The Hunger Games **spoilers for Catching Fire and Mockingjay**

[Dave]

Besides, are there anyone who can suggest any other author books with similar action storyline?

It might help if you could be a little more specific.

If you want YA science fiction and fantasy where young people are tested in extraordinary situations then I'm sure members can recommend those. It would help if you gave the age group you are looking for but Malorie Blackman's books (Nought's and Crosses) or the much older John Christopher's books (The Tripods) would be my suggestions.

If you want books with similar themes, then lots of those too. Start with 'The Running Man' and 'The Long Walk' by Stephen King under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.

 

[psikeyhackr]

Read all three of them.

This is better than all of them.

Rite of Passage (1968) by Alexei Panshin
Growing Up for Real: Alexei Panshin

psik

 

[San]

I have recently finished Mockingjay and a question is bothering me about it. Why did Coin want Prim dead? What did she gain by doing so?

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I think she was trying to draw Katniss out so she could be killed by "the Capitol" to get her out of the way. It was ostensibly a Capitol attack that killed Prim, so they could be blamed for Katniss' death at that point, making her a martyr who could never come out against Coin.

 

[San]

I think she was trying to draw Katniss out so she could be killed by "the Capitol" to get her out of the way. It was ostensibly a Capitol attack that killed Prim, so they could be blamed for Katniss' death at that point, making her a martyr who could never come out against Coin.

But could not Coin have Katniss killed when she was recovering in the hospital? I mean she could have simply asked the doctors to let her die, and blame the death on the burn injuries?

 

[Alexa]

Coin couldn't afford to kill Katniss at the hospital as all the other rebels were on Katniss's side. After all Coin was the only one who wanted to save Peeta from the arena and not Katniss.

I must admit I saw the movie first and read the trilogy after. I read quickly the first volume as I already knew what was about, but I got caught with the 2nd volume, Catching fire. I really couldn't let it down and read till five o'clock in the morning. So, I had to announce by boss, I couldn't work next day.

I agree it's an anti-war book, but not a consumed one. If you are a rebel soul, it's quite impossible not to love Katniss character.

I am definitely a fan of the books and now of the movies. You really need to read the books to fully understand the movies and then see the movies and go back and read the books. If you see only the movie, you don't know the age of Katniss and Peeta when they were selected to go in the arena. and you do not understand how come Gale's name was entered 42 times in the bowl and Prim only once.

I hope they will really give us the 1st part of Mockingjay movie in 2014.

 

[RightersBlock]

Hmm, I guess I am one of the few not enthralled by the series. I read half of the First book, up until the part where Katniss drops the beehive on the enemy. Should I carry on?

I mean, there is nothing I like about it really, but I don't hate it; Katniss comes off as kind of cold and distrustful (understandably) but I just don't like her. She is kind of badass I guess and I can imagine her being a real person in that sort of world. The world is well done I guess, just not much explanation (not that i cared) and seems like it could be real. I like Peeta, because of his seeming two-facedness. It makes him interesting but knowing what becomes of him ahead of time kind of blows. I like the other supportive characters too. The only unreal thing about is; the bad guys are just bad guys. They seem to have no depth or anything. Made me have a hard time excepting that, but i just chalk that up to being sociopaths dues to how the world is. They still could have been better.

Actually exactly when the hunger games started is when I lost interest. Maybe it's a good book, but not just for me.

Just finished the trilogy. Honestly I was surprised several times. Usually with runaway popular fiction, I am underwhelmed to put it gently (like that piece of trash 50 Shades).

It was with great pleasure that I did not find The Hunger Games to be that way at all. The first book is a riveting story from beginning to end. Katniss is a wonderful character of mixed strengths and weaknesses. One who pushes on, with some timely assistance from friends, to achieve victory.

Catching Fire was not as cohesively excellent as the first book. The "heroes" are pushed into a mire of being handled rather than handling. It takes away from their quality as heroes. Katniss's star should be ascending as we get into the plot to overthrow the Evil Empire. Instead of that we see her becoming weaker and weaker as a character. Where is her FIRE?

