The Reaping Week presents: Mockingjay!

I can’t believe it! The day we’ve all been waiting for! Even as I type this there is only eight and a half hours until the Hunger Games movie! To keep myself preoccupied, I finished reading Mockingjay today. And right now, I feel just as depressed as I did the last time I read it. The movie is going to kill me.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

When I first read Mockingjay a few years back, I absolutely hated it. I’m not sure if it was because of the ending, because of the fact Katniss spends a heck load of the book hiding or passed out, or if I was just too young to truly appreciate it… but this time around, I had a completely different reaction.

My Review:

At Face Value: Still not loving the covers. But maybe that’s just me. I don’t know. And the title? The second one was awesome… this one, not so much.

Immediate Reaction: Can someone cut out my heart to stop it from bleeding?

High Five: Not quite. While I enjoyed this reading a whole lot more than the first, there are still some issues. So… four and a half. A lot higher than I was planning on giving it.

Favourite Quote: How can I chose? Seriously. Katniss is so much more herself in this book and every thought is awesome.  Given the context, I remember randomly loving this one:

“ It’s better than being defenseless. Now the only one without a weapon is Peeta, but anyone whispering my name with a bunch of mutts doesn’t need one anyway. ”

Aaaand... one more. Cos it sucked for me. 

" "That was the one thing I had going for me. Taking care of your family," he says. "Shoot straight, OK?" He touches my cheek and leaves. I want to call him back and tell him I was wrong. That I'll figure out a way to make peace with this. To remember the circumstances under which he made the bomb... But since I can't, I'll just have to deal with the pain. "

Let me first start out by saying that this book is not for everyone. Suzanne Collins specifically wrote this book in a way that her characters are faced with the realities war brings, and they don’t exactly deal with it in a Hollywood, cookie-cutter, way. It’s intense, okay?

To be honest, I’m not sure what it was about the story that I hated so much back then. I think I’ve whittled my answer down to two main points, but I’ll get to those later.

First up, this book is split into three main parts. The first, deals with Katniss accepting her role of becoming the face of the rebellion. It focuses on the propos the REBELS are now using to fuel the rebellion. In short, Katniss is still being played. And she knows this; but just like with the Games if she wants to help the people she loves she has no choice but to follow through. There’s some pretty neat little scenes but there was nothing overly spectacular about this part. Katniss is the hope. Gale is the best friend. The Capitol is using Peeta. Blah, blah, blah. It was interesting and set the new world we’re dealing with here, but there was nothing that had me strapped to my seat. There was an awesome scene in District 8 though, that I still remember from my first reading.

The second part of the book amped things up a little. There was a fair bit more action, Katniss finally started to debate all of her options, and some certain people return. There is also a TWIST! Gasp! Shock! Horror! I won’t give away what it was but it brought a little smile to my lips. There is also more focus on Katniss’ family and the characters in general. More world building. More stakes added to Katniss’ list. And more death’s on her conscience. There was a scene with Johanna that made me cry because I JUST LOVE THAT GIRL SO MUCH! And even though the action was only slightly more than the first part, Collins wrote with so much intensity you felt like the shit was about to go down.

Then we get to the third part. The part of the book where everything blows up (quite literally) every expectation you had for this book. It’s straight into action mode with the cute game of ‘Real or Not Real’ woven in so wonderfully. You can feel the suspense, you feel the danger. You just know that everyone won’t make it out alive but you never realize JUST HOW MANY ARE ABOUT TO DIE! And one death, one death that is so horrific AND BREAKS MY HEART INTO A MILLION PIECES, is passed over so quickly I don’t get a chance to grieve. Any one who’s read this book will know exactly what part I mean. And that is reason number one for my original hatred of this book.

