Panic

I finally finished this book, but just couldn't ever really get into it! The female characters were too similar to keep straight. I like that it changed perspectives each chapter, but ultimately pretty predictable.

For the first couple chapters I wasn't really drawn in but I kept chugging along, I kept reading and BOY IZ GUD. Overall it is a worth while read but tbh I bought it because it was cheap$$.

PS I'm writing this on the toilet I kid you not

I've really like Lauren Oliver's other books, but this just didn't impress me. The dialogue was good, but the plot was lacking in all aspects. The back cover sounds amazing, the writing didn't deliver.

This story sends a dangerous message to kids. Although the book is intriguing, it implies that as long as you can get away with it, there are no real limits to what you do and who gets hurt. These kids are bored and trying to feel the void. I don't think being bored is a good enough reason to risk your life or anyone else's.

I am always searching for a good read. Dystopian and Amish Fiction are my favorites. Yeah I know, kind of the exact opposite, but I think they balance each other and me! This book was super and definitely in my keep pile. Thanks........

this is the epitome of perfection in a creative new story line. Oliver never ceases to amaze me in her writing. I instantly fall in love with every new novel written. this book is as captivating as it is beautiful! a must read for sure. <3

Panic was an awesome read. It had action, comedy, romance, foreshadow. I would recommend this book to anyone between the ages of 12-30. If you like Hunger Games or Divergent, then this book is for you.

Story was intriguing but I was extremely disappointed in the foul language. The f bomb was used over and over among other foul words. Wish someone had mentioned it in their reviews as it would have deterred me from buying the book. Too bad a good book has to be ruined because the author can't express her writing in a better way.

Panic by Lauren Oliver, a standalone YA novel about girls and friendship.

In the small town of Carp, there wasn’t much for high school students to do. For years, the seniors have been participating in a game called Panic as a source of adventure. The game involves a series of challenges the participants must perform in order to win. The prize is money collected throughout the school year by the students.

This book is written in third person but divides its focus between Dodge, an outcast from the wrong side of town looking for retribution for an injustice; and Heather, a mixed-up, misplaced girl who has no idea which direction her life is headed. Each of these teens has a different reason for playing the game. What starts as adventure, quickly turns to a game so dangerous it will change their lives forever.

This book was exciting, funny, heart breaking, suspenseful, brave, heart-warming, and hopeful. It provided the right amount of teen angst without sounding whiny. The pace of the story allowed it to be full-of action. But it also took breaks for touching dialogue that provided insight into the individual personalities. These characters were wonderfully written. They had realistic teen responses to some very adult life problems. I was expecting a very different ending based on the atmosphere presented by the author. However, I was extremely pleased. ?

This story had some explicit language and some violence and may not be suitable for readers younger than 14.

I was very pleased with this book and have already downloaded another by this author. She has definitely gained a fan with this book!

I highly recommend this one! This novel earns 4.5 North of Normal Stars!

***More reviews on Off to Amazing Places Blog .com***

Hi, it’s Aashna! Today I am going to be reviewing Panic by Lauren Oliver. Now, I'm going to begin with saying how much I love Lauren Oliver. I think she has a light writing style that is so easy to get immersed in. In addition, I think she knows how to set up a story in a way that is approachable. While those things are (mostly) true in this case, I think the story and characters were lacking in this book. I was expecting this book to blow me away by being a fast paced, heavy thriller, but what I got was a mediocre, mildly paced, lightweight thriller.

The characters were inconsistent. There were times when I felt like they were full and bursting with personality, and by literally the next chapter they would turn into cardboard. It's frustrating to read a book that has such a perfect opportunity for character development, and then wastes it to follow many YA clichés. You would think that after these characters had gone through such an impactful experience, that they would be able to grow. To me, it seemed like some of the characters actually got worse, and not in a way that made sense or was fleshed out.

The plot didn't sound like anything special to me, so it is no surprise that it didn't excite me as I read it. It isn't that original, but it had promise that was sorely ignored. What could have been compelling became something tired very quickly, it felt like a poor mixture of the hot YA books at the time this came out.

If you were to read the description of this book, it would seem like the setting is going to be a main component of this story, right? I wish it were. It's nothing new to have a YA book set in a dead-end town, but I believe that the origins of the game in this specific town, would've been something to explore. It could have been dynamic and add some much-needed depth to this shallow story.

