The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

I am going to come right out with it.

I LOVE THE HUNGER GAMES.

But not as much as Harry Potter. Never.

STILL. It is FLIPPING AMAZING AND HEART-BREAKING AND HORRIFYING AND EXCITING AND UNIQUE.

I absolutely LOVED it.

So this was another book I'd heard loads about. It's not been as hyped up as One Day, but I've been hearing things, especially since the film's coming out (Oh my gosh, guys I actually cannot wait for that!!) and I thought that I ought to give it a try.

Best decision since sliced bread.

I don't even know where to start. I don't think I'll do one of those reviews where I just explain exactly what's going on, but I will give a brief summary just in case...

So. This series is set in the future, in the place where America used to be. The land is split into 12 Districts, with one area that controls the others, called the Capitol. Years ago, there was a rebellion against the Capitol, because of their iron-fisted hold over all the Districts, but the Capitol beat them down. As a result they imposed the Hunger Games: a televised competition, in which a boy and girl from the age of 12-18 are chosen at random from each District, and they are put in an arena and have to fight to the death, the last one remaining winning the competition.

Katniss Everdeen is our narrator, and her little sister gets chosen to compete in the Games. Katniss, aged 16, won't let this happen, and so volunteers instead. The boy chosen is Peeta Mellark. They journey to the Capitol with a support team, and have to go through many public appearances and interviews before the nation. But there comes an interesting twist. Katniss and Peeta's main mentor is Haymitch, District 12's only living survivor of the Games, and he and Peeta seem to think that if Peeta and Katniss pretend to be in love, they will win over public favour. By doing this they're more likely to get funding, which can be life-saving, as it means you might be able to get access to medicine or food when you're trapped in the arena.

They enter the Games, and although they're split up for a while, they are eventually reunited, and both know they have to act like they're in love the whole time, to keep the audience, and the Game-makers, happy. When the announcement comes that the rules have changed, and if two people from one District are left at the end, they may both win, it seems that they won't have to kill each other, and they might both be able to get home. Through various schemes and events, it turns out that they manage to survive it, and just as the final tribute dies, another announcement comes that actually, the rules can't be changed: meaning that they're going to have to kill each other.

Now Katniss has been having suspicions that Peeta isn't faking his affection towards her, and she is in confusion about her own feelings, and knows that she could never kill him. She proposes they both kill themselves, hoping that the Game-makers will not allow this, as the Games needs a winner. Her plan works, and they are taken out of the arena, to safety. Or so they think. Haymitch tells them that the Capitol isn't happy, that they feel they've been cheated, and if Katniss and Peeta don't uphold their story of being in love, they will both be killed.

It isn't until they're on the train home that Katniss tells Peeta that she was faking her attraction to him, trying to get them to survive. He is understandably angry and upset, and it ends with themheading home, her knowing that she's hurt him, but also knowing that they will have to keep up pretenses in order to stay alive...

Ok. Now for my reactions.

This book is exactly the type of story that I love. Fantasy is defintely my thing: Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, The Magicians' Guild, The Hobbit. I love stories where imagination runs wild, where anything is possible becaue it's a completely different world. I love the fact that people can create these worlds with so much depth and back story, how they're so completely different to ours. That's probably part of the reason I love Harry Potter so much. So this book fits that category perfectly.

I also like a bit of romance. I just get so involved with the characters, and think about their lives far more than I think about my life. Especially with this book. I have gone to bed every night for the past couple of weeks, my head filled with the problem of Katniss and Peeta, thinking about their relationship and how on earth they're going to survive.

I actually love Peeta, (NOT in a fangirl way though!) he's just so sweet and honest, and it's such a shame Katniss doesn't quite feel the same way about him. I think I'll start with this problem, as we're here. I thought it was a great idea of Collins' to set this romance up, but remind us that is was only as a way to survive. In reality shows now, people always whisper rumours about contestants getting together, and it's a comment on how set up these things are that Collins had them pretend like this. However the great twist was that they had to do it just to save their own lives, and also that Peeta actually does love Katniss.

Throughout the novel Katniss's feelings were torn between Peeta and Gale, her best friend from home, neither of whom she knew her feelings towards. I have to admit, that for a short while I was worried that this would go down the 'Twilight road' (that's one Fantasy series that I don't like) of the whole love triangle, who's she going to choose, are the two guys going to be all stupid and macho towards each other, blah blah blah. But it doesn't quite seem to be like that. I'm not sure yet whether Gale does like her. Hopefully not, as that would make things easier, but also the fact that Katniss is determined not to get married or have children. I thought that was an interesting dynamic to her character, as so often we are fed the idea that Marriage + babies = happiness. In my opinion, if people want to do that then fine, but personally I don't want children, I want an amazing career instead. But I wouldn't miind getting married. So when she told Peeta at the end that her feelings for him weren't real, I felt like wrapping him up in bublewrap and hugging him, because he's so adorable, and just been completely crushed.

