Monday, January 21, 2013

Well.  The Hunger Games was a fascinating look at the psychology of survival, and hinted at a wider backdrop that could have been a jumping off point for a great series.

However.  Catching Fire is a book about a lovesick girl who weeps in her tea and lives in oblivion.  Obviously this girl has never met Katniss.  The Katniss I know (and love!) would be disgusted by her.

The truth is that I've been spoiled by JK Rowling.  The complexity of the Harry Potter characters are, to me, what makes the series so rich.  How would a 14-yr-old boy, who has just seen a classmate die, respond to a distant mentor?  He would be sullen and angry, obviously.  And we don't have time to even get into Snape right now.  JK Rowling captured human nature on paper, and no matter how many times I read her books, I am always drawn in. I've been spoiled by good books.  

I'm thinking about skipping Mockingjay altogether.  There is so much potential in the story line (the political landscape of the first book was just so interesting), but considering how thoroughly she dropped the ball with the sequel, I don't know if it's worth it.  If Mockingjay if fabulous, speak up friends.  

5 comments:

Heather said...

The third book is definitely political, but also a bit too Days of Our Lives. I'm glad I read it, but I am not tempted to go there again. I re-read the first one for book club, but I convinced them not to drag me through the others again.

Yes, Harry spoils us. There was another series the kids and I liked. Charlie Bone. It was really good. DIfferent from HP but containing some of that flavor. We listened to the audio of the Charlie Bone books.

Cindy said...

JK spoiled me by lulling me in to trust an author. To trust that the characters stay true and complex, and that plot and story are consistent and well done around them.

The Hunger Games was a complete disappointment as a series. The first one setting the stage beautifully, but then on into the second and third feeling like I was betrayed by an author that was meeting deadlines and creating a "trilogy" where there wasn't one - plot was re-using earlier ideas and characters molded to her whims. If you thought the wheels came off in the second, don't waste your time with the third. I can't think of a series I was more disappointed in. Intriguing and promising in the beginning, but then quite a contrast to feel duped into buying more books down the line.

Carrie B. said...

i liked it and was glad to know how it all ended up. though it certainly felt like it was unraveling a little by the end. but i didn't have any problems with the 2nd. I felt like Katniss was ALWAYS such an ambiguous character that I didn't really know who she was. she was all over the place anyway. But to me, that was part of the plot...that Katniss was discovering who she was and who she wanted to be. So i think the issues you had, I noticed, but I saw them as part of the plot in a weird way. I can't stand not knowing how something ends even if it's bad, so I am probably not a good person to ask. I will read the most horrible books to completion just because. =)

Cindy said...

p.s. As much as you like to read, this is one of my favorite book review blogs: http://asthecrowefliesandreads.blogspot.com

Also, The Fault in our Stars is a good read.

Unknown said...

Like you, I really dug the first book. Mockingjay is the worst in the series. Despite some wickedly good action scenes, Collins does two things I hate: she takes the easy way out, skipping over a lot of important events and then just summing them up in a few words near the end, and she doesn't develop Katniss's character at all. By the end of the series, Katniss is nothing more than a thoroughly selfish and self-absorbed young woman with little foresight. So nah, don't bother with the others.