Review of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon

This book was on my ‘To Read’ was a looong time – and finally I got around to it…

Christopher Boone is fifteen and has Asperger’s Syndrome. He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbour’s dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down.

This short book caused a huge fuss when it first came out in 2003 – and having finally read it, I now know why. Haddon has managed to masterfully inhabit the skin of a teenager who cannot cope with human emotions, suffers from sensory overload and compensates by retreating into mathematical formulae and logical list-making. As a result, when confronted by major events – like being told of the death of his mother, for instance – Christopher tells us what he had to eat that evening and that he went to bed and fell fast asleep.

This doesn’t mean that Christopher is incapable of loving – but that he finds it difficult to understand or relate to his feelings. So when he discovers Wellington, the standard poodle who lives next door, skewered by a garden fork to the lawn, he resolves to find out who murdered it – even when told repeatedly by his father that he mustn’t interfere. He even overcomes his reluctance to engage with strangers in order to ask if anyone has seen anything suspicious – trouble is, he cannot process the heavy hints that a well-meaning neighbour gives him about his own domestic set-up.  His inability to process information that the reader clearly understands gives us greater insights into Christopher’s capacity to engage with the world, while also providing some comedy, albeit the darker, lump-in-your-throat variety. Books that make me both want to weep and laugh hold a special place in my heart – and this one joins that select few.

Haddon not only manages to give us an idea of what it must be like to experience the world while coping with Asperger’s – he also provides us with the daily challenges facing Christopher’s carers. I found myself wondering how you’d survive when the strong-willed, highly intelligent individual in your life retreats into black silence when he encounters a series of the wrong coloured cars on his morning bus ride…

But don’t go away with the notion that this is some worthy, high-mindedly literary attempt to give the rest of us an appreciation of what being born with Asperger’s can entail – the story that powers Christopher’s narration is a mystery. And while we learn who did do it, we also learn what the strains were that led up to the deed and Christopher’s unwitting role in the whole affair. It will be a book that will stay with me for a very long time – and if you want an outstanding example of character-led fiction, then this is a must-read book. Come to think of it – this is a must-read book, anyway.
10/10

Review of Switched – Book 1 of The Trylle series by Amanda Hocking

If you are remotely interested in e-publishing or Fantasy fiction and haven’t heard of Amanda Hocking, then you clearly were off-planet for the duration of the media fuss. Just in case you were sojourning somewhere on the Moon, or have a memory like mine – Amanda Hocking is the twenty-something who, on finding it impossible to get her work accepted by an agent or publisher, decided in April 2010 to start to self-publish her seventeen books. She brought out her three series in quick succession on Amazon’s Kindle and by August was able to quit her day job. By the following January, she was selling 100,000 plus a month and eventually signed up with St. Martin’s Press to publish her Trylle trilogy and the new Watersong series, after having sold well over a million books and earned over two million dollars in book sales. So when I spotted this volume on the shelves, I couldn’t resist. Would I find it an enjoyable, absorbing read as so many of Hocking’s fans have before me?

Wendy Everly knew she was different the day her mother tried to kill her and accused her of having been switched at birth. Although certain she’s not the monster her mother claims she is – she does feel that she doesn’t quite fit in… She’s bored and frustrated by her small town life – and then there’s the secret that she can’t tell anyone. Her mysterious ability – she can influence people’s decisions, without knowing how, or why…

When the intense and darkly handsome newcomer Finn suddenly turns up at her bedroom window one night – her world is turned upside down. He holds the key to her past, the answers to her strange powers, and is the doorway to a place she never imagined could exist: Főrening, the home of the Trylle.

These Trylle are trolls – no, not the grotesque, lumpy creatures that lurk under damp bridges to eat goats, this version are sexily attractive with magical powers that are dwindling while they use their abilities to gain material possessions, instead. So they switch their babies with wealthy human hosts, allowing them to inherit fortunes before bringing them back into the fold.
Wendy is a strong heroine – wilful, not altogether likeable, spiky and with plenty of vulnerabilities. She is struggling. Disliked at school by her peers, who instinctively sense her difference, she is often reduced to coercing people against their will. While she is sharply aware that her brother and aunt spend far too much of their precious time and energy worrying and caring for her – something that makes her both angry and even more awkward.

Hocking has this under-achieving teenager absolutely nailed – her sense of frustration is palpable. So when Finn turns up, she is not immediately inclined to believe the story he comes out with – a refreshing change in a genre where often I feel that the humans involved throw themselves into the supernatural high jinks with far too little soul-searching, or scepticism.

