Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher
Okay, this isn't science fiction or fantasy, but it's worth reviewing so anyone who hasn't heard about it, knows about it.
Clay Jenkens arrives home from school one day and finds a shoebox sized package waiting. When he opens it up, it contains seven cassette tapes, with number one through thirteen on the sides. When he plays side number one, he hears the voice of Hannah. Hannah, the girl who killed herself a few weeks earlier.
In thirteen parts, these tapes tell the story that leads up to her suicide, each side detailing the part one person had to play in her eventual decision. Clay doesn't understand what he's doing on the tapes, or really, even why he might have received them. The stories on the tapes tell in detail how each person contributed to Hannah's pain. Clay, however, never hurt Hannah. He barely knew her, but he did know he wanted to know her better.
Clay doesn't want to listen. But Hannah made sure that each person would be forced to listen. If each person didn't listen to the tapes, then the entire set would be made public. There are embarrassing moments on the tapes. Some go beyond embarrassing into illegal. If one of the people on the list chooses to chance it, then so be it.
So Clay listens.
The story takes us through the last few years of Hannah's life – not moment by moment, but from one hurt to another. We see the pain build through each event, at times wondering what could be worse.
Clay listens to all thirteen sides over one night, taking us from place to place as Hannah describes where an event happened, giving us his memories of the events, letting us see both sides. We are forced to ask ourselves whether Hannah is reacting rationally, or whether she is overreacting to an event.
Can a person overreact? A person feels what he or she feels, no one controls that. You can control your actions, your responses, and maybe even change that initial feeling. So, perhaps actions can be an “overreaction”, but feelings can't. Hannah made decisions about her feelings and the things done to her, and in some sense I'd say that she made them mean more than they actually did. But that's a difficult conclusion.
This is the fourth or fifth time I've tried to write this review. I've now read the book twice, but reading it the second time didn't make this any easier to write. There are times when you want to grab a character and shake them and yell – why can't he see what's going on? There are times when you want to do the same to Hannah, to get her attention, to get her to see that whatever really doesn't mean what she thinks it does.
We know from almost the start that Hannah commits suicide. It doesn't make it any easier to have her tell us, in detail, why.
The book is compelling and hard to put down once you've started. And for all its sadness, it does end with a very small ray of hope
Is it worth reading? Well, I wouldn't have kept trying to write this review if I didn't think so. It won't take long to read – go find yourself a copy.
The Hunger Games, by Susan Collins
Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12, the most outlieing district of the country of Panem. Most people in District 12 work in coal mines, though there are a few shopkeepers that sell food and other essentials within the town. Katniss' father worked in the coal mines until four years ago when an explosion caused a cave in which killed him.
Katniss lives with her mother and sister Prim. Because of her father's death, there is very little money coming into the home. So her family can eat, Katniss has taken to hunting and gathering various edible plants. She's good, both at hunting and at gathering the plants, and what her family doesn't immediately need, she sells on the black market.
Panem sits on the ruins of North America, destroyed by wars perhaps incited by a global climactic change. District 12 wasn't always the district farthest from the Capitol. Many years ago, there was a District 13. The people of District 13 were all killed, and the lands of District 13 are now toxic to life.
So that the people of Panem remember the punishment for those who rebel, every district must now take part in an annual tournament called "The Hunger Games".
In the Hunger Games, one boy and one girl, between the ages of twelve and eighteen, are chosen randomly from each district. These "tributes", as they are called, are taken to the Capitol, are celebrities, and are treated with magnificent food of any kind they desire, clothes, and servants during the four days they are actually in the capitol.
And after that short period of time, they are set into a large arena where the winner is the last one left alive.
When Katniss' sister is chosen for the games -- one of perhaps only two people Katniss truly cares for -- Katniss immediately volunteers to take her place. She feels no honor for this. Her district has not produced a winner in the Hunger Games for many years and she doesn't believe she'll live through the games either.
As Katniss is escorted to the Capital, she meets Peeta, the male tribute from District 12, a boy she vaguely knows, but one who did her what to her eyes was an immense favor just after her father died. She also meets the man who is to be her mentor, Haymitch, the last person from District 12 to actually win in the Hunger Games. But that was over thirty years ago, and now it seems he drinks all of the time and is drunk most of the time.
