Panic

I've been trying some new genres, or not the normal genres I generally read, this year and so snagged this one up when it popped up in one of my ebook newsletters.And I enjoyed it pretty well. A fairly quick read for my notoriously slow reading pace. It's sort of half a life story, and then half 'Panic', the in-story game the book is named after -- or I should say how Panic affects the players' lives. That's how the story reels you in, allowing you to follow alongside the main players and maybe connect with one of them -- I didn't personally connect with any of the characters and didn't really see any character growth from anyone, at least nothing significant (but I suppose the span of events weren't that long to show anything but subtle changes…).Panic is a 'game' high school seniors play in hopes of winning a big chunk of money.Seniors who wish to participate put a dollar a day in during the school year and at the start of the game it's announced the total of the winning pot, which is usually around $50k (this part was a little bit confusing, or maybe I read/remembered it wrong because the main protagonist didn't decide to play until the 'opening ceremony' so I assume she wouldn't have been giving money throughout the year…unless every senior had to give money, which wouldn't make sense…).So anyway, Panic is a series of games given by mysterious judges who run Panic. The games aren't your typical games though, they're more like life-threatening events like walking across a wooden beam high in the air, walking across a busy highway, you know, dumb s*** like that that sometimes endangers innocent people. But people will do dumb stuff for $50k.That's the gist of the story. There are four people in the group of characters the story follows, and it's split between two of them as far as POVs go: Heather, who reluctantly joins Panic; and Dodge, a boy who I could not stand no matter how much the author tried to change him as the story progressed.You follow those characters through the duration of Panic, and get a glimpse inside their lives and how the game changes or doesn't change them personally, as well as their struggles outside the game and why they chose to play in the first place.There's also some very tense moments that seemed to get my heart rate up and kept me reading, so kudos to the author for that.It isn't something I'd normally read, but in the end I did enjoy it so four stars for me.

This book is everything one would except from a Lauren Oliver novel, beautiful writing, compelling characters, and then the tougher issues dealing with love, feeling unwanted and revenge. Revenge plays a big part in this book along with fear and panic. This book is everything that the blurb promises and in a way nothing more. I loved the idea of Panic but it turned out to be more barbaric and murderous than I originally thought it was going to be, which once you start the book you understand why but still. I guess it's my own fault that I thought the book would be more lighthearted and fun when it was a little more dark and twisted and that's not really the author or the books fault, it's my fault so please keep that in mind when reading this review. The problem with this book is it's based over the whole summer so every chapter is basically a week later and so you miss allot of the characters supposed "growth" and everything. When I originally heard of this book I thought it was supposed to happen all in one night and I think that would have been better, I mean for what it is it's great, it's interesting and easy to read and fun, it keeps you hooked from the first page but I guess in a way it wasn't quite as great as I thought it would be. Heather is a good character but not my favorite because while she's determined to play Panic and to win her reasons are all wrong and I didn't really like her until the end. One reason is at one part of the book it almost seems like she's contemplating suicide and so I thought this would play a big part in the book but it's really never mentioned again, maybe I'm wrong and that wasn't what the part was about but she's standing on a water towering and thinking about jumping so it seems like that would be what that means, right? And everything is kinda rushed and doesn't feel completely real, doesn't feel like it affects her even when she's living with her sister out of a car or when she accidentally releases tigers out of their cages, it doesn't feel like it affects her at all, it almost feels like she doesn't feel anything. I think maybe the author brushed over some issues that shouldn't be brushed over. I really liked Heather's relationship with Bishop(Heather's best friend) and all together I really enjoyed Bishops character. I also liked Heathers relationship with her sister Lily but I think it could have been developed a little, more same with Anne. Nat (Heather's friend and another Panic player) is another okay character but I would have liked to know more about her, like even her reason for playing Panic was kinda lame and didn't completely make sense, I think she was a big character forced into a minor characters role. I guess overall even with the background of these characters and their reasons for competing in Panic, I never felt like I knew the characters. Even Dodge you know he is competing for revenge because his sister got hurt in Panic, you know he loves his sister, you know he's in love with Nat but all you know are these facts nothing more. I guess one problem I had with this book is it's not quite all about Panic and it's not quite all about the characters and it struck a not great balance between the two. Overall it's a very original idea and great execution, too, it's just not what I thought it was going to be. It has a good underlying message and great writing like all of Lauren Oliver's books but I felt the characters fell a little short. I would recommend this book especially if you're a Lauren Oliver fan I don't think you'll be disappointed, I wasn't even disappointed, not really. I did enjoy this book overall I just have mixed feelings about it.

Besides the obvious bouts of "far too incredible to even sound plausible", this book is absolutely fitting for a nice, idle summer read. The few characters we can explore in depth are very well built and stick to you, you get fond of them. I tried out the book after watching the series, and I reckon my "meh" review might be in part clouded by the fact that I definitely loved the TV version, which depicts characters very differently.

Excelente historia

Pânico é o nome de um jogo criado por um grupo de adolescentes entediados e que se tornou uma tradição perigosa na cidade de Carp. Todo verão, ao final do ano letivo, os formandos do segundo grau tem a chance de participarem de uma série de desafios aterrorizantes e muitas vezes fatais. As regras são simples: as provas são confidenciais, definidas e julgadas por dois juízes anônimos e ao longo do último ano do ensino médio, todos os formandos são obrigados a contribuir com uma soma em dinheiro – inclusive aqueles que dizem não querer participar da competição. O dinheiro arrecado, consideravelmente alto, é o prêmio para o vencedor do jogo.A estória é narrada sobre o ponto de vista de dois participantes do Pânico: Heather e Dodge. Heather entrou na competição um pouco de gaiata, eu diria, mas o motivo para ela ter permanecido é o único que eu considerei legítimo. Eu realmente gostei de seu personagem, forte, leal e determinado. Dodge, por outro lado, possui um motivo, ao meu ver, torpe e fútil. Eu realmente não sei dizer se gostei ou desgostei dele. Ele é um paradoxo: é bobão e calculista, generoso e frio, vitima e vilão.Os outros dois personagens secundários da estória são Bishop e Nat, amigos de Heather. Bishop é adorável e Nat é completamente irritante. Há um leve romance entre Bishop e Heather e Nat e Dodge. Eu digo “leve” porque o livro realmente é focado no jogo em si. O romance entre seus personagens não chega nem a ser um pano de fundo da trama.Lauren Oliver, mais uma vez, não desaponta com sua prosa poética. A trama é ritmada e me manteve entretida até o final. Contudo, eu confesso que este não é um daqueles livros, do qual é impossível colocá-lo de lado. Não há nada de muito complexo ou inverossímil no enredo. De fato, em momento algum eu fiquei me questionando sobre a plausibilidade da idéia de que adolescentes se submeteriam à desafios que poderiam ser fatais por dinheiro. Sinceramente, eu acredito que adolescentes entediados se sujeitam à qualquer coisa; lembro-me de acreditar ser invencível nessa idade.

Again, Lauren Oliver delivers a very good story, well written and quite unusual.I really liked the characters, their insecurities and imperfections made them real to me.

The story kept you wanting to read on however it did have its lulls to only increase the feeling of the rising tension rising in the book.