Trial of Science and Magic

In our universe, science is the law and magic is nonsense. What if it were the other way around? What if witches were revered while scientists were hunted and destroyed? Josephine Angelini takes the world and changes everything you thought was true and right in Trial by Fire. 

Lily Proctor has always been sickly. Her body runs at temps that baffle doctors, and her frequent fevers take her to heat levels no body should be able to survive. But she still clings to life, or whatever semblance of life she can with a body that hates everything you do and has an allergic reaction to everything around you. But she has always had Tristan, the boy whose dating life is the stuff of legends, and her faithful sister. When she and Tristan decide to take their relationship past the friend stage and into uncharted territory, she finally feels happy about something in her life. But she should have known better. A guy like Tristan doesn't change overnight. And with his tongue down the throat of an obnoxious underclassman, Lily begs for a change. What she didn't expect was to be ripped out of her universe and planted in a parallel one where everything she knew is different. 

In this world, people keep calling her Lillian and are surprised to see her wandering around the city alone. Then she meets the real Lillian. Her other self, the one who lives in, and runs, this world, is a witch. The head witch of this city, in fact. And she is the one who brought Lily here. Lily wants nothing to do with this woman, or her plans for Lily, but when she escapes, she walks right into the hands of the one man who trusts Lillian least, Rowan. Rowan was Lillian's chief mechanic until he severed his tie to her, and now, faced with Lily, the pain of Lillian's betrayal is almost too much to take. But his partner, Tristan, can see the difference between Lily and Lillian. This world, however, is full of dangers, like the Woven, horrible magical mistakes that tear apart anyone who dares to live outside the wall. Like it or not, Rowan has to help protect Lily since she would never survive without help. As he does, he sees her for who she truly is: Lily. Not Lillian. And she might be the key to saving Rowan's world. 

I feel like I can't do this book justice with any kind of description because it is so different, interesting, and thought-provoking. The plot itself is fast-paced but detailed enough to keep you reading at a break-neck pace, and I couldn't get enough it. Lily's transformation throughout the story was my favorite part of the story. She went from a sick girl who barely eked out a life to an all-powerful witch who had the potential to surpass her own counter part. But she was flawed. She was more grounded than Lillian because her humble life in her own universe had left her without a lifetime of greed and hunger for power, but that hunger is still deep down inside her psyche. As she connects to Rowan and her power is amplified, she struggles to keep herself from devouring his energy and hurting him because it really is all she wants to do. For a girl who couldn't even have a sip of beer at a keg party without having a seizure, the power she has now is intoxicating. This is why I loved Lily so much. She was flawed. She was greedy and hungry for power, but she was also a good enough person to stop herself and to sacrifice herself to protect others. It made her the better version of herself even though she still possessed those flaws. She is a dynamic character, and Angelini left me still reeling even days after I finished the story! 

Angelini's skill in this book didn't end with character building. Her world-building was so in tune, it left me feeling like I knew this world of magic and witches. I could see the terrifying Woven over the wall, could imagine the terrifying way the people produce their food (might make you go vegetarian), and could see the desperation in people's faces as they fought for their beliefs... in science. Imagine a world powered by witches' magics where scientists are persecuted. The scientists don't want to rely on the witches for power, but are their solutions all that much better? "Elemental science" that creates a byproduct rife with danger and instability? If there was a magical solution to our own world's energy problem, how would that be received by the scientists who believe in nuclear power despite its terrifying byproducts? This book was full of these questions, and I really believe it would get any reader to contemplate the deep, dark questions of our own universe, and to accomplish that even with witches and magic, Angelini has got to be a mad scientist herself! Or a witch! Either way, she was pretty darned brilliant, and I am dying for the next book in the series!

Will She Be the One?

Oh, the Land of the Beautiful and Frilly Dresses! It is funny, because these dresses are what drew me to this series, but I also fear they might be what keeps people from reading this interesting story. In The One by Kiera Cass, The Selection series comes a final conclusion as Prince Maxon must choose his final bride.

