Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Review : The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins


Title : The Hunger games
Author : Suzanne Collins
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars


About the book:


In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival.


My Review

Breathtaking!! Mind-blowing!! Mind blasting!!This is what I should say about this book! It was full of mystery, adventure and a little bit of romance. I kept on biting my nails the entire time while I was reading this book!! I have also heard that a movie is coming up on this book. There are many details, plots, incidents in the book, that I really have doubts about the movie! Anyway, time to write something about “Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins“.

The nation of Panem has risen from the ruins of North America. From here the Capitol rules over the surrounding districts. One district went against the Powerful Capitol and soon there was nothing left of it. For preventing further rebellion, the capitol instills fear and terror among all the remaining districts. This is done by Hunger games which are kept every year!


The Capitol forces every district to send 2 contestants for Hunger games on the reaping day. They call them as ‘Tributes’!!! These contestants are of the age 12 to 18. This is done by picking randomly a chit from the bowl which has numerous others as well. When the chit comes up, Prim’s name is been announced as a tribute to the Hunger Games. Katniss, Our main heroine of the story loves her sister more than anything in the world. How could she let her little sister go there?? And so she volunteers to go to the games instead of Prim. Katniss and Peeta are the 2 tributes from District 12.Together they go the Capitol and get ready for "The Hunger Games".From here, the adventure starts! I won’t go into much details here.


Hunger games is all about brutal killing, being hungry for days, bleeding to death and everything else a person doesn’t wish to even have a nightmare of. Here, all the 24 contestants from 12 Districts have to fight with each other in an arena which is constructed specially for Hunger Games by the Capitol.



I have read a few YA novels, but Katniss is the one I have loved the most. Having faced hard times umpteen times, she knows how to survive. Very smart, clever, kind and has amazing skills for hunting. Katniss Everdeen is a coal miner’s daughter whose father died in an explosion five years ago. Since then she has taken care of her family. She hunts illegally in the woods and sells and trades meat, fruits etc to the people in her District. That’s the only way she can feed her mother and a 12 year old sister Primrose. The only way of her survival gives her an advantage of trying to get survived in the Arena. When you don’t have anything to eat, drink and are stuck up in a jungle, you sometimes tend to loose humanity!! But, Katniss has not lost it yet and still has mercy left for others.

This book is a standalone in its own way. It’s like, one chapter has closed, but there’s more to come!! I am totally waiting to read the next book in the series titled ‘Catching Fire’ .


Sunday, November 15, 2009

Random Update :)

Yipeeeeeeeeeeee !! This is the first ever book that I have won and I am so excited about it.I even clicked a picture of this as a remembrance.I won it from Donna's blog, and I thank her to give me a chance of reading it.
I'm from India.Only the books that have a very high demand('Twilight Series, Hunger games etc')are available here.Otherwise, you either order it or keep filling contests like me.
So anyway, as I was about to begin reading this one, my sister took it away from me saying she wants to read it first !! Me being the younger one had to obediently accept her decision and with a heart ache I simply gave her to read it.. !!
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Oh, common, me not too obedient you see!! Its just that she is getting married by this month end, and wanted to read this book before she goes !
So now I am left with the other books.I am already done with the "Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins" and will write a review soon.But one thing I would say now, I LOVED IT !!
I guess now I should go ahead with Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill.Haven't read any reviews of this particular book, as I am scared of reading spoilers ! Just know that's its been loved by all ! I hope it gives me goose bumps, what say you guys ? have you read this one ? Did it scare you much that you tucked yourself in a blanket while you were reading ?

Friday, November 13, 2009

Review : the EVERAFTER by Amy Huntley


Title : The Everafter

Author: Amy Huntley

Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars


About the book:

Madison Stanton doesn't know where she is or how she got there. But she does know this--she is dead. And alone, in a vast, dark space. The only company she has in this place are luminescent objects that turn out to be all the things Maddy lost while she was alive. And soon she discovers that with these artifacts, she can re-experience--and sometimes even change--moments from her life.
Her first kiss.
A trip to Disney World.
Her sister's wedding.
A disastrous sleepover.
In reliving these moments, Maddy learns illuminating and sometimes frightening truths about her life--and death.
 
My Review

Ok. Writing a review of this book was really difficult for me.