Once Wendy finds herself in Főrening, still scrambling to play catch-up in an environment where secrecy seems to be a way of life, we meet maybe the most intriguing character in the book. Wendy’s true mother, Queen Elora, is beautiful, aloof and utterly formidable – she certainly doesn’t display any maternal cosiness as her attitude towards Wendy is guarded and detached. Unsurprisingly, Wendy finds herself floundering.

It did occur to me that maybe that society reliant on switching their children at birth with human hosts to parent their offspring would be a lot slicker in providing a strong familiarisation programme, once those offspring returned back to Trylle society. However, this is a minor niggle in what is a well-structured story with an enjoyable world and some engaging characters. Am I going to get hold of the sequel, Torn? Oh yes – because I found that once I got into the story and overcame the occasionally lumpy prose, Switched was difficult to put down again. And I want to know what happens to Wendy.  And her mother…
8/10

Review of The Xenocide Mission – Book 2 of The Ark series by Ben Jeapes

Lieutenant Joel Gilmore is part of a multi-species space observation team stationed in a distant solar system, who find themselves attacked by the very aliens they were supposed to be watching. Now Joel and his allies, the enigmatic Rusties, explore the parameters of trust in a lethal confrontation with a deeply alien third species: one with a nasty predilection for mass murder on a planetary scale.

This book was marketed as a YA science fiction, but I had no trouble getting fully engrossed in the story which started with a bang and kept going right to the end, despite the fact that I hadn’t read the first book, His Majesty’s Starship. The story is told in multiple viewpoint – and Jeapes joins that select handful of science fiction writers who are brave enough to have a serious stab at writing from an alien point of view. In fact, there are two major alien species in this adventure. The vicious variety with teeth, talons and a propensity for ripping apart anyone who seriously upsets them – and the Rusties, who have formed a coalition with humans. So, the question has to be – does Jeapes pull it off?

As far as the bad guys, known as Xenocides, are concerned, the depiction is excellent. We get a really good slice of their political and cultural life without any info-dumps silting up the narrative pace, which is always a lot harder to achieve than it looks. There is even some humour in there and I particularly enjoyed Oomoing, who had the job of evaluating the captured human. The twist near the end of the story was one I didn’t see coming and thoroughly enjoyed. By the end of the novel, I had a really good sense of what they looked like and how their society ran. But the overall impression of how the other species – the First Breed – operated, their appearance, and their relationship with the humans was a lot less sharp. However, I am also aware that this is the second book in a series and I got the feeling that the storyline featuring this particular species was highlighted in His Majesty’s Starship.

As far as the main human story running through the book, Joel makes a solidly convincing hero as someone who reacts quickly and selflessly when the unthinkable happened – and then finds himself up to his neck in trouble as a consequence. He manages to care about issues like honour, duty and loyalty without coming across as some lantern-jawed dummy, which also demonstrates Jeapes’ skill as an able, technically gifted writer. His relationship with Boon Round, the First Breed also caught up alongside him, is nicely sharp.

The ending is well executed, with all the lose threads across all three main species satisfyingly tied up. Overall, this slickly convincing multi-species adventure story is a really good read – and I’m going to be looking out for more of Jeapes’ writing.
9/10

Review of Shift by Kim Curran

When your average loser, Scott Tyler, meets the beautiful and mysterious Aubrey Jones, he learns he’s not so average after all. Turns out he’s a ‘Shifter’ – he has the power to undo any decision he’s ever made.

At first, he thinks the power to Shift is pretty cool. But as his world quickly starts to unravel around him he realises that each time he uses his power, it has terrible unforeseen consequences. In a world where anything can change with a single thought, Scott has to decide exactly where he stands.

And that’s the blurb – hats off to Strange Chemistry for not blurting a slew of spoilers in their back jacket sales pitch – it’s a refreshing change, these days. So… a young male protagonist written by a female author. Does she pull this off? And does the engaging concept and cool cover signal that newcomer Strange Chemistry is a publisher with the same solid credentials as parent company Angry Robot?

This is a rite of passage novel with geeky Scott an outsider – until he gets a rush of blood to the head and attempts a stupid stunt that goes badly wrong to impress a beautiful girl and finds himself Shifting… And before you know it, he’s pitchforked into a weird parallel world where he is learning skills he’d never dreamed of. However, these skills have downsides – big ones. There are a raft of unpleasant, highly dangerous folks out there, and this book may be YA, but it’s very much at the crossover end of that age range – there’s a fair amount of graphic violence.

