The Hunger Games : Thoughts and Opinions

[museme87]

So after spending the last 72 hours doing nothing but reading The Hunger Games Trilogy, I am done! With mixed feelings...



So, cutting to the chase, I felt like it fell apart at the end. Almost like I was reading a completely different book. Book3!Katniss was like OotP!Harry on steroids. The angst! The shouts! The no-one-knows-my-fucking-pain! I wanted back the girl who survived by her wits in Book 1--the selfless girl who sacrificed herself for her sister. I have no idea where all this me-me-me! stuff was coming from.

Also, there was a lot of stuff that I thought Collins was going to address that she never did. Like the victors' tour in Book 2. I, personally, would have loved to visit the districts. Also, the politics in Book 3 was so heavy and confusing and under-explained. I dunno.

And the love triangle, which I have to address because it's who I am:

I knew she was going to end up with Peeta. Knew it! But I was stilling holding out for Gale. And the way she just dismisses him basically all throughout book 3 pissed me off. Not so much out of a shipper's perspective, but just because I genuinely felt like the guy did more for her that she never even bothered to acknowledge. And then he just conveniently disappears to district 2, taking some fancy job, apparently, which does not feel like Gale's style at all. Another instance where Collins dropped the ball for me as a reader.

And on a final note before the listing begins, I just want to say that too many people died. I have to think back to J.K. Rowling's huge deaths, especially in DH and how she made them pack a punch. She wasn't afraid to kill people, but she didn't send them out to slaughter like Collins did. I guess I just feel like so much death makes the reader both unattached to characters because it's likely they'll die and makes deaths less tragic because it's constantly in your face.

Okay, so the lists of Pros and Cons about this series:

Likes

1. Cinna. I cannot stress this enough. CINNA, YOU ARE MY ONE TRUE LOVE. Mockingjay would have been infinitely better if Collins just decided to scrap that Katniss thing and write a book about Cinna being fabulous. Because he is.
2. Gale. BB, I love you, too. I felt so much for Gale for reasons I can't quite explain. I know he's not a very central character until Book 3, but I loved him from the get go. I think a lot of it had to do with his self-sacrificing ways. All he did for his family. All he did for Katniss' family. The way he always had Katniss' back. And honestly, I didn't mind his rage so much because the boy had damn good reasons to be angry. Also, trapping powers and strategic thinking really impressed me.
3. Beetee and Wiress. I loved finding a couple Ravenclaws in Hunger Games. These two were underestimated by everyone, and I am reminded of Luna. Clever and brilliant and so much more. I'm glad that Beetee survived!
4. Finnick. You were marked from the moment you were introduced as gorgeous. The pretty ones always get it. Actually, I was torn up about his back story. That's a lot to deal with on top of all the additional damage of knowing Annie was in Capitol. Also can I just say that I was impressed with his knot making ability and intelligence? Because I was.
5. Haymitch. I loved the drunkard. I loved how he always had a plan.
6. Song about the man calling his lover to her death? How creepy and intriguing was that?
7. Collins didn't skimp on the gruesome details, and I applaud her for that. There was a couple instances when I was grimacing as I read. She also didn't skimp on showing the trauma these participants went through during and post Games.

Dislikes

1. Collins, you dropped the ball with Katniss. You had me liking and pitying her for two books and then it was all I could do to like her in the last one. Perhaps the movies will get it right? Perhaps.
2. Katniss/Peeta. There I said it! It's out!
3. Making Katniss hate Gale for creating those traps with Beetee. Then, blaming her sister's death on him. Boy was in a war, Katniss. I'd be coming up with traps too. Sorry one killed your sister, except that wasn't Gale's call so how 'bout we not blame him, okay?
4. Collin's twists weren't really twisty. I knew what was up with the Mockingjay watch as soon as it was flashed, as I think most readers do. Having it take so long for Katniss to figure out was frustrating. As was the ridiculously drawn out love triangle. Everyone knew who she was going to end up with, so why not cut the thing loose half-way through?
5. Also, Katniss leading on Peeta and Gale? Not cool. It made her look like skank-of-the-year. I had a lot more respect for her before that wishy-washy bullshit.
6. Beetee, where are you now?! How about some closure with the epilogue? I honestly didn't care about Peeta and Katniss is their happy little life together. What about all the other characters? At least in HP:DH we got more than a page of Ginny and Harry cuddling and talking about their pain. Dear lord..
7. Katniss voting in favor of a final Hunger Games? I'm sorry, who the fuck are you?
8. Katniss' mom. Talk about terrible mothers.
9. Katniss blaming Gale for Prim's death. Just..no.
10. Cinna's random, unexplained death. If you're going to kill the man, at least give some details. Hell, I thought maybe they hadn't killed him for the longest time after that happened. But, they did. And it fell flat.

So yeah, that's just my random thoughts. I was glued to the books, so I definitely can't say that they were bad by any means. But there were a lot of flaws with the series.

Oh and I was asked about the casting for the 2012 movie. After looking, I am pretty unimpressed with everyone except Lenny Kravitz. I mean, the only person that I think would make a better (albeit more unrealistic) Cinna is Morgan Freeman. And that's just because he's Morgan Freeman, lol. Also, Donald Sutherland as President Snow doesn't really fit for me, but it's Donald Sutherland, so, you know. Can't argue with that.

If anyone would like to discuss anything with me, leave a comment! :)

ETA: Apparently, I am the black sheep in this flock of white because no one else came to the same final conclusions as I did for this series aside for Cinna being fabulous.

ETA 2: Also, the allusions to Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus in this series are, however few, amusing and obvious.