This book starts with the line “I’m Dead. “.Now, that’s what made me really curious to read the book! It’s about a girl named Madison Stanton. She is curious, frightened, isolated, and lonely and above all stuck up in vast, dark place called IS. At least this is what she names it! All she can see is a ring of light. She doesn’t know how to get out of IS. And in trying hard to do so, she finds different kinds of objects like a bracelet, Orchids, sweatshirt, a ticket, Ring, piece of paper, peas and many more. Now she is totally confused. Somehow she does remember them, one by one, each taking her back to relive those moments, the snippets of her life and sometimes even change them. Madison is surrounded with a pool of mysteries and she is resolved to solve them. As and how she relives these moments, Madison learns “illuminating and sometimes frightening truths about her life-and death”, as the back of the book says.


I loved the way how Madison drew meaning from incidents and related to the object in question. I did not find it haunting at all. I wasn’t sad because she was dead, as I knew that she did exist, if not in body, but in soul. A person's energy never dies, it always exists in some or the other form. And this is the state where Madison is.


I found the initial part of the book a little confusing, but then, later it sorted itself out. The way author Amy Huntley has written the book from the start is amazing. I could feel and go through what Madison had been through. Trapped, Frustrated in the same moments where she was.


In short, I loved the book. All in all, a different YA book with not much high school drama involved and with a perfect ending.Do read it !

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Review : Wings by Aprilynne Pike



Title : Wings


Author: Aprilynne Pike


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars


About the book:

Aprilynne Pike's best-selling debut, WINGS, is the first of four books about a seemingly ordinary girl named Laurel who discovers she is a faerie. When Laurel is thrust into the midst of a centuries-old battle between faeries and trolls, she's torn between a human and a faerie love. In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue, romance and danger, everything you thought you knew about faeries will be changed forever.


My Review


I was waiting for this book to be in the store, and when my sister got it, I was very very happy. I actually fought with her because I wanted to read it first! But, after reading it, I know, I shouldn't have.

OK, now let me tell you a little about this book. Laurel is the main character of the story. She is 15 years old, home schooled from the beginning and living in a small town. There they have their beautiful home built on a land which is in the name of Laurel’s mother. But due to financial problems, Laurel’s family decides to shift in a different place. But here, she has to join High School. She finds difficult in the beginning to settle in her school, but then, it becomes easy with her new friend named David. Oh yes, he is head over heels for Laurel! He is always there to help her with her troubles.

One fine day, she finds a bump on her back! She is terrified by it. The bump grows into a beautiful flower after a few days. Now, I really liked this concept. Usually there are wings, but here there is a plant growing on her back.


I found the book ok, but I am disappointed with the way it ends. Agreed it has a sequel, but I think that every book should be complete in itself. Also I didn't like the way the romance part ended :( Till the end of this book, I thought that maybe, David is some kind of a supernatural creature too. But, alas, he wasn’t. I couldn't picturize the places which the author has described in it. It was a little too fast. I know this is a YA book, but, this is more appropriate for children below age 14.They will surely love it, as they won’t go into much details and complications.

I am sorry, but I couldn’t help myself comparing this book with “Behind Every Illusion by Christina Harner”, which I loved!!
But otherwise, the entire book is nice. It kept me hooked. The way she recognizes her own abilities is amazing. Also, the battle which is been shown between the good and the evil (won’t go into details) is really fascinating. I think the next book in this series should be interesting.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Review : Memoirs of a Fortune Teller by Gary Tureotte




Title : Memoirs of a Fortune Teller

Author: Gary Tureotte
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars



About the book:


Mary Ann was a travelling fortune teller.She knew everyone's future, but her own.She left this journal with many disturbing readings.


My Review


“Memoirs of a fortune teller” tells you about the life of a fortune teller named Mary Ann from her point of view. Mary Ann is been gifted by her mother with a rare and a special gift of telling the fortunes of other people, but her own by just having contact with their skin or by having contact with the person’s belongings. Mary Ann takes it as a blessing and travels around the country working as a carnival fortune teller.


But as and how she reads, predicts the person’s past, present and the future, somehow the fortune of some people gets tied together to her own fortune. Trapped in this tangled web, she now finds her own life in danger. She leaves behind a journal in which all these things which she has read, predicted and experienced are being penned down.


Most of the readings by Mary Ann were really very disturbing. Very few people had a happy past. If this book would have been fleshed out more, it would have been much better. What I mean to say is that if the horrifying scenes, the twists or the suspense in the book would have been elaborated a little more, then I would have loved it. Not that I say its bad.


But then again, the book is one quick read, different and is a fiction. I read the entire book in just 3 hours. Well there are some twists and turns in the book which are pretty abrupt, but then the overall book is good.

Oh, did I tell you that there is also a sequel to this book called ‘Vigilante witch Hunter’. I am definitely going to read it If I get it.