Book Review: Mockingjay by Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this as part of the The Hunger Games Trilogy omnibus ebook edition.

I had high hopes for the final novel of the series, especially after thoroughly enjoying the second novel, Catching Fire. I agree with a few other GoodReads reviewers who stated that Collins accomplished her goal in painting the stark reality that war and violence accomplish nothing and apparently humans can't help but repress and destroy each other, even unto their own extinction.

I also had hope of learning more about the history that led up to the rise of the Panem. But Collins only choose to go back three generations and only once or twice made a reference to the world before the rise of the Panem from the ashes of our civilization.

I suspect a nod to Ray Bradbury in the name of the sharp shooter squad District 13 assigned Katniss and Gale to as part of the rebel army. The prevalence of Ancient Roman names among the Capital citizens and a reference to 'bread and circuses' paints the Panem as a resurrected Roman Empire imploding faster than the original.

While predictable, the ending left me dissatisfied. I don't feel comfortable recommending this book to young adults, even though Collins wrote it for that audience.

As a 'former' parent (my kids are grown, either married or in college), I would treat this entire trilogy just like an R-rated movie. Don't read it unless you're seventeen (sixteen maybe), mostly due to the violence and gore. Very little if any sexual content exists in any of these novels.

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Book Review: Catching Fire by Collins

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this in record time and surprised myself by liking it better than the first book, the Hunger Games. Katniss' relationship with her family, friends and handlers evoked more emotions, believability and depth. The Victory Tour provided a glimpse of the wider world, showing me tantalizing bits of the various Districts and the ruins of civilization destroyed during the Dark Days seventy-years before.

I still find it hard to believe that fascism could survive so long. The unbearable inhumane conditions of the District 'citizens', the calculated cruelty of the Hunger Games, augmented in this novel by the Quarter Quell, a sadistic 25-year anniversary twist to the regular annual reaping of the rebel Districts' youth. The cost in lives, and the sacrifices made, reflect a horror I hope we never forget from our own not-too-distant past.

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Book Review: The Hunger Games by Collins

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 Stars

I loved this book and yet at times I hated it. Several times it made me cry, nearly sobbing out loud. It never made me laugh and pricked me to anger often.

Katniss lives in District Twelve, an area devoted to coal mining in what was the Appalachian Mountains of North America. Her father died working in the mines and her mother suffered severe debilitating depression after his death. That left Katniss, at age twelve, to provide for her mother and her young sister, Prim. She sneaks out of the confines of District Twelve, underneath a tall electrified fence, to hunt and gather in the nearby woods, keeping them from starving - barely.

The Reaping, part of the Treaty of Treason, is a lottery drawn once a year in each District, where all children between the ages of 12 and 18 are required to enter their names for the Hunger Games. A boy and a girl is selected. Against all odds, Prim's name is drawn for the female tribute to the Capitol. Katniss immediately volunteers to take her place. Peeta, the baker's son, is the other lucky winner.

They are transported immediately following the Reaping ceremony to the Capitol for a few days of training and preparation prior to the Hunger Games commencing. Twelve Districts means twenty-four competitors and the rules state only one can be the victor - and the only way to eliminate your competition is to kill them.

I wanted, most desperately, more history. I wanted to know the history of the destruction of North America; the emergence of the Panem, the Capitol, the Districts; details about the Rebellion; and, why the Treaty of Treason was necessary. No civilized society should sacrifice children simply to subjugate the rebel remnants. And not just sacrifice, but recreate a blood sport that makes the Roman Empire's gladiatorial games seem like a garden party.

The romance subplot between Katniss and Peeta mired the the final third of the book. Katniss' relationships with her former hunting partner Gale and the District 11 competitor, Rue, who reminded Katniss of her younger sister, Prim, intrigued me.

I enjoyed the first two thirds of this book. The action excited and Katniss proved intelligent, honorable and heroic. The ending disappointed and frustrated, leaving much unsaid and unanswered.

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Book Review: Divergent by Roth

Divergent by Veronica Roth

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Welcome to Post-Apocalyptic Chicago, where the trains never stop (even to take on or drop off passengers), the streetlights go dark by midnight and Lake Michigan is now the Marsh. The surviving remnants of humanity think they've found the cure for war in the five factions: Amity (the peacemakers), Candor (the honest), Erudite (the scientific), Dauntless (the brave) and Abnegation (the self-less). Choose your path (for life) when you turn sixteen or live destitute among the faction-less, a fate worse than death for anyone raised in a faction.

We meet Beatrice as she approaches her sixteenth birthday, the day of her aptitude test, designed to help her decide what faction she will join. Raised in a prominent Abnegation family, she feels like a constant failure because she isn't self-less enough. Beatrice struggles to be the first to serve others or lending a helping hand, not always thinking of others first as she's been taught. Her aptitude test confirms her confusion, when the results are inconclusive and she's labeled secretly by her helpful Dauntless tester as Divergent and advised never to tell anyone that she is.

At the Choosing Ceremony, Beatrice watches her brother, whom she considers a perfect living example of Abnegation, choose Erudite. Through this shock, she strives to select between Abnegation (and her family) or Dauntless (and never seeing her family again). She chooses Dauntless and soon Tris flies free, proving to herself and all her doubters that she believes in 'ordinary acts of bravery, and in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.'

