The Shifter, by Janice Hardy

Disclaimer: All reviews are the result of my personal opinion from a Christian stand-point. These reviews are provided for those who share my beliefs and morals, to help guide what fiction a reader may wish to pick up. For those who do not share these beliefs, please refrain from hateful comments. It is due to rude commenting that I must now include this note prior to all reviews. For more information, visit my purpose behind this blog. Thank you for your understanding.

Summary:

Intended Age-Group: 10+
Issues of Violence: physical injuries, magic-related violence, blackmail, some torture-like scenes.
Intimacy Level: Mild affection
Swearing: none
Recommendation: 4 out of 5 stars

The cover looks like snow and light. Even more delightful was the description on the back cover--something new. A story that didn't sound generic.

Blurb:
Janice Hardy weaves a tale about 15-year-old Nya the Shifter. Nya is a bold, brave, protective older sister who has the ability to shift pain from someone and transfer it into someone else. She's always wanted to be a Healer, but Healers transfer pain into a giant slab of a magical stone called pynvium instead of people. Nya is a freak on her home island of Geveg because of her unusual skill. She can be blackmailed and abused if anyone with power finds out that she can put pain into people instead of the Slab. And this is just what the people with power seek to do when Nya makes a fatal mistake.

Characters: *****
Nya's character acted her age and it was interesting to watch the changes her character took as she was further and further blackmailed. How far would she go to save her sister? Were her choices ethical? What would you have done in her situation? I love her's spunk and loyalty to her friends and family. She sees the whole picture of things and addresses all issues instead of just her initial goal. This is admirable, but at the same time she often finds herself biting of much more than she can chew. 

Nya is a likeable character with her own flaws. She desires to do good things, but is constantly thrust in difficult situations with no clear-cut-right answer. When Healers from the League of Healers start disappearing on the brink of war, Nya's focus is turned to the safety of her sister, Tali, a Healer who lives and trains at the League. When Tali is reported missing, chaos strikes. Not only is Nya thrust into the thick of things, but her heart won't allow her to just save her sister. She wants to uncover the answer to all the disappearances. She allows nothing to stop her. Not until the pain of her island is relieved. 

I love first-person books because I feel more in the head of the character, but it was a squeeze with Nya. The development was limited, but what really solidified the "flat" feel of characterization was the lack of development in side characters. I wanted to know more about the cute boy and his family, more about Tali and why she didn't try to help Nya from dying of starvation more than she did. Characterization is the main story-driver for me and The Shifter just didn't leave me feeling like I'd read about a real human being (even though it's fiction).

Plot: *****
I enjoyed this book--it was a quick and fast-paced read, though it wasn't a top-notch page-turner. Toward the end as the action rose, too many "surprises" popped up to save the day. Nya discovered more and more secret skills that happened to fit the exact need for the current crisis. They seemed like cop-outs for the author when she didn't know how to handle the situation. These different skills would have been more believable and, in my opinion, appropriate had they been introduced at times other than the middle of the crises.

Spiritual Content: *****

The "deities" throughout the novels are called Saints. The way Nya thinks of them refers to multiple saints, kind of like the Greek gods. She prays to different ones for luck, guidance, healing, etc. The prayers or mentions of saints are frequent throughout the book, though nothing ever really comes from her prayers. Her relationship with the deities was nonexistent. They were made of stone and acted like stone, typical of all gods apart from the Living God.

Other: There's not much in this novel that I'd label as "inappropriate". There's a brief mention about Nya kicking a man who had pinched her "nowhere proper". There's also insinuation about show-girls and possible prostitution, but nothing is said flat-out. I don't think there's anything worth fussing over.

Overall Recommendation:

I recommend this book, particularly for its originality and thought-provoking aspects. It brings up a lot of questions about pain, human suffering, and sacrifice. It's appropriate for the intended age group (10 and up). Put that fascinating cover on your shelf!

Violence Level: ***

Romance Level: **

Christian Focus: *

Readability Level: ***

Story Depth Level: ***

Recommendation: ****

For a more detailed explanation of the above ratings, visit the 6-Point Nutshell post.



