Comments on: DystopYA Reading Challenge: October 5 – December 31, 2009

By: Little Brother by Cory Doctorow | Book Hoarding

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow | Book Hoarding — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:13:24 +0000

[...] makes all 3 of the books for the BOTNS DystopYA Challenge. Now on to Bart’s Dystypian Reading Challenge. Share and [...]

By: Taking Charge ~ Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

Taking Charge ~ Little Brother by Cory Doctorow — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 06:30:05 +0000

[...] makes all 3 of the books for the BOTNS DystopYA Challenge. Now on to Bart’s Dystypian Reading [...]

By: Melissa

Melissa — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:32:57 +0000

I’ve really enjoyed this challenge. I’m afraid I got carried away and read way too many of these books. My comments can be found at http://www.melissabookwormblogger.blogspot.com.

Thanks for coming up with the idea of this challege. Now, we just need a new challenge for the near year!

By: Suzy Levin

Suzy Levin — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:23:49 +0000

This was a fun challenge! I just finished my last book- Uglies- and will be posting the review tomorrow at Chick with Books! Since reading Dystopian fiction for the challenge, I’ve realized how much I enjoy the genre! Thanks… i think…:D

By: Tanya

Tanya — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:04:38 +0000

I commented on three titles: The Giver Trilogy (by Lois Lowry,) Catching Fire (by Suzanne Collins) and, The Maze Runner (by James Dashner) under one post labeled as “The Giver Trilogy” (#7 above.) I tried to keep the comments brief, no easy task considering the wealth of materials at hand!

By: Dominique

Dominique — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:23:40 +0000

Book One: The Giver

Book 2: Tomorrow, When the War Began

By: Shannon Wells

Shannon Wells — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:26:39 +0000

I LOVE this challenge, and have had a great time participating…. I have a list of books I have read, and a list that I want to read. Here is what I have read so far:

The Hunger Games/Catching Fire: Really like this series, and can’t wait for the last book. (Technically, I had read The Hunger Games this Spring, and had been waiting for the follow up). Katniss is an interesting character, as is Peta, but the rest of the characters aren’t as well fleshed out. Hunger Games my favorite of the two.

The Uglies Trilogy: Out of the “Dystopya” books I have been reading, these were my least favorite. They are OK, and Scott Westerfeld has created an interesting premise, but I really had a hard time not getting distracted by the language/phrasing/slang used. I know that I am not the intended audience, as I am a 40 YO woman, but by the end of the trilogy, I really had to push myself to finish. First book in the trilogy was the strongest.

Forest of Hands and Teeth: I liked this one, again I liked the “premise” of the book more than I liked the actual execution. I thought the ending was a bit of a let down, but not sure what I was actually expecting.

The Maze Runner: LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this book, and can’t believe I will need to wait until next Fall for the next book. (But, I guess I survived after The Hunger Games….) Like the Uglies “slang”, it took me a bit of time to get into the rhythm of the language, but pretty quickly got up and running with it. I didn’t find it distracting like I did with Uglies… I couldn’t put it down, and really felt invested in both the characters and in finding out the big secret…. I am even OK that we don’t find out everything (but then, I guess, we wouldn’t need the rest of the trilogy!).

Out of the ones I have read since the challenge began, listed above, I can give the highest recommendations to The Maze Runner and the Hunger Games/Catching Fire.

What I am going to try to read before the end of the challenge:
The Giver and Jennifer Government, and I might also even jump into my copy of Battle Royale, which I had purchased right after reading The Hunger Games, but just haven’t been able to bring myself to start. It’s been sitting on my nightstand!

I can also give a good recommendation for Life as We Knew it, which I read last fall, and The Unit (while it isn’t YA, and so not for this challenge, I have just read it and can recommend it to those who like Dystopian fiction…).

Thanks for the challenge!!

By: Kerry McCabe

Kerry McCabe — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:20:41 +0000

Add “Into the Forest” by Jean Hegland as one of the best of the type.

By: Ann Kingman

Ann Kingman — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:14:54 +0000

Laura, I loved Jennifer Government, but had forgotten all about it. Thanks for the reminder!

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:37:24 +0000

I love dystopia fiction! I’m in. Another great series is Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Shadow Children. Fast reads, but intense. Hunger Games was good, though it dragged a little for me; I will be reading Catching Fire anyway. On my list is Candor by Bachorz, The Knife of Never Letting Go, and Maze Runner for a start. A few others I’ll have to find first. Another great book is Max Barry’s Jennifer Government, even though it’s not YA, it’s still a good dystopia novel.