The Hunger Games
I have just completed reading the three books in the Hunger Games series. A very good read, actually. It embraced me into its world, allowed me to embrace the characters, and it is one of the few stories where the plot has me satisfied. At the end of it all, when I finish the story, I feel content. I do not wish for it to end in any other way, because I feel that everything has worked itself perfectly to that very point in the end. A good read it is.
THE FIRST BOOK: THE HUNGER GAMES
The first book painted a reality that is not a reality. One, I guess, that I embraced because it is the type of reality that is definitely cool for me. A world with amazing technology - and yet the use of wonderful medieval weapons is also normal.
In its post apocalyptic world, the book addresses a cruelty - one which man is not unknown to have done. Somewhat like the gladiators in the arenas and amphitheaters of ancient times, where man has used this torture as a show of power, and worse, a form of entertainment. Men sent to the arena to kill one another - to fight to the death, leaving but one (and at times none) to survive. This book paints a different (both up- and downgraded, I guess) version of this. This arena is a place of death, survival available to only one. The players, young children.
Beasts of the past are replaced with other, more menacing, man-made creatures. Creatures designed to target both physical and mental weaknesses. Muttations, as the book called them, created with a mixture of animal and HUMAN DNA. Worst for me were the tracker jackers, designed to target one’s brain and induce not only out-of-this-world hallucinations, but also debilitating fear. whew.
The tragedy of these children killing one another is undermined only by the whole country being forced to watch it, to celebrate it. Disgusting, and yet the book compels you to proceed.
THE SECOND BOOK: CATCHING FIRE
This book was very fast-paced, and I feel that so much time was covered in the book, and yet the story did not progress as much as time did. A whole year passed in this book, and another Hunger Games - the oh-so-special Quarter Quell was held this time round. Once again we find our protagonists in the arena - one which, if I may say, is a genius arena. I love the way it was designed, with the 12 divisions and the traps set in each one.
This more advanced arena seemed to show how the Gamemakers anticipated the victors forming alliances with one another, as there is no food prepared in the Cornucopia - only weapons. The design of the area also showed that the arena itself was meant to kill the tributes, as can be seen in several of the deaths in the book, like Mags’.
Unlike the book’s beginning, though, the end left me hanging off a cliff. The excitement of what I was imagining would happen next prompted to jump immediately to the next book. How would future events unfold? What will their next steps against the Capitol be? What will Katniss do to help? What will happen to Peeta? The questions just kept on coming, so I was glad the PDFs were all stored in my phone. I went on right away to the final installment.
THE THIRD BOOK: MOCKINGJAY
One question I’ve had all along was why Katniss is referred to as the mockingjay. The books have explained this pretty well, though. The mockingjays were created as a result of something the government planned that went out of control. The government planned to use Katniss, but she took control of herself and countered the government. She is the symbol of that weakness - that weakness showing that not everything is under the government’s control. She is the mockingjay.
The final book was reviewed by quite a lot to be not-so-good. I felt that this book was even better than the second. This book kind of tied a lot of loose threads, and the reality written between the lines is so believable. Of course people who are forced to kill others for their own survival would be haunted. Of course it would be difficult to move on, knowing you have no control, that others are taking you over.
The love triangle left a tragic end for one, but not in the way that most would expect. Some would believe that one of the guys would end up dead or giving up, but this resolution, although it broke my heart, also satisfied my mind. The lack of a proper farewell only shows how humans would tend to act in similar situations. Once again quite realistic.
The only complaint I have is of Finnick’s death. He was a character I came to love, to adore. And yet… I wanted to see more of his death - I wanted to experience his character even more before he was written out of the story.
Despite that single frustration, though, I can definitely say that this is one of the few books that left me plainly satisfied. I did not hunger for more of the story since it was concluded very well, and it has left a lingering impression on me. I think I would consider this like Harry Potter, too, since that was another series that left me very much satisfied.
Awesome, Suzanne Collins!
I'm Lilia, a.k.a. Lyren
