Megs

Veronica Roth - Insurgent
The blurb:I HAVE DONE BAD THINGS.
I CAN'T TAKE THEM BACK,
AND THEY ARE PART OF WHO I AM.

Tris has survived a brutal attack on her former home and family. But she has paid a terrible price. Wracked by grief and guilt, she becomes ever more reckless as she struggles to accept her new future.

Yet if Tris wants to uncover the truth about her world, she must be stronger than ever... because more shocking choices and sacrifices lie ahead.
My rating: 4/5
Tagged: young adult, dystopia, romance, science-fiction
Date I started this book: 02/05/16
Date I finished this book: 05/05/16

What did I think? Insurgent is the second book in Veronica Roth's amazing Divergent series and I admit, I started it the moment I finished Divergent, desperate to know what happened next. Insurgent paints a bigger picture of the world, giving us a chance to learn more about the other factions and their members. Equally intriguing for me was the development of Tris and Tobias' relationship. I loved how Divergent ends with Tobias' confession of love, but just as Divergent wasn't a love story, neither is Insurgent; Roth is not to be distracted by their relationship and doesn't lose focus from the main point of the story.

However, by far the best part of Insurgent is the secret. We learn quite early on that Marcus is keeping a rather large secret that will affect the entirety of the world in which they live and may even be behind the war. The secret generally remains in the background of the story, but Roth brings it to the foreground on occasion, tantalising and tempting, reminding the reader that there is still a lot we don't know. Yet the biggest thing this secret does is differentiate it from similar dystopian books. It makes the Divergent series stand out because there is now more to this series than overthrowing a corrupt leader and therefore also establishes the point of the trilogy.

If you've read Divergent, read Insurgent. It is just as good as the first. Many sequels don't live up to the first book (the Hunger Games trilogy is a good example of this), but Insurgent is different. It isn't repetitive as some sequels are; it has a point all of its own that leads nicely on from Divergent, using Divergent as a solid foundation on which to build. It does take a while to get into it so if it doesn't grip you immediately, don't worry. The second half absolutely makes up for this. It is infectious and impossible to put down.

Suzanne Collins - Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3)
The blurb:Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.

It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans -- except Katniss.

The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay -- no matter what the personal cost.

My rating: 4/5
Tagged: young adult, dystopia, science fiction, fantasy
Date I started this book: 19/02/16
Date I finished this book: 24/02/16

What did I think? The goriest and darkest of the trilogy, we find that Katniss Everdeen, still the 17-year old who survived two Hunger Games, is now the Mockingjay, or the face of the rebellion against the Capitol, and President Snow. This book picks up from where Book 2 "Catching Fire", left off, after Katniss breaks apart the facade of the Arena, effectively bringing the Games to an end, and on a larger level, the whole idea of being a spectacle for the Capitol's sick entertainment and subject to its power and oppression.

In an ironic twist, the rebels who set up base in District 13 (which had been thought to be totally destroyed), uses the very weapon that had been the crux of the Capitol's powers - the media. As an emblem of the rebellion, Katniss finds herself airbrushed and beautified to win support from the other oppressed districts, and through trial and error, finds what works best is to get to "Beauty Base Zero", which is "what a person would look like if they stepped out of bed looking flawless but natural. It means my nails are perfectly shaped but not polished. My hair is soft and shiny but not styled.... As a rebel I thought I'd get to look more like myself. But it seems a televised rebel has her own standards to live up to." With sardonic wit, Collins nonetheless convinces the reader with the sobering consistency of her dystopian world.

In the previous installments, the various prep teams and stylist teams assigned to the tributes had stood out for their frivolous antics in the heavily perfumed and sanitised environment outside the arena, but here, they become part of the blood and gore, manicures and fake lashes notwithstanding. While Katniss continues to struggle with her own feelings for Peeta and Gale, she is faced with less and less assurance that she is fighting for the right team, and that her alliances can be trusted, and even if she should trust herself, scarred as she is by her brutal experiences. She questions the offensive tactics that Gale and Beetee, another fellow survivor the Quarter Quell, devise: "That seems to be crossing some kind of line... So anything goes?... I guess there isn't a rule book for what might be acceptable to do to another human being".

Collins gets under the skin of her female protagonist, and follows through with her growing urgency to overthrow the Capitol and Snow, and we see Katniss go beyond issues of survival and revenge, because, as more and more of people around her fall on the wayside, and not just in mortal terms, she questions if humanity is even worth saving: "I think Peeta was onto something about us destroying one another and letting some decent species take over. Because something is significantly wrong with a creature that sacrifices its children's lives to settle its differences.... The truth is, it benefits no one to live in a world where these things happen."

These are difficult questions, and through Collins's artistic vision that she keeps with tight consistency in this better-than-average YA trilogy, they linger on beyond its closing pages.

Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games
The blurb:Winning will make you famous.
Losing means certain death.

In a dark vision of the near future, twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live TV show called the Hunger Games. There is only one rule: kill or be killed.

When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her sister's place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.

May the odds be ever in your favour.

My rating: 4/5
Tagged: young adult, dystopia, science fiction, fantasy
Date I started this book: 11/02/16
Date I finished this book: 14/02/16

What did I think? This book is written in first perspective, from the heroine's aspect. Her name is Katniss Everdeen. She starts off in her home, a simple, poor area of the land. She is the provider for her mother and sister with her hunting skills. To protect her younger sister, she is sent to the capitol, along with local boy Peeta, to 'participate' in the annual Hunger Games.

These 'games' are fights to the death, aired and shown to the capitol and all 12 districts under its control, in a survival arena of sorts. The book shows, throughout the story, a somewhat futuristic dystopia society. The tributes (Katniss, Peeta and others in the game) are given basic weapons (bows, spears, clubs) and the district where Katniss is from uses herbs and eats basic foods (squirrel, wild turkey, etc) but the capitol has voice command room service, automatic hair dryers, and a camera/screen set that tracks and shows the tributes (no matter where they go) to the viewers. It is an interesting combination.

There is a 'romantic' setting as well. Katniss and Peeta are to appear as a united team to the people. Peeta even admits to liking her during his interview. So a setting for 'star-crossed lovers' is created. However, Katniss has various feelings toward Peeta throughout the book and its very realistic and understandable, especially when there is possibly another guy back home.

Yet while there are time I can relate to her, at the same time several of her thoughts want to make my roll my eyes or drop my head onto a desk. While she is survival smart, she is not people smart. She can't socialize and cannot read people worth a darn. While it is annoying at times, it is also endearing and has created a unique character.