Wed 17 Aug 2011 @ 17:09
bookscatching firemockingjaysuzanne collinsthe hunger gamesscience fiction
Recently I have been reading The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I had seen it mentioned all over the place but I had consequently avoided it, because I figured it was just massively hyped up. I mean, really, when the author of Twilight is endorsing something, that should be a fairly good sign to stay away. But then Laala read it, and gave it her approval, and since I generally trust her opinions on books I thought I would give it a chance, especially as I was in the mood for a good page-turner. Spoilers ahoy: the books are set in a dystopian future where the remains of North America have been divided into districts ruled over by the rich Capitol. Once a year, children are selected from the districts to fight in the Hunger Games, a fight to the death where there can be only one victor (this premise reminded me somewhat of Battle Royale, and did not suffer in the comparison). The protagonist of the series is Katniss, a teenage girl who is chosen for the games in the first book and soon gets caught up in a rebellion against the system. I started reading the first book and got so caught up in it that I managed to finish it in a single sitting. The next day I read all of the second book, taking breaks to read around doing other things. The third book however took me four days to read, which is about my normal rate for a book of that length. That is a pretty good reflection of my feelings towards them: I loved the first one, I thought the second one was okay, good but not great, and I thought the third one was actually pretty rubbish. Basically I think that the success of the first one was in its focus on the Hunger Games event and the details of that. The second one suffered a bit due to a boring love triangle storyline, but picked up a bit towards the end when the characters were back in the arena. The third one moved away from that and focussed instead on the rebellion storyline, which was not as well done. Plus the conclusion was deeply unsatisfying and left many loose ends. The main character, Katniss, was rather unlikeable, but I liked that fact; not every hero should be perfect. She got a bit more annoying in the final instalment, where she seemed to spent most of the book in hospital worrying over her love life. So I wouldn’t say she was a brilliant female protagonist, but for a YA book I think she was a pretty good character. I am not someone who is disparaging of YA fiction and although they were easy to read they also had many good points and a lot to recommend. Overall I enjoyed the series, the books were good gripping reads, and I really liked the concept, and most of the plot. I would definitely recommend the first one, which will probably be enough to get you hooked!

Recently I have been reading The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I had seen it mentioned all over the place but I had consequently avoided it, because I figured it was just massively hyped up. I mean, really, when the author of Twilight is endorsing something, that should be a fairly good sign to stay away. But then Laala read it, and gave it her approval, and since I generally trust her opinions on books I thought I would give it a chance, especially as I was in the mood for a good page-turner.

Spoilers ahoy: the books are set in a dystopian future where the remains of North America have been divided into districts ruled over by the rich Capitol. Once a year, children are selected from the districts to fight in the Hunger Games, a fight to the death where there can be only one victor (this premise reminded me somewhat of Battle Royale, and did not suffer in the comparison). The protagonist of the series is Katniss, a teenage girl who is chosen for the games in the first book and soon gets caught up in a rebellion against the system.

I started reading the first book and got so caught up in it that I managed to finish it in a single sitting. The next day I read all of the second book, taking breaks to read around doing other things. The third book however took me four days to read, which is about my normal rate for a book of that length. That is a pretty good reflection of my feelings towards them: I loved the first one, I thought the second one was okay, good but not great, and I thought the third one was actually pretty rubbish.

Basically I think that the success of the first one was in its focus on the Hunger Games event and the details of that. The second one suffered a bit due to a boring love triangle storyline, but picked up a bit towards the end when the characters were back in the arena. The third one moved away from that and focussed instead on the rebellion storyline, which was not as well done. Plus the conclusion was deeply unsatisfying and left many loose ends.

The main character, Katniss, was rather unlikeable, but I liked that fact; not every hero should be perfect. She got a bit more annoying in the final instalment, where she seemed to spent most of the book in hospital worrying over her love life. So I wouldn’t say she was a brilliant female protagonist, but for a YA book I think she was a pretty good character. I am not someone who is disparaging of YA fiction and although they were easy to read they also had many good points and a lot to recommend.

Overall I enjoyed the series, the books were good gripping reads, and I really liked the concept, and most of the plot. I would definitely recommend the first one, which will probably be enough to get you hooked!