La guerra de las bandas (Spanish Soundings)

by K.L. Denman

Jay, Kelvin y Cia son los Lunar Ticks, una banda de rock muy esforzada, y están convencidos de que van camino al estrellato. El grupo espera ganar muy pronto una competencia de bandas de rock que ofrece como premio un día entero en un estudio de grabación. Van a competir contra Indigo Daze, una banda de otra escuela, y resulta que Jay se está enamorando de la líder del otro grupo, Rowan. Cuando alguien destroza la guitarra de Rowan antes de la competencia, los Lunar Ticks son los principales sospechosos.

Jay, Kelvin and Cia are The Lunar Ticks, a dedicated band, convinced they are on their way to the top. They hope to win an upcoming battle of the bands where the first prize is a full day in a recording studio. Going up against Indigo Daze, a band from another school, Jay finds himself falling for Rowan, the leader of the other band. When Rowan's guitar is trashed right before the contest, The Lunar Ticks are the prime suspects.

Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Music

112 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2008

Reviews

[Leonardo Baca · Rating 5 out of 5]

The main character is Jay, who tells the things he goes through in his point of view. He started a band called “The Lunar Ticks” who consists of Cia, Kelvin (Kel for short), and Jay himself. Kelvin has a girlfriend named Amy, and he has the role of bass on guitar. Cia smokes cigarettes, and plays the drums. Finally Jay is passionate about his band getting big and successful, and he plays a Gibson guitar.

The book has a great way of introducing new characters to further proceed the story, I especially like how Rowan was introduced in a music store - and later more of her story is told as the story progresses. It does not feel like her character was forced, but rather established in a familiar spot that was in the previous pages of the story. Her story was also foreshadowed when she was talked about as the band that always beat ‘The Lunar Ticks’ out of school. That’s like a cherry on top of great storytelling.

While a short read, I do recommend this book to any average person. It’s not too long, it’s just the right length and it keeps things fresh with every new chapter. You will hate and like some of the characters as you read through this book, and most importantly… You don’t need to know anything about guitars and what-not to understand the book.

[Mel Raschke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jay is trying to with this contest. One problem is the girl he likes is also competing.

[grrr · Rating 5 out of 5]

it is awesome and it rocks

[Owen Housotn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read “Battle of the Bands” I thought it was a good book but a easy read in my opinion. It’s about theses groups of kids who are in high school and they are trying to become a professional band. In the book they express everything that the characters are feeling. Also, the story is good because they kids are really trying to become something but there obstacles they overcome.In the book the kid is not doing so well in school but he's trying but he really likes music so he starts a band with some of his friends.So they are a band and they go to a competition but some things happen along the way. I would recommend this book to teenagers because I feel like they would relate to this more.

[Jenn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was just awful! Poor writing, no real storyline, no reason to care about any of the characters except the love interest, who isn't even a main part of the story. It was like reading all the worst parts of Catcher in the Rye without all the redeeming figurative language.

[Riley Carrier · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn't the best. The best part was when Jay gave Rowan his guitar and Amy freaked out. The theme of this book is never let old problems haunt you. I would recommend this book to people who like music.

[Antony Javier · Rating 5 out of 5]

My thoughts of this book is it was great this book is about a boy who wants to win a contest called the Battle Of The Bands he try his best to make a song that will win they contest but there's a problem he went to go a see a band that plays better then him so he gets his band to play better then he has a crazy girlfriend who always crazy after school one day she told her boyfriend that they should ditch their drummer and play with a another drummer but after when she said that the guy in charge of uthe band who was the boyfriend dumped her and she went nuts and said you will regret what you have done after that things went out of hand the guy was figuring out what to do next so then he talks to this girl who kinda knows they start to talk then he takes her home only to find that the girl is the leader of the band who is better than his but that didn't bother him then it was Saturday the day of the contest the band was getting ready to play then the drummer of the other band came all mad looked at his band he showed him a broken guitar he said that he broke it because he knew where she lived but he didn't break it but they didn't believe him so he did the nice thing and loaned the girl his guitar since it was made by the same company and she played with it and after her performance she asked the boy if he wanted to go walk on the beach or get a coffee he agreed later that day they starting talking he said that he wanted to be normal he told the girl after talking to the girl she said that he reminded her of her dead sister after she said that things got a whole lot better then after the band was happy and so was the leader and the girl.