The Dauntless initiation process taught Tris fighting skills, forging friends and enemies, and facing her fears. But her Divergence, her uniqueness, gave her the tools to fight for the helpless. For all her inner struggles with her perceived selfishness, Tris excels at self-sacrifice.

Many reviewers compared Divergent to The Hunger Games and I will grant some small similarity. But I liked Divergent much more for its intelligent plot, nice character development, affirmation of core values, re-iteration of corrupting influence of power (or the pursuit of controlling power) and I even enjoyed the innocent romance.

A very quick read (and hard to put down once you start) which I highly recommend Divergent to teens (and adults).

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Book Review: Leviathan by Westerfeld

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this in mid June 2011 as a member of the Fantasy Book Club group read. A quick, easy read, as I expected from a young adult novel, and one of my first (if not the first) steampunk stories. I learned quite a bit about pre-World War I Europe through my tangential research to better understand the alternate view of those events presented by the author. I definitely related to the Clankers, one of the political powers of this world represented by the familiar Austrian-Hungarian Empire. The Darwinists, on the other hand, fascinated but left me queasy (similar to how I feel now about genetically modified flora and fauna). The inevitable intertwining of the two worlds from our two protagonists provided good action and drama, and some character development, but the ending just frustrated me. If you don't like very abrupt cliffhangers, you might want to have the sequels, Behemoth and Goliath, on hand when you finish Leviathan.

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Book Review: Elvenbane by North and Lackey

Elvenbane by Andre Norton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars

I listened to this novel while commuting in May 2011. I found few characters to relate to or care for. I rolled my eyes multiple times at the antics of the adolescents, chalking their behavior down to young adult fiction norms. However, when the adults behaved with even less maturity or even common sense than the youths in their care, I cringed and about gave up reading further. It became a chore to finish. Too much melodrama.

Shana seems to be the only one with any inkling of where her moral compass points and overflows with her need to pursue what she perceives as doing the right thing. Laudable, but not always the wisest course. She came across as a bit over the top.

I thought young adult fantasy would be similar to a fable, or a similar story type that teaches a moral or other shows an example of a character trait to strive after. Perhaps this subgenre has changed beyond recognition in the three (almost four) decades since I read similar stories.

Aasne Vigesaa read this Brilliance Audio production and did a fine job, only using a couple of strange pronunciations of words a couple of times (most notably 'ubiquitous' which only appeared once in the novel).

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First Third of My Summer Reads - June 2011

Just a few of my favorite things . . . thanks to participating in GoodReads groups and as a guest reviewer for FantasyLiterature.com:

SciFi and Fantasy Book Club's currently-reading book montage

5029 members
Welcome to the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club!

Books we're currently reading

Consider Phlebas
by Iain M. Banks

Start date: June 1, 2011

The Summer Tree
by Guy Gavriel Kay

Start date: June 1, 2011

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Share book reviews and ratings with SciFi and Fantasy Book Club, and even join a book club on Goodreads.

Beyond Reality's to-read book montage

747 members

Welcome to the Beyond Reality SF&F discussion group on GoodReads. In Beyond Reality, each of our me...

Books we plan to read

The Magicians
by Lev Grossman

Start date: June 1, 2011 *

In the Garden of Iden
by Kage Baker

Start date: June 1, 2011

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Share book reviews and ratings with Beyond Reality, and even join a book club on Goodreads.

Fantasy Book Club's currently-reading book montage

2950 members

For lovers of Fantasy, monthly book discussions
May read: The Name of the Wind by...

Books we're currently reading

Leviathan
by Scott Westerfeld 

Start date: June 1, 2011

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Share book reviews and ratings with Fantasy Book Club, and even join a book club on Goodreads.

Fantasy Book Club Series's currently-reading book montage

300 members

Can't resist the lure of an epic saga full of fantastic creatures, scintillating sorcery, heroic...

Books we're currently reading

House of Chains
by Steven Erikson

Start date: May 15, 2011 *

Daughter of the Empire
by Raymond E. Feist

Start date: June 1, 2011

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Share book reviews and ratings with Fantasy Book Club Series, and even join a book club on Goodreads.

* I am not reading these selections.

Anything else I tackle this month can be found on my current-month book shelf at GoodReads.

Book Review: The Hero and the Crown by McKinley

Aerin may be the king's daughter, but you wouldn't know it from the looks, the stares, the snickers, the pranks, or the court gossip. Her father loved and married Aerin's mother after his first wife died childless. But being from the North, of unknown heritage and lineage, suspicions of witchcraft at worst and being a commoner at best, followed Aerin like a fog of misery. Her royal Gift failed to manifest as she entered and traversed adolescence, which further fueled the rumors of her inadequate or inappropriate breeding. Aerin wrestled with the trappings of her princess-hood, losing the battle with gentility and sought solace in the royal library and her father's retired lame warhorse, Talat. Nothing say quest and adventure like a dissatisfied frustrated teenage princess and a well-trained loyal equine collaborator. For starters, and against all odds and her father's wildest nightmares, Aerin and Talat master the art of dragon slaying.

For my complete GoodReads review of this book, please click here.

Book Review: The Last Unicorn by Beagle

Beagle continually surprised me with his unique prose. Descriptions and metaphors in odd juxtapositions that at first make no sense but then you blink and they make complete sense. His dialogue often rang with rhythm and rhyme, nudging me to re-read a snippet just to hear it roll off my tongue.  A timeless tale of love, beauty, regret and hope. 

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