Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko

 


Title: The Night Watch

Author: Sergei Lukyanenko

Date Read: 12-Feb-2012

On TBR for: Way too long, from before I kept any sort of record

Format: Paperback

Source: Gift, I think. Either Bday or Xmas

Challenges: 2012 Outdo Yourself, Off the Shelf 2012




The Night Watch was sitting on my shelf for so long, despite having people telling me it was good, that I had to challenge myself to read it. And read it I did (finally).

First, what put me off this book mostly was the fact it had vampires. And this isn't my dislike for teenage vampire drama, but my relationship with this kind of creatures: it's a love-hate thing, where sometimes I really like them, but most of the times I can't see the fascination with them. I probably should have paid better attention to the back cover and the reviews, because the bloodsuckers are not really the focus of the story.

So, The Night Watch is set in Moscow, which is refreshing as most of the books I have read set in Russia are written by long dead authors, and are pretty depressing (not because they aren't good, it's just the mood of them). But this is a Russia (well, a world) where paranormal creatures and magic exist. Only the general population isn't really aware of them (so it could actually be our world). A world where saying something “Damn you” when someone gets in front of you in a line will actually damn them (even if just a little).

Meet Anton, our (reluctant) hero. He works for the Night Watch, which are actually the good guys, the guys of Light, that keep watch on the evil ones, the ones of Darkness, who operate mainly during the night. On a side note, the Dark ones have a Day Watch to make sure the good guys don't do too much good, upsetting the balance of things and breaking their long-struck deal.

Back to Anton, then. He is really just a programmer, he keeps telling that to his boss throughout the book, but he is required to do some field work as well, and so, like the good employee he is, he puts on his headphones (and his minidisk walkman, that was the height of technology when this book was written but now it just sounds really old – so much I was amazed they had cellphones) and goes on patrolling the streets (and the subway lines as well).

The book starts when he is in a test – he has to identify a threat and solve it. But this guy is good at what he does, and even better at what he normally doesn't do, and identifies two threats, takes care of the one he was supposed to deal with and then goes on to help with the other one.

And then adventures follow. And twists, and an owl appears! (I am not joking, there is sidekick owl in the first story). And you get thrown in this really rich world, where you, like Anton, doubt if the Night Watch boss is really a good guy and has your (Anton's) best interests in mind. You get to meet his co-workers, some with always a story to tell, some mysterious; and get a glimpse of his problems with relationships and his level of magic, and what it means to be good.

I am not sure what I was expecting of this book, but certainly it wasn't this. But I liked it, not just because of Anton, but the entire world and the way magic and goodness (or evilness) works. I'll be reading the next book in the series: Day Watch.


Rating: 4 out of 5

Other Reviews: Floresta de Livros

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Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Title: Uglies

Author: Scott Westerfeld

Date Read: From December 14^th to December 16^th, 2011

On TBR for: 351 days

Format: Physical Book

Source: Gift - Christmas gift





The world of Uglies is our own, but after we damaged our planet and ourselves almost to the point of no return, society gets restarted in a place where everything is self-sufficient and no one is discriminated based on their physical appearance because, ta-dahh, everyone is pretty. Well, not everyone, everyone over the age of 16, because before that they are not old enough to go under the knife. So, these young teenagers who have yet to discover the wonders of cosmetic surgery are called Uglies. Because it's what they are – Ugly.

Tally is one of those, months away from getting her operation, and she can't hardly wait to join the rest of her friends in the parties and being simply amazing. She is the last of her mates to turn 16, so she feels really alone in Uglyville, so much that she decides to go sneak up to New Pretty Town, to check on her BFF, Peris, who has been there for so long and hasn't bothered to write. Or call.

Things do not go exactly as planned, Tally is trespassing after all, but she satisfies her need to see her friend, who makes her promise not to get into more trouble before she gets the operation, and she meets someone else doing the same as her, Shay, who becomes her new best friend.

They do stuff together all the time, enjoying their time left in Uglyville to play all the pranks they want, Shay even teaches Tally to hoverboard (yes, hooerboard, think Marty McFly and Back to the Future). But when the big day looms close (and it's the big day for both of them, they share a birthday), Shay tells Tally she doesn't want to pretty (*gasp* The Horror!), instead she is going to runaway and join a group of rebels who also don't want to be pretty, known as Smokies (they live in The Smoke). Shay would have liked to have Tally runaway with her, but Tally is not having that. She wants to be pretty. But since she is in such good terms with Shay, she promises to think about it, and Shay leaves her a coded message on how to get to The Smoke.

