Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Cover: 4

Characters: 5

Plot: 5

Setting: 5

SUMMARY

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark won the annual competition described in Hunger Games, but the aftermath leaves these victors with no sense of triumph. Instead, they have become the poster children for a rebellion that they never planned to lead. That new, unwanted status puts them in the bull's-eye for merciless revenge by The Capitol...

REVIEW

From this summary, you don't really know a lot of what's going on in the book. This basically only had covered the first part of the book because during the Victory Tour, the tour for the victors, some things happen and then it leads to a string of activities which then leads to the beginning of Mockingjay and so forth. I don't want to spoil it, so just read the book.

Like the last book, Catching Fire didn't lack action at all. I expected it to have less action than the Hunger Games, since they were no longer in the arena, but it didn't at all. I was at the edge of my seat throughout the entire book. Everything was just so exciting and the plot was so well thought out. The characters were already very well developed in the first books, but the new characters that we were introduced to were just as well developed and I loved every last character and I was so sad to see some of them die in the end.

The setting is so well described that I really felt the mood of each district, and the scenery was extremely vivid and in short, I loved loved loved loved loved the way Ms. Collins described everything. The concepts of the book were also extremely well thought-out, and I could tell the author spent a lot of consideration making up these settings and ideas.

This is no less worse the Hunger Games in my opinion. In fact, it just gets more exciting. If you think the Hunger Games were intense, wait till you read Catching Fire!

Five Snowflakes

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Just as a warning: this review will be spoilery, so in case you haven't read the Hunger Games and don't want to have some of the plot ruined for you, don't read this review.)

SUMMARY

Twenty-four are forced to enter. Only the winner survives. In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Each year, the districts are forced by the Capitol to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the Hunger Games, a brutal and terrifying fight to the death - televised for all of Panem to see.

Survival is second nature for sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who struggles to feed her mother and younger sister by secretly hunting and gathering beyond the fences of District 12. When Katniss steps in to take the place of her sister in the Hunger Games, she knows it may be her death sentence. If she is to survive, she must weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

WINNING WILL MAKE YOU FAMOUS. LOSING MEANS CERTAIN DEATH.

REVIEW

Good God, who doesn't love this book? Katniss is the ideal heroine and Peeta's just so sweet with the "I've loved you ever since I first saw you" bit. That usually annoys me a little bit. (Take Shatter Me for instance) But in this case, I just loved it and I was oohing and ahing and crying. Peeta's an awesome character. 

In this book, Prim, Katniss's little sister, gets chosen for the reaping, and Katniss takes her place. Peeta is chosen on the boys side. Together, they end up being real contenders with the help of their alcoholic mentor, Haymitch, and others, like Effie Trinket and Cinna. This concept, the idea of a love triangle (Gale, Katniss's best friend, is in love with Katniss) and a dystopian world, also post-apocalyptic, is really ingenious and I fell in love with the book as soon as I found out that Katniss would do anything, and I mean anything, to protect the ones that she loves. 

In the end, it's announced that two people from the same district can win if they are both left standing. It's mainly so the viewers of the Hunger Games can fantasize Peeta and Katniss getting together. In the end, the rules are changed, and Katniss and Peeta end up having this fight about who's going to die and who wins, and they figure out this plan for both of them to die, but at the last second, they're both declared winners.

You'd think this is the end, that's it's just a stand-alone novel, right? Wrong! That little bit where Katniss devises a plan for both of them to die (I won't reveal it since I've exploited so much of the plot already) causes this rebellion that blows over into the second and third book. All I have to say is that this book did not lack any action at all, and neither does the second and third book. Guys, this truly is a book that you'll enjoy over and over again.

Five Snowflakes

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

SUMMARY

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war-- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

REVIEW

This cover is actually a pretty good cover, only I don't exactly understand the dress part. But that's beside the point. I was literally dying to get this book, and when I did, I was squealing and squeeing all over the house. (My brother is a witness) And this book did not disappoint my expectations. This book was absolutely awesome.

I loved the content. I loved how Juliette held up, even after being trapped for ages and ages. I loved Adam, but I found the "I've been in love with you since I was five" bit a little cheesy and overdone. You can't just fall in love with someone just like that. You need time to develop a good, trusting relationship. Besides, I wouldn't trust someone working for a bad guy that easily and without reservation. That annoyed me a little bit, but otherwise it was really good.

One praise I had was the fact that in the book, many phrases were crossed out and some repeated. I liked the effect that it cast on the book. It sort of gave me a vibe that tied in with the book just right. And think Tahereh is a really great writer, and that she should keep writing. This book was dystopian, but it had fantasy and paranormal tied in, which was something new.

Best of 2011

I know I'm cutting it real close, making this Best of 2011 post now, but I had to honor this year someway somehow. So I decided to make a short yet meaningful post on the things that I have to be thankful for and to enjoy this year, books obviously. :D

Paranormal Romance (in no particular order)

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

This book has been out for a while now, and I heard about the book one day, and decided to give it a try. It was actually pretty good, so I read the entire series, and it turned out to be one of my favorite books. The drama in this book was non-stop, and the entire trilogy played out really well, actually. The only problem I had was the fourth book, because that felt a little like a prologue to the fifth book, but the first three were definitely awesome.

Dystopian (there are a lot more of these, since I recently found this genre and absolutely love it)

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

I heard so many great ratings about this book that I decided to read it, and I had wanted to for such a long time. This book definitely didn't disappoint me. (Also, forgive me that I haven't had many reviews put up. I've read a bunch of books and have about five reviews waiting to be done, so just be patient for a while.) This book wasn't like regular dystopian, in my opinion, and it definitely delivered and was just really well written.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

I'm pretty sure everyone agrees with me on this one and that it's definitely an awesome book. When I first picked it up, I was really hesitant because I hadn't heard much about this book. But after I went through the first few chapters, I found that I instantly loved the entire thing. This book was definitely something that I would read again and again. I loved Tris's bravery and how she survived the ranks of the Dauntless.

Matched by Ally Condie

This book was something that I had heard a few things about, but I never actually thought that I was going to read it. But then, I decided to give it a try, to read it, because this cover is actually super-pretty. And it turns out that I was right. This book was really good, and even though it was a tiny bit slow, I still loved everything else about it, including Ky and Xander. (Did you know that Cassia is pronounced Casha? I thought that it was pronounced Cassea, but it turns out I was wrong. Xander is also pronounced Zander, but I've never been good with Xs)

Middle Grade (there are barely any, but I had to do it, because I know some of you out there like Middle Grade. And to be honest? I kind of like it, too.)

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney

Come on. Tell me that you didn't used to like this series. I know you can't. Because deep down, we all have that immature, childish person inside of us. We all have some type of Greg Heffley in us. I know I do. And this is such a classic for the kids in middle-school. 

Okay, so that's all. I know—short is what I said right? Such an understatement. But I've read a lot of books this year, and only a few stood out to me like these did. And half the books I read I don't even remember. The others were so early in the year or so insignificant that I can't bother to conjure up the pictures in my mind. So, this is my small little list. Only six measly books. Pitiful, for someone who's probably read 100+ books this year, but it is what it is.

Have a great new year, everybody! Oh, and don't you like my new blog design? In the Follow Friday post below this one, I said that I wanted a new blog design, and everybody was encouraging me, and a very kind blogger (thank you, Priscilla TheGreat!) referred me to this website (silversdesigns.blogspot.com) who does free blog designs, and they're really fabulous, so I searched through them and found the one I currently have, which really stood out to me.