The Hunger Games Trilogy

This trilogy was written by Suzanne Collins and released between 2008 and 2010. It tells the story of Katniss Everdeen, a 16 year old girl who lives in an unidentified future period in which North America  has been destroyed and is known as "Panem", a country with twelve districts underthrown to the Capitol. Each year two kids between 12 and 18 years from each of the twelve districts are sent to an arena where they have to kill each other until only one of the kids survive. This event is called the Hunger Games and is  used by the Capitol to mantain it's power over the districts. The Hunger Games are televised and has a lot of high-tech thrown into it so that it becomes interesting to watch. Katniss enters the Hunger Games taking her little sister's place as female tribute of district twelve. The male tribute is Peeta Mellark, a young boy, son of the baker who's secretly in love with Katniss. 

The first book centers around the Hunger Games in which Katniss and Peeta have to fight for their survival. The second one (Catching Fire) starts off directly after the games and the threat that Katniss turns out to be for the Capitol's supremacy and the third one (Mokingjay) is also the last one and it speaks of the revolution that the events of the first two books have started. 

Ok that overview could have gone better, but I really didn't want to make any major spoilers to the books. 

Now to the books.

There are a few things that I absolutely loved about this trilogy. The first one being Katniss. 

The main character of this novel isn't very nice, nor very lovable. She's kind of rough and scared and weak. She's not wonderwoman, nor does she have all the answeres. Through the second and third book she's pushed around and played like a fool. But she's also 16 years old, and while you read the books- which is written all through the eyes of Katniss - you live and have the fears and don't know the things that a 16 year-old-girl has and knows. And that's why the book's are good. Because the point of view isn't flat or predictible. 

The other characters, no matter how small their roles, ara also multy-dimensional. You really grow to love some of them like Peeta Mellak and Finnick and Annie. You understand slowly the motivations of everyone of them. 

Another great thing of this trilogy is the use of the media-wars. It's very interesting to see how people can be manipulated by a girl who doesn't really know what she's doing. It's also one of the few books I've read in which the revolutionary side isn't depicted as the perfect society. The faults and problems of humankind isn't whiped out of existence by the new political power. It's realistic and it makes you think about politics and the promises that are made through TV, and it's a critic to war and hunger and... 

It just makes you think. 

 The story is well written, I finished the three books in less than a week, and I had already seen the movie, which can be taken as a complementary  info, for it tells the story from a different point of view.

And that's about it. I loved the trilogy, and I really recommend it to you. 

Out of 10 points I give:

The Hunger Games a 10

Catching Fire a 10

Mokingjay a 9

So now, go and read it already! 

Erik: the Vampire Hunter by Elektra1

Erik's past makes him an ideal hunter of unconventional evil, but when he meets a young collegiate dancer named Christine, he is forced to reconsider the darkness that surrounds him and face the truth about his origins.This adventure romance's first chapter was first released in 2005 and finished over one year later in 2006 after 59 chapters.

 There are a lot of modern day takes on the Phantom of the Opera story, yet this one surprises for it's originality. Mixing brilliantly the clasic Leroux characters and plot with original settings and plot twists, Elektra1 manages to captivate the reader through the over 600 pages of Erik: the Vampire Hunter.

Erik, a ghost that hunts vampires:

The main character in this movie is Erik, a young masked man who haunts Ravelle College. He's been hiding there for the last 15 years under the protection of a former teacher and actual dean: Antoniette Giry. Giry is also the one who put him in contact with the Hunter's Guild, a group led by Inspector detective Gus Leroux that hunts vampires among other creatures like demons, wizards, etc. 

Erik, being rather 'special' has become in the last 15 years not only the best hunter in the guild, but also their 'Executioner'. This means he has to kill humans who play with the 'dark forces' and end up being a threat to others.

He's pretty comptent with his life until one day a young girl comes to Ravelle. Obviously she's Christine Daae, a beautiful singer with an incredible voice. Both meet a night in which Erik has snuck into a music room to practice his singing. Christine, who was wandering about unable to sleep, comes across the room and can't help but join the angelic voice of the phantom. This first meeting leads to others, when Christine, being unable to reach her full potential, ask the mysterious man for help. Not completly willingly, the recluse accepts teaching her. And so starts a rather unconventional lovestory between the two of them. 

