Book Challenge -- Day 8

8. Best prologues

The Hobbit is a prologue of epic proportions--a whole novel telling setting up the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I enjoyed the Trilogy and The Hobbit, and now that I'm working on The Samarillion I appreciate The Hobbit even more.
     If I had jumped right into Hamlet I'm sure I would not have understood what was going on. That Shakespeare's plays all have a brief overview in the prologue helps when the story begins to twist and turn.
     The Challenge asks for five prologues, but most books I'm reading lately don't have prologues. Occasionally a "Chapter 0.1" (the best way to describe some prologues) shows a scene from between books and I've read several that do enrich the story--Entwined, Nobody's Princess, and Short-Straw Bride are some examples. It seems the recent trend is to jump straight into the exposition and set-up. Depending on the story this works, but there is something to be said for a good prologue.

Book Challenge -- Day 7

7. Characters from series you'd want to meet

I would love to meet Vicky Austin and Adam Eddington from A Ring of Endless Light and Troubling a Star. They seem like down-to-Earth people that I could get along well with and might create strong friendships. I also think meeting the main characters from one of my favorite books could be a lot like stepping into the pages of those books.
     I'd love to meet Noah Calhoun from The Notebook. I realize there is a real person out there who is probably very much like Noah (the book is based on a true story) but Noah the character is probably a concentrated version of this person and his devotion and faith are inspiring. The book isn't one of my top picks, but is a good read. After fourteen years of not seeing Allie, he is willing to go through the heartbreak again for a chance at forever. While it's stereotypically romantic, it's also very brave; I don't think I could do it.
     The final character I would be fascinated to meet is Lucero-Elisa from Rae Carson's The Girl of Fire and Thorns and its sequel The Crown of Embers. Elisa started out life as a princess whose only merit was her rank and her inquisitive mind--she believes the reason behind it is that she isn't slender and beautiful like her sister. I would love to meet a young woman who withstands as much as she does and still manages to rule a foreign country without spite for the women who belittled her upon her arrival.

Book Challenge -- Day 6

6. Favorite dystopian books

I didn't read a lot of dystopian fiction until recently. Most of it has a lot of zombies, and I really don't need to be imagining them more than I already am with shows like the Walking Dead around.
     I picked up The Hunger Games when the first movie came out and enjoyed the story of a girl who didn't want to become morally bankrupt so she broke the rules. For me, Katniss's rebellion was always about protecting her family from extinction and herself from becoming the killer the Capitol wanted her to be. The second book just showed how broken resistance made her, then the final story gave her a purpose to fight for again, and though Katniss didn't always do as she was told, I think I'd respect her as a person if I ever met her.
     Divergent, however, was completely my choice to pick up. At first the cover caught my eye (hey, everyone falls prey to a pretty cover now and then) and the story seemed a lot like Harry Potter meets Hunger Games. Tris chooses who she wants to align herself with then discovers one faction wants to take over the government sparking war. I liked that Tris wasn't completely sure of herself or completely paralyzed by her own insecurities as so many heroines are portrayed. She lives in this post-apocalypse and hasn't ever known a world outside it, but she's willing to fight for something she's never imagined. I liked that.
     The Challenge wants two more books, but I haven't read a lot of dystopian fiction--something like Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe might qualify. When I first read Robinson Crusoe I didn't understand why it was such a big deal that a man survived on a deserted island without civilization. Then I re-read it and realized most of the amazing-ness was that Crusoe survived twenty-eight years on an island, the first several by himself and the last few with only one man as companion. And he made it back to civilization able to be part of society. He retained his sanity in an environment man was not thought to survive mentally, by contemporary expectation he would have gone insane. I enjoyed reading the story and how Crusoe survived and even kept time.
     One that I would not consider Dystopian, but is classified as such is Cinder. Though there is an element of post-apocalypse the world is not collapsing (at least not in Cinder) only being disrupted by plague. I enjoyed the story and am looking forward to more of Marissa Meyer's books. Cinder is a cyborg and an important one that few people know of. In her first book she just wants to be normal and fit in, but it is impossible for a half-machine person to be a person. Cinder isn't just a Cinderella story and that's why I enjoyed it so much.