For America, the Selection started just as a means to better life for her family. All girls in the Selection move up in caste and their families get compensation that could mean the difference between abject poverty and food on the table. So, despite the fact that she cared deeply about Aspen, a boy who was a caste below her, she did her duty and joined the Selection. What she didn't expect was to care deeply about Maxon. And Aspen's appearance on the guard in the castle made things confusing for America... at first. It became clear fairly quickly that America wanted to be with Maxon. For the other girls, the crown was the goal, and Maxon was the means to get it; for America, the crown was just a hassle that came with the man she truly cared about.

Unfortunately, the path to the crown was not so easy. it was clear the king did not feel the same about America as Maxon and his mother did. She did not bow to societal pressures. She would not allow people to be punished beyond their crimes of necessity, like feeding their children. Despite the needs of a princess, America had been brought up to stand up for what she thought was right, and she would let no one, not even the king, intimidate her. She had everything to lose and everything to gain, but America wouldn't be scared away from doing the right thing.

OK. This started out a puffy, goofy story for me, but quickly, in the first book, I new I loved America. This girl had a metaphorical right hook that would knock you on your butt. She was a lot of fun and still a very strong young woman despite her years. I loved her. I also really liked Maxon. He grew up under a tyrant, and he would not let that control the person he was destined to become. I know the premise of this book was a love triangle, but I think if you read the first two books, you would agree with me that Maxon was always going to be the clear winner in our hearts, and I am quite simply OK with that! Don't get me wrong, I liked Aspen and respected that he cared about America, but she and Maxon were wonderful together. In fact, she had the ability to make Maxon rise to the true king he was destined to be.

I still think the story lacked real world-building, but my love for the characters overshadowed that need for me. It was more important for me to hear about the amazing people they had all become, even Celeste, the stereotypical mean girl in the competition! There were so many back stories to the girls and transformations, that it really became a character driven story and even if there was a rich world around it, that world would have quickly faded into the background. I loved the final conclusion, and I will miss this series. It might have started with the frilly dress, but it ended with the revolutionaries who won't settle for a broken world that harms its people.

The Unravelling of a Great Story

Juliette might think she is crazy, but the world she lives in is crazier. At the conclusion of Shatter Me, she learned her own ability to kill a person with her bare skin was only just the beginning. In Tahereh Mafi's sequel, Unravel Me, the true nature of Juliette's gift has only barely been understood... until now.

Omega Point tries to be different from the Reestablishment in every way possible. Even their leader tries to maintain a peaceful leadership that protects their kind rather than exploits them. Juliette was happy to be free of her prison, but she can't let herself trust the people around her quite so easily, nor can she trust herself not to hurt them. Her power is so terrifying that she is glad she can at least touch one person- the boy she loves, Adam. Of course, she tries to forget that Warner, the man who held her captive for all those years, could also touch her. Adam is the only one who matters to Juliette. 

When Kenji takes Juliette to the labs and she sees them hurting Adam, she loses it. She barely holds her cool most days, but this led Juliette to a place she had never been before, and with that anger she was able to tap into powers she never knew she had. Her extreme strength and power could literally move the earth beneath them. Omega Point plans to use Juliette's powers to help them in their plans to eventually overthrow the Reestablishment, but what they weren't prepared for was what was happening above them on the surface. Warner's father has arrived, and as supreme commander, his presence is nothing to go unnoticed. Juliette doesn't want to admit it, but there is something inside her that is drawn to Warner, even though she knows just how ruthless he can be. It is almost like the connection between them is as powerful, if not more, than her connection to Adam, especially when she learns Adam might not be as immune to her power to kill as she thought he was. How can a relationship exist if she can't touch the man she loves without killing him?

