genre: dystopian | Scribbles & Wanderlust | Page 2

Tag: genre: dystopian
- Book Review: “Matched” by Ally Condie
  
  Posted at 9:41 am by Laura, on June 19, 2012
  
  Matched by Ally Condie
  
  Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander’s face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate… until she sees Ky Markham’s face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.
  
  The Society tells her it’s a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she’s destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can’t stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society’s infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she’s known and a path that no one else has dared to follow.
  
  Once again, do not be led astray by the summary! It is a love story, certainly, but it’s within a social system like that of Huxley’s Brave New World. Everything from minimal information for citizens, the color of uniforms to denote class and position, and little pills that will aid or hinder your functioning. Unlike Brave New World, where everything is based on pleasure, the Society in Matched is on perfection: the perfect vocation, the perfect age for death, the perfect body size and calorie intake, the perfect person to Match with (or even the option to be the perfect Single). It’s down to an art, and a fascinating one at that, but to what cost?
  
  It’s clear that Cassia has never come across a glitch in the Society’s well-oiled machine of a system, because she was perfectly content with her situation and surroundings prior to reading a microcard. This, as well as her grandfather’s heavy hints at a better, freer life filled with choices, causes her to question everything. Cassia becomes a skeptic, allowing the reader to became wary and anxious along with her.
  
  The Society is incredibly fascinating! A part of me wondered what it would be like to live in such a place. It seemed so…well, perfect, and wonderful. Here, you don’t have to know loads of information about random stuff. If you’re not math-inclined, for example, don’t worry about it – someone else will take care of everything. If you can’t remember details of events in history, don’t worry – you only need to know one hundred lessons. But then the heartbreaking things happen: someone else chose which one hundred songs, poems, books, and lessons; someone else chooses your vocation based on your talents rather than your interests. Would you like to know more about the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson? There’s no way to find out – because his works did not make it to the One Hundred Poems and knowing his name alone would cause suspicion and incite an Infraction.
  
  You cannot be curious in this society. You cannot be a creator. You can only take what you’re given and become a doer. It’s these glitches that cause Cassia to rebel, to question everything, and to wonder who she would really fall in love with if given the choice.
  
  Rating: ★★★★★ of 5
  Goodreads: 3.79 of 5
  
  Posted in books, Reviews 2012 | 0 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: dystopian, genre: young adult, goodreads, review
- Book Review: “Insurgent” by Veronica Roth
  
  Posted at 6:55 pm by Laura, on June 9, 2012
  
  Insurgent by Veronica Roth
  
  Tris’s initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.
  
  I really wanted to love this second installment of Roth’s “Divergent” trilogy, but I couldn’t. In fact, so much of the action and muddled motivations behind characters’ responses could have been cut from the story entirely. The end of the book — heck, the last ten pages — could have been placed in the first book!
  
  My initial reactions started on the very first page: Tris’s guilt over the death of Will. I could not for the life of me remember Will or his significance in Tris’s life. I remember Al and Christina because they had very distinct personalities and importance in the first book. Understandably, Tris is bothered by this “friend” she has killed, and her character seems to stumble along between stability and instability throughout the rest of the book. If Roth was shooting for PTSD or shock from war and gunshots, it was weak and poorly written. While Collins’s “Mockingjay” accurately portrayed PTSD and thoroughly explained the motivations and thought process behind Katniss’s decisions, not once did I see a good, plausible explanation for Tris. Her distrust of Tobias (and his with her) was weak, whiny, and difficult to understand. The things they fought over did not have any sort of basis — it was as if Roth wanted to create a tension between these two because it’s expected in a second installment of a trilogy.
  
  Which, truthfully, there doesn’t need to be tension between the romantic couple in second installments! Everything else that’s going on around them — politics, economics, familial issues — is enough to cause tension for the reader. I applaud Roth for not creating a love triangle, but I have to shake my head at the weak arguments between Tobias and Tris, the constant back-and-forth over extremely petty issues.
  
