3/8/12
It's always sad when a series we like comes to an end, however it is good for both the author and the reader to end on a high note for the series rather than dragging something out longer than it should just to put off the end. IF a series keeps going for too long the author looses the passion hat made them good and the readers loose the interest as well. So though it is sad the Hunger Games series is over I know it is also a good thing.
Katniss has survived the Quarter Quell but at what cost? A new game awaits Katniss a full out rebellion against the Captiol by the Districts and she has become the face of the rebellion willing or not. A war with the Capitol is not so different from the games themselves, the area is larger, there more people, but in the end the only one you can trust is yourself.
While I enjoyed this book it was my least favorite of the trilogy. Throughout most of the book it kept pace with the first two but at the end I found it dropped significantly. The ending felt rushed, too much information packed into too few pages. It was not the ending I expected for me otherwise well written series Despite the rushed ending I enjoyed the book and would happily read it again (and probably will).
Saturday, March 31, 2012
#28: Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
3/5/12
The biggest challenge is the sequel book, especially when the first book was such a hit. The author has a great expectation from the fans that the second book just as good if not better than the first. A lot of authors feel the pressure of the fans expectations and some fail to meet the expectations, however there are other who exceed the expectations.
Katniss and Peeta have survived the Hunger Games and are about to start their Victory Tour. Katniss finds out her act to save her life as well as Peeta's has been taken as and act of rebellion against the Capitol. Now she must try and convince people it wasn't in order to save her life and the lives of everyone she loves. A new set of challenges awaits Katniss, a new game with a new set of rules.
This sequel was all I wanted and more. The story continued realistically and believably. It had all the excitement and that of the first book and all new challenges and changes. I found myself as equally drawn into this book as I was the first. The words come off the page and come to life. A movie was running in my head the whole time. Truly very well done!
The biggest challenge is the sequel book, especially when the first book was such a hit. The author has a great expectation from the fans that the second book just as good if not better than the first. A lot of authors feel the pressure of the fans expectations and some fail to meet the expectations, however there are other who exceed the expectations.
Katniss and Peeta have survived the Hunger Games and are about to start their Victory Tour. Katniss finds out her act to save her life as well as Peeta's has been taken as and act of rebellion against the Capitol. Now she must try and convince people it wasn't in order to save her life and the lives of everyone she loves. A new set of challenges awaits Katniss, a new game with a new set of rules.
This sequel was all I wanted and more. The story continued realistically and believably. It had all the excitement and that of the first book and all new challenges and changes. I found myself as equally drawn into this book as I was the first. The words come off the page and come to life. A movie was running in my head the whole time. Truly very well done!
#27: The Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins
3/2/12
This was a great read! You know when people keep telling you that something is the greatest and naturally you're skeptical and put off finding out if they're right? Or watching something become a huge craze and saying you don't want to be part of that? Well, that's what I did with this book and honestly I'm sad I didn't read it sooner because it was very good.
Katniss Everdeen is a young girl in a future where America no longer exists and trouble is a daily occurrence. When the thirteen districts rose up against the Capitol was angry and as punishment for the uprising the Capitol instituted the Hunger Games where a male and female between the ages of 12 and 18 must compete until only one victor remains. When Katniss' sister is selected to be District 12's representative Katniss volunteers to take her place. Now she will have to negotiate the arena and the other players and try to survive the Capitol's dangerous game.
Like I said I was hesitant to start this book because everyone was telling me how great it was I wasn't eager to jump on the band wagon with everyone else. When the movie was announced and my friends bought tickets and one for me. I was told that before I was allowed to go to the movie I had to read at least the first book. So grudgingly I dove in to the first book. Immediately I was captured and enthralled in the book. It was a fantastic read and I was thrilled throughout the entire thing. Collins created a world that was exciting and terrifying all at the same time. Whatever your age you will enjoy this book. You will be captured by the places, the characters and the threat. And wonderfylly written tale that will make your sking tingle with fear and excitement.
This was a great read! You know when people keep telling you that something is the greatest and naturally you're skeptical and put off finding out if they're right? Or watching something become a huge craze and saying you don't want to be part of that? Well, that's what I did with this book and honestly I'm sad I didn't read it sooner because it was very good.
Katniss Everdeen is a young girl in a future where America no longer exists and trouble is a daily occurrence. When the thirteen districts rose up against the Capitol was angry and as punishment for the uprising the Capitol instituted the Hunger Games where a male and female between the ages of 12 and 18 must compete until only one victor remains. When Katniss' sister is selected to be District 12's representative Katniss volunteers to take her place. Now she will have to negotiate the arena and the other players and try to survive the Capitol's dangerous game.