The best thing about this Erik, in comparison with other interpretations, is that he's one of the closest to the Book Erik I've found so far without being evil. Not only does he wear a black full mask, but he's completly moody and nuts. He's agressive, he's a murderer, he's a genious and swings between arrogance and self loathing. He's intelligent, knows he's the best, but has been raised to hate himself . His quick moodchanges make him a very fun character to read.

Christine, a sweet innocent girl with a crush

Like allways there isn't a Phantom story without a Christine running about being sweet and innocent and singing really good. This one, however has some sort of a character, which is allways an improvement. She's still rather weak, but once or twice in the story she stands up to fight for herself. Of course being Christine - and being mainly based on the book - she spends a lot of time crying about things and being young and insecure. 

The story starts when she begins clases at Ravelle College. She's best friends with Meg Giry, the deans daughter, who trains to be a ballerina. There's also Sorelli and Jammes, two characters who don't usually make it into movies or phanfics.

Christine's teen crush was Raoul DeChagny, a rich boy a few years older than her, who dumped her some time ago. As payment for her clases with Erik, she has tu run some errands, among them delivering blueprints. After delivering the blueprints to the DeChagny family, Raoul and Christine meet again and start going out.

After a few weeks however they decided to stop being together, which leads to a rather interesting developement of the story. 

Laura and Mr. Shay, the evil guys 

The story is written as if it were a TV series, so it needs some action and sub-plots for the audience to remain interested. The author manages this by including flashbacks and backstory for nearly all characters - focusing heavily on Eriks backstory. And with clear roots on Susan Kay's novel, Elektra1 includes Laura, a sweet girl from Erik's past, that comes back to haunt him, screw him and kill him, not necesarily in that order. Laura uses Erik's guilt to taunt him and play with him. When her plans fail, she finds herself an evil ally called Mr. Shay, a 30 year old man with a big secret. 

This is a really recommendable story, with a good plot and fine characters. There are some presentation problems, like the abuse of capital letters to stress some of the ideas, and a few flaws, but in general it makes a very good entertainment.

Out of 10 I give it a 9 for it's originality and fine writing. 

You should really check this out. 

¿Cada cuánto hay que echar a lavar un pijama? by Luis Piedrahita

There's this Spanish comedian called Luis Piedrahita who's rather famous in my country. For a few years he has been publishing his monologues in a total of three books with the title of one of the monologues. The first one was called:

• "¿Un cacahuete flotando en una piscina, sigue siendo un fruto seco?" [Can a peanut floating in a pool still be called a nut?] released in 2005.
• "¿Cada cuánto hay que echar a lavar un pijama?" [How often do you need to wash your PJs?] released in 2006
• "Dios hizo el mundo en siete días... y se nota" [God made the world in seven days... and you notice it] released in 2007
• "¿Por qué los mayores construyen siempre los columpios encima de un charco?" [Why do the older ones build the swing allways over a puddle] released in 2010. 

So far I have read the second and third, and I tell you, they are all hilarious. 

Luis Piedrahita was born in A Coruña [Galicia in the north of Spain] in 1977. He has worked in both radio and TV as writer, comedian and illusionist and was also director and writer of the mystery thriller 'La Habitación de Fermat'. He's known as the King of Small Things [El Rey de las cosas Pequeñitas], because he often critisices the little attention people pay towards the small things of cotidian life such as pockets, carnivorous plants, etc. 

I don't know if his books have been translated into other languages, but if you know spanish you should definitely check it out, because he's just too good. If you want to see him, you can find a lot of his monologues as well as his appearences in 'El Club de la Comedia' [The Comedy Club] and 'El Hormiguero'[The Anthill] on the Internet. 

And that's it.

Out of 10 I give his books a 9 and a 10 

The third one is funnier than the second one, but both are very worth your time. 

From Angel's Eyes by Kat097

One of my favourite fanfic-writers is doubltlessly Kat097, also known as Kat or Katie. She's a english writer whose fandooms are mainly Harry Potter, Teen Titans, Tin Man, Twilight and Phantom of the Opera. 

"From Angel's Eyes" is the first of a two part Phantom of the Opera based story - the other part being "From Heaven's Mind"- written in 2005. It starts of with Christine, who's taking part in a college production of the musical  "The Phantom of the Opera" - mainly based on the 2003 movie. There she gets the main role, meets Erik, an eccentric and billionary producer with whom she falls in love; and makes friends with the rest of the cast.  