Tally would never use that, of course, if The Powers That Be hadn't noticed Shay's leaving and Shay's new best friend. As it was, they made her an Ultimatum, she either had to help them catch the Smokies (breaking a promise to Shay of not telling her secret) or she would be ugly forever. Poor Tally thinks, and thinks, and decides to help TPTB somewhat – she'll go to Smoke, see what it's all about, and then she'll decide whether to betray her friend's trust or not.

And so, with hoverboard in hand, a pack full of concentrated Spaghetti Bolognese, Tally hovers away to get to The Smoke, not without perils, since this girl almost got roasted alive (this section remind me of The Hunger Games).

And let me stop here before I summarize the entire book. (There aren't many spoilers, though, most of this is on the back cover, only much more concentrated summarized)

Anyway... It took sometime to have the courage to pick this book up. Why? Well, to me beauty is, of course, in the eye of the beholder, and my eyes are sometimes different from other eyes. So, this world where everyone was pretty, it wasn't gathering points with me. But I started the book, and I understood the concept of beauty used here – mainstream beauty, evening out differences, going for the big eyes, pouting mouth look of innocence, that ensured that there was a biological/psychological need to protect and love that person. I would be utterly miserable in that world, of course, but I can understand the reasons why it worked. As I continued reading I could also see how this world could be seen as school metaphor – the younger Uglies earning to enter that cool place that is New Pretty Town (*ahem, cof, High School, cof*).

Tally, with her eagerness to also be pretty, never really impressed me. She was fun, but had the book been about someone else, it would have been the same for me – I was reading for the world and the society, not the characters. In fact, I will continue reading the series for those reasons, even if there was some growth, at least where Tally is concerned. There was also a bit of romance in there, which, unsurprisingly, didn't impress me either.

This book's strengths are both the worldbuilding, and the action. There is plenty of action going on, from Tally and Shay's pranks, to the lone trip of Tally through the wasteland that our world has become, to the events on Smoke, rescue missions, hiding and going undercover. Lots of stuff that kept the pages flying by.

It did end on a cliffhanger (one has to ensure that readers will pick up the next book, right?), and as such I want to know what happens next. I also want to learn more about the world.


Rating: 4 out of 5

Other Reviews: A Journey of Books | Book Chick City | Este Meu Cantinho | The Non Reluctant Reader

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Finding Fiona by Emily Ann Ward

Finding Fiona
I received this book in ebook format from the Author, through LibraryThing Member Giveaway

The victim of a brutal attack, Fiona could remember little about her life until she meets someone who claims to be from her past. He tells her that her parents were killed for a human replication machine. He's shocked to discover she's still alive since her body was found in the wreckage of the fire. 

She soon travels to her old home in New York to figure out what happened to her and her family. She needs to find out who she is, but more importantly, confront the men who killed her parents.

The synopsis explains what goes on the book rather well. There is Fiona who suffers from amnesia, and is in search of who she is. There is a bit of science-y things that have to do with human replication (not to confuse with cloning, very different things). And there is crime and mystery as well.

It sounded promising, but this book just didn't work out for me. Not the writing, that seemed too fast and too dry, not the characters, with whom I couldn't connect with, and especially not the science. Because in science fiction, I have to believe the science works, no matter how strange it seems. In this case it just made my eyebrow go up while I questioned: “Seriously?”.

And as for the mystery, I didn't expect much surprises and on that account, I was not disappointed. It had a nice twist in the ending, that I have to admit didn't cross my mind, but apart from that it all fitted the characters' suspicions.

And speaking of characters, and since I said they didn't work out for me, let me elaborate. Fiona, the main character, was probably the one I had most trouble with. She was confusing, but not in the way of “I don't know who I am”, more like she couldn't make up her mind about things. I also found her lacking some depth, and I would have liked to have the amnesia part more explored, the sense of not knowing who she was. Apart from her relationship with Hannah, the woman who helps her when she is found after her attack, the interactions with the other characters felt a bit flat. And that includes her past boyfriend.

This is a rather short book, and maybe it's meant to be taken more lightly than I have. But for that I would have expected a lighter theme, or some humour in it, or maybe some actual romance. As it is, this book remains just an unsatisfying execution to a good idea.


Rating: 2 out of 5

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The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

The War of the Worlds
This one is already a classic, but I had very little prior knowledge about its plot. I knew the Martians attacked, and that was it. Recently I read a book by a Portuguese author that was something akin to retelling of this book.

Intent on remedying this fault in my reading of Science Fiction, I set forth with this book. It was not without mishaps, as my aunt decided she would be reading it, and stole the book from me. Even though *I* was reading it. Luckily, this is a book in public domain, so I also had the ebook on my phone. Later on, I also “read” this book via audiobook, but I'll explain why further ahead.

