Blue Bloods Book 4: The Van Alen Legacy

This book is a close follow-up to Revelations, so a re-read is in order. Despite the book's setting of 1 year post-Cordova, the book feels like it takes place the next day. The characters haven't changed since the last page of Revelations, even though a year has gone by. The relationships quickly change in book 4, and I have a fear this series is going the length of the magic number 7. There are 7 houses, 7 gates, etc. I think we're in the middle of this series. This book isn't long, but major plot developments and character details come forth. The themes explored in the book: Is anyone ever really dead? Is history fated to repeat itself? Are we bound by destiny or by our own choices? Is there ever a point where we are unable to forgive the past and pay the piper for our misdeeds? Does love last forever?  
I recommend this book as the best of the Blue Bloods books. It's too short... and the next one is hard to wait for. Fast plot, good developments, good romantic evolution, and good future set-up. We even got somewhere with Charles and Allegra, Schyler & Allegra, and Bliss & Allegra! Finally!!

The Hunger Games--It's SOOO Popular (with good reason!)

Sweeping the nation, on the NY Times Bestselling List (Children's books) The Hunger Games has spent 54 weeks topping the charts, eclipsed only by Catching Fire, it's sequel. 

Any review at this point is virtually superfluous. The books really are good reading; the violence, concept, and other science fiction are very current. There's a focus that feels very real-world oriented (global warming replaced by hunger, famine, and then localized gluttony. Much like obesity in America today.)

The novel is dystopian, so there's a futuristic slant, but like good science fiction, the idea of the "Hunger Games" is a combination of Survior meets The Olympic Games meets Big Brother. It feels entirely current though the plot is as old as the Roman Colosseum. 

I recommend The Hunger Games. I was compelled to read both books back-to-back far into the night. I'll be one of the first readers when book 3 comes out. I'm on Team Peeta...

Parents should be warned, all of the hallmarks of war are in this book: death, dying, and kill or be killed, and the stakes are incredibly high, and the government conspiracy and collusion will hit its zenith in the last book in the trilogy... coming to a book store near you next fall.


From the New York Times Bestselling List this week:

This  Week		Weeks on List
1	CATCHING FIRE, by Suzanne Collins. (Scholastic, $17.99.) The protagonist of "The Hunger Games" returns. (Ages 12 and up)	3
2	THE HUNGER GAMES, by Suzanne Collins. (Scholastic, $17.99.) In a dystopian future, a girl fights for survival on live TV. (Ages 12 and up)	54