A bit more than one third of the book takes places before the Tributes are actually placed into the arena, and we learn much about Katniss, her personality, her weaknesses, and her strengths. We learn less about what actually happens in the arena other than what we were told initially: twenty-four tributes go in, they fight hunger, the weather, and each other to stay alive, and the last one living wins. Perhaps I haven't put that last part bluntly enough. They are placed into the arena to kill each other, and there is a supply of weapons to help them do so.
And if there isn't enough fighting and killing between the Tributes, the Capital finds ways to force them together to start the killing.
The entire Hunger Games, from the selection of the Tributes, to each fight, to each death, to the final victories and beyond is broadcast live throughout the entire country, and there are parts that every district is required to watch.
Once the tributes are in the arena, the book turns brutal. Remember everyone in the arena is essentially a child, and what we see is the outcome of these children being told to kill each other. It is violent, and we see the violence itself as well as the outcome of the violence as it happens. The violence is portrayed realistically, and whether Katniss sees it or participates in it, it is shown to us unflinchingly.
But there's so much more to the book than the story of Katniss. When you look underneath -- and not too far underneath -- you see so many little things about Katniss' world that she may not like, but she takes for granted. Discrimination. A corrupt political society. Extreme class separation. Forcing entire populations of people into poverty.
And, of course, a big one: forcing children to kill other.
There is humor and warmth in the book. There is a romance, of a sort, between Katniss and Peeta, forcefully encouraged by their mentor, Haymitch. There is a wonderful friendship between Katniss and another tribute named Rue. And Katniss tends towards humorous sarcasm.
Though The Hunger Games is the first of a planned trilogy, the first book stands on its own. In one interview, the author said that she had not planned for any sequels to the book. However, near the end of The Hunger Games, Katniss does something to anger the government of Panem. The author felt that the government would never be able to let what had happened pass, so she decided she needed to write a sequel. I guess somewhere in there, the sequel became a trilogy.
This is one of the best books I read in 2008. Maybe even the best. I highly recommend it.
Katniss lives with her mother and sister Prim. Because of her father's death, there is very little money coming into the home. So her family can eat, Katniss has taken to hunting and gathering various edible plants. She's good, both at hunting and at gathering the plants, and what her family doesn't immediately need, she sells on the black market.
Panem sits on the ruins of North America, destroyed by wars perhaps incited by a global climactic change. District 12 wasn't always the district farthest from the Capitol. Many years ago, there was a District 13. The people of District 13 were all killed, and the lands of District 13 are now toxic to life.
So that the people of Panem remember the punishment for those who rebel, every district must now take part in an annual tournament called "The Hunger Games".
In the Hunger Games, one boy and one girl, between the ages of twelve and eighteen, are chosen randomly from each district. These "tributes", as they are called, are taken to the Capitol, are celebrities, and are treated with magnificent food of any kind they desire, clothes, and servants during the four days they are actually in the capitol.
And after that short period of time, they are set into a large arena where the winner is the last one left alive.
When Katniss' sister is chosen for the games -- one of perhaps only two people Katniss truly cares for -- Katniss immediately volunteers to take her place. She feels no honor for this. Her district has not produced a winner in the Hunger Games for many years and she doesn't believe she'll live through the games either.
As Katniss is escorted to the Capital, she meets Peeta, the male tribute from District 12, a boy she vaguely knows, but one who did her what to her eyes was an immense favor just after her father died. She also meets the man who is to be her mentor, Haymitch, the last person from District 12 to actually win in the Hunger Games. But that was over thirty years ago, and now it seems he drinks all of the time and is drunk most of the time.
A bit more than one third of the book takes places before the Tributes are actually placed into the arena, and we learn much about Katniss, her personality, her weaknesses, and her strengths. We learn less about what actually happens in the arena other than what we were told initially: twenty-four tributes go in, they fight hunger, the weather, and each other to stay alive, and the last one living wins. Perhaps I haven't put that last part bluntly enough. They are placed into the arena to kill each other, and there is a supply of weapons to help them do so.
And if there isn't enough fighting and killing between the Tributes, the Capital finds ways to force them together to start the killing.