The War of the Worlds is indeed the story of how Martians attacked Earth (or Britain, I'm still not sure what happened to the rest of world), and what happened during this invasion. The narrator tells us first of the society of the late 19th century, their beliefs (and disbeliefs) of the possibility of life on other planets and of space travel. Then he describes how the invasion came to pass, of the mayhem that followed and his own attempts of rescuing loved ones and survival.

This book took awhile to read, and it was more to do with the writing style than exactly the plot. The plot had everything to make read page after page, there were explosions and Martians and thunderstorms. But, somehow, the writing fail to transmit all that excitement and actions. It dragged, and dragged and I could only read a few pages at a time.

And this is the reason I turned to audiobooks. It would be easier to listen one chapter at a time, while I did other stuff. And at least the readers at Librivox manage to convey the emotions that were on paper. And so I was able to finish this book.

So, my overall opinion? Meh. Nice story, but the writing did nothing for me. And it's a story that has lost part of its power since space travel became a reality.


Rating: 3.5 out of 5

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So long, and thanks for all the fish by Douglas Adams

So long, and thanks for all the fish

After being slightly disappointed with the third installment of university Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, I picked the fourth one up mostly because it was small and also because I didn't want to damage the other book I was reading by carrying it around with me.

Surprisingly, I liked this one better than Life, the Universe and Everything. I say surprisingly because the reviews lead of to believe it would be worse than that one.

So long, and thanks for all the fish is a bit different from the previous books, as there is a lot more of plot in it, and a lot less of nonsense. There are still jokes and stuff that makes little sense,though.

This book focuses more on Arthur Dent, and that might explain why there is less of crazy stuff going on. Usually all this stuff was someone else's fault (or the Universe just being difficult).

It ended up being a rather nice book and it restored my faith on the trilogy (of 6), so I'll keep on reading.


Rating: 4 out of 5

Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer

Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code

It has been years since I last read Artemis Fowl. And boy, it's good to be back to that world of fairies and 12 years old (well, now 14) evil masterminds.

In this 3rd instalment on the series, Artemis is trying to make one last crime before he embraces his father's wish to start a clean business. While Artemis is not exactly ready to give up the shady world where he has been making his name, he will put that aside (for the time being, of course) to enjoy finally being able to spend time with his father. He has a built a device, using fairy technology, and is ready to strike a deal with Jon Spiro, a Chicago businessman (and mobster-like entrepreneur). Of course things go wrong and Artemis has to, once again, rely on the help of his fairy friends.

Artemis Fowl is a young adult series, but that is very fun to read. There is a mix of fantasy and science fiction, as well as a bit of cyberpunk thrown in there. It can be very quirky and plot-y, and Artemis is a great character. Morally grey (and leaning towards evil), it is refreshing to have a hero that isn't a well of virtues. He is a genius and is arrogant about it; he uses his brains to personal gain, with no problem about being ruthless, and he is proud of it. Doesn't seem like a very likeable character, does it? But the fact is, I can't help but love him. Most of the fun of the series is about Artemis becoming a slightly better person – although still not exactly a good-doer.

The Eternity Code is a nice book, maybe not as good as the first two on the series, but still very enjoyable. All the regular characters are there, not only Artemis, but also Butler, Captain Holly Short, Foaly, Mulch Diggums and Commander Root – it's really nice to encounter them again. I'm quite partial to Buttler, Holly and Foaly, but in this book Mulch was very important and I got to appreciate his character a lot more.

Like I said, it has been years since I read Artemis Fowl and the Arctic Incident – probably close to 10 years – but it was really easy to come back to that world. If at first I couldn't recall much about some of the minor characters, three chapters into the book I had remembered it all.

Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code is a really nice book. Eoin Colfer's writing is quirky and the story is fun – you never notice that time is passing while you read it. And you don't have to be an young adult to enjoy it!

(4/5)

Other Reviews: Fyrefly's Book Blog

Minority Report by Philip K. Dick

Minority Report

This is actually a short story, although I have it as a book. A very small book, that can be read in a flash. But that doesn't mean it's light or simple.

As a disclaimer I should point out that I haven't seen the movie that is based on this story, even if my edition has Tom Cruise staring at me on the cover. I had no idea what it was about, and I had the book on my shelf because it was an offer on a book fair.

Despite all the books I've read of the genre, I still have this silly notion that I don't like Science Fiction. I always approach such a book with care and precaution. It is silly, really, because I like Science Fiction. And this book is exactly why I like it – it is well written with a good plot that makes you think. Even if it is just a short story. (Also it is a dystopia – shall I repeat once again that I love those?)

Minority Report is set in our world, in a distant future where there are space colonies. But that's just the backdrop. The most important feature of this world is that crime doesn't exist, because criminals are punished before committing the act, therefore never committing it.