It's a rather simple story, with a predictible end, but what's so cool about it is the fact that it tells 'normal' lives - not so normal, because, honestly, how many of you meet eccentric billionaires who fall in love with you? Thought so. But even so, the characters are round and have usual problems, there's no evil guy, no big catastrophy, only your average humans having trouble coping with life and having fun and loving. 

Katie's PotO stories are mainly based on the 2003 movie, which can at times be tireing, because that movie sort of missed the whole point of the Phantom by putting Gerard Butler in the main role and forgetting to give him a disfigurement. Her - Katie's - Phantoms allways wear a halfmask and have a gorgeous other have of the face - again, missing the point, but's fanfic-world, you may do that. Her stories are also mainly E/C, so poor Raoul is usually either completly left out or just there for a bit. 

A lot of her stories - and in my opinion, those are the best - are set in the modern world, another very recommendable story is "The Girl Next Door"about which I'll be talking some time soon. 

Anyway, about the characters in "From Angel's Eyes":

Christine is a british student who's mourning the loss of her parents in a carcrash two years previously. She lives alone with her dog Trister in a house she owns and goes to college in her own town. Her best friend is called Meg and is something like her only friend until she starts in the musical. 

Erik, is the eccentric billionaire producer that gets an interest in the sad young girl. Runs accidentaly over her dog, invites her out and generally just is there until she gets the hint. He's acompanied by Nadir Kahn - the Persian - who's  something like a butler/bestfriend/elder brother/anything-that-Erik-may-need. In the end it's only thanks to Nadir's medling and pushing the characters together that they end up so. 

All in all it's a very interesting story, pretty good written - From Heaven's Mind has some typing misetakes, but's rather good as well. I highliy recomend the first part, the second one is  good as well, but I like "From Angel's Eyes" better. 

The Innocent by The Grasshopper

The Innocent by The Grasshopper is a 'dark, modern retelling of the original tale' of the Phantom of the Opera. In this story Christine isn't a singer in an Opera House, but an art student that lives in New York City after spending all her life in a farm near Ohio where she lived with her parents. She works in a cafe to pay the rent, even though her parents have enough money to pay her bills. She's seeing Ray Chagny- the equivalent of Raoul de Chagny - and lives outside campus with her cat. One night, while coming back home through the dark streets she's taken hostage by a masked fiend that's running from the police. The masked guy lets her go once he's managed to bypass the police and Christine gets back to her home and trys to forget the whole episode. But the masked man - Erik - reappears in his life a few days after that and they start a strange relationship. 

This 22 Chapter Fanfic has 55,016 words and was written between 2003 and 2007. It's rated T and is a Horror/Romance story. 

I find it really hard to review this story. For one it's really well written, it has an interesting developement and it captures the atention of the reader rather quickly. 

Erik's based in both Leroux and ALW's musical, for he wears only a half mask, but I've taken to imagine the Phantom as portraited by the great artist Muirin007, and as The Grasshopper's descriptions of Erik are so vague, it's not hard to picture. 

He's probably one of the most interesting characters in The Innocent and he's also one of whom we know very little. None of his tricks are revealed in the story and he's scary as hell. 

Christine is based in Leroux's novel and can be described with two words: plain stupid. And that's the main problem of this story. It's supposed to be modern, but Christine is a character out of 1800 and pretty stupid also. Her character's as thin and translucent as plastic papper. Which serves the story well.

The Innocent is written mainly from her point of view, which keeps it interesting for the reader even though the lack of interest of the main character. She's supposed to be really beautiful, but that's it. The main problem I have with Christine - I've never liked any Chrstine in the first place - is that she acts as a  dumb woman from 1800, doing pretty little through out all the story and then being selfish at the end - wheras usually Christine's only virtue is being rather quick in taking a decision when the life of others is at stake. 

The only other characters in this are Ray - a Raoul character that doesn't do much - and the FBI agent Nathan Radford - the modern Daroga Nadir Kahn. The last few chapters are written in Nathan's POV, and have a pretty heavy effect. He isn't much of a challenge for Erik and has a lucky escape. 

All in all, the story is very readalbe, the ending leaves you stunned by it's strange turn and best of all, the Epilogue. That Epilogue raises os many unanswered questions in such a funny way. 

Out of 10 I rate it with a 7:

 The story is pretty well adapted, the characers are a little bit flat, but the style is good.