Sadness forever.

So yeah, Katniss's character is nice and refreshin: just like I said the other day about wanting a different kind of heroine, one who doesn't always end up with a guy etc. With Katniss, she loves both Gale and Peeta as friends, and I think that's really different.

Something else I love in novels, and it sounds weird to write this, is the government opressing the nation. I'm not saying I think it's a good thing!! I was just always interested in learning about the Nazis and Soviets, and I don't know what it is, but in books when there are parallels to that sort of society, I find it really interesting. Especially when people begin to rebel against it (see Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, the Inheritance series, etc). I've always loved history, and when I get to learn about the social context of novels in English, it really brings them to life for me, and I feel like I understand them that little bit more.

So although the Capitol and the Game-makers were awful, I love the fact that they're there because I'm sure there'll be some kind of rebellion in the coming books. I couldn't believe that anyone could be so sadistic as to trap 24 children in a large area and force them to kill each other. It was even worse when, after a day or so of inaction, they decided to set the forest on fire just to force the tributes out of their hiding places and into close range of each other, so they had no choice but to fight.

Collins obviously wasn't scared of having Katniss confront the other tributes, and I was surprised that she actually made her kill someone. One complaint would be that she didn't dwell long enough on the fact that Katniss had just murdered, but then maybe the only way for Katniss to survive was for her to block out everything she had done. Maybe we'll see more regret in the next books, but somehow I doubt it.

I also thought that the people who live it the Capitol were really interesting. The stark contrast between them and the people Katniss is used to, and the disgust she feels towards them was really well done. I also like the way Collins approached the idea of fashion. The story is set centuries into the future, so why wouldn't people find ways of dying their skin pea green? Why wouldn't people want golden swirls inked onto their faces, or gems embedded in their arms? I thought those details really made the city come alive, and only added to the difference between them and Katniss.

I didn't think Collins' writing was perfect. I'm not so keen on the writing style, in that it's written in the present tense, which I've never been that keen on, but I didn't think it detracted from the story at all. For me, even though I love it when people write beautifully (modern example: Markus Zusac, The Book Theif, classic example: EM Forster, A Room With a View), but it's not the most important thing. Unless, of course, they write so awfully, Stephenie Meyer and Mandy Hubbard, to name a couple, that I just can't ignore it anymore. But on the whole, I care more about the story. As long as that's good, I'll go with it, and I can confidently say that this book is a hell of a good story.

Oh gosh, my life doesn't have room for another book obsession!!

One Day by David Nicholls

I decided I'd buy into the hype about this book and see what all the fuss is about, so this review is of the hugely popular and surprisingly upsetting One Day.

This type of book isn't usually what I go for. I read so many teenage girl books when I was younger (I was going to say, when I was a teenager, but then technically I still am, at the tender age of 19), that I think I must have saturated my thirst for 'chick flick fic', as I like to call it, and I tend to go for classics and more 'high literature' fiction, in an attempt to make me sound more intelligent and widely read in my English seminars... Somehow, I still end up bringing Harry Potter into everything though... really must sort that out. Anyway, my point is that I didn't really think that I'd enjoy this book so much, but I was surprised by how well-writted and witty it was. I'm not saying that this book changed my life, that it was a revolution in modern literature, and that I will never read another book, like so many people seem to have done, but Ifound I did enjoy it.

If you have been living in a hole at the end of your garden for the past couple of months, here is a brief summary of the story. Emma and Dexter met on 15th July, 1988, on the day of their graduation from St Andrews University, Edinburgh. Emma got a first (that's the highest you can get) in English and History, and Dexter got a third (the lowest you can get) in Anthropology. Each chapter in the book details what happens on that day, every year after that until about 2005. I thought this was a very original idea, and I suppose it could be difficult to pull off well, because seeing these characters for one day, once a year might stunt the character development, or not make us that close to the characters because we see them so infrequently. However the closeness we feel, and the progress of these two characters is really admirable, and I really did feel attached by the end.

