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On April 01 2012 15:52 khaydarin9 wrote:
Well, the current contract is for the third book to be made into two films - yeah, I know, right? It's not even like Twilight and HP7 where there was at least a logical place for the split to happen.
I disliked Mockingjay when I first read it, but upon re-reading, I actually think it's pretty true to the universe and the characters - it just happens to be horrifically grim, and it kind of reaches too hard in terms of structure, I think..
I guess it's all good and all that the book is teaching the lesson that the war and real life is unforgiven and gruesome. But the problem with it is that readers who read the first book is that they wanted to be emerging in the fantasy universe that was described by the author. The readers wanted to find similarity between themselves and the characters from the story which they love and are fond of and can be related in some way. The HP author did a good job here because we all want to be in the wizard world after read the book and we can all find something related to from the characters from the book. On the other hand, Mockingjay totally just switched from a fantasy world into something completely realistic and unenviable. That completely ruined the mood to some degree.
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Alright, I'm going to say having read the 3 books, book 1 is probably the worst. Nobody in this thread aside from OP and SetStndbySmn discuss any reasons why except simply the other 2 were crap or pointless etc.
The entire series is about Katniss' inner monologue, the struggle mentally with self identity and the eventual breakdown with the realization that the people rebelling with her are just the same as the old. The 3 books progress in a very logical and grim manner. The heroine eventually understands the hopelessness of the situation and even succumbs to it, that makes it real.Sometimes, even though you can spark and lead a rebellion, you're just another pawn in someone else's game. This book isn't happy go fun times, despite being for Youth Girls,
The first book is very much like Battle Royale and the writing itself is decent. The character development is nice but aside from that (and the innumerable descriptions of food, which it's nice to have that PoV and show the stark contrast of the 2 world's Katniss essentially experiences...but it's a lot of pages of food), the plot is extremely predictable because most of the Hunger Games are spent with us knowing that Katniss will survive and Peeta is good. The only eyebrow moment was the berry scene, but since she introduced the berries in the previous chapters, we knew that was going to come back up.
The second book deals with how the rebellion starts, how these characters learn to accept the role that's thrust upon them and the choices they need to make for their family's safety (i.e. run away, pretend to love Peeta/Wedding, willing to die in Quarter Quell). I find most of the tributes much more likeable or at least a relevant emotional connection when they die unlike the previous book which only had Rue's passing throw pain to the reader. (this is the book I actually enjoyed the most of the three, we see Katniss maturing as a character in her monologues and the games themselves were much more interesting)
The third book completes Katniss' mental transformation, and although it might be hard for the reader to deal with her multiple sedations, or the loss of Peeta, these are all really relevant. Some plot points can be contested, I guess, such as the death of Prim and the execution of Coin by Katniss, but most of the other areas are explained and if you could suspend belief in areas of book 1, then this shouldn't be a problem.
If people are still posting about this, please let me know as I'm genuinely interested in where book 2 and 3 fell off the map so much for you. The series itself was good for me, not great, but I really feel that the majority would have either liked the series as a whole, or not all. Liking the first book (of all the ones to choose from) seems strange unless you were looking for a "Katniss is a feminist super hero and all things fall into place" storyline. The dark (but still semi-happy ending) teaches a lot about societies to teenagers, and books like Animal Farm or 1984 all have ominous endings (NOT that I'm even beginning to compare THG literature to them). If you want to find happiness, in the end, she managed to win because she stemmed the cycle of oppression by killing Coin (although someone takes her place) and Peeta comes back to her.
Edit: Minor points from OP:
- With the Star Squad in book 3, you note the introduction of stocks who will clearly be killed and that makes it predictable and it's lame that Katniss is just going around on her mission. Let me just say this, the story at that point is NOT about the horrors of war, it's the parallels of this mission to the Hunger Games. Collins LITERALLY (yes, I'm using the L word) wrote her 3 books in the exact same manner 1) First half is table setting and character development 2) Second half is an action based battle 3) The resolution (which is longer in Book 3 obviously).
- Stock characters in 451 = stock characters meant to die in Hunger Games (basically everyone but Rue) or in Quarter Quell.
- Stupid war mission = All the arena battles (mission is survive vs mission is survive until President Snow)
- I would argue you should feel even more emotion in book 3 because people of actual importance die (Finnick who has survived 2 books & Boggs who should have as much impact as someone like Rue or at least Madge).
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just finished the third book. not quite sure how i feel about the series as a whole yet, i will say that the last book is very draining. i cant help but relate katniss to ender in how everything horrible that could possibly happen to her does, but unlike ender she doesnt get a peaceful death, somehow she has to live with it. i can say i was not a fan of the epilogue, reminded me to the crappy one at the end of harry potter
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I like the Hunger Games cause it felt like a mesh between two of my favorite books: Ender's Game and Battle Royale. However, I feel that the action/brutality of HG is subpar compared to Battle Royale. The psychology and banter of HG are subpar compared to Ender's Game.
To delve into specifics:
Mazer Rackham > Haymitch
Bean > Any possible supporting character from HG
Peter Wiggin > Snow and/or Coin
Abused Girl who has sex with boys before killing them > Any Career
Kazuo > Any Career
Mental Breakdown of Ender > Mental Breakdown of Katniss
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+ Show Spoiler +Wow, holy shit, the second book sucked so much ass I can't bother with the third. If the creator of The Hunger Games in the second book was in on the plan to free them and rebel all along, why the fuck did he put in all that dangerous shit that almost killed them all if not for pure blind luck. Why the fuck, if he was in communication with the rebels, did he not just tell them what was going to be on the map, like that clock bullshit etc.
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I just finished mockingjay there last night, ending my reading of the series. I thought it was a pretty good series although i found the ending to be a little anticlimatic. I think Collins says at the end of the third book that it was inspired by her fathers endevors in the vitanam war, and how he showed her the impacts of war in life. In that respect the third book did its job imo. Spoiler is my thoughts on the ending.
+ Show Spoiler +On the ending, im not too shure if its a happy or a sad ending. I mean Katniss ends up with peeta and actually being in love with him, but lost prim, her sister that she spent the entire series trying to protect.Those responsible do get their comuppons i suppose, but i guess the message is that life goes on.... A bit cynical but realistic i suppose, at least its different and dosent end up with gale comming in to save the day like a knight in armour or something childlish like that. What do you guys think about it?
Overall i loved the series, great charactures, great plot and there were some funny and 'wow' moments.
And i was very suprised with the film, it actually explained more (like the sceens with president snow and what happened to the gamemaker) And it did'nt cut out a ton of the book like the Hp films, which im very happy about. 8/10
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Wow I feel like I've been punched in the stomach.
That last book was nothing like what I expected.
I thought this trilogy was a little light reading; there was nothing light about that ending.
+ Show Spoiler +I was really dissapointed to be honest; I think it ended up doing nothing well. If you want to read a touching and accurate portrayal of the human side of war there are many much better stories.
Right from the start of book3 it takes a darker turn that wasn't fitting with the rest of the series (certainly not book1).
And at the end she just dissapears into obscurity without anyone even caring about what she has to say? This is the mockingbird; the face of the revolution. She ended up with Peeta (that was one of the few things I liked about the ending); surely they would've been at least celebrities?
As I said, this book is a sucker punch. Maybe the main reason I'm annoyed is because I wasn't expecting it.
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EPT
