The Dark Days Novellas by Ginger Gelsheimer and Taylor Anderson

The Dark Days novellas are intertwined with the story of Hunger Games. I purchased them because it tells what may have caused the formation of the 13 districts and Game 1. There are three novellas, End of the World, Dorian Lennox, and The Others, and take place within a matter or days/weeks.

End of the World starts with Claudia flying to Denver to see her brothers wedding. Everyone knows the world is ending, and asteroid is currently hurling towards Earth, and so many people are being a bit irrational, like getting married even though you're all about to die. On the plane, Claudia meets Benjamin, who is just a kid. While in flight, the asteroid hits and everything begins to fall apart. Claudia and Benjamin survive the disaster, but are left to fend for themselves in this new world that is nothing like we've seen before.
Rating: 4/10

Dorian Lennox tells of life for Claudia and Benjamin, along with a few other survivors. For a few days, the small group lives on top of floating vehicles, but as resources become scarce, the realize they must return to the airport. Upon their return, they meet Dorian Lennox, who is a former head of security and not at all pleasant. He has gathered the survivors and turned them into a mini-military. Able bodied people are expected to forage every day for supplies, while the sick and injured are quarantined and left to die. Claudia's band of misfits proves to be good at finding much needed supplies, but their lack of respect for how Lennox runs things puts them at odds.
Rating: 3/10

In The Others, Lennox has reached the breaking point with Claudia, et. al. when they discover hidden supplies. Lennox locks them away and leaves them for dead. That is, until Lennox realizes that current supplies isn't going to get him the strong, fearless group he hoped for. He turns to Claudia to go out into Denver to forage for food and medical supplies. While out, she finds a group of people downtown that seem to have a better grasp on things than the airport group. She stays with them for a little, and they give her some supplies, but she knows she must return to the airport to rescue her friends who are still locked away. Upon arriving back, Lennox informs her that she, along with some members of her group, and the strongest of his members are going out into the world, in the opposite direction of her new friends. Again, they find people, and Lennox plans to take them out and is using Claudia's weakness for her friends back at the airport so that she will help him take over. However, this new group is pretty well organized too and they aren't going to give up so easily.
Rating: 2/10

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As you can see, my ratings got lower with each novella. I feel like the plot lines held so much potential, however, they were too short to include information that would have added more depth to the story. It doesn't really say anything about who these people are. Why is Claudia motivated to survive in the beginning? Why is Dorian Lennox such an asshole? Why did he want to take over the new group of people? I realize they are novellas, but I know nothing about these people to give me any reason to care what is happening to them.

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This is at least 74 years before the first Hunger Games, because in The Hunger Games, they are having the 74th game, and that's not including the time when District 13 was warring with the others, so really, I'm going to say we're closer to that 100 years before mark. None of these people would be alive by the time the books came out, so I need some context on why they are so important to the story line. I realize they can't tie directly to the Hunger Game series, but they don't even feel like they're in the same universe. I don't feel that this scenario could result in The Hunger Games. They were supposed to "satisfy my Hunger," but instead, it left me feeling like a kid whose ice cream cone just fell on the floor.

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Rating: 3/10
Authors: Ginger Gelsheimer and Taylor Anderson
Series: The Dark Days
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Spin Off

But here's the Truffle Shuffle to stick with my Goonies theme.

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