The Hunger Games trilogy: a review
Finished reading Mockingjay, ergo I have finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy. All together I enjoyed this series for its adherence to simplicity...something the HP books were unable to do. I felt slightly unsatisfied with the ending. It seemed rushed, and lacking details I would have liked to have seen played out since they were the only true happy moments in the story. I was kind of left wondering if the society was starting all over again, trying to apply that to the epilogue as a way to explain the glossed over parts, but it just didn't seem to fit. "And they lived happily ever after" didn't fit either. Certain character details were resolved too neatly.
The characters:
Katniss: Oh my fucking god I spent most of the series wanting to slap the main character silly! I wanted to shout: "Why do you keep doing the same stupid shit over and over? When will you fucking learn that you are hurting people and getting them killed?!" Yes, I figured it out that she is being written as a typical teenage girl...but one that grew up in a dystopic future. She was portrayed both as a typical young girl, and a toughened, rebellious young woman who had been forced to grow up before her time. She resents having to raise her sister and take care of her mother who went a bit catatonic after her father's death, but she learned how to survive. She shunned friendships except for her hunting partner Gale so she's a bit socially stunted, but she holds her own without awkwardness for the most part when interacting with new, strange people. All of these qualities benefit her in the arena during the Hunger Games. I just find it difficult to wrap my brain around how she can learn to care about the plight of others, but can't make up her mind about Gale or Peeta to the point where she's playing one off of the other. I understand adding a bit of realism into a story, but in my opinion it would have been more realistic for Gale and Peeta to have moved on from snippy, unstable Katniss.
Gale and Peeta: If I had to choose one over the other, I'd pick Gale. He's more edgy, seemed to have his finger more on the pulse of what was happening in Panem more than anyone realized, and wasn't quite as wrapped around Katniss as Peeta. I felt that both characters were well designed, if not well displayed. Peeta had more opportunity for the reader to "hear" him, get to know him, while Gale we had to live with what was fed to us in narrative more often than not. One HUGE complaint I have is the ending. How the hell did Peeta get over the conditioning enough to not just be around Katniss without wanting to strangle her, but to have had kids? Would have liked a bit more development there instead of the glossing that the author gave us. It didn't make sense, and left me with a definite "buh?" feeling.
Haymitch, Finnick and Cinna: LOVE these characters. Absolutely love them! All three are handled so simply, but with enough detail you can see and hear them clearly in your head. In my opinion, these characters are stronger than the main characters. I thoroughly enjoyed the development and discoveries you have with each over the course of the books, and I literally gasped when Cinna dies. I expected Finnick to die since that seems to be the way of things these days: to kill a character you've come to love and empathize with. I was sad, of course because poor Annie, but I knew it would happen. As with George R. R. Martin I want to shake authors by the shoulders and ask them if it is really necessary to the plot/character growth to kill off a character you purposely made your readers care about.
Plot/Story: Over all I really enjoyed The Hunger Games. It is a great deviation from the Young Adult standard reading. The Harry Potter books took the readers to a dark place, but THG starts there and never lets you forget it. This is almost kinder to your readers. You aren't giving them sweetness and light then devolving into nightmare worthy territory. The nightmare that the people of Panem are living is revealed to you in a matter of fact way that kind of leaves you wondering what kind of kids we (people in general) are raising if this is what we're giving them. This is a far cry from Hello God? It's Me, Margaret. Granted, I would have eaten up books like THG in my youth since I was consuming books like Dragonflight in the fifth grade.
There are holes you could drive a truck through, and places where the story is rushed or glossed over. I would have liked to have seen certain points more thoroughly explained through character interaction instead of a few paragraphs of narrative, such as Peeta's unexplained turn around at the end of Mockingjay, or Gale and Peeta's mutual understanding as pseudo-rivals for Katniss' non-existent affection. Also, was Snow correct or had he manipulated Katniss one last time at the end? We don't really know. How could Katniss get away with assassinating President Coin with barely even a slap on the wrist? We don't really know. How can Katniss be both tormented by all of the people who died because of/for her, yet able to get over her baggage enough to marry Peeta? It really isn't fleshed out enough to stick in my head.
