Battle Royale - Koushun Takami

Well this book seemed a logical choice having read Hunger Games.  And I'm very glad I decided to pick it up.  Most people probably know the rough story line; Japanese school class kidnapped put on an island and forced to fight to the death.

The joy of the book is that it keeps you engrossed throughout.  At first it is easy to get lost with the names and working out which school child just died (there are 40 of them after all), but soon enough the main characters come to the fore and you can't help but spot traits familiar to teenagers the world over.

A good read and one that I'll be recommending to people.

El Narco - Ioan Grillo

So after reading several books about teenagers killing each other described in a fun and romantic way I thought it might be good to read something a little more serious and hard hitting.  So I turned to Ioan Grillo's look at the Mexican drug war.

There has been alot of international attention for the Mexican drug war in recent years as the level of violence has peaked leading to piles of headline grabbing corpses and AK47 fuelled shoot outs.  The book paints an interesting picture of how the current situation  came to pass and describes in interesting detail the state of the country at the moment.  Which is a pretty worrying situation with the drug gangs dealing in billions of dollars of currency and arming themselves with the profits.  The killing and corruption at the heart of the Mexican state seems to know no limits.

A fascinating book but in the end another book about teenagers killing each other.  If only this one was a fiction book.

Mockingjay - Suzane Collins

So I pretty much started reading this one 3 minutes after finishing the second book.  Not that I was really keen to see how the story finished or anything.

The final book in the trilogy neatly finishes off all the story lines but doesn't quite hold the imagination in the way the first book did.  In fact, the books are pretty much released in order of how good they are with the first one being by far the best read.  Still it was worth answering the questions the story and characters created by writing the second two books and I did enjoy them.  In fact they are one of those series of books that when you've finished reading them you find yourselves almost missing the main characters.

A thoroughly enjoyable trilogy and I'll be heading to the cinema to watch the film pretty soon.

Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins

So I went out and bought it the very day I finished the first book.  More of the same as our much beloved heroes go from one life threatening situation to another.  This book continues the complicated love life of the heroine and doesn't answer the which one will she pick question.....which as an early thirties bloke is the most boring part of the book.  But it sure will play well with the teen market.

Enjoyed it again, and ploughed through it in no time.  More to come from the third and final installment.

The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

With all the hype around the release of the new film and the positive reviews from unexpected sources (broadsheet newspapers giving a teen drama a good score?) I thought I'd check this one out.

And I really wasn't disappointed.  Yes, the basic idea is very reminiscent of Battle Royale. But so what, plenty of books are similar to other stories, the author denies any knowledge of BR when writing this book and I'm inclined to believe her and don't really care either way anyway.

The book is a real page turner and wont take you long to get through.  Its one of those rare books that when you put it down you find yourself eager to get back because the protagonists are almost certainly in some perilous situation and you want to find out how they get out of it.....and they will get out of it.

Really enjoyed it and will read the sequels.

Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C Clarke

Another Sci Fi classics and another great book.  This one from one of the acknowledged masters of the genre is a real joy.  An alien vessel (for want of a better word) is heading towards the solar system and a lone ship is sent to rendezvous with it.

What follows is a fascinating tale of the search through the inside of Rama by the ships crew.  A well paced tale that leaves you wanting more whenever you have to put the book down.  A really good read and I'll be getting the sequels before too long

The Jungle - Clive Cussler

Not proud of this one, but I wanted to read something pretty easy and trashy.  big tick there.

its a fun book for what it is, but its heavy on the cliches and stereotypes.  I'll be reading these sort of things again and I'll continue to enjoy them.  Lets face it, every now and then you just want to read a good old fashioned guns and heroes sort of book.