hungry hungry hunger games
Yesterday I finished the last of the Hunger Games books. I have not yet seen the movie, although I think everyone else I know has. Thoughts about the series are under the cut. Naturally, there are spoilers.
I thought the series was good, but not great, with Catching Fire being the weakest. I was actually expecting Mockingjay to be the weakest of the three as my brother said it was short and it seemed like the author had run out of ideas.
The Hunger Games
Fast read, read most of the book on a three hour plane flight. Nice introduction to the world, and I'm a sucker for dystopian science fiction anyway. I am kind of wondering about the technology of the world, which is at times significantly advanced and at times seriously backwards, although this is slightly explained in the third.
Weakest part of the book, indeed the series, is too much description: food, outfits, dreams. Especially dreams. Why why why do authors describe dreams in their books? It's almost always irrelevant filler slowing down the plot. Or some obvious clue to the character's psyche or emotional state that we already knew. If you're going to put a dream in make it count.
Catching Fire
This one annoyed me. The start was very slow, a hundred and fifty pages of Katniss talking to people and not doing much it seemed. Then disaster strikes, there's going to be Hunger Games in which Katniss and other previous winners will complete. This is where the book went off the rails for me. In the first long part of the book there's much talk of running away and revolution, what state the various districts are in, whether or not District 12 can revolt (not enough people), the continued existence of a rebel District 13. So Katniss gets recruited again and...nothing. I was expecting something from her for many many pages. Nope, she doesn't even think about running away or rebellion or about maybe trying to band up with other contestants to somehow try to thwart the system, decide not to fight, anything. She doesn't think about any of it at all, just completely passively accepts that she's going to the next Hunger Games and that's that. I'm left wondering what happened to the runaway rebel of the first half of the book?
The Games themselves are somewhat of a letdown, since it's basically rehashing the climax of the first book in a different arena.
Mockingjay
Probably my favorite, especially in terms of body count. After the first books I was thinking not enough people died, not enough people that mattered to Katniss at least, just Rue and Cinna. But here she starts to pile them on: Finnick, Boggs, and most of the rest of her team. And, Prim. Which was pretty cool, wasn't expecting that so it hit home.
Also liked the description of the rebel District 13. 13 is not presented as some utopia or even an unequivocally good alternative to the government of the rest of Panem, it's just a different authoritarian government. Everything is extremely regimented: what they eat and in what quantities, what they wear, what they do and and what time. 13 manages to exhibit far more control of its subjects than anything we've seen from the Panem capital. Really appreciated Katniss's discovery of her hair and makeup team being detained and tortured by 13.
An interesting thing in this book, and has been a running theme in every book, is how little Katniss knows and how often she's out of the action. She misses out on the capture of Snow. Assassinates the president of 13, and presumed new president of all of Panem. Then is stuck in a room for weeks it seems while her trial goes on, and is eventually freed. Kind of cool to have her character be so realistically out of the loop, due to age and circumstance. Contrast that with Harry Potter where, outside of OOTP, Harry is pretty much kept filled in by Dumbledore on important matters.
Shipping
I gather that Katniss/Peeta vs Katniss/Gale is a big deal in HG fandom. I think I'm glad I read the books, and all at once, without seeing that. And, to be honest, I didn't find much to truly differentiate Peeta and Gale in the first two books, just a certain sameness. The third Gale is clearly becoming the warmonger sort and obviously not the type of person Katniss needs. Katniss ending up with Peeta didn't leave me happy or unhappy, he's a nice enough guy, but I wasn't ever invested in that pairing (or K/G).
Of Katniss's male peers, I thought Finnick was the most interesting character. Was bummed when he died. Didn't ship him with Katniss, though. I guess she's just so emotionally unaware that the question of her romantic entanglements was hardly interesting, since she seemed barely interested in them herself.
Epilogue
Liked that it presented Katniss and Haymitch as still very damaged people from their experiences in the Games. Rather than just happily ever after for everyone. Another contrast to HP where Harry seems perfectly content and well adjusted.
Etc
The biggest unanswered question is how did they reconstruct their society and government? Did the make a lasting improvement over the previous governments of Panem and 13? If Collins ever does a follow up I hope she touches on that (and maybe finds another protagonist).
