Snoozanne B. Collins series a big hit
Renowned author Snoozanne B. Collins has finally released Mockingbird, the last installment of her hit trilogy, The Slumber Games. Critics are already describing the book as “amazing” and “a real page-turner,” with one reviewer calling it “a book worth staying up late reading — ironically.”
The Slumber Games series centres on the struggles of teenager Katnap Everdeen in the dystopian PanREM district. Facing a future of precarious employment with a food delivery app, Everdeen forfeits the prospects of a job lost to automation, deciding instead to attend Primrest University. Upon setting foot in the crowded dorm she will call home for eight months, Everdeen realizes too late that she has indebted herself both literally and emotionally to an institution that will forever reference her as merely a seven-digit student number.
From this first revelation, Collins weaves a web of misfortunes faced by Everdeen, including midterm schedules, vague grading rubrics, and endless Scantron forms.
Problems climax when Everdeen is forced to participate in the tri-annual Slumber Games, a contest held by university elite that pits students against each other in a race to the top of the academic ladder.
Particularly unsettling is the self-imposed detachment of the so-called Evaluators, who concern themselves with broad slogans and fossil fuel investments while blatantly disregarding the mental health of Katnap and her peers. Amidst the challenge of balancing classes, extracurriculars, jobs, relationships, and personal health, Evaluators attempt to appease the students with hashtags and dog-petting sessions so as to prevent a second rebellion. As academic debts grow amidst a declining applicability of university education to the real world, Everdeen grapples with some difficult choices, ultimately failing to realize she essentially has none.
When the first book in the series — The Slumber Games — was released, critics everywhere were overwhelmed by readers’ positive responses. Collins thrilled enthusiasts with the announcement of two books to follow. June 2016’s sequel Catching Five Winks was similarly received, and last week’s release of Mockingbird has been greatly anticipated. While the retail statistics remain to be seen, there is little doubt that Mockingbird stands to be Collins’ biggest success yet.
Fans will also be happy to know there are plans to adapt the trilogy to film. Rumours currently point to actress Jennifer Snorence as the favourite to portray heroine Katnap.
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Feature photo edited by Alora Griffiths/The Ontarion