Mockingjay in all its Mockinglory
Ya know how Twlight fans rage about Breaking Dawn? Or how Transformers 2 was supposed to be awesome, and the only thing that saved it was Shia's half-good acting? That's how I feel about Mockingjay. But, there was no Shia, thus not much saved it :(
First off, since I haven't blogged previously, I will talk about the wonderfulness that is Hunger Games and Catching Fire.
I breezed through Hunger Games in three consecutive days. I have always liked Suzanne's voice and world building from her Overlander Chronicles series. It's believable and doesn't beat you with details that you get bored and/or stop caring. It felt very real. Katniss is a good strong lead female character, which I've come to understand is a rarity in YA these days. I like her love and dedication to her family. She seems really cold, but for some good reasons to a degree. It wasn't until she was meeting her stylists that I got really interested, ie Cinna. There's just something about characters that remind me of my own that just immediately gravitate me to them.
The tension in The Hunger Games is really awesome. I love how Suzanne doesn't shy away from grotesque details. Or I'm just morbid. Hmm. I love how different the Tributes are from each other based on their District. At this point, the love factor didn't bother me. Peeta is a great character, I love him. I just don't think Katniss deserves him :p Gale is who I wanted her to be with.
Catching Fire held a lot of the gripping tension and kept me going. Rumors of an uprising and whatnot. It was so like OMG! And then the Quarter Quell and being forced into ANOTHER Hunger Games with selected Victors from past Games. I was so "Yes yes yes yes," all over this stuff. Then I started getting more :/ at the forced Peeta/Katniss relationship. I mean, I see why it had to happen, but knowing that Katniss was thinking of Gale all the time, it just annoyed me. Although, I liked that keeping her family safe was typically her number one goal. She didn't necessarily feel she HAD TO FALL IN LOVE WITH A GUY to be happy in the world.
Then there's Finnick. Oh man, I love that guy. So glad he wasn't just a snarky pretty face. He did get his depth that he deserved later on. Then there's before the Quarter Quell and Katniss sees dear Cinna being beat and taken away! I was so afjasjfslfjass At that point. Getting on to the third book for his return is what I wanted.
The cliffhanger to this one was so evil. I don't think I would have survived a year like so many people had to.
However, Mockingjay just slowly started to lose my interest. Haymitch, who was growing on me, was becoming a douchebag and it was breaking my heart. Thankfully he got better throughout. Most of this book was spent with Katniss' Inner Angst Theater. Sometimes it was entertaining, but others I just got annoyed and wanted something to happen. Unfortunately my wish only ended up in my raging.
Peeta is tortured by the capitol and I have to admit I was like "YES, TRAUMA, WOOT!" but it ended up tormenting Katniss more than Peeta. But in his 'hijacked' state got the core of her motives and I did give a little '\O/!' I'm mean, but she needed to hear that from Peeta, because she has been cold to him, and I hated it, cause she doesn't deserve his warm kindness.
Thankfully I have Finnick around to keep me entertained. And Boggs is kind of awesome. Gale is around and being badass and it's awesome. But because Gale is around, there's more Inner Angst Theater about who she loves and blah blah. It goes back and forth and she can't make up her mind. Stupid. Fickle. Girl. This was so disappointing, cause I thought she had a firm head on her shoulders in the beginning.
Then there's the war thing that happens. I'm sorry, but reading war tactics and politics kind of bore me. Which is bad since I have book three to write which is WAR. But I think hearing it all from Katniss who doesn't really know what's going on, and what she does is usually glossed over cause she spent fair portions of the book being unconscious, hospitalized and clinically insane.
And deaths? Totally on a "Oh by the way" line. Finnick? He dies. There's some attempt to make it not so "off screen", but I still wasn't pleased with it. Boggs dies. It's confirmed Cinna died. At this point (75 pages left) I just wanted to stop. This book wasn't making me happy. Well, maybe she'll end up with Gale and it'll be better, right? Oh, and I guess she would win the war or something.
Then her little sister is bombed in front of her. That made me rage some more. There was no reason for her to die, as Katniss didn't seem to be angsting about her death as much as she does about who she loves more; Gale or Peeta. And while she was recovering in the hospital from being exploded, the rebels capture Snow so she could kill him. I kinda called it from early on that Coin was going to be someone to contend with. So glad Katniss got rid of both of them. But of course, there was Off Screen-ness and she was unconscious and we are left with glossed over details of what really happened. And more time spent with what the stupid cat is doing and walking around District 12 and not so pleasant memories.