The entire Hunger Games, from the selection of the Tributes, to each fight, to each death, to the final victories and beyond is broadcast live throughout the entire country, and there are parts that every district is required to watch.
Once the tributes are in the arena, the book turns brutal. Remember everyone in the arena is essentially a child, and what we see is the outcome of these children being told to kill each other. It is violent, and we see the violence itself as well as the outcome of the violence as it happens. The violence is portrayed realistically, and whether Katniss sees it or participates in it, it is shown to us unflinchingly.
But there's so much more to the book than the story of Katniss. When you look underneath -- and not too far underneath -- you see so many little things about Katniss' world that she may not like, but she takes for granted. Discrimination. A corrupt political society. Extreme class separation. Forcing entire populations of people into poverty.
And, of course, a big one: forcing children to kill other.
There is humor and warmth in the book. There is a romance, of a sort, between Katniss and Peeta, forcefully encouraged by their mentor, Haymitch. There is a wonderful friendship between Katniss and another tribute named Rue. And Katniss tends towards humorous sarcasm.
Though The Hunger Games is the first of a planned trilogy, the first book stands on its own. In one interview, the author said that she had not planned for any sequels to the book. However, near the end of The Hunger Games, Katniss does something to anger the government of Panem. The author felt that the government would never be able to let what had happened pass, so she decided she needed to write a sequel. I guess somewhere in there, the sequel became a trilogy.
This is one of the best books I read in 2008. Maybe even the best. I highly recommend it.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Random Acts of Senseless Violence by Jack Womak
Lola, a twelve year old girl, lives with her parents and her sister in New York City. Not the New York City that we know now, but one that is far too easy to imagine. Seemingly in every large city there is almost constant rioting, and the armed forces have been brought in to control the streets. Jobs are few and far between, and the United States, if not the world, is changing for the worse.
The story is told as entries in a diary. Lola gets the diary for her birthday, and we see what happens to her only through these diary entries.
Lola's father is a screen writer, but with the downfall of the economy, no one is making films anymore. Lola's mother doesn't work, and there is little or no money coming into the family. As things go downhill financially for the family, Lola's parents do the one thing they can think of to do -- they move to a less expensive, smaller, apartment south of Harlem. This doesn't solve their financial problems, but it at least helps, and when Lola's father gets a job at a bookstore, the family can come close to having enough money to survive.
But this move starts a downhill journey for Lola. She meets other girls in the neighborhood about her age. We get to know the girls as Lola does, little by little. It would be nice to be able to say that these new friends lead Lola down a path of crime leading to the end of the book, but that isn't what happens. Lola may be lead, but she quickly realizes that the money she gets helps her family live. In many ways she leads herself down the path she takes.
By the end of the book, Lola has changed, in fact, changed so dramatically that if we hadn't watched the changes happen, we'd never know it was the same person. She thinks differently and speaks differently, and her actions are no longer those of the sweet twelve year old we met at the beginning of the story.
I tend to think that Lola couldn't help but change. There is violence all around her. The armed forces killing rioters. The president of the United States is assassinated, not just once, but several times during the course of the book. The "Random Acts of Senseless Violence" doesn't refer so much to Lola and her friends, but to the world around them that is quickly becoming violent, unpredictable, and insane.
It's very difficult to recommend this book. Not because it isn't well written. It is. Not because it doesn't present a compelling and fast moving story. It does. It even manages to dramatically change the language used, but does it slowly, so slowly the reader barely recognizes what is happening. But I hesitate to recommend the book because it is simply a depressing book. She broke one final rule and it costs her friend, and if she follows the path she's on at the end of the book she won't stay alive long.
Should you read it? All I can say is I'm glad I read it, but I can't imagine reading it again.
The story is told as entries in a diary. Lola gets the diary for her birthday, and we see what happens to her only through these diary entries.
Lola's father is a screen writer, but with the downfall of the economy, no one is making films anymore. Lola's mother doesn't work, and there is little or no money coming into the family. As things go downhill financially for the family, Lola's parents do the one thing they can think of to do -- they move to a less expensive, smaller, apartment south of Harlem. This doesn't solve their financial problems, but it at least helps, and when Lola's father gets a job at a bookstore, the family can come close to having enough money to survive.
