A lot of books claim to be great for fans of The Hunger Games . . . and lots of these books even claim to be the next Hunger Games right on the front cover. And not all of them live up to the hype and success.
The Testing felt like it followed the dystopian formula that Hunger Games (and a few others) created--the controlling big brother government that puts on violent displays for classified and illogical reasons. Don't forget the dystopian world that is a bunch of separate states dwelling in post-apocalyptic poverty controlled by that government, and of course the heroine with some crazy skills and something to prove . . . add a slight thrill of romance with the home town boy and there you have it. I didn't even make it all the way through the testing because I felt like I already knew what was going to happen, and I was just bored with the plot. The main characters weren't particularly inspiring or interesting, and the writing was very choppy and non-descriptive.
Other people might feel differently, and that's fine. I just didn't find anything in the book that compelled me to keep reading to the end. But you know what? That's ok! I have to remind reluctant readers sometimes that it's ok to not finish a book. Don't waste your time with something you're not enjoying, and find something that you do actually want to read.
For those of you who enjoyed Hunger Games and do want to read something like that, I can make a few recommendations of books that are worth your time: The 5th Wave, Proxy, Legend, Unwind, Insignia, Ender's Game, Divergent trilogy, & the Matched trilogy. Any other ones you feel could be in this list? I'd love to know!
No comments:
Post a Comment