Review of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

BOOK DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS

"In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Acclaimed writer Suzanne Collins, author of the New York Times bestselling The Underland Chronicles, delivers equal parts suspense and philosophy, adventure and romance, in this searing novel set in a future with unsettling parallels to our present."

Where do I begin on my review for this book? Hmmmmmmm... Let me start off by saying there is a LOT of hype surrounding this series of books so, although I was really interested in reading these as they came available, I held off to see if it lasted. Well, the verdict is in and this first book of the Hunger Games blew my freakin' socks off! It was really hard resisting the urge to devour this book all in one sitting and I am glad that I stretched it out and savored it like a good steak diner. I wanted this story to last as long as possible. The life of Katness Everdeen has been a difficult one at best and realizing this early on in her character development helped pull for her throughout the entire novel. One of the best qualities and what made her such a great lead in the story for me was the simple fact that even faced with extreme adversity, Katniss Everdeen did not whine one single bit. In fact, I cannot think of anything that threw her except some kind of romantic awkwardness that went on. But hey, who wasn't awkward at 16. Even after a couple days that I have finished this book it is difficult to hold back my enthusiasm for it. Even knowing before hand that this book has spent over 100 weeks as a NYT bestseller, I could not have been prepared for how brilliant the plot and the fast paced action was going to be. And I was sure to stay away from any reviews prior to reading so that my thoughts would not be tainted. There is a definite kill or be killed necessity to this book that leads to moments that I was actually holding my breath till I new how that particular scene played out. By the time Katniss and Peeta were chosen for the 74th annual hunger games and were on their way to the Capital I was literally almost sick with anticipation and nervousness for her. Just as if it was me going through the whole thing. It is a great testament to the author to say that their writing can bring out those kind of emotions. As with most good books like this, there is a lot of talk around the hinternet about a movie being made sometime in the future. I hope they do because I would like to see it brought to life on the screen. I also hope they don't screw it up. I am eagerly waiting for a little bit before I start Catching Fire (the next book in the trilogy). It is sitting in my Kindle "to be read" cue whispering things to me as I am reading an interim book. I will probably wait till I can order Mockingjay before I start it. Stay tuned for reviews on the next two in this already great series. As always, Thank-you Ms. Collins for a great story. Fans and readers should be talking about this one for a very long time.

Review of Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Book Description from goodreads

"I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ.

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived–and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, Ben sits in prison, and troubled Libby lives off the dregs of a trust created by well-wishers who’ve long forgotten her.

The Kill Club is a macabre secret society obsessed with notorious crimes. When they locate Libby and pump her for details–proof they hope may free Ben–Libby hatches a plan to profit off her tragic history. For a fee, she’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club . . . and maybe she’ll admit her testimony wasn’t so solid after all.

As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the narrative flashes back to January 2, 1985. The events of that day are relayed through the eyes of Libby’s doomed family members–including Ben, a loner whose rage over his shiftless father and their failing farm have driven him into a disturbing friendship with the new girl in town. Piece by piece, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started–on the run from a killer."

My Girlfriend found this book on Goodreads and thought it sounded interesting so she ordered it. A week or so goes by and she's gotten the book and started reading it straight away. I saw her reading it a few times totally engrossed (something that rarely happens but, I love her nonetheless). She would peer up at me on occasion, feeling me watching her, and get this really cute surprised look on her face and say, "This book is reeeaalllly good! You have to read it!" Well, that might not be exactly what she said... but it was close. So, not wanting to disappoint, I finished the book I had been reading and started this one. I didn't have any preconceived notions about the book, but I was hopeful at best. That all being said my first sit with the book did not go that great. Maybe it was my mood at the time, but Libby Day was not making friends with me. As the story progressed though, I felt myself warming up to her and the story of how she got to be this thirty some year old woman that has been living in the shadow of her family's massacre since she was seven years old. Even sitting here now I don't believe that I am fully capable of feeling anything remotely close to how this whole rotten string of events could take its toll on a person. Libby's brother plays an extremely crucial part in the story and I could not help but think that, "Hey... That could have been me." This book being the "who dunnit" that it is, I don't want to give even the slightest bit of it away. But, I will tell you, in the words of my girlfriend, "This book is reeeaalllly good! You have to read it!". The mystery of Libby Day's family murderer will keep you guessing right up to the end and leave you thinking that all the pieces to this puzzle fell so nicely into place that you are sure that you should have figured this thing out nine or ten chapters ago. But that, I guess is why it is such a great novel that I will be definitely recommending to many many others. As always, Thank-you Ms. Flynn for a great story! I will be checking out your other books here in the very near future. Next up, Sharp Objects and it should be in my box any day now...