But this move starts a downhill journey for Lola. She meets other girls in the neighborhood about her age. We get to know the girls as Lola does, little by little. It would be nice to be able to say that these new friends lead Lola down a path of crime leading to the end of the book, but that isn't what happens. Lola may be lead, but she quickly realizes that the money she gets helps her family live. In many ways she leads herself down the path she takes.
By the end of the book, Lola has changed, in fact, changed so dramatically that if we hadn't watched the changes happen, we'd never know it was the same person. She thinks differently and speaks differently, and her actions are no longer those of the sweet twelve year old we met at the beginning of the story.
I tend to think that Lola couldn't help but change. There is violence all around her. The armed forces killing rioters. The president of the United States is assassinated, not just once, but several times during the course of the book. The "Random Acts of Senseless Violence" doesn't refer so much to Lola and her friends, but to the world around them that is quickly becoming violent, unpredictable, and insane.
It's very difficult to recommend this book. Not because it isn't well written. It is. Not because it doesn't present a compelling and fast moving story. It does. It even manages to dramatically change the language used, but does it slowly, so slowly the reader barely recognizes what is happening. But I hesitate to recommend the book because it is simply a depressing book. She broke one final rule and it costs her friend, and if she follows the path she's on at the end of the book she won't stay alive long.
Should you read it? All I can say is I'm glad I read it, but I can't imagine reading it again.
Friday, August 1, 2008
The Ellie Chronicles, by James Marsdon
The Ellie Chronicles consists of the following three books:
While I Live
Incurable
Circle of Flight
Warning: Some minor spoilers for both the 'Tomorrow' series and the 'Ellie Chronicles'.
Note: 'While I Live' has recently been published in the U.S. Incurable will be released in the U.S. on September 1st. I don't know when 'Circle of Flight' will be released. I purchased the Australian versions of the final two books through 'Abes Books' on the Internet.
The Ellie Chronicles begins some time after the war has ended. The exact amount of time isn't specified, but we find out that Ellie has written a series of books about her and her friends' experiences during the war, three of which have been published. Ellie is somewhat of a hero to her own country-people, however the publicity has also caught the attention of some of the groups on the enemy side of the former conflict.
Ellie's family's farm is near the border between the two countries, and very early in the first of the three books, her parents are killed by a raiding party, one probably intent on killing Ellie.
Ellie, still caring for Gavon, a young orphan that attached himself to her during the war, now has to decide what to do with Gavon and with the farm. It's no real spoiler that she makes the decision to keep Gavon with her if possible, nor is it a spoiler to say she also decides to work the farm herself. Throughout all the 'Tomorrow' series, we've seen her love for the farm and for farming, and it would be almost unthinkable for her to make any other decision.
For all that Ellie is doing, it's sometimes good to remember that she hasn't even finished high school yet. She is perhaps 18 years old, and, in her country, needs a guardian until she is 21. She's taken a lot on -- a farm very much in debt, a ten year old deaf child, and all the other things that she needs to do for herself, like finish high school and perhaps go on to college.
And that's where Ellie is in life within the first few chapters of the first of the three books.
These books detail Ellie's struggles with Gavon, with the farm, and with both the enemy groups that raid in her country and a local group named Liberation that sends raids into the enemy's country. As seems to happen in movies and fiction, Ellie tries to stay out of the fights, but often gets drawn into them in one way or another. It's war, but its a more subtle war.
Ellie is forced to make some very difficult decisions. Decisions that in a just world she would never be forced to make. But the world she lives in simply isn't just. It's dangerous, and especially dangerous for her, and in the end she makes the decisions the way she feels she must.
I don't agree with all of her decisions, and think she made a couple of wrong choices at the end. Of course we'd like to believe she lived happily ever after, but I think that the author was showing us one more time that Ellie, for all the good in her, still is young and made some decisions that a younger person might make. Not necessarily wrong, but the not best, either.
But I hope I'm wrong. I hope that Ellie does live happily ever after.
While I Live
Incurable
Circle of Flight
Warning: Some minor spoilers for both the 'Tomorrow' series and the 'Ellie Chronicles'.
Note: 'While I Live' has recently been published in the U.S. Incurable will be released in the U.S. on September 1st. I don't know when 'Circle of Flight' will be released. I purchased the Australian versions of the final two books through 'Abes Books' on the Internet.