The devil who knows your demons is better than telling the angel you love about those demons. For Juliette, having to be damaged in front of Adam is harder than having to be with sadistic Warner. She doesn't fully understand it, but she can't help but be drawn to Warner, even if the guilt about her feelings is drowning her. I love Juliette as a character, in all her damaged, semi-psychotic, caring loveliness, and I really liked this "anti-love triangle" that had even me questioning Warner's weird devotion to Juliette. It was a hard one to wrap your head around and it definitely made me want to come back for more.

If i had one complaint about this series it would be the lack of world building. There is supposed to be this incredibly corrupt, world-dominating force, but we don't see much of it. Instead the whole story has been inside Juliette's head. And don't get me wrong, that is fascinating, but the idea of this world out there is too and I just want more of it. This book can be a little scattered because it is told through he head of Juliette, so you see her indecision and guilt through Mafi's use of the strike out (although not nearly as much as in Shatter Me). It would be best for a strong reader who can wade through her occasional psychosis to really enjoy this truly unique story. I can't wait for the conclusion, but I am dreading it at the same time!

Odd and Unique

What is it that makes us unique? The size of our brain? Metacognition? The ability to reason, sympathize, and empathize? In Bernard Beckett's tiny novella, Genesis, he takes a unique approach to exam the heart of that very question. What is it that makes humans so special?

Anax is giving her presentation to the Academy for approval. She has studied, memorized, researched, and she believes she has developed an amazing presentation for the Examiners. While many people tell the story of Adam Ford, her new approach to the topic is what she thinks will gain her acceptance into the Academy. As the catalyst from a tightly controlled island fortress community to what the world has become now, Adam was the one man who changed the world. Arrested for defying orders, but unable to execute him as he became a public sensation and his death would create outrage, Adam was sent to live forever with the professor and his new AI robot, Art. It is this relationship that paved the way for the world Anax lives in, and she can't help but feel a connection to it. 

I still don't know what to really say about this story! Honestly, I really didn't like the story for most of its measly 150 pages, but in the last 5 pages, I felt like I was hit by a freight train! The premise of this little novella is entirely unique. There is no action, no real plot, just the delivery of some type of thesis. This was troubling for me because it meant I never truly connected with or engaged with any characters from the story. I got to know as much about Anax as I did the completely nameless Examiner. She was not even mysterious, just more like a flat secondary character. So you would think Adam was the focus of the story, then, right? You are correct, but, you only see snippits of his life. You don't see anything that will really allow you to connect with Adam on a personal level, either for good or bad. Instead he is just a test subject. Something to be examined and studied. This disjointed account of his life was certainly interesting, but it did not give me the connections I so craved.

Then the last five pages hit. And I can't stop thinking about them! It was delivered so calmly. So carefully, and then BAM. A shot right to the gut. Honestly, this ending made me hold this story in an entirely new light. I can't say I loved it. But I can't stop thinking about it. And the deep implications of this story about humanity, about our willingness to kill and yet our inability to kill, artificial intelligence,  and how technology controls our lives. All of this has been swirling in my brain more with this tiny little novella than I ever had when I took a Science Fiction class in college or throughout all my SF reading since then. Beckett actually thumped me more than all the heavyweights like Asimov and Heinlein. So did I like the story? Nah. It was OK. Not something I would read again for pleasure. Do I think this story deserves a place on my shelf and possibly in my classroom? TOTALLY. It was deep and complex with the guise of pure simplicity. It is something that would be excellent to teach in a Literature classroom, and I think that is where it would be best enjoyed. I have a few books that I know I loved because I learned/read them in a classroom setting. It was the guidance of the professor or teacher and the discussions with my classmates that allowed me to fully understand the story. I think this is one of those stories. It might not be great for a summer reading or independent reading project, but to read it in class? Kids are going to feel like I do right now. Bulldozed. 

