Review: Mockingjay

Title: Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)

Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Fantasy/Science Fiction
Publication: 2010

Summary: Young Katniss Everdeen has survived the dreaded Hunger Games not once, but twice, but even now she can find no relief. In fact, the dangers seem to be escalating: President Snow has declared an all-out war on Katniss, her family, her friends, and all the oppressed people of District 12. The thrill-packed final installment of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy will keep young hearts pounding.

My Thoughts: It's a revolution! As we know, revolution brings on more than just change but something new entirely, and in this final book of The Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins may not have destroyed the fantasy/science fiction genre and rebuilt into her own creation, but she definitely slaps you with a story that defines exactly what is so great about it.

Mockingjay is a story about revolution, politics, the struggles of love, but more than anything else, it is a story about survival. From the very beginning of the first book, Katniss Everdeen has done everything she has to survive and to protect those she loves. However, being the face of the revolution comes with a cost and at times a heavy conscience. We learn more about Katniss in this book and have a light shed on more of her personal struggles and feelings. Her character is really well written - I don't know how to put it better than that. She is unique and with that comes a lot of different opinions about her, and that's what makes her so engaging. There's a lot of other characters introduced to this book as well, a lot I liked, others I didn't, but none that I couldn't appreciate. And as the writer of this great story, Suzanne Collins has the ability to write some in, but also kill anyone of them off.

Over the course of the trilogy I've come to like a lot of the characters, so I felt sad when some died. And believe me, Collins doesn't go easy on it. At times I've found myself wanting to throw down the book and yell "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Mockingjay is dark.

The fight between the rebels and the Capitol really show what each side of the war are willing to do, and how far they will go to achieve their goals. Moral issues arise within each faction and even among the people you might think better of. I loved every single bit of it! Give me something political and ethically questionable to chew on and I'll be as content as cat with a ball of yarn. Collins did a really great job on creating mystery where it was needed and provided so many fantastic twists that I would never have seen them coming. I like to try and guess what will happen next in a book but she did well making sure the story wasn't predictable. And as for what made the first book so intriguing, another form of "hunger games" was added to the plot here too. Nothing to make it repetitive, but gives just enough of what I loved that made the first book such a success.

The ending... it's all I can really say - the ending. THE ENDING! I was so pleased with how everything turned out and can say I was even surprised. It's a real ending. The kind of ending that actually makes sense and isn't written to be finished with an explosion of butterflies and daffodils. It's a nice sweet touch to the conclusion of the series and is something I can appreciate. However, there is an epilogue added to the very end and I personally believe that it could have done without it. It was nice but without it the story could have left off somewhere for our imaginations to play with.

Mockingjay is a wonderful conclusion to a brilliant, heart pounding series. If you are looking for a book with engaging characters and dialogue, intense action and moral dilemma's, mystery and politics, then look no further than The Hunger Games series.

My Rating: 5/5

Recommend It For: Everyone.

Review: Catching Fire

Title: Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)

Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Fantasy / Science Fiction
Published: 2009

Summary: Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark won the annual competition described in Hunger Games, but the aftermath leaves these victors with no sense of triumph. Instead, they have become the poster boys for a rebellion that they never planned to lead. That new, unwanted status puts them in the bull's-eye for merciless revenge by The Capitol. Catching Fire maintains the adrenaline rush of Suzanne Collins's series launch.

My Thoughts: In the second installment of the Hunger Games, Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, the plot thickens and blood still pours. In certain aspects this sequel somewhat resembled its predecessor in terms of how the story played out, but in my opinion that's not a bad thing. Suzanna Collins adds just the right touch of everything to make this one just as engaging as the first.

In Catching Fire things become real serious, real fast. Threats are issued, fear becomes overwhelming, romance becomes complicated and the battle for survival is ever present. The number one thing I loved the most about this book was the political struggle. I eat that stuff up. In The Hunger Games there was a hint of this, especially near the end, but in this one it's more apparent as the idea of rebellion are catching fire. Katniss has not lived long in her victors home with her family, before her stunt in the arena brings on consequences from the Capitol. She realizes that even though she has left the arena, the games are not yet truly finished. Dun.. dun.. DUNNNN!

The plot becomes a lot more intricate in this one, mainly because, as I said before, politics are involved. When politics are involved nothing is ever simple and no one can ever be trusted. I really liked the story and the struggles each character went through. And there were quite a few new characters added and all were pretty believable. There were some really nice twists and the whole way through it kept me wondering if there is something else going on than what Katniss believes is happening. As in the previous book, the dialogue is spot on and so convincing, a lot of the time I was even laughing out loud, and so I'm not disappointed there because I love dialogue.

