Title: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Scholastic Press
Publisher Website: www.scholastic.com
Pages: 420
ISBN: 978-0-439-02348-1
Price: $17.99
Publishing Date: Oct 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts
This YA is the best book I have read in the past year. In a possible future, America no longer exists. It has been replaced by Panen, a wealthy capitol surrounded by twelve districts. (It was thirteen districts until one was utterly destroyed as an example to the others) which are kept dirt poor and starving. To remind the districts they are totally under the control of the capitol, a unique levy is required every year. Each district must select one boy and one girl aged 10-17 to travel to the capitol to compete in the Hunger Games—a battle to the death of the selected youngsters until only one is left alive. The survivor’s district and the survivor are given vast rewards (money, food, and a life of ease ever after), so there is a strong vested interest in the districts participating willingly.
The tension is constant and the heroine, 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, is an accomplished hunter (poacher) and survivalist who brings her outdoor skills to the games. The boy selected from her district, Peeta, claims to have loved Katniss since they were five, much to her surprise. What if they have to try to kill one another? The conflicts are multiple and deadly. The book ends with the perfect set up for a series. Its treatment reminded me of Stephen King when he wrote The Long Walk as Richard Bachman. It is a theme dating back to the days of the Minotaur. The author handles the violence in a tasteful manner, but it still is pretty intense—a book more suited to the older segment of the YA genre. This promises to be an exciting series and will be ideal for reluctant readers. We rated it five hearts.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Friday, March 7, 2008
GRREAT New SF/Fantasy Series
Title: Paraworld Zero
Author: Matthew Peterson
Illustrator: Matthew Peterson
Publisher and/or Distributor: Blue Works
Publisher Website: www.windstormcreative.com
Pages: 251
ISBN: 9781590924914
Price: $16.99
Publishing Date: 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts
Twelve-year-old orphan Simon Kent is a much abused nerd at school who wears glasses he doesn’t need in hopes that bullies won’t hit him. He has a whole drawerful of broken glasses, so that doesn’t work so well. All that changes when he accidentally meets Tonya, a girl whose hair changes colors like a giant mood ring and comes from a parallel universe. Simon discovers he can perform magic and uses it when he and Tonya find themselves running for their lives between parallel worlds.
This is the first in a wonderful series for mid-grade young adults that promises many more adventures. The author has mastered the formula for injecting a constantly increasing level of tension in his story. No, this does not replace Harry Potter. It’s totally different—it’s more SF than fantasy and definitely more American cultural oriented. This series should become a bestselling set of stories. We rated it an almost perfect five hearts.
Author: Matthew Peterson
Illustrator: Matthew Peterson
Publisher and/or Distributor: Blue Works
Publisher Website: www.windstormcreative.com
Pages: 251
ISBN: 9781590924914
Price: $16.99
Publishing Date: 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts
Twelve-year-old orphan Simon Kent is a much abused nerd at school who wears glasses he doesn’t need in hopes that bullies won’t hit him. He has a whole drawerful of broken glasses, so that doesn’t work so well. All that changes when he accidentally meets Tonya, a girl whose hair changes colors like a giant mood ring and comes from a parallel universe. Simon discovers he can perform magic and uses it when he and Tonya find themselves running for their lives between parallel worlds.
This is the first in a wonderful series for mid-grade young adults that promises many more adventures. The author has mastered the formula for injecting a constantly increasing level of tension in his story. No, this does not replace Harry Potter. It’s totally different—it’s more SF than fantasy and definitely more American cultural oriented. This series should become a bestselling set of stories. We rated it an almost perfect five hearts.
Now It Can be Told
Most of my readers here and at my book review site http://www.heartlandreviews.com have probably notice I haven't written a review since November. Now I can tell you why. Once again, I was selected to be one of the judges in this year's Publishers Marketing Association's Benjamin Franklin Awards. I don't get paid for that, but it is a huge credibility booster and a chance to see some of the newest small press and self-published books for this past year. Imagine my dismay when I received two shipments totaling 54 books of popular fiction. This week I finished reading the last of these and rendering my scores. One book I had to recuse myself from judging because I had been its content editor (Ascent into Darkness).
Since I finished on Tuesday, I have read a wonderful YA SF Adventure novel, Para World Zero, which I will write its review later this morning. I also tried to read another book, but it was too poorly written to review. Despite our attempt to filter books offered, we still get substandard ones occasionally. That's when I prove my worth by sifting the wheat from the chaff.
You're going to see many more reviews of excellent books for gifted and reluctant readers now.
Since I finished on Tuesday, I have read a wonderful YA SF Adventure novel, Para World Zero, which I will write its review later this morning. I also tried to read another book, but it was too poorly written to review. Despite our attempt to filter books offered, we still get substandard ones occasionally. That's when I prove my worth by sifting the wheat from the chaff.
You're going to see many more reviews of excellent books for gifted and reluctant readers now.
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