Panem rose from the ashes of a devastated world, a totalitarian nation built on the bones of North America. Twelve districts kneel to the might of the Capitol, the
smoking ruins of the thirteenth sufficient deterrent against rebellion. To flaunt their power over the people's lives, every year the Capitol takes two children from
each district as tributes, entering them in the live, televised bloodsport called the Hunger Games. The last tribute standing brings great wealth and prestige to their
district... while twenty-three young bodies drive home the Capitol's complete control.
In the coal mining community of District 12, young Katniss Everdeen struggles to support her mother and younger sister. Not only does she turn to poaching to put food on
the table, but she barters her own survival, trading multiple entries of her name in the Hunger Games drawings for extra rations. It's a desperate way to live, but in
District 12, desperation is the only life she knows. Even so, she never thought her name would be drawn... and it isn't. But when her younger, innocent sister Primrose's
name is called at the reaping, Katniss steps forward as a volunteer. Prim is a healer, not a killer - and, if nothing else, years of poaching have taught Katniss what it
means to kill to survive.
Torn from her poor home and thrown into the spotlight, handed over to the care of trainers and stylists and image consultants, all for the "honor" of killing - and likely
dying - on national TV, Katniss finds her hard-earned survival skills put to the ultimate test... a test made even more difficult by her fellow District 12 tribute, Peeta
the baker's son. A seemingly-sweet boy, the lone familiar face in a sea of strangers, he will soon, like every other tribute, be nothing more than a potential killer once
the Games begin.
Review
A fast-paced story, The Hunger Games deftly sketches out its grim future without sacrificing action or characters. Katniss starts out a jaded survivor, with no
room in her mind or her life for softer emotions or intrigues. Faced with the almost-incomprehensible world of the decadent Capitol and the manufactured drama of reality
TV, she finds she has a lot to learn, and little time to learn it. She proves a little clueless at times, but never about her own survival: rather, it's her blindness to
emotions, hers and those of others, that keeps tripping her up. Primrose seems far too angelic to live in the same world that produced Katniss, and Peeta comes across a
little too obviously, but other characters tend to reveal hidden facets under the pressure of the Games, in and out of the deadly arena. The story itself is every bit as
brutal and grim as one might expect of a world where children kill children for the entertainment (and education) of the masses. Even for the first book of a trilogy,
though, I thought it ended on an awkward note; I half-suspect that Collins never intended it to be broken into three books, and that the break was an arbitrary decision
on the part of the publisher. Overall, I enjoyed The Hunger Games. It roped me into a solid day's worth of reading. I expect I'll follow the rest of the trilogy,
time and budget willing.
Katniss Everdeen walked into the 74th Annual Hunger Games competition an underdog, and walked out a hero... and an enemy of Panem's cruel President Snow. She beat the
system, allowing both her and her fellow District 12 tribute, Peeta, to survive a contest that was supposed to leave only one contestant standing. With the cameras on and
the Capitol citizens in love with the "star-crossed lovers" from the coal mines, it looked like there was no way for Snow to enact vengeance without enraging his own
citizens. At least, so Katniss had hoped.
She soon learns just how wrong she is.
Though Katniss never intended it, she has become a symbol of rebellion to the people, a sign that the government can be thwarted. And little as Snow tolerated her trick at
the end of the Hunger Games last year, this year he means to end her. Because, instead of simply mentoring this year's tributes, Katniss and Peeta must enter the arena
again. And this time, Snow will see to it personally that neither make it out alive.
Review
Like the first book, Catching Fire starts quickly. As desperate as life in District 12 looked before the Games, they grow even worse as the President makes good
on promises to see that Katniss will suffer for what she did. She never asked for any of this, and more than once contemplates simply running away, either into the wilds or
into her own depression. Despite the politics and intrigues swirling around her, it's all Katniss can do to simply survive. She is not, and never will be, a politician, and
she has trouble even trusting her closest allies, especially when everyone she cares about seems to become a target for government forces. She still can't figure out her own
emotions, torn between feelings for her childhood friend Gale and her protector Peeta, not to mention her own determination that she's better off not endangering anyone by
actually falling in love. Her survival instincts, however, are as keen as ever, and she manages to come through when it counts the most... up until the very end. I nearly
clipped the rating a half-mark for the awkward cliffhanger, with both salvation and desperation dropping out of the sky. It seemed unnecessarily dramatic, a marketing ploy
more than an authentic plot twist; there was already plenty of tension to compel me to finish reading the whole trilogy. Still, the book kept me reading long past the point
where I meant to set it down and do other things with my evening, so I gave it the benefit of the doubt. (And, yes, Book 3's already in the to-be-read pile...)
Two years ago, Katniss Everdeen was just another girl, daughter of a healer and a coal miner in Panem's poorest district. Now, survivor of two Hunger Games and inadvertent
inciter of rebellion, she is the Mockingjay... or, at least, that's how the rebels in District 13, and the anti-rebellion propaganda aired by President Snow of the Capitol,
portray her. Inside, she's falling apart, torn apart by memories of death and killing, the guilt of so many lives lost. Her former Games companion, Peeta Mellark, is being
tortured by Snow, and her one-time love, Gale, has been consumed by the rebellion to the point where she hardly knows him anymore. But, then, she hardly knows herself after
what she's had to do in the name of survival. In truth, the tactics of District 13's President Coin and the Capitol blur together into a seething sea of blood red and
gunpowder black. The old Gamesmaster, Plutarch, has even converted to the rebel cause. It's as if the Games never ended - and the last thing any victor ever wants is to
return to the arena, even if that arena comprises the whole of Panem. But she has no choice anymore. She must become the Mockingjay, the face of the rebellion, or once again
the Capitol wins and countless people will have died for nothing. So long as President Snow dies by her arrow, Katniss tells herself any sacrifice is worthwhile... even her
own life.