All in all? I'd recommend these books with the warning to expect frustration throughout. Not unlike a watered down version of Songs of Fire and Ice, actually. :P
The characters:
Katniss: Oh my fucking god I spent most of the series wanting to slap the main character silly! I wanted to shout: "Why do you keep doing the same stupid shit over and over? When will you fucking learn that you are hurting people and getting them killed?!" Yes, I figured it out that she is being written as a typical teenage girl...but one that grew up in a dystopic future. She was portrayed both as a typical young girl, and a toughened, rebellious young woman who had been forced to grow up before her time. She resents having to raise her sister and take care of her mother who went a bit catatonic after her father's death, but she learned how to survive. She shunned friendships except for her hunting partner Gale so she's a bit socially stunted, but she holds her own without awkwardness for the most part when interacting with new, strange people. All of these qualities benefit her in the arena during the Hunger Games. I just find it difficult to wrap my brain around how she can learn to care about the plight of others, but can't make up her mind about Gale or Peeta to the point where she's playing one off of the other. I understand adding a bit of realism into a story, but in my opinion it would have been more realistic for Gale and Peeta to have moved on from snippy, unstable Katniss.
Gale and Peeta: If I had to choose one over the other, I'd pick Gale. He's more edgy, seemed to have his finger more on the pulse of what was happening in Panem more than anyone realized, and wasn't quite as wrapped around Katniss as Peeta. I felt that both characters were well designed, if not well displayed. Peeta had more opportunity for the reader to "hear" him, get to know him, while Gale we had to live with what was fed to us in narrative more often than not. One HUGE complaint I have is the ending. How the hell did Peeta get over the conditioning enough to not just be around Katniss without wanting to strangle her, but to have had kids? Would have liked a bit more development there instead of the glossing that the author gave us. It didn't make sense, and left me with a definite "buh?" feeling.
Haymitch, Finnick and Cinna: LOVE these characters. Absolutely love them! All three are handled so simply, but with enough detail you can see and hear them clearly in your head. In my opinion, these characters are stronger than the main characters. I thoroughly enjoyed the development and discoveries you have with each over the course of the books, and I literally gasped when Cinna dies. I expected Finnick to die since that seems to be the way of things these days: to kill a character you've come to love and empathize with. I was sad, of course because poor Annie, but I knew it would happen. As with George R. R. Martin I want to shake authors by the shoulders and ask them if it is really necessary to the plot/character growth to kill off a character you purposely made your readers care about.
Plot/Story: Over all I really enjoyed The Hunger Games. It is a great deviation from the Young Adult standard reading. The Harry Potter books took the readers to a dark place, but THG starts there and never lets you forget it. This is almost kinder to your readers. You aren't giving them sweetness and light then devolving into nightmare worthy territory. The nightmare that the people of Panem are living is revealed to you in a matter of fact way that kind of leaves you wondering what kind of kids we (people in general) are raising if this is what we're giving them. This is a far cry from Hello God? It's Me, Margaret. Granted, I would have eaten up books like THG in my youth since I was consuming books like Dragonflight in the fifth grade.
There are holes you could drive a truck through, and places where the story is rushed or glossed over. I would have liked to have seen certain points more thoroughly explained through character interaction instead of a few paragraphs of narrative, such as Peeta's unexplained turn around at the end of Mockingjay, or Gale and Peeta's mutual understanding as pseudo-rivals for Katniss' non-existent affection. Also, was Snow correct or had he manipulated Katniss one last time at the end? We don't really know. How could Katniss get away with assassinating President Coin with barely even a slap on the wrist? We don't really know. How can Katniss be both tormented by all of the people who died because of/for her, yet able to get over her baggage enough to marry Peeta? It really isn't fleshed out enough to stick in my head.
All in all? I'd recommend these books with the warning to expect frustration throughout. Not unlike a watered down version of Songs of Fire and Ice, actually. :P