Scott is a solidly satisfying protagonist – he has sufficient vulnerability and bloody-minded spikiness to be appealing without coming across as unrealistically ‘special’. The book’s pace whips along at a fair rate. In the initial chapters, I’d pegged it as a college coming-of-age story, but it soon morphed into a broader storyline. Curran manages to set the parameters of her world, while the bodies start stacking up and Scott finds himself in the middle of the action, without easing up on the whirlwind pace or dropping the tension. I sat down, intending to dip into the book during a free half-hour – and became hooked.

Curran has a gift for writing characters you care about – I also thoroughly enjoyed reading about Aubrey. One of the rules about Shifters is that the ability manifests itself when they are children, but once they become adults, they lose it. So this secret organisation, charged with some highly secret and responsible tasks, is reliant on children and young teenagers – it really is a very enjoyable concept that I’m hoping Curran will continue to expand in future books.

There was a lot that could have gone badly wrong in a book packed with action, with a science fiction twist on teleporting that has certainly been done before in the likes of Stephen Gould’s Jumper. The fact that Curran manages to produce her own version of this concept with such authority and verve is a testament to her skill as an author. If you enjoyed urban fantasy, but are now heartily sick of vampires, wolves and various supernatural beings, give Shift a go. There may not be a space ship in sight, but this science fiction adventure is great fun – and you don’t have to be a teenager to thoroughly enjoy it.
8/10

Review of Dodger by Terry Pratchett

This is another of Terry Pratchett’s YA offerings, which ticks the boxes for many adults, too…

Dodger is a tosher – a sewer scavenger living in the squalor of Dickensian London. Everyone who is nobody knows him. Anyone who is anybody doesn’t. He used to know his future; it involved a lot of brick-lined tunnels and plenty of filth. But when he rescues a young girl from a beating, things start to get really messy. Now everyone who is anyone wants to get their hands on Dodger.

This is something of a departure for Pratchett – there isn’t a single fantastical detail in this adventure. Although, his version of Victorian London bears more than a passing resemblance to Ankh-Morpork, the bustling city state of his Discworld series – so much so, I was half expecting Corporal Carrot to come marching around the corner accompanied by a troll and a werewolf to investigate the whole business. However, this time around, we have to make do with the likes of Charles Dickens, Henry Mayhew and Sir Robert Peel. So… is Pratchett’s foray into historical fiction successful?

Dodger, who spends a lot of his time down sewers combing the mud for lost coins and jewellery, is a street kid who has found a home with an elderly Jewish man called Solomon Cohen. And, no – this version doesn’t break into songs about picking pockets, or try to entangle Dodger in any criminal schemes. Quite the opposite, in fact – this old man leads a quiet orderly life mending watches and musical boxes in Seven Dials, which is definitely not one of the better neighbourhoods, and after Dodger saves him from a beating, invites the boy to live with him. Pratchett has the knack of producing a vivid backdrop that not only gives a memorable setting to all his action, but somehow manages to become another distinctive character in its own right – a very neat trick to pull off. So the wealth of historical detail woven into the story becomes part of the fun. And, this, being Pratchett, is fun…

Which disguises what is actually a grim tale. Of poverty and desperation. Of cynical seduction and the callous disposal of a beautiful young girl, once her rich, powerful husband tires of her. Of an intelligent boy whose future at one point, was to live a short life roaming the sewers, but wrapped up in the adventure story of a beautiful girl needing to be rescued – and Dodger rubbing shoulders with the likes of Mister Charlie and his notebook (Dickens, as if you hadn’t already guessed…) this story romps along at a good clip, garnished with plenty of Pratchett wit and humour.

There is more than a nod in the direction of Dickens with the unfolding storyline, but ultimately, it is Pratchett’s own themes that surface – his dislike of the complacent rich, his loathing of social injustice, the belief that one person with a burning sense of what is right can change a system – even if the result is often not what was originally intended… And above all, his affection for humanity, which suffuses this offering. Once again, I think the category of YA is somewhat superfluous – this is Pratchett. Those Young Adults have youth and the future on their side – they can’t go hogging one of our greatest living authors, as well…
10/10

Review of Earthgirl by Janet Edwards

I met up with Janet Edwards at last year’s Fantasycon, when she told me that Earthgirl was due to come out in the coming year and we also exchanged a few words at Eastercon, when I heard enough about the book to put it onto my reading list. So I loaded it onto my Kindle for the journey to Brighton for this year’s Fantasycon.

