{Review} The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Release Date: 5 January 2009

Publisher: Scholastic

Age Group: Young Adult

Format: Paperback

Pages: 454

Rating:  5- Wonderful

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. But Katniss has been close to death before - and survival, for her, is second nature.

My Thoughts:

 I was a little late to hop on The Hunger Games band-wagon, okay I was very far behind but I decided to give these books a shot once I heard a movie was being made, like any other avid YA reader out there, I had once upon a time, sworn to read books before I watched the movies.

Book-to-movie adaptations are always strange as books are always better, and I knew that I would not be able to watch the movie without reading the books first – I mean, if I had watched the movie and thought it was good, then I would’ve wanted to read the books and that would have ruined the books for me as I would have mental images of what the characters looked like from the movie. Imagination is everything and more!

Anyways, I was glad that I had finally sat down to read this book because it was fantastic! I don’t do well with books about actions, but this book was just so thrilling and fast paced.

With this book I had great expectations from all the hype I had heard as well as all the books people have compared to THE HUNGER GAMES, this book truly is legendary and I was finally able to see why people enjoyed it so much.

Suzanne Collins made the book so beautiful despite the tough situations Katniss may have been in, the way suspense was ever present and anything could happen – anyone could die at any given moment was great!

I liked the fact that this book, despite being almost too addictive and exciting to put down, had a great message and that message was to face your fears. We all have fears and I think this book taught me that I can face some of them.

I’ll leave you with this statement: I now know why so many people are comparing books to the Hunger Games, it means that the book is almost as good as the legendary series created by Suzanne Collins!

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{Review} XVI by Julia Karr

Release Date: 6 January 2011

Publisher: Speak

Age Group: Young Adult

Format: Paperback

Pages: 325

Rating:  4- Great

Some girls can't wait to be sixteen, to be legal. Nina is not one of them. Even though she has no choice in the matter, she knows that so long as her life continues as normal, everything will be okay. 
Then, with one brutal strike, Nina's normal is shattered; and she discovers that nothing that she believed about her life is true. But there's one boy who can help--and he just may hold the key to her past. 
But with the line between attraction and danger as thin as a whisper, one thing is for sure... 

My Thoughts:

 This book was interesting as it deals with topics which are not often raised in YA literature, with interesting situations and a fight to remain who you are can only leave you wanting more.

I enjoyed reading about Nina, she was an interesting character, unlike any I have read about before with a punk edge of sorts. I liked how she wanted to remain pure and did not want to become a sex-teen or get the XVI tattoo. The XVI tattoo shows that a girl is old enough to have sex and should possibly want to throw herself at men.

I think Julia Karr did a great job with this theme and concept as it deals with teenage-sex. This book should teach everyone a lesson and hopefully change some people’s lives. This book is also a dystopian novel so it made everything all the more interesting.

I thought that the way this book was written could have been a little better and maybe a little less repetitive; there were some parts which were written beautifully and were extremely engrossing.

Another important aspect of this book is the fact that family is very important. I really enjoyed reading about Nina and her sister, Dee. The bond they shared was special and interesting to read about.

I am excited to read the second novel; Truth as the ending for XVI was really something that made me happy.

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