Our main character, John Anderton, is the head of the institution responsible for discovering the crimes and punishing the criminals, Precrime. This is done through three mutants known as “precogs”, that can “see” the future, each one issuing a report with the prediction.

When Anderton receives a final report stating that he is going to murder someone he suspects that someone is setting him up, and will try to clear his name even if it means fleeing justice.

There is much going on on this book. Not only it deals with paradoxes and alternate futures, there is also ethics and philosophy woven in it. The end is not surprising, but the build up to it is great, so much that there is no desire to put the book down.

I really wished that this story was written as a novel, not a short story, because what I got was a taste of something good, and I'd love to read more on this.

(4/5)

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

A Wrinkle in Time

This is a science fiction children's book, winner the Newbery Medal in 1963. It is also one of the most challenged books. There are plenty of reviews singing its praises. With all this in mind I was really expecting to like it. But it didn't fulfil those expectations. In this case I know exactly why that happened: I read it too late.

A Wrinkle in Time is the story of Charles Wallace, his sister Meg and his friend Calvin. They are trying to save Charles and Meg's father, a scientist that has been missing for quite a while. They have the help of three curious ladies: Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Which and Mrs. Who. These will take them out of Earth to Camazotz where the evil IT has made Charles and Meg's father his prisoner.


I really didn't like the trio in adventure. Well, none of the trios. Because if there is something that is repeated here is the number 3. But back to the characters. Of the three kids that go to save Charles' father, the only one I cared a bit about was Calvin. Maybe because he appeared later on the book, or he wasn't really on the Murry family (or maybe because he was a red-head, probably that). Charles Wallace (and who calls that to a child – and I mean every time they talk to him – what a mouthful!) was just plain creepy. As child wonder, he talks very much like an adult, (actually, better than a lot of adults I know), and he is quite intelligent and perceptive of other people's emotions. And while I like smart kids, Charles had no child-like behaviour that to me he was just a very arrogant adult in a child's body. So yes, Charles was creepy. Meg, the heroine, never really managed to captivate me. She seemed to complain all the time, but do the things all the same. She probably had some depth there that was lost on me.

I'm quite sure that the characters' flaws would pass unnoticed had I read A Wrinkle in Time fifteen or ten years ago. But comparing to what I read nowadays, I couldn't fail to notice and cringe at them. And that brings to another thing that bothered me in this book. The fact that our adventurers were children (this accepting that Charles Wallace is indeed four).

Now, I have no problem with reading about kids having adventures, even if they turn out to be quite dangerous. However, I do have a problem with adults sending children on those adventures, knowing that it is dangerous, and when they could have solved the problem themselves. Although it is explained later on the book why Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which couldn't go to Camazotz, it always felt that they were cowering behind 3 small children. The reason they gave even sounded more like excuse.

The first part of the book didn't impress me. It was setting the scene and introducing the cast of characters – well, its was really getting to know their flaws. It is unremarkable, and just a way to get to the part where the action begins. The positive part is that it can be read quickly.

When the cast finally reaches Camazotz the book picks up. The Science Fiction appears, with its dystopia and mind controlling evil overlord. That I liked, it is exactly my sort of thing. And while the rest of the book is just mediocre, the Camazotz part is pretty good. If I had read this as a child I would be seriously frightened by that place. Even now, it causes some discomfort. Still, despite being a good dystopia, it was all very rushed and didn't make much sense.

I will not be continuing this series. The first book was enough for me, as I didn't really care for the characters, and there were few things about the plot that I liked.

(3,5/5)

Other Reviews: Everything To Do With Books | Libri Touches | Page Turners

The City & The City by China Miéville

The City & The City by China Miéville
The City & The City is the big winner this year, taking all the awards (not all, but the World Fantasy Award, the Hugo, the Locus and the Arthur C. Clarke, among others). And even if I didn’t find it mindblowing, I have to agree that all of these are well deserved.

But although these awards scream Fantasy and Science Fiction, in its essence The City & The City is detective fiction, a murder mystery with some stokes of dystopia. The main character, Tyador Borlú, a detective in the Besź police, is faced with the murder of a young woman, who no one knows the name, no one knows who she is, and who no one is missing. The investigation of this murder will reveal that there is more than it seems, will upset rebel and political groups, and will take Borlú across the most peculiar of borders.

The City & The City was a different book, one that I liked immensely. More than the characters and the story, I liked the cities, the wordbuilding, that was complex and believable, without losing its magic. It was a place I wish I could visit, especially because there is a complexity in geography that, were it to exist, would be amazing to experience.