Nadine Brandes is an adventurer, fusing authentic faith with bold imagination. She writes stories about brave living, finding purpose, and other worlds soaked in imagination. Her debut dystopian novel, A Time to Die, releases 2014 from Marcher Lord Press, the premier publisher of Christian speculative fiction. When Nadine's not taste-testing a new chai or editing fantasy novels, she is out pursuing adventures. She currently lives in Idaho with her husband. You can find out more about Nadine and her books at http://nadinebrandes.com.

Hunger Games: Book vs. Movie

Disclaimer: All reviews are the result of my personal opinion from a Christian stand-point. These reviews are provided for those who share my beliefs and morals, to help guide what fiction a reader may wish to pick up. For those who do not share these beliefs, please refrain from hateful comments. It is due to rude commenting that I must now include this note prior to all reviews. For more information, visit my purpose behind this blog. Thank you for your understanding.
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Note: This is not a post about "Well the book had this, but the movie didn't!" This is giving a review of the book and movie in relation to "appropriateness".

I'll admit, I obsessed slightly over the movie--reading the magazines in the store, watching every new video clip, gripping my husband's hand every time I saw a poster, learning every trivia fact about each actress or actor. So naturally, I felt the need to re-read the book before seeing the movie. I wanted to solidify my imagined-version of The Hunger Games before inserting the movie into my memory. In doing so, I found myself with a more developed opinion and point of view than with my first review of the Hunger Games.

Here it is:

THE BOOK

The Story

Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12--one of the 12 Districts remaining after the downfall of the world from natural disasters. She's fought to put food on the table for her family since she was eleven years old. The new government--the Capitol--runs the districts and the people in them, controlling them through withholding food, limiting freedom, and through holding The Hunger Games every year.

The Hunger Games are a way to remind the people of the Capitol's control. Each district is forced to relinquish a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and 18, called "tributes", to battle to the death in a giant arena. Twenty-four total tributes. Only one can win, which means 23 must die. Oh yes, and it's broadcasted to the world like a sickening, modern-day Colosseum.

The only person Katniss knows she really loves is her 12-year-old sister, Prim, so when it's a choice between herself and Prim dying in the Hunger Games, she steps forward and dooms her future to being a part of the nation's largest and most popular yearly bloodbath. Not only that, but the boy that she's going to be fighting from her district saved her life four years earlier.

The difficulty of Katniss's life is portrayed so perfectly through her point of view--the way she thinks, the things she notices, the things she fears...it all matches and forms her character perfectly. Every choice that she makes is consistent with the knowledge that she's gained through her lifestyle.

My Opinion

It was very different reading this a second time through. I still teared up at the same moments and admired Katniss's character, but I really saw the depressing side of the story in a new light. This book leaves you desperately grasping for any tiny measure of hope. You don't get it at the end. What's worse, is that the reader never gets hope through the entire series. It's only waiting and hoping...hoping for something good, something redeeming, something that will bring some sort of restoration. It never comes. Even in fighting for goodness, no goodness ever arrives. 

It's a powerful series about the hopelessness of war, the cruelty and selfishness of mankind, and the dark side of life--life void of God. The hope that I pull out of this series is thankfulness that life isn't really like that. It's not like that for me because I know that I have God who's given my life a purpose (Jeremiah 29:11-14). 

There is no hopelessness in God. But in The Hunger Games series, there is no hope...because God is not in them. The story is considered raw and real (even though it's futuristic) because that is the type of future that people face without God. I'm not trying to say that "hope in God" is Suzanne Collin's message, it's just what I see after reading the series again.

Romance. The romance is not the main focus of this book and never is through the entire series. There is a love triangle, but it's not typical. Katniss's focus is on survival, not love. There are moment when she starts actually contemplating love--it's something she's never really thought about. 

There is a lot of kissing in one portion of the book, but it remains very clear-cut and clean. She shares a sleeping bag with a boy a few times solely for the sake of keeping warm. During the prep time, Katniss is stripped of her clothes and her body is surveyed by her stylist. He remains purely professional, but even the reader feels Katniss's awkwardness. There is also a moment when Katniss is stripping Peeta's clothes off because of an injury--she admits to herself that she's embarrassed to see him naked and makes sure he has a cloth to cover himself so that she doesn't have to.