[Lourdes Garcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Como lector, encontré "La guerra de las bandas" de K.L. Denman una experiencia agradable y entretenida, aunque no exenta de aspectos mejorables. La novela logra capturar la esencia de la juventud y la pasión por la música de manera efectiva, lo cual es su punto más fuerte.
Los personajes de Jay, Kelvin y Cia son ciertamente simpáticos y fáciles de relacionar, especialmente para el público adolescente al que va dirigido el libro. Sus interacciones y diálogos suenan auténticos, lo cual es un logro considerable.
Sin embargo, sentí que la trama a veces caía en clichés predecibles del género "banda de rock en ascenso". Aunque esto no arruina la experiencia de lectura, sí que le resta algo de frescura y originalidad a la historia.
Además, hubo momentos en los que deseé que el autor profundizara más en los conflictos internos de los personajes o en las complejidades de la industria musical. El tratamiento de estos temas me pareció un tanto superficial en ocasiones.
A pesar de estas críticas, debo reconocer que el ritmo de la narración es ágil y mantiene el interés del lector. La forma en que Denman describe las actuaciones musicales y la emoción de los conciertos es particularmente vívida y envolvente.
En resumen, aunque "La guerra de las bandas" no reinventa la rueda en términos de narrativa juvenil, ofrece una lectura entretenida y motivadora que cumple su propósito. Por ello, considero que merece una sólida puntuación de 4 estrellas, reconociendo sus logros mientras se tienen en cuenta sus limitaciones.

[Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book because the main character really reminded me of myself. The main character is Jay. He has a band called The Lunar Ticks. They are trying to win battle of the bands, but many conflicts arise that may keep them from the competition. Jay battles personal problems and problems with his band mates. Jay plays guitar(like me), he is a teenager(like me), and thinks his life is boring(like me). His band mates are Kel(the bassist) and Cia(the drummer). Kel is a nervous guy that is kind of unsure. Cia is a tough, wanna piece of me kind of girl.(like every drummer. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. It wasn't long enough and it wasn't written well, but I like the story.

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reviewed by Liz for TeensReadToo.com

BATTLE OF THE BANDS centers around Jay, who is trying to win a band competition. The only problem is that the girl of his dreams is also competing!

While all of this drama is going on, Kel and Cia (another member of the band) start going out!

And Jay and his midnight sneak-outs are getting a little out of hand.

Will Jay win the competition and get the girl?

That is for you to find out by reading BATTLE OF THE BANDS, a fun, short story.

[Emily Matview · Rating 3 out of 5]

We were all tasked at my previous branch at reading one book from the Orca line so we could better recommend them to our teen readers. I went with Battle of the Bands since I’m a big music fan and found it a pretty enjoyable, though not entirely memorable, read. I would recommend it for reluctant teen readers due to its easier reading level combined with subject matter that would appeal to musical teenagers.

[Aidan Raschke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a very well written book and kept my interested the entire time. This book would be good for anybody wanting a quick read, and is interested in music. This book was the best book I've read in a really long time.

[Vern · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good book about high school music. A quick read, safer than Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.

[Ashtinh le · Rating 4 out of 5]

kind of cool so far

[Korey Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun if you are a musican or love music then you should read this book Gripping and it move quick and easy

[Jessie · Rating 3 out of 5]

An average contemporary. Easy and quick.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the review I read suggested grades 9-up for this, I think it's fine for my middle school; a fast, interesting read.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

really good love it

[Madeline Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess I'm a sucker for stories about a high school band trying to make it. This is from the POV of the teen band leader, a boy named Jay. This is a fast fun read.

[Nik Fiset]

this book was good

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was really interesting, and there was chalenging words there and I liked it. I highly recommend it for people who like music and things like that.

[Miguelito]

I think it is a good book to read

[Felipe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool Book. If your into music and bands you should read this haha.

[Arin Lara · Rating 2 out of 5]

The ending wasnt as good as I expected to be.