In the far future, the universe is divided into two different groups: the Norms, who can portal between planets, and people like Jarra, the one in a thousand born with an immune system that doesn’t allow them to survive anywhere but Earth.  Norms come back to Earth for one reason: to study human history – like the ruins of what was once New York City. But only if they don’t have to interact with any Apes along the way. 18-year-old Jarra has a plan to change that.

This debut novel is a delight – it is marketed as YA, but this adult science fiction fan found it completely engrossing, as did my husband. Jarra is a strong protagonist – spiky, yet believably vulnerable. About halfway through the novel, there is an episode that appears to have split Earthgirl readers into those who feel that it is unrealistic and those who don’t. I’m in the latter camp. The series of events leading up to the shock that catapults Jarra into behaving as she does is entirely convincing – as is her reaction.

So Edwards has set up a strong female character and an intriguing situation – has she also managed to depict a sufficiently detailed and complex future? Absolutely. One of the characteristics of YA fiction – which is probably why you see a lot more Urban Fantasy, rather than Science Fiction in this genre – is that it is generally fast-paced. So it is a big ask for authors working with a primary world where the surroundings and customs are significantly different from our own time – unlike most urban fantasy offerings which are mostly set in modern cities with a few extra supernatural touches laid over the familiar landscape – to produce a satisfactory setting without holding up the narrative drive.

Edwards manages to provide plenty of interesting insights into her future world as part of the plot progression – an achievement a whole lot more difficult than the author makes it look. In fact, the world and the reasons why archaeological teams are frantically mining these decaying cities was – for me – one of the main treats of this book.

Any grizzles? Well – it is a minor niggle, but I did feel that I would have liked the ending to be slightly less… tidy. But that observation doesn’t detract from the fact that Earthgirl is a thoroughly engrossing read by a talented author, who is definitely One to Watch.
9/10

Review of We Can Be Heroes by Scott Fitzgerald Gray

This YA crossover science fiction techno-thriller (you may have gathered it’s something of a genre mash-up…) is the first of Gray’s work I’ve read – although it didn’t take long to realise We Can Be Heroes is the work of a fluent, experienced writer.

If you press them, anyone who games will admit to some variation on the idea of how they’d love to be the hero for real, just once. Just for one day. But right now, I’m on an empty street five hundred kilometers from home, barely able to walk. I’m soaked and shivering, wearing someone else’s clothes, and with way too many memories of almost dying rattling around in my head. And right here, right now, all I can think about is what I’d say if anybody asked me how much I want to be a hero…

This short paragraph gives a small slice of the narrative voice by űber-stroppy teenager, Scott Gray, sometime gamer and conspiracy theorist teetering on the edge of dropping out of school. Like an increasing number of books, it is written in present tense which works well – particularly once it gets going.

If you track down this book, my first piece of advice is – keep reading, it gets a whole lot better. I understand why Gray wanted to take time to fully establish his character, setting and situation – but in my opinion, his approach is just a tad too leisurely for the genre and subject matter. However, once this book hit its stride, I was gripped.

This story isn’t just about Scott, it is also about his gaming team – Mitchell, Breanne, Rico and Molly. I liked the fact that there were two girls in there and was impressed that Gray managed to keep all five main protagonists fully engaged and developing throughout the mayhem – a feat far more technically demanding than Gray made it look. I wondered about having a team of five, rather than three or four, but came to the conclusion that using five quite different personalities, Gray was able to fully explore the notion of heroism and how it plays out in a variety of ways. Over-arching the whole narrative, though, is the self-absorbed, arrogant yet vulnerable persona of young Scott. The voice is a joy – those of us who have had the misfortune/privilege to have lived alongside an overly bright sixteen year old male will be forcibly reminded of the experience halfway down the first page. I even confess to sneaking feelings of sympathy for Seth, his permanently enraged father… Does this mean that my allegiance to Scott wavered? Nope. Not even at his most obnoxious. I am a sucker for a strongly written, complex first person narrator and Gray certainly delivered. Unlike so many techie-minded male authors, Gray manages to write his main character with depth and humanity.

