The Hunger Games Trilogy

[MattL86]

Spoilers for this crapfest ensue, for anyone fortunate enough to have not read this series.

First off, I know mocking popular teenage fic is easy (see twilight). But, wow. These books are so terrible I need to rant. Collins has taken the thinking man's (or woman's) genre of post apocalyptic fiction and made it attractive to teenagers, which actually doesn't sound like a terrible idea. The result however, is frightening.

The worldbuilding is laugh out loud-- then stare with befuddlement--then moan with embarrassment bad. From shooting stealth bombers out of the sky with a bow and arrow to an entire district of thousands living in one network of bunkers and all eating at the same kitchen, this series is rife with situations that make you shake your head. Technology contradictions abound ('high tech' medicine that heals instantly and plastic surgery that can remove any scars, yet somehow prostetic limbs have gone backwards. People still watch news on home tv's that are the same as our current tv's, yet somhow the government can broadcast in the sky? An entire district lives underground and FARMS underground, but coal mining is as safe in this future as it was in the 1800's.)

For a book that is supposedly about people being forced to kill each other for the entertainment of the masses, this series rarely examines any moral, ethical, or social themes. Lord of the Flies it is not. The only theme is rampant EMO behavior. People cry. Then scream. They are sedated to shut them up (also morally ambiguous, but hey whose keeping score). They wake up. Something bad happens. They cry about it. Repeat ad nauseum. Never does Collins once examine the moral choices behind killing someone else to survive, the animalistic nature in people, the trauma such a situation would bring on, nothing. Katniss is just really sad about it. It makes her feel all sad inside. Hug Peeta to make it all better. Repeat.

Speaking of which, apparently Collins is the latest in the Sanderson, Meyers, etc lineage of PG writers afraid of sex. Not that that is bad (I like Sanderson), but honestly, how many 17 year old couples that are in love get into bed with each other and snuggle every night all alone and don't have sex? It's just so ridiculous.

Really, all Collins did was focus on characters, to the detriment of world building and themes and plot. Perhaps her biggest failing then is all the characters are terrible. Katniss is an unlikeable bitch. Peeta is a hormonal, pining twit. Prim is a 5 year old in a 12 year old's body. The mother is selfish, Snow is a one dimensional cartoon villian, etc. Her love triangle fails because I don't care about Katniss, Peeta, OR Gale. By the end I was hoping for a nuclear winter that would wipe out the entire population except Caesar Flickerman (Picture Mark Hamill's Joker) and Effie Trinkett, who could then repopulate the earth in a sort of futuristic Adam and Eve creation myth.

Honestly, I read every book of The Sword of Truth, and this is worse. Terry's worldbuilding makes sense compared to this mess. I'd take his perverted objectivist message over no message at all. At least Meyer is writing vampire fic, which we expect to be somewhat classless. The Hunger games is worse than both. It is the worst thing I've read in a long,long time.

EDIT: In case you couldn't tell, I really can't wait for the movie.

[Errant Bard]

Not an unusual opinion, after book 3, see http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/49774-the-hunger-games-trilogy/

I agree on most points, except to call it worse than Goodkind: at least this is not a soapbox for distasteful morals based on strawmen.

[Shryke]

Yeah, but at least Goodkind spiced it up with titillation and racy-sex and almost-rape/actual-rape.

[Lyanna Stark]

Yeah, but at least Goodkind spiced it up with titillation and racy-sex and almost-rape/actual-rape.

Stephanie Meyer does as well, doesn't she? Or at least creepy stalker spiciness? (I feel like self flagellating for writing that.)

It makes me sad that the OP thinks anything containing vampires is automatically bad. :frown5:

[The Anti-Targ]

Hmmm, yet another book series that appears to demonstrate a lack of literary discernment in my 45 year old PhD sister-in-law.

I think the only YA series I've read recently is the Chronicles of the Tree trilogy by my very good friend Mary Victoria. Though I haven't read the 3rd book yet. I enjoyed the first 2 books, they are a good first outing by my friend.

Prior to that I read The Dark Materials trilogy (Northern Lights etc). Those books were a fun read too.

Twilight was suckful (excuse the pun) and I only read the first book. I refused to read any others and I will never see the movies, even on pain of death.

Gooodkind I persevered with until the Naked Empire. I could no longer stomach the prosletysing of a philosophy I find to be naive and vacuous. I actually enjoyed the first 3 books (or was it only the firt 2 that I actually liked?).

