dystopia— noun: an imaginary place where everything is as bad as it can be
I don’t know about you but I am one of those that tries really hard not to jump on the bandwagon with everyone else. In fact the more popular something becomes the harder I try to resist. The Hunger Games was that for me. The more people came to me and told me how good it was the more I didn’t want to try it. After all, how could anything live up to that hype?
Then I saw the first Hunger Games movie teaser. I thought, Maybe I could check out a copy at work. However, since I don’t work for a couple days I should check to see how much the nook book cost. It was on sale, so I touched that little “buy” button and I was hooked. That was in early January. Since then I’ve read several books about teens set in a dystopian future and I am looking around for more to put my hands on.
The following is a list of the books I’ve read and my thoughts on them.
Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins: The first couple of chapters of Hunger Games was all right but not great. I definitely couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. After the first couple of chapters, I was unknowingly sucked in and not released until the final page was read. I loved it. Katniss was a character I could relate to and cheer for. And she uses a bow. I use to participate in archery tournaments when I was a teenager though I am/was no where near as good a shot as she is. Peeta was an ordinary boy who acted like a prince. I fell a little bit in love with him myself. As soon as payday rolled around I slowly bought the second two books in the series and I tried to savor them. No matter what I did they went by way too fast. I finished Mockingjay two days ago and I am seriously considering rereading the whole series again today.
Delirium, Pandemonium (Release Date 2/28/2012) by Lauren Oliver: In this series, love is a disease and there is a cure for it that is administered when you are 18. If you are given the surgery earlier, complications can arise. Lena is counting down the days until she will be old enough for the cure, hoping that she won’t get the disease beforehand. Of course she meets someone and succumbs to the disease. I greatly enjoyed these books and became heavily invested in Lena’s relationships with her boyfriend and her best friend. The world-building was rich and gritty and detailed. Warning: Book One ends in a cliffhanger and Book Two’s cliffhanger makes the first one seem like a crack in a sidewalk. Waiting for book three is going to be torture. Argh!
Matched, Crossed by Ally Condie: In this series, Society (yes, with a capital S) controls everything about your life; your job, your education, your entertainment, how many kids you have, and who you marry. For Cassia, she can’t wait until she is Matched with her future husband. When she sees the face of her best friend Xander on the port screen she couldn’t be happier but then another familiar face flashes across the screen. Has a mistake been made? Curiosity prompts her to seek out Ky, the strange boy who lives down the street and her very carefully arranged Match begins to get messed up. This series is a lot slower paced than the previous two but the world is just as interesting. In this case, the world keeps me reading more than the characters do. Crossed ended with some revelations and twists that definitely want me to go back for more.
Partials (Release Date 2/28/2012) by Dan Wells: In the future, humans have created artificial people to fight their wars for them. After the wars, the Partials, as these soldiers are called, want equal rights and rebel against humanity. During this war, a virus is released that kills off 99.9% of all humans. The remaining 40,000 are living on Long Island and struggling for survival. The RM virus is still killing; killing off every baby within days of being born. Without new babies, humanities days are numbered. Our protagonist, Kira, is a medic-in-training with a knack for research and she has an idea about where to find the cure to RM. Unfortunately, her idea will involve her defying the government. This book has a lot less in the romance subplot than the previous ones listed her but there is the tiniest thread that begins near the last third of the story. This story is all about survival and fear and how to get one despite the other. It is gritty and raw and a wonderful read. I can’t wait to read the next book.
Any and all of these I’d recommend to teens through adults. If you would rather skip the romance subplot then I would recommend the Hunger Games trilogy or Partials. If you like your romance subplot front and center, Delirium or Matched would be better. All of them are good and well worth your reading time.
Dystopias may be places that are as bad as can be but dystopian settings are darn good in my opinion.
Note: As a bookseller I occasionally have access to Advanced Readers Copies of books and that is how I was able to read Pandemonium and Partials before their release dates. Lucky me.
February 14th, 2012 at 1:46 pm
I’m curious to see what the Hunger Games is all about. I heard it mentioned at World Fantasy this year, but at that point I knew nothing about it. I guess I still don’t, except what the movie trailer has revealed (and what you said here). I’ve heard good things about it. And I know I wouldn’t want to live in that world!
February 14th, 2012 at 9:38 pm
I would definitely recommend reading it but be prepared to immediately return to the bookstore to get the next two books. I loved them and am now lobbying to have all my family members read the series.