In Danger of Breaking My Heart

Life for the bonobos and other great apes in Africa has always been tumultuous, but when people are starving, they will do anything to feed their families. Now the bonobos, the "lesser" chimpanzees, are endangered and in Eliot Schrefer's novel Endangered, he explores the love and risks involved in protecting these beautiful animals in the midst of a terrifying civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Sophie has spent her summers in the Congo with her mother ever since her father relocated her to the US to go to school. While it is a culture shock, those summers with her Congolese mother at the bonobo sanctuary are something she looks forward to. But this summer is different. On her way to the sanctuary, she sees a trafficker witha  near-dead bonobo baby, trying to sell him to people driving by. Unable to bear the thought of what could happen to the baby, Sophie does the worst thing she can do: she buys him from the man. Once you establish that precedent, there is nothing to stop the trafficker from going back into the jungle and taking more bonobo babies, even though it means killing all the adults it was with. Sophie knows her mother will be mad and this will create problems int he future, but she couldn't see past the despair and desperation in that little baby's eyes.

Her mother certainly is mad, but she makes the baby Sophie's responsibility. Named Otto, he struggles on the long, hard road back to health at the sanctuary. Sophie knows she should be acclimating him to another human as she is flying back to the US in a few short days, but she can't bear to be separated from Otto. When her mother travels north to deliver adults to the wild sanctuary, Sophie finds herself alone and caught in her worst nightmare: a coup. While she should have evacuated, she can't imagine leaving Otto behind. Hiding in the adult bonobo enclosure, she manages to live undetected for weeks while the rebels take over the sanctuary and kill all the people she knew and loved. But once the power to the electrified fence is cut-off, she knows she has to escape. How is a single teenaged girl going to escape with a baby bonobo in tow? And where do you go in a country that has been torn apart from the inside out?

Oh. Oh, boy. This story was so beautiful and so powerful, it has actually left me speechless. I had the privilege of meeting Eliot Schrefer at an author function a few years ago, and knowing what a funny, light-hearted man he is, I am even more blown away by this amazing, powerful story. The even more fascinating thing is that he took an incredibly violent and terrifying setting, and he managed to show the impact of the violence while still writing a story that could be read by a wide range of ages. For instance, he hints that death would be better for Sophie than being captured by the rebels, but for a younger reader, this subtlety would easily go over their heads: not forcing them to understand the culture and violence of rape behind the coup in order to understand the story, but still including this terrifying and important part of the story in a way that older readers would pick up on. It was masterfully done, and makes this book appropriate for students who aren't necessarily ready for the full terrors of such a war, but still should learn about the kind of life being lived in that part of the world. I am not sure how Schrefer managed to do this so seamlessly and beautifully, but I am grateful for it, because I can pass this book onto more and more of my students.

The conflict itself, Schrefer explained, was fictional, but based off previous conflicts. It felt so real and the terror that girl must have felt was palpable. But the story is really about Sophie and the bonobos. The descriptions of the bonobos are so amazing, it is clear Schrefer spent a great deal of his own time in the Congo studying them. The plight of these amazing apes that share so much of our DNA is one of the most shameful parts of our society. But Sophie, obviously trying her best to save Otto and the other bonobos, often considers the idea that any efforts to save the animals are efforts that aren't going to save the thousands of humans dying all around her. Having seen her friends killed around the sanctuary, she knew the full impact of the danger these people were in, and how the bonobos are no longer the focus. But still, she can't think past the immediate concern in her own life, and that is Otto. A poor boy who has suffered enough in his life, and she, the girl who saved him, can't imagine letting him down. It was beautiful. She understood what was going on around her, but her love for Otto kept her from saving herself when she couldn't take him with her. 

I am not ashamed to tell you that this book really made me cry. I cried for the bonobos, the people of the Congo, for Sophie and all she saw that would forever change her, and for the world that continues to sit by and watch conflicts like this happen. Our students have the privilege of not having to grow up so soon like poor Sophie did, but they also have the responsibility of knowing what is happening around the world they live in. This is a beautiful book, and it is not hard to imagine why it was a National Book Award finalist. After reading the Q&A and the Author's Note at the end of the book, it was clear that this book was Schrefer's way of bringing life to these people and these apes. He had to abandon all he knew about the world and the safety of his own life to travel to the Congo, and I am glad he did, because it brought us this beautiful, heartbreaking story. I know I was changed by Endangered, and I am sure you will be too.

