The Good:
The Hunger Games trilogy sucked me in right from the beginning and had plenty of unexpected twists to keep me interested. Unlike much young-adult literature, there were no gaping plot holes, the characters were consistent, and the characters each had their own unique personalities. The characters were believable enough that it was easy to sympathize with their plights, and I found myself choosing favorites from among them, which shifted from book to book. I appreciated that the author used a dystopian-futuristic setting, but one in which there have not been absurd advances in technology and where people behave in a manner cohesive with reality. The first person narrative was appropriate in driving the fast pace of the story telling and in withholding vital information from the reader to build suspense.
The Bad:
These books are graphic and violent, not to an extreme, but enough that I question marketing them to a young adult audience. Sometimes I felt like the author killed off characters just for the shock value of losing a favorite character or to drive in the anti-war message, more than for driving the plot forward or crafting the story in any useful way.
The Ugly:
Sadly, the third book of the series was a mess. In this book, the author absolutely abuses sleeping, fainting, being knocked out, and being drugged out as a plot device. The main character spent at least as much of the book asleep or otherwise incoherent as she did actually doing anything. Unfortunately, that's not my main complaint with the third book. The worst thing about it is that the author sends the main character and chums off on an adventure in which they overcome all sorts of trials, obstacles, and enemies. The action continues to build and is just about to reach its climax when the author sends the main character into one of her stupors, then reboots the plot, throwing away everything that happened in the last hundred pages. Apparently this was supposed to be a clever plot twist, but it only made me wonder what the point was of all of the hard work and sacrifice if nothing was accomplished and the character didn't grow in any way. Worst of all, the two secondary main characters have no grand finale. They reach the end of their journey at which point they should do something great, then just go away until the epilogue. A terrible way to end what was otherwise an excellent series.
Conclusion:
The first two books in the series were fantastic and are very much worth reading. If you decide to read the third book, only do so for finality, but don't go in expecting a proper conclusion.
P.S. My favorite character was Finnick.
3 comments:
I just bought the first book so it's good to see a positive review. I think I'm the only one left of our siblings that hasn't read it yet!
I read the first one over Christmas but haven't completed the series yet. The book definitely grabbed me, but somehow I wished that it would confront the oppression of the entire people more directly, rather than watching a limited number of them run around trying to survive (as gripping as that was!) Gotta love the "stick it to the man" message at the end, though :-)
I agree! Loved the first two and also wondered about the level of violence, didn't bother me as much as I thought it would (no nightmares) but I can't say the same if the do a movie of it, that's going to be pretty graphic I'd guess. The third book too for me was mostly just for a wrap-up, I didn't feel nearly as involved with the characters. But I am a girl, so I can't help enjoying a good romance that doesn't always end "perfectly" but it was satisfying.
I felt that in both the 2nd and 3rd (much more in the 3rd) the plot of the Hunger Games themselves was rehashed and reinvented a little too much. I just felt it was a bit of a sign of a first time author, to go back to what she did so well in the first, and mostly the 2nd. Still a great series for the most part.
Post a Comment