End of Disc One Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I was shocked by the negative feedback in this thread, and then I remembered why I take the recommendations of friends and not the snobs on this board. Jeeebus. I loved these books for what they are (young adult novels), and I'm happy my kids love them too. And I really CAN'T wait for the movie.I haven't read this yet but yeah, I learned long ago to use other message boards for recommendations. If I used this as my main site for opinions I would have never read Erikson, Sanderson, or Weeks and these are three of my favorite fantasy authors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuickTidal Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I haven't read this yet but yeah, I learned long ago to use other message boards for recommendations. If I used this as my main site for opinions I would have never read Erikson, Sanderson, or Weeks and these are three of my favorite fantasy authors.^^This. I've only been here for a little while, but yeah...this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awesome possum Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I was shocked by the negative feedback in this thread, and then I remembered why I take the recommendations of friends and not the snobs on this board. Jeeebus. I loved these books for what they are (young adult novels), and I'm happy my kids love them too. And I really CAN'T wait for the movie.Right? I used to look to this subforum when I'd want something new to read but snobs really is a good way to put how some people act here... in a forum dedicated to a series of fantasy books.As I said before, the only part I really found YA of the series was the trite love triangle, and maybe the whole "Katniss doesn't know the power she has over people" angle. Otherwise, the violence, the brutal deaths, the nudity, etc. That's not what I associate with YA at all. Of course, the only other "YA" I've read since I stopped being a YA myself is Harry Potter, but I doubt most of the stuff out there is as intense as THG. Seems like the only thing that really qualifies this as YA is the lack of vulgarity. It's good stuff. I was actually tempted to restart the first book immediately after finishing Mockingjay, because I enjoyed it so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I was shocked by the negative feedback in this thread, and then I remembered why I take the recommendations of friends and not the snobs on this board. Jeeebus. I loved these books for what they are (young adult novels), and I'm happy my kids love them too. And I really CAN'T wait for the movie.God forbid someone might dislike something you enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Errant Bard Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I was shocked by the negative feedback in this thread, and then I remembered why I take the recommendations of friends and not the snobs on this board. Jeeebus. I loved these books for what they are (young adult novels).And I disliked those books for what they are (repetitive YA novels riddled with flaws, getting worse as they go)Mind you, I also take care when I get a rec from the board, after having slogged through WoT and Malazan because of a rec from here, or seen Lies of Locke Lamora or Prince of Nothing torn to pieces by some.Snobs, really? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrddin Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 There is a tendency around here to call everything crap that does hold up to... well, whatever imaginary standard that is in place by the vocal minority. It's human nature, I suppose, to be so binary (everything is crap or cream). As for Battle Royale, I'm not sure I want to read that or see the movie. HG is brutal, but a YA brutal. I don't want to delve into the hearts of teenagers forced to kill peers (versus vilified strangers). This is going purely by the movie trailer, but BR seems like HG if you had Kat, Prim, Gale, Peeta, and all the other teen characters from District 12 pitted against each other. That's a whole different dynamic.Is BR as brutal as I'm imagining? More? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuickTidal Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 There is a tendency around here to call everything crap that does hold up to... well, whatever imaginary standard that is in place by the vocal minority. It's human nature, I suppose, to be so binary (everything is crap or cream).As for Battle Royale, I'm not sure I want to read that or see the movie. HG is brutal, but a YA brutal. I don't want to delve into the hearts of teenagers forced to kill peers (versus vilified strangers). This is going purely by the movie trailer, but BR seems like HG if you had Kat, Prim, Gale, Peeta, and all the other teen characters from District 12 pitted against each other. That's a whole different dynamic.Is BR as brutal as I'm imagining? More?More.It's basically the type of movie that has lifelong friends paring up to try to survive, but the first chance they get to turn on one another, they do so...bloodily.thankfully it's not totally bleak as there are some good, human decency minded charaters. But it really proves that if you put a highschool class on an island and ask them to kill one another, 90% of them are most likely going to revel in that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuickTidal Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Snobs, really?Yeah, considering how you acted when I first showed up at the board, you don't get to argue ^^ this point dude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awesome possum Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I've never read the book, but the movie was pretty brutal. Imagine if Collins had committed a chapter or subchapter to each Tribute so you got to know them better, and then killed them. That's what I recall about BR. You get to know most of the kids a little bit more just in time to watch them die. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maithanet Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 There is a tendency around here to call everything crap that does hold up to... well, whatever imaginary standard that is in place by the vocal minority. It's human nature, I suppose, to be so binary (everything is crap or cream).As for Battle Royale, I'm not sure I want to read that or see the movie. HG is brutal, but a YA brutal. I don't want to delve into the hearts of teenagers forced to kill peers (versus vilified strangers). This is going purely by the movie trailer, but BR seems like HG if you had Kat, Prim, Gale, Peeta, and all the other teen characters from District 12 pitted against each other. That's a whole different dynamic.Is BR as brutal as I'm imagining? More?It's significantly more brutal than Hunger Games, a couple of the scenes are downright heart-wrenching. I still think it is an excellent novel and well worth reading, but if that isn't to your taste, then you would know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Errant Bard Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 There is a tendency around here to call everything crap that does hold up to... well, whatever imaginary standard that is in place by the vocal minority. It's human