Review: Panic

My Rating: ★★☆☆☆

     I heard about Panic a long time ago but just couldn't get myself to start reading it, for no particular reason. But one day, I was bored and didn't know what to read and instead of going to my want-to-read list, guess what I did? I found a particularly popular book and decided that I should read that instead of what I'd been meaning to read for a long time.

     Bad decision! Why, you ask? Well, this is the first Lauren Oliver novel that I've ever read and I honestly didn't like it that much. I know that the author has released a lot of books, all of which are extremely popular and so when I heard that this book was written by her, I wanted to give it a shot. But I really, really, didn't like it all that much.

     The characters? I don't know how I feel about them. Sure, I liked Heather and the fact that she was so determined to compete and win for her little sister. I also liked how Dodge was playing for his incapacitated sister and for revenge against the person who got her that way. But I really felt like the other characters, Bishop and Natalie, were there for no reason. When I saw that the book was written in dual POV, which was Heather and Dodge, I thought for sure that the romance would be between the two of them, which would have made a lot of sense. But guess what? It wasn't. 

     I thought that the whole Heather-Bishop and Dodge-Natalie thing was forced. None of it felt natural or real to me, the romances were too fake and not at all detailed. I know that the book wasn't a romantic novel, but still. The whole romances felt rushed to me and I couldn't get myself to care about the characters all that much. Maybe it's just me, but in this sort of book, that is also a standalone, maybe the author should have focused on the game itself and left the romance out.

     Now, about Panic. It sort of felt like some kind of Hunger Games,Divergent combination to me. Even the game itself wasn't described in too much detail. It was all just teenagers competing for a 60-something thousand dollars in all sorts of ridiculous challenges that put their lives in danger, and occasionally some of them would die. Without spoiling, because it's obvious from just the dual POV, in the end all the competition consists of Heather and Dodge - only one of them can win. 

     All I can say about this book is that it felt a little too rushed, too little detailed and, all in all, unimpressive. I can't rate it any higher than two stars and it's not my intention to be mean. I just didn't like it. However, I do think that the author has a lot more potential and I'm somehow sure that her other books are better - which is why I'll still give them a chance when the time comes.