Everything about this third part is taken to a whole other level. It moves so quickly, it elicits so much emotion until you are tearing your God darn hair out. Then, THE BIG THING HAPPENS. THE REASON I HATED THIS BOOK ORIGINALLY. I don’t want to elaborate a whole lot because I don’t really want to give away to much to anyone that hasn’t read these books but it was something I never saw coming. Something that a certain someone is potentially responsible for.  AND IT KILLED ME TO REALISE THAT. From that moment on in the book, Katniss falls apart. She’s an empty shell. She’s nothing but despair. And Collins writes that better than any other part in this whole series.

The things that happen after this, really don’t measure up to the event. There’s some pretty big things – an execution, A VOTE THAT HOLDS WAY MORE SIGNIFICANCE TO THE REAL WORLD THAN THE BOOK, morphling addiction, more depression – and then the rest is kind of the aftermath. Katniss is defeated. Completely. It feels as though she literally gives up – and who can blame her? But to me, this wasn’t the ending I wanted for her. All through the series, Collins writes this strong, believable, flawed character that you’re expected to follow. That you’re expected to care about. And you do. And then that character just gives up. It’s a hollow, empty way to end a book. To be fair, things pick up a little right at the end but it was forgettable. And to end a series that I loved so much in that way really wasn’t cool. I just want to state I was never hoping for a happy ending, but I was hoping for an amazing ending. And the one we’re given is acceptable at best.

THAT SAID, Katniss makes this series worth following through to the very end. I guarantee you’ll cry. I guarantee you’ll fall in love with so many characters you’ll never be able to forget about them. I can’t guarantee you’ll agree with me and LOVE the ending for Gale because… it’s kind of bleak from Katniss’ point of view, but there was no way it would have worked between them. And I think I’ve come to terms with that now. Plus, the last line in the book was done awesomely. I love when authors end their book on a really strong line. 

But really, I could have done without the Epilogue. Again, it was ended on a strong line but it was redundant. It didn't offer anything we couldn't have guessed for ourselves and deprived me of imagining for myself what happened after the book. I read it and my immediate reaction was 'and? who really cares...'

TOMORROW: a review on the HUNGER GAMES movie!

Only seven and a half hours left you guys! Trying. To control. My EXCITEMENT.

ARGH!!!!

A-tissue, a-tissue, we all fall down!

 Book review for Cinder by Marissa Meyer

 A forbidden Romance. 

A deadly Plague. 

Earth's fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic in New Beijing is also a cyborg. She's reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's sudden illness. But when her life becomes entwined with the handsome Prince Kai's she finds herself at the centre of a violent struggle between the desires of an evil queen - and a dangerous temptation.
Cinder is caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal. Now she must uncover secrets about her mysterious past in order to protect the Earth's future.
This is not the fairytale you remember. 

But it's one you won't forget.

When I first heard about Cinder, I immediately thought it was going to be another gimmick. There are so many books out there that claim to rewrite fairytales in a ‘new and different way’. Yeah. Nine times out of ten, I can’t get past the first chapter.

 This is that other time.

 Now, as a general rule, I go into reading a book with a lot of skepticism. This may not be the best way to enter someone else’s fantasy world but when a book manages to get past that tough outlook, I know it’s going to be a keeper.

 And man, is Cinder a keeper.

I am well aware this book came out a few months ago but as a lover of Grimm’s fairytales (and dare I say this, even Disney’s Cinderella doesn’t quite reach the mark), I have very high standards on any and all adaptations. I hadn’t even planned to buy it in the near future so I think this is the first time I’ve been thankful Charlestown Square didn’t have the book I wanted – and trust me when I say only time. If they’d had The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, I still wouldn’t have read this book. 

My review:

At face value: I love the cover. Stars above, I love it. The red shoe is actually like a pair I have.

Immediate Reaction: OMFG Give ME the Next One Now! It’s finished? OMIGOD Noooooo! Evil, twisted universe, ARGH! (Can you tell I kind of liked it?)

High Five: Very, very close. Oh, so close. Four and a half and that’s purely because I’m a picky bitch.

Favourite Quote: Had to include this one. Out of context, probably doesn’t have the same effect but trust me; my heart broke.

