“The Darkest Minds” by Alexandra Bracken :: The Darkest Minds

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“I had the strangest feeling, like I had lost something without ever really having it in the first place – that I wasn’t what I once was, and wasn’t at all what I was meant to be. The sensation made me feel hollow down to my bones.” – Alexandra Bracken’s The Darkest Minds

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken was, unsurprisingly, dark – and in a multitude of ways.

The book begins with the reader completely in the dark. There is little explanation of recent events, enough so that, even 50 pages into the book, I was still uncertain of its purpose, as well as several critical plot points. (For example: “Why are all of the adults so evil?” “What kind of government, or people, would put up with corruption like this?” And, “Who are the ‘good guys’?”)

Outside of this unfortunate vagueness, I actually enjoyed the book quite a bit. The plot, narrated in the voice of Ruby, the main character, is very personal, and, therefore, personally terrifying. The abuse of the unnaturally gifted is realistically portrayed in the lives of the children of a dystopian Earth, where a new virus has caused the majority of its children to die – or morph into something new, something more powerful than any human ever before.

These “Psi” children, in their evolution, have become outcasts from society, and reality as is known to the rest of the world. Sent away to camps where they are tyrannized, abused, and strictly prohibited from regular interaction with their peers, they slowly begin to either corrupt, or revolt.

But never escape. Escape is impossible from a prison world, one that labels you “broken,” “inconvenient,” and “dangerous.” Children band together to fight for normality, and eventually, control. But can such a conclusion ever be obtained?

For dystopian fiction, Bracken’s Darkest Minds is okay. But I would not go so far as to call it anything more than that. The language is very rough; not, I think, deserving the book’s prerequisite rating of readers 12 and older. And there is a notable lack of any redemption. By the end, I was left in a melancholy slump, hoping without success for some kind of light at the end of the tunnel.

The tunnel stayed dark.

For the older reader, The Darkest Minds is an interesting dystopian read, not in the ranks of Collins’ Hunger Games, per say, but certainly worth checking out of your local library for a quick holiday read.

“The Fellowship of the Ring” by J.R.R. Tolkien :: The Lord of the Rings

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Title: The Fellowship of the Ring // Author: J.R.R. Tolkien // Publisher: Mariner Books

“The day came like fire and smoke. Low in the East, there were black bars of cloud like the fumes of a great burning. The rising sun lit them from beneath with flames of murky red…” -J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Whispers are heard in the lands of Middle-Earth, traveling on the tongues of the drunken and sober alike. Murmurs of black, hooded not-men that hunt for the prey of their dark Master, with an eye of fire and a grip of shadow. Hushed voices begin to rise, and then shout…

Hobbits are, one could even say by definition, very timid little fellows. Quiet, short, and fat they are, prone towards silence in the midst of argument, and towards gluttony when sufficient food is available. (And with hobbits, sufficient food is rarely unavailable.) There lives are of ease, good food, and friendly conversation. These are not creatures of adventure.

Yet Frodo Baggins, heir of his rich (and queer) cousin Bilbo, has begun to ache for it- a story to live, and not just to hear. Perhaps not even an ache, but a tremor, or a yearning for travel abroad, maybe like that which his cousin took so long ago. Nevertheless, the feeling is there, whatever it be called. And not wholly unwelcome.

At the rise of a dark being in the south, a call is made for retaliation, and a hero is wanted. One of courage, humility, and endurance, who would thwart the enemy with quiet strength before brute force. Small, maybe; the holed-up type. Possibly… a hobbit?

Frodo, bearer of the Ring of Doom,  watches and listens as the whispers turn to roars. Hobbling, riding, and fleeing the Necromancer, Sauron – adventure, long wanted, is now granted him. But can he survive it?

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Ah, wonders. I’ve done it. I’ve read through the first of the (official) Lord of the Rings books. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I’d gone about it slowly. A page here, a page there, and a paragraph in between. But NO. I went at it full force. There is a wonderful and tremulous ache in my metaphorical belly.