Like I said I was hesitant to start this book because everyone was telling me how great it was I wasn't eager to jump on the band wagon with everyone else. When the movie was announced and my friends bought tickets and one for me. I was told that before I was allowed to go to the movie I had to read at least the first book. So grudgingly I dove in to the first book. Immediately I was captured and enthralled in the book. It was a fantastic read and I was thrilled throughout the entire thing. Collins created a world that was exciting and terrifying all at the same time. Whatever your age you will enjoy this book. You will be captured by the places, the characters and the threat. And wonderfylly written tale that will make your sking tingle with fear and excitement.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
#26: Mystery at the Ski Jump - Carolyn Keene
2/29/12
So yea guess I was feeling a need to retreat to my childhood with all these Nancy Drew books. But it's ok since a quick retreat once in a while is necessary for the mental health of a person.
Nancy's loyal housekeeper Hannah has been taken. A woman claiming to represent a fur company sold her a questionable fur and some equally questionable stock. Nancy determined to help Hannah sets out to investigate. Along the way Nancy finds that someone is going around impersonating her. It's a chase to find the scammers and to figure out who is using Nancy's name.
Another well written story though there isn't as much mystery in this as their typically is. We pretty much know who did it from the get go it's more of a chase to catch them. While not as strong a mystery as others it's still very good and enjoyable.
So yea guess I was feeling a need to retreat to my childhood with all these Nancy Drew books. But it's ok since a quick retreat once in a while is necessary for the mental health of a person.
Nancy's loyal housekeeper Hannah has been taken. A woman claiming to represent a fur company sold her a questionable fur and some equally questionable stock. Nancy determined to help Hannah sets out to investigate. Along the way Nancy finds that someone is going around impersonating her. It's a chase to find the scammers and to figure out who is using Nancy's name.
Another well written story though there isn't as much mystery in this as their typically is. We pretty much know who did it from the get go it's more of a chase to catch them. While not as strong a mystery as others it's still very good and enjoyable.
#25: Raven Calls - C E Murphy
2/27/12
Don't you just love it when you go into a bookstore and when you're browsing the shelves you find a new book by one of the authors you like to read. It's definitely a kid in a candy store kind of moment. Your eyes get wide, your mouth forms an "o", and you start hopping just a little bit because you're so overcome with excitement. Well imagine working in a bookstore and seeing the book come in with a shipment and just waiting, itching to take the book home with you. When I saw this book I was having a conversation with two other employees in the back room and my eyes fell on this book that I didn't even know was being release yet. I cut between the other two women and grabbed the book from the cart it sat on. Neither woman said anything they just shook their heads with amused understanding.
Joanne Walker has been fighting to come to terms with the reality that she is a shaman and that there are powers in the world that she has to heal and others that she needs to stop with her power. Joanne having just finished a werewolf fight in Seattle, quitting her job, and finally able to pursue the feelings she and her boos have for each other now must go to Ireland. She as felt a pull that she must go there and the timing couldn't be better because Joanne has a secret, she's been bitten by a werewolf. In Ireland she will fight a power stronger than any she has dealt with before and hopefully will find a way to heal her bite before the beast takes over.
One of the reasons I like C E Murphy's Walker Paper series so much is because of the seamless blend between the world magic and the world we accept as the normal world. Joanne is a great character, relatable and easy to like. While in all the other books we get to know the Native American half of Joanne's heritage in Raven Calls we get to learn about the Irish-Celtic portion of it and how it affects her in the way the Native American part doesn't. Murphy brings to life the beauty of Ireland and the light and dark parts of it's mythology. Murphy's style is inviting and exciting. The stories and the characters are so real that it seems like you're there and part of it. Wonderful read for anyone who likes mystery, sci-fi/fantasy, or just a good read (def. start at the beginning with Urban Shaman though).
Don't you just love it when you go into a bookstore and when you're browsing the shelves you find a new book by one of the authors you like to read. It's definitely a kid in a candy store kind of moment. Your eyes get wide, your mouth forms an "o", and you start hopping just a little bit because you're so overcome with excitement. Well imagine working in a bookstore and seeing the book come in with a shipment and just waiting, itching to take the book home with you. When I saw this book I was having a conversation with two other employees in the back room and my eyes fell on this book that I didn't even know was being release yet. I cut between the other two women and grabbed the book from the cart it sat on. Neither woman said anything they just shook their heads with amused understanding.
Joanne Walker has been fighting to come to terms with the reality that she is a shaman and that there are powers in the world that she has to heal and others that she needs to stop with her power. Joanne having just finished a werewolf fight in Seattle, quitting her job, and finally able to pursue the feelings she and her boos have for each other now must go to Ireland. She as felt a pull that she must go there and the timing couldn't be better because Joanne has a secret, she's been bitten by a werewolf. In Ireland she will fight a power stronger than any she has dealt with before and hopefully will find a way to heal her bite before the beast takes over.