I'm going to start with Emma, I think. She was a surprising character because she was so cynical: not at all the type of successfull, perfect character you see in so many novels/films of this genre. Indeed, the last few chick flicks I've seen seem to have made a point of characters who are not the perfect, pink, cheerleading-type that we've seen for so long. At first I thought this was quite refreshing, but now I'm getting quite bored of it. They try to make them seem 'kooky' and 'cool because they're different', when really they still end up with what the film-makers deem the 'perfect life' with the 'perfect boyfriend' and everyone loving them. Seriously, can we please have a chick flick where the girl doesn't get the guy, where nothing changes, but she still comes out happy and awesome?

I digress. I did like Emma's sarcastic sense of humour, how she avoids awkward and potentially emotional scenes with her dry wit, because I could relate to that. I hate ~emotional stuff~ when it comes to my life (although I adore reading/watching it), and I hardly evertalk about my feelings because it's weird. So I liked that quality about her. What really frustrated me though, and I think it was supposed to, was how when she left University her life spiralled into nothingness. Her brief stint as a performer who tried to change the world one act at a time was awful, and then she landed that humiliating job with the mexican restaurant Loco Caliente. I just couldn't understand how someone as bright and intelligent as her could possibly be settling for jobs like that. Dexter points this out at some point in the book, that she seemed to like suffering, and I think he was right, because she did nothing to get out of it, and she didn't even seem to care.

Her *unrequited love* (I hate that phrase) was definitely something I could relate to, so in a number of ways I felt she was fairly similar to me. But I don't want to go all fangirl and say that *this book is the definition of ~MY EXISTENCE~*, because that's definitely not true. But yeah, I was pleased in a way that Nicholls kept them apart for so long. I don't think the relationship could have worked if they'd been together when they were younger, as she was so dependent on him, and he just took her for granted for years. So although it's very poignant how little time they actually had to be properly together, I don't think it would have lasted as long if they'd got together earlier on.

This seems like a good time to talk about Dexter. Oh, Dexter. He was one of those characters who you couldn't help but love, even though you absolutely hated him sometimes, and Nichols summed this up absolutely perfectly in the now legendary line, "I love you, but I just don't like you", said by Emma to Dex. I kind of understood why he was such an asswipe at the beginning because hey, he was hot, rich, fairly intelligent etc, and could get any girl he wanted. When he was "finding himself" abroad, it was obvious that he didn't get how awful a time Emma was having, but you kind of had to forgive him, because when we read his side of the story we knew how much he though about her.

It wasn't until he became a TV Presenter and became a C-list celeb that his asswipe-ishness just turned into general arrogance and unbearableness. He was evidently an alcoholic, and completely full of himself, not caring about any of his old friends, especialy not Emma. In fact, I think he really liked the idea of Emma, knowing how close they'd been, but when it got to actually seeing her again, he just wanted her to know how much he'd given up to be with her tonight, how he deigned to be in her presence. I didn't blame Emma at all when she "broke up with him", because she really didn't need him in her life.

I want to talk briefly about the interesting juxtaposition between Dex's first live show and Emma's school play's opening night. They both had these things on at the same time, and they were both so different, yet so important to each of them. It highlights how different they were at that point, and also how selfish Dexter was to beg Emma to come to his show, when he knew what she was doing was equally as important.

I know I haven't talked about every detail that happened in this book, but I don't think I need to. I'm going to go straight on to the shock of the ending.

Well. Did anyone gues that was going to happen? I know I certainly didn't! I was surprised that I didn't cry though. I have to admit that I am prone to crying when something like this happens. I can't bear it when two people are separated. Think Lyra and Will (that still makes me cry), Elizabeth Swan and Will Turner, and Cecilia and Robbie from Atonement. Yep, absolute wreck. So, very surprisingly I didn't cry, and I'm still not sure why. It was certainly upsetting that Emma died, especially the way she did, just out of nowhere, by a lorry (and that bit was really horrible in the film).

I guess what was worse was when we followed Dexter on the few years following her death, when he was an absolute wreck, and I think I found that more upsetting, because I hate to see the ones left behind. Still, I didn't cry, but that doesn't mean it wasn't sad. I thought Nicholls' writing was very emotive, and when Dexter was 'celebrating' Emma's life by getting drunk and being beaten up, I thought it was quite brave of Nicholls to do that. It would have been so easy to say, 'after Emma's death Dexter was perfect to honour her memory', but the fact that he slipped back into his old ways was probably more realistic, and I'm glad they kept it like that in the film: especially the loss of respect from his daughter.

Essentially though, it is a happy book, because we're left with the image of the two of them together in Edinburgh, young and happy, and I think the message here is that death is not what's important: as long as you've lived and loved, you've lived a full life.

Scorpia Rising, Anthony Horowitz

I have been back for a few days now and I still don't really know how to do this review. And I finished the book on the second day of my holiday.

