Summer is the worst time for shelters, with many full, or close to it. Any help would be greatly appreciated, so make sure to ask if you can volunteer at a shelter nearby. Something else I should mention is that volunteer work can help in getting a first job. Having a reference that you helped and were motivated, even without pay, really looks good on a resume.

With the amount of animals being dumped or given up, the shelters could really use your help. Taking care of all the animals without volunteers, can literally take all day. Please help your local shelters; your help will be appreciated.

Visit Petfinder.org to find local shelters in your area.

In the previous five novels, Satan has been a serious pain to all the other incarnations, but this book explains why. The man who is Satan really is not evil, and ended up falling into the position. Parry, the man who becomes Satan, was originally a monk, fighting evil. This alerts the Current Incarnation of Evil, who then corrupts Parry. Parry than uses his magic to kill him, and than becomes the new Satan.

Parry realizes that Hell is not in a good condition, so he organizes it, and tries to fix things up. Once Parry realizes that Satan and God really have a common goal, to punish the bad and reward the good, he goes to see God and try to stop the conflict between the two of them. Parry soon realizes that God is not paying attention, and tries to find a way to rework things. The Archangel Gabriel challenges Satan to try to corrupt a specific person, Niobe Kaftan, who will not be born for a few hundred years. This is how the series is tied together, and the story begins to overlap with the timeline of the other five. I will not spoil the ending, but it was a good one, and it makes me even more excited to read the next one.

While most of the story is less exciting than the others, Being a Green Mother has a great ending. It takes a complete twist and I ended up quite surprised. The story seemed very predictable, and I thought I knew the ending, until Piers Anthony flipped the story right on its head. I don’t want to spoil it, but just be ready for a shock. The next story in the series is about the incarnation of evil (Satan), which I personally think will be quite an interesting story.

Once again, the story explains more of the relations of the characters, such as Mym, the character who plays Mars, being the source of Time’s Sning, and Orlene’s Father. It has become obvious that all of the Incarnations relate and form one large, if not jumbled, family tree.

My favorite part of the story however, is the great battle fought in Hell. I do not want to spoil the ending, but it is quite great and the confrontations with Satan are getting more severe with higher stakes every time, and this one has the life of all of Earth hanging in the balance. Once again, Piers Anthony creates a great book to the series, and I sure cannot wait to read the next one.

One of the most important parts of the skating equipment is to get skating shoes. Emerica, Vans, and Fallen all are quality shoes and are great choices. If you plan on doing any tricks or want to go anywhere with some sort of speed, shoes are a must as they help you grip the board as well as the ground while doing tricks or pushing yourself. I would also recommend finding a friend who has skated for a while, as having someone to help you while learning to ride your skateboard is a tremendous help.

One last warning to anyone who is considering skateboarding, while your board may look very cool when first bought, be prepared to lose that. The wheels will become dirty and discolored, the deck will become carved, and the nose and tail (front and back, respectively) will start to fall apart as the deck gets used. So just be prepared for it and make sure you warn your parents that this will happen so they can be prepared for this too.

I recently watched a movie remake of one of my favorite books, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The book, written by C.S. Lewis, is the first of a seven book series called The Chronicles of Narnia. The books in the series were short, some 200 pages each but still full of quirky humor and funny characters. This movie is based on the first story, and while the later ones are better, it still is a great book and a great movie.

The story successfully follows the book to a tee. Since the book was so short, nothing had to be cut from it to fit in the timeframe of the movie. The majority of the movie was shot in New Zealand, as was Lord of the Rings, which made for some amazing scenes. All of Narnia is depicted in such a gorgeous manner and everything looks exactly like you would expect it to.

The actors fit the characters from the book as well, and make the movie all the better. They all fit into their roles quite nicely, and make a very convincing group. The battle is truly of epic proportions and the variety of monsters and animals make for quite an interesting battle scene.

The movie appeals to a very large audience. If you have watched or read Harry Potter, you will probably enjoy this movie. If you have read the Narnia books and enjoyed them, this is an absolute must see. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe contains similarities to both the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings movies, giving it the best elements of both movies. Then, add a great storyline written by C.S. Lewis, and you have yourself a fantastic movie. The DVD comes with quite a slew of special features, including interesting facts about the world of Narnia. The director really did an amazing job at recreating the book, and I am impressed.