“She was just a mechanic, and he was the prince with all the charms she pretended to be immune to. And he was there, before her, while she tottered on a single foot and tried to calm her rapidly beating heart. How she could barely meet his gaze. How he leaned forward, forced her to see him, smiled.

There.

That moment. That smile.

Again and again and again.”

Cinder is based on the brother’s Grimm fairytale (duh!) and was a seriously awesome read. I wasn’t looking forward to all the parallels but thank God Meyer (Marissa, not Stephanie) didn’t overdo it. I think that’s what I was most worried about. Each time something cropped up to remind me of the fairytale it was like a little hug as opposed to a punch in the face. It was subtle, artistic, and the little quotes from the original story were a nice touch. 

The first few pages really made me step back a little from the book – our main character is a cyborg? – I didn’t know if I could get past that one. But as soon as that thought entered my mind, Meyer distracted me with a very pretty, very shiny object. And no I don’t mean Cinder’s new foot. I mean Kai, of course. Prince Kai. His Imperial Highness. His Imperial Swoonworthy, ‘I’m so hot I’m about to burn through these pages’ Kai. 

The first chapter impressed me, the next, say, four were ‘okay’, but once I picked the book up again from that little break I couldn’t put it down. I finally finished the book last night and couldn’t believe it was 2am. The last time I stayed up for a book was my overnight read of Frostbite/Shadow Kiss. That was about three years ago.

Let’s talk about Cinder, our awesome main character. This is a girl with no idea where she came from, no idea how to fit in with the humans around her, and no idea how to please her ‘evil stepmother’. Cinder goes through a massive period of self-discovery and I actually cared about the results. Plus, the girl is a mechanic. Umm, hello? I love, love, love that she is so bloody smart at this and so dang clueless about everything else. She isn’t one of those obnoxious characters that seem to know everything.

Now, I suppose I should mention here a little thing called the Letumosis plague that is tearing through New Beijing. It’s a pretty big part of the plot and kind of pushes it along. I should also probably mention a character who is so deliciously evil and twisted and SO NOT 2-DIMENSIONAL that I fell in love with her and hated her all at the same time. Queen Levana gets under my skin as much as the characters' and as far as antagonists go, I only hope one day I can write one just as convincingly. 

As Cinder and Kai gradually (key word here) fall in love, as the odds are stacked up against them, as things become almost impossibly impossible I tore through this book. I could feel the pages shrinking beneath my fingers and as desperately as I didn’t want it to end, I didn’t want to stop reading. Cinder reeled me in hook, line, and stinky, slimy sinker. The emotions seeped into me in a very real way and as the ending approached I went through the same desperation that Cinder did, and I’m pretty sure my heart broke with hers.

So why didn’t Cinder get a high five, you ask? 

My main problems with this book (and they are incredibly insignificant) are firstly, the dialogue between Cinder, her stepmother, Adri, and one of her stepsisters, Pearl. There’s little-to-no emotion in these conversations and I really hope Adri and Pearl don’t make it into the next book. Can I get a sword blade for these two please?

Secondly, there are two key parts in this book and for the sake of spoilers; I’m going to call them ‘Peony’s resolution’ and ‘THE BIG SCENE’. Now, Peony’s resolution and THE BIG SCENE really should have been emotional on so many different levels (and planets) however, at these key moments, the writing became unclear. I had to reread Peony’s part to work out what had actually happened and THE BIG SCENE, I couldn’t quite follow for a couple of lines so I made it up in my head. Also, I was so friggen into what was happening, I didn’t want to jump back and reread.

Lastly, and this is not so much a complaint but a side note, the massive cliffhanger OMIGOD moment, really wasn’t so unexpected. I think just before the halfway point I picked up on what was coming and just past the halfway point I was 99.9% positive it was coming. But with that said, the ending was amazingly awesome.

And the last lines… perfect way to end a book.

I am officially a Marissa Meyer fan girl, and now I’m off to buy Cinder in Spanish. Because that cover is WAY TOO cool. Just like Kai ;)