  Another bit that I was let down or bothered by was all the effort to kill others or protect others for a piece of information no one knew anything about! It was irksome to keep reading about how the characters don’t know “what’s beyond the fence” or why “Divergents are dangerous” or even what a Divergent was, but they were going to fight for or protect this mysterious information because it would either strengthen or destroy this society. I knew from the previous book that a Divergent is an individual whose test does not conclusively say in which faction they belong — that answers include two and sometimes three factions. To the reader, all I can think is pshh, big deal. Yet all the characters were nervous and never fully explained why it scared them. It wasn’t until the very end of this novel that we finally find out what is beyond the fence, why these people are contained within the fence, and what being a Divergent means.
  
  All of the alliance switches, unexplained actions, loads of violence, Tris’s “selfless” and “selfish” acts, indistinguishable characters that I lacked any sort of attachment to or could differentiate from, built up into this difficult and rather sloppy second book. I expected so much more from Roth, since I truly enjoyed Divergent. To have this dystopian universe and create characters that are distinguishable and meaningful to the main character and the reader, the author should spend more time developing the world and properly understanding her own characters and plotline. This felt like a writing exercise gone awry. The last few chapters should have belonged in the first book instead.
  
  I’m curious to see the third installment now.
  
  Rating: ★★ of 5
  Goodreads: 4.39 of 5
  
  Posted in books, Reviews 2012 | 0 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: dystopian, genre: young adult, goodreads, review
- BEA ’12: Diversity Rules YA Buzz Panel
  
  Posted at 6:12 pm by Laura, on June 7, 2012
  
  Book Expo America 2012: Diversity Rules at YA Editors’ Buzz Panel – Publisher’s Weekly – Carolyn Juris
  
  For those of you interested in the goings-on of the BEA 2012, here’s an article that tackles the big dystopia quesiton: do we really need another trilogy? Yes.
  
  …the [young adult] genre has plenty of room for dystopias, realistic fiction, thrillers—provided they present authentic teenage voices that readers can relate to.
  
  …It’s the authentic teenage voice, [Karre] adds, that makes a novel successful, no matter the subject. “If the story lacks the teenage voice, it lacks life,” Karre said. “Whether you set a novel in Dubuque or District 12, there’s a universal teenager at the core of every YA novel.”
  
  I think this is very true. YA goes through trends — a few years ago, it was all about vampires and werewolves. Now it’s mostly dystopias/post-apocalyptic, which taps into the political climate across the world today. No matter what trend the YA fiction follows, it should still speak to the teenager (or adult, truly) in the midst of discovering their identity.
  
  Posted in books, Link | 0 Comments | Tagged books, genre: dystopian, genre: young adult, magazine, news
- Upcoming Books! [20]
  
  Posted at 4:53 pm by Laura, on June 3, 2012
  
  Title: Little Night
  Author: Luanne Rice
  Genre: fiction, drama, family
  Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
  Publishing Date: June 5
  Summary: Clare Burke’s life took a devastating turn when she tried to protect her sister, Anne, from an abusive and controlling husband and ended up serving prison time for assault. The verdict largely hinged on Anne’s defense of her spouse—all lies—and the sisters have been estranged ever since. Nearly twenty years later, Clare is living a quiet life in Manhattan as an urban birder and nature blogger, when her niece, Grit, turns up on her doorstep.
  The two long for a relationship with each other, but they’ll have to dig deep into their family’s difficult past in order to build one. Together they face the wounds inflicted by Anne and find in their new connection a place of healing. When Clare begins to suspect her sister might be in New York, she and her niece hold out hope for a long-awaited reunion with her.
  
  ~
  
  Title: Monument 14
  Author: Emmy Laybourne
  Genre: young adult, dystopian, post-apocalyptic
  Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
  Publishing Date: June 5
  Summary: Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don’t stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don’t thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not—you launch yourself down the stairs and make a run for the corner.
  Only, if it’s the last time you’ll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you’d stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.
  But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran.
  Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.
  In Emmy Laybourne’s action-packed debut novel, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.
  
