20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome Book!, March 2, 2004
Nightmare Academy was an overall awesome, thriller fiction book. I'd have to say the book was one of the most suspenseful books I've read. After the first few chapters, which start out slow compared to the rest of the book, I couldn't put it down. Nightmare Academy is about a family, the Springfields, who are put on a case to find out how a boy's memory was almost completely wiped out. The Springfield's twins, Elijah and Elisha, act like homeless kids and are taken in by a mysterious woman. They are asked to stay the night at her hotel, but when they wake up, they are in a completely different place where rules don't exist and all communication to the outside world is gone. Their parents have to find them before they are killed or turn out like the boy who almost lost his memory. I won't give away any more of the book, but I would recommend it to anyone.
I would suggest that the reader reads the first book in the series, Hangman's Curse, before they read Nightmare Academy so that you can get to know the characters and also read another good book. Frank Peretti, the author, does an amazing job at building mystery and suspense. He also described the characters so well that I felt like I really knew them by the end of the book. Additionally, the tension and excitement by the end of the book makes you feel like you have to keep on reading until the end.
In conclusion, Nightmare Academy is a very good book, except for the slow beginning, that I would recommend to any fiction lover. The plot is excellent and the characters have interesting personalities that anyone could enjoy.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Nightmare Academy, September 6, 2005
Really enjoyed this book, even more than the first in the Veritas series. The emphasis on truth and morals - what happens in a society where absolutes are removed. Captivating and moved at a good pace. I hope there are more Veritas cases coming in the future. (My kids love the glow in the dark cover too - nice touch for the type of mystery thriller book).
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
EXCELLENT!!, July 14, 2005
A Kid's Review
This book is incredible! I've never been one for long reviews, and I don't want to spoil anyone's fun, so I won't say too much. Some Christian parents may shrink from allowing their kids to read a book with an ominous cover that says "Nightmare Academy". Their fears are probably not helped by the short synoposis on the back, telling of Alvin Rogers, a fifteen year old boy who's lost his mind. Yet, as you read and the story unfolds, you see the message, that is so simple yet so potent: Without truth, there is nothing.
Reading the first few paragraphs(which you can acsess for the most part on this website), you get a look into the mind of Alvin Rogers once all truth has been erased from his mind. I won't give it away, but I'll quickly make up my own character and give you his short story to illustrate what happens in this book:
Micheal Brubaker is an ordinary thirteen year old. Ordinary, except that he's a runaway. He's picked up by a friendly woman, who guides him to the Light of Day youth shelter. He accepts her friendly offer of a summer academy, a cross between summer camp and summer school. He goes to bed in the shelter, and wakes up in the Knight-Moore academy, where he is led to believe that there is no truth. Suddenly, with no truth, he realizes nothing is certain. He turns to walk down a stairway behind him and finds that he is in outer space. He ducks back into the game room only to discover he is in prison and chained, yet he can't feel the chains. The colors of everything are shifting and whirring, and his enviorment changes. He shouts for help but can't hear himself. He starts running but can't move.
That is what life is like without truth. Without any truth at all, you can walk out your front door and find you're in a desert. You turn around to look at your house only to find that there is just a giant termite mound. All in all, this book is awesome. Read it!
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