I will have to give the first Hunger Games book a try, even after reading this thread. My sis-in-law and her kids all love it and I'm sure my son will too. So I can't bag it only on someone else's say so.

I want to get my older son into WoT, but it seems he's still at the stage of looking at books over 300 pages long and thinking they are simply too long to read. Hopefully in a year or 2.

[MattL86]

It makes me sad that the OP thinks anything containing vampires is automatically bad

Not bad, just not exactly high brow literature. If a book is about vampires I don't really expect it to delve too deeply into important issues. Paranormal romance /urban fantasy is all a bit on the shallow side. The Dresden files are fun, but I'm not going to look for literary themes. Dystopian/post apocalyptic fiction ont he other hand tends to be more of a thinker's genre, which usually looks at the future to say important things about the present. If you are an environmentalist, the world blew up because we failed to recycle. If you are a pacifist, we destroyed it with nuclear war. I am being sarcastic and simplistic but you catch my drift. So when I say I expect this kind of classlessnes from Twilight, it's because it's just vampire fic. Doesn't mean vampire fic has to be terrible. Though I'm not going to lie, it's not my favorite genre.

I will have to give the first Hunger Games book a try, even after reading this thread. My sis-in-law and her kids all love it and I'm sure my son will too. So I can't bag it only on someone else's say so.

You have been warned...what has been seen cannot be unseen. Seriously, there is a Green Arrow style sequence when people shoot frickin stealth bombers down with bows and explosive arrows. I'm currently seeing a therapist to get that chapter out of my head.

Besides, are you really going to believe your relatives over a totally random stranger on the internet? What kind of crazy are you?

[FiddleDeeDee]

It is the worst thing I've read in a long,long time.

I wouldn’t say that, but it is seriously overhyped.

I’m only two thirds of the way through the first book and problem I’ve encountered so far are:

Why do the people in the districts hate the games? I would have thought that people living in abject poverty would be lining up to compete in a competition whose winner leaves with unimaginable fame and riches. And on top that their main exposure to the games is through the capitols TV coverage which from what the reader sees glamorises the games no end.

Why is it bad to train contestants? Winners create wealth for the district and knowing who the contestants will be in advance removes the risk of being chosen and allows everyone to get extra food.

Why are the Career tributes so inept and evil? You’d think that when training people for a competition which involves survival in extreme environments it would be a good idea to imbue them with some survival skills? Ranged weapons are clearly game breakers, so why does not one of the Careers seem proficient with a bow and arrow? Why are they all such complete assholes? If that that is what capitol citizens like then it’s fine, it makes sense to present an image that will be popular with the members of the audience who have the money to purchase useful gifts. Of course Collins never plays it this way.

Cinna. Why is the guy characterised as the single greatest dude in the whole of creation? Why the fuck does Katniss not treat this man who is prettying her up before she gets slaughtered with contempt and hatred?

Katniss doesn’t work for me as a character. She’s an badly thought out mash up of romanticised poor person and 21^st century everyteen.

[MattL86]

I also neglected to mention the creepy, creepy romances in the books. Seriously Collins must have had some fucked up relationships. Everything feels vaguely evocative of rape, prostitution, pedophilia, obsession, or a combination of the above. No one actually relates to the opposite sex like a well adjusted human being. The books make you want to take a shower or go read something light and happy like The Road.

[Maithanet]

I also agree that the book was a bit to chaste for my taste. A little sex wouldn't have been too hard to add, and it would have felt a lot more realistic given all the other things the kids were going through. The only time sex or sexual violence came up was with Finnick.

Did anyone else think that Finnick was the opposite of the man-with-tits archetype? Finnick seemed like a woman written as a man. He's always described as beautiful, and when he's introduced, Katniss is quite wary of his charms. But during the games, he is always in a supporting role, in spite of being the biggest and strongest. It is later revealed that his one true love was being held hostage by the Capitol, and that he was blackmailed into providing sexual services to the elites (which may have included men). Once his love is rescued they are happily married, and he fades into the background as a supporting character.

Does anyone else agree that this seems like a role that is typically filled by a woman? I feel like he was sort of the embodiment of a lot of feminine gender roles in a way that is rarely seen in a straight male character. That's not to say that he was a bad character, any more than man-tits character is necessarily bad, it is just an usual reversal.