The Ellie Chronicles begins some time after the war has ended. The exact amount of time isn't specified, but we find out that Ellie has written a series of books about her and her friends' experiences during the war, three of which have been published. Ellie is somewhat of a hero to her own country-people, however the publicity has also caught the attention of some of the groups on the enemy side of the former conflict.
Ellie's family's farm is near the border between the two countries, and very early in the first of the three books, her parents are killed by a raiding party, one probably intent on killing Ellie.
Ellie, still caring for Gavon, a young orphan that attached himself to her during the war, now has to decide what to do with Gavon and with the farm. It's no real spoiler that she makes the decision to keep Gavon with her if possible, nor is it a spoiler to say she also decides to work the farm herself. Throughout all the 'Tomorrow' series, we've seen her love for the farm and for farming, and it would be almost unthinkable for her to make any other decision.
For all that Ellie is doing, it's sometimes good to remember that she hasn't even finished high school yet. She is perhaps 18 years old, and, in her country, needs a guardian until she is 21. She's taken a lot on -- a farm very much in debt, a ten year old deaf child, and all the other things that she needs to do for herself, like finish high school and perhaps go on to college.
And that's where Ellie is in life within the first few chapters of the first of the three books.
These books detail Ellie's struggles with Gavon, with the farm, and with both the enemy groups that raid in her country and a local group named Liberation that sends raids into the enemy's country. As seems to happen in movies and fiction, Ellie tries to stay out of the fights, but often gets drawn into them in one way or another. It's war, but its a more subtle war.
Ellie is forced to make some very difficult decisions. Decisions that in a just world she would never be forced to make. But the world she lives in simply isn't just. It's dangerous, and especially dangerous for her, and in the end she makes the decisions the way she feels she must.
I don't agree with all of her decisions, and think she made a couple of wrong choices at the end. Of course we'd like to believe she lived happily ever after, but I think that the author was showing us one more time that Ellie, for all the good in her, still is young and made some decisions that a younger person might make. Not necessarily wrong, but the not best, either.
But I hope I'm wrong. I hope that Ellie does live happily ever after.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
The Host, by Stephanie Meyers
Stephanie Meyers is an author who you may not have heard of -- at least if you're male and/or over 30. She has written an immensely popular set of vampire/romance books collectively called "The Twilight Series", which begins with the book "Twilight". That book will be out as a film this fall, and the fourth and final book in the series comes out in September with "Wedding" parties being held at bookstores around the country. Recently a news media item asked whether Ms. Meyers was the next J. K. Rowling.
Admittedly, I haven't read any of the books in that series. Having read a bit about that series in customer reviews on Amazon.com, I explored a bit further and found she had written another book, called "The Host". The description of the book sounded interesting. Science fiction rather than fantasy, I decided I wanted to read it. I got a chance to try it out when a friend of mine visited and was able to lend me a copy.
In "The Host", earth has been quietly invaded and taken over by parasitic aliens. The invasion took place an undetermined amount of time ago, however it was recently enough that people who were adults during the invasion are still alive. The invasion happened slowly, and no one even realized the earth was being invaded until it was too late to prevent it further.
Into this world comes Wanderer, an alien who has lived in eight previous hosts on eight different worlds. Wanderer is placed into an adult host named Melanie. Melanie fights against being taken over, and Wanderer can often hear her speaking in their mind. Eventually the influence of Melanie leads Wanderer to search out Melanie's brother Jamie, and Melanie's love, Jared. With Melanie's help, Wanderer finds Jared and Jamie with a small resistance group. The bulk of the book is about Wanderer/Melanie living with the resistance group.
Within the group, Wanderer find friends and enemies, some in surprising places. As the book continues, we learn more about Wanderer and her past, and about the parasites and their history -- and their reasons (or rationalizations, depending upon your point of view) as to why they choose certain species as hosts.
This is not an action/adventure book. In fact, more than anything, it's a story of a growing friendship between two very unlikely people, and it's a love story. It's a moderately long book, and there was a time near the middle when things had slowed down enough that I was getting a bit bored, but within a chapter or two things picked up again and I finished the book just a day later after a bit of (unfortunate) late night reading.
