Read these books. Seriously. I just bought the first book in the series over the weekend and finished it in a day. I bought the second book today and I am halfway through it. They are brilliant.
“In a not-too-distant future, the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 12 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Part entertainment, part brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts, the televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eliminate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. When 16-year-old Katniss’s young sister, Prim, is selected as the mining district’s female representative, Katniss volunteers to take her place. She and her male counterpart, Peeta, the son of the town baker who seems to have all the fighting skills of a lump of bread dough, will be pitted against bigger, stronger representatives who have trained for this their whole lives. Collins’s characters are completely realistic and sympathetic as they form alliances and friendships in the face of overwhelming odds; the plot is tense, dramatic, and engrossing.”
I’m bumping this thread because the third and final book just came out today. I spent last night at a bookstore waiting to buy my copy at 12:01, something I haven’t done before but it was quite fun. The series is extremely popular in some circles but under the radar for most people and I haven’t seen anyone at GWC mention it before.
All three books are fast reads and very addicting. If you’ve read the summary and write the series off because it sounds like a Battle Royale knock off then all I can say is give it a try anyway. The books go in unexpected places, they are violent and brutal and characters pay the price for their decisions. Characters don’t get guaranteed happy endings in this. Having just finished the last book Mockingjay, I can tell you I am very satisfied with the conclusion and this series is going up on my favorites bookshelf.
One of my close friends whose book tastes I only sort of trust has also recommended these. Now that they come with a GWC stamp of approval I think I’ll bump them from my library audio book wish list to my check out list.
I haven’t read them yet, but my wife absolutely loves them. Just like Baconface, she read through the first two pretty quickly. I’ll have to pick the new one up for her.
I blew through the entire series really fast as well. (It helped that I could just download one after the other onto my Kindle.) I loved this series and it really stuck with me emotionally for a long time after I completed it.
Just FYI, there are several threads that mention The Hunger Games throughout the forums. One convo I enjoyed was in the “currently reading” thread.
I really, really liked The Hunger Games trilogy but the end was so dark that the night I finished Mockingjay I sobbed alone in my bed for 45 minutes between getting home from work and feeling capable of having dinner with the GF. Yikes.
I have read the first two and am not feeling very satisfied so far. I am compelled by Katniss but I really find her insufferable because she can’t seem to make up her mind in time-sensative situations and then takes it out on poor Peeta who has the Rhett Butler Syndrome. And can anyone explain how the capitol manages to keep control when the ultimate threat of obliveration means vital resources aren’t harvested. Do they say “well, district 12 needs to die, so I guess we can manage without coal!”
The Hunger Games itself is compelling but impractical. If it’s done at the Captiol’s amusement, then there needs to be a complete disassociation between Capitol dwellers and districtites. Cappies need to dehumanize the outsiders in order to distance themselves from feeling they are associated with murder. Suzanne Collins understands the social status of Roman gladiators, but not the psychology.
I just finished the audiobooks, and was very satisfied. There were a few things that nagged at me in terms of the author over-explaining things every now and then (explaining a very self-explanatory song in Mockingjay is the one that comes to mind) but there were some absolutely wonderfully written scenes and characters that made up for it. In terms of what’s being written in YA novels, I’m glad to see this having a presence in the deluge of urban fantasy out there (not that I’m opposed to urban fantasy–I just picked up the first two of Rachael Caine’s Morganville Vampires books on a recommendation and have to do my part in recommending them, as well).
That said, holy crap these were bleak. Like, Children of Men bleak. And it went perfectly with my Spartacus: Blood and Sand rewatch.
Have you read her other series, Gregor the Overlander? I received them for Christmas and just got a chance to read them. They were fantastic, I plowed through all 5 book in 3 days.
They are geared toward younger and teenage readers. She doesn’t fill the books with a lot of background info or descriptions that might distract a younger or novice reader. She does manage to convey a fantastic story that deals with some very mature issues. She builds the characters across all 5 books instead of introducing then and then spending the next couple chapters building the character. The characters are placed in dangerous situations that force them to make difficult decisions that may harm themselves or others. They learn hard life lessons that are usually glossed over in books for young adults. They deal with discrimination, prejudices, and stereotypes. They were very well written and I think you will find they are rather moving stories. They are really easy reads too, I finished the first one in an 8 hour shift at work. Try them, I think you’ll like them.
The Hunger Games trilogy has it’s heart in the right place, but I found myself more curious about the society and the details of such a world. I don’t buy the whole anhilation of entire districts as each one plays vital parts to Capitol’s needs.
But I have been thinking of doing something kind of fun with the Hunger Games. I was thinking about recording a audio track or possibly a Youtube video in the form of an ESPN-style pre/post game show of the 74th and 75th Hunger Games with stats and analysis as how the Watchers/Listeners of The Games might expirience it.
I started reading the first one and I am about half way through. I started reading it because everyone has been suggesting them to me. My first clue that they might not be a great as everyone thinks might be because they have been suggested to me from people that never read sci fi or fantasy novels.
Don’t get me wrong they are entertaining for a nice easy fast read. But the themes and ideas so far are familiar and nothing new. They are things that have been used in Sci Fi movies and books many times before. Now if you want brilliant I would say Ender’s Game or The Giver. Which to me seem similar to The Hunger Games. Children put in situations where they have to act adult. And society where everyone path is chosen for them.
I am still entertained and I got the book on my Kindle for $5 so hey it is a great value and as entertaining as going to a movie. I try not to be to critical because I do realize it was written for younger readers and in that case this is a good introduction into these types of novels because young readers would have read similar stories before or so I assume.
