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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
i was honestly a little hesitant to read thos at first because the synopsis kind of confused me a little but the cover was extremely gorgeous (and yes, I do judge books based off of their covers, sorry) so I was plesantly surprised when I read it and I absolutely loved it. it is such a great book and I would recomend it to everyone.
I was pretty disappointed in this book because it just didn't have the 'edge' I expected it to have. It was not captivating and failed to keep me interested and ended up having to force myself to finally finish reading it.
Now, Panic. The book is about a game that the seniors in Carp play every summer after graduating. Panic was far from being 'legendary' because it simply lacked anything exciting. Maybe I was wrong to be expecting a much more action packed game but really it was just a series of stupid stunts by kids that time after time just ended up with them being caught by the police which really did start to get pretty annoying. When the participants and spectators of the games were not being caught by police they were just getting drunk. Yes. It seemed that's what everyone did. Drink, drink and drink. The games themselves just lacked anything really interesting and there was a significant absence of description in these moments which just left everything more than a little bit bland. It was a bit like eating crackers by themselves. Dry and a rather bit tasteless.
The same could be said about the characters who were certainly in need of a lot more development. As it was I never really got a feel for any of the characters and couldn't form any ideas or even begin to start liking them. If that had been sorted out then it would have gone a long way to making the whole story a lot less dreary.
Sometime toward the end of the book something relatively exciting did begin to unfold but even that was over pretty quickly and hardly any suspense was built at all which was a slight disappointment.
I did however find the idea very appealing and having the split POV from Heather and Dodge was quite nice because you got to see what the games were like for them (even though that didn't appear to happen very much). Although I honestly would have preferred to see Bishop's point of view rather than Dodge's.
Maybe I just didn't have my heart in the book and perhaps I will read it again eventually and like it more than I did this time round but really, it just didn't hook me.
Now, Panic. The book is about a game that the seniors in Carp play every summer after graduating. Panic was far from being 'legendary' because it simply lacked anything exciting. Maybe I was wrong to be expecting a much more action packed game but really it was just a series of stupid stunts by kids that time after time just ended up with them being caught by the police which really did start to get pretty annoying. When the participants and spectators of the games were not being caught by police they were just getting drunk. Yes. It seemed that's what everyone did. Drink, drink and drink. The games themselves just lacked anything really interesting and there was a significant absence of description in these moments which just left everything more than a little bit bland. It was a bit like eating crackers by themselves. Dry and a rather bit tasteless.
The same could be said about the characters who were certainly in need of a lot more development. As it was I never really got a feel for any of the characters and couldn't form any ideas or even begin to start liking them. If that had been sorted out then it would have gone a long way to making the whole story a lot less dreary.
Sometime toward the end of the book something relatively exciting did begin to unfold but even that was over pretty quickly and hardly any suspense was built at all which was a slight disappointment.
I did however find the idea very appealing and having the split POV from Heather and Dodge was quite nice because you got to see what the games were like for them (even though that didn't appear to happen very much). Although I honestly would have preferred to see Bishop's point of view rather than Dodge's.
Maybe I just didn't have my heart in the book and perhaps I will read it again eventually and like it more than I did this time round but really, it just didn't hook me.
I liked this book a lot. Interesting concept. I could've used more dramatic challenges or at least more descriptions of the challenges. Some just seemed to fall short. Although I am glad Oliver let Dodge out of his personal challenge though because then I didn't have to read about spiders! Thank you Lauren! The ending also seemed to wrap up rather quickly, but overall I liked it. It was a good stand alone YA novel and I would recommend it.
