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You are here: Home / Archives for teenage fiction

teenage fiction

Book Review: The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

11th June 2012 By Julianne 3 Comments

I first heard of The Hunger Games trilogy in 2009, when I worked at a bookshop. Many of my colleagues told me that I must read it, some even suggesting that a good time to read it would be soon. We didn’t have the first book in the shop for almost the whole time I worked there – as soon as it came in, someone would buy it – though there were plenty of copies of Catching Fire (they were on special offer).

Naturally, my TBR being what it has been since I rediscovered the joys of teen lit, I proceeded to not read it anywhere near immediately. I decided to move it higher up the list when I heard that a film was being made. Then I saw the trailer and thought ‘this looks like such a good book. Must get it next year’. Despite the excitement generated by the trailer, I was still a bit
nervous about whether I’d like the book. Yes, everyone raved about it.
But plenty of people raved about Twilight and I resented every excruciating page. But The Hunger Games had one thing going for it that Twilight didn’t: there were people who hated Twilight that said The Hunger Games was good.

So I kept it on the to-read list, and now, after determinedly ignoring forum posts and blog discussions and everything else laden with spoilers for the last two and a bit years, I have actually read The Hunger Games. I read it the week before the film came out. Just before it became The Book everyone was reading on the train. In before the hordes. Oh yeah!

I’m not going to write a synopsis. You know what this book is about. If you don’t, here’s the film trailer, I hope it gets you excited to read it too!

As I said above, I wasn’t completely expecting to like it. But I was hooked from, I don’t know, page two? ‘This is much better than Twilight,’ I said. Probably aloud. The plot is gripping and it only gets better as the story progresses and the consequences of everyone’s actions are fully revealed.

Katniss actually does stuff, and thinks about the consequences for her and her family, at least most of the time. I found her an interesting and appropriate heroine for the story. A more silly, flighty, romantic sort of heroine would not have worked with The Hunger Games‘ plot, in my opinion. I also liked the way her family background was a source of both comfort and anxiety for her, it all helped to shape her character. She’s guarded and doesn’t trust easily but she has reasons for that.

I had mixed feelings about Peeta, her male counterpart . Yes, he’s a romantic idealist, and I can understand why. He works as a great foil for Katniss – but there were a few intriguing elements to his character that I wanted to know more about. I also wanted to know more about Haymitch and Madge, which made me think that it would be likely that the rest of the trilogy would hold my interest easily.

I did get a bit confused about the geography of District 12, but I found the level of description of the arena to be just right. I could picture it easily in my head but there wasn’t so much detail that it got boring (I will freely admit to skipping the eight pages devoted to description of a church in Swann’s Way).

I wasn’t entirely convinced by the way the Games ended, but it wasn’t enough to stop me from eagerly reserving Catching Fire at the library!

Reviews that helped convince me that I needed to read this book:

Addicted to Heroines

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: book review, books, dystopia, review, Suzanne Collins, teen fiction, teenage, teenage fiction, The Hunger Games, thriller, YA, young adult

Book Review: Under the Never Sky, by Veronica Rossi

12th May 2012 By Julianne Leave a Comment

Photo by Frankzed.
Most of the falcons in the photos I found in my FlickrCreative Commons search looked quite scary but this one looks cute and happy, which made me laugh!

I haven’t read any other books from the recent crop of YA dystopias, so I started Under The Never Sky without any preconcieved ideas in my head. I expected that there would be a romance and it would be quite a prominent part of the story, but other than that I wasn’t sure of what I would find.

The plot takes the form of a quest – Aria is searching for the truth about her mother, and Perry is searching for a way to get his nephew back. At first they form an uneasy alliance, but eventually the perils they face and the discoveries they make about each other and their worlds bring them closer together and trust starts to develop.

What I liked the most about Under the Never Sky is the relationships between the characters. None of them are straightforward and simple. Even the relationships between close friends and family members have a lot of tension under the surface, because of the heirarchies and power relations in the societies that live in the world of the novel. As the characters develop, we see them gain a more nuanced view of these power relations and their relationships develop too as a result.

Aria and Perry both come across as being practical and sensible people foremost, which is appropriate for the world they have to survive in, and makes them good role models! Aria was a little naive at first and Perry seemed really arrogant, but after a while these traits, which I would have found annoying eventually, broke down and they developed into more well-rounded characters.

I especially liked the romance. I don’t think that talking about this is really a spoiler, as the cover makes it pretty clear that there will be a romance, but if you want to avoid knowing any of the details, skip the next paragraph. [As an aside, although the cover is pretty, I think I would have preferred one that didn’t imply the romance quite so heavily and that promoted the sci-fi elements a bit more. But I expect that making it romantic attracted quite a few readers!]

There is no instalove, instead there’s instarevulsion, but that peters out after a while, and that’s when their friendship develops and turns to lust. The book finishes without the ‘l’ word being said, which I found quite refreshing and realistic. Although Aria and Perry do get quite attached to each other, they are realistic about their futures. Under the Never Sky has an open ended romance – almost anything could happen next in terms of Aria and Perry’s relationship and I’d be happy with the realism. I’m not absolutely clamouring for them to end up together, but I wouldn’t find it unrealistic either.

I also really liked Marron’s character and his little enclave broke up the dictotomy of dome-dwellers vs outsider, and introduced even more sci-fi elements to the story. I also liked the action scenes and the set-up for the next book in the series, and will be looking forward to reading it!

Few books are perfect, however, and there were a couple of things that bothered me although I enjoyed it overall. Firstly, the ‘aether’. Why was it never explained? There’s enough description of what it looks like, what it sounds like, and what it does, so I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have been too much of an infodump to quickly explain what it is, or what the characters think it is. The absence of explanation makes it seem like the author hadn’t decided exactly what it was.

Secondly, the Outsider characters’ abilities are awfully convenient. I know that they live in a tough world and their abilities serve to even up the odds a bit, but sometimes things are a bit too easy, and the way they’ve been assigned to each character gave me suspicions about which way the story will go eventually. I really hope that what I suspected doesn’t happen as it would be so cheesy and such a typical sci-fi/fantasy trope! Under the Never Sky was pretty devoid of cheese though, so I hold out hope that the rest of the series will continue on the same path!

I’m happy to say that I really enjoyed Under the Never Sky and I’m looking forward to the sequel. If my description appeals to you, I’d definitely give it a go!

Final note, Re: genre: after I read Under the Never Sky, I wasn’t sure that I would categorise it as a dystopia. If most of the
action took place inside Reverie, then yes, but it doesn’t, and the outside world isn’t an organised, tightly-controlled society. However, maybe ‘dystopia’ works as shorthand – it does seem quite wordy to describe it as ‘post-apocalyptic soft SF with some elements of dystopia, though it doesn’t get bogged down in all the rules and restrictions’. What do you think makes a story a dystopia?

Thank you to Atom Books for providing me with a review copy.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: book review, books, dystopia, post-apocalptic, review, science fiction, teen fiction, teenage fiction, Veronica Rossi, YA, young adult

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Hi! I'm Julianne and this is my book blog. Click my picture to read more about me.

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