I mostly agree with Wert's assessment of the trilogy overall, that the series as a whole is decent, but the final two books really suffer from not being as well plotted or thought out as the first one. The beginning of books 2 and 3 are pretty insufferable, but eventually they both get some momentum as the action picks up. I was surprised at how unlikeable Katniss was. This showed up to a limited extent in book 1, but in the final two, it really is hard to ignore. She treats both Peeta and Gale pretty terribly, and was just fiercely impractical when faced with real life problems.

[arya horsefaceless]

Guess I'll bump this cause I just finished the trilogy. I liked it more than most on here, just didn't really like the ending of Mockingjay (just seemed too rushed and the 2nd and 3rd took a little while to get going. If the 3rd book just moved a little quicker at the start and used those extra pages to wrap it up a little better and leave some questions unlocked.

To the idea that Katniss was unlikable...well...look at all the other characters in the Games (other than Peeta) and imagine if you were in their head how unlikable they'd be. They went through a brutal experience that haunts you till you die. Many of them were broken people because of the Games

Katniss was a flawed protagonist, but that's what I liked about her. She was a real person who reacted to unreal situations in a real human way. She treated Peeta pretty bad and the end of book one but that has everything to do with her being completely unsure as to why that whole romance went down. Was it a part of playing the Games or was it real? She didn't know. You have to remember she is 16 year old girl. She's going to naturally be immature about love. We all were (men/women alike) at that age.

Anyway, we all have our own opinion...but I really enjoyed the books.

[Elenya Westerling]

I think that The Hunger Games can be enjoyable when it's taken as what it is- YA, specifically aimed at teenage girls. It's not particularly original and it's not at all groundbreaking, but I definitley enjoyed the books when I read them. I'll probably go and see the movies too when they come out.

Saying that, I pretty much agree with everything that Fiddle says about it. The whole scenario... doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

[Myrddin]

I'm a 40 year old man, and I just finished the trilogy. Over all, I really liked it.

Katniss worked for me as the sole narrator, and a lot of the criticisms I see above neglect the fact that we're seeing this through the eyes of a 17 year old. She's not focused on the world around her, but herself. I liked the fact that you could see what everyone else was doing while she didn't realize it. Her goal was survival, her sole focus. Everything else got shoved aside (yes, including sex).

I'm not going to defend the trilogy point by point, but I read all three books in under a month and would recommend them as light, enjoyable reads.

I will say, I knew Coin was trouble and wanted Katniss dead, but sacrificing Prim really surprised me. I loved the execution scene, even though I knew it was coming. :)

[Seraphimal]

The past summer, me and my friends all got together and watched this film from Japan called Battle Royale. . .

So I was very annoyed when my pre-teen god-sister INSISTED and BEGGED me to read The Hunger Games. I thought, "Ugh, this is just going to be a more vacuous/romantic version of Battle Royale targeted towards pre-teen girls for greater commercial viability. It's like Coldplay to Radiohead, etc. etc." I'm still a little disappointed in the fact that I can look forward to people talking animatedly about the Hunger Games, while addressing me with vacant stares in response to any mention of Battle Royale. And I was itching with this disappointment and these assumptions when I read the book.

And yeah, weeeell, most things were flat, two-dimensional. No exploration of human nature or morality. Katniss was retarded and I wanted her to die. Gale was annoying even though he was only briefly on-screen. World-building had a lot of potential, but quirks and inconsistencies tripped me up a bit. . . The romance annoyed me. The alpha careers being stupid and cruel oversimplified the already simplistic portrayal of mortality. Thought it could've used more gore and experimental narrative techniques. Also where did Katniss pee and poo? She should've been stumbling over all of the droppings of other contestants.

Was somewhat perturbed by the fact that the majority of the characters are teenagers, and yet are strangely non-sexual. There were scenes that felt kind of creepy because Peeta and Katniss kept having to "do more" to garner favor with the Panemites, but then you remember that it's YA and "do more" only consists of pecks on the cheek or whatever. But even still. . . it was weird. Like insinuated sexuality in a Disney movie where everyone seemingly lacks any genitalia and is non-affected by hormones produced by aforementioned genitalia.

Only person I kind of liked was the Commentator guy. Ceasar.

But despite all of this, I enjoyed it. I was on a cross-country flight for winter vacation after my god-sister bought it for me, and it was a decent way to pass the time. It's dumb and flat and only entertaining on a superficial level. But that's what it's supposed to be, it's not supposed to be Faulkner or Hugo or anything significant. And if it gets kids interested in books, and they eventually start reading good stuff, then it's served its purpose, IMHO.