nature, I suppose, to be so binary (everything is crap or cream). Except most posters in this thread have had a pretty nuanced and developed argument about why they didn't like the book. And like/dislike is indeed binary, only intensity varies.Is BR as brutal as I'm imagining? More?Don't know what you are imagining, but it's extremely brutal, not so much on a physical level (after all almost everyone dies in HG too), but on a psychic level. For one thing, nobody is truly cartoonish evil, success tends to lean towards those who actually know how to fight or survive (not the good guys, necessarily), and you will have good guys killing other good guys. Forced, to you know. It also explores the reasons behind each major character's actions. You don't get to have your spunky heroine looking into the crowd and getting jesus as support, an ally, and almost only black hats to kill.It's less heavy than Hunger Games on society as a whole, though, maybe, but the little it does is way more nuanced.Yeah, considering how you acted when I first showed up at the board, you don't get to argue ^^ this point dude.Oh but I do. Disagreeing with you is not being a snob. No more than disliking some books in a series is. Also, I would appreciate if you didn't call me names (and you can do without the "dude" too, thanks) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrddin Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 It's significantly more brutal than Hunger Games, a couple of the scenes are downright heart-wrenching. I still think it is an excellent novel and well worth reading, but if that isn't to your taste, then you would know.It's funny. I watch all kinds of bloody movies and don't bat an eye (the recent Spartacus show comes to mind), but the idea of BR just hits me wrong. Weird. Maybe I'll rent it sometime my wife is out of town or something. I know it's not something she'd like to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrddin Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Except most posters in this thread have had a pretty nuanced and developed argument about why they didn't like the book. And like/dislike is indeed binary, only intensity varies.My comment was a generalization of the entire board. This thread has been (mostly) populated with well reasoned opinions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Errant Bard Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 My bad. But I think it's the nature of criticism to go towards the extreme on both sides of the spectrum as the disagreements go on. Not that people think Prince of Nothing (for example) is crap, but in defending on point (or attacking one), they get to focus only on, say, how women are so few and suck so much, forgetting that there's a ton of good points if you manage to move beyond that.ETA: On "snobbery", was it really referencing people in this thread, who for the most part explained why and what they liked or disliked without presuming to tell others their tastes are shit, or a more general remark on the board, against people who instead of criticising a book, criticize its readers? (thinking of the Goodkind thing here, for example, but most of those who attack others because they disagree with their taste fit too) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maithanet Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 It's funny. I watch all kinds of bloody movies and don't bat an eye (the recent Spartacus show comes to mind), but the idea of BR just hits me wrong. Weird. Maybe I'll rent it sometime my wife is out of town or something. I know it's not something she'd like to see.I would recommend the book much more strongly than the movie. The movie has good parts, but overall I think the number of characters and limited time to spend on each really diluted the impact of the story. Whereas for a book to have 43 characters isn't unmanageable at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maia Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 If I used this as my main site for opinions I would have never read Erikson, Sanderson, or Weeks and these are three of my favorite fantasy authors.I picked Erikson and Sanderson _because_ I read about them on this board, LOL. And I intend to read Hunger Games ditto. Tastes, they do vary and some stuff is really contraversial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QuickTidal Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 I would recommend the book much more strongly than the movie. The movie has good parts, but overall I think the number of characters and limited time to spend on each really diluted the impact of the story. Whereas for a book to have 43 characters isn't unmanageable at all.That's a very fair point. I'm more of the mind that the two act as different entities for different formats. The books is great as a book, and the film is great as a movie. I wouldn't deem one superior over the other, just different. I prefer when movies are homages to the source material instead of straight copies since that almost never works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambyr Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 I was shocked by the negative feedback in this thread, and then I remembered why I take the recommendations of friends and not the snobs on this board. Jeeebus. I loved these books for what they are (young adult novels), and I'm happy my kids love them too. And I really CAN'T wait for the movie.I love young adult novels, and I thought Hunger Games was a pretty tepid example of the genre. Not awful, but there's so much better YA out there that it makes me sad Hunger Games gets what feels to me like a disproportionate amount of press and hype.Doesn't mean you can't love them, but don't assume people dislike them because they're YA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asathor Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 The BR films (though I will stick to the first one as I found it to be better than the second one: the second movie was basically the same concept with more bloody side-effects such as the partnering of boy and girl) are brutal in that they give you a look into the dog eat dog world of teenagers. Much like Golding's Lord of the Flies or as the Joker says in The Dark Knight: "these civilised people, at the first sign of trouble, they'll eat each other". This is what makes BR so brutal imho, when your own life is on the line, loyalties and priorities shift at an alarming rate.Add to this that the graphic representation of the killing and that the entire setup around the game is intentionnally vague (the pupils don't know what is going on and so we don't really get to know either, as if the maker is saying: they have to kill each other to survive, so who cares about the why?) I find this to be very harsh and brutal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seraphimal Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Fun fact, the Battle Royale films are actually an adaptation of a novelWoah. I knew BR were based off of a Japanese novel by the same name, but I didn't know there were two of them, haha.I'm a bit wary of watching the sequel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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