Tolkien’s gift is in his use of words. (Which is an important part of any story. :-)) He uses run-ons, though sometimes too thickly, with finesse- something I aspire to do with my own writing. He created art, and with fiction, (especially fantasy,) doing that is much more a process of complete invention than one of simply re-wording things that have already been said. It is crafting an entire existence, which is what Tolkien did with such exquisite skill as to draw in the freakishly large fandom that he has.

My only critique is that, for those not wildly attentive to every detail and word of elvish spoken in Middle-Earth, it is easy to get lost amongst all of the -adriels, -orns, and –ons. That is to say, in simpler terms- If you are not a geek, it might be hard to track everything. But somehow, I won the geek lottery, and so loved the story. Thick, artful, fantastic. Go check it out.

“Mockingjay” by Suzanne Collins :: The Hunger Games

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Title: Mockingjay // Author: Suzanne Collins // Publisher: Scholastic Press

“I’ll tell them how I survive it. I’ll tell them that on bad mornings, it feels impossible to take pleasure in anything because I’m afraid it could be taken away. That’s when I make a list in my head of every act of goodness I’ve seen someone do. It’s like a game. Repetitive. Even a little tedious… But there are much worse games to play.”
–Suzanne Collins, “Mockingjay”

* Note: SPOILER ALERT – If you have not read the first or second book in this series, this review will NOT make sense to you, and it WILL spoil them for you. Avert thine eyes post-haste if this be so! (Otherwise… I guess you’re good. Read on.)

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How does one win an unending Game where the life of one means the death of another, friendship kills, and love is betrayal? If surrendering to death is made inconceivable, winning impossible, then the answer lies in contradiction. One can not win, must not win, and so must fight the Game itself.

Katniss Everdeen has escaped the Game at last, carried away by a secret organization of rebels based in a District long though to be dead. Headed by the calculative and unforgiving President Coin, District 13 has survived (and only barely) for its anonymity and equality of arms with the Capitol.

No longer.

The Districts have launched a full scale rebellion. The crooked rule of the Capitol is blatantly denied, and war is announced. Not a street, nor home, nor child’s dream is free of images of fighting, and the hope of freedom burns like a forest fire through the land of Panem.

Peeta is a prisoner of the Capitol, and it is evident that his health, mental as well as physical, is quickly degrading. A rescue mission attempt would be possible, but costly. Katniss is torn between her love for the boy that is dying on television, and the one that is willing to die beside her.

With the Districts in upheaval, a figurehead is necessary to maintain the fire, and keep the fight alive. Katniss is chosen as that figurehead- The Mockingjay. Rebel. Lover. One who is willing to take the pain for the sake of freedom. But off camera, her stance is far more uncertain. Can I do this? What is it that I fight for?

When questions such as these go unanswered, she takes it upon herself to find out. President Snow or no, war or no, love or no, she determines to find answers, with only her family, her bow, and other, darker things to sustain her.

Her fight has not left the Mockingjay along with her flame. Instead, it has grown into an upheaval of her own. No amount of fired arrows or stricken targets is enough to cool her wrath, not until the Districts are free, the people fed and housed, and the Capitol burnt to the ground. After that? Not even Katniss herself knows.

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I am… conflicted over Mockingjay. My sea of emotions (at risk of sounding awfully cliche,) is vast, and anything BUT still. There is, atop its crests, the obvious disappointment of finishing a marvelous book series. (On a scale of Post-finishing depression, I would rate it beneath Narnia but slightly above The Door Within.) I was massively appreciative of the series as a whole.

HOWEVER, Mockingjay in itself did not live up to my expectations. I could blibber, blubber, and plenty of other bl___’s for hours about tiny details, but I’ll give you my main three Oh, stink points.

Oh, stink #1. Katniss simply cannot seem to make her mind up about who she is “really” in love with. I see that in actuality this situation could be presented, but in Collins book, it contrasts Katniss’ normal firmness of belief and decisiveness. She can pin a deer to a tree without thinking twice, but when it comes to romance, she is at a loss. In my opinion, it makes her a weaker character. (Hunger Games fans, forgive me now.)