Interesting reaction, LadySioned. I am a big reader of both science fiction and fantasy but I still really enjoyed The Hunger Games trilogy. You’re right–it doesn’t rise to the brilliance of either The Giver (<3) or Ender’s Game, but so few books do. The Hunger Games is not a series that lends itself to deep thinking, but some armchair philosophizing is a good outcome for kids who are choosing to read it rather than being assigned to read it.
I do not dislike the book again I am finding it very entertaining and I can see how for kids it can be a gateway drug into starting to enjoy that genre which is always a good thing in my opinion.
My theory is that those who have not read a lot of this genre like my mother in law who never reads any type of fantasy sci fi are going to rave and rave about this book while those that have read sci fi and fantasy will find it just enjoyable. I am speaking of adults that read it because I am not sure of the teenager perspective
If that is not the case and I am wrong I welcome it because I am often wrong and like to know different views.
I also have to say (and having read only the first book of the trilogy since someone won’t return the books to the library like they’re supposed to) that Katniss is a much more compelling protagonist for me than Ender, and would have been so when I was the target age, too. I also think HG has better re-read value, since I rarely find myself wanting to return to Ender since what I found so fascinating about it the first time around was precisely the twist at the end. Plus I now avoid reading OSC because ew.
The Giver, though - I wouldn’t even put that in the same category as these books, at least in my experience of reading it. It would go in a category with a book like Fahrenheit 451 or The Handmaid’s Tale. Dystopic, but much more about the society described within it than with the characters themselves, IMO.
Thanks for clarifying–I think you’re probably right that the trilogy will be more appealing in the long term to non-SFF fans. But most kids at the target age aren’t really well-read in any genre. I agree that this has a lot of potential to inspire younger readers to explore more SFF. And that’s a good thing!
Katniss would have been more personally resonant for me, too, if I had read the Hunger Games around the same time I first read Ender’s Game. The sense of responsibility for family and community that Katniss feels, and her confusion about what is right, are very familiar to me. I personally would have identified with Katniss and wish she had existed when I was 12-14 because I had similar family responsibilities. I wasn’t bringing home all of the food for the house but I did have to help play the role of second parent to a mom who was drowning in loss. I also felt a similar desire to hop the fence and roam around alone. Ender truly has the soul of a warrior, and I don’t. I rooted for him and wanted to see him succeed and then find peace, but I didn’t feel the same type of kinship with him that I did with Katniss.
I do periodically reread Ender’s Game. I savored Ender’s growth and gradual understanding of his leadership capabilities. I was entranced by the concept of Battle School. I loved his friends. Actually, I am really sad that I lost my copy of Ender’s Game by lending to a sneaky book stealer because I can’t bring myself to replace it if it means that even a penny of the price goes to Orson Scott Card.
OSC broke my heart.
What is the point of Ender’s Game and especially the rest of the Ender-centric books if not that it’s important to value everyone for what they contribute to our society and to the beauty of the universe? That it’s not ok to condemn and harm what is different and seems completely unnatural to you?
I’m ok with him having different moral beliefs than me. I’m even ok with him thinking I’m gross because I’m gay. But the political activism in which he’s engaged over the last 10 years feels like a betrayal of the spirit of his works. I generally try to use my money in support of enterprises that don’t then spend it on efforts to limit my rights. This includes artists and writers.
My feelings about OSC are perhaps more intense than is warranted. I love his books. They mean something to me. The fact that he spends his time and income to support political causes that are so contradictory to what those books mean to me so disappointing. I can’t help but feel emotional about it and take it personally.
Finally, wtf is up with attacking JK Rowling publicly for being derivative and a lazy writer and then writing blurbs for and speaking up in support of every single Twilight book? WTF!
But to happier things, I agree that The Giver belongs in the canon of classic distopian literature. Actually I think it’s about time for a reread of that. Have we done The Giver in the GWC book club yet?
The Giver would be a great book club read even though I would probably finish it in one sitting. Has anyone read the sequel I kind of want to but kind of not because The Giver ends to beautifully.
I know nothing of the things Orson Scott Card has done but hey I pay no attention to the news. That is pretty funny that he supports the Twilight books but not JK Rowling
I understand that what an author does reflects greatly on you wanting to buy their books. I had an author that if anyone asked me who was my favorite she always was the first one I said. Basically the back story to this is that she has a series she has not finished and the fans have been waiting and waiting and she started a new series where the protagonist is an author (and is very similar to the actual author in personality I believe she wrote herself into her new series). At one point of the book the character has written a new series without finishing her old series. And basically in the book the character author finds it hilarious that fans feel a sense of entitlement and F em she will write the books she wants. Fans should feel entitled when you write a series and do not finish it. They should not feel entitled if you decided to write in a different direction.
The problem with authors not caring about there fan base or if what they do will affect there fans is this. Fans are who pays the bills. Not directly but basically that is how it works. If you piss of people that would read your books no matter how brilliant you are your numbers will go down and no publisher will pay you to write more books.
That is why I have always loved Terry Goodkind. He treats his fans amazingly and even if he might think that some or a little crazy he has not treat them badly as far as I have witnessed.
Sorry for the tangent
If I had read these books when I was younger I do not think I would have identified with either Ender or Katniss. But it is hard to say when it came to fantasy, Sci Fi books I did not identify with many characters because I read adult books after my siblings were done with them so most characters were adult.
I wonder Casilda and Starbuccaneer where you older or oldest siblings? I was just wondering if that is what makes Katniss more identifiable. Basically a middle child so really had no responsibilities put on me.