Review
A fast-paced and violent conclusion to the hit trilogy, Mockingjay starts with Katniss a shattered shell of her former self... a state she often reverts to during
the course of the tale. The atrocities she's witnessed and committed, the stress of being used as propaganda (knowingly and unknowningly), have crashed down upon her in the
worst way. She manages to pull herself together when it counts - usually - but still spends an inordinate amount of time confined to a hospital bed, drugged up for her own
good. It's probably a more realistic portrayal of post-traumatic stress and survivor guilt than often gets shown in books, especially young adult books, and dealing with her
trauma becomes an ongoing subplot, a challenge Katniss never quite bests but can only wrestle into submission when it rears its head. She isn't the only one who has been
changed for the worse by the rebellion and the Hunger Games. Her fellow victors all bear their own scars in their own ways, and even those who never set foot inside the arena
have been hardened by the Capitol's cruelties and the harsh realities of rebellion. The story itself ticks along decently, with plenty of twists and turns and an
exceptionally high body count (higher, if one counts offscreen deaths and torture.) The conclusion is somewhat unexpected, though the ultimate payoff feels a little drawn out
and shaky. Overall, though, it lives up to the promise of the earlier books.
The Underland Chronicles, Book 1 Suzanne Collins Scholastic Fiction, MG Fantasy Themes: Anthropomorphism, Hidden Wonders ***+
Description
Two years, seven months, and thirteen days ago, Gregor's father disappeared without a trace. In New York City, people vanish all the time, for all sorts of reasons. Some
of them fall in with the wrong crowd, or simply don't want to be found. Gregor knows that's not the case. His dad would never leave him, his sisters, his mother, or his
grandmother. Sure, they weren't exactly living in a Park Avenue penthouse, but he loved Gregor, and Gregor loved him. As soon as Dad comes home, he'll...
But Gregor won't let himself think about that, won't let himself think of hope or happiness, for fear of jinxing his father's return. In the meantime, all he can do is help
out as best he can around the house. With Grandma's senility, Mom struggling to stretch one income over so many mouths to feed, and his two-year-old sister Boots' constant
need for supervision and diaper changes, there's more than enough to do to keep his mind occupied. Even doing laundry is a blessing. At least, until Boots worked loose the
latch on the grate in the laundry room. As Gregor races to keep her out of the walls, the two fall in... and down.
Suddenly, Gregor and Boots find themselves in a strange, dark world, where giant cockroaches, spiders, rats, and more live in an uneasy truce with humans and bats. The
people of the Underland have many prophecies left by their long-lost progenitor - prophecies that may concern Gregor himself. Gregor only wants to return home, where his
mother must be frantic... until he learns that he isn't the first human to tumble into the Underland. The last "Overlander" to survive the plunge came through precisely two
years, seven months, and thirteen days ago.
Gregor's father... and, according to the Underlanders, he's still alive.
Review
Gregor the Overlander mixes some nicely original "otherland" twists with a strangely bland story. The title character tends to think in obvious blocks of text
(annoyingly set off in quotation marks), holding the reader's hand as though not trusting them to follow the tale through its darker stretches. As with many "otherland" tales,
Gregor's New York City street smarts and ability to comprehend slang terminology gives him an edge on the Underlanders, though they prove quite adept at surviving in their
own harsh world, with a matter-of-fact survival instinct that perpetually eludes him. Gregor's adventures in the Underland start out fairly benign, as he is protected from
the brutality of Underland survival by having the good fortune to travel with people who do the hard work for him. The fact that he's named in a prophecy only heightens his
security. Even when death and destruction come crashing down upon him, I felt oddly detached from the action, with only an occasional emotional connection breaking through.
I can't say precisely why; maybe it was the writing style, or the way Gregor tended to explain his thoughts and emotions instead of feeling them. Boots, his traveling
companion, actually has a purpose on the journey, though I do rather wish Collins had aged her a few years: I've never been particularly fond of pushy toddlers. (I'm also
not entirely sure that Boots wasn't the reason for my sense of detatchment - Gregor spends so much energy protecting her from the hard edges of the Underland that his own
experiences seemed equally bubble-wrapped for most of the story.) The author gets marks, however, for using a tantrum as a sonic weapon, perhaps the most unique use of a
two-year-old I've ever encountered. Collins also establishes different morality codes for the different species of Underland; one of Gregor's great struggles is how he must
come to accept that not everyone here thinks like a human, nor can they be expected to do so. Almost despite itself, Gregor's quest builds to a violent climax, though most
of the violence occurs offscreen and is only witnessed in its aftermath. The very end teases of more adventures to come for Gregor and Boots.
In the end, while the book had its moments, I couldn't find the energy or interest to push it to a solid Good rating. I don't expect I'll follow the rest of this
series.
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