As with some other books I've picked up and read recently, this really isn't the type of book I normally read. The science fiction aspect is, in a way, rather small, as it's the personal interactions the are important in the book. While it is a love story, sometimes it's hard to figure out who it's a love story about. maybe I was wrong above. Perhaps, more than anything else, it's the story of a person in a place completely foreign to her, trying to understand whether or not she belongs.
What stood out most for me is just how good a person Wanderer is. She may be an alien and an invader, but she is almost everything we value in a human. One character is angered by just how self-sacrificing Wanderer is. When, at the end of the book, she is willing to die and sacrifice herself for a friend, we, as readers, must look and ask ourselves just what the right answer is -- and whether there is a right answer.
Admittedly, I haven't read any of the books in that series. Having read a bit about that series in customer reviews on Amazon.com, I explored a bit further and found she had written another book, called "The Host". The description of the book sounded interesting. Science fiction rather than fantasy, I decided I wanted to read it. I got a chance to try it out when a friend of mine visited and was able to lend me a copy.
In "The Host", earth has been quietly invaded and taken over by parasitic aliens. The invasion took place an undetermined amount of time ago, however it was recently enough that people who were adults during the invasion are still alive. The invasion happened slowly, and no one even realized the earth was being invaded until it was too late to prevent it further.
Into this world comes Wanderer, an alien who has lived in eight previous hosts on eight different worlds. Wanderer is placed into an adult host named Melanie. Melanie fights against being taken over, and Wanderer can often hear her speaking in their mind. Eventually the influence of Melanie leads Wanderer to search out Melanie's brother Jamie, and Melanie's love, Jared. With Melanie's help, Wanderer finds Jared and Jamie with a small resistance group. The bulk of the book is about Wanderer/Melanie living with the resistance group.
Within the group, Wanderer find friends and enemies, some in surprising places. As the book continues, we learn more about Wanderer and her past, and about the parasites and their history -- and their reasons (or rationalizations, depending upon your point of view) as to why they choose certain species as hosts.
This is not an action/adventure book. In fact, more than anything, it's a story of a growing friendship between two very unlikely people, and it's a love story. It's a moderately long book, and there was a time near the middle when things had slowed down enough that I was getting a bit bored, but within a chapter or two things picked up again and I finished the book just a day later after a bit of (unfortunate) late night reading.
As with some other books I've picked up and read recently, this really isn't the type of book I normally read. The science fiction aspect is, in a way, rather small, as it's the personal interactions the are important in the book. While it is a love story, sometimes it's hard to figure out who it's a love story about. maybe I was wrong above. Perhaps, more than anything else, it's the story of a person in a place completely foreign to her, trying to understand whether or not she belongs.
What stood out most for me is just how good a person Wanderer is. She may be an alien and an invader, but she is almost everything we value in a human. One character is angered by just how self-sacrificing Wanderer is. When, at the end of the book, she is willing to die and sacrifice herself for a friend, we, as readers, must look and ask ourselves just what the right answer is -- and whether there is a right answer.
Tomorrow Series, by James Marsden
Tomorrow When The War Began
Dead of Night
A Killing Frost
Darkness, Be My Friend
Burning For Revenge
The Night is for Hunting
The Other Side of Dawn
In "Tomorrow When the War Began", we meet a teenager named Ellie, a resident of Australia. She and a number of friends go out into the bush to camp out for a week or so. When they return, their country has been invaded, their families are in a prisoner camp, and soldiers are roaming the streets of their town.
As they become more and more aware of what has happened to their town, they begin to think of trying to strike back, trying to hinder the enemy in at least some small ways. As the books progress, Ellie and the group try more difficult targets, and not always with success. Everyone in the group changes as the war goes on, and everyone finds themselves doing things they never believed they could do.
We never, or at least rarely, forget that these teenagers are fighting in a war. And some of them don't make it.
I don't want to say much more about what happens. It's enough to know that these seven books tell Ellie's story of what happened and what she and her friends did in this war.
The books are tight and well written. They are incredibly realistic. There is nothing in any of the books I found difficult to believe, and there is much I wouldn't have thought about. The group is constantly short on food, for example. While they take supplies (including chickens -- many in the group lived on farms) from their homes early in the series, as time goes on, the original supplies of food run out and they have to find other places to procure food. As might be expected, in most cases those places are in enemy hands.