Disturbing Images: I felt like this was a better category instead of violence. The violence is prominent--24 kids are fighting to the death, there's going to be violence whether you like it or not. If you go into this book hoping for no violence, you should expect to be upset. 

Some of the more described moments of violence may be something that stick in a reader's head--especially a reader with a good imagination. I'm 25 and the images are in my head, undoubtedly permanent. A boy gets stabbed in the back and coughs blood onto Katniss's face; there are multiple "agonized screams" throughout the book when another tribute is killed; there is a moment when Katniss is having hallucinations of ants crawling all over her body--inside her mouth and eyes, burning and biting. She also hallucinates that human skin peels off of another tribute's body whenever she touches her.

A tribute gets stabbed with a spear, another gets her head bashed in by a stone, also, Katniss shoots a boy in the neck with an arrow and he drowns in his own blood. Possibly the most disturbing scene is at the end when a boy is being mauled, slowly and tortuously, by ferocious beasts for hours on end. He's finally silenced with an arrow through his skull. 

This. Is. A. Violent. Book.

So why do I like it so much? I've examined my thinking quite a lot and still have few concrete answers. I love the depth of the characters, I admire the intricacies of the dystopian world created, I think that the plot-line is delivered in a very original way (even though there are similar books out there like Battle Royale), and I can see the power behind this book. I love reading original stories and I love seeing characters with passion. It's the writer-side of me that loves this book. The reader-side of me is a bit more hesitant. I'm also a happy-ending type of person. I don't like being depressed or feeling hopeless. 

I do, however, like to think--think about life, contemplate new ideas that an author might be sending. If you're a serious reader, the Hunger Games will make you think. But that's not good enough for me to recommend a book. I can't recommend it, yet I also can't say "steer clear". In the case of The Hunger Games, I will have to leave it up to your own discretion, to pull from my review a decision for yourself.

I will say, however, that I do not think it is appropriate for young readers. "Young" meaning under 16 years of age or so. I see kids in elementary-school reading it after school while waiting for the bus. Even though something in me loves the books, I still want to rip it out of their hands and scream, "Wait a few more years! You don't need this in your mind yet!".

Why? Because they're powerful.

I want to acknowledge Collin's incredible imagination and notable skill in writing. I, in no way, want to "bash on her". I know that she's very popular and her books are the newest rage. I'm one of her admirers and I hope to cause no dissent, but I can't turn a blind eye to the bitter message that darkens over the course of the series.

THE MOVIE

I've never seen a movie so accurately depict a book before. There were direct lines from the book, hardly any alterations, and it was delivered in a way that still made sense to those who hadn't read the book (or so my husband says). I was deeply impressed by Lionsgate (I'll admit, I'd had my doubts) and have further faith in them for the production of future movies.

My opinion after reading the book before the movie: I thought Hunger Games was far less violent than the book (graphic-wise). 

My husband's opinion from watching the movie without reading the book: he found it more violent than he expected.

Even with what I believed to be less violence, the movie was intense. The strongest point of the movie was the beginning--the Reaping. After that, once Katniss entered the games, I feel like the movie settled into more of a generic action film. It lost something, but I don't think the loss was avoidable. I think because of the frequency of action films in our culture today, we're a bit immune when it comes to "intensity" or action. I don't think it was possible to give the movie the same deep feel as the book. For some, this is a good thing.

 

I enjoyed the beginning of the movie the most and I breathed a small sigh of relief at the end. As I'd hoped, the filmmakers closed the film with a bit more hope--at least a couple smiles. I'm glad they didn't leave it like the book: hopeless and depressing. 

Also, there was less "romantic" emphasis than I'd expected, which was nice, and the physical moments mentioned in the book (Katniss being naked before her stylist, her stripping Peeta of his clothes, and both of them sharing a sleeping bag) were all excluded. The driving force behind the movie is drama, violence, and survival.

In any case, all the same deaths took place. The bloodbath at the beginning showed more than I would have thought for a PG-13 movie. It was pushing R, and actually...I think to accurately include everything from the book it would have had to been rated R. The ending with the muttations was tamed down from the book--thank heavens! In fact, the movie version was a little cheesy, but still scary. I'm glad because I found that to be one of the most disturbing moments of the book.