Oh, stink numero DOS. The violence in this addition to the series is notably pronounced. It is less artful, and more for the sake of Action! Contention! Emotion! FREAK OUT!

Oh, stink III. The leaders of the rebellion are corrupt. And besides that, the movement is fueled mainly by hatred. There isn’t really a righteous cause that is well represented.

Over all, though, I stand firmly in the conviction that The Hunger Games is a good series, and well worth the time I spent reading (and re-reading) it. I look forward to whatever Collins cooks up next.

“Catching Fire” by Suzanne Collins :: The Hunger Games

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Title: Catching Fire // Author: Suzanne Collins // Publisher: Scholastic Press

“The bird, the pin, the song, the berries, the watch, the cracker, the dress that burst into flames. I am the mockingjay.” –Suzanne Collins, Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games

*A note, before I begin: This review contains spoilers. If you haven’t read the first book, this is not for your eyes. Go get The Hunger Games and read that first. 🙂

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Nothing is real, Katniss Everdeen. Their cheers are hollow, barely hiding the hatred beneath, the readiness for rebellion. That is the word of the hour, isn’t it? Rebellion. They hate this system, these Games you’ve played, and won. They are prepared to deny the tyrants, even facing death, for the hope of their future, and their children’s future.

Your life of pleasure means nothing. Your hunting days, spent by the side of your “cousin,” are past, though you may try to deny it. You are not a child any longer. Nor is He. And your new life- the eating of fine foods and wearing of warm clothes that so many others lack- it has no purpose.

Love is hard, Oh girl of many faces. You hide behind so many masks, hide behind so many layers of mistrust, it is becoming hard for you to see the truth. Which will you accept, Katniss? The friendship of a life long ally, who desires it to be more? Or the sacrificial love of the tall boy with the burned, loving hands. If you only put down the masks, perhaps you would see which is right.

What is your reason to fight now, survivor of tortures and deadly snares? Your family is safe- as safe as any rich in the shadow of the Capitol. The Games are behind you. You’ve nothing left but to forget. If you can. Will you? Do you even want to?

Rebellion! shouts the hungry and dying around you, Girl on Fire. No, the time for the spark is past, if they are to go on. You are The Girl on Fire no longer. The people need a sign, a hero around which to rally their forces. You must evolve, shed the flame and take on the feathers. Learn to fly. Katniss Everdeen: The Mockingjay.

This transformation will take time. You will feel great pain. But pain you know intimately. It is one more name in the ensemble that hangs over your head, fills your dreams, but you have bested it once. You can best it once more. Do not doubt this, Mockingjay. There is no time for doubt. A battle against an unbeatable foe will only be won in complete courage.

Know your friends, Katniss, and beware of your enemies. Behind the rose, you will find blood, and the clock will give you hope. Understand now that the Games will never really be over- they have only just begun. Hold fast your bow, huntress, and shoot straight if you value your life.

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Both of the times that I have read Catching Fire, I’ve been pretty conflicted. (Note the fact, though, that I’ve read it twice. :-)) Suzanne Collins writes like no other author I know of. And her story, the world she creates, is so realistic it’s disturbing. (Don’t get me wrong- I love it.) It is easy to care for her characters like so many do because she has given them life. Even more so because of her prophetic tone.

I liked the second installment in this Hunger Games series far more the second time through, and seeing as I haven’t read it for awhile, it was kind of like picking up a new book. I was anticipating it that much more. Digging into it again was like eating a popsicle in the summertime: Sweet and filled with flavor and color, but leaving you even thirstier then before.

There were more negative elements in Catching Fire than in The Hunger Games. Certain unmarried characters share a bed, but not for the sake of anything inappropriate. It is put down as a need of human closeness, and a survival instinct. But that doesn’t make it alright. Just… bothersome.

Also, as Collins puts Katniss in uncertainty as to who she really loves, it makes her come across as indecisive. An indecisive hero though, I feel, is bound for failure. It adds suspense, but altogether, takes away from the story.