I am in complete and utter shock.

I still can't believe Horowitz could have done something like this.

I refused to believe what I had read.

But that's not until towards the end of the book, and there's so much to cover. I think I should say now, that if you haven't read this book and are just looking for an overview, read with caution because I will be talking with nothing held back about the events that happen in this book.

Are you prepared to delve into utter, heartbreaking misery? I'm not.



So my last review was the chapter that concludes Part 1 of this book, and seriously, I look back on that time as a happier time in my life because I was blissfully unaware of the horror the next part would bring. Maybe I should stop being so melodramatic. We'll get to THAT bit later.

We join Alex in school, in a lesson, and he sees a sniper. He alerts everyone, and HIS BEST FRIEND TOM HARRIS WHOM I LOVE TO PIECES gets shot. :(( But, don't worry, it's only in the arm. Phew.Alex, naturally, runs out of the school and onto his bike, hoping to chase the sniper. Seriously. What person in their right mind would follow the person who just tried to kill him?

At the time I couldn't work out who this sniper was working for. Was it Scorpia? But they already had their plan. Unless it was because Mrs Jones and Alan Blunt had failed to take the bait and weren't using Alex. I just couldn't tell, but I guessed it to be the latter. When the truth is revealed at the end, I could have screamed in anger and hatred... but we'll get to that later.

As is typical of Alex, he follows the sniper to a helicopter, and manages to make it crash. Natch. So then he feels compelled to alert MI6, but Jack (eternal love for her) demands that Blunt and Jones come to Alex. Not him come to them. Wow, what a BAMF. She is forever awesome. I liked how humiliated Blunt felt by being summoned like this, and it just goes to show how important Alex has become to them. It wouldn't be to anyone that they took time out to come and visit them.

Alex asks for protection and, inevitably, they demand 'payment'. They want him to go to Egypt. Nothing dangerous, just keeping an eye on a school.

I HATE MI6 I HATE MI6 I HATE MI6

Why? Whywhywhywhy? Can't they just help him one last time? Alex is obliged to agree, and Jack insists on going with him. I was so pleased, because I love Jack and I thought Alex might be safer with her there too. Can someone please hold me while I cry?

Blunt and Jones do agree to send another agent though, and this time it's going to be Smithers. This reminded me of something. Ages ago I read an interview with Horowitz who teased that something huge would be revealed about Smithers. I worried for ages that he would be working for the 'bad guys', that he would end up betraying Alex, and I didn't think I could stand that. At this mention, I fleetingly thought it would be EPIC LOLZ if it turned out Smithers wore a fatsuit. Oh Helena. Your powers of furtune-telling are greater than you think. Right? We'll get to that though.

Alex and Jack go off an their adventure, and for ages there seems nothing wrong with the school. Smithers give Alex various eavesdropping gadgets, in order to help him listen in on head of security, who they suspect. Of course, this is a WHOLE BIG SCORPIA PLOT. After various mishaps, Alex has a run-in with the CIA who don't realise who he is, and torture him by the infamous 'waterboarding' technique. How someone could do that to a 15 year old boy is beyond me. Do they have no compassion? Fortunately he is saved by Joe Burn, head of CIA, and is informed that they are here to protect their Secretary of State who will be flying out to give a talk about international relations. A talk in which she will name Britain as a weakening country. They worry that she may be assassinated because of this. As a Brit, I wondered if I should feel affronted by this speech, but really I don't really care if we're a 'super-power' or not. In fact I think it would be nice not to be, maye the government wouldn't interfere with so much. But then, I'm not particularly informed about current politics, so I'm not the best judge.

Alex finds Jack again, and they agree to leave the next day, because things are definitely getting dangerour, and they were told it would be safe. He goes to see Smithers to tellhim they're leaving, and this is when THINGS GET 100% AWESOME! Not that they weren't already. Scorpia learn of Smithers' presence and decide to take him out. So we get to learn of all the gadgets he has built into the house. And they are truly awesome. My personal favourite was thesecret passage through the fridge and out into the street behind, but I did like the line about the exploding garden gnomes he has in England. Alex and Smithers are on the run from the 4 or 5 agents who are trying to kill Smithers, and when it seems like there's no escape, Smithers drops a bomb on us. Figuratively, not literally. Turns out that my random musings were 100% CORRECT!! Well what do you know? Is it enough to say that my mind was well and truly blown right then? I wonder if Horowitz always planned this...? Not only that, but his face is completely different, and he has an Irish accent. Deep cover or what? Anyhoo, he and Alex separate, and I assume that he makes it out ok, because we don't hear anything else about him.