Still, I wished there was a more realistic and better-developed version of this novel that didn't brush over the actual strangeness and occasional ugliness of being a teenager. I probably won't finish the trilogy though since it doesn't interest me enough and I have other things on my plate.

[arya horsefaceless]

I do have to say, and it's only IMO, but the lack of sexuality in the book didn't really bother me. It's a YA novel so I know what I get when it comes to sex. When Katnis and Peeta sleep together in the 2nd book and one of the preps come in the next morning and starts to crry. It might not say that anything kissing or whatever was going on, but I damn well know it was more than that. To me it was implied, though not explicitly said. That's fine for me. It's like in a PG-13 movie you don't need a sex scene to know that there was some implied babymaking going on, right?

I'm a guy in my mid 20s, I get that the book wasn't catered specifically to me but I still was very entertained by it.

[Seraphimal]

@ arya: I wasn't actually complaining about the lack of a real sex scene. It's YA, the tone had been set, and I didn't expect any. It's just that it was something I immediately thought of whenever Kat talked about having to "go further" and "do more" for the audience, since they had already been kissing. The combination of these factors just made it kind of strange.

[LadyMargaery]

I have to go against the grain and say that I really enjoyed all three books. Yes, the first book was probably the best, but the second and third book really develop the characters more. Technically speaking, I think the writing in the third book is the best, which makes sense, and while it's harder to read in some ways because of everything that the characters are going through, it's still really good.

[awesome possum]

I just read the trilogy this week, and overall I enjoyed it. The only part that really seem to peg this as YA is the shoddy love triangle, otherwise it seemed like a very adult trilogy. There were some complaints, but overall it was fun. I loved the Hunger Games - both of them - and wish we'd have been able to see more of the Quarter Quell. Wert's review was spot on when he said it was too rushed.

I'm also hoping one day we see short stories or novellas of other earlier games.

My main complaint is that some parts were just so predictable, especially the climatic events in the Capitol. My wife read the trilogy last month so every once in a while before a big event would happen I'd stop reading and give my prediction and more than half the time I'd be correct.

I knew Coin was responsible for the hovercraft attack at the end, and that Katniss wasn't going to execute Snow.

I both liked and didn't like how crazy Katniss went in Mockinjay. I liked it because it was realistic. She is still just a child who has been through a ton of crap, watched her friends die, her family threatened, her friends tortured. Of course she's not going to be a Superwoman and shrug that shit off. At the same time, I disliked it because it was just too much. We get it, but why not reveal what other people are doing or give some details about the struggles going on in the districts.

There was also a whole lot of telling instead of showing, but that makes more sense now that I've read this wasn't a planned trilogy.

Anyway, it was an enjoyable read. I don't care if it feels like a retread of Battle Royale or The Long Walk, I love both of those because I love that sort of story. And this one was pretty good too.

[QuickTidal]

BATTLE ROYALE is the BEST. No seriously, if anyone reading this thread has not seen the film yet, you NEED to. It's dark, visceral, violent, realistic and really compelling all the way through.

THE HUNGER GAMES (which I mostly liked, though not without reservations) does kind of ripoff the BR films (yes, there were two of them) in idea, but then goes off in its own direction...whether that direction is good or not remains to be seen.

We have to remember that these are YA, and were never truly intended for adult audiences.

If I go back to my YA days and look at what I thought was the pinnacle of fantasy (DRAGONLANCE), I cringe at my lack of knowledge. At the very least, stuff like HP and THE HUNGER GAMES series (not inlcuding Twilight, as that is stalker sparkly vmapire crapola) has kept kids reading, and for that it's worth the hype. I mean, just because I started off with DRAGONLANCE doesn't mean I stayed there. I went on to GRRM, Erikson, Cook, Wolfe, Gaiman, Morgan, Reynolds. We all come from somewhere.

I think THG and books like it suffer from adults reading YA and being annoyed by modern YA sensibilities, which are skewed, wholly bastardized and extreme caricature stereotypes of teenagers.

So whle not exactly high prose, they serve a purpose and in the glut of Supernatural YA, at least a few rise above. If THG annoyed, you ought to try to read some of the other vapid one-hit-wonders on the YA shelves, I dare ya! :P

[Errant Bard]

Fun fact, the Battle Royale films are actually an adaptation of a novel

[QuickTidal]

Fun fact, the Battle Royale films are actually an adaptation of a novel

Indeed. This is true, and the novel is quite good as well.

Look at that Errant, we can agree on something. :P