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The Hunger Games
May. 31st, 2014 07:05 pmAgain, I've been a stranger and overly inhibited about expressing myself except when I'm hanging out with my Unitarians (and they're wonderful, but I still limit myself on how fannish or needy I'm willing to act in that context). Still addicted to Puzzle & Dragons.
But what drove me here is, late adopter that I am, I finally read the Hunger Games Trilogy. (Well, roughly speaking; these were among those books where I get overstimulated and resort to a kind of thorough, chaotic skimming, so I haven't been all the way through in order from beginning to end, but I've basically read it.) Overall I think it's amazing and would recommend it to anyone with fair grimdark tolerance, but, well, book by book:
The Hunger Games: Dark, compelling.
Catching Fire: Darker, more compelling, themes drawn into sharper relief.
Mockingjay: Darker still, collapses into a mess after about the halfway point.
Seriously, if I wanted a brutal, tragic, unsatisfying muddle, I'd go watch Dirty Wars again --- and the important themes that could make it all worth it were ones this series had nailed admirably within the first chapter of the first book; there's such a thing as overworking it. Doesn't overshadow the awesomeness of the first two books, though.
So, if any enterprising fanfic author has attempted an alternate Book 3 or something, recs are welcome.
I haven't decided if I want to see the movies or not; with Harry Potter I locked my heels and refuse to this day... (Although speaking of HP, my experience on the periphery of that fandom left an impression that falling out of love with the canon at any point could be a lonely thing to do, so maybe a little fear of a repeat here...)
But what drove me here is, late adopter that I am, I finally read the Hunger Games Trilogy. (Well, roughly speaking; these were among those books where I get overstimulated and resort to a kind of thorough, chaotic skimming, so I haven't been all the way through in order from beginning to end, but I've basically read it.) Overall I think it's amazing and would recommend it to anyone with fair grimdark tolerance, but, well, book by book:
The Hunger Games: Dark, compelling.
Catching Fire: Darker, more compelling, themes drawn into sharper relief.
Mockingjay: Darker still, collapses into a mess after about the halfway point.
Seriously, if I wanted a brutal, tragic, unsatisfying muddle, I'd go watch Dirty Wars again --- and the important themes that could make it all worth it were ones this series had nailed admirably within the first chapter of the first book; there's such a thing as overworking it. Doesn't overshadow the awesomeness of the first two books, though.
So, if any enterprising fanfic author has attempted an alternate Book 3 or something, recs are welcome.
I haven't decided if I want to see the movies or not; with Harry Potter I locked my heels and refuse to this day... (Although speaking of HP, my experience on the periphery of that fandom left an impression that falling out of love with the canon at any point could be a lonely thing to do, so maybe a little fear of a repeat here...)