  ~
  
  Title: Dead Scared
  Author: SJ Bolton
  Genre: mystery, thriller
  Publisher: St Martin’s Press
  Publishing Date: June 5
  Summary: When a rash of suicides tears through Cambridge University, DI Mark Joesbury recruits DC Lacey Flint to go undercover as a student to investigate. Although each student’s death appears to be a suicide, the psychological histories, social networks, and online activities of the students involved share remarkable similarities, and the London police are not convinced that the victims acted alone. They believe that someone might be preying on lonely and insecure students and either encouraging them to take their own lives or actually luring them to their deaths. As long as Lacey can play the role of a vulnerable young woman, she may be able to stop these deaths, but is it just a role for her? With her fragile past, is she drawing out the killers, or is she herself being drawn into a deadly game where she’s a perfect victim?
  
  ~
  
  Happy reading! What are you reading this week? I’ve started Insurgent by Veronica Roth, and I think I’ll either start The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox or The House of Velvet and Glass by Katherine Howe after.
  
  Posted in Upcoming Books | 0 Comments | Tagged books, genre: adult fiction, genre: dystopian, genre: fiction, genre: mystery, genre: young adult, upcoming books
- Book Review: “Pandemonium” by Lauren Oliver
  
  Posted at 9:44 pm by Laura, on May 9, 2012
  
  Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
  
  I’m pushing aside the memory of my nightmare,
  pushing aside thoughts of Alex,
  pushing aside thoughts of Hana and my old school,
  push,
  push,
  push,
  like Raven taught me to do.
  The old life is dead.
  But the old Lena is dead too.
  I buried her.
  I left her beyond a fence,
  behind a wall of smoke and flame.
  
  Once again, Oliver delivers a ride like none other. Unlike the first in her dystopian trilogy, Delirium, this second installment focuses on survival, growth, and rebellion rather than the discovery and immersion of love.
  
  The book is dividing into then and now to illustrate the development of Lena’s character. She describes herself as reborn in the Wilds, hardening with work, hunger, and violent weather. The thens are filled with survival tactics. Oliver delves into the pain of heartbreak and grief without becoming melodramatic. The reader learns with Lena just how the people in the Wilds (or rather, “the other side”) live off remains and help from sympathizers. The nows jump to the future, almost a year after Lena’s escape, to her immersion back with the cureds in New York City. She works as a double agent of sorts, and falls into a trap, a scheme, that leads her to another boy, Julian.
  
  This is where the second book fell short of five stars and suffered the Middle Book Syndrome. Of course, because it’s YA and dystopian, there needs to be a love triangle. Sure. Fine. And maybe, realistically, this would happen to Lena if she truly believes Alex is dead. Even still, the romance seemed forced, far too rushed considering the time frame in the now lasted roughly two weeks at most. However, it certainly sets up for an explosive ending in the third book: politics, the definitive rise of rebellions, plus a little love war in the midst of it all.
  
  I’m really looking forward to Oliver’s next installment in the Delirium trilogy!
  
  Rating: ★★★★ of 5
  Goodreads: 4.25 of 5
  
  I am now over halfway completed with my 50 Books Challenge!
  
  Posted in books, Reviews 2012 | 0 Comments | Tagged 50 book challenge, book review, books, genre: dystopian, genre: fiction, genre: young adult, review
- Upcoming Books! [15]
  
  Posted at 3:28 pm by Laura, on April 29, 2012
  
  Title: Insurgent
  Author: Veronica Roth
  Genre: young adult, dystopian
  Publisher: HarperTeen
  Publishing Date: May 1
  Summary: One choice can transform you—or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves—and herself—while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.
  Tris’s initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable—and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.
  See my review of the first book in this trilogy, Divergent!
  