Members of their group die. They are captured, and killed. In between, friendships and romances flower and vanish, and any relationship is difficult because of the difficult times they live in. And as much as we hope for a wonderful and happy life for Ellie, as the last book ends, we find that, in war, there are no truly happy endings.
"Tomorrow, When the War Began" and it's subsequent sequels are one of the best selling and most critically aclaimed series of books in Australia for young people.
These books are not llight-hearted, but tense, frightening and, at times, difficult, it's a story that shows what war is like in a way that is seldom seen. It doesn't glorify war, and while this group of teenagers -- especially the boys -- may have seen it as exciting, as time goes on they -- and we -- realize that war is hunger and fright and finally, it is doing what you do because it's what you feel you must do.
Highly recommended. Even if it takes time to track down the books so you can read them, it's worth it.
Dead of Night
A Killing Frost
Darkness, Be My Friend
Burning For Revenge
The Night is for Hunting
The Other Side of Dawn
In "Tomorrow When the War Began", we meet a teenager named Ellie, a resident of Australia. She and a number of friends go out into the bush to camp out for a week or so. When they return, their country has been invaded, their families are in a prisoner camp, and soldiers are roaming the streets of their town.
As they become more and more aware of what has happened to their town, they begin to think of trying to strike back, trying to hinder the enemy in at least some small ways. As the books progress, Ellie and the group try more difficult targets, and not always with success. Everyone in the group changes as the war goes on, and everyone finds themselves doing things they never believed they could do.
We never, or at least rarely, forget that these teenagers are fighting in a war. And some of them don't make it.
I don't want to say much more about what happens. It's enough to know that these seven books tell Ellie's story of what happened and what she and her friends did in this war.
The books are tight and well written. They are incredibly realistic. There is nothing in any of the books I found difficult to believe, and there is much I wouldn't have thought about. The group is constantly short on food, for example. While they take supplies (including chickens -- many in the group lived on farms) from their homes early in the series, as time goes on, the original supplies of food run out and they have to find other places to procure food. As might be expected, in most cases those places are in enemy hands.
Members of their group die. They are captured, and killed. In between, friendships and romances flower and vanish, and any relationship is difficult because of the difficult times they live in. And as much as we hope for a wonderful and happy life for Ellie, as the last book ends, we find that, in war, there are no truly happy endings.
"Tomorrow, When the War Began" and it's subsequent sequels are one of the best selling and most critically aclaimed series of books in Australia for young people.
These books are not llight-hearted, but tense, frightening and, at times, difficult, it's a story that shows what war is like in a way that is seldom seen. It doesn't glorify war, and while this group of teenagers -- especially the boys -- may have seen it as exciting, as time goes on they -- and we -- realize that war is hunger and fright and finally, it is doing what you do because it's what you feel you must do.
Highly recommended. Even if it takes time to track down the books so you can read them, it's worth it.
Friday, May 30, 2008
The Midnighters (Series) by Scott Westerfeld
Book 1: The Secret Hour
Book 2: Touching Darkness
Book 3: Blue Noon
Fifteen year old Jessica Day has just moved from Chicago to Bixby, Oklahoma. School is just starting and she's already beginning to be part of a group of popular kids at school. Then, one night, she finds herself awake at midnight and looking out her window at a cat. The cat seems to want her to follow it outside, and she does. It's been raining, but now the rain drops are fixed in place, hanging in the air. Outside, she wanders through something she sees as magical and wonderful -- until the cats turns into something else and begins chasing her. As she runs away, the magical time ends and she walks home in the pouring rain.
As she tries to understand what she experienced, she meets up with some not so popular people in the school, and, from them discovers that for some, Bixby has an extra hour which they call the "secret hour" which occurs at midnight. At that time, people who were born at exactly midnight have an hour of time that no one else knows about or can perceive. The problem is, that's when the monsters come out.
Together, the five Midnighters (each with his or her own special talent) try to understand exactly why the Secret Hour came about, what the various monsters are trying to accomplish, and how to stop them. Being a book for younger readers, you're pretty sure none of them are going to die, but as the series progresses the situations become more and more dangerous, and it becomes more and more likely that one or more of the Midnighters won't survive the final battles.
