Caramel’s reviews – Page 10

Caramel reviews All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells

Today Caramel reviews All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells, written in 2017 and the winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 2018. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, today we are talking about All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries.

Caramel: Yep.

S: So tell us a bit about this book.

C: Sure. All Systems Red is about a SecUnit, a security oriented robot who is an augmented human.

S: What is an augmented human Caramel?

C: A person that is a mix between a robot and a human.

S: They used to call that a cyborg, I think. I guess “augmented human” makes it sound more like you begin with a human and modify them. Kind of scary to think about. Like the Cybermen of Doctor Who.

C: Yeah kind of, but this one is more, docile

S: Docile but he is called Murderbot! That sounds a bit violent.

C: Yeah, I think he calls himself that, as an ironic name, I think. Apparently, he went out of control and killed a lot of people some time ago, but now humans trust him again. He just calls himself Murderbot because he has dreams of being scary and powerful and so on.

S: Wait, so he has dreams or aspirations?

C: Yes, he is sentient. He also realizes at some point that he has free will. So he can override the commands he is being given, but chooses not to, because he does not want others to know.

S: Ooh, that is so interesting! So many questions! Is his free will coming from his human part? Or maybe the machine part is somehow capable of sentience and free will?

C: I don’t know, but I think it has something to do with some other SecUnits who attacked and one of them installed an override module to its neck.

S: So if nobody else knows of this, are we reading his own thoughts?

C: Yes. He is the narrator. I guess that is why it is called a diary after all.

Caramel is reading All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. — Caramel is reading *All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries* by Martha Wells.

S: So what does he do with his free will? What does he want to do?

C: He mainly watches TV in his free time.

S: Oh, that is hilarious! Kind of like how when TV and the internet first came to be, people thought about all the amazing things we would do with these new tools, but almost everyone uses these to watch soap operas or post cat photos or funny dance videos.

C: Yes, it is sad in a way. He could be planning to rebel or build a free world for his kind or something grand like that, but all he wants to do is watch soap operas without being bothered.

S: But also realistic. I mean not everyone wants to be a leader or a revolutionary, but everyone enjoys funny cat videos.

C: Almost everyone. I’d rather watch funny bunny videos.

S: You are right of course. Bunny videos are so much better! Anyways, do you like Murderbot? Is he likeable? Funny?

C: Yeah, he is very funny. And he is laid back and he does not take himself seriously.

S: That is cool! Did you know that they are making a TV show about Murderbot?

C: No! But that sounds awesome! Can we put the trailer on this thing?

S: Sure, here we go:

C: Thank you! That does look cool! I think it is not only the book I read though.

S: Yes, there are a few followup books about Murderbot.

C: Ooh, can I read them?

S: Hmm, I am not sure if they were published as paper books but we can definitely look into it.

C: Yes, please let’s!

S: Okay, sounds like you did enjoy reading All Systems Red.

C: Yep, it was super cool.

S: Okay, then, we will figure something out. It seems like this is a good place to end our review. What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells and is wondering if he can read the sequels as well. — Caramel enjoyed reading *All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries* by Martha Wells and is wondering if he can read the sequels as well.

Caramel reviews What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras? by Julie Ellis

This past week Caramel’s class was learning about the Pythagorean Theorem so he thought that this was just the perfect week to talk about What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras? A Math Adventure, written by Julie Ellis, illustrated by Phyllis Hornung, and first published in 2004. As usual Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

Caramel reviews What's Your Angle, Pythagoras? A Math Adventure, written by Julie Ellis and illustrated by Phyllis Hornung. — Caramel reviews *What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras? A Math Adventure*, written by Julie Ellis and illustrated by Phyllis Hornung.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, today we are talking about a math book.

Caramel: When you say it like that, it sounds like we are talking about a school book.

S: True, this is not quite a school book, though, in some sense, we are talking about it because of school.

C: Yep. We were learning about the Pythagorean Theorem at school, so you gave this book to me.

S: That I did. So what did you think?

C: It was not that bad.

S: Hmm, that is faint praise.

C: Yep.

S: So did you not like the book then? We do not review much that we do not like.

C: No, I was kind of joking. The book is actually pretty good as a story, and the pictures are nice, too. There are some real mathematical diagrams, but they fit right into the story and it seems like they just show up naturally. But I do not think this is how Pythagoras came up with his theorem.

S: I see. So it is the fiction part that you did not find most appealing. I do know you like your books with facts in them, so this had some facts, like the theorem itself, but a kind of a made-up story about how it came about, right?