The main reason I'm giving this book 3 stars is because of the writing style, that's it. I didn't get anything from the characters, the plot, or the setting. I hope that this is just a one-time miss for Oliver. I think there was potential, yet it quickly became apparent that was not the case here.

Thank you for reading my review and I hope you will join me again as we go off to amazing places.

The day after high school graduation, the graduates in a small town in New York gather to participate in Panic, a high-stakes game intended to force the players to overcome their fears. Panic is voluntary and illegal, so secrecy is of the utmost importance. And the winner receives over $50,000 in cash. Two best friends compete in Panic, each for her own reasons. During Panic they befriend another participant whose motives for competing are heartbreaking and sinister. As the summer progresses the challenges become more intense and the police will do anything to stop Panic after someone dies. But the game's not over until only one person is left standing.

In typical Lauren Oliver style, Panic starts in the middle of the action. We learn who the characters are by watching them play the game. Their dreams and fears are revealed in what they would risk to win Panic. The book is fast-paced and nail-bitingly addictive. One question resonates throughout the book: What would you do for $50,000?

Briefly: A game that started because there was nothing else to do that summer, Panic is not for the faint-hearted. Everyone at Carp High School pays, whether they participate or not. The judges decide the events in secret; in fact, no one even knows who the judges are. And no one knows when the next task will be; they only know that if they fail, they're out. Winner takes the entire pot.

Heather never intended to participate; she was only supporting her best friend, Nat. But on the night that Heather is ready to tell her boyfriend, Matt, that she loves him, she finds she is no longer part of a couple. He has told her that he has found someone new. Is that what drives her to join Panic? Then there's Dodge. His sister was critically injured when participating in Panic, and Dodge has nothing but revenge on his mind. Can an alliance among Heather, Nat and Dodge work?

Didja Like It?: I am usually a big fan of Lauren Oliver, but this book left me "meh." While there's a lot of action, secrets and craziness, the roller coaster never got to the top. The cover is fabulous, though.

Anything Else to Mention?: I didn't really connect with/care about any of the characters except for Bishop. Everyone else was two-dimensional in their single-mindedness.

To Read or Not To Read: I'm going to leave this one up to you. If you liked it more than I did, I would love to hear about it in the comments.

Panic by Lauren Oliver was published March 4, 2014 by HarperCollins. Ink and Page received this book in a giveaway or promotion.

Rating: 2

Genre: Young Adult Fiction Contemporary Action/Adventure
Ages: 13 and up
You Might Want to Know: Mature themes; sexual references and references to drinking and drugs.

Oh yeah finally another great book. I just kind of picked up Panic not really expecting anything, I don’t think I even read what it was about. All I remember was that my sister, Brianna, said Lauren Oliver is a good author and that she wanted to read it. Well I got bad news for her, I read it, and if you snooze you lose so ha!

Anyways this book was totally awesome the story had its heart pounding moments. Panic really would make someone Panic and its simple name says a lot which is nice too. Basically Panic is a game the high school seniors volunteer to take place in, every student pays a fine of about $1 a day, and at the end of the year the total is added up and given to the winners of the game. Of course the players have to go through something terrifying to get a step up the ladder and after every round someone is eliminated. The rounds they have in Panic are really scary at times. I’m not going to say what they are, some were long and some were really short and the dangers are present too.

There was never a dull moment either, when the characters weren’t participating in Panic they were living their lives. Each character had a believable attitude from the way they spoke to how they thought. They all had their reasons for wanting to win good reasons too. A certain character *SPOILER* is carefully named. *END SPOILER*

In the back where the About the Author is it says that Panic is optioned for film by Universal Studios, which would be awesome, but you don’t need a movie to imagine what is going on. The story is really detailed, not overly detailed either, which adds to the awesomeness of this book. Sometimes there isn’t enough emotion or description in a book that’s not a problem for Panic though.

If you like books that are thrilling, realistic in a sense, a story about summer, love, and hope this is the book for you.

I’m really happy I read this book and am not disappointed at all the rounds of this game known as Panic make me wonder, would I join in on the fun or would I just panic?

