Book List: If You Loved Hunger Games...

Thought I'd change it up a little and try to do a list of recommends instead of the normal book reviews. These are in no particular order.

If you like Hunger Games, you might also like...

1. Maze Runner by James Dashner
2. Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld
3. Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines
4. Incarceron by Catherine Fisher
5. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
6. The Giver by Lois Lowry
7. Unwind by Neal Schusterman
8. Gone by Michael Grant
9. Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
10. Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
11. City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau

Any that I'm missing?

Book Review: Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines

Haines, Lise. Girl in the Arena. New York: Bloomsbury, 2009.

--Seven? The guy laughs. –I bet I’ve seen you on VH1, right?
--Not really, I say.
--No, no it’s ESPN. I know who you are. We’re talking real Glads, right? Swords, shields, heads flying, arms lopped off? Not that TV show with a bunch of batons and cargo nets, right?
--Mortal combat, Allison confirms with a polite smile, --though not always to the death.
--That’s what I mean, he says. –Mortal combat.

Lyn is the daughter of seven gladiators and a mother who has made a career out of being a gladiator’s wife. But when Lyn’s latest and favorite stepfather, Tommy, goes into the arena against an up-and-coming gladiator, she fears that this might be his last fight.

Intriguing. At first I thought I would hate the dashes in place of quotation marks, but they grew on me. I liked the main character, she definitely never took the easy way out. Sometimes I wondered why she didn’t, particularly at the end…but I was okay with it. I’m loving these alternate reality books. I don’t think this one is supposed to be set in the future, but in an alternate version of 2009. And the romance came out of nowhere and shocked me—but I liked it. I wish we could have seen more of it.

The biggest problem I had with the novel was the clumsy world building. She would introduce something right before it became important…which means pretty much zero foreshadowing. It makes the big reveals sort of anticlimactic. Also, I wish she would have gone deeper with some of the issues she brought up. She put her character into some tough situations, and I would have loved to see the girl work things out a little more. Maybe she will in the sequel, if there is one.

This is a great novel for those that liked the Hunger Games. It was similar in tone and plot. Not as well written, perhaps (could anything be as good as Hunger Games, though?), but still enjoyable.

Buy this book now!

Book Review: Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Fisher, Catherine. Incarceron. New York: Penguin Group, 2010.

He froze. He couldn't move. her fingers were cool and clean, and she had touched him on his skin, between the torn sleeve and the glove, and she was looking at the tiny tattoo of the crowned bird.

She frowned. "That's not a Civicry mark. It looks like..."

"What?" He was alert at once. "Like what?"

A rumble miles off in the Hall. The chains at his feet slithered. Bending over them the man with the cutters hesitated. "That's odd. This bolt. It's loose..."

The Maestra stared at the bird. "Like the crystal."

A shout, behind them.

"What crystal?" Finn said.

"A strange object. We found it."

"And the bird is the same? You're sure?"

"Yes." Distracted, she turned at looked at the bolt. "You weren't really--"

He had to know about this. He had to keep her alive. He grabbed her and pulled her to the floor. "Get down," he whipsered. And then, angrily, "Don't you understand? It's all a trap."

Finn is a prisoner, believed by most to have been a product of Incarceron itself--though he doesn't believe it for a moment. Even if he can't can't remember his past, he knows he had one before the prison. Claudia is the Warden of Incarceron's daughter, destined to be the next queen of the world Outside, where new technology is forbidden and the populace is kept in specific Eras. All she knows of Incarceron is that it is a centuries-old experiment, a utopia created to keep all the convicts and madmen out of the way.

What a brilliant novel. The writing is exciting, the plot fast paced, and the characters vibrant. If you're feeling the dystopia genre right now, this novel is a must. However, if you're looking for romance, not so much. There's less romance here than there was in Hunger Games. Not that that's a problem, it just seems that many people reading teen right now want romance.

On the other hand, the lack of romance means that this is a great choice for boys. I know it's been hard to find anything for all the kids that loved the Eragon series, and this is it. It's definitely written in the style of high fantasy, but it has all the excitement of teen dystopias.

One thing I particularly loved about it was the quotes at the beginning of each chapter. In Inkheart-style, Fisher has chosen made-up quotes from ancient texts, folk songs, diaries, and letters to start off each chapter. And each one relates to what is happening in the chapter, providing information that is essential for us to know. Also, I loved the cover art. It's just dark and abstract enough to capture the feel of the novel, yet doesn't give anything away. Plus, it's shiny, and I like shiny things...

Buy this book now!

Book Review: The Giver by Lois Lowry

Lowry, Lois. The Giver. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1993.

“Tell me about the celebration.”
“Well, there was the telling of his life. That is always first. Then the toast. We all raised our glasses and cheered. We chanted the anthem. He made a lovely good-bye speech. And several of us made little speeches wishing him well. I didn’t, though. I’ve never been fond of public speaking.
“He was thrilled. You should have seen the look on his face when they let him go.”
Jonas slowed the strokes of his hand on her back thoughtfully. “Larissa,” he asked, “what happens when they make the actual release? Where exactly did Roberto go?”
She lifted her bare wet shoulders in a small shrug. “I don’t know. I don’t think anybody does, except the committee. He just bowed to all of us and then walked, like they all do, through the special door in the Releasing Room. But you should have seen his look. Pure happiness, I’d call it.”
Jonas grinned. “I wish I’d been there to see it.”

Jonas lives in a dystopia world where everything is perfect. No sickness. No death. No poverty. Nothing but cheerfulness, polite manners, and...mysterious disappearances.

But Jonas has been selected as a Receiver, the highest honor given in their community. But what he must "receive" is more horrifying than anything he could have ever imagined.

I loved it. What else can be said about it? Everyone loves this novel. My husband, who hates to read more than anything in the world, loved this book. It's outstanding. I wish they would get rid of that horrible cover with the old man. That cover kept me from reading this novel for 22 years. If you can just get a kid to ignore the front cover and read a single page inside, they will be hooked. Plus, it can be a boy book. (Are you kidding me, a Newbery winner that boys will actually read???)

If you haven't read this book, you are depriving yourself. Drop whatever you are reading and run, don't walk, to the nearest bookstore to pick it up.