In addition to exploring the idea of heroism, Gray also has his protagonist musing on the nature of isolationism, what defines humanity, as well as confronting him with the fallout when someone unexpectedly dies. All this without letting the narrative pace fall below frenetic once the action starts kicking off…

Other than my one niggle about the book being a bit slow at the beginning, I found this an engrossing, highly enjoyable and accomplished read and have marked Scott Fitzgerald Gray as One To Watch. I’ll be hunting down his back catalogue – in the meantime, I suggest you upload We Can Be Heroes, or order a print copy. Now that the summer is rapidly drawing to a close, you’ll need a bit of action to keep you warm – and this book has it in spades…
9/10

Review of Mockingjay – Book 3 of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

This is the third book in this Y.A. dystopian series that was such a runaway success. Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games. Twice. But she’s still not safe. A revolution is unfolding, and everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans – everyone except Katniss. And yet she must play the most vital part in the final battle. Katniss must become their Mockingjay – the symbol of rebellion – no matter what the personal cost.

Honourable mention must go to the unsung hero who did the blurb. This series is all about plot, despite the very strong protagonist at the heart of the action – and yet no one has seen fit to give away any major plot points on the back cover, which would have been all too easy. Well done, Scholastic – you certainly get a gold star from me over this. Would that other publishers were so careful of their authors’ content.

So… the first two books created plenty of tension, full-on action and a painful ongoing love triangle. As well as making harsh, pertinent comments about the exploitative nature of our current celebrity culture. Has Collins managed to sustain the energy and strong plotlines through to this final book in the trilogy? Does she manage to produce a sufficiently strong ending after the climactic moments her readers experienced throughout The Hunger Games?

It would have been so easy to fluff this book. Decide to go for a safe option – give us the Hunger Games, again, for instance. Ease up on her poor put-upon heroine. Lapse into the odd treacly moment, or turn her into a Mary-Sue construct who – somehow – manages to have the fate of Panem hinging on her personal agenda…

Fortunately for her readership, Collins is far too adept a writer to commit those sins and for my money, Mockingjay is the best of the series. It doesn’t take a huge stretch of imagination to visualise how quickly minor celebrities get trapped by their ‘image’ in much the same way that Katniss finds herself boxed in by becoming the poster child for the rebellion against the brutal regime running Panem.

Collins also continues to pull off those jaw-dropping moments which I certainly didn’t see coming – particularly the shocking climax. I sat down intending to give myself a small slice of Hunger Games magic – and was still reading hours later when I had a stack of other chores calling for my attention.

I find it particularly impressive the way that Collins manages to immerse her readers in the adrenaline-fuelled action, without making that the sole purpose of the books. There is passion and action without resorting to the eroticism of Twilight. And a sharp commentary that shines an unforgiving light on our Western culture. Collins certainly intends her readers to compare current middle-class American concerns with those sweet natured make-up artists from the Capital that work on Katniss. It is also refreshing to encounter all-action heroes, such as the Hunger Games’ survivors, who have been significantly damaged by their experiences. While Collins doesn’t flinch from depicting violent fights and deaths, she also shows there is always a price to pay for those left standing. And often that price is too much.

As for the romantic interest that wound through all three books – does Collins manage to conclude this satisfactorily? Absolutely. Along with the heartbreaking reason behind her choice…

If you want a masterclass in how to construct a classic plot, with the necessary action interspersed by introspection and exposition setting up the next scene – and a sudden unexpected twist thrown into the mix at intervals, then have a good, hard look at The Hunger Games series. Particularly this final book. It is provides a fitting conclusion to an exceptional series.
10/10

Review of Catching Fire – Book 2 of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are still alive. Katniss should be relieved, but now there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol – a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create. As the nation watches Katniss and Peeta, the stakes are higher than ever. One false move and the consequences will be unimaginable.
I read The Hunger Games on a train journey and couldn’t get the book out of my head – despite the fact that it wasn’t aimed at my age group. The tense page-turning action and unexpected twists had haunted me, as well as Collins’ spiky, conflicted heroine, Katniss. So – was Catching Fire going to be able to sustain the excellent story-telling skills Collins’ demonstrated in The Hunger Games?

If readers are expecting Katniss to be remotely upbeat about their survival after The Hunger Games, they are quickly put straight in the opening section. The whole experience has left Katniss traumatised. And once the ‘victory tour’ gets under way, that trauma becomes something else. For there are clearly signs in some of the Districts that the inhabitants are becoming restive under Capitol’s brutal control – and when President Snow has a private word with Katniss and makes it clear that he holds her liable for keeping any sort of rebellion in check, she realises that her responsibilities haven’t ended with keeping her family safe and Peeta alive… Hundreds of lives may depend on how she acts and what she says during their tour.