Review of The Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie

BOOK DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS

The end is coming.

Logen Ninefingers might only have one more fight in him – but it’s going to be a big one. Battle rages across the North, the King of the Northmen still stands firm, and there’s only one man who can stop him. His oldest friend, and his oldest enemy: it’s time for the Bloody-Nine to come home.

With too many masters and too little time, Superior Glokta is fighting a different kind of war. A secret struggle in which no-one is safe, and no-one can be trusted. As his days with a sword are far behind him, it’s fortunate that he’s deadly with his remaining weapons: blackmail, threats, and torture.

Jezal dan Luthar has decided that winning glory is too painful an undertaking, and turned his back on soldering for a simple life with the woman he loves. But love can be painful too – and glory has a nasty habit of creeping up on a man when he least expects it.

The King of the Union lies on his deathbed, the peasants revolt, and the nobles scramble to steal his crown. No-one believes that the shadow of war is about to fall across the heart of the Union. Only the First of the Magi can save the world – but there are risks. There is no risk more terrible, than to break the First Law.

The First Law Trilogy is equal parts gruel, war, mayhem and a little bit of magic too but, not to much to take it over the top. Joe Abercrombie writes with a sort of unknown, unspoken knowledge of fighting, battle and the loss and victory that can come with it. What made this story so great (even on the second time through) is how familiar the characters were to me and how I can relate to them in the situations that they went through. Even the unforgiving, warped brilliant mind of Sand Dan Golkta intrigued me as though it would just be common place to act out the story as he did because of the hand he was dealt. Although, the hopeless romantic (blah, blah, blah)in me was anticipating Ferro walking back into Logen's life clear up till the end of the book, it fit well that she did not. Because this is how life is in all its cold unfairness. As Logen would say, "You have to be realistic about these things.". The Dogman was not at all the most wrote over character in the book but I think that he would be my favorite. He held the clearest head of them all, I think and his mutterings were pretty hilarious at times. In fact, I thought all the Northman for being the tough, rugged bunch that they were, were the most humorous. And on the other side of it, the seven Day battle at the fort on the top of the mountain was freakin' paramount! I could cram all those chapters together and read them over and over and over. With all that said, there are still plenty more characters in this story to love and hate. I know that I will pick these books up again as they are on my shelf of some of the best fantasy out there.

Review of Horns by Joe Hill

BOOK DESCRIPTION  FROM GOODREADS

Amazon Best Books of the Month, March 2010: Best known for his terrifying (really) debut novel, Heart-Shaped Box, and his famous dad, Joe Hill continues to make a name for himself with Horns, a dark, funny exploration of love, grief, and the nature of good and evil. Ignatius William Perrish wakes up bleary and confused after a night of drinking and "doing terrible things" to find he has grown horns. In addition to being horribly unsightly, these inflamed protuberances give Ig an equally ugly power--if he thinks hard enough, he can make people admit things (intimate, embarrassing, I-can't-believe-you-just-said-that details). This bizarre affliction is of particular use to Ig, who is still grieving over the murder of his childhood sweetheart (a grisly act the entire town, including his family, believes he committed). Horns is a wickedly fun read, and reveals Hill's uncanny knack for creating alluring characters and a riveting plot. Ig's attempts to track down the killer result in hilariously inappropriate admissions from the community, heartbreaking confessions from his own family, and of course, one hell of a showdown. --Daphne Durham