Classic Tale of the Tripods

Sometimes when you are struggling to find the next book to read, it is good to just reread an old favorite. For me, The White Mountains by John Christopher was one of the first young adult stories I read as an adult, and it was the first story I enjoyed with a student. It had been well over a decade since I read it, so I thought I would pick it up again. And I am glad I did!

Will has always known his Capping Day was coming, but until now, it didn't seem like something to worry about. But as his day grows nearer, he gets more and more worried about the idea of allowing one of the tripods to put a metal cap in his head that would control his thoughts. Everyone in his village had it done and seems content, but there is something about the process that doesn't sit well with Will.

When a Vagrant (a person whose Capping didn't go well) approaches him about the Capping, he is interested in hearing the man's perspective. But it turns out the man wasn't Capped at all. He was masquerading as a Capped Vagrant, but in reality, he was a rebel recruiting unCapped young adults to bring to the White Mountains- a place where the rebels are safe from the Tripods and can plot to take the world back. Will decides to head to the White Mountains, and along the way he acquires two new friends, Henry and Beanpole. But the three boys have a long way to go to the White Mountains and between them and sanctuary are many many tripods. 

This story was written almost 50 years ago and still it is one our kids today could enjoy. I have seen a few comparisons to War of the Worlds, but this story takes place well after the tripods have taken over the world. No one really fights back and everyone accepts the Capping with a complacency that makes them even easier to manipulate and control. The idea of choosing the easier road because you don't want to make life harder with the fight for freedom is a universal theme especially relevant for today's children. Kids who are so far removed from wide-spread social protest don't really understand fighting for freedoms and rights, so this story could easily be related to the current events of our students' lives. 

While this is more of a middle reader, it is a great series for young adults who also like to read science fiction. The stories are easy to read, so they might be best for an older student who has a lower reading skill level. Christopher's stories are classic, and they will survive long after the tripods come to Cap us! So if you have a sci-fi junky who has burned through everything, pass this gem on. You won't be sorry!

We've Reached the End

Cassia, Ky, and Xander have survived a lot, but they have no idea how the Society will end up after the  rebels have executed their plan. But the plan may have more consequences than anyone prepared for in Ally Condie's Matched finale, Reached.

Ky is a pilot for the Pilot, the leader and inspiration of the rebels, and he delivers to the people who need them. Cassia's sorter skills are going to help find the ultimate cure. But it is Xander who is there, on ground zero, helping the people who have become "incidental casualties" to the rebellion. He is a physic, a medic who helps the people suffering from the Plague. It is easy enough to do, as part of the rebellion, because the Plague was supposed to happen. The Society's very own control measure backfired and infected the general public, so the rebels created a cure. And isn't it convenient that they were able to swoop in and save the day just before the Plague took too many lives? Xander knows this was the plan all along, and he understands people wouldn't support the rebellion without a good reason, but no one prepared for what happened next. 

The Plague mutated.

Now the stakes are higher. The rebellion's cure doesn't work on this strand of the Plague, but there has to be a cure out there because a large portion of the outsiders, the people not living within the Society's control before the Plague, are immune. But it will take a lot of work and many sorters to find out the basis for the immunity. Meanwhile, Xander has been quarantined with the victims of the mutated plague and Ky begins to question the true nature of the rebellion. But one thing is for certain. Without a cure, all the lives lost and things sacrificed will be wasted if a cure isn't found. And no one knows the stakes more than Cassia.