  ~
  
  Title: The Proposal
  Author: Mary Balogh
  Genre: historical fiction, romance
  Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
  Publishing Date: May 1
  Summary: Gwendoline, Lady Muir, has seen her share of tragedy, especially since a freak accident took her husband much too soon. Content in a quiet life with friends and family, the young widow has no desire to marry again. But when Hugo, Lord Trentham, scoops her up in his arms after a fall, she feels a sensation that both shocks and emboldens her.
  Hugo never intends to kiss Lady Muir, and frankly, he judges her to be a spoiled, frivolous—if beautiful—aristocrat. He is a gentleman in name only: a soldier whose bravery earned him a title; a merchant’s son who inherited his wealth. He is happiest when working the land, but duty and title now demand that he finds a wife. He doesn’t wish to court Lady Muir, nor have any role in the society games her kind thrives upon. Yet Hugo has never craved a woman more; Gwen’s guileless manner, infectious laugh, and lovely face have ruined him for any other woman. He wants her, but will she have him?
  
  ~
  
  Title: Death Comes Silently
  Author: Carolyn Hart
  Genre: mystery
  Publisher: Berkley Hardcover
  Publishing Date: May 2
  Summary: Winter has arrived in Broward’s Rock, South Carolina, and business has slowed for Annie Darling, owner of mystery bookstore Death on Demand. So when the island’s resident writer publishes the latest in her popular mystery series, Annie jumps at the chance to host a book signing, even though it conflicts with her shift at the local charity shop, Better Tomorrow.
  Luckily, fellow volunteer Gretchen Burkholt agrees to sub for her. The signing goes well, but Gretchen interrupts the event multiple times, leaving voice mails about scandalous news she’s dying to share. Even though Gretchen tends to be excitable, Annie heads over to Better Tomorrow, where she finds Gretchen dead on the floor, an axe by her side.
  Annie enlists the help of her husband, Max, to piece together a puzzle involving an overturned kayak, a stolen motorboat, a troubled love affair, and a reckless teenager. And she must tread carefully in her investigation, because a killer is on the loose, and that killer works well in the foggy days of winter…
  
  ~
  
  Happy reading!
  
  Posted in books, Upcoming Books | 0 Comments | Tagged books, genre: adult fiction, genre: dystopian, genre: fiction, genre: history, genre: mystery, genre: romance, genre: young adult, upcoming books
- Book Review: “Delirium” by Lauren Oliver
  
  Posted at 4:29 pm by Laura, on April 27, 2012
  
  Delirium by Lauren Oliver
  
  Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love — the deliria — blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the government demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holoway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.
  
  But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena does the unthinkable: She falls in love.
  
  Thank heavens the second of this trilogy is already out! The massive and thrilling cliff-hanger at the end is too much to bear!
  
  This YA dystopian novel is the first book of the Delirium trilogy. It’s important to note that this is primarily a love story that takes place within a dystopian world, not a dystopian world with a love story (like Hunger Games).
  
  While love stories can become cheesy, this one most definitely did not. The desperation between Lena and Alex is real, solid, and threatening within their world. The US is the only nation with “the cure” and it is separated from the rest of the world, keeping the “cureds” within and the “infected” outside. Even the cities are locked within electric fences, preventing people from escaping into the Wilds, the area where all the Invalids (uncured or infected) inhabit.
  
  I found two things that really pulled me into and through the story: Lena’s transformation and enlightenment, as well as Oliver’s language. Lena is a perfectly rational, calm girl, awaiting the day of her surgery to become cured of the disease amor deliria nervosa. The rational behind the dangers of love make some sense: the pain, the drastic behaviors, sweating palms and strange appetites. These are all things people in love experience, but the world twists it in a negative way, causing everyone to fear love and fear those in love. By the end of the novel, she feels “alive” and “awakened,” wanting desperately to escape to the Wilds with Alex so she’ll never have to undergo the procedure. Her transformation is an adventure in its own right.
  
  The language – my goodness! It’s so beautiful. Although this novel is for young adult readers, Oliver does not underestimate her audience’s reading abilities. The language reads like adult novels, full of elegant descriptions and fantastic imagery and sensory detail. You become Lena, you experience everything she experiences, your heart pounds in fear, anxiety, and thrill when hers does.
  