Special Effects: 8.5/10

Acting: 9/10

Story: 9.5/10

Trueness to the book: 10/10

Scene Beauty: 9.5/10

Pros: Great storyline, Scenes and setting are gorgeous, Very true to the book, Is similar to both Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings

Cons: Not the best book in the series, Many other recreations of this book out there

Overall: 9.5/10

This book does something very different, as it has the same character take on the role of different aspects of the same Incarnation. Niobe acts as Clotho, the youngest version of Fate, returns to her mortal life, and then later becomes the middle-aged Lachesis, another part of Fate. It was quite interesting to see an Incarnation return to his previous mortal life after being Immortal.

The story does fill in some family tree elements, as you learn that Niobe is the grandmother of Luna, who is the wife of Zane from On a Pale Horse and is the Fate who had relations with Norton from Bearing an Hourglass. It is also told that Niobe’s other daughter, Orb, will become an Incarnation herself and marry Satan. This story does indeed shed some light on things to come, but also creates many new mysteries. The book truly lives up to the greatness of the first two and does so in its own way.

Pros: Great story, does things the other stories did not do, keeping the series fresh, Explains things in the story that shed light on the relation of the characters

Cons: Does not explore such unique areas as the other two did

Overall: 8.5/10

After reading the first book, On a Pale Horse, I had very high expectations for the sequel. Once again the first few chapters made me worried, but the story quickly picked up. The humor from the first has been replaced by constant suspense, which seems suited for the book, as the protagonist is Time. The story is just as good as the first, but seems very different, as if written by a different author. The humor has been misplaced by just pure oddness, and the ways things are described are as different as the characters in the book themselves. The story is told in third person, but the way things are described seem to follow the way the main character would perceive them, not as how Piers Anthony would. Norton, the character who becomes Chronos, the Incarnation of Time, has a somewhat inanimate object that can come alive in his snake ring; “Sning” much as Zane from the On a Pale Horse had his horse/car.

Unfortunately, the book only scratches the surface of the life of Chronos, but you do get to learn much about the way he lives. The story was once again very compelling and hard to put down, but I just feel like going a little farther into the life of Chronos would have been nice. I liked how the story went back to scenes from the first book, viewing them through Norton’s eyes. Hopefully future books in the series will go deeper into the life of Norton. Overall though, another great novel in the series, making Incarnations of Immortality even better.

Pros: Great story, Still very hard to put down, another interesting subject for a story, Writing is very different but still great

Cons: Humor is replaced by just pure oddities, Does not go very far into the live of Norton

Overall: 9/10

Bearing An Hourglass (Incarnations of Immortality, Book 2)

The book transitions very well to a movie, and I have to say, being able to watch a 700+ page book in about 2 hours is very nice. The movie cleverly adds small scenes and removes unneeded parts from the book which makes the movie flow better. This keeps the movie interesting, even if you have already read the books.

The actors do an amazing job of playing the parts and feel just like the characters from the book. The supporting characters are also surprisingly good which in turn makes the movie better. The supporting characters add little bits of fun and humor in between the conversations of the main characters.

The special effects of the movie are really stunning, and make one of the most amazing ending scenes I have ever seen. The spells and creatures are beautiful and look very dangerous and real.

The movie does a great job of recreating the suspense in the book, and does so magically. Overall, the movie was really an amazing film.

Special Effects: 9/10

Acting: 9.5/10

Story: 9/10

Cleverness: 9/10

Trueness to the books: 8/10

Pros: Great special effects and acting. Stunning new performance from the supporting cast, Each story gets better than the last

Cons: None

Overall: 9/10

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Widescreen Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (Harry Potter 4)

This is a perfect example of a good series. Each one builds on the one before it, and each one is better then the previous. The story is set in present day London, infused with magic. The story follows a magician named Nathaniel, his djinni (genie), and a girl without magic that has certain powers that allow her to see magic. The three books are told from three different points of views for the three different main characters, each with there own style of telling the story.

After reading the first two books, The Amulet of Samarkand and The Golem’s Eye, I was really hoping that the third book would be different than the “Object gets lost, Bartimaeus finds it,” routine of the first two. Fortunately the third book in the does not disappoint and takes the series in a new direction while keeping all the humor and fun from the first two. The character Bartimaeus is funny and quick witted and is great next to the seriousness and melancholy of the other characters points of view, which keeps the book funny and original, while still telling an amazing story.

The books of the trilogy are the only books in a long time, similar to the humor present in On a Pale Horse, which have made me laugh out loud while reading them. Jonathan Stroud, the author, obviously knows what he is doing and I can’t wait to read more of his works.

Creativity: 7/10

Absolute Hilariousness: 10/10

Character Development: 9/10

Pros: Hilarious, Great Characters, Great story that can be humorous and funny, great story for school, very hard to put down

Cons: Not really taking any leaps and bounds in its genre

Overall: 8.5/10

The Amulet of Samarkand (The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book 1)