Summary:
Panic is a series of games that are played by recent graduate of the local high school in a small town in New York. Each year, high school students are forced to contribute money for the prize money of the Panic games. The judges are kept completely secret and each trial is more and more difficult. There have been people seriously injured and hurt during Panic, but the tradition continues. The two narrators, Heather and Dodge, are competing for two separate reasons. Heather wants the prize money so that her and her sister can get away from their negligent mother. Dodge wants revenge. It's almost all consuming until things get a bit more dangerous and Dodge's motivations change to just make sure that he and his friends make it out alive.

My thoughts:
With only a few exceptions, this was a thrill ride. There were secrets revealed that I didn't see coming and times that I was holding my breath during a game. The things that they were "dared" to complete definitely were more dangerous than anything I would have done while I was a recent graduate. Although, I'm afraid of heights, so I wouldn't have made it through anything anyways. Heather takes a little while to warm up, but then she becomes a very strong character that you root for. Dodge is the opposite. You are thrown into Dodge's world quickly. He's not a great guy at the beginning and it takes a little while before you actually like him. Both share their backstory and make you feel like they really need to win. Some of the trials that both go through are difficult to read, but that just adds to their strength in the competition. Overall, it's a book that will draw out several emotions within the reader and make you want to find out more.

Panic was one of those books that lingered on me. I had trouble between rating it a 4.0 and a 5.0 there was no middle ground with this book, it either got it or didn't. Panic from what I gathered is paying attention to the details and catching every nuance of the book. A lot of the confusion and the reviews that I've seen struggle around how the money was gathered, and it's started in the book. I will address than in a bit, but this book takes a new vibe, character growth and a plot that takes things too far.

Panic is a game in which high schoolers, collect money from everyone (freshmen included) everyday. The judges or participants collect the money, and if someone refuses to pay they are warned and things get progressively worse until they are ruffed up by the judges. The Judges are anonymous and no one knows who they are. The judges take a cut of the money, and than the rest is given to whoever wins Panic. The point of Panic is to overcome your fear and push yourself to the limit. The first obstacle is a leap of faith into a lake, and you can do it no matter how late you are.

Heather was a complex character that took me on a wild ride. Her boyfriend just recently broke up with her and she joins Panic for the reason to prove to everyone she's just not some nobody. As she continues through the trials, the relationship with her sister and Ann (a farmer she starts to live with) changes and puts her position and competition in Panic in jeopardy. Heather, doesn't know or expect what Panic entails entirely, but she is willing to go that step further to show she's better than the expectation her small city has.

Dodge is the second main character, and he joins Panic for a complete different reason for Heather. Every act he does is planned out, and his purpose is far more sinister for being part of Panic. His sister was crippled in Panic years prior and the brother of who crippled her is taking part this year. He's out for revenge, and is completely hell bent, and there are times where you can see a brighter side to him when he realizes the friends he has. However, he's built his life around this moment, and changing that view and accepting that things are okay, just doesn't agree with him. He's so troubled and angry, it's heartbreaking to see him struggle.

A lot of this book has a Before I Fall feel, it's not about the plot completely. The character growth, how each character realizes that the world around them isn't perfect, and what they are doing the game they are playing is slowly taking a step further than everyone intended, but they are willing to take that extra step. The plot and the twists in the story fill the holes that round out the characters and their experience. While it's not as great as Before I Fall, it's so different, unique, and heart-warming to see how they grow and except the world makes this book great.

My gripe with this book was at times the pacing seemed slow, but Oliver does a great job taking that slowness and making complete use of it. Each part weaves character growth and backstory to everyone that it can't be missed. I found I reread sections of this book just to make sure I understood what was going on, which helped immensely. A lot of gripe comes with how this book isn't what they expected. Frankly throw every expectation of an Oliver book out the window with this novel; Oliver takes a complete different direction with this novel. It's refreshing and I hope she continues doing novels like Before I Fall and Panic.

Just to get this clear straight off the bat, this is NOT a dystopian novel. Panic is much more akin to Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall than Delirium in that it is set in a realistic high school in upstate New York.

Panic is a game played by the senior class every summer after graduation. It is a high-danger, high stakes series of tasks that leads to the winner getting fame and glory in the small town as well as a pot of $67,000, and coming from such a poor town, that's a lot of money for an eighteen year old to start their life.

