Persy -- Wednesday Scrolls

Is that not the prettiest thing you have ever seen? I think it's positively beautiful. And it just came out a week ago. Have you ordered your copy yet? I have.

This is the first novel in Cassandra Clare's new series, Infernal Devices. This series takes place in Victorian London, centuries before Clare's first series, Mortal Instruments. She's still writing Mortal Instruments, and the cover of the fourth book, City of Fallen Angels, is supposed to be released later this year. In my opinion, I think that series should end while it's still going good. The third book, City of Glass, ended rather nicely, but whatever. Clare has already signed on for two more books in the series after City of Fallen Angels, so she's obviously not tuning into my thoughts. But hey, they could be fabulous, so let's not read too much into my pessimistic predictions...

Clockwork Angel (I go SQUEEE inside every time I hear that title) follows the story of Tessa Gray, a young woman of Victorian England. She ends up in London's Downworld, a place full of Vampires, Werewolves, Warlocks, and more. Her only help (and probably hope) of finding her brother are the Shadowhunters, a mysterious group of people dedicated to fighting demons.

I'm a little apprehensive about Clare's new series. I mean, Mortal Instruments was fantastic, but I'm sort of wondering if her new main character, Tessa, will be exactly the same as Clary. Like she just moved all the characters back in time a few centuries, turned them all British, and added a bit of a different plot. Hopefully, this isn't the case and Clare is fully able to create new characters.

Some more news in the world of Cassandra Clare: Mortal Instruments is (supposedly) going to be made into a movie. I say supposedly because it's listed as one of those "can only be seen if you have IMDbPro" on http://www.imdb.com/. In my experience, those movies hardly ever come out. Maximum Ride, for instance? That was originally set to come out in 2010. It's actually still listed on IMDb, but is now set for 2013.

Anyway, back Mortal Instruments. I am very uneasy about this. Perhaps my 'faith' in book-movies has been shattered by the atrocities of Prince Caspian and Percy Jackson (to name a few of the many), but I just have a baaad feeling about this one... Honestly, this is a book I'd rather remained a book. You ever read a book like that? It's a hard feeling to explain, but it's like you have it all imagined in your head already, and you don't want to end up with someone else's image stuck in your head (that's what happened with Twilight: Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart erased my pictures of Edward and Bella). Mortal Instruments isn't supposed to come out until 2012 (and like I said, it could keep getting postponed for eternity), so I've got a while to... I dunno, let my unease fester.

Another book-movie that's actually coming out next month is It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. This is the story of Craig, a teenager who is enrolled in a pre-professional high school. Before this school, Craig was considered a genius, but in this school, he's just average. Eventually, the stress ends up too much and Craig attempts suicide. He can't quite do it, though, and calls a help line, checking himself into a mental hospital.

I read this book a loong time ago, probably before I should've. I was like, eleven or twelve, and lots of things in there didn't make sense back then. Let's just say they do now. So don't give this book to someone under thirteen or fourteen, kay?

My first thought when seeing it had been turned into a movie was, "Huh..." and I went on about my business. Needless to say, this isn't one of my top-priority movies to see. I don't remember a ton about the book; it wasn't fabulous, but it wasn't awful. At times it was funny, but in general it was just "okay".

The movie stars Keir Gilchrist, who hasn't really been in anything of note, as Craig. Co-stars include: Zach Galifianakis (playing Bobby), Emma Roberts (playing Noelle), Lauren Graham (playing Lynne), and Zoe Kravitz (playing Nia). The movie comes out October 8.

And for the final piece of news... The eighth book in the Bloody Jack Adventures by L.A. Meyer (who is in fact a dude; I thought he was a woman for the longest time...) just came out! It's called The Wake of the Lorelei Lee, which sounds preetty interesting. I myself am only on number five (Mississippi Jack), so I've got some catching up to do.

The Bloody Jack Adventures follows the story of Jacky Faber, a very impetuous young woman of the early 1800s. In the very first book (Bloody Jack), she disguises herself as boy and becomes a ship's boy on the HMS Dolphin. Hijinks ensue.

I was an... 'adventurous' kid, so I read this book when I was barely into my double digits (maybe even before then), but I'd recommend it to maybe thirteen and up. But these have always been some of my favorite books, even if the basic plot (reckless and feisty girl disguises herself as a boy and gets in tons of trouble and saves the day, etc. etc.) isn't the most original. Sometimes, it's not about originality.

-Persy