As sequels go this one did not let me down. Everything I loved from The Hunger Games was brought back and just as convincing and exciting as ever. I could really feel for these characters and shared in their fear, sorrow and joy. Catching Fire is a delight to read.

My Rating: 5/5

Recommend It For: People who enjoy great Young Adult literature.

Review: Coraline

Title: Coraline

Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Children / Fantasy / Horror
Publication: 2002

Summary: Coraline's often wondered what's behind the locked door in the drawing room. It reveals only a brick wall when she finally opens it, but when she tries again later, a passageway mysteriously appears. Coraline is surprised to find a flat decorated exactly like her own, but strangely different. And when she finds her "other" parents in this alternate world, they are much more interesting despite their creepy black button eyes. When they make it clear, however, that they want to make her theirs forever, Coraline begins a nightmarish game to rescue her real parents and three children imprisoned in a mirror. With only a bored-through stone and an aloof cat to help, Coraline confronts this harrowing task of escaping these monstrous creatures.

My Thoughts: Coraline is among my favorite books ever read. For one thing, it's the first book written by Neil Gaiman that I've read and is the one that started me into reading a lot more. Secondly, this story my kind of story.

If I could sum up the entire book with one word I'd use - creepy. This is the second time that I've read Coraline all the way through from the beginning to the end and it is still as amazing and as frightening as the first time I've experienced it. Perhaps even more frightening this time around now that I have a daughter of my own and couldn't imagine her going through what Coraline had to. But it was for that reason that it made reading this creepy story so exciting. It's because Coraline was just an ordinary girl, who was a bit small for her age. She's a charming, curious, intelligent and brave little girl who gets herself into a scary predicament and needs to gather up all her courage to defeat the odds set against her.

Not only is Coraline's character really great, the other characters in this story are just as interesting. I especially loved the cat and found a lot of his lines very memorable. The eccentric neighbors are also quite unique. And finally the other mother is just plain creepy. I've known people who seem like they could kill you with their niceness, and have wondered if perhaps they are secretly "an other mother". There is not a character in this novel I didn't like reading about.

The atmosphere was also something else that added to the creepiness. Neil Gaiman sure knows how to paint a picture with words that will linger in your memory long after you've read them. One of the more notable of these things, yet such a simple thing, are the black button eyes. Who knew that black buttons could be so creepy! Coraline is filled with nice little touches of creepiness like this one. I loved it!

In the end, Coraline is really a children's book, but it's so unique and scary that I have no doubt that even an adult would love it. Take myself for example. I believe parents with children would find this book a lot more frightening than even the children themselves. So if you're looking for a nice, short book to read about a girl who is cast into a frightening adventure, then look no further.

My Rating: 5/5

Recommend It For: Everyone.

Review: Bones of Faerie

Title: Bones of Faerie

Author: Janni Lee Simner
Genre: Fantasy / Young Adult
Publication: 2007

Summary: The war between humanity and Faerie devastated both sides. Or so 15-year-old Liza has been told. Nothing has been seen or heard from Faerie since, and Liza’s world bears the scars of its encounter with magic. Trees move with sinister intention, and the town Liza calls home is surrounded by a forest that threatens to harm all those who wander into it. Then Liza discovers she has the Faerie ability to see—into the past, into the future—and she has no choice but to flee her town. Liza’s quest will take her into Faerie and back again, and what she finds along the way may be the key to healing both worlds.

My Thoughts: A war between Earth and Faerie has left the world changed and ruined forever, where even the plants and trees are no longer to be trusted and will even kill you if they have the chance. Sound awesome? I think so! But unfortunately for me, the execution made on this story about a post-apocalyptic future touched by the effects of magic just didn't live up to my expectations.

As I said, I really liked the idea the author was working with here and is the reason I read this book. A war between the people of Earth and Faerie sounded too good to pass up, and the general story itself was interesting enough to hold my attention the whole way through. However, the characters were so flat and uninteresting half the time that I felt zero connection with any of them save for perhaps Allie. I felt like I was thrown head first into the story without getting to know the characters so that I could feel for them or care about their struggles. Matthew is a great example of this. Even the elements of surprise, those I felt that the author was trying to achieve, were lackluster and had no meaning because it was like they were dumped on me too soon without any sort of build up. I did like some of the characters, but I wish they could have been fleshed out more so I didn't have to feel so disconnected.

My biggest criticism about the story is the main character. I just plain didn't like her. And the fact that the narrative was spoken by her, it made it all the worse. She was two-dimensional, depressing, and straight out annoying. However, considering her situation, like her father abusing her and other sad things that's revealed about her life, it's somewhat understandable. But again, the writing here couldn't bring it all together in a way that I could relate to her. If you don't mind an "emo" (couldn't think of a better word for it) character and narrative then you will probably like this book a lot more than I did. I'm just not into that sort of thing.