Then we shift into the future a bit and she's with Peeta. Inner Angst Theater telling the readers that she chose Peeta because Gale didn't calm her fire. WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? I threw the book across the couch at this point. I didn't want to read that effing epilogue. She spent two and a half books thinking about how much Gale completes her and they understand each other. Her partner. Then she's like "No, he's like a crazy bloodthirsty war jerk who isn't good for me." Maybe if we got to see a closure between them I would have been better about this sudden change of heart. But that's not what happened, thus I raged and threw the book again once I got through the two pages of sappy sparkly baby junk. I suppose there were SUBTLE hints that that's how she was seeing Gale, but it wasn't good enough for me. People have flaws, it's okay!
Overall I thought the series was very strong. But the romance thing just kind of ruined it for me. I was happy and content in the first book when she was fed up with the Capitol and its ways and wanted to protect her family. But then it just became, "No, all this is going on around you, but here have some ANNOYING LOVE TRIANGLE ROMANCE to make this BETTER". No, it didn't. Also, the characters I loved and adored? Collins killed them. I'd feel better if the authoress handled their axing off better aka Katniss gave a damn that it happened. Although she angsted about Cinna for a while, so that's okay.
BTW, I HATE love triangles. They don't do anything for me. To some they could be endearing, but all they do for me is aggravate me. I'm a girl, I love my fluff and romance, don't get me wrong. Heck, I write a fair amount, but I hate throwing in another choice to 'make it interesting'. No, it just causes stupid unnecessary drama that just makes me believe the girl is a whore. But heaven forbid if a guy had to chose between two girls because canon-ly that would make him a player man-whore and no one would read that book. I'd rather it be one love interest, or none at all. Even a hint of an interest would be more satisfying then traveling the triangle, only ending up for the conclusion to be settling :p I DON'T HATE PEETA! I love him. But their relationship reminds me of *shudders* my Matt and Jess's original Mel. No, just no.
Now I'm going to write some fic to make me better. Cinna at least comes back as an Avox and GalexKatniss forevar!
First off, since I haven't blogged previously, I will talk about the wonderfulness that is Hunger Games and Catching Fire.
I breezed through Hunger Games in three consecutive days. I have always liked Suzanne's voice and world building from her Overlander Chronicles series. It's believable and doesn't beat you with details that you get bored and/or stop caring. It felt very real. Katniss is a good strong lead female character, which I've come to understand is a rarity in YA these days. I like her love and dedication to her family. She seems really cold, but for some good reasons to a degree. It wasn't until she was meeting her stylists that I got really interested, ie Cinna. There's just something about characters that remind me of my own that just immediately gravitate me to them.
The tension in The Hunger Games is really awesome. I love how Suzanne doesn't shy away from grotesque details. Or I'm just morbid. Hmm. I love how different the Tributes are from each other based on their District. At this point, the love factor didn't bother me. Peeta is a great character, I love him. I just don't think Katniss deserves him :p Gale is who I wanted her to be with.
Catching Fire held a lot of the gripping tension and kept me going. Rumors of an uprising and whatnot. It was so like OMG! And then the Quarter Quell and being forced into ANOTHER Hunger Games with selected Victors from past Games. I was so "Yes yes yes yes," all over this stuff. Then I started getting more :/ at the forced Peeta/Katniss relationship. I mean, I see why it had to happen, but knowing that Katniss was thinking of Gale all the time, it just annoyed me. Although, I liked that keeping her family safe was typically her number one goal. She didn't necessarily feel she HAD TO FALL IN LOVE WITH A GUY to be happy in the world.
Then there's Finnick. Oh man, I love that guy. So glad he wasn't just a snarky pretty face. He did get his depth that he deserved later on. Then there's before the Quarter Quell and Katniss sees dear Cinna being beat and taken away! I was so afjasjfslfjass At that point. Getting on to the third book for his return is what I wanted.
The cliffhanger to this one was so evil. I don't think I would have survived a year like so many people had to.