As for her relationship with Peeta and Gale… Snow points out, she now has to take a certain course in that direction, as well. I was gratified to see a complete lack of the self satisfied wriggling that occasionally accompanies a three-cornered relationship in some urban fantasies. Anyone who has been in that situation will know that it is generally a miserably painful business.

It is a lot harder to pull off a successful middle book in any trilogy than Collins makes it look. There has to be plenty of progression and action, sustaining the strong start that a best-selling first book has achieved, with sufficient exposition so that anyone reading the books out of sequence isn’t completely flailing around, yet without exasperating the reader who has the sense to read them in the proper order (something I rarely manage to do…). And the ending is particularly tricky. There has to be a complete story arc within the trilogy, yet with a couple of trailing plot points to ensure your loyal readership cannot resist rushing out and getting hold of the third book at the earliest opportunity. Collins gives a masterclass in getting this balance right. The concept of the whole series is neatly apt; her characterisation of Katniss is very strong with a compelling narrative voice – yet, I still think that Collins major talent lies in her ability to craft a classic story structure that pulls her audience into her tale.

I had resisted the pull of Chasing Fire by reading a couple of other books between The Hunger Games and its sequel on the grounds that often by reading a series of books by the same author, I become sensitive to the writer’s foibles which inhibits my enjoyment of his/her work. But as soon as I completed Chasing Fire, I reached for Mockingjay – I had to know what happens next. So if you’ve decided to avoid The Hunger Games series because you generally find books with a lot of hype surrounding them are often a disappointment – yet enjoy character-led near future, dystopian science fiction, then I strongly recommend you seek out this series. It’s worth it.
9/10

Review of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I’d heard a lot about this book, so when I saw the trilogy on the book shelves, I decided to get it and see what all the fuss was about…

Post-apocalyptic America, now named Panem, is divided into Districts and ruled by the authoritarian Capitol who keep the downtrodden, hungry populace under control by working them extremely hard. To emphasise who’s in charge, once a year all teenagers between 13 and 18 have their names put forward for the Hunger Games. When her younger sister’s name comes up, tough huntress Katniss Everdeen volunteers to replace her, knowing it is probably a death sentence. There can only be one survivor. But Katniss has been surviving for most of her life…

The neat premise is based on the Greek habit of selecting young men and women as sacrificial tributes – and like these tributes, before the ultimate ceremony, the Hunger Games players are treated like celebrities. Given a team to dress them and offered food they could only dream of, they are trained and interviewed and every move and reaction they make is commented upon. Collins certainly points up the carnivorous aspect of modern-day fame as Katniss stumbles through this particular minefield. But it is all a preliminary to the Games themselves…

I took this book to read on a long train journey – an excellent choice, as it turned out. Because it has to be one of most compelling page-turners I’ve read this year. In first person viewpoint, Katniss’s experiences grabbed my attention from the start and pulled me into the book. It isn’t a demanding or difficult read – but then that isn’t what Collins set out to write.

Katniss is marked by having to become the provider for her family after her father’s sudden death, and Collins’ depiction of a character constantly driven by need was utterly convincing. She is wary, automatically suspicious and determined to do whatever it takes to be the one to survive. Even if it means learning to walk in high heels and clinging dresses. Even if it means appearing to be in love with the other District 12 candidate…

However, Katniss discovers it isn’t that easy. There are the other contestants – and the hard truth remains that in order to survive, they all have to die. Once the Games started, I had a strong idea how the story would go – after all I’ve been reading Fantasy for one or three years, now. This, after all, is a book designed for a less jaded readership than yours truly. But Collins confounded my expectations – and while the overall ending was, inevitably, not a stunning surprise, many of the events along the way were unexpected. This book is a masterclass in how to handle full-on action, by producing a range of different challenges for the protagonist – and give her some time to assimilate them, before moving on again.

No one has claimed this is Great Literature – but it is certainly beautifully judged as a piece of writing entertainment. And in amongst the adventure and drama, there are some telling comments about our celebrity culture targeted right at the audience who should be seriously considering what the media is offering them. For my money, again, Collins’ has the got the mix right. The message of the book is stark – if celebrity shows continue to pander to an audience’s basest instincts, then something like the Hunger Games is the result – right back to the Roman mob’s raw blood lust while watching gladiators kill each other. And when considering the likes of The Jeremy Kyle Show, the only difference between the Hunger Games and our present day attitude is our decision not to actually kill participants – we certainly have no compunction in watching other people emotionally eviscerated for our entertainment.

I thoroughly enjoyed this vividly written book and look forward to reading the sequel.
9/10