A note on violence: I wouldn't dare to say whether or not the violence is too high or not for a teen--that opinion is solely subjective and depends on how much violence that teen is exposed to on a daily basis through life, movies, books, etc. But let me pose a question for the parents:

Do you encourage your child to read the Bible?

Random question, perhaps, but think about the violence in the Bible. There is slaughter of men, women, and children. There are graphic deaths/murders (just read 1 & 2 Samuel!) that get into detail (think of Ehud stabbing the king, Jael hammering a tent peg into Sisera's skull, Haman hanging on the gallows, Joab murdering Amasa who wallowed in his own blood, etc.).  The Bible gets graphic, too. We encourage our children to "dig into the Word", yet seethe at the idea of fictional violence.

I think it's notable to say we don't want to be I-M-M-U-N-E. We don't want to be blind to violence, we don't want our children to be blind to the real world (or do we?), but we don't want to be immune to violence.

A note on swearing: There were a few swear words in the film like "d***" and "h***. I can honestly say that they added to the intensity and were used in the moment so strategically that I almost didn't notice them. Also, I think this falls into the same category as my comment on violence. These same words are in the Bible. I think it's safe to ask, are we going to black out every "swear" word in the Bible to protect our kids? Just food for thought...

I can't cut-and-dry this movie into a review of good vs. bad. I can't just look at the logistics of The Hunger Games in movie form. There is so much to this novel and movie; I can't just review it as if I'm commenting on the quality of a slice of pie.

Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal of Katniss was phenomenal. Before I even saw the movie I just started thinking of her as Katniss. Her grimaces, lip trembles, gasps, and voice breaks portrayed all the feelings that the book took an entire page to describe. Her acting pole-vaulted far past "up-to-par".
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Overall, the movie was very very well done. I was pleased and felt more rest and satisfaction at the end of it than I did at the end of the book. It was also very thought-provoking. I don't know anyone who's read the books and come out of them with a strong opinion. I would love to hear more of these opinions below! Here are some questions to spur on some response:

Did you enjoy the Hunger Games (movie or book)? Why or why not?

Do you think the violence is too excessive?

If you're a believer in Christ, would you ever recommend this book? Why or why not?

And of course--if you've read the book and seen the movie, how did the two compare?

p.s. I found this review by Christianity Today rather fabulous. Everything I would have liked to say.

Nadine Brandes is an adventurer, fusing authentic faith with bold imagination. She writes stories about brave living, finding purpose, and other worlds soaked in imagination. Her debut dystopian novel, A Time to Die, releases 2014 from Marcher Lord Press, the premier publisher of Christian speculative fiction. When Nadine's not taste-testing a new chai or editing fantasy novels, she is out pursuing adventures. She currently lives in Idaho with her husband. You can find out more about Nadine and her books at http://nadinebrandes.com.

Crossed, by Ally Condie (Matched Trilogy, #2)

Disclaimer: All reviews are the result of my personal opinion from a Christian stand-point. These reviews are provided for those who share my beliefs and morals, to help guide what fiction a reader may wish to pick up. For those who do not share these beliefs, please refrain from hateful comments. It is due to rude commenting that I must now include this note prior to all reviews. For more information, visit my purpose behind this blog. Thank you for your understanding.

Summary:
Intended Age-Group: 14+
Issues of Violence:  War violence
Intimacy Level: Kissing on a more passionate level
Swearing: a brief mention of a rude hand gesture
Recommendation: 3 out of 5 stars.

How could I ignore the requests, the temptation, and the pleasant blue color of Ally Condie's newest release, Crossed? This is the continuation of Matched and I picked it up as soon as it arrived at the library.

Summary:
Cassia is headed toward the Outer Provinces in search for Ky against all odds--the attack of the Enemy, the ploys of the Society, and the deathly embrace of the unknown land. She sacrifices emotional keepsakes for information and leaves her family behind. When her adventures take her into the Carving--a canyon of poisoned rivers and death--the obstacles only seem to grow. She's faced with starvation, exhaustion, and doubt on where to go.

Meanwhile, Ky is trying to survive the harsh 60-day-death-sentence, working and burying the dead in the Outer Provinces. No one has survived 60 days yet. He has to. He must, because he needs to return to Cassia. He makes an impossible escape attempt during an attack from the Enemy and battles memories of his childhood as he tromps across familiar wasteland.