I did like the story, and had trouble putting the book down. There was much that was about the crime itself, but there was also space for explaining the culture of the cities, and their common history (even if I wished there was a bit more about the Precursor Era). But I must confess there was some predictability on the plot. By the middle of the book I already knew which was going to be Borlú's fate, even if I didn't have a clue about who was the murderer.

Another thing that I liked about The City & The City was the dystopia side of it, a dystopia that is not that much political, but more cultural, made of bogeymen and fear.

But there were things that I didn't like about this book. One of them was the writing style. I'm not sure why, I had no problem in Perdido Street Station, but here I kept finding it hard to follow. The other thing isn't so much a dislike, but something that dampened my enjoyment of the book, and it was the fact that I felt distant from the characters. They were good characters, but the story was something that was happening far away from me, I wasn't there with them.

I enjoyed reading The City & The City, and if another book is written in this universe, I'll definitely read it.

(4/5)

Other Reviews: Dreams and Speculation | Stuff

Black Sun Rising by C. S. Friedman

Black Sun Rising
I had a lot of expectations for this book. It seemed like a good fantasy book, long and dark. But I just couldn't finish it. And that is a rare thing for me.

Black Sun Rising is a mixture of Science Fiction and Fantasy. It is set in the Planet Erna, that has been colonised by the human race. Yet this planet is very different from Earth, where there are fae currents going around that can be Worked like magic. This can be done consciously or not, and the latter can be quite dangerous as it makes nightmares and other terrible things come true.

The plot was slow moving, and at points I felt that it completely stopped. There were paragraphs that said nothing of consequence, and others where a small sentence would have sufficed. The story is also full of twists that, maybe because of the pacing, never really astonished me or made me care.

Yep, just like this.

What I also didn't care about were the characters – I couldn't really connect with them. The only one that I sort of liked was Gerald Tarrant, but that wasn't so much because of any qualities he had, but because I kept imagining him as David Bowie. His character was somewhat less one-dimensional than the others, but still there isn't that much to him – and the big twist concerning him was quite obvious since the beginning.

The world building was actually pretty good, and I'm still left wondering a bit about it. Yet not enough that justifies the torment of continuing to read the book.

About half-way through this it was getting harder and harder to stay interested on the story. I went to look for reviews to find out if it got better or not (some say yes, some say it gets even worse towards the end). Yet I couldn't read much more – I simply stopped caring about the entire thing and went to Wikipedia to read the plot summary and call it quits.

So, I made it to page 335 out of 589 – in the middle of an earthquake, where the characters have two options and both mean death, and close to the Castle of the Evil Guy – but I really have no desire to keep reading or find out what happens next.

(1/5)

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The restaurant at the end of the Universe by Douglas Adams

The restaurant at the end of the Universe

Come along on a zany journey to the low-rent neighbourhood of the Cosmos with earthling Arthur Dent, sexy space cadet Trillian, that imperturbable alien Ford Prefect and Zaphod Beeblebrox, the two-headed, three-armed ex-head Honcho of All Creation.

The Restaurant at the end of the Universe is the second book on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, and it is much like the first one. It is a lot of fun, very silly, and very good.

There is more plot to this book, and I loved that. In The Restaurant at the end of the Universe Zaphod Beeblebrox is looking for the man who actually rules the Universe, something the old-himself told him to do before locking part of his brain away. In short, Zaphod is looking for the man who rules the Universe but he doesn't know why.

So through hops in space and time, where Zaphod leads, Ford and Trillian follow without contributing much to the story, Arthur continues his search for a decent cup of tea, and Marvin is simply depressed the entire time, these travellers will visit the most iconic places in the Universe, such as the Restaurant that gives name to the book, a concert by the band Disaster Area, the headquarters of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Total Perspective Vortex, and Earth.

However, this book was not as great as the first one. There a sense of unoriginality to it, that became quite blatant when the jokes started to repeat themselves. They were still good, but they were almost word for word the ones on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Nevertheless I enjoyed this book. There were some great parts, not only the jokes but some that just made me go awww, and gave me a warm fuzzy feeling.

Favourite quote:

"It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination."

(4/5)

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

This review contains spoilers for the entire Hunger Games series. Proceed with care. There are also some comments about the series at the end.

Mockingjay
Mockingjay is the last book on the Hunger Games series, a series which, in my opinion, had its peak on the first book.

After being rescued by the rebels from District 13, Katniss becomes a vital part of their plan to overthrow the government from the Capitol. They believe she can rally all the districts to a common cause. But for that to happen she has to become the symbol of defiance, the Mockingjay.

However, the bad news are that the rebels weren't able to rescue everyone, and President Snow has Peeta as a prisoner, and isn't below playing dirty to get what he wants.

