I will see if my library has them when I get back home! (They don't have the books here); I could buy them but I generally don't buy books before reading them just because there's always the chance I won't like them, so I'll definitely look but it's going to be a month before that!
Yeah I'm going to admit the fact that Stephenie Meyer is a fan of these books is the hugest detractor for me ever. I would never ever read these if you hadn't said they're actually good.
I tend to give things a chapter test before I buy them -- I read the first few chapters and see if I'm hooked enough to continue. I literally could not pry myself away from the first book after I picked it up. It was that engrossing.
I honestly don't know why she's a fan, given that she apparently hates violence and this series -- features kids killing each other in very brutal ways. But, like, Stephen King likes them, too! And The New York Times! There's no accounting for taste. I mean, I can't let Twilight ruin everything I like or else I'd have to hate Wuthering Heights and Romeo and Juliet, too.
LOL hijacking the bit about SM liking R&Jwindy_leaNovember 27 2010, 14:46:40 UTC
Given how she seems to take Romeo & Juliet as a romance to aspire to, and probably also doesn't realize that Wuthering Heights is a damn good example of a hot but terribly unhealthy relationship, she probably got a completely different set of messages from the Hunger Games than you would.
I keep hearing about these books lately so I think I need to make a point to check them out next time I see them at the bookstore. Last time I picked up a much-talked-about YA book I was blown away and loved it, so I'm looking forward to these.
Yay! I hope you enjoy them -- I really can't recommend them highly enough. I'm a sucker for really good YA and always have been, and these books definitely qualify.
Oh, there are marked similarities to Battle Royale. *grins* The series ultimately ends up going in a very different plot and thematic direction, but the kids fighting each other to the death on live TV thing is kind of always this delicious delicious trope.
And yeah, Katniss is way cooler than the protagonist from Battle Royale.
I am physically too awkward to comment on peoples' LJ entries anymore and I've already flailed at you but Me, first book, three hours flat! And instead of trying to be coherent, I'll make a list of what I liked:
- "Oh, Katniss and Rue are so sweet! BUT RUE IS GOING TO DIE HORRIBLY." And still, I hoped.
- The worldbuilding--especially what we could pick up of the different districts' naming schemes. I dorked out.
- How we didn't get to learn Foxface's name.
- "Peeta what the hell kind of game are you playing Collins why aren't any of your characters easy wait never mind carry on! :DDD"
- HAYMITCH. More and more as the book went on. (So I herd he's a magnificent bastard.)
- I like her worldbuilding a lot, too -- she gives us just enough about Panem to hook us in and make it believable, but not so much detail that it becomes a gigantic infodump. And I love trying to figure out what the other districts are all up to.
- OH MY GOD I REMEMBER HOW FREAKING CONFUSING PEETA WAS THE FIRST TIME I READ THE BOOK. (Which is sort of a testament to Collins's writing skill, because Katniss doesn't know what the hell to make of him and neither do we.)
- HAYMITCH GETS EVEN MORE MAGNIFICENT IN THE NEXT TWO BOOKS. And he gets so many of the best lines, too. I kept getting more and more attached to him as the series went on.
- Katniss is so cool. ♥ Seriously, new gold standard for lady YA protagonists here.
But Twitter is so much easier and I will stop being a pansy now.
щ(ಥДಥщ)
- God. We're putty in Collins's hands. The minute that I noticed that was the minute I loved the book in earnest.
- And just how much Haymitch changes in our eyes in the first book! By which I mean Katniss's eyes. ♥ ♥ ♥
- I'm trying to think of my previous gold standard for YA protagonists in general--Lyra from His Dark Materials, maybe? And before that, Rachel from the Animorphs, but Animorphs was more third and fourth grade for me. So. Hmm.
- I just ordered the second book through ILL, I am so excite you have no idea.
- She is really really good at closing the psychic distance between the narrator and the reader. I kind of love how unshowy her writing is in that regard, because it kind of has to be for the immediacy she's going for. The voice is so damn vivid and strong and I love it.
- (Don't worry, he keeps changing as Katniss finds out more and more about him. It's amazing. And heartbreaking.)
- ANIMORPHS OH GOD MY CHILDHOOD LOVE AND RACHEL YESSSSS. ♥ (Though I love Lyra, too.) I think Animorphs usually gets filed under YA because of some of the stuff that happens in the books, but I started reading them when I was fairly young, too. They were so formative.
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Yeah I'm going to admit the fact that Stephenie Meyer is a fan of these books is the hugest detractor for me ever. I would never ever read these if you hadn't said they're actually good.
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I honestly don't know why she's a fan, given that she apparently hates violence and this series -- features kids killing each other in very brutal ways. But, like, Stephen King likes them, too! And The New York Times! There's no accounting for taste. I mean, I can't let Twilight ruin everything I like or else I'd have to hate Wuthering Heights and Romeo and Juliet, too.
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And yeah, Katniss is way cooler than the protagonist from Battle Royale.
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- "Oh, Katniss and Rue are so sweet! BUT RUE IS GOING TO DIE HORRIBLY." And still, I hoped.
- The worldbuilding--especially what we could pick up of the different districts' naming schemes. I dorked out.
- How we didn't get to learn Foxface's name.
- "Peeta what the hell kind of game are you playing Collins why aren't any of your characters easy wait never mind carry on! :DDD"
- HAYMITCH. More and more as the book went on. (So I herd he's a magnificent bastard.)
- KATNISS. So much. Unabashedly. You can't not.
Reply
Yay lists~
- I like her worldbuilding a lot, too -- she gives us just enough about Panem to hook us in and make it believable, but not so much detail that it becomes a gigantic infodump. And I love trying to figure out what the other districts are all up to.
- OH MY GOD I REMEMBER HOW FREAKING CONFUSING PEETA WAS THE FIRST TIME I READ THE BOOK. (Which is sort of a testament to Collins's writing skill, because Katniss doesn't know what the hell to make of him and neither do we.)
- HAYMITCH GETS EVEN MORE MAGNIFICENT IN THE NEXT TWO BOOKS. And he gets so many of the best lines, too. I kept getting more and more attached to him as the series went on.
- Katniss is so cool. ♥ Seriously, new gold standard for lady YA protagonists here.
Reply
щ(ಥДಥщ)
- God. We're putty in Collins's hands. The minute that I noticed that was the minute I loved the book in earnest.
- And just how much Haymitch changes in our eyes in the first book! By which I mean Katniss's eyes. ♥ ♥ ♥
- I'm trying to think of my previous gold standard for YA protagonists in general--Lyra from His Dark Materials, maybe? And before that, Rachel from the Animorphs, but Animorphs was more third and fourth grade for me. So. Hmm.
- I just ordered the second book through ILL, I am so excite you have no idea.
Reply
- She is really really good at closing the psychic distance between the narrator and the reader. I kind of love how unshowy her writing is in that regard, because it kind of has to be for the immediacy she's going for. The voice is so damn vivid and strong and I love it.
- (Don't worry, he keeps changing as Katniss finds out more and more about him. It's amazing. And heartbreaking.)
- ANIMORPHS OH GOD MY CHILDHOOD LOVE AND RACHEL YESSSSS. ♥ (Though I love Lyra, too.) I think Animorphs usually gets filed under YA because of some of the stuff that happens in the books, but I started reading them when I was fairly young, too. They were so formative.
- :DDDDDDDDDDDD
Reply
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