction. My sentence is, “In my book, The House of Hades, Rick Riordan does an utterly tremendous job of building suspense”. This helps the reader to better understand how great of a job the author does at adding suspense.  For my example of syntax, I used punctuation in my last sentence, “Suspense gives the reader feelings, like hope, fear, etc.- it can give many kinds of feeling that makes you want to keep reading”. This makes the reader stop and think about the feelings I just listed, and it helps them to realize what suspense in a story does. It could also be counted as abstract diction.       

House of Hades-Best and Worst Things

I am reading the book The House of Hades for my independent novel. I am about 25% of the way through it and I can already say that it is a really awesome book. The best thing about my novel is how great of a job Rick Riordan does with focusing on all 7 of the demigods. This book doesn't really have 1 main character because it is the 7 demigods all together, because each demigod is equally important. The author does a great job making each demigod have an important part in the story. The worst thing about my book is that it makes lots of Greek mythology references like different stories, gods, etc. If you are someone like me, you don't know all these things so it gets a little confusing sometimes, like when it starts talking about all the individual stories of each god. But overall, it is a great book.

Minor Character (House of Hades)

One minor character in my book is a girl named Reyna. She is the praeter of Camp Jupiter; the Roman half Blood camp. Her role in the story is being a partner with Jason, but then she thinks that Jason betrayed Camp Jupiter so she sets off to chase him. She then figures out that he didn't, but that doesnt stop her from at least talking to Jason to figure out what is going on. If she had more a of an impact in the book, I think that she would command the Roman Camp, and they would listen to her. Also, the enemies would care about her more, and see her as more of a problem. They would probably not focus so much on the 7 main demigods, and try to destroy the Roman Camp earlier, instead of waiting for when they wanted to do it. Also, Jason would probably listen to her more, instead of doing what he wants to do.