leave me alone, I'm reading

A lot of reviews have compared this book to other YA dystopia books like [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1)|Suzanne Collins|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358275334s/2767052.jpg|2792775]. But while this is a dystopia-society book, I didn't really think there's a fair comparison to [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1)|Suzanne Collins|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358275334s/2767052.jpg|2792775].

In [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1)|Suzanne Collins|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358275334s/2767052.jpg|2792775], Katniss was an active heroine, almost like a comic book superhero, albeit one of those female ones with barely a hint of a superpower, like the Black Widow. She throws herself into the combat-to-the-death arena, making herself the sacrificial lamb in place of her sister, she kills her enemies with wit and aplomb, she is the knightess that saves her boy-friend in distress.

In this book, though, Lena is, for the most, part passive - growing into consciousness, but still just sort of along for whatever ride someone is taking her on. Had Katniss been the heroine of this book, Hana would've been introduced to raves, she would've thrown Alex onto the back of her motorcycle in their escape (probably one-handed, and while going 40 mph), AND she would've taken Gracie with her. The greatest act Lena takes, on the other hand, is to drop hints to her best friend while tied up by her family to - get this - leave a note for her boyfriend...to come save her. Well, that's about as far from [b:The Hunger Games|2767052|The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1)|Suzanne Collins|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358275334s/2767052.jpg|2792775] as you can get.

That's not to say I didn't like the book. It was fun, it had intrigue, it had love: all good stuff.

In particular, I enjoyed the succinct world-building mechanism of starting each chapter with quotes and snippets from the books that exist in Lena's world that give us a pretty good understanding of the propaganda she has been subjected to her whole life, and explains why she is the way she is at the beginning.

I respected the ending. Alex's sacrifice of his life for hers made this a decidedly less sappy book, and highlighted not only the power of love and lengths that humans will go for what they believe in, but also underscored the warnings of the government: love'll kill ya! I would've liked an ending where they both kill themselves, though. THAT would've been poignant.

I think the book said what it needed to say in one book, and I don't particularly see the need for 2 more, other than a twinkle in the author's eye of a potential 3 movie blockbuster deal somewhere in her future. Of course, what would really be cool is if in the next book Katniss shows up in the Wilds, pats Lena on the back, and says "Buck up, girlie. I'll show you how to handle a bow & arrow, and let's go kick some regulator ass."