I have had an inordinate amount of free time lately. Thank goodness I’m starting a second job in a few weeks because I seem to be working less and less at my job as a host, and I somewhat desperately need to make money.
But since I have all this free time and no way to solve it, I’ve started reading two new series:
The Hunger Games
: Read this one for the obvious reasons. Reading circles have been flailing about it for months and I finally just needed to read it for myself. I loved it. LOVED. IT. Somehow it gets lopped in with juvenile fiction at my local library, but as the series centers around a dystopian society that hinges on annual fights to the death, I personally think it belongs more in the young adult category.
: Read this one for the obvious reasons. Reading circles have been flailing about it for months and I finally just needed to read it for myself. I loved it. LOVED. IT. Somehow it gets lopped in with juvenile fiction at my local library, but as the series centers around a dystopian society that hinges on annual fights to the death, I personally think it belongs more in the young adult category.But I digress.
This book was perfect. PERFECT. The plot was glory, the inner workings of Katniss (the main character) amazing, and despite the grim idea that only one out of twenty-four people will survive the Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins still manages to insert enough humor that the book is not just plain sad. I loved it. Had it delivered from the library today and finished it basically in one sitting. Could not put it down.
And at the opposite end of the spectrum, we have The Kingdom Keepers
series. I got through the first one by force of will and okay, because I’m a bit of a Disney freak and I liked the premise of the books, which is overly complicated, but involves Disney. That’s usually enough for me. The books are published by Hyperion which, is (surprise!) Disney’s publishing imprint. But unlike the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which is also published by Hyperion, these books just feel like an ill-contrived marketing scheme for Disney. I’m not sure that someone else would have published them.
series. I got through the first one by force of will and okay, because I’m a bit of a Disney freak and I liked the premise of the books, which is overly complicated, but involves Disney. That’s usually enough for me. The books are published by Hyperion which, is (surprise!) Disney’s publishing imprint. But unlike the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which is also published by Hyperion, these books just feel like an ill-contrived marketing scheme for Disney. I’m not sure that someone else would have published them.The writing’s nothing special and in places it even irks me as there are some pretty basic mistakes. A character changes how she prefers her sister to be called from one book to the next. And the Point of View shifts. Dear God, I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen so many, or had it irritate me so much. Are we in Third Person Omniscient or Third Person Limited? Make up your ever-lovin’ mind! The author seems to lean towards Omniscient and it drives me absolutely batty.
I’m muscling through the series by sheer force of will. If this guy can get published, then hey, there’s hope for me.
The comparison between the two series? There is none. The Hunger Games wins it by a mile.