I have to say this was my least favorite of the three books. I am fine with how it ended, I understand both the execution and the conclusion, but I just didn't like how I got there as much as I did with the first two books. If you remember, Matched was just so beautifully written, poetic, melodious. Crossed took the story to a new level, getting Cassia outside the Society and really expanding the story. But Reached lost the magic of both previous stories. Yes, the writing was beautiful, but not as much so as before, and the story hit a weird point where the crossing between Society and Rebels became too much for me to invest in fully. I even liked the separate stories of our main characters, which eld my interest, but there was just some kind of magic missing from this last installment that I simply can't put my finger on. Maybe it was just me, but this book didn't captivate me like the rest of the series did. 

On a whole, though, this is a really beautiful story. It is meant for people who liked The Giver, not those who loved Hunger Games because the story is less about the action and more about the beautiful human emotions tied to the circumstances. Condie does a beautiful job of getting to the root of all this conflict- the human will for freedom, expression, and beauty. It is amazing to see those complex emotions and desires displayed with such ease on the page, and in a way young adults can fully understand and talk about. That type of metacognition is not something the average teenager engages in on a daily basis (or adult for that matter) so it is beautiful to see a popular series that would encourage (or even force) them to do so. I did like this series, and I am starting to think if I reread this book and took more time to digest it (instead of devouring it because I wanted so desperately to know what happened), my opinion might just change. So I will do that. I will reread it after a while and let you know if my initial reaction was jaded. So stay tuned! 

Where the Shadows Fall

In a world where the canny folk (magical) are hunted and destroyed by the king's men, a 16 year old girl can't expect to survive on her own, let alone make a difference in the world. In Juliet Marillier's Shadowfell, Neryn is more than meets the eye.

Neryn has suffered alongside her father in tough times, but when he bets her in a game of chance, and loses, his choices have now threatened her life. Luckily, the man who won her whisks her off the gaming boat just before a raid destroyed the place and everyone inside it. Terrified of the plans the man has for her, Neryn is careful to keep her secret from him. This is the very same secret that killed her grandmother and kept Neryn and her father on the run for most of her life. 

Neryn knows she shouldn't trust this man, Flint, and even though she leaves him behind, he always seems to find her. She quickly realizes he is one of the king's Enforcers, soldiers who rid the world of canny folk, but there is something about this man that makes her want to trust him. She knows the risks and the very real possibility that he may be leading her right to the king, but her intuition tells her there is more to Flint. Still, the fey (mystical, diverse creatures) don't trust anyone who wears the king's uniform, and they try to protect Neyrn because she is something special, something they have all been waiting for. She might be the key to defeating the king and saving their beloved country. 

This book started off with a bang, Flint saving Neryn and whisking her away, and all her conversations with the canny folk, but then it just kind of petered out in the middle. Don't get me wrong, the descriptions were downright beautiful, and the world built was quite extraordinary, but the story wasn't quite what I wanted it to be. The majority of the story was about Neryn's journey, and sometimes I found myself thinking, "Oh just get there already; no more of this wandering about!" And to add to that, her on again off again issues with Flint grew a little tiresome. Unfortunately, this story just didn't hold my attention like the beginning suggested it was going to.

Because it was so slow at first, I probably wouldn't give this book to just any student. I would pass it on to a stronger reader who really loved fantasy, because the world building and language really is exquisite, but I think a weaker reader would be lost about 1/4 of the way through the book. I have a feeling that the next book in the series will really amp up the story, especially the way it ended taken into consideration, but I have no real idea of how Marillier plans to take this story if she writes all installments the way this one was written. Hopefully this book just suffered from "background info dump" syndrome as some first books do, and the rest of the series will recover from its downfalls. Still, the writing is quite breathtaking, and I intend to read the next book with an optimism for its success.

Hana in a Whole New Light

Finally a short story tied to a trilogy that actually has a purpose! After so many that were a total disappointment, I am excited to get this extra look into the life of Lena's best friend, Hana... the very girl whose rebellious ways led to Lena meeting the boy she fell in love with and gave up everything for...