The first narrator we get is Heather, who comes from a poor family and doesn't have any real goals. She was just dumped by her boyfriend before the start of the book and Matt was her ticket out of town, so now she has nothing but Panic. In the course of the book we see her go from a quiet scared girl to a real contender in the competition.

Heather personally didn't interest me. Yes, we see her grow with panic, but we never actually saw her weak before, we're just told that she was. What's interesting that's involved in Heather's story is her best friend Bishop, with whom she's in love but has constantly been in other relationships. He seems like your pretty average nice guy, but without giving any spoilers, there's a bit more to him. Good twists and turns in his story line if you ask me.

The other narrator is Dodge. He was never friends with Heather in high school, but he's in love with her gorgeous best friend, Nat, and panic draws the three of them together. Dodge's reason for joining panic is much more personal. Two years earlier, his sister was in the last tasks of panic and the other contender rigged her car to crash, resulting in her being paralyzed from the waste down.

We don't know this right off the bat, but as the story unfolds, we learn more and more that Dodge's singular reason for being in panic is to maim or possibly kill the brother of the guy who hurt his sister, who is playing this year. But this gets complicated by his feelings for Nat and his first time having real friends.

Nat, now...though she's not a narrator, she's a main character, and I just couldn't stand her. She's a backstabbing friend to Heather, plus she's terrible at panic. The narration is so dragged down by "Nat failed at this and Heather had to drag her along." As intriguing as Dodge's dark side was, Nat seemed oblivious to it, and even when it comes to light she doesn't seem to care. I don't know if that's an active choice in her character or Oliver just trying to make the story fit together, but I hated their dynamic and the resolution of both their stories.

Speaking of dynamics, the strangest thing about this story to me was the Dodge and Heather as the two narrators had no real relationship. Dodge says a few times that he enjoys Heather's friendship, but it feels stiff, like Oliver's just throwing it in there to make the two work together. Nat and Heather had a relationship and Nat and Dodge had a relationship--even Dodge and Bishop had one--but I never felt a real connection between these two.

Action is definitely this book's strength. The tasks, while not necessarily scary to read, would be terrifying in real life. Everything seriously jeopardize the players' safety and breaks the law. Meanwhile, there's a whole mystery about who the judges are (it's a tradition of panic that no one knows). So when some serious stuff goes down and the police need someone to blame, it becomes a cat and mouse game between the players and the judges about who will get pinned.

3/5 stars because there was an extra oomph missing from this book. Not as thrilling as Delirium and not as introspective as Before I Fall, but worth a read for Lauren Oliver fans.

After a flurry of dystopian novels in the YA genre where teenagers are put in perilous situations in which they have to fight each other, Lauren Oliver (who is probably best known for her own dystopian series, Delirium) has flipped the idea and adapted it for a contemporary setting. She still put the characters in mortal danger, but without the complex political background, which usually elevates these otherwise seemingly pointless battles to much more carefully crafted master plans. However, it does mean that this time around the story is perfectly suited to be told within a single novel and the reader isn't forced to commit to a trilogy or longer series.

In Carp the kids have a lethal tradition: during the summer holidays those who have graduated from the local high school play a game called Panic. The winner will walk away with enough money to leave the deadbeat town and start over. And the losers? They're lucky if they come out of it without broken bones. Despite the game being played for many years now, no one really knows where it originated from and the participants keep each other and the individual tasks a secret so the parents and authorities don't get on to them.

At this year's game Heather joins her best friend Natalie at the very last minute, while the man making up one third of their friendship, Bishop, doesn't enter himself but does keep an eye on the two girls like a protective older brother. Over the summer the three make allies and enemies as the finale draws closer and they discover that there are many secrets hiding in the town and what they thought they knew about each other and the game may not be the (entire) truth.

When I read the blurb for Panic I was instantly intrigued and having already read both Before I Fall and the Delirium series by Lauren Oliver I knew that the interesting concept had a lot of promise in this author's hands. I love her writing style and her storytelling is both compelling and well-thought out, making her books addictive and engrossing.

This was a very quick read and the style and tone felt reminiscent of the Point Horror novels from the early 2000s, though not quite as gory and scary, which is not necessarily a bad thing as I remember many sleepless nights as a teenager where I ended up foolishly reading a Point Horror just before going to bed and nowadays I cherish my beauty sleep too much to miss another night.