C: Yes. Pythagoras is a boy living in ancient Greece, and he is trying to figure things out about distances, and he discovers the theorem all by himself. I mean it could have happened that way, but …

S: But you are not convinced?

C: Yeah, not really.

S: But it could have happened that way; we do not exactly know how Pythagoras came to his result. And don’t you think it might be fun for young bunnies to imagine themselves coming up with such an important result on their own?

C: Yeah, I guess you’re right, but still…

S: Are you a little envious perhaps? A bunny might have more difficulty playing with ropes and such like the boy in the story and so might have more difficulty coming up with such a result maybe.

C: No, I am not envious! And I like my paws and I can still do quite a lot of fun things with them!

Caramel is reading What's Your Angle, Pythagoras? A Math Adventure, written by Julie Ellis and illustrated by Phyllis Hornung. — Caramel is reading *What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras? A Math Adventure*, written by Julie Ellis and illustrated by Phyllis Hornung.

S: Okay okay, so you did not like the fictional part of the story. I get it. Did you think the math was explained well at least?

C: Yeah, it made sense. I think I will not forget the theorem ever after that. So in that sense the book did its job well.

S: Oh, that’s good!

C: Yeah, and I think my math teacher would like this book, too. She likes the Pythagorean Theorem a lot.

S: I am sure she will be at least happy that you now know the Pythagorean Theorem really well. Can you tell our readers what it is?

C: a²+b²=c². You say it like “a squared plus b squared equals c squared.”

S: Okay, that is an equation. It does not mean much before you tell me what a, b, and c are.

C: So you have a right triangle and these are the side lengths. c is the hypotenuse, that is the side across from the right angle. b and a are the legs, or the sides that are the part that from a right angle. And the cool thing is that this equation I said is always true, for any right triangle you can find.

S: Yes, it is pretty neat actually! In the book the boy Pythagoras is trying to solve another problem and somehow figures out that this theorem works for all right triangles. So what is his angle then? The angle in the title, I mean?

C: They have a wordplay there. So the right angle is the one you need to look in the right way to find your answer… But also the right angle is the angle between two lines that splits the space between them into equal halves, and Pythagoras’s theorem is about right angles. So there are two meanings.

S: Kind of clever!

C: Yep, I thought so, too. I do like wordplay.

S: So maybe this is a good place to wrap up our review Caramel. What would you like to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading What's Your Angle, Pythagoras? A Math Adventure, written by Julie Ellis and illustrated by Phyllis Hornung, and expects that he will never ever forget the Pythagorean Theorem! — Caramel enjoyed reading *What’s Your Angle, Pythagoras? A Math Adventure*, written by Julie Ellis and illustrated by Phyllis Hornung, and expects that he will never ever forget the Pythagorean Theorem!

Caramel reviews The Extraordinary Book That Eats Itself by Susan Hayes, Penny Arlon, and Pintachan

Caramel reviews The Extraordinary Book That Eats Itself, a book of eco-friendly activities that encourage environmental conservation through creative projects.

Today Caramel is talking to Sprinkles about a fun activity book first published in 2021: The Extraordinary Book That Eats Itself: Every Page Turns Into An Eco Project That Helps You Save The Planet, written by Susan Hayes and Penny Arlon and illustrated by Pintachan.

Caramel reviews The Extraordinary Book That Eats Itself, written by Susan Hayes and Penny Arlon, and illustrated by Pintachan. — Caramel reviews *The Extraordinary Book That Eats Itself*, written by Susan Hayes and Penny Arlon, and illustrated by Pintachan.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, today you have another activity book for us.

Caramel: Yep, I really like the activities in this book.

S: That is great! I hope we can talk about some of them in a bit. But let us start with the title. Why is this book called The Extraordinary Book That Eats Itself?

C: It is because the book has an activity on each page that allows you to use that page to create something that benefits the environment. You are supposed to use each of the pages, and even the cover pages, so in the end, when you are done with the book, the book has eaten itself up!

S: I see! That’s clever!

C: Yes it is. And I want us to finish this review so I can get started with the activities!

S: Alright, we will hurry then. When I hold the book I can feel that the cover is hard card stock, and the pages are also relatively thick and very colorful. So they could make good material for crafts and such.

C: Yeah, they suggest that you use all of them for a project. As I said, each page introduces a project and you are supposed to use that page, and sometimes some of the cover pages, for the activity.

S: I understand. So tell me about the activities then.