Hana wanted to rebel. She went to underground concerts, talked to boys, and even kissed one. Hana wasn't going to let some rules stop her from enjoying herself. She knows her knew ways are driving her apart form Lena, but she needs to explore what else is out there. When an unexpected raid makes her realize just how dangerous what she is doing truly is, Hana decides to reconnect with the girl who always does the right thing: Lena. What she finds, though, is that Lena was the true rebel who wouldn't let any government stop her from falling in love.


I am really glad I gave this short story a try, because it adds wonderful insight into Delirium. We know Hana, and we know how she led to Lena's choices, but we don't really know Hana, until this story, it shows her transformation from the typical rebellious teen we know and expect to a girl who isn't willing to risk her life for a simple contest. In fact, this short story changes the entire tone of the ending of Delirium, giving you a new perspective on how everything happened. You might not be happy with how this story changes the trilogy, but everything will make more sense once you read it!

Dystopia Crossed with Love Story

A utopia is always hiding a dystopia. Beneath all that perfect living and niceness is corruption and evil like you have never known before. Sadly, a utopia is just a pipe dream. In the Matched trilogy, Ally Condie started with a Giver-esque utopia that gave way to the dystopia hiding beneath. Now, with Crossed, you see what was really going on behind the scenes in the Society's utopia.


Cassia was matched to Xander, but she fell in love with Ky. Sent to a work camp in the edge of the provinces, she could only think of escaping to find Ky. As an Aberration, an outcast of the Society, Ky was sent to act as a decoy for the enemy in one of the outermost villages. That way the Enemy only killed outcasts, not real citizens of the Society. When Ky gets the chance to run, he takes a young boy and the only friend he has made at the village and heads for the canyons. When Cassia sees an opportunity to get out of the camp where she is held, she takes it and ends up at one of the outer villages used as decoys. Once there, she and Indie, another girl from the camp, pick up and head the direction of the canyons where they assume Ky will be.


Along the way through the canyon, both groups make a lot of mistakes and realizations. It is clear there are things even their cynicism wouldn't lead them to have believed the Society was capable of. When Cassia, poisoned by the tablet the Society makes as a "lifesaver", refuses to stop moving, her determination not only saves her life from the poison, but also leads her straight to Ky. What she doesn't expect when she finds him is for the two of them to have hugely different paths to take for the future. Cassia is drawn to the resistance, in the hopes of stopping the Society, but Ky knows how damaging the resistance can be for those who are involved in it. They have finally found each other, but will they be able to stay together?


This was not your average sequel because the story has taken such an enormous turn from the original novel. While the original novel was much more a fallen utopia, the dystopia in this book rings loud and clear. It is hard to miss, actually! The Society is such an evil, oppressive society and all you want is to see them taken down. In fact, while I can see Ky's side of things, I have to agree with Indie and Cassia- I would totally want to join the resistance. Although this sequel was a complete turn-around from the original novel, it still felt like a set-up for the final story. The action isn't enthralling, but it is certainly interesting. I think the final novel in the trilogy will be the best story yet. 


This is a great story for anyone who liked the Giver or any other young adult dystopia. It isn't too graphic or harsh, as are frequently the complaints about dystopias and post-apocalyptic stories in the YA genre. Instead, Condie prefers to let the grim future speak for itself and the oppressive government's actions leave much to the imagination. This is a great trilogy, but I am anxious to see how it ends now. The drastic switch in direction will surely make you feel the same way!

Mockingjays on the Fence

I want to premise this review with a few things. First, Hunger Games is one of my favorite books. Catching Fire was just as good, if not better! Finally, Suzanne Collins must have made some kind of Faustian deal to be such an amazing writer, or at least have some special powers. When the third and final installment was released on Tuesday, I was thrilled! I have been waiting for this book for over a year! But when it came to actually reading the book, I knew something was wrong. Earlier in the week I had reread the first two books and found them just as captivating and engrossing as the first time I had read them. But Mockingjay? I kept putting it down! I had no problem setting it aside to do something else... This didn't bode well.

