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mycatastrophe 's review for:
Panic
by Lauren Oliver
This review was originally posted on Caity Reads.
I hate to say it, but I did not enjoy Panic as much as I originally thought I would. It wasn’t a bad book, it was definitely enjoyable, but I don’t really feel like it left too much of an impression on me. The premise was very interesting, and for the most part was very well executed; I just didn’t find the book as exciting as I was told it was going to be. Panic is a game in which that years seniors in high school are able to participate in. Every one pays a dollar a day for the school year, and at the end of the year that money is the “pot” for the game of Panic. The game begins the day after graduation and people who choose to participate are put through a series of challenges in which they do illegal things and risk their lives. People have died in previous years playing this game. The pot for this years group is $67,000. I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure that a chance at that money would be enough to make me risk my life in the challenges they were put through.
The book is told in a dual perspective, from our two main characters, Heather and Dodge. It picks up right after they make “the jump” which is the first challenge. Then goes back to earlier that day. It is the only real time jump in this book, and was there to help understand more of why our character Heather made the jump. I enjoyed the format of this book quite a lot. It was broken up into different days of the summer and then each day would have a few chapters, alternating from Heather to Dodge. I really enjoyed the side characters Bishop and Lily, but found Natalie quite annoying.
I have heard quite a lot of feedback saying that people loved the challenges in the book, and that their heart was racing while reading about them. I did not experience this. I’m not sure why, but the writing did not do much for me in this novel. Not that the writing was horrible or anything like that, it just didn’t leave much of an impression. I think the main character Heather was probably the best part of the book for me. I sympathized for her and I loved her character development. I also liked Dodge for the most part; sometimes I found him really frustrating and other times I really liked him.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book. There were some things that definitely could have been better, but I think it’s worth a read. (It would probably be more accurate for me to rate this book a 3.5 stars.)
I hate to say it, but I did not enjoy Panic as much as I originally thought I would. It wasn’t a bad book, it was definitely enjoyable, but I don’t really feel like it left too much of an impression on me. The premise was very interesting, and for the most part was very well executed; I just didn’t find the book as exciting as I was told it was going to be. Panic is a game in which that years seniors in high school are able to participate in. Every one pays a dollar a day for the school year, and at the end of the year that money is the “pot” for the game of Panic. The game begins the day after graduation and people who choose to participate are put through a series of challenges in which they do illegal things and risk their lives. People have died in previous years playing this game. The pot for this years group is $67,000. I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure that a chance at that money would be enough to make me risk my life in the challenges they were put through.
The book is told in a dual perspective, from our two main characters, Heather and Dodge. It picks up right after they make “the jump” which is the first challenge. Then goes back to earlier that day. It is the only real time jump in this book, and was there to help understand more of why our character Heather made the jump. I enjoyed the format of this book quite a lot. It was broken up into different days of the summer and then each day would have a few chapters, alternating from Heather to Dodge. I really enjoyed the side characters Bishop and Lily, but found Natalie quite annoying.
I have heard quite a lot of feedback saying that people loved the challenges in the book, and that their heart was racing while reading about them. I did not experience this. I’m not sure why, but the writing did not do much for me in this novel. Not that the writing was horrible or anything like that, it just didn’t leave much of an impression. I think the main character Heather was probably the best part of the book for me. I sympathized for her and I loved her character development. I also liked Dodge for the most part; sometimes I found him really frustrating and other times I really liked him.
Overall, I really enjoyed the book. There were some things that definitely could have been better, but I think it’s worth a read. (It would probably be more accurate for me to rate this book a 3.5 stars.)