Talk about a page turner! This was the first book in a long while that made me want to walk an extra mile so that I could continue listening to it. It also ends in a place where I want to continue to read the next book in the trilogy. The story is gripping and full of action, but there is also some romance and dystopian future kind of stuff. From the first chapter, the story had me going and there was never a dull moment.

It is the future and North America is ruled by a Capital located in the Rocky Mountains and surrounded by 12 districts (the 13th was wiped out). There was an uprising against the Capital, but the rebels couldn’t scale past the mountains and the rest of the districts were crushed. The hero of the story, Catness Everdean, is a young 16 year old girl from district 12. Catness sneaks beyond the fence the residents are not supposed to cross and hunts game with her friend Gail and then they trade their kills at the black market. They are still poor and hungry, however.

Once a year two tributes, a boy and a girl, (kids aged 12-18) from each district are chosen to participate in the Hunger Games where they must fight to the death and only one victor emerges. This is the Capital’s way of punishing the districts for the uprising. This year Catness’s 12 year old sister is chosen and Catness volunteers to take her place. The boy chosen from district 12 is Peter, the bakers’ son. The rest of the story consists of Catness’s and Peter’s preparations at the Capital and then the Hunger Games themselves. The meat of the book is the portrayal of the Hunger Games and how each of the 24 tributes fared.

The story is one of survival, kill or be killed, but it is also a little about rebellion against an unjust Capital. There is also Catness’s conflicting emotions about Gail who she left at home and Peter who professes a love for her that captures the imaginations of the Capital and the people from all of the districts. Catness shows extraordinary bravery as well as tremendous skill with the bow and arrow. As the book is being turned into a movie out in March, it will be interesting to see how Hollywood depicts the story. I can definitely see why the book has been so popular and I’ve heard from many people that it is a must read. I would agree; it was a whole lot of fun.

One of my favorite video game series is, without a doubt, the Diablo series, created by Blizzard Entertainment. Diablo 3 is going to be released sometime in 2012, and I cannot wait to play it.

In the meantime, I have been re-reading some of the books that were written in the Diablo “universe”. I decided to start with the first book in The Sin War trilogy. It is called “The Sin War: Book One: Birthright”, and was written by Richard A. Knaak, (who has also written books in the World of Warcraft “universe”).

I wasn’t sure how many readers of Book Sandwich were avid video game fanatics, like I am. (Well, when it comes to the Diablo games, anyway). So, I posted my book review over on the Shattered Soulstone website, instead.

Shattered Soulstone is a brand new podcast, that talks about the Diablo games, and that invites the community to join the conversation. I am co-hosting this show with Nevik and Breja, who are very knowledgable, and a lot of fun to podcast with.

I will still be writing for Book Sandwich, but, I think I’m going to post my reviews of the Diablo books over on Shattered Soulstone, instead of here. That way, the review will reach the people who already have an interest in the Diablo games.

Everyone is welcome to read my review, however, even if you don’t play the games. The Sin War Trilogy is very well written, and you don’t have to have a background in, or knowledge of, the Diablo games in order to enjoy the books.

You can find the review here.

I rarely ever re-read books, but maybe I should after 15 or more years have gone by. The last time I read Firestarter was when I was in high school and reading it again now was like reading it for the first time; I forgot so much of it. Back in high school I was on a huge Stephen King kick and read everything of his I could get my hands on. I still enjoy his novels, but I have widened my reading habits to many other authors. Now I was reading this on the iPhone and the iPad in iBooks.

In college Andy McGee wanted to make some extra cash so he took part in a psychological drug experiment headed up by one of the professors in the Psychology department named Wanless. Another student who decided she was going to make some extra money was Vicky who would later marry Andy. The experimental drug was called Lot-Six and it had some horrifying effects with some of the students. With Andy, it gave him the power to “push” people. He could use his brain to push someone into doing something that he wanted them to do. However, any push would be followed by a debilitating headache. Vicky got a minor power of being able to close a refrigerator door from across the room, but that was the extent of the drug on her. Who it really affected was Charlie, their daughter. Charlie had pyrokinesis or the ability to start fires just by thinking about it. Whenever she got upset something would light up. The parents kept fire extinguishers all over the house when she was a baby. They eventually scared her enough into not using the power kind of like toilet-training a toddler.

However, the government agency known as “The Shop” that did the experiment are now after the family, and in particular Charlie. Now we have a good guys (Andy and Charlie) on the run and eventually fighting the bad guys (The Shop) story. After eluding the Shop guys for only so long there is a confrontation at the Manders farm and Charlie really shows what she can do. Flames go out in every direction, the cars explode, the chickens at the farm go up like popcorn and several people get burned alive. From there Andy and Charlie head to Vermont but the Shop agents get smarter too and take Charlie out with a tranquilizer dart from a long distance. From there Andy and Charlie are captured and taken to the Shop compound in Virginia. The rest of the book details the tests that go on there and the eventual plan of release.

I thought this was a fun book as most Stephen King books are plus it was a very quick read. Some things are a little dated as this book was written in 1980, but the story still holds up.