Quick Suggestion

Did anyone watch “Day of the Triffids” on TV at Christmas? If you did you should definitely read the book, it’s amazing!

Review – The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Set in the future in a land that was once the USA, this is the story of Katsiss who is chosen to appear in the reality TV show “The Hunger Games”. The big difference between this and our TV shows is that in the Hunger Games contestants must fight to the death to survive! At first I thought this book was a bit far fetched but I soon started to really enjoy it. Towards the end of the book I couldn’t put it down as I was desperate to discover whether Katsiss and her friend Peter both survived.

Review – The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

This is a fantastic science fiction adventure. The story takes place on another planet where years ago, settlers came to live in an attempt to escape their own crowded world. When the settlers arrived they discovered that their new planet contained a “noise germ”. Soon everyone caught this germ which meant that everyone could hear each others thoughts all of the time. Not only that but animals can talk too!

The main character is Todd, the last boy in Prentisstown. The women in Todd’s town have all died out, killed by the noise germ. Or so Todd has been lead to believe. Suddenly Todd realises the world is not as it seems. He attempts to escape Prentisstown and is chased and hounded by the men of the town who are determined to bring him back. Along with his faithful dog Manchee, Todd flees his home town in a desperate attempt to stay alive. However, no matter how fast or how far he runs, the men of Prentisstown always seem to be just behind him.

This is the best book I have read for ages. It is funny and moving and very very exciting! I can’t wait for the sequel!

Rewiew – The Carbon Diaries 2015 by Saci Lloyd

A fantastic and unputdownable book for teenagers!

The story takes place in the near future,  2015.  Due to an increase in severe weather, global warming and pollution the government  decide to  impose carbon rations on the people of Britain. This means that people are allocated a certain amount of carbon dioxide a month (which basically means electricity and fuel). Once people go over that amount they are not allowed any more until the next month. This new lifestyle causes many problems as people are forced to change almost everything about their lives. The story is told by teenager Laura Brown who Chronicles everything in her diary. She is an extremely funny and endearing narrator and her opinions on her family and friend’s reactions to the crisis are fascinating to read. It really makes you think about what life would be like if you HAD to cut down on your energy use . For example, the family in the book are only allowed heating for 3 hours a day and can only watch TV for a very short time. Electricity for washing machines and showers must be carefully rationed. Cars become useless as fuel costs rise and no one can afford to drive them on their rations.

I actually found this book quite scarey. In some ways it is simelar to the excellent “Life as we knew it” by Susan Pfeffer but in other ways it is  much scarier than that book. “Life as we knew it” chronicles a catastrophic but freak disaster from which earth may never recover. “The carbon diaries” chronicles something much closer to home, something that could easily happen and may happen sooner than we think. Setting the diary so close to our own time really makes you think about the impact of  environmental changes on our way of  life. In the book there is a large storm and a huge flood on a scale not usually seen in Britain. The book makes you question whether things like this could happen if we don’t try to do something about global warming.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I am now going to try even harder to be kinder to the environment!

My favourite “dark future” books

These books fall under the category of Science Fiction and all imagine what the world might be like in the future. Despite the fact that this view is usually quite depressing I like these books because they make you think. There are a lot of books like this, these ones are just my personal favourites. With the exception of the first one on the list which is quite adult, the rest of these books can be enjoyed by anyone from age 11-100.

The handmaid’s tale by Margaret Atwood

Exodus by Julia Bertagna

The city of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

The declaration by Gemma Malley

Life as we knew it by Susan Pfeffer

The dead and the gone by Suan Pfeffer

Mortal engines by Philip Reeve

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

The day of the Triffids by John Wyndham