The Hunger Games

Hola... The Hunger Games is by Suzanne Collins. Living in the Seam, a gritty neighborhood in District Twelve, Katniss Everdeen struggles to feed her family. She never dreams that her younger sister Prim will be chosen for the Hunger Games. A punishment thought-up by the Capitol for the Districts' rebellion, each District sends two children between twelve and eighteen, called tributes, to the Capitol for a fight to the death. When her volunteering in Prim's place, she is thrust into the Capitol life with full force. But what about Peeta, the other tribute from District Twelve, who presents interesting challenges. Or the other blood-thirsty tributes, who are fighting for riches as well as life. The first time I read this book I hated it. It did not meet my expectations at all. I wanted excitement and action, but what I got was a bleak future and lots of sitting in a cave. I am now re-reading it and am enjoying it much more. Katniss is an interesting character with lots of spunk, and Peeta has a lot of depth. Gale also throws some more conflict into the bargain. Now that I understand the appeal, this is a pretty good book! Three stars.

Fever Crumb

Hola! Next up to bat is Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve. Fever is the first girl engineer ever. In a time where the streets of London are overrun with rioters and the low-lifes that haunt the city. In the midst of the end of the Scriven hunts—Scriven being much like humans, only speckled—the engineers strive for rationality. But when Fever is taken from her home on a mysterious mission, irrationality crashes over her whole life. Mixed with technology, honour, and adventure, Fever's journey takes some unexpected turns. I thought that this was a really weird book! It's set in the future but in a really strange way, referencing present things but making them seem a little primitive. I still don't understand what Scriven are, either. Fever has very little personality and the plot was rather disjointed. This was just a seriously weird book. One and a half stars.