One of the reasons I like C E Murphy's Walker Paper series so much is because of the seamless blend between the world magic and the world we accept as the normal world. Joanne is a great character, relatable and easy to like. While in all the other books we get to know the Native American half of Joanne's heritage in Raven Calls we get to learn about the Irish-Celtic portion of it and how it affects her in the way the Native American part doesn't. Murphy brings to life the beauty of Ireland and the light and dark parts of it's mythology. Murphy's style is inviting and exciting. The stories and the characters are so real that it seems like you're there and part of it. Wonderful read for anyone who likes mystery, sci-fi/fantasy, or just a good read (def. start at the beginning with Urban Shaman though).
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
#24: Mystery of the Tolling Bell - Carolyn Keene
2/23/12
Okay so once again I travel back in time to visit Nancy Drew and her friends and follow them as they get involved in another mystery. Nancy and her friends as well as her father head to a client's inn to help her figure out how to get out of the scam she got reeled into as well as catch a little beach time. But trouble starts almost immediately and Nancy's father has gone missing. Worried Nancy desperately works to figure out what has happened to him and how it's connected to the case they are working on.
I've said it before and I'll say it again I like the way theses stories are written. The mystery is suitable for everyone. Despite being considered a kids books and not being very long I am roped in every time and usually kept guessing about the conclusion until the end of the book. Because these books are part of my childhood when I read one of them part of me goes back there and while I'm reading I"m not the 24 year-old woman sitting in her apartment reading while dinner cooks but the 12 year-old girl who is reading on the grass in the park.
Okay so once again I travel back in time to visit Nancy Drew and her friends and follow them as they get involved in another mystery. Nancy and her friends as well as her father head to a client's inn to help her figure out how to get out of the scam she got reeled into as well as catch a little beach time. But trouble starts almost immediately and Nancy's father has gone missing. Worried Nancy desperately works to figure out what has happened to him and how it's connected to the case they are working on.
I've said it before and I'll say it again I like the way theses stories are written. The mystery is suitable for everyone. Despite being considered a kids books and not being very long I am roped in every time and usually kept guessing about the conclusion until the end of the book. Because these books are part of my childhood when I read one of them part of me goes back there and while I'm reading I"m not the 24 year-old woman sitting in her apartment reading while dinner cooks but the 12 year-old girl who is reading on the grass in the park.
#23: The Hidden Window Mystery- Carolyn Keene
2/22/12
So when doing a little bit of research about Carolyn Keene and the Nancy Drew series I learned something I never knew before. Carolyn Keene doesn't exist! Well that is to say that one person with the name Carolyn Keene that wrote the Nancy Drew series isn't real. In fact the series is a collaboration of work by a variety of women authors who all wrote under the same pen name thus keeping the series and it's integrity intact. This has been your interesting factoid of the day.
Nancy's mailman has found something he thinks she might be interested it. A wealthy Englishman is looking for a stained glass window that belonged to his family and sometime ago was brought over to the states. Eager for a chance to find this heirloom (and of course for a mystery) Nancy jumps at the chance. Along with her friends Bess and George, Nancy searches for the window. There may be more to this mystery than she thought.
The thing I love about the Nancy Drew books (aside from the well written mystery) is that for me they are set in another time and another place, neither of which I'm familiar with. I like to read them and be taken back to a place and time that is much different than my own and experience the adventures of Nancy and her friends. They are wonderful mysteries suitable for all ages. Interesting enough to keep older readers engaged and clean enough for young readers to enjoy.
So when doing a little bit of research about Carolyn Keene and the Nancy Drew series I learned something I never knew before. Carolyn Keene doesn't exist! Well that is to say that one person with the name Carolyn Keene that wrote the Nancy Drew series isn't real. In fact the series is a collaboration of work by a variety of women authors who all wrote under the same pen name thus keeping the series and it's integrity intact. This has been your interesting factoid of the day.
Nancy's mailman has found something he thinks she might be interested it. A wealthy Englishman is looking for a stained glass window that belonged to his family and sometime ago was brought over to the states. Eager for a chance to find this heirloom (and of course for a mystery) Nancy jumps at the chance. Along with her friends Bess and George, Nancy searches for the window. There may be more to this mystery than she thought.
The thing I love about the Nancy Drew books (aside from the well written mystery) is that for me they are set in another time and another place, neither of which I'm familiar with. I like to read them and be taken back to a place and time that is much different than my own and experience the adventures of Nancy and her friends. They are wonderful mysteries suitable for all ages. Interesting enough to keep older readers engaged and clean enough for young readers to enjoy.
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