THE HUNGER GAMES TRILOGY!

One of the largest trilogies of this decade came to a close on August 24th with the release of Mockingjay, the third and final installment of The Hunger Games Trilogy.  I only started to read this trilogy with the first title in the series (The Hunger Games) before my Australian Adventure. Then, I came back, read another book, and read Catching Fire (Book #2) just in time for Mockingjay.  So now, without further ado, my Hunger Games Trilogy review!

Title: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Summary (Copied from Barnes and Noble): Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Katniss' sister is chosen by lottery, Katniss steps up to go in her place.
Review: One of the times I met Scott Westerfeld, I asked him why he liked to write trilogies.  His answer was suprisingly simple, "It sets up the events in the series as beginning, middle, and end."  Now that I think about it, The Hunger Games served as a great opening to Katniss' world.  We learn all about Panem, Katniss' background, her family, and what the games are about.  Saying this, it was a basic novel with a suprising amount of gore (not nearly as much as Mockingjay, but we'll get back to that later) and your typicall teen romance with Katniss' District 12 opponent, Peeta.  However, this may sound boring and you may think "I want something more than good and basic," but The Hunger Games is fantastic and our heroine, Katniss is by far the most complex thing about this book.  Overall, The Hunger Games sets the stage for an action-packed trilogy which is as entertaining for male and female readers alike.
Grade: A-

Title: Catching Fire
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Summary (Without giving too much of The Hunger Games away): Katniss made it out of The Hunger Games alive but there was a twist involved in her escaping of the arena which has set the stage for a rebellion of Panem. 
Review: Again, sorry if I un-intentionally place any spoilers but I will try my best!  In Catching Fire, we see Katniss' world a little more clearly and get a little deeper into her mind while she tries to balance out what really matters.  The main points I noticed in Catching Fire was the setting of the stage of the rebellion of Panem and also learning a little more about the history of the Games themselves and learning even more about our characters.  Catching Fire was a little more slowly paced than The Hunger Games up to the last 13 or so of the book where things zoomed by so cleverly yet simply that I didn't even want to put the book down from then on.  A great sequel.
Grade: A

Title: Mockingjay
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Summary: The rebellion of Panem is in full swing and it is up to our heroine Katniss Everdeen to either destroy it or help it thrive.
Review: Mockingjay, I felt, went into some technical aspects that I didn't really care for.  However, once the action of the rebellion gets into the novel, things get exciting and quite gory.  In The Hunger Games, children faught to the death, of course it's going to be bloody but in Mockingjay, the rebellion is a full-on war.  There is blood and death at every turn once the true action begins.  This is all great and tastefully written during Katniss' special mission (about the last 1/2 or 1/3 or so) and things get intense and page-turning until the very last sentence. Mind-blowing.
Grade: A

OMG MY FIRST POST!

Hello blogosphere! This is my very first post on my new blog! As you can tell from the title, it is about books and other things.  Whenever I post an entry I feel like people are going to read this and love it or hate it.  But the main reason for this blog is to be a Kicker.  For those of you who dont know what a Kicker is, it is a person who kicks stories about stuff and tries to get people interested in whatever he/she/it posts about. Mine centers around kicking books. For those of you who are reading this and have deja vu of the term kicker, you have probably seen it in the book "Extras" by Scott Westerfeld www.scottwesterfeld.com/blog As a matter of fact in this post I will be reviewing "Extras" by Scott Westerfeld. What a coinkidink! (Great segway huh?)

Title: Extras
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Series: Uglies
Genre: Sci-Fi (but this book was a little more mysterious than the others in the series)
Page Count: 417 (hardcover edition)
Price: $16.99 hardcover, $9.99 paperback
Barnes and Noble Link: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Extras/Scott-Westerfeld/e/9781416971214/?itm=1

Blurb On The Back (Or Dust Jacket): Fame.  It's a few years after rebel Tally Youngblood took down the uglies/pretties/specials regime.  Without those strict roles and rules, the world is a complete cultural renaissance. "Tech-heads" flaunt their latest gadgets, "kickers" spread gossip and trends, and "surge-monkeys" are hooked on extreme plastic surgery.  And it's all monitored on a bazillion different cameras.  The world is like a gigantic game of American Idol. Whoever is getting the most buzz gets the most votes.  Popularity rules.

As if being fifteen doesn't suck enough, Aya Fuse's rank of 451, 369 is so low, she's a total nobody.  An extra.  Her only chance to escape extra-land is to find a big story to kick - something wild and unexpected.

Then Aya meets a clique of girls who pull crazy tricks, yet are deeply secritive about it.  But the Sly Girls are hiding something bigger - an explosive discovery that may change the face of the brave new world forever.  If Aya kicks this story, she'll be propelled into the world of fame, celebrity... and extreme danger.  A world she's not prepared for.

My Review: This book was PHENOMINAL! Probably my favorite in the four part trilogy (yea you heard me).  The reason I say four part trilogy is because the first three books (Uglies, Pretties, and Specials) were supposed to be a trilogy in itself but mastermind author Scott Westerfeld wrote Extras as an unexpected fourth part due to popular demand of the series.

I think that one reason I liked the book so much is the way the author used the same universe as in his previous books but changed it around so much by adding new cliques and characters and so many twists and turns. Some of these are bringing old characters back as well and changing the whole idea around in a story that you would've never imagined to be true until it all the puzzle peices come together.
This book also had some very good themes including some very good ones about friendship and trust and honesty as do all of the other books in the series have. Trust and understanding definity come together with this story very well indeed and the author just makes his views so simple and honest in the book.

One thing that kind of bothered me was a left open sub-plot that had really nothing to do with the story but was still very interesting in itself (but i guess that just leaves more room for a FIFTH book!). But that barley changes the reading experience.

Something that I liked yet disliked at the same time was how easily you could just pick this book up without reading the other three (but dont mix up the order when reading the other three trust me you will get confused!). I know what you're thinking "How is this a bad thing? It seems good to me!" Well I just think that you won't like and appreciate the book's twists and turns as much as i did if you haven't read the other 3.

Final Note: READ THE DAMN BOOK! IT'S AMAZING! TRUST ME.
Do I Reccomend This Book: Hellz yea.

Grade: A-