Mockingjay is clearly inferior to The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. There is the bonus of the greater development of the back story (and I believe there is no reason, or excuse, to do that only on the last book of the series), but even that left more questions unanswered.

The story was captivating enough at first, especially because I was learning so much about District 13 and their militaristic society. However the drama and angst started to pile up so much that I eventually got so fed up with it that I just wanted it to be over.

There was some development on the characters as well, which I liked even if the direction it took was not to my liking. Katniss lost most of her self-assuredness, becoming a depressed, lost and even weak girl. In fact, she became the opposite of what she was in the beginning of the series. This sense of loss had its impact on the storytelling because, as it is told from her point of view in the 1st person, her confusion was my confusion, and there where times I truly felt like screaming at her to wake up and start doing something.

Although there was a clear evolution to the characters, I'm not sure the same can be said about the society of Panem. One phrase that came to my mind at the beginning of the book and stuck was “Out of the frying pan and into the fire”, which I believe describes what happened. I'm not sure the general population got a better deal out of this revolution and, unfortunately, by the end of the book I'm still left wondering.

One of my fears after reading Catching Fire was that I wasn't going to have a fulfilling ending, and I'm afraid I was right about that. But by the point it came about it didn't bother me so much as I thought it would – I was quite bored already with the story and didn't care whichever way it ended, only that it did.

Mockingjay was entertaining at first, but lost all of its appeal midway when the angst became too much – to the point that I lost all interest in it.

(2.5/5)



I do, however, have some comments to make on the entire series, and some questions left unanswered.

First, I must say I felt that this series suffered from being targeted to young adults. Young Adult Literature can be great, there are a lot of examples of that, but there are also a lot of examples where it seems that something is missing, some depth, and this holds true for the Hunger Games. I cared about the world, the politics, the society. What I did not care about was long descriptions of dresses, spa treatments, waxing of legs and constant angst about which boy to pick.

Another thing that irked me a bit was the use of first person, present tense. First person narrative is not easy, it limits what can be said about other characters, and usually makes it impossible to know what is happening outside the scope of “our” character. Present tense, although it allows for the reader to identify with the character more easily, can be awkward, especially when trying to convey the passage of time. And it was on this point that I didn't like its use on the series. Every time there was a break in the story time, be it days or just a couple of hours, I had to get my bearings and realise that it was not a continuation of the previous action.

My biggest question, and I have to admit it only started to really nag me on the third book, is: What about the rest of World? What happened to them? On the first book it is mentioned that Panem is in US. With that in mind, I had the picture of the United States – with the districts somewhere in there. But when on the beginning of Mockingjay the story of District 13 is being told, and there is the part when it says that they had no help because no other district would help it, the question about the rest of the world becomes quite blatant. Couldn't they have gone to Canada for help? I'm not talking about crossing an ocean, or half the world, just the non-existent border.

On Catching Fire, when they are inserting Katniss' tracker I realised I didn't think much about her first tracker. They must have taken it out, otherwise they wouldn't need to get her a new one. And it must be removed, it doesn't disappear, otherwise Johanna wouldn't have to dig through Katniss' arm to get it out.
But if I was a government keen on spying and controlling the population, and since the Victors of the Hunger Games are the heroes of their district (and a bit a sign of defiance – they played by Capitol's rules and survived), I would want to keep a tracker on them, know exactly where they are, and if they were meeting other Victors.

Also on Catching Fire, at the beginning, President Snow make it quite certain that he knew Gale wasn't just a cousin, he even said he knew about the kiss. He was also in a bit of trouble with the other districts thinking of Katniss as a sign of rebellion – their icon of rebellion, actually. Wouldn't it make much more sense to try to undermine Katniss' popularity, make her dislikeable (which is not that hard, especially since Peeta was the only reason for her likeability), by showing how she was lying to Peeta, “going behind his back” with another boy? She would become evil to the eyes of most viewers, lose her power, and her fame as a girl-in-love. She wouldn't be a suitable Mockingjay, if most of the people didn't like her.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

This review contains spoilers, both to The Hunger Games and Catching Fire

Catching Fire
I'm of two minds concerning Catching Fire. On one hand, it felt like a disappointment, on the other it pressed all the right buttons to keep me reading until the wee hours of the morning.

Catching Fire continues where The Hunger Games left off, with Katniss and Peeta preparing for the Victory Tour, where they will visit all the other districts and the Capitol. But if facing the families of the Tributes that died on the Games wasn't bad enough, President Snow himself has showed Katniss that he wasn't happy with the stunt she pulled off during the Games, ensuring that she and Peeta could both win. This move, which was an act of survival, was seen in the districts as an act of rebellion, and with Katniss as poster girl for their movement. Snow issues her an ultimatum: either she convinces everyone that she is no rebel, and calms down the districts, or district 12 and all her friends will suffer.

