Panic by Lauren Oliver

I remember being so excited when I first saw that Lauren Oliver was writing a new book, and I thought that it sounded really interesting. Then the Booksplosion book club on Goodreads decided to make it the book of the month, and I officially had my excuse to purchase it.

"Panic began as so many things do in Carp, a dead-end town of 12,000 people in the middle of nowhere: because it was summer, and there was nothing else to do.

Heather never thought she would compete in Panic, a legendary game played by graduating seniors, where the stakes are high and the payoff is even higher. She’d never thought of herself as fearless, the kind of person who would fight to stand out. But when she finds something, and someone, to fight for, she will discover that she is braver than she ever thought.

Dodge has never been afraid of Panic. His secret will fuel him, and get him all the way through the game, he’s sure of it. But what he doesn't know is that he’s not the only one with a secret. Everyone has something to play for.

For Heather and Dodge, the game will bring new alliances, unexpected revelations, and the possibility of first love for each of them—and the knowledge that sometimes the very things we fear are those we need the most."

 - Goodreads

THE STORY:

One of the comments that I see coming up a lot on Goodreads was that this book sounded a lot like the Hunger Games. On this point, I have to say that the blurb is slightly misleading. True there are some aspects which are similar: teenagers taking part in deadly activities, in fact causing several deaths. However, that is about where I found the similarities to end. This story was so interesting and I absolutely loved reading it. I found it to be fairly fast paced while still highlighting Lauren Oliver's beautiful, poetic writing style. 

THE CHARACTERS: 

I don't even know where to begin with the characters. I had love-hate relationships with most of them, and spent several portions of the novel feeling like they were complete and total idiots, but I still adored their personalities. Heather felt relatable and she grew so much as a character. Bishop was kind hearted, and had a bit of a twist that I found rather interesting. I found Nat's change in character throughout the book to be really interesting, although I do wish that we had gotten a little bit more information about her rather than needing to read in between the lines. And finally Dodge, who was probably my least favorite character of the bunch. He was just so obsessed with revenge that he didn't stop to think things through, and acted in several ridiculously reckless ways which could have resulted in fates far worse than what he had intended. 

MY THOUGHTS:

Basically, I loved this book. I am so excited for this to become a movie, since it has already been optioned for one through Universal, and I think that it will be really interesting to see all of it come alive on screen. I love Lauren Oliver's writing style, and will definitely be picking up more of her books in the future.

STAR RATING: ★★★★★