Technology, I think there's a line somewhere about what kinds of technology they have and what they've lost. Like earlier I was wondering why all the fighting was done with small arms and manned aircraft? Why not send in drones for targeted attacks?
Ah, here's the part:
I’m too weary to work through his latest charge. I spend the short ride back to 13 curled up in a seat, trying to ignore Plutarch going on about one of his favorite subjects-weapons mankind no longer has at its disposal. High-flying planes, military satellites, cell disintegrators, drones, biological weapons with expiration dates. Brought down by the destruction of the atmosphere or lack of resources or moral squeamishness. You can hear the regret of a Head Gamemaker who can only dream of such toys, who must make do with hovercraft and land-to-land missiles and plain old guns.
(Mockingjay)
Not much of an answer but there's also this:
Back in 10, he’d worked on one of the beef ranches, maintaining the genetic diversity of the herd with the implantation of long-frozen cow embryos.
(Mockingjay)
It seems possible that much or all of the existing technology is leftover from the earlier civilization, but I think that they'd have been able to develop some new things or re-create previous technology. Like a drone really only needs two-way radio communication and one-way video and an aircraft to have a remotely controlled drone.
Anyway, I probably shouldn't over think things. Oh! This part was really annoying:
Peeta takes a stab at it. “Will that wire really be able to conduct that much power, Beetee? It looks so fragile, like it would just burn up.”
“Oh, it will. But not until the current has passed through it. It will act something like a fuse, in fact. Except the electricity will travel along it,” says Beetee.
“How do you know?” asks Johanna, clearly not convinced.
“Because I invented it,” says Beetee, as if slightly surprised. “It's not actually wire in the usual sense. Nor is the lightning natural lightning nor the tree a real tree. You know trees better than any of us, Johanna. It would be destroyed by now, wouldn't it?”
“Yes,” she says glumly.
“Don't worry about the wire - it will do just what I say,” Beetee assures us.
(Catching Fire)
Act something like a fuse?? Any wire will act just like a fuse when enough current is passed through it; that's exactly how a fuse works. If no electricity "travels along it" there's no current so nothing to fuse. What's special about his wire other than being very fine?
Okay, that's enough for now. Next up: The Hunger Games - the Motion Picture.
I thought the series was good, but not great, with Catching Fire being the weakest. I was actually expecting Mockingjay to be the weakest of the three as my brother said it was short and it seemed like the author had run out of ideas.
The Hunger Games
Fast read, read most of the book on a three hour plane flight. Nice introduction to the world, and I'm a sucker for dystopian science fiction anyway. I am kind of wondering about the technology of the world, which is at times significantly advanced and at times seriously backwards, although this is slightly explained in the third.
Weakest part of the book, indeed the series, is too much description: food, outfits, dreams. Especially dreams. Why why why do authors describe dreams in their books? It's almost always irrelevant filler slowing down the plot. Or some obvious clue to the character's psyche or emotional state that we already knew. If you're going to put a dream in make it count.
Catching Fire
This one annoyed me. The start was very slow, a hundred and fifty pages of Katniss talking to people and not doing much it seemed. Then disaster strikes, there's going to be Hunger Games in which Katniss and other previous winners will complete. This is where the book went off the rails for me. In the first long part of the book there's much talk of running away and revolution, what state the various districts are in, whether or not District 12 can revolt (not enough people), the continued existence of a rebel District 13. So Katniss gets recruited again and...nothing. I was expecting something from her for many many pages. Nope, she doesn't even think about running away or rebellion or about maybe trying to band up with other contestants to somehow try to thwart the system, decide not to fight, anything. She doesn't think about any of it at all, just completely passively accepts that she's going to the next Hunger Games and that's that. I'm left wondering what happened to the runaway rebel of the first half of the book?
The Games themselves are somewhat of a letdown, since it's basically rehashing the climax of the first book in a different arena.
Mockingjay
Probably my favorite, especially in terms of body count. After the first books I was thinking not enough people died, not enough people that mattered to Katniss at least, just Rue and Cinna. But here she starts to pile them on: Finnick, Boggs, and most of the rest of her team. And, Prim. Which was pretty cool, wasn't expecting that so it hit home.