Mockingjay picks up shortly after Catching Fire left off with the rebels from District 13 saving Katniss, Finnick, and Beetee from the arena in the 75th Hunger Games. Her family and Gale and his family have gotten out of District 12 with a handful of other refugees, but most of the people and all of the district (except Victor's Village) has been bombed and burned to the ground. Now Katniss is living with the other refugees and District 13 in their underground facilities that are basically a subterranean city. But Katniss isn't really "living" in the the realest sense. Mostly she hides, shirks her duties, and avoids all contact with people if possible.

When President Coin, the leader of District 13, wants Katniss to agree to be the Mockingjay, a symbol of freedom and courage for the rebel movement against the Capitol, Katniss refuses at first. When she sees Peeta, who was captured by the Capitol, on TV and he has clearly been beaten and tortured, she agrees to be the Mockingjay with a few conditions- one being the immunity of all Hunger Games victors, including Peeta. District 13 then primps and preens Katniss into the Mockingjay and parades her through multiple propaganda videos (called propos) to keep the war effort motivated. Of course, this involves keeping her mostly out of danger, with the exception of a few surprise attacks by the Capitol.

*Spoiler Alert*
Once the Districts have been won over by the rebels, however, the Capitol is the final battle to be won. Coin creates a group of "Celebrity" soldiers that includes Katniss, Finnick, Gale, and Peeta, among others, and she sends them off to the Capitol. The carefully planned mission, however, goes horribly awry when the "pods" (easily triggered defensive weapons that carry everything from black tar waves, to shrapnel bombs, to tracker jackers) are too numerous to avoid. As the Capitol bombs their previous hiding place and assumes they are all dead, the group makes its way to President Snow's mansion on an assassination mission. It doesn't go as planned, however, and Katniss's greatest fears are quickly becoming realities.

I wanted to love this book so much. In fact, it wouldn't have taken much for me to absolutely love it as much as the first two books in the series, but for some reason it fell short for me. It wasn't a huge disappointment, just not as amazing as the first two books were. I would love to hear how others felt about it, because I am worried maybe my own expectations negatively affected my opinion. The truth is I hated Katniss in this book. She was weak and damaged. Ok, I can accept that. But she was also whiny, petulant, and refused to take responsibility for the revolution she played a part in. I wanted so much more out of this older, more mature, and wiser Katniss. I didn't want her to hide in laundry rooms and broom closets for naps throughout the whole book. Even when she gets Peeta back (in bad shape, but away from the Capitol at least), she is still moping about. She does go on about killing Snow, but it almost seems like an afterthought.

Another complaint was the rushed feeling of the deaths of major characters. I will admit, I was reading quickly at some points, but I would read a paragraph and a character would be gone with very little explanation or time to process. Just GONE! Now, I read quite a few apocalyptic stories and dystopias, and I am not surprised when important characters are killed. That is, after all, the nature of the genre. But why wouldn't you give those characters the respect they are due?

I did like the guilt Katniss displayed at how many lives were at stake because of the revolution she was involved in. Every rebel life, every innocent civilian life, and every district that was affected by the war is like one more thing peeling away at Katniss's sanity. I know she was a reluctant face of this war, but is important to see her pain for each and every death her involvement is even loosely responsible for. This humility was one of the most endearing qualities in Katniss, from her first time in the arena with the loss of Rue and even Thresh, all the way to the loss of her friends, like Cinna, and the people of her district. Unfortunately, this guilt seemed to overwhelm the determined Katniss we saw in the first two books- the Katniss who grieved for those losses but it didn't make her stop surviving the most hopeless of situations.

On a whole, this was a decent ending to the series. It isn't what I expected, but that is a good quality in a book. There were some things I didn't like, but they didn't ruin the whole thing for me. I loved this series as a whole, and can't wait to give it to my new students this school year. I am interested to hear what others though, though!