Book Review: Catching Fire(Hunger Games book two)

The tricky part about talking about a sequel is depending on how far along someone is in the first book if they stop by to read a review of the next one, whether unintentional or not, a sequel is a huge list of spoilers. I am going to warn you now if you are in the middle of book one or near the end do not read this review. I pretty much stopped on the train in my first review because in my mind the train was the safest place not to ruin exactly how well Suzanne Collins had paced her book. For Katniss the small town girl on her way to the big city things never seemed to slow down once she left that train, everything was new, bright, and exciting, her life(if it continued) would be forever changed by the food, clothing, and amenities she had experienced, the people she would come to meet. And though she had not intended it, her world would be changed by the actions and determination she would show during the games.

A recap of the rules of the Hunger Games: 2 tributes from each district, one boy and one girl(12 districts 24 in all) would be selected each year to participate in the games. The games are to the death, each year there will only be one victor. Previous Victors from your district act like your lifeline to the outside world, they find you sponsors are allowed to send you gifts and train you for the 3 day period before the games. When first entering the arena you must remain one minute on the dais you were raised upon so that the land mines at your feet will be disabled(obviously they were tired of "False Starts").

There is a Cornucopia made of gold sitting to one side and the "arena" for that years games in the other direction. The arena changes every year, as does the terrain, the obstacles within the arena, the outfits you are initially equipped with and items stored within the cornucopia that will help you at least initially during the first phase of the games. Normally the Cornucopia is a blood bath. Careers, tributes who come from districts who have the resources to train their children from a young age to be prepared for the games, tend to form Alliances and wipe out any of the weaker tributes who are at the mouth of the Cornucopia trying to snatch anything to help them survive and they take the choice items for themselves as they hunt down the other tributes before they pick themselves off.

The Debt that can NEVER be Repaid

Book review: The Hunger Games

The world has changed a lot since the disasters long ago, Panem(the country formed out of what was left of North America) is a place of great struggle for some in the districts yet relative ease for those who live in the Capitol, it has been over 70 years since the rebellion and the 12 remaining districts must scrape by until it is time for the tributes to be gathered. To remind the districts of exactly how powerful the Capitol is, how utterly useless resistance would be and as a backdrop to the smoking crater that used to be District 13 each remaining city must submit two children a girl and a boy between the ages of 12-18 to participate in the yearly tournament. This is not just any contest no, it is to the death the winning District is showered with resources and praise, while the losers get to mourn the loss of two more pieces of it's future. 24 children in all one male and one female from every district but the Capitol, and since most have barely enough to survive they are aptly called

The Hunger Games

Katniss is a young girl from the Seam a part of district 12 that is usually home to coal miners. Like many she does not have much even less since an explosion in the coal mine took her father, but

Book Review: Wicked

Everybody has a story, from the nicest person you will ever meet and love introducing people to, to the wretch you can't understand why the Earth didn't swallow up. And the question, no matter where they lie on the spectrum is always the same:Wow, what happened to make you turn out this way? Good or ill people always want to know so that they could either attempt to duplicate the process or else avoid making the same mistakes. Even when it comes to fictional character and iconic scenes you wonder how and why you get to such points don't you?
Wicked is the story of the "Wicked Witch of the West" from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
, what you never had questions? You didn't ever wonder if the "Wicked Witch" had a name? Why was she wicked? How did