  I like to also offer my two cents on social commentary. Oliver says she was inspired by Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s quote that great books are about love or death. While this is incredibly interesting and I love her take on it, I think there’s more that can be said. Suzanne Collins was inspired by wars and the media to write Hunger Games – the political commentary on that is immense. I think Delirium could also be a commentary on what modern society deems as acceptable love and human rights. Today, only a man and woman can marry. But there are also taboos within this freedom: younger men marrying older women, young girls marrying men the age of their grandparents, people marrying “too young” or marrying because of pregnancy. But this also does not leave room for men to marry men, women to marry women. Our society scoffs at teenagers who say they are in love — “You don’t know what real love is, you’re only 14.” We should take a step back and ask ourselves…whatis love? And why do we have such social pressures and regulations on what we believe is love?
  
  Food for thought.
  
  Rating: ★★★★★ of 5
  Goodreads: 4.6 of 5
  
  Posted in books, Reviews 2012 | 0 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: dystopian, genre: fiction, genre: romance, genre: young adult, review
- Book Review: “Mockingjay” by Suzanne Collins
  
  Posted at 8:52 am by Laura, on April 22, 2012
  
  Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
  
  Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But she’s still not safe. A Revolution is unfolding, and everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans – everyone except Katniss.
  
  And yet she must play the most vital part in the final battle. Katniss must become their Mockingjay – the symbol of rebellion – no matter what the personal cost.
  
  Before I begin my review, I should warn any new readers to take this third book slowly. The first time I read it, it was finished in a day and I was left angry and riled up. The war, trauma, and conflicting emotions heighten the tension and despair. It’s vastly different from the previous two, and there’s a very good reason (which I’ll explain later). I read this again slowly, and found I enjoyed it much more and I was able to process everything much more easily.
  
  Spoilers ahead!
  
  Katniss and Peeta have been separated, and now it’s Gale’s time to shine. He’s very aggressive and forward in his decisions about the rebellion, which intimidates Katniss at first. In Chapter 7, when they visit District 8 and are attacked by the Capitol, Katniss has only one motivation for the rest of the story: to kill President Snow.
  
  She is traumatized and hospitalized more than I can count in this novel. With each visit, she deteriorates more and more. Most people have been bothered by the way the narrative changes with her mentality – but I will instead applaud Collins for accurately portraying a victim of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is difficult for Katniss to function in “normal” society, but the second she enters combat she focuses on her motivation. Peeta experiences PTSD as well, and an advanced form of brainwashing. These two are stripped to their most basic personalities by the end of the novel – broken but attempting to heal, each helping the other to survive in a world without the Games.
  
  Beloved characters die, violence dominates the storyline, and political agendas twist the plot with each chapter. The readers experience every devastation with Katniss, who takes a speedy journey from a self-preserving teenager to a sacrificing, damaged adult.
  
  Rating: ★★★★ of 5
  Goodreads: 4.8 of 5
  
  Posted in books, Reviews 2012 | 0 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: dystopian, genre: fiction, genre: young adult, goodreads
- Book Review: “Catching Fire” by Suzanne Collins
  
  Posted at 3:39 pm by Laura, on April 8, 2012
  
  Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
  
  Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are still alive. Katniss should be relieved, but now there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol – a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.
  
  As the nation watches Katniss and Peeta, the stakes are higher than ever. One false move and the consequences will be unimaginable.
  
  Spoilers ahead.
  
  I have heard and read many reviews about the second book accusing it be a “repeat” of book one, or “duller in comparison,” and even the worst, “falls into the second-of-every-trilogy-sucks category.”
  
  Let me just say that I completely disagree. The seconds in trilogies, I’ve noticed, build tension and anticipation, leaving the reader hanging at the end, anxiously awaiting the next and final installment. As I type this, I would much rather begin Mockingjay than wait till tomorrow when the book is in my presence! So as far as an unresolved plot, as many suggest, yes it’s there but we should keep in mind this is a trilogy, not a stand-alone.
  
