Now reading Gone per the advice of the forum--so far feels more like MG but we'll see. It's a fast read anyways.
Although the MC's are all 15 or almost 15, I saw them as 12 and 13. I think it's the writing. I'd say this is somewhere between MG and YA. TWEEN? Writing and characters are MG but some of the action and themes are YA. I was surprised at the violence/gore factor. More than I expected.
The "Warriors" series by Erin Hunter
"Ranger's Apprentice", I don't remember who wrote it.
I've been tempted to check out Hunger Games, but the title turns me off.
And I want to read Pendragon, but I'm going to finish the above series first.
Ranger's Apprentice are written by John Flanagan. I've read the first one because my son reads them. They were nice, but I'll get to them later when I've run through my current TBR pile. As far as Hunger Games, what's wrong with the title? I actually put these off as well because I hate trends. If everyone else says they're the best, I usually don't want to jump on the wagon. Did the same thing with Harry Potter. Boy was I wrong in both cases. the Hunger Game series is ansolutley amazing!
Finished reading Gone. The premise is intriguing, but the characters are all 1 dimensional unrealistic walking cliches and the action is straight out of a CW channel tv show. Not sure i can push through 5+ more 500 page tomes to find out what's going on. Not sure I can read "Your brother's a retard!" "No, he's autistic!" yet one more damn time. Seriously, the book was not improved by saying that 300 different times. WTF??? I know it's the apocalypse and the kids are not that concerned with using nice language...but that's literally the only slur used in the whole book. they dont even swear at each other. How is that ok?
Yeah, I know what you mean. It was really written MG. I liked the story, though I didn't always like the writing. The characters gain more depth in the later books and boy do they suffer. Not the best series in the world, but I read the first 3 and will continue them later. Too many other things to read.
I read
Dead and Gone and
This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer last week. They are the sequels to
Life as We Knew It. First of all, I read them out of order, which didn't really matter, but does affect how you feel about the ending. The first book is about Miranda and the apocolyptic end of the world we know. I read this one first, thankfully, but then you're supposed to read Dead and Gone which is about Alex, a completely unkown character and the same apocalypse from his location and point of view. I read this one last. The third book is from Miranda's POV again, but shows how Miranda and Alex meet and what happens to them together. It was a little frustrating, because I already knew which characters never make it to the next book and which one's will die in the next book. Not a real problem though, but what was really an issue is that the way This World We Live In ends, would have been satisfying if you knew it was the last one. As I thought there was another book about Miranda and Alex, I was disappointed to find out the book was Alex's backstory. Plus, I think I read that Pfeffer is writing another in the series, but with different characters. I really want to know what happens to Alex and Miranda and I never will except in my own imagination.
Now to the books: They are amazing. I love, love, love these stories! I actually feel like I am the MC while I'm reading them and my moods are reflective! They're YA and don't have a ton of action, but I think these are some of my favorite books ever. They're only beat out by Harry Potter, Hunger Games and anything by Jane Austen.