Setting and the Worst Thing about my book: Hunger Games

So I'm reading the Hunger Games again, and this time, I'm going to deeply analyze it.

The setting of the novel has been made very clear. Katniss made sure to emphasize it as much as possible, as the setting is of utmost importance to the story of her misfortune. She lives in "Panem, the country that rose up out of the ashes of a place that was once called North America. He lists... the brutal war for what little sustenance remained. The result was Panem,ashining Capitol ringed by thirteen districts, which brought peace abd proseperity to its citizens. Then came the Dark Days, the uprising of the districts against the Capitol. Twelve were defeated, the thirteenth obliterated. The Treaty of Treason gave us the new laws to guarantee peace and, as our yearly reminder that the Dark Days must never be repeated, it gave us the Hunger Games" (Collins 18). As you can clearly see, Katniss elaborates with great sarcasm about the current predicament of her district. Which I would have no problem with, if she would just stop waving her misfortune around in your face.

Katniss should be a character that I sympathize with. And I've tried to be sympathetic. I really have. But there's something about her that really just makes it really hard to feel bad for this girl. Maybe it's because of the way she whines about the unfairness of the Capitol all the time. Which is fine, the first few times, but after the tenth time, it gets pretty old. Like, I get it. Your life sucks. But so does everyone else's, but you dont see them moping around all the time. And also, just the convenience of Katniss's predicament. She just happens to be lucky enough to have the guts to volunteer for her sister, the experience in the woods that just happens to coincide with the arena that year, and Peeta the adorable bread boy in love with her. Speaking of which, she barely makes an effort to even hide her disdain for the lovesick buffoon.

The Hunger Games is a good book, with a good plot and an interesting setting. Just the main character is unfortunate, depressing, and whiny, and I really wish that Suzanne Collins ight have written from the perspective of a different person.

Character: Sick

This week, I read the book Sick. It's about a bacterial infection that takes place in Phoenix, Arizona, and the resulting events are similar to those of a zombie apocalypse. The story focuses on a group of high school students who are trapped in the performing arts wing of the school during the epidemic.

The character that seemed the most interesting to me was Chad, the narrator's best friend. In the beginning of the book, during the early stages of the epidemic, Chad is belligerent and sometimes rude, often openly insulting people and starting fights. However, as time passes, he begins to cooperate and understand the importance of working as a team and preserving lives. In fact, at one point, he says to Brian, "Cripple... or kill. As one of the soon-to-be freak shows out there, I'm votin' for the cripple. There might be a cure somewhere out there, and we gotta give those bastards a chance at it, including yours truly, if you don't mind" (Leveen 216). This quote shows that at this point in the book, Chad is trying to preserve lives and hope for a cure.

Even though in the end (spoiler alert), Chad turns into one of the zombies, while the story progressed, he was beginning to show a kinder and more humanitarian side.

Review: Dance of Shadows

I'm sorry. I typically have good things to say about the books I read, but I can't say that I was impressed with this book at all.

This book is about a girl named Vanessa, who, after the disappearance of her sister Margaret, enrolls at the New York Ballet Academy (the location of Margaret's disappearance), to try and find her sister. There, she notices freaky events that seems to coincide with the strange disappearance of her sister. After a while, she becomes aware of the strange cult that she is involved in, and decides to do the heroic thing be trying to stop the shenanigans.

First of all, this theme has reoccurred way too often in way too many books. About half of young adult books today involve some sort of weird cult or demon activity or supernatural haunting (the other half is sci-fi/dystopia/utopia). They all go like this: the main character gets dumped into a new and unfamiliar setting, immediately senses something strange that no one else seems to notice, except of course for the one hot guy or girl that eventually becomes their love interest. The two team up, somehow overpower whatever freaky being(s) is bothering them, and skip off into the sunset, regardless of how many books it takes to fulfill this plot. It gets old pretty quickly.

Secondly, the main character wasn't relatable at all. Vanessa is supposedly an attractive girl (who somehow manages to grab the attention of the hottest guy in school with doing anything), and when she danced, "she seemed to float with an ethereal lightness, her feet tiptoeing across the stage as she transformed herself into a white swan, a sleeping princess, or a Sugar Plum Fairy, her shock of red hair flashing beneath the lights like electricity" (Black 10). Vanessa is immediately cast as the lead role of The Firebird, a particularly challenging ballet, only weeks after she first joins the academy. Vanessa is described as a perfect dancer, and dances with very little effort. The parts that she transformed into, in the quotes above, are all lead parts that the best dancers dance. Please. The girl is fifteen years old. This isn't a heroine that many people can relate to, and are more likely to feel skeptical and isolated rather than sympathetic, which brings me to my next point.

I may be biased about this, but it is my belief that if you are going to write a book about ballet, or any activity for that matter, it is in everyone's best interest that you put some research into it. It benefits the people because the dancers can relate, and everyone else can learn something new. It benefits the author because you sound more credible, and less like a pretentious idiot. Like I had previously stated, most girls do not have flawless technique and land all of the lead parts while a freshman in high school. And also, there is more to ballet terminology than "spreading her arms by her sides" and "lofting herself onto her toes".

However, I have to admit that the writing craft is very good. Had the author chosen a different main character and done some research, the story might have been more successful and engaging. However, every person's opinion is different, and I guess you would have to make an opinion for yourself.