I just picked the first book on a whim. It’s a Young Adult book and wasn’t too sure how I was going to like it. I loved it and was able to complete the entire series in three days. It wasn’t a hard read at all but very entertaining. Has anyone else read them?
I don’t know what it says about me, but I enjoy lots of YA fiction. I keep telling myself I just want to keep up with my students, but secretly I just dive in and pretend I’m 15.
Loved The Hunger Games, and am in the middle of **Catching Fire **on my Kindle. I’ve always been a fan of books set in a dystopian future, and Suzanne Collins presents a very provocative world. The books move along quite nicely, the heroine and supporting characters draw you in, and I relish the details of the games, Panem, the districts, and everything the author hints at but doesn’t really tell.
Can’t wait to read Mockingjay and see how it all turns out.
Yep, I’ve read them. Thought they were pretty good.
About Mockingjay: MAJOR SPOILERS
[Spoiler]I was actually disappointed in it. It started out very well but I feel the second half, once they started the attack on the Capitol, seemed very rushed. Like she had only so many words and she had to wrap everything up. There weren’t any loose threads, but it was very unsatisfying.
The entire story began as a way for her to protect Prim and I think killing Prim off was just a way for her to wrap up the love triangle.
And Kat ends up with a nice family with a boring life afterwards, but if history teaches anything it’s that leaders of revolutions never get that luxury. Either they’re killed off, which Kat avoided, or they’re brought back in the after the dust settles.[/Spoiler]
I’ll be reading 'em soon. Waiting for them to come into the library.
I just finished Catching Fire and I downloaded Mockingjay on my Kindle and getting ready to start it. I have also been enjoying the series although sometimes you want to smack Katniss for not seeing the obvious. But for a YA series, very entertaining and fast-moving.
Yeah, I really liked them.
Some discussion was going on here (spoilers).
Ah thanks, I didn’t see that the first time around.
My wife and I read them and enjoyed them quite a bit. Although I must say the part we cared the least about was the whole love triangle. Seemed like it needed to be there to appeal to the teenage girl audience, but we kinda zoned it out. Honestly I don’t even remember which one she ended with and why.
But still a great fun read overall.
I apologize for the backhanded compliment…I do not like science fiction and I detest post-apocalyptic fiction, but I really enjoyed the first two books and am looking forward to the third.
I read the first one, and enjoyed it. I recommended it to my 5th grader and she’s about to read it too. Very rarely do I read a book I could recommend to my daughter, so that was neat.
I also read the (Kindle) sample of the second one of the series, but because I read spoilers and now know the major plot points in the next two books, I don’t feel like I have to read the other two books right now…I’m sure I will enjoy them when I get around to them though).
I love YA too. I could pretend I’m reading it to have discussions with my children, but really it’s just for me!
I just finished a great series by Patrick Ness (which begins with this book). It didn’t sound like it would be my cup of tea, but I really liked it, and I think anyone who enjoyed the Hunger Games would like this also. delphica recommended it to me.
I just read this whole series over the last few days when I was home with a pretty bad cold. I’ll admit that my fever may have weakened my emotions a bit, but I was very moved by the last book, the whole series actually.
I disagree.
[spoiler] I think the fact that Prim dies despite the fact the whole series of events began because Katniss was trying to protect her was spot on. I don’t think the book(s) would have had the same effect if everyone she cared about survived at the end and killing off her mom wouldn’t have had the same emotional impact on her (or the readers).
I also think that the love triangle could never have ended any other way. Even if Prim hadn’t died in the way she did, Gale was still not the right choice. They were too much alike, in a bad way. I always felt that once Katniss grew more self-aware, she’d realize that her love for Gale was that of a friend/brother, not as a lover. [/spoiler]
All in all, I was very moved by this series. Again, I realize that if I had read it while healthy it might have had less of an effect on me.
Having read the description of the first book, it reminds me of Battle Royale. But because it’s YA, does the author chicken out? Y’know, a lot of times YA fiction cuts out a lot of violence and sexuality because of the target audience. I also know a little bit about the next books, and again, are the politics or issues made more tame for YA? I just don’t want to expect HBO and be presented with major network TV content-wise, you know?
I’ve never heard of Battle Royale (until reading reviews of this series after reading), so I can’t compare it to that. But in my opinion, I don’t think the author chickens out at all. Not in Hunger Games, nor the 2nd two books. I do not think the violence or issues were tamed at all. In fact I thought this series was awfully dark for YA, but that was what I liked about it - Collins didn’t pull any punches. There was very little sexuality in the books, but I don’t think that was necessarily to tone anything down, but wasn’t the focus of the story.
It depends on what your definition of chickens out is. I really enjoyed the first book, but yes, the author chickens out in that Katniss never has to make any morally fraught choices.
Spoilers for the first book follow. Click at your own risk.
[spoiler]Part of the tension of the first book is Katniss making friends with other contestants yet knowing that they will have to die for her to win the game. But the author makes it so that Katniss never has to kill anyone good. Rue, Thresh, Foxface? Helpfully killed off. Anyone who is even just neutral gets killed by the Careers so that Katniss never has to make a tough decision until the end when it’s just her and Peeta. The author can’t even make her kill Foxface; she has to die by accident.
Again, I liked the first book, and it would have been a different, darker book perhaps, but the author definitely wimps out on the Battle Royale elements of the plot.[/spoiler]
The violence isn’t toned down and the politics aren’t shied away from, but from the perspective of someone who doesn’t read a lot of YA fiction, I was surprised by how little sexuality there was considering the main characters are teenagers. I was willing to chalk that up to the main character having lived in an environment where her energy needed to go toward hunting and gathering food. I could also completely understand the idea of the districts being extremely repressive about sexuality as well as politics.
I read the first one and the second one twice because I ejoyed them so much, I haven’t acquired the third one yet but am very excited. I was very drawn in by all the underlying metaphors and the utter realism of it all, and maybe by the sappy love triangle a little as well. that aside, I think it is very possible that something like that could happen in the not-so-distant future, (especially with December 21st inching closer). The author certainly didn’t skip any details with the blood and gore but the “teen sexuality” was almost non-existant. Teens are driven by hormones already, then you factor in the knowledge that you know you are going to die any minute, I think they would do more than kiss and cuddle. With that being said, I do think it is good that someone draws the line somewhere since it is young adult literature. So much of what teens are drawn to now-a-days is about sex and unplanned pregnancy and not thinking about the consequences of their actions is it refreshing to have someone write about a responsible, level headed teenager that can see beyond whats happening on friday night. Those do still exist believe it or not. Over all, I was pleased with the balance of blood and gore to teen sexuality in the book. I would, will, and have reccomended it to others.
Love the books, hate the publisher
Book 2, Catching Fire, was released on Sept 1, 2009. and as of today, it is still not out in a trade or mass-market paperback format. Even thought publication costs are only about 1.5 X greater for a hardcover vs paperback, the price differential is usually 3X or 4X greater.
Movie rights were purchased by the filmmaker for the trilogy on March 17th of that year, so the publisher knew that a movie adaptation would spur sales of the books.
So if it took from Sept 14th 2008, to July 6 2010 for Hunger Games to go from hardcover to paperback, Catching Fire sould have come out sometime last June in paperback,
Katniss is also absolutely against having children for fear of having them go through the Reaping for so many years. Especially when she figures out that the children of Tribute victors are disproportionately picked for later games.