Currently Reading: The Hunger Games

It's a 'YA' kind of year, as Page Turners this month is currently reading the Young Adult hit, The Hunger Games. Meeting is on Thursday 2 August.

Necropolis

The October Page Turners book for discussion was Necropolis (Book four of The Power of Five), by Anthony Horowitz. It's unashamedly YA (or younger) and targeted at boys. This is a relief, because if it were an adult novel with women as an intended audience, it failed dismally! (Most of us present were women, although I believe our male representative was of a similar overall opinion.)

For my part, I found the book a trifle dull. The characters were not that engaging, and the action not that exciting. Moreover, the YA writing style, which over-explained everything, as well as the omniscient point of view irritated me excessively.

I don't believe anyone in the group was particularly enthralled by it, and about the most interesting discussion topic was the difference between this, which clearly doesn't translate well for the adult reader, and other YA novels (such as Harry Potter, for example -- but there are many others), which do.

In addition, the morals of some of the lead characters were questioned (and the negative message this could leave with young, impressionable readers). Others also found the characters either dull, stupid or unlikeable. Hmmm, not too many positive vibes!

Currently reading . . .

Currently we're reading Necropolis, by Anthony Horowitz, book four of the series, The Power of Five. Meeting this Thursday. See you then!