As in some other book series, these books are really just parts one through three of the same book. (These more so than even the Mediator series by Meg Cabot. While you could read just one of those books and get a whole story, you can't do so with the Midnighters. None of the three stands on its own.)
Scott Westerfeld writes books that have very original ideas. If the idea of a "secret hour" isn't itself unique (something I'm not certain about), what he does with the idea is. We have teenagers, all with their own faults and strengths being forced to go beyond anything they ever believed they could accomplish. They have their petty disputes and jealousies, romances and friendships, and everyone feels left out of the group at some time. Yet they always know that they must work together. They know that their lives may depend upon one another and each must trust that the others will do what they would do. In short, these kids are very believable as kids, even if they do have an awfully heavy weight placed upon them.
I like Westerfeld's writing. In the case of these books, he often switches viewpoint from character to character to give us, the readers, more information about what other characters are feeling and doing. The technique works very well, especially with the character Dess. As she is the loner of the five, most of the time we see her only with the entire group, so handing off the narrative to her allows for some needed insight.
What you won't find here is a lot of very complex plot or intricate interrelationships between people. But that's okay. The age group he's shooting at is probably around thirteen, and that explains the straight forward plot of the books. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying what he's written in bad or even boring -- it isn't. It completely fits what I believe the author was trying to do, which is write an exciting story for young teens. And Scott Westerfeld completely accomplished that. More than accomplished it, for the Midnighters is a fast moving, exciting story for pretty much anyone.
Rating: 7.7/10
Book 2: Touching Darkness
Book 3: Blue Noon
Fifteen year old Jessica Day has just moved from Chicago to Bixby, Oklahoma. School is just starting and she's already beginning to be part of a group of popular kids at school. Then, one night, she finds herself awake at midnight and looking out her window at a cat. The cat seems to want her to follow it outside, and she does. It's been raining, but now the rain drops are fixed in place, hanging in the air. Outside, she wanders through something she sees as magical and wonderful -- until the cats turns into something else and begins chasing her. As she runs away, the magical time ends and she walks home in the pouring rain.
As she tries to understand what she experienced, she meets up with some not so popular people in the school, and, from them discovers that for some, Bixby has an extra hour which they call the "secret hour" which occurs at midnight. At that time, people who were born at exactly midnight have an hour of time that no one else knows about or can perceive. The problem is, that's when the monsters come out.
Together, the five Midnighters (each with his or her own special talent) try to understand exactly why the Secret Hour came about, what the various monsters are trying to accomplish, and how to stop them. Being a book for younger readers, you're pretty sure none of them are going to die, but as the series progresses the situations become more and more dangerous, and it becomes more and more likely that one or more of the Midnighters won't survive the final battles.
As in some other book series, these books are really just parts one through three of the same book. (These more so than even the Mediator series by Meg Cabot. While you could read just one of those books and get a whole story, you can't do so with the Midnighters. None of the three stands on its own.)
Scott Westerfeld writes books that have very original ideas. If the idea of a "secret hour" isn't itself unique (something I'm not certain about), what he does with the idea is. We have teenagers, all with their own faults and strengths being forced to go beyond anything they ever believed they could accomplish. They have their petty disputes and jealousies, romances and friendships, and everyone feels left out of the group at some time. Yet they always know that they must work together. They know that their lives may depend upon one another and each must trust that the others will do what they would do. In short, these kids are very believable as kids, even if they do have an awfully heavy weight placed upon them.
I like Westerfeld's writing. In the case of these books, he often switches viewpoint from character to character to give us, the readers, more information about what other characters are feeling and doing. The technique works very well, especially with the character Dess. As she is the loner of the five, most of the time we see her only with the entire group, so handing off the narrative to her allows for some needed insight.
What you won't find here is a lot of very complex plot or intricate interrelationships between people. But that's okay. The age group he's shooting at is probably around thirteen, and that explains the straight forward plot of the books. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying what he's written in bad or even boring -- it isn't. It completely fits what I believe the author was trying to do, which is write an exciting story for young teens. And Scott Westerfeld completely accomplished that. More than accomplished it, for the Midnighters is a fast moving, exciting story for pretty much anyone.
Rating: 7.7/10
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