Wow! Joe Hill has knocked this one out of the park and then some. This novel, appropriately named Horns got its grip on me early on and did not let go till the very end. Ignatius Perrish and the rest of the cast were really fleshed out characters all with intense psyche that keeps you flipping the pages of each point of view just to see what they are going to do next. I am seriously awestruck with the places in my head that this book took me. The series of events that took place to show you that...moreWow! Joe Hill has knocked this one out of the park and then some. This novel, appropriately named Horns got its grip on me early on and did not let go till the very end. Ignatius Perrish and the rest of the cast were really fleshed out characters all with intense psyche that keeps you flipping the pages of each point of view just to see what they are going to do next. I am seriously awestruck with the places in my head that this book took me. The series of events that took place to show you that there is a devil inside all of us. Ig, an average guy and Merrin, his soul-mate travel a destiny fraught with chaos and disaster and of course, a love that is as deep as an ocean. Lee Tourneau, man, I hated this guy and was ready to take him out really early on. All the pop-culture references in this book make it really fun too and when I would read over one it would kind of put a smirk on my face and randomly blurt things out like, "heh! Nice!". The majority of this story for me was just as simple as the continuous struggle in all of us with good and evil and that paved a road for a great, great novel. But, what took it to the next level for me was that despite what Ig became in the end, he held onto the good inside him. The unfaltering love he felt for Merrin truly made me feel sympathy for the devil.

As a side note... I read Heart Shaped Box a few years ago although I do not have an actual review of it up on goodreads (yet). It was a really good novel as well and leads me to this: Anyone who knows who Joe Hill is, knows that stepping into any kind of writing would be a huge shoe with and even bigger shadow to fill. In fact, it makes me cringe to even bring it up because if I was Joe Hill, I would probably get very tired, very quickly whenever it was mentioned at all. But after just two novels he has shown me atleast that he writes really really well and I will continue to read his stuff with no other pretenses than that. Keep up the amazingly wonderful writing Mr. Hill. I like your shoes just fine.

Review of The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

BOOK DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS

Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he's on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian - leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and a lot of happy enemies.

Nobleman, dashing officer, and paragon of selfishness, Captain Jezal dan Luthar has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North they fight by altogether bloodier rules.

Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government, if he can stay alive long enough to follow it.

Enter the wizard, Bayaz. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he's about to make the lives of Logen, Jezal, and Glotka a whole lot more difficult.

Murderous conspiracies rise to the surface, old scores are ready to be settled, and the line between hero and villain is sharp enough to draw blood. Unpredictable, compelling, wickedly funny, and packed with unforgettable characters, The Blade Itself is noir fantasy with a real cutting edge.

This is some of the best blood and battle type fantasy out there. But yet under the surface of the grusome stuff Abercrombie really brings out the heart of the characters. Makes them believable in their mannerisms and thought patterns. This is my second time through this series and that in itself should say something for the Trilogy. I rarely pick up series twice.

Review of Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

BOOK DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS

 From the Booker Prize-winning author of The Remains of the Day and When We Were Orphans, comes an unforgettable edge-of-your-seat mystery that is at once heartbreakingly tender and morally courageous about what it means to be human.

Hailsham seems like a pleasant English boarding school, far from the influences of the city. Its students are well tended and supported, trained in art and literature, and become just the sort of people the world wants them to be. But, curiously, they are taught nothing of the outside world and are allowed little contact with it.

Within the grounds of Hailsham, Kathy grows from schoolgirl to young woman, but it’s only when she and her friends Ruth and Tommy leave the safe grounds of the school (as they always knew they would) that they realize the full truth of what Hailsham is.

Never Let Me Go breaks through the boundaries of the literary novel. It is a gripping mystery, a beautiful love story, and also a scathing critique of human arrogance and a moral examination of how we treat the vulnerable and different in our society. In exploring the themes of memory and the impact of the past, Ishiguro takes on the idea of a possible future to create his most moving and powerful book to date.

