I delayed my Friday post because I wanted to wait until I finished the Underland Chronicles, which took longer than expected because school reared its ugly head.

So, firstly, I want to say that my favourite thing about these books and all of Suzanne Collin's writing is that she writes for and about children as if they are capable and intelligent people. Even the two year old is treated as a character with depth and growth and understanding. The scene in the fourth book, where Gregor finally realizes he has to explain death to his youngest sister is tragic and beautiful.

The world these books take place in so vastly different from ours it almost couldn't be anything but a metaphor for ours.

The story begins with Gregor and his two year old sister Boots (I believe her real name is Margaret, but no one ever calls her that) fall through a grate in their laundry room, fall and fall, and fall. When they finally land, carried gently to the ground by air currents, they are among giant cockroaches.

They are quickly brought to the Underland city of Regalia, where the humans dwell and are thrown into events surrounding an ancient prophecy.

As the books progress and more prophecies happen understanding who are the bad guys and who are the good guys becomes more and more difficult. And it is this dilemma that makes the books as fantastic as they are to me. This honesty, this integrity that the writing has to real life is resonating and poignant. I love that in the languages of the other creatures in the Underland humans are called "killers" and the most atrocious act (well one of the two) performed in the books is performed by a human.

I hated this human for two books. Would have been happy to see her die. And then she did die. Quietly, with nothing anyone could do to help her. And it was tragic and sad. And I felt her loss.

I also loved how deaths in this book were sudden and plentiful. Which sounds weird in a children's book. After all most of the deaths in Harry Potter were these big climatic moments that shook that world on its hinges. But so often in life death happens when you can't afford to stop and grieve. Death is like that here. It happens suddenly, and stupidly, and heroically, and at the most inconvenient time.

The characters are all different and never seem to get along for more than brief periods of time which keeps things interesting. And I am continually impressed with Collins ability to make even the briefest of characters have depth and motivations. A small that I really enjoyed was how she gave each race a different cadence of speech. As if they really were from different lands and had accents and such.

And I loved Temp (the cockroach) he was awesome.

Throughout the books Collins demonstrates her ability to write fast paced, entertaining stories while displaying an empathy to war torn cultures and soldiers hardly ever seen in adult books, let alone children's books. If I had young children, I would make them read these simply for the fact that she challenges the reader to not think of wars as good guys and bad guys but as two societies doing atrocious things to one another. And how, ultimately, everyone suffers and no one gains.

Did I meet my goals from last week?

Well, I met one of them.

The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan was finished. And I have mixed feelings on it. I enjoyed the plot quite a bit. It was original and gripping, and I never knew how much some of the characters were hiding.
But I did find it hard to really get into any of the characters. One of them I outright despised, because of how much he kept hidden and all the lies he kept telling. I will read the rest of the series as it comes out but I do hope the characters become more likable.

I also started the Gregor the Overlander series by Suzanne Collins. I finished the first book and am about halfway done the second.

Gregor the Overlander was fast paced with enjoyable characters and really good dialogue. It was definitely aimed at a younger audience then The Hunger Games and Catching Fire but still had a similar feel to both. Collins is very good at paying attention to little details in a way that adds to the story.

Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane is just as fast paced and intricate but now that we know all the main players in the story we're getting more character development and interaction. Which I love. In both books, in a similar fashion to The Hunger Games, Collins manages to tell highly entertaining stories that say something about society and humanity without sound at all preachy or like she set out to teach you something.

This week I will finish the Gregor series, they're easy reads, and I WILL start The Forest of Hands and Teeth...or possibly Devilish by Maureen Johnson.

Wow, I read quite a bit this week.

The most important, of course, being Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.
I'm not going to say too much about as we are planning a sequels episodes for October, but I will say I liked it. I was not disappointed, although I did want more of Gale. And I wouldn't mind getting to see some of the other female characters take leading roles in the events. I had trouble even thinking of a female character other than Katniss earlier when trying to think of people Peeta could get with. Because, as I'm sure you agree, he and Katniss do not belong together. And I cannot wait for the third book. It is physically painful that I have to wait a year.

Also, I read The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale for the podcast.
I liked the main character and the originality of the story. Some characters, like Tutor Olana, felt predictable but I was mostly pleased with it. I really enjoyed the slow and steady self-discovery the main character went through. It was a good reflection of the setting and fit very well into the story. It wasn't my usual fair and had we not been podcasting on it, I probably never would have read it. More on this in episode 4 of the podcast, which will be out this weekend.


I re-listened to the last two chapters of The Two Travellers by Mark Jeffrey.
I actually find myself listening to these two chapters more than any other. They are definitely my favourite. I enjoy learning Max's secret and learning more about Enki from Ninti. And the image of the crows pulsing in the archway before exploding outwards is so wonderfully crafted.
Also, a horrible thought occurred to me. Well, a bittersweet one. I'm very happy for the author to have gotten a publishing deal for the first book. Very, very happy. BUT what does this mean for the third? Will we have to wait four or five years?
The very thought makes my fingers freeze on the keyboard. Five years of not knowing? I'm not thinking about this anymore.

And finally, I started reading The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan.I'm on page seventy-five and I like it so far. I like the characters and the mystery she's building. And the story feels original. I'm looking forward to reading the rest. Unfortunately I fell pray to my own weakness and peeked at the end. And if one of the characters is going the way I think he is, well, I'm not sure if I like that. But I do like that it is now making me examine every little thing he does. And helps in convincing me that I need to work on that little problem of mine.




My goals for next week are to finish the Demon's Lexicon and start The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. Let's hope it happens!

To kick off the beginning of our own blog, we are re-releasing the first three episodes of our podcast.

You can also subscribe to us on iTunes

#1 - An Interview with Mark Jeffrey
In which self-published author, Mark Jeffrey, gave us an interview about his books and about the ways the publishing world was changing.

#2 - Graceling
In which we discussed Graceling by Kristin Cashore.

#3 - The Hunger Games
In which we discussed the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Expect our fourth episode out within a week. Hope you enjoy.