However, Mockingjay just slowly started to lose my interest. Haymitch, who was growing on me, was becoming a douchebag and it was breaking my heart. Thankfully he got better throughout. Most of this book was spent with Katniss' Inner Angst Theater. Sometimes it was entertaining, but others I just got annoyed and wanted something to happen. Unfortunately my wish only ended up in my raging.
Peeta is tortured by the capitol and I have to admit I was like "YES, TRAUMA, WOOT!" but it ended up tormenting Katniss more than Peeta. But in his 'hijacked' state got the core of her motives and I did give a little '\O/!' I'm mean, but she needed to hear that from Peeta, because she has been cold to him, and I hated it, cause she doesn't deserve his warm kindness.
Thankfully I have Finnick around to keep me entertained. And Boggs is kind of awesome. Gale is around and being badass and it's awesome. But because Gale is around, there's more Inner Angst Theater about who she loves and blah blah. It goes back and forth and she can't make up her mind. Stupid. Fickle. Girl. This was so disappointing, cause I thought she had a firm head on her shoulders in the beginning.
Then there's the war thing that happens. I'm sorry, but reading war tactics and politics kind of bore me. Which is bad since I have book three to write which is WAR. But I think hearing it all from Katniss who doesn't really know what's going on, and what she does is usually glossed over cause she spent fair portions of the book being unconscious, hospitalized and clinically insane.
And deaths? Totally on a "Oh by the way" line. Finnick? He dies. There's some attempt to make it not so "off screen", but I still wasn't pleased with it. Boggs dies. It's confirmed Cinna died. At this point (75 pages left) I just wanted to stop. This book wasn't making me happy. Well, maybe she'll end up with Gale and it'll be better, right? Oh, and I guess she would win the war or something.
Then her little sister is bombed in front of her. That made me rage some more. There was no reason for her to die, as Katniss didn't seem to be angsting about her death as much as she does about who she loves more; Gale or Peeta. And while she was recovering in the hospital from being exploded, the rebels capture Snow so she could kill him. I kinda called it from early on that Coin was going to be someone to contend with. So glad Katniss got rid of both of them. But of course, there was Off Screen-ness and she was unconscious and we are left with glossed over details of what really happened. And more time spent with what the stupid cat is doing and walking around District 12 and not so pleasant memories.
Then we shift into the future a bit and she's with Peeta. Inner Angst Theater telling the readers that she chose Peeta because Gale didn't calm her fire. WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? I threw the book across the couch at this point. I didn't want to read that effing epilogue. She spent two and a half books thinking about how much Gale completes her and they understand each other. Her partner. Then she's like "No, he's like a crazy bloodthirsty war jerk who isn't good for me." Maybe if we got to see a closure between them I would have been better about this sudden change of heart. But that's not what happened, thus I raged and threw the book again once I got through the two pages of sappy sparkly baby junk. I suppose there were SUBTLE hints that that's how she was seeing Gale, but it wasn't good enough for me. People have flaws, it's okay!
Overall I thought the series was very strong. But the romance thing just kind of ruined it for me. I was happy and content in the first book when she was fed up with the Capitol and its ways and wanted to protect her family. But then it just became, "No, all this is going on around you, but here have some ANNOYING LOVE TRIANGLE ROMANCE to make this BETTER". No, it didn't. Also, the characters I loved and adored? Collins killed them. I'd feel better if the authoress handled their axing off better aka Katniss gave a damn that it happened. Although she angsted about Cinna for a while, so that's okay.
BTW, I HATE love triangles. They don't do anything for me. To some they could be endearing, but all they do for me is aggravate me. I'm a girl, I love my fluff and romance, don't get me wrong. Heck, I write a fair amount, but I hate throwing in another choice to 'make it interesting'. No, it just causes stupid unnecessary drama that just makes me believe the girl is a whore. But heaven forbid if a guy had to chose between two girls because canon-ly that would make him a player man-whore and no one would read that book. I'd rather it be one love interest, or none at all. Even a hint of an interest would be more satisfying then traveling the triangle, only ending up for the conclusion to be settling :p I DON'T HATE PEETA! I love him. But their relationship reminds me of *shudders* my Matt and Jess's original Mel. No, just no.
Now I'm going to write some fic to make me better. Cinna at least comes back as an Avox and GalexKatniss forevar!