C: Well, there are sixty pages and an activity on every two pages, so there are a total of thirty activities. There is a handy table of contents at the beginning and they list all the things.

S: Okay, have you tried any of them yet?

C: No!! I am trying to finish this review so I can start pulling apart the pages and actually do the activities!

S: Okay, sorry, yes, let us get on with the review then, so you can get to help the book eat itself soon.

Caramel is reading The Extraordinary Book That Eats Itself, written by Susan Hayes and Penny Arlon, and illustrated by Pintachan. — Caramel is reading *The Extraordinary Book That Eats Itself*, written by Susan Hayes and Penny Arlon, and illustrated by Pintachan.

S: Once we are done, which activity are you going to start with? Are you going to go page by page from the beginning to the end? Is there some kind of an order to the activities?

C: I think they mean it that way, but I am not sure if I want to go in the order they put the book together.

S: Which activity will you start with then?

C: I don’t know.

S: Well, then why don’t you begin at the beginning? That is the advice the King gave to Alice in Alice in Wonderland.

C: Yeah, that might be the right train of thought there.

S: So what does that mean? What is the very first activity?

C: To build a worm bin and to throw food into it like a composting bin.

S: Hmm, I like the idea in theory, but when we tried composting, we just got a lot of little flies in the house. But maybe we can try again. We probably did not do it right the first time.

C: I remember the flies! But yes, maybe we should try again.

S: Okay, that is an interesting idea and we will talk about it. What is the next project?

C: To just share things.

S: Instead of buying things new and so on?

C: Yep.

S: Hmm, so I can see why the book has the subtitle “Every Page Turns Into An Eco Project That Helps You Save The Planet”. They are trying to have you do things that will help you with environmental conservation, by encouraging you to try recycling, composting, and so on.

C: Yep, remember you are supposed to recycle every scrap left over from the projects, so the book won’t create any trash. So it is truly a book that eats itself. Everything will be used up!

S: Like they say: ““Reduce, reuse, and recycle”.

C: Yes, that’s the spirit!

S: Okay, what other projects seem especially enticing to you?

C: I guess the first, the worm bin, is my favorite. But I also liked the twelfth one, which is about planting a tree. I also want to make my own pizza, which is the twenty-sixth activity.

S: Hmm, pizza sounds yummy! And I love trees, and that sounds wonderful, too, Caramel. So maybe we should wrap this review up so you can get started!

C: Yep!

S: What do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunnies reviews!

Caramel is excited to have finished reading and reviewing The Extraordinary Book That Eats Itself, written by Susan Hayes and Penny Arlon, and illustrated by Pintachan, so now he can get started with the activities! — Caramel is excited to have finished reading and reviewing *The Extraordinary Book That Eats Itself*, written by Susan Hayes and Penny Arlon, and illustrated by Pintachan, so now he can get started with the activities!

Caramel reviews Escaping Peril: The Graphic Novel (Book Eight of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland and Mike Holmes

Caramel reviews the graphic novel version of Escaping Peril (Book Eight of Wings of Fire) by Tui Sutherland (with art work by Mike Holmes).

Anyone who has perused any of our content here knows that Caramel loves dragons and by extension, Tui T. Sutherland’s Wings of Fire series. In the past few years he has read and reviewed quite a lot of the books in and related to the series. Today he reviews Escaping Peril: The Graphic Novel, the graphic novel version of the eighth book of the main series, written by Tui Sutherland, illustrated by Mike Holmes, and published in December 2024. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

[Caramel reviewed both the original version (The Dragonet Prophecy) and the graphic novel version (The Dragonet Prophecy of the very first book. He reviewed only the graphic novel versions of the next four books: The Lost Heir, The Hidden Kingdom, The Dark Secret, and The Brightest Night. These five make up the Dragonet Prophecy story arc.

Here are Caramel’s reviews for the five books that make up the second story arc (the Jade Mountain): Moon Rising, Winter Turning, Escaping Peril, Talons of Power, and Darkness of Dragons. And here are his reviews of the graphic novel versions of the first two books in the series: Moon Rising and Winter Turning. The current post contains his review of the eighth book, the third in this story arc.

Finally here are Caramel’s reviews of the five books making up the third story arc (the lost continent prophecy): The Lost Continent, The Hive Queen, The Poison Jungle, The Dangerous Gift, and The Flames of Hope.]

Caramel reviews Escaping Peril: The Graphic Novel (Book Eight of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes. — Caramel reviews *Escaping Peril: The Graphic Novel* (Book Eight of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes.

