Catching Fire ~ 391 Pages
I twist the polished brass knob and step inside. My nose registers the conflicting scents of roses and blood. A small, white-haired man who seems vaguely familiar is reading a book. He holds up a finger as if to say, "Give me a moment." Then he turns and my heart skips a beat. I'm staring into the snakelike eyes of President Snow.
My rant for this series is over. At least for today. This is book two of the Hunger Games Trilogy.
I think I can hesitantly say that this is my favorite book in the series. Which is weird because it's the second book, and I usually dislike the second book in comparison to the first. But Catching Fire continues the story in such a flawless way, it's hard to believe it's a sequel for me.
Saying anything about this book in summary would give everything away. So I'm going to settle by letting this be a very short entry.
I'll just say that this whole series is such a fast paced page turner, it's really a joy to read. I stick by my original statement when I say that I think anyone would enjoy this series.
Evermore ~ 302 Pages
"Ah, but it happens to be a label worth arguing over, as there is a big difference. You see, a vampire is a fictional, made-up creature that exists only in books, and movies, and, in your case, overactive imaginations." He smiles. "Whereas I am an immortal. Though, contrary to the fantasy you've conjured in your head, my immortality is not reliant on bloodsucking, human sacrifice, or whatever unsavory acts you've imagined."
This book is not about vampires.
Evermore, titled after the main character, Ever, is the first book in the Immortals series. I stumbled upon it as I was looking for my books I put on hold to be ready (no dice). It got raving review, was on the best seller list, and looked mildly interesting (because it was a young adult book not about vampires).
It's about a teenager who's family died in a car crash and... wait... am I having deja vu? Oh, no. I wrote about the prequel to this series, Radiance, a while back. Well, this story isn't about Riley, this book, and series is about her sister, Ever, the only family member to survive the car crash that killed her whole family.
After Ever's near death experience, she is left with basically psychic powers. She can see a colored aura around each person that reflects their mood, and she can hear people's thoughts. Whenever she happens to make physical contact with someone, she sees their whole life story. Everyone, that is, except the new kid in town.
Now, I didn't really hate this book. At parts, it was really good. But there were a few things that just kinda, turned me off. One being that it was A LOT like twilight as some parts. The mind reading, the eternal love, the cover, the sequels title is Blue Moon, the fast movement, the mysterious boyfriend. It goes on. But what made Twilight a really crappy book, is actually not included here.
1. The main girl actually makes sense, i. e. she acts like a normal person. She freaks out when a normal person would, not like Bella. "Oh, you're a vampire... cool! Will you make me a vampire too? I wanna be pretty and live forever and have powers!" 2. When violence is promised, it actually happens, you actually get to read that part instead of the main character just blacking out.
The other thing that turned me off to the book was that, the happy warm filled ending of explanations didn't happen at the end. It happened at the climax, during the big fight. Then the big fight resumes after the heart to heart. It just didn't make sense, and ruined the big dramatic finish.
Anyway, speaking of Twilight...
The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner ~ 178 pages
I snapped the lock on the roof access hatch and let us in. The store was empty, the only alarms on the windows and doors. I went straight to the H's, while Diego headed to the music section in the back. I'd just finished with Hale. I took the next dozen books in line; that would keep me a couple days.
Yeah, minus that you never actually read in this whole book...
Okay. So, I flew off the handle last week about Twilight. And I got called out for not reading the whole series. So guess what. I read this stupid short book, and now I can say whatever I want about Twilight. (I stand by what I said last week.)
This novella is about Bree Tanner, the vampire that the Volturi kill in, well, in the whole series, but specifically, the third book, Eclipse. It's about her "short second life" as a vampire, in which she falls in love, then dies.
We all know how her story ends (if you read Eclipse anyway) we all know she has to die. But for heaven sakes! She can't know that! Where is the suspense? The wondering if she is really going to make it? When a reader already knows the end, you can't soften the blow by saying every third paragraph, "I knew I was going to die, and I was alright with it." NO! That's not what makes a good book! If you promise us a certain end early in the book, you need to make us believe that there is a way of getting around that end, that all isn't lost, then rip it out of our hands. THAT is what makes a death tragic. THAT is what makes me feel bad for the character. Not, "They were talking like they would save me but I knew they couldn't, they knew they couldn't, we all knew I was going to die." Wow, even that was more tragic than what it actually says in the book...
Well, I hated this book and I don't think anyone but Twi-hards would like it. It's not even funny, or amusing, it's just boring. In fact, when she finally meets the Cullens, it just sounds like fan fiction. And even as she is about to die, it's not about Bree, it's about how you should like Bella and Edward because they at least tried to help her, when in actuality, they didn't so anything.
If all I could rant about this book was written down, it would be longer than the 178 pages that it was, and more worth my time.
Catching Fire 391
+
Evermore 302
+
Short Second Life 178
=
871 pages total
2,129 pages to go.
This is going to be a tight one my friends.
Read on,
Jamie
No comments:
Post a Comment