  Also, it most certainly is not a repeat. If anything, the only concept that’s a repeat is that Peeta and Katniss are back in the Games. We’re introduced to the day-to-day life after the first Games, the suffering that comes with the success within a starving District. In Hunger Games, the brief glimpse of District 12 life is enough for us to sympathize and root for Katniss to win. Changes occur, rebellions begin, knowing who to trust and who to talk to (and where!) threatens Katniss’s life.
  
  The Games are entirely different as well – new characters (among them is a favorite of mine, Finnick Odair) bond with Katniss and Peeta and form alliances that have never happened before. The second book truly reveals the heightened sensations of rebellion, anger, madness, struggle, love, and hate – each a step up from the game of survival that encompassed the first book.
  
  Rating: ★★★★★
  Goodreads: 4.38 of 5
  
  Posted in Reviews 2012 | 3 Comments | Tagged book review, books, genre: dystopian, genre: young adult, goodreads, review
- Book Review: “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins
  
  Posted at 7:29 am by Laura, on April 4, 2012
  
  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
  
  In a dark vision of the near future, twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live TV show called the Hunger Games. There is only one rule: kill or be killed.
  
  When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her sister’s place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.
  
  I had read this last June – the entire trilogy in four days – and after I saw the movie I had to re-read it. I wanted to absorb the book once more, and at a slower pace. This way, I could appreciate the story more and focus less on how tense and anxious I felt while reading the thriller.
  
  What makes Hunger Games so successful as a young adult novel is its first person, present tense narrative. The immediacy of the plot and the obsessive thoughts bring the reader straight into the moment, down to every single decision Katniss makes in the Games. Her honest mental contemplations, straight-forward descriptions, and skepticism in trusting others is refreshing. Sometimes, this sort of writing lacks in literature. There can be an overabundance of descriptions but little development of character. Other times, there is no sustenance of much of anything.
  
  The characters – most especially Katniss and Peeta – are well-rounded as well as flawed. Katniss has strength, survival instincts, and unconditional love for her family. She’s a fighter. However, she is blind to true kindness, and at times can be cruel to others due to this weakness. Peeta is the opposite: he’s open and honest, wears his heart on his sleeve, and while he lacks survival instincts, he is honorable and understanding. The problem, though, is that he is rather naive, and too trusting of others’ intentions. These characteristics will play out across the trilogy, but I just want to point out that while both characters are flawed and may not be the absolute best of role models, we must keep in mind that the situations they are in and the fully developed attributes lend to excellently formed personalities to which a reader can relate.
  
  This dystopian narrative also lends itself to the possibility of where this country (and even this world) may be headed. Like Brave New World, 1984, and Lord of the Flies, these scenarios could actually happen. Consider society’s obsession with reality TV. I’m not just speaking of “Jersey Shore” and “Housewives of ___” but also “Survivor” and “American Idol.” Shows that follow real people around in a game, where the winner gets money, fame, and recognition, even if only temporarily. Toss in our political unrest domestically and internationally, and we’ve the perfect recipe for Hunger Games.
  
  Back to the book – I would highly recommend this for everyone, especially new readers. The immediacy of the narrative easily prevents the reader from putting the book down, flipping page after page, soaking up the story, begging for more.
  
  Rating: ★★★★★
  Goodreads: 4.54 of 5
  
  Posted in Reviews 2012 | 1 Comment | Tagged book review, books, genre: dystopian, genre: young adult, goodreads, review
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- Hello, I’m Laura!
  
  I'm a bookish bookworm and book hoarder. By day I'm a literary agent, and by night I'm forever rearranging my bookshelves. I could talk your ear off about Gothic literature, and in my past life people thought I'd become a professional musician. I have a fluffy black cat named Rossetti, I love to travel, tea is my drink of choice, British TV is the best, and I'm always down for chips-and-queso nights. Welcome to Scribbles & Wanderlust! Grab your favorite hot beverage and let's chat books!
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