Mockingjay was a complete letdown. Not only does it finish the job of making our heroes nothing but puppets it starts a steady downward spiral into total despair and depression. I expected Katniss to be a fighting force in every sense of the word towards achieving the goals of the rebels. Instead she falls more and more into just one tiny cog in an uninspired machine. She accomplishes just about nothing of value in this book.

Indeed there is nothing heroic about Katniss in this final book. Plus there is a steady increase of gratuitous maiming and killing, including a horrible death of someone close to Katniss that was completely unnecessary. The ending is such a horrible depiction of depression and despair.

I expected that by the third book, the Mockingjay would find her power and soar. Just the opposite happens. Turns out the Mockingjay was never anything more than hype. A 17 year old girl in way over her head.

Does this depict real life? Yeah, many times the victory is pretty hollow. But I don't read fiction to read reality. I get enough of that on my own. I read fiction to see the heroes overcome the odds and do great things. If Mockingjay had been the first book instead of the last, I would never have read any further.

This makes me more interested actually. I like it when the heroes don't always win. But I know what you mean, most people read fiction to be uplifted (or have their thoughts provoked)

 

[ribolleda]

I still consider this to be one of the most entertaining trilogies around. However, the last one I found a little bit disappointing --

 

[Parson]

I still consider this to be one of the most entertaining trilogies around. However, the last one I found a little bit disappointing --

Definitely the weakest of the 3, but with the previous 2 doing backup its a crackerjack of a series.

 

[SleepyDormouse]

I've just finished Mockingjay today. It certainly wasn't as gripping as Catching Fire, which was less gripping than Hunger games, but I still found it hard to put down. I have really enjoyed this series.

I was quite frustrated with Katniss, every now and then it would seem like she was going to start acting a lot more and be more involved, then she would sidle off into a corner again. I still don't get why Gale and Peeta were in love with her, nor did the love triangle thing feel very realistic.

Why wasn't Gale bothered about the way his bomb was used? It seemed like his personality changed in the last book just to make Katniss and Peeta a better match. And why did Katniss agree to a Hunger games of the Capital's children, was it just a delaying tactic?

I also would have preferred her not to have been knocked out and taken off to her room after the scene with the two presidents. It felt very anti climatic.

I haven't seen any of the films yet, not sure if I want to though. As soon as I have watched them all of my mental images of the characters and places will be wiped out.

 

[RebeccaTheWrecker]

Why wasn't Gale bothered about the way his bomb was used? It seemed like his personality changed in the last book just to make Katniss and Peeta a better match.

This. I was kind of surprised by how cold Gale became in a way. Yes it's true that friends sometimes just drift apart, but they somehow drifted apart when they were seeing each other all the time? It was odd.

I did like Peeta, and what happened to him broke my heart. I'm glad he managed to win his fight against insanity and I'm extremely glad that he ended up being the one that helped Katniss through everything. She was always so alone, and she really needed someone.

Overall I enjoyed the series. I enjoyed the futility of the war and that Katniss wasn't the real hero everyone thought she was. But, at the same time, I read to escape reality and reading a book about someone who goes insane and cannot save her family makes me sad. It's too much like what actually happens in war. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy the book because it did a good job of depicting reality, I'm just saying I wish Katniss had a win or two.

 

[SleepyDormouse]

I agree. I liked Peeta and hoped that she would chose him. Keeping hold of his pearl seemed an indicator to me that she would go that way.

I also agree that it would have been nice if somehow the book had a few happier things happen for Katniss, that it hadn't been so close to the reality of war. But I can also understand why Suzanne Collins didn't chose to write it as she did. I actually think that not having a cosy happy ending makes the book stronger and more memorable.

 

[Parson]

I also agree that it would have been nice if somehow the book had a few happier things happen for Katniss, that it hadn't been so close to the reality of war. But I can also understand why Suzanne Collins didn't chose to write it as she did. I actually think that not having a cosy happy ending makes the book stronger and more memorable.

I would have liked a "happier" ending. But I agree with what you say. It is a stronger and more literary book this way.

[I'm reminded of something I heard decades ago about writing. "A popular book has a happy ending. A literary book doesn't."]