I love Lauren Oliver books. The Delirium series is one of my all time favorites, but Panic did not fulfill my expectations. 'Panic' is a game that graduating seniors play every year with the prize being all the money collected from the 'tax' that the students enforce everyday at school. You never really get to know how this all started though and how they've been able to get away with this all these years. Which is something I struggled with while reading it. The cops would be on top of the students graduating, parents would most likely make sure their kids wouldn't go out at night, etc. Something I also didn't like about the whole story was that the characters in the story would risk their lives for money. Half the time the characters realized that they'd be leaving behind friends, family and throwing away their whole future just for money. The main characters were also fighting for more than money though which saved them from being totally greedy, they were each struggling with something inside them and the game served as some sort of redemption. The characters were one of my favorite parts in the story. The characters were very relatable and easy to sympathize with. Oliver portryed teenagers really well I'd say, sneaking out, drinking and having fun hanging out with friends, but not exaggerating it either. A large part of the story was really predictable as well, but that could be just me, I'm pretty good at guessing the ending of books. So, the reason I gave this book only 3 stars was because I did really enjoy the whole idea of the book and the characters were very well written, but the story had a lot of holes in it making it hard to really enjoy it.
I debated between 2 and 3 stars. I liked the story, but the characters needed more depth.
I. Don’t. Get. It. This lacked continuity, and was just a disappointment.
I really liked this book. It was a pleasant change from the last book I read, which was crap.
Here are my only issues with it:
1. This game has been going on for how many years, with how many illegal stunts (especially Joust, which paralyzed someone) and the cops only start to care during this time?? Super convenient.
2. The synopsis is a little misleading. It makes it sound as though Heather and Dodge will be the romantically intertwined ones, and that isn't the case at all. It was nice to read something that didn't place ALL the emphasis on the romance (and Lauren Oliver is pretty good at that in general) but I was still looking forward to it somewhat.
3. The ending is kind of vague and there is zero closure. They all go have a happy day at the creek where the Jump happens. She details their plans for the future (sort of) but never closes anything off for sure. Are Heather/Bishop a thing? What about Dodge/Nat? Did any of them face any repercussions from Panic? What about Bishop, who turned himself into the cops at one point? Was he never prosecuted for orchestrating these things?
But that's really it. Still a very awesome book, and NO IT'S NOT A HUNGER GAMES REDUX. The general idea is similar (teens in a dangerous game) but it's not a fight to the death unless you make it that way. It's certainly not dystopian.
I digress. It's awesome, read it. 4 stars.
Here are my only issues with it:
1. This game has been going on for how many years, with how many illegal stunts (especially Joust, which paralyzed someone) and the cops only start to care during this time?? Super convenient.
2. The synopsis is a little misleading. It makes it sound as though Heather and Dodge will be the romantically intertwined ones, and that isn't the case at all. It was nice to read something that didn't place ALL the emphasis on the romance (and Lauren Oliver is pretty good at that in general) but I was still looking forward to it somewhat.
3. The ending is kind of vague and there is zero closure. They all go have a happy day at the creek where the Jump happens. She details their plans for the future (sort of) but never closes anything off for sure. Are Heather/Bishop a thing? What about Dodge/Nat? Did any of them face any repercussions from Panic? What about Bishop, who turned himself into the cops at one point? Was he never prosecuted for orchestrating these things?
But that's really it. Still a very awesome book, and NO IT'S NOT A HUNGER GAMES REDUX. The general idea is similar (teens in a dangerous game) but it's not a fight to the death unless you make it that way. It's certainly not dystopian.
I digress. It's awesome, read it. 4 stars.
If I hadn't previously read the Delirium series I may not have been so harsh on this book. All I kept thinking while reading is "when is the good twist going to happen?" or "I know she can write better than this."
I found the book too predictable. Sure there were tiny things that I didn't see coming, but they were inconsequential in the scheme of things. And since there is more than one narrator it's hard to develop character depth, which was something I found endearing in Delirium.
Do I think lots of ya readers will love this book? Absolutely. I just wasn't one of them.
A lot of people are asking if this is like a dystopian Hunger Games like book. No, it's really just a bunch of bored teenagers trying to win money. The plot summary makes it seem like there's much more at stake than there is.
I found the book too predictable. Sure there were tiny things that I didn't see coming, but they were inconsequential in the scheme of things. And since there is more than one narrator it's hard to develop character depth, which was something I found endearing in Delirium.
Do I think lots of ya readers will love this book? Absolutely. I just wasn't one of them.
A lot of people are asking if this is like a dystopian Hunger Games like book. No, it's really just a bunch of bored teenagers trying to win money. The plot summary makes it seem like there's much more at stake than there is.