The Last Thing I remember Review

Author: Andrew Klaven

"Charlie West just woke up in someone else's nightmare.

He's strapped to a chair. He's covered in blood and bruises. He hurts all over. And a strange voice outside his door just ordered his death.

The last thing he can remember, he was a normal high-school kid doing normal things- working on his homework, practicing karate, daydreaming of becoming an air force pilot, writing a pretty girl's number on his hand. How long ago was that? Where is he now? Who is he really?

And more to the point . . . how is he going to get out of this room alive?" 

Characters: Very good. The main character, Charlie, is realistic, likeable, and even familiar-seeming despite his unusual circumstances. And though there are many characters who you only get a glimpse of, you get a feel for them very quickly in those glimpses.

4/5

Location: Good. Though nothing stood out to me as spectacular, the locations were clear and well-described. In most cases, I could easily picture what was happening and where the characters were.

3/5

Plot: Wow. This plot is fast paced and exciting, with plenty of twists and turns to keep you hanging. This is one book you definitely won’t want to put down.

5/5

Other: Before I read this, when I thought of action-adventure type books, I thought of Ted Dekker and the Alex Rider series. This, however, blows them both out of the water.

Overall Rating: 4/5

The Blame

Forced to die

A criminal’s death,

Though in all things

You were innocent.

Turned against and denied;

Beaten and betrayed,

By those who You loved;

Those who You made.

And who shares in their guilt?

Certainly not I!

I was not there

When You were sentenced to die.

It was not I

Who called out from the crowd;

It was not I

Who denied you aloud.

I did not drive

The nails in Your hands;

I did not help

In the Pharisee’s plans.

And yet, perhaps I

Share some of the blame,

Though I did not live

In the time that You came.

For it was I

Who sinned against You;

And it was I

Who tried to go without You.

It was indeed I

Who went my own way,

And it was I

Whose sins You did pay.

Yes, it was my sins

That You bore on the tree.

It was because of those sins

That You died for me.

And yet even though my sins

Led to Your death,

You still forgave me

In Your final breath.

And when You said

That it was done,

Those sins were wiped clean

The battle was won.

You died for us all,

For we all share in the blame,

But for those who trust You,

There is no shame.

And when the last trumpet sounds

And the world is made new

Those who accept Your forgiveness

Will have a home with You.

Simply because

You loved us so much

That you carried our sins

In Your death on the cross.

"For He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed."

-Isaiah 53:5 

Writing Plans and Such

Hello, everyone! I’m finally posting an update on what I’ve been doing! And yes, I know it’s not Friday, but I decided to do it now before I forget or keep putting it off.

• ·        My writing is going very well. I’m almost done with one story and about halfway done with another. In order to make sure my writing keeps going well, I’ve made an hour a day writing requirement for myself. With this in place, I hope to have both stories done by Easter.
• ·        What will I do after Easter, then? The answer is go back to writing novels. My current plan is to start work on the sequel to my NaNoWriMo 2011 novel either on Easter or the day after Easter, with a requirement of eight to ten pages a day. If all goes well, this will have me finishing the novel in about fifty days. After this, I plan to work on the sequel to Gone at the same rate, which should result in being finished with it in about twenty to twenty-five days. After this point, I have no plans except to make sure that if I start a novel, I finish it in time for Camp NaNoWriMo in July. Whether or not I will stick to this plan after I finish the first novel I mentioned, however, remains to be seen.
• ·        Speaking of Camp NaNoWriMo, I’ve already started trying to decide what I’ll write for it. At the moment, one thing I’m strongly considering is giving the remade fairy tale plotline another try. As you may know, my first book, Rosa, was a remake of Snow White. Since then, however, remaking fairy tales has been pushed aside. This has changed in the last few months, however, when I’ve thought about trying to do a remake of either Rapunzel or The Twelve Dancing Princesses. However, whether or not I actually write them, like whether or not I stick with the plan I mentioned earlier, is a matter of some doubt.
• ·        In non-writing-related news, I’ve been doing some photography, though my photo assignments were neglected in the past two weeks. I recently enjoyed going to Meadowlark Botanical Gardens to photograph tulips and bluebells. Though my bluebells didn’t turn out as well as I hoped, the tulips turned out lovely and I posted some pictures of them on Monday.

Well, that’s about it. Thanks for reading and for your patience in waiting for an update.

-Sarah

Cherry Blossoms and Tulips

Hello, everyone. I've got some more pictures to show you. I took these pictures at a nearby public garden-type place last Saturday. This is one of the first times I've been out taking flower pictures this spring, and I'm really quite pleased with how the  images turned out.

I hope you like them! Thanks for stopping by!

-Sarah

Foggy Morning

Hello, everyone! I'm back, with some more pictures! I took these Saturday morning. Since it was foggy out, Daddy and I went out to take pictures at a Wetlands Preserve near our house.

 

This last picture is the result of a combination of three things: a picture I very much liked, an overabundance of quotes from The Lord of the Rings stored in my head, and a renewed interest in playing around in Photoshop. It's actually a composite of two images.

I hope you like my pictures! Thanks for reading!
-Sarah

Hands Assignment

Hello, everyone! I'm back, with my photos from last week's photo assignment: hands!

Although I had other ideas than this one, neither of them turned out. So, I was left with these two pictures: a full-color version and a selective color version. I hope you like them!
-Sarah

What I've Been Up To

Hello, everyone! I'm here with an update on what I've been doing lately.

• Today, I read The Ale Boy's Feast, the last book in the Auralia Thread series. It was absolutely incredible. I know of very few authors who can end the last book in a series like he did and not get fans mad at them, but Jeffery Overstreet managed it perfectly. 
• My writing has been going well. I've started two short stories, both of which I'm currently quite happy with. One is a sci-fi/futuristic story. The other is a story set in Berstru, the world of my NaNoWriMo 2011 novel. The second story, I think, is my favorite. It concerns a masked bardess, a prince, a masquerade ball, and a plot to kill the king. Granted, it might sound a bit cliche plotwise, but I'm hoping that it won't be as cliche as it sounds and that my characters will make up for it if it is.
• I've also been doing quite a bit of photography, though not as much as I probably should be doing. I think that part of my problem is that I think of ideas, but I either can't figure out how to do them or I decide to write or read a book instead. 

Well, that's about it. Thanks for stopping by!
-Sarah

Poptarts

Hello, everyone. Here I am with the results of last week's photo assignment: food photography. Unfortunately, my picture probably wasn't as interesting as it could've been, since I spent most of the week with the wrong idea of what food photography included. This is what I ended up coming up with:

I hope you like it, and thanks for stopping by!
-Sarah