Initial Reaction: *****
It was difficult for me to jump back into the story after the year gap and I found myself wishing I'd re-read Matched. There was very little, if any re-cap in Crossed and I felt a bit lost at the beginning. I picked it up hoping for more action and more depth than Matched. While Matched was interesting, it remained quite slow moving. Sadly, Crossed didn't pick up very much. Though there is more action, the book is more dominated by inner thoughts, musings, poems, and descriptions. The description-style is written well, just not in the same alley of my preference.

Characters: *****
We enter into both Cassia's and Ky's heads this round. I can see how they are growing; however, I felt like they weren't the same characters from Matched. Ky seemed more hardened and grown up, while Cassia seemed much more in tune with "the real world" than she was in book 1. It's nice that she puts two-and-two together faster (in most cases), but it's out of character. Also, it was very difficult to distinguish between who's head I was in. Each chapter says clearly, "Cassia" or "Ky" at the beginning, but I wanted to recognize their voices and I couldn't.

Try as I might to push past it, the characters just had too much of a lack of believability. I couldn't relate to them. So many actions/re-actions just didn't seem human. When Ky declares the one thing he won't do for Cassia, she's not shocked or sad or hurt or stunned...she just has a "softened look" because she can see that he's hurting. I understand that there's a softness in Cassia, but there should also be human desire and reaction in her. We just don't see it. Both Ky and she don't seem to have many natural responses. Even when Cassia is practically drowning in the rapids of a poisoned river, she's reminiscing about swimming with Ky and Xander back when they were kids. I couldn't help but wonder, "Why isn't she thinking, I need air! I need help! How do I survive?"

Pacing: *****
The action picks up around the 3/4 mark of the book. I read a bit faster to see how they escaped, to discover the "secrets" about specific characters, to see if Society showed up, and to see if the Rising was real. I connected with some characters in some moments, but all in all the flow of the book left me disappointed.

Plot: *****
A lot of plot-progress takes place through "coincidence". All the right clues fall into Cassia's and Ky's hands in the perfect order as they tromp through the Carving. I found the clues and coincidences over the top when Ky finds a pamphlet that explains the history of the Rebellion. It felt like an information dump and provided too much information (such as the Rebellion's password, where the Rebellion is located, and a "title" for the Rebellion's leader).  Even though he supposedly "knew" this information already, it was a little too clear-cut.

Clean Content: *****
Crossed follows the same level of "appropriateness" as Matched did. It remains clean--there's no swearing or high-level intimacy. The violence level stays rather tame. A few characters die, but the reader doesn't see it happen. A lot of dead characters are "found" by Cassia or Ky. There's mention of bombs and bodies flying. There is blood on Ky's hands and on some dead bodies, but it's really not graphic. There's a brief hint of possible suicide, but nothing more.

Desire to Read More: *****
The end of the book leaves no excitement or desire for book three. It all seems very sporadic and a month's worth of time passes over the course of a couple chapters. Instead of wanting to read more, I was left feeling even more cut-off from the characters with no desire to see the end of the story.

Spiritual Content: *****
On the God-front, there's a single mention of God and it's just in reference to a man's wife and child believing in more than just life on earth. There's nothing more--the focus on "love" and the purpose of life is folded into Ky's and Cassia's relationship. Life without each other supposedly isn't life at all. I can understand the strength behind the emotion of love, but Cassia's and Ky's love jumped from "blossoming desire" in Matched to passionate, life-sacrificing, no-doubts-whatsoever love in Crossed. It felt forced and unrealistic.

Overall Recommendation: *****
I recommend the book to younger readers looking for a small taste of dystopian fiction, mostly because of it's clean content and appropriateness despite the bland areas.

Nadine Brandes is an adventurer, fusing authentic faith with bold imagination. She writes stories about brave living, finding purpose, and other worlds soaked in imagination. Her debut dystopian novel, A Time to Die, released September 2014 from Enclave Publishing. When Nadine's not taste-testing a new chai or editing fantasy novels, she is out pursuing adventures. She currently lives in Idaho with her husband. You can find out more about Nadine and her books at http://nadinebrandes.com.