lordbane68's reviews
317 reviews

Great story by Marie Lu, outstanding narrations / voice acting by Natalie Naudus.
A prime example of how the synergistic relationship between the two can create something really special.
The only reason I didn't give this a five-star was because I believe the premise on how the "pairing" is set up could have done in a more believable way.

I liked how this story gives insight into the history of the Games, specifically how certain aspects of the games came to be. I also enjoyed how Covey in District 12 (in the former Blue Ridge mountains area of North Carolina) reminded me of live music shows in my area of the Blue Ridge mountains area during my youth. But those redeeming qualities were not enough to save this novel for me.

In many ways, this story of Lucy Gray/Dr. Gaul/Coriolanus reminds me of the Padme/Palpatine/Anakin story, and not in a good way. Although he had a seed of "evil" in him (for various reasons), and he was being groomed towards the "dark" side, he did seem to really care, dare I say love, Lucy Gray, and so I felt the drastic flip/change in Coriolanus was too rushed at the end.

This is easily my least favorite of the Hunger Games novels.

I discovered this through the Amazon World Book Day. I quite enjoyed this little book of Swedish origin. The audiobook version is very well done as well. I definitely recommend.