Review: A Great Book For Girls Who Loved The Hunger Games (First Book)
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 19, 2014
My foster daughter who is 13 is madly in love with the Hunger Games. She read the first book, and we watched the movie. She hasn't read the second book yet, but I was hoping to find a different story for her to delve into- something we could read together for a mom/daughter book club. I did some research, and eventually a friend of mine recommended this book. She said her daughter had loved it, so I thought- why not?This story differs from The Hunger Games in many ways, but the main character faces the same kind of battles that Katniss faced. Kiah is the main character in this story. She lives in a descolate land that once was the US, but is now a poverty-stricken nation suffering from war. Kiah struggles with a lot of self-doubt and a few confidence issues, but as with any wonderful teenage story, as the book goes on she grows and becomes the true magnificant person she really is.Essentially, as anyone in Kiah's situation would want, Kiah wants freedom. She wants peace and she wants a land where war and poverty do not descolate her people. And at the beginning of the story Kiah doesn't know it- but she may just have the power to change the way her country is.What I especially love about this story (and about the Hunger Games) is that the main character is a female- a very strong female. Kiah is beautiful in her own right and stands strong and tall. I love female characters who show my sometimes self-doubting teenage daughter that she is beautiful and worth being who she is. So this story was brilliant in that aspect.The book is well-written and I'd say targeted mostly towards teenage girls. There is a bit of romance, which my daughter adored. The book was appropriate for her age group, although it did bring to light a lot of issues such involving poverty and war- it was beautifully written in a way that softly brought these issues to her attention. The book was just really... really a big hit. I'd highly recommend it for parents out there looking for a very teen-oriented action-y read that's great for girls!