I had a lot of hopes on this book. I hoped to learn more about Panem, the Capitol and the Districts, a bit more of its history, and how the Games affected each district. Unfortunately, there wasn't much of that. The Victory Tour, that could have given so much insight into the other districts, was gone in a flash. Only one incident is described fully to show the effect Katniss has, all the others are merely mentioned. Yet there was some much time devoted to Katniss' dresses and body hair.

Once it's clear that the rebellion is not calming down, the book picks up a bit. And the response from the Capitol is unexpected. However, I felt cheated because I would be thrown in what was basically the premise of the first book – the Games. Even if I knew the games would be the redeeming feature of the book, I would have preferred a more original plot. But I guess you don't change a winning team, so the author kept with what made the first book enjoyable.

And believe me, when the Games start the book get really good, there is a lot of character development, both the major one and their new “friends”, and the Games themselves are different, because there are different motivations behind it.

Another thing that got on my nerves (and I mean, really got on my nerves) was the ending. I know the series was already planned out, with the 3 books, so it's normal to have cliffhangers between them. But the ending of Catching Fire doesn't even deserve that classification – to me it shows that the author cannot come to a conclusion of the story, even if it is going to continue, and this (together with some reviews) makes me dread the end of Mockingjay, the last one on the series.

But, like I said in the beginning, this book kept me awake until very early in the morning, reading just one more chapter until I got to the end. Even if most my expectations were not met, and there were things that I didn't enjoy.

(3.5/5)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games is a dystopian young adult novel, and, even if I'm slowly moving away from young adult literature, I love dystopias.

The world in this book is a place where most people are hungry everyday of their lives. Of course these are the ones who live in the districts: the poor ones, the descendants of the rebels that tried to take down the Capitol city, and lost.

As a way to control the population against future rebellions, and to entertain those who are not so unfortunate, the Government hosts the Hunger Games, in which a boy and a girl from each district – 24 children between the ages of 12 and 18, are sent into an arena, pitted against each other, fighting for survival and to the death. There is no escape from the games; once the Tributes are chosen, they either die or win. And only one wins.

Katniss, our heroine, volunteers as a Tribute, saving her younger sister from this fate. Together with Peeta, the boy Tribute from her district, she must try to win, to bring some respite from hardship and hunger to her district.


I liked The Hunger Games. It was well paced and gripping. Action was never missing from the story, but not at the expense of character development. I slowly came to like Katniss, who is quite cold, but made so by her life. By the middle of the book, I was truly rooting for her. The ideas on this book are horrific, after all this is a story where kids fight to death, but it doesn't use blood and guts to cause revulsion. It comes from imagining what it would be like.

The story could also be seen as a social commentary. The hunger in the far away districts, while there is so much in the Capitol – there is a lot of that going out in our world, no need for a dystopia in the far future. The reality TV aspect is also strong. People watch kids slaughter each other on TV. They watch them starve or freeze to death. And there are two sides to this as well. Because most watch it because they have to, but there are those who watch it for fun.

I really hope this gets more developed in the next books. I liked the construction of this imperfect world, twisted to its core. I would like to know what happens next, if it relates with the Capitol, or only District 12. There is potential for a lot in here.

And now for the final comment. The Teams. With hyped books, especially when there is a kickass heroine like Katniss, and when there is more than one male character of suitable age to be a romantic partner, readers will pick sides. It happened in Harry Potter, with the ship wars; it happened with Twilight, with teams for each possible character; and I'm quite sure we can trace this throughout time in literature – Team Darcy and Team Whickham; Team Paris and Team Menelaus, etc. In The Hunger Games, there is Gale, the childhood friend, and Peeta, the competitor/ally in the Games. So even before I finished the book I was asked: Which team?

To that I say: None!

But let me explain. I could see the romantic story being developed. It was hard to miss. However, it is much one sided, and I think there is a reason for that. Katniss has issues – trust issues, among other things. She doesn't need a boyfriend. I think she wouldn't know what to do with one. What she desperately needs is friends. Friends to help her trust in people, not to be so calculating and cold. More than Gale and Peeta, I think she needed more people like Rue and Cinna, who have showed her kindness where she expected none. To some extent Gale and Peeta also fit that role, but again as friends. Not boyfriends.

Another of my problems with picking a side is that I know a lot about one character, and nothing about the other. Hardly seems fair, right? Peeta, I liked. He was homely, pretending to be a bit dumb when he wasn't, and showing cunning when he or Katniss were in danger. Gale seems like he would also be a good sort of guy. But that is about as much as I could get from the book: a nice and quiet guy. Not much to go on. So I'll reserve judgement on the romantic aspect for the next book.