In conclusion, and for clarification: I loved the book, would have liked it to be better, and anxiously await the chance to start on the next one. Tick Tock, Mockingjay. Time is running out.

“The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins :: The Hunger Games

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Title: The Hunger Games // Author: Suzanne Collins // Publisher: Scholastic Press

“And it is true, Peeta has always had enough to eat. But there’s something kind of depressing about living your life on stale bread, the hard, dry loaves that no one else wanted.” –Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

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Katniss Everdeen, District 12: Orphan, archer, stand-in mother. The only one who puts food on the table, protects her sister from authorities that want to take her away, make her run, let her die. Hunting-partner of Gale Hawthorne. And perhaps more, some day… if some day ever comes. Guardian, huntress, volunteer.
Tribute.

Peeta Mellark, District 12: Baker, student, observer. Despised by his mother, and unknown by the one he loves most in the world. Kind, giving without taking. Gentle, often-burned hands, strong of heart as well as mind. Eater of stale bread. Stolid, in love, powerful.
Tribute.

A boy and a girl, as punishment for a war they can’t remember, are torn out of their lives of hardship to face greater hardship still. Members of the Twelfth of twelve Districts dictated by the tyrannous Capitol, Katniss and Peeta  are forced into a televised fight to the death against two tributes from each of the other Districts, in an arena engineered to kill.

Taken to the Capitol to be cleansed of everything that makes them themselves, plumped up, trained to survive- and ensure that others do not. Equally horrified and amazed at the extravagance of what those in the Capitol have at their disposal every day. The murderers are beyond ease, and far beyond rich.

Thick stews and sparkling drinks are offered them, these two, destined to die. Smiling, uncaring fools pretend that they matter. Far from home, Katniss longs for a forest to hunt in, a sister to curl up with at night when it’s cold, but to no avail. Death will be the end, she knows, of mind, body, or both. Mentored by a drunken past-winner of the games named Haymitch, she fights each day against hopelessness, fear, and hatred. No. The hatred she does not fight. And knowing that she must kill the boy that came with her, the boy with the bread, is just another one of the Capitol’s little games that she can’t help playing. Can she trust him? Does he trust her? Does it even matter?

But too quickly comes the end, chasing her always and making her, in a convoluted way, its prey. Unwilling to except it, Katniss fights to escape, fights to get home to her sister, fights the Capitol with her omnipotent will to live. That’s what she is now. Fighter. The Games, her confusing feelings for Peeta, her memories of Gale, the Capitol- all of these become targets. Shoot straight, girl of arrow, love, and flame.

On the curtails of the confusion, suffering, training, preparations- the moment comes. It is time. Let the 74th Annual Hunger Games begin.

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It’s hard at first to nail down a book like The Hunger Games.  Was it a romance? A prophecy? A suspenseful thriller formulated in some “Make-bazillions-of-dollars book lab”? (p.s. It did. [p.p.s. Entirely deserved every dollar.]) This was, in fact, a re-read for me, something I don’t do often. I wanted, though, to give the Hunger Games the honor it deserves.

Suzanne Collins wrote it as a warning, a lens through which one might see the world in a different light, or no light at all. The Hunger Games allows you to see what you normally can not, experience the primal fear of an awful death at an unjust hand, the oppression of the masses for the luxury of the few. It gives new depth to love, murder, and pain, words which some novels use lightly. They are not meant to be written or read lightly.

I think, ultimately, that the category I would put The Hunger Games in would be “Real.” It allows the reader to see reality as it could be, and should never be. It urges the reader, “Pay attention to death, and those around you who live in fear. See the brutality of this world for what it is. But most importantly, love, and do so abundantly.” A curious message to find, these days, in a YA novel. (And it is that, by the way. I wouldn’t suggest this for younger kiddos. Or really anyone you’d call a kiddo.)

Out of place though it may be, this caution is a valuable message to we who live in a world where terrorism, communism, and murder are everyday occurrences. My advice to you is this: Read the book. Hear its message. See its truth. And work to make things different.