About a month ago, I read this article in the Times' Magazine. The article titled "Teenage Wasteland" was written about the current genre of young adult fiction that centers on a sci-fi dystopia. The author mentioned that the best of this genre (no, it isn't Twilight, thank god!) is "Hunger Games" by Susan Collins. While I have a couple of novels awaiting my attention, I thought why not try something that I can probably fly through pretty quickly.

I just finished the first book a few days ago and am now waiting for the next two to arrive from Amazon. McGrath writes in the article:

Here again, there is an authoritarian governing body, the Capitol, headed by the creepy President Snow, which once a year puts on a nationally televised gladiatorial contest in which 24 children, chosen more or less at random, fight in an outdoor arena until only one is left alive. Before the contestants go out to compete, in a spectacle that is supposed to unite the entire country, they're given fashion makeovers, go to glitzy parties and are extensively interviewed: they become celebrities and, by creating public personas for themselves, compete for sponsorships that may help them survive the battles ahead. Katniss, the protagonist, is so mixed up from pretending to love a fellow contestant that she no longer knows what she feels.

That's a pretty good synopsis that doesn't give too much away. The book is gory and creepy. The protagonist is strong and fiesty, yet naive and innocent. It was certainly an easy read (well, at least for me... I have always liked reading horror type, scary books, even though I don't like watching horror type movies). I would have loved this book as a teenager. If I read this when I was 13 or 14, I probably would have been more surprised by the plot twists. As an adult, they were pretty well signaled with huge glowing, blinking signs as to where things were heading, but that doesn't mean the book wasn't enjoyable.

I spent every free moment reading. I was invested in the story and main characters (and still am since I ordered the other two books). The book had elements of Margaret Atwood's "Handmaid's Tale" and "Oryx and Crake;" although it wasn't as sophisticated. The book has a high level of violence and horror like my favorite novelist from when I was a teen, Christopher Pike (his book "Season of Passage" is still my favorite book of all time).

Depending on when these next two books arrive, there may be little to no work accomplished over Spring Break!