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Review of Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games"

2/6/2012

0 Comments

 
I enjoy dystopian novels. It's fun and a little sadistic to think about how the Earth will change. Will it become more Orwellian? Or will it just disintegrate?
I've been hearing a lot about this series. I generally don't go for fad books because they're all based on other things. I guess that could be said of any book, but I find that fad books are highly unoriginal. I will admit that I read the Twilight series... three times. They're entertaining and they have good character development. They're basically a violent "Pride and Prejudice" except written by a fourth grader. 
I read this book in the car one day. I highly enjoyed it. It was an entertaining read with good visuals. Some of it was unique, but for the most part, my opinion about fad books has been true. 

As usual, here are my "things I liked" and "things I didn't like":

Things I liked about this book:
  • I liked the amount of ceremony that was involved. From the lottery to the outfits and costumes, from the interviews to the televised brutality. 
  • I liked the emotional confusion. Is it real? Is it an act? 
  • I like the survivalism. This has been something that has always intrigued me. 

Things I didn't like about this book:
  • If you've ever seen or read "Battle Royale", you know the story. 
  • It was fairly obvious how the book was going to end. 
  • When the ending finally arrived I was unamused. It was supposed to be some kind of cliffhanger. I decided to give up at that point. I mean, I might read the next one... but then again, I might not. It was just a bad ending. 
  • The characters that are encountered in the actual arena are not ones that you will learn to love. They come and then they go. You don't appreciate them like you should. I guess I'm trying to say that the character development is lacking. 

Overall:
The book was entertaining. It's nothing to rave about, but it was enjoyable. 
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Review of Ursula LeGuin's "A Wizard of Earthsea"

2/6/2012

1 Comment

 
I've been meaning to read this series for years. I recently watched the animated movie "Tales from Earthsea" because Goro Miyazaki directed it. I love the Miyazaki family. I will watch anything by them. In the past, I watched "A Wizard of Earthsea" the mini-series. Needless to say, by jumping into "Tales from Earthsea" I was a little confused by the things that had transpired since the beginning. Finally, I caved. I decided to read the series. 

As it turns out, the mini-series is fairly close to the book. It had been long enough since I saw it so that the book still surprised me and filled in the blanks. So, as usual, I'm going to split up my review into things I liked and things I didn't like. 

Things I liked about this book:
  • I really appreciated the amount of work that was required to become a wizard. Minimum of one year studying words and the true names of things?! Sign me up!! I love words :)
  • I am absolutely in love with the idea of True Names. The gist of it is that everything has a true name and to know the true name of something is to have control over it. It really adds a new level to relationships. 
  • I like the people that Sparrowhawk encounters. They're not all good people, but they're not all bad. They're all very different. Some want something, some want nothing more than solitude. You learn the motives of some, but others are just a mystery. 

Things I didn't like about this book:
  • I just can't get behind the calling the main character by his true name. I guess I would have liked it more if his true name was withheld until the end of the story. 
  • I can understand if a book was written as a part of a series. There were a few times when I was instructed (by the third person omniscient narrator) to read the other books if I wanted to know more. 


Overall:
This book was quite enjoyable. I really like the creativity involved in the naming as well as the social structure. It was fun and I'm looking forward to getting some of my questions answered by reading the next few books. 

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1 Comment
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    For the record, these reviews are my personal opinions about the books I volunteer to read. I'm not getting paid by anyone to read or review them. A lot of people charge a penny for their thoughts... mine are free. 
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