Sprinkles: Hi Caramel. I know you are delighted to be holding in your paws a new Wings of Fire book!

Caramel: Yes! It is the best possible book ever made to review!

S: You mean, until the next book comes out?

C: Yeah, probably.

S: Okay, so this is the graphic novel version of book 7 of the Wings of Fire series, right?

C: No, not quite Sprinkles. It is book 8!

S: Of course you would know! And you have already read and reviewed the original book.

C: Yes, can we put a link to my review?

S: Sure. That makes sense. Here is the link to Caramel’s review of the original version of Escaping Peril.

C: Thanks.

S: So tell us a bit about the book then.

C: This is about Peril, a Skywing with a weird mutation, called fire scales, where the scales are very hot and capable of burning almost anything.

S: Okay, you dove right into the world of Wings of Fire. So let us start slow. We are in this land of dragons, where there are a few different clans or tribes of dragons, each with their own special powers and strengths. And Skywings are one of those tribes.

C: Sure Sprinkles, but the readers already know all that. Or they should. After all, this is the eighth book of the series!

S: You have a point Caramel. I guess if anyone is reading our blog, even sporadically, they would know that! You have already reviewed so many books in this world.

C: Yes, I am not sure I can list them all. I mean there are fifteen books in the series, five books each for three different series, making up the main fifteen books. I reviewed most of those books. Then there are the graphic novel versions of them, but they are not all out yet. This is the eighth book, so I have reviewed seven of those so far. And then I reviewed a few other books about the dragons of the Wings of Fire universe.

S: True. Let me put a link here to your reviews of those four books: Wings of Fire: A Guide to the Dragon World, The Winglets Quartet: The First Four Stories, Dragonslayer, and Darkstalker.

C: Thank you.

Caramel is reading Escaping Peril: The Graphic Novel (Book Eight of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes. — Caramel is reading *Escaping Peril: The Graphic Novel* (Book Eight of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes.

S: So okay, let us go back to Peril. So Escaping Peril is not about escaping danger, but escaping from this dragon named Peril, then?

C: You could read it like that, because Peril is dangerous, but also you could read it as Peril is the one escaping. Because the book is really about Peril discovering herself and saving herself from her queen.

S: That is a cool play on words then!

C: Yeah, it is. See why I love Wings of Fire?

S: Yeah, I can see that it is only about the wordplay. Not about the amazing dragons, not at all.

C: No, of course it is not only about the wordplay! It is the whole thing.

S: I know. I’m just teasing you, Caramel. I do know how much you have enjoyed reading these books.

C: Good. Glad we made that clear.

S: So Caramel, this is the eighth book in the series. But each of these books is about an individual dragon, and so perhaps one could read them out of order. What do you think?

C: Sure they could, but it makes a lot more sense if you read them in order.

S: So they are chronologically ordered, then?

C: Yes, definitely. So knowing what happened in the earlier books explains a lot of what is going on in the later books. But you are also right, that one could simply dive into this book, for example, and get a good sense of the world.

S: But it is clear to me that you think readers should start from the beginning and read every single book in order.

C: Yes. And then reread them. Over and over and over again. Like I have been doing all this time.

S: I know! Your copies of some of the books have really worn out…

C: I prefer to call them “well read” or even “well loved”.

S: I love that Caramel! I love that you love books!

C: Only some books!

S: Okay, that is right, but it is also perfectly fine! Anyways, back to Escaping Peril. I know you have already read the graphic novel versions of the first seven books and the illustrations are done by the same artist. So maybe there was nothing surprising about the illustrations this time?

C: That’s right, nothing surprising. Except of course these dragons are awesome and the illustrations all do a great job in helping me visualize them!

S: That is wonderful, Caramel. It seems like the author and the illustrator really made this work. Anyways, maybe this is a good time to wrap up our review. So tell me what you are most excited about, having read this book.

C: Well, now I am ready for the graphic novel version of the ninth book!

S: That will be released this year, I think.

C: Really? So happy to hear that! And I also heard that there might be a totally new sixteenth book! So I have a lot to look forward to.

S: I am so happy for you! And in the meantime we will read a lot of other books.

C: Of course!

S: So then, what do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel is excited to have read Escaping Peril: The Graphic Novel (Book Eight of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes, and looks forward to rereading it many more times in the coming weeks and months. — Caramel is excited to have read *Escaping Peril: The Graphic Novel* (Book Eight of Wings of Fire), written by Tui Sutherland and illustrated by Mike Holmes, and looks forward to rereading it many more times in the coming weeks and months.