A lot of the description in this book was really nice, and the way the author painted this post-apocalyptic world was, as I mentioned earlier, interesting enough to hold my attention, although some of the ideas to describe somethings were just plain bad in my opinion. For example, magic touched people have clear hair. Hair as clear as glass. I can't help, I think that's really stupid. On the other hand, the way the forest operated was awesome. I wouldn't want to live in such a place but reading about it was great.

When you see my rating, you may think "why give this book the rating you did if you sound like you didn't like it that much?" Perhaps it sounds that way but I honestly did like the story itself well enough. Even though I found the execution not to my liking, the main character annoying, the characters two-dimensional, I thought it was a good little story about a post-apocalyptic future and magic. It's not the best story I've read but it was still good.

My Rating: 3/5

Recommend It For: Young readers.

Review: The Sorcerer's House

Title: The Sorcerer's House

Author: Gene Wolfe

Genre: Fantasy

Publication: 2010

Summary: In a contemporary town in the American Midwest where he has no connections, an educated man recently released from prison is staying in a motel. He writes letters to his brother and to others, including a friend still in jail. When he meets a real estate agent who tells him he is the heir to a huge old house, long empty, he moves in, though he is too broke to even buy furniture, and is immediately confronted by supernatural and fantastic creatures and events.

His life is utterly transformed and we read on, because we must know more. We revise our opinions of him, and of others, with each letter. We learn things about magic, and another world, and about the sorcerer Mr. Black, who originally inhabited the house. And then perhaps we read it again.

My Thoughts: (I normally try to stay away from writing anything that may give away important information concerning the story, but I've never read anything like this before so I find it hard to review. I'll do my best.)


This was not at all what I was expecting. I really liked it! However, in the end I was left a bit confused. Sadly, I am not very good at "reading between the lines" thus the reason for my being confused, because this is the kind of book that you read and realize that there is a lot more being said here than that is being shown. Just the same, I really enjoyed the narrative and the surface story of this book enough that I was deeply intrigued and captivated.

The book is written in a series of letters all written by, or written to, an ex-convict named Baxter Dunn who has inherited an unusual old house by a mysterious man and in turn writes about his experiences, more or less. Bax writes to three people, his brother George, Millie (George's wife), and his friend Shell. Within these letters is where I've learned the most of his personality, and have come to believe that even though he writes to his brother (and Millie) with pleasantries and good intentions, I couldn't shake the feeling that he's a wolf in sheep's clothing. However, I could be wrong. That's what I mean about the story being more than what it appears. A person can read this and later think up multiple theories on what really took place, if there was indeed anything else at all. This story being told by Bax is either deceptive (my impression), or a very extraordinary flat out truth (because it is a fantasy after all). All this is another reason I really enjoyed this book even though I'm not exactly intelligent enough to piece it all together. I will most likely some day reread this and try and discover more.

Now, putting aside all of that, the story being told is definitely interesting. There's talk about sorcerer's, magic, werewolves, facefoxes (the reverse effect of a werewolf - a fox who turns into human), ghosts, and other fantastical creatures that will fascinate or turn off. If you believe what the narrator is saying is true then you'd have to admit that his story is definitely remarkable because it's [expletive deleted] crazy. Although some of the twists were predictable, the general mystery of the story remained strong enough to keep me entertained.

All in all, the story was really well written. It had me from the very beginning and I was captivated by it the whole way through.

My Rating: 4/5

Recommend It For: Adults and fantasy readers.

Review: The Candy Shop War

Title: The Candy Shop War

Author: Brandon Mull
Genre: Children/YA Fantasy
Publication: 2007

Summary: Welcome to the Sweet Tooth Ice Cream and Candy Shoppe, where the confections are bit on the . . . unusual side. Rock candy that makes you weightless. Jawbreakers that make you unbreakable. Chocolate balls that make you a master of disguise. Four young friends—Nate, Summer, Trevor, and Pigeon—meet the grandmotherly Mrs. White, owner of the Sweet Tooth, and soon learn about the magical side effects of her candies. Then the ice cream truck driver, Mr. Stott, arrives with a few enchanted sweets of his own. The danger unfolds as the four youngsters discover that the magical strangers have all come to town in search of a legendary treasure—one that could be used for great evil if it fell into the wrong hands. The kids, now in over their heads, must try to retrieve the treasure first. And so, the war begins . . .

My Thoughts: The thing about Brandon Mull is that after I have read a book of his, I wish I could erase my memory of ever having read it just so that I can read it all over again for the first time. I have never read anything of Brandon Mull's and not absolutely loved it! And the same goes for The Candy Shop War.