Also liked the description of the rebel District 13. 13 is not presented as some utopia or even an unequivocally good alternative to the government of the rest of Panem, it's just a different authoritarian government. Everything is extremely regimented: what they eat and in what quantities, what they wear, what they do and and what time. 13 manages to exhibit far more control of its subjects than anything we've seen from the Panem capital. Really appreciated Katniss's discovery of her hair and makeup team being detained and tortured by 13.
An interesting thing in this book, and has been a running theme in every book, is how little Katniss knows and how often she's out of the action. She misses out on the capture of Snow. Assassinates the president of 13, and presumed new president of all of Panem. Then is stuck in a room for weeks it seems while her trial goes on, and is eventually freed. Kind of cool to have her character be so realistically out of the loop, due to age and circumstance. Contrast that with Harry Potter where, outside of OOTP, Harry is pretty much kept filled in by Dumbledore on important matters.
Shipping
I gather that Katniss/Peeta vs Katniss/Gale is a big deal in HG fandom. I think I'm glad I read the books, and all at once, without seeing that. And, to be honest, I didn't find much to truly differentiate Peeta and Gale in the first two books, just a certain sameness. The third Gale is clearly becoming the warmonger sort and obviously not the type of person Katniss needs. Katniss ending up with Peeta didn't leave me happy or unhappy, he's a nice enough guy, but I wasn't ever invested in that pairing (or K/G).
Of Katniss's male peers, I thought Finnick was the most interesting character. Was bummed when he died. Didn't ship him with Katniss, though. I guess she's just so emotionally unaware that the question of her romantic entanglements was hardly interesting, since she seemed barely interested in them herself.
Epilogue
Liked that it presented Katniss and Haymitch as still very damaged people from their experiences in the Games. Rather than just happily ever after for everyone. Another contrast to HP where Harry seems perfectly content and well adjusted.
Etc
The biggest unanswered question is how did they reconstruct their society and government? Did the make a lasting improvement over the previous governments of Panem and 13? If Collins ever does a follow up I hope she touches on that (and maybe finds another protagonist).
Technology, I think there's a line somewhere about what kinds of technology they have and what they've lost. Like earlier I was wondering why all the fighting was done with small arms and manned aircraft? Why not send in drones for targeted attacks?
Ah, here's the part:
I’m too weary to work through his latest charge. I spend the short ride back to 13 curled up in a seat, trying to ignore Plutarch going on about one of his favorite subjects-weapons mankind no longer has at its disposal. High-flying planes, military satellites, cell disintegrators, drones, biological weapons with expiration dates. Brought down by the destruction of the atmosphere or lack of resources or moral squeamishness. You can hear the regret of a Head Gamemaker who can only dream of such toys, who must make do with hovercraft and land-to-land missiles and plain old guns.
(Mockingjay)
Not much of an answer but there's also this:
Back in 10, he’d worked on one of the beef ranches, maintaining the genetic diversity of the herd with the implantation of long-frozen cow embryos.
(Mockingjay)
It seems possible that much or all of the existing technology is leftover from the earlier civilization, but I think that they'd have been able to develop some new things or re-create previous technology. Like a drone really only needs two-way radio communication and one-way video and an aircraft to have a remotely controlled drone.
Anyway, I probably shouldn't over think things. Oh! This part was really annoying:
Peeta takes a stab at it. “Will that wire really be able to conduct that much power, Beetee? It looks so fragile, like it would just burn up.”
“Oh, it will. But not until the current has passed through it. It will act something like a fuse, in fact. Except the electricity will travel along it,” says Beetee.
“How do you know?” asks Johanna, clearly not convinced.
“Because I invented it,” says Beetee, as if slightly surprised. “It's not actually wire in the usual sense. Nor is the lightning natural lightning nor the tree a real tree. You know trees better than any of us, Johanna. It would be destroyed by now, wouldn't it?”
“Yes,” she says glumly.
“Don't worry about the wire - it will do just what I say,” Beetee assures us.
(Catching Fire)
Act something like a fuse?? Any wire will act just like a fuse when enough current is passed through it; that's exactly how a fuse works. If no electricity "travels along it" there's no current so nothing to fuse. What's special about his wire other than being very fine?
Okay, that's enough for now. Next up: The Hunger Games - the Motion Picture.