Alex returns to the house he is staying in with Jack, only to find the house empty and a note telling him that Scorpia have her. Shit. Shitshitshitshitshit. I felt like my stomach had just ridden a rollercoaster and my body had chickened out and stayed on the ground.

NOT JACK YOU ABSOLUTE FUNSPONGE. THERE I SAID IT. I HATE SCORPIA, THEY ARE FUNSPONGES, AND FUNSPONGES ARE NOT COOL.

They leave instructions for Alex, and he obeys them, terrified that he will lose the one person who has stuck with him throughout (excuse me while I curl up in my sock drawer and cry for ten years). When he reaches the appointed destination, he comes face to face with - himself. Well, Julius Grief. But still. You think that's pretty bad, but then he's flown out into the desert with Julius and the Head of Security, who does actually turn out to be a bad guy.

We arrive at a place we've been before. Razim, the guy who was testing a measurement of pain, who lives in the desert. Alex and Jack are reunited briefly, and then things go from bad to worse. Razim confirms that he will be torturing Alex tomorrow evening, and he hopes that the anticipation will make the pain worse, as this would be informative to his studies. Know what? Funsponge isn't even strong enough for you, you bastard.

The next day, Alex and Jack talk, and she reveals that she thinks she's found a way out, and will try to get help as soon as they take Alex and don't pay attention to her anymore. I expected this to be the only way out. How wrong I was.

Razim and Julius take Alex to the torture room, and Razim explains that Alex must have no marks on him, because tomorrow he is to do something else for them, so he as devised a way to hurt him without leaving any scars. I was a little confused by this, and wasn't quite sure what to think. I'd heard that Alex came out alive at the end of this one, but that what happened to him was worse than death, so I thought we'd find out here. Imagining some terrible torture that would leave him paralysed. Oh, but it's so much worse.

Narrative switches to Jack who makes her escape, and it's surprisingly easy, but as soon as she got in the car on the way to the nearest city I felt relief. So then we switch back to Alex, and we see Razim turn on a television. Was he going to make Alex watch a Saw marathon? I know that would torture me. But no.

It shows Jack.

She is escaping.

No one is worried.

She is driving away.

Julius pushes a button.

The car explodes.

My head explodes.

My heart explodes.






Why?

I just can't get over it. I sat in my room that night and sobbed, because I just couldn't bear the thought that Jack was dead. I was so sure throughout the remainder of the book that Horowitz would be like, 'FOOLED YOU! It was just a trick, here she is!' as he's done so many times in this series, and I think it was because of this that it only sunk in till later. I still can't believe it.

Razim, heartless pig as he is, finds that emotional pain is far worse on physical pain, and writes this all down, which makes me sick.

You've probably all read the rest of the book, so I'll just say that Alex manages to stop Scorpia from killing the US Secretary of State and saves the day again.

But what I want to talk about now is what happens between him and Julius Grief. Because Alex actually kills him. With a gun, in cold blood. This really got to me, because throughout the series we all know, and he does, that he wouldn't actually be able to kill someone. And now Jack has gone and nothing seems to matter to him anymore. Everyone mentions how the light has gone from his eyes, how he is empty. It's absolutely heartbreaking. Mrs Jones says later on the killing Grief was like killing a piece of himself, because they are identical, and I hadn't thought of that. Could it be that he was effectively killing the 'spy' part of him? Is it a metaphor? Or is it an example of just how wrong you can go when you've been mistreated and abused, manipulated and lied to by adults. Jack was the final straw, and I worried that there'd be no going back now.

It's funny, because in Harry Potter the point is that Harry would never kill anyone. He has too much love in him, and despite the amount of people who have died for him he still never kills. When he defeats Voldemort he uses Expelliarmus, and Voldemort uses Avada Kedavra which rebounds; therefore meaning that Harry didn't physically kill. So what's the difference then, now that Alex has killed? I'm not saying he's gone bad, not at all, or that he's weaker. I just think that it's interesting how two children's authors have tackled similar problems so differently.

We learn through the POV of Edward Pleasure that Alex is now going to live with them in San Fransisco, which is good: he'll get away from MI6 (although now Mrs Jones is head, I don't think they'd use him anyway). But again, it was heartbreaking to read how Edward noticed how broken Alex is, how he strares for long periods of time into nothingness, and doesn't volunteer conversation. The only way things are looking up is that he notices that Alex has perked up minutely since he arrived, and hopes that he will keep doing so.

We're left believing that things are going to be alright, if not for a very long time, but at some point, as Alex leaves his life behind him and tries to forget the horror that has been the past year of it.