I decided that I would read this book after seeing the movie trailer on the tele a few months back. The title was put in my "to read" list and on my Amazon wish list and I actually had forgotten about it till a few days after Christmas this title was put up on Amazon as a $5.00 Kindle mark-down so I thought I would pick it up. Well, the DVD will soon be coming out so I thought it might be a good time to knock it out. As with most books in this genre / age group / I don't even know how ...moreI decided that I would read this book after seeing the movie trailer on the tele a few months back. The title was put in my "to read" list and on my Amazon wish list and I actually had forgotten about it till a few days after Christmas this title was put up on Amazon as a $5.00 Kindle mark-down so I thought I would pick it up. Well, the DVD will soon be coming out so I thought it might be a good time to knock it out. As with most books in this genre / age group / I don't even know how to categorize something like this after I have read it type reads, I went into it not knowing what to expect. I have got to be honest in the fact that I really struggled getting acquainted and settled in to this book. In the beginning, I would read a little, put it down, pick it up, read a little, put it down, so on and so forth, till finally I was like, "where possibly can the author go with this storyline?" It was at that point I put everything else aside and told myself that I was either going to sit down and finish it or I was going to forget it. Generally speaking, I really have a hard time giving up and not finishing something. So, sitting down and finishing it is what happened and I must say that I am really glad that I did. Because an all in one finish like that is probably what made me see this book for the great read that it is. I doubt that I would have the same opinion if I had continued with the start/stop method I was doing. All that being said, I feel as though I was in total check of my feelings on this read clear up to the end and I had put it down. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. It felt to me that it was all leading up to this great thing in the end but, then in the end, there was nothing... I really can't even pin point exactly what it was that made me feel all this but, there it was. I had a deep down longing feeling for something... more. I was angry, I was sad, I was confused, torn, depressed, I honestly felt... Hollow. I desperately wanted all Carers/donors to rebel against the establishment. I kept hoping for Tommy, Kathy or even Ruth (despite not liking one thing about her the entire length of the novel) would just get this notion to, I don't know... walk away, start anew. Would this even been possible for everything they have been taught or put through. How can this even be considered as a possible existence? As someone who has lived as average as a life (a pretty good life actually) thus far, I keep thinking in the back of my mind that, "this... couldn't reeeeeaalllly happen... Could it?" In the end, I don't know if I have an answer or more distinctly, I don't want to know an answer. Hopefully, that won't be construed as condoning this from being stood for. I just couldn't turn my head as the world has in this book. I would probably be hiding deserters in my basement or something. I guess that pretty much covers my written thoughts for the time being about this novel. I am sure it will be thought of often and any book that is going to stir these types of feelings in me is always going to be thought of a something pretty special. I may not have needed the negative tones this put in my head but it definitely aroused some pretty strong emotions. Thank-you Mr. Ishiguro for a wonderful novel.

Review of Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

BOOK DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS

"Lenah Beaudonte is, in many ways, your average teen: the new girl at Wickham Boarding School, she struggles to fit in enough to survive and stand out enough to catch the eye of the golden-boy lacrosse captain. But Lenah also just happens to be a recovering five-hundred-year-old vampire queen. After centuries of terrorizing Europe, Lenah is able to realize the dream all vampires have -- to be human again. After performing a dangerous ritual to restore her humanity, Lenah entered a century-long hibernation, leaving behind the wicked coven she ruled over and the eternal love who has helped grant her deep-seated wish.

Until, that is, Lenah draws her first natural breath in centuries at Wickham and rediscovers a human life that bears little resemblance to the one she had known. As if suddenly becoming a teenager weren’t stressful enough, each passing hour brings Lenah closer to the moment when her abandoned coven will open the crypt where she should be sleeping and find her gone. As her borrowed days slip by, Lenah resolves to live her newfound life as fully as she can. But, to do so, she must answer ominous questions: Can an ex-vampire survive in an alien time and place? What can Lenah do to protect her new friends from the bloodthirsty menace about to descend upon them? And how is she ever going to pass her biology midterm?"

I have to admit that I was skeptical about actually reading this book. The premise, centuries old vampire becomes human and is thrown headlong into ordinary human (high-school nonetheless) life. I could not have been more wrong in all my preconcieved notions about how this book would turn out. And for that I am very happy with the outcome of this first installation of a proposed trilogy. Quite honestly, the end of the book came all too quickly for me. Although, a very climatic ending it did not seem rushed which makes me nod to the author for her ability to tell her story so well. The story of Lenah Beaudonte is told so well in fact that I could not help wanting to actually meet her while I was reading it. A want for something like this to happen to myself. Sadly, I was never the Justin Enos of my school, but I could relate to Tony very well. Even more sad I guess, thinking how Tony ends up... But Lenah, beautiful Lenah. This story is hers and what a wonderful one it is so far. I very much look forward to the continuation of the Vampire Queen Trilogy. A lot of questions come to mind for the remainder of the series. Answers about Suleen (what a mysterious character he is) and Rhode, the long ago knight who I don't really think ever forgot what real love was throughout his vampire existence. That is what lies at the heart of this story and if I may use the authors very own words, "It is the intent that matters the most." Thank-you for another great story.