I know I will read the next two in the series, even if I'm expecting to be somewhat disappointed (from what I could gather from skimming the reviews for Mockingjay). With a more definite ending, The Hunger Games could easily be a standalone book – an a very good one at that.

(4/5)

Touched by an Alien by Gini Koch

Touched by an Alien
Touched by an Alien is the story of Katherine “Kitty” Katt, who goes from being a marketing manager in Pueblo Caliente to helping an Alien Agency protect the Earth from nasty things from Space. The thing is, all the aliens in this agency are drop dead gorgeous (the author turned a major flaw in romance fiction into a feature!), and the hunk (Armani-clad!) that first appears to help her is ready to make his moves on her.

The book drops you right into the action. One minute Kitty is leaving the court house, the next a man sprouts huge wings and starts attacking everyone. Not to be cowered, Kitty rummages her purse in search of a suitable weapon, finds a pen, gets off her high heel shoes (sensible girl!) and goes for the kill.

When the Armani-clad hunk, Jeff Martini, appears to save the day, the day is quite saved already. Of course there needs to be some damage control, after all a winged monster just appeared in broad daylight and started to attack people, so Kitty is escorted by Martini and the rest of his entourage (all of them male, all of them gorgeous) to a safe place.

And then the flirting starts. Because Martini is very impressed with our girl and makes his claim soon enough. And keeps doing it, to the point that I felt like screaming “Down, boy!” (later I realised I should also have been saying “Down, girl!”).

After the initial action the plot starts to drag a bit, mostly because there is a lot of information being dumped on the reader (and on Kitty, I suppose), but since it is all new, aliens and monsters and other things from space, it's to be expected. Once the plot is moving again, it becomes much better, and goes much faster. And faster means fast, because this book is a page turner, and what is refreshing is that it does not rely on cliffhangers – you genuinely want to know what happens next.

The story was entertaining, and I was chuckling on the right parts at the beginning. Then the jokes got old, and I started to get a bit tired of all the banter. Because if there is something in this book is a lot of banter between characters. There are a lot of cheesy lines (and cheesy pick-up lines), and they soon lose their charm. Also, some of the characters lose a bit of their charm towards the end of the book, especially Kitty (so sensible in the beginning, taking of her shoes before running, only to end up going into a battle with her purse. And her iPod. And her hairspray).

As a Fantasy and Science Fiction aficionado I had some trouble with the believability of this book. This book gets its Science Fiction more from blockbuster movies than the genre literature. There are explosions, monsters, parasites and aliens, but most ends up serving as backdrop to the romance. But there is some development of the plot, and that, I liked. I liked the story of the parasites (once they were on Earth, that is. The idea of jellyfish-like parasites travelling on Space... *shudders*) and the aliens, and even the religion aspect of it.

On the romance part, though, I have nothing to complain about. Well, it was predictable with whom our heroine was going to end up with, but I don't think the author ever wanted it to be a mystery. There was also a hint of what could have been a love triangle, but it was dealt with as a means to character development and not to throw angst at the reader.

If you're a big romance fan, and don't care much about getting the science right, this book is probably for you. If you, like me, like your science fiction to be more about science, you can still enjoy this book as light reading, for the romance and the chuckles.

(3.5/5)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a classic, and as such, is very hard to write a review for. What can I possibly say that hasn't been said before? Add to that the fact that it's awesome, in a way that I can't really put my finger on, and you've got a terrible case of Reviewer's Block.

So, I've sat around pretending to be writing this review for a long time, when all I really want to say is: “This book is awesome! Go read it!” - There it is, I've said it.

The story follows Arthur Dent, who is quite annoyed because his house is going to be demolished to make way for an overpass. Of course that should be the least of his problems because Earth is going to be demolished to make way for an overpass. What follows is a parade of nonsense, surreal moments, funny stories and much wackiness.

To elaborate more on the awesomeness of the book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is extremely funny, described by the author as “a story with a long beginning and then an ending”, which is true, but causes no problem for the reader. You just want to keep on reading more and more. It is filled with so much nonsense, that it ends up making perfect sense. More than a story, it a Universe, one that is most fun to be in. Sometimes is not so much about the characters and their plight, but where they are and how they got there. That being said, I loved the characters, all of them.

If there is any down side to this book is that it feels terribly short (I want more! Now!), but that's is easily rectified as there are four more books in this trilogy (written by Douglas Adams, that is – there is a sixth one by Eoin Colfer). I will be getting my hands on them as soon as I can.

Now, go read this book!

(4.5/5)