I did feel that the novel was a bit predictable and there unfortunately was not enough excitement for the proposed premise; it played it too safe and delved too much into romance territory which took away from the game itself. Furthermore I felt that the background to the game of Panic was lacking, making it less believable that it has been going on for so many years without the authorities stepping in.

Panic was perhaps a bit simplistic and lighthearted for its subject matter, but I did like the premise for the game. And there were some unexpected twists along the way, which ensured that I was gripped until the final page.

Originally reviewed at http://www.shaelit.com/2014/03/review-panic-by-lauren-oliver/

Some reviewers found the concept of Panic – a yearly game of increasing risks played by outgoing high school seniors for money – to be problematic and unrealistic. I found it fascinating. Carp is a dead-end, rural town with no opportunities and no future. Its young people know no better, yet that doesn’t stop them from straining against the limitations and dreaming of something more. For most of them, there’s no escape. They’re too poor, too much of nobodies to claw their way out. But Panic with its cash reward offers a way out. All the winner must do is prove himself or herself to be the bravest, strongest, and smartest.

The game, its risks, and its rewards felt real to me. I could picture those reckless, restless kids in their small town, all of them poised on the edge of adulthood, attempting to stretch their wings and instead bashing and bouncing into each other like minnows in a net. (Mixed metaphors – I don’t fear them.) As Heather mentions at one point, it’s completely believable that a bunch of bored, antsy kids who do reckless, teenagery things anyways would jump at the chance to do equally stupid things for the chance to kick the dust of Carp off their feet. Watching the characters throw themselves headlong into danger made for a tense read, especially as the story unfolds and you learn why they’re doing what they’re doing and who depends on them.

The thrills and chills were what kept me going, because the characters themselves (for me) were lacking. I say for me because I can easily see how others might connect to and relate with them. I, however, thought the characterization was weak. Dodge was all brooding and mysterious and “VENGEANCE SHALL BE MINE!” Meh. Heather was fine but nothing special, though she caught my attention most whenever she was with Bishop, her best friend who could possibly be something more. (They were too cute, guys.) Natalie, troublingly, was the most stereotypical. She’s the Hispanic BFF who’s super-proud of her body, is louder than the her main character bestie, and is a bit of a schemer. I couldn’t find anything original about her. At one point near the end, it felt like Ms. Oliver realized the same thing and tried to course correct by [SPOILER]afflicting Natalie with clinical OCD tendencies[/SPOILER], but since this extra facet wasn’t foreshadowed in any way, it felt forced and out of the blue.

I also had a problem with some of the behaviors modeled outside of Panic. Jess over at Read My Breath Away commented on one such behavior in her Consequences in YA Lit post, and it’s a point that I strongly agree with. I would add to that Natalie’s relationship with the skeevy “modeling agent” she meets in town. Unlike the tasks in Panic, which are promoted by the characters while simultaneously proven to be dangerous and not-a-good-idea, these other behaviors are let by without comment. Guys, driving drunk IS NOT OKAY. Going out with a much older stranger who picks you up out of a modeling line IS NOT OKAY. Drag racing, locking yourself in a haunted house, and jumping off cliffs are also not okay, but these things are given real-time consequences within the narrative. The other behaviors are not.

Lastly, while the tension stayed high throughout the novel for me, I agree with other commenters that the way the final challenge played out was awfully lame. Ms. Oliver could have done something really unique and ballsy, but instead the narrative took a hard right turn into cheesy Hollywood mysticism.

Taken all together, Panic is not a book I’ll rush out and buy, but it was enjoyable while it lasted. I would suggest fans of Lauren Oliver, small towns, and thrills take a look for themselves.

Points Added For: Bishop and Heather’s will-they-won’t-they, the small town setting, the thrills.

Points Subtracted For: Weak characterization, a “surprise” reveal that wasn’t a surprise in the slightest, a climax that fizzles out.

Good For Fans Of: Lauren Oliver, small towns, kids doing dumb things for a reason, thrills.

Notes For Parents: Language, smoking, drinking, kissing, murder, drugs.

Note: I received a review copy of this title from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.