I've read the Fablehaven series, read the first Beyonders and am excitedly awaiting the second book, but have always sort of put off reading The Candy Shop War because I personally don't ca...moreThe thing about Brandon Mull is that after I have read a book of his, I wish I could erase my memory of ever having read it just so that I can read it all over again for the first time. I have never read anything of Brandon Mull's and not absolutely loved it! And the same goes for The Candy Shop War.

I've read the Fablehaven series, read the first Beyonders and am excitedly awaiting the second book, but have always sort of put off reading The Candy Shop War because I personally don't care for candy. I've never been a person who's liked a lot of sweets of any kind, so I figured that this book wouldn't interest me because of the subject matter. Boy was I wrong! The magical candy in this story brought out my inner child and I relished in this tasty treat. I honestly believe that if Brandon Mull picked up a piece of trash off the street and decided to write a story about it he could make it a best seller. As with all of his other books, Mull brings his characters to life in such a great way and really knows how to weave together a great a story. He adds just the right hint of mystery, suspense, action, wonder, magic and always comes out with something amazing. I was really surprised by how much I loved The Candy Shop War but I should have expected as much.

The dialogue was witty, clever and really funny. Nate, Summer, Trevor and Pigeon were all believable characters and had their own spark, and all of the other supporting characters and villains were also enjoyable to read about. Some favorite characters of mine were John Dart and Pigeon. Nearly every character has something unique about them and it really adds to the life of the world. I LOVED John Dart's background and the fact that he couldn't bring harm to others without feeling the pain that they also felt. Considering all the characters of the book, the plot was so well thought out that a lot of the time all I could do was inwardly squeal with joy because of all the shocking, surprising and wondrous moments this story dished out. I never felt once during this book a moment of boredom or that some things were thrown in there for the sake of filler.

The Candy Shop War is a triumph in the genre of Children/YA fantasy and even though it's directed more toward a younger audience, I believe adults can enjoy it as well. The book may be about kids and candy but it's also much more than that - it's a fast paced, page turning tale of magic and adventure that leaves off with a sweet aftertaste.

My Rating: 5/5

Review: Howl's Moving Castle

Title: Howl's Moving Castle

Author: Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: YA/Children Fantasy
Publication: 1986

Summary: In the land of Ingary, such things as spells, invisible cloaks, and seven-league boots were everyday things. The Witch of the Waste was another matter.

After fifty years of quiet, it was rumored that the Witch was about to terrorize the country again. So when a moving black castle, blowing dark smoke from its four thin turrets, appeared on the horizon, everyone thought it was the Witch. The castle, however, belonged to Wizard Howl, who, it was said, liked to suck the souls of young girls.

The Hatter sisters— Sophie, Lettie, and Martha— and all the other girls were warned not to venture into the streets alone. But that was only the beginning.

In this giant jigsaw puzzle of a fantasy, people and things are never quite what they seem. Destinies are intertwined, identities exchanged, lovers confused. The Witch has placed a spell on Howl. Does the clue to breaking it lie in a famous poem? And what will happen to Sophie Hatter when she enters Howl's castle?

My Thoughts: The first I've ever heard of Howl's Moving Castle was of the film version directed by Hayao Miyazak and loved it! Later I learned that it was originally written as a book by Diana Wynne Jones and I immediately wanted to jump on it. Normally I find the book better than the movie but in this case even though the film was based on the book it was still very different from it, resulting in not being able to choose which was better because they are both really great. Now onto the book because this is not a movie review.

From the very beginning I was really into this book. It's full of charm, wonderful magic and has a fairly decent plot. The plot itself was rather slow in my opinion but in the end it all comes together nicely. I really liked all of the characters, especially Calcifer and Michael, and found the dialogue enjoyable as well, although admittedly, I became annoyed with Sophie after a while. I liked her... but poor Howl! She never gave the guy a break! I guess I would be negative too if I had a curse thrown on me to make me seem decades older, and perhaps her moods were also fueled by jealousy, but her constant nagging and complaining about Howl was a bit tiresome... because all she really had to do was TALK to him. That is basically the only thing I didn't like about this book. Howl himself was an intriguing character but I think in real life I'm not sure if I would like him. Reading about him in this story is great because he's mysterious, and deep down has a kind heart, but he is a bit of a player and really knows how to throw a tantrum.

The magic was great! In this alternate reality where wizards and witches really exist there is a ton of magic to be had. A fire demon who maintains a moving castle, spells that harm and spells that aid, a door that opens to different areas and towns, and unfortunate souls who have been cursed with altered shapes and appearances. I really love magic so the variety here was nice. But the magic wasn't the only good thing about the story because the characters also brought lots of life to it with some funny and witty dialogue.

Although Diana Wynne Jone's book Howl's Moving Castle has its shortcomings, the pure charm and its lovable characters makes this a really enjoyable YA/Children's fantasy story.

My Rating: 4/5