The Hunger Games Trilogy

[Sheilawisz]

After searching the entire Novels & Stories forum I could not find a thread about Suzanne Collin's trilogy The Hunger Games, and so I could not wait to start it myself =)

I really liked the recent Hunger Games movie, so two days ago I went to the Mall and bought the first book of the trilogy (castilian language version) and started to read it to discover, surprised, that the story has hooked me after reading the first few pages... After reading the first chapter it was hard for me to stop reading and put the book away at night, and now I am ready to start reading chapter 5.

The first-person narrative is not really my favourite, but in this book the style is so well done- The way that Katniss tells the story is addictive, and it has quickly touched me and reached my heart as she describes her life, her family, their everyday trouble and the world that they live in...

I can't stop reading now!! So, who else is a fan of The Hunger Games books?

[Tasha]

Love them. I saw the first movie but will have to go see it again as I was just out the dentist and was not paying much attention. Haven't read the books in a few years though. Will have to dig them out again. It's one of the few series where I like first person narrative.

[Feo Takahari]

Liked book 1, didn't like book 2, still don't know what to make of book 3--the usual response, as I understand it. I've heard it argued that the worldbuilding doesn't make much sense from an economic and societal perspective, but I don't know enough about that stuff yet to judge, and the characterization was interesting.

(I find it amusing that Stephenie Meyer liked this book, because Katniss actually is what Bella was apparently intended to be--a heroine who has about as much self-esteem as a dry sponge, but who's often far more capable and effective than she realizes.)

[Benjamin Clayborne]

I saw the movie, then read book 1 the next day. I liked them both, although I think my perception of the book was strongly colored by having seen the movie. (This isn't always the case; there are books where I read them after seeing the movie and got a very different experience out of it, e.g. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.) The Hunger Games the book almost read like a novelization of the movie, oddly enough. If you haven't read or seen it, I'd recommend reading the book first.

I'm doing an experiment where I'm not going to read each Hunger Games book until I see the movie, so it'll be a couple years before I finish either version of the trilogy.

Liked book 1, didn't like book 2, still don't know what to make of book 3--the usual response, as I understand it. I've heard it argued that the worldbuilding doesn't make much sense from an economic and societal perspective, but I don't know enough about that stuff yet to judge, and the characterization was interesting.

(I find it amusing that Stephenie Meyer liked this book, because Katniss actually is what Bella was apparently intended to be--a heroine who has about as much self-esteem as a dry sponge, but who's often far more capable and effective than she realizes.)

I liked Katniss as a character. Low self-esteem, but in a totally understandable way: she's grown up in a horrible dystopia, scrounging for her life. But she's tough and capable, which puts her light-years ahead of an ineffectual wimp like Bella.

[Sheilawisz]

This morning I finished reading chapter 10 and I want to read at least four chapters more before going to sleep tonight... I am at the part where Katniss is about to be released at the Cornucopia with the other tributes, can't wait to read what happens then (even though I watched the movie) and how she is going to survive in the forests =)

@Benjamin: The way that I imagine Katniss, the other characters and all the settings are also influenced by having watched the movie first, but that's alright, I loved the movie- Actually the book and the movie are so similar because Suzanne Collins adapted the story for a movie herself, which is what I want to do if my own books are ever transformed into movies.

Katniss is really a great character!!

[T.Allen.Smith]

I thought the 1st book was a good story but it didn't hook me enough to read #2 & 3.

The reading is simple. I think it was intended for a YA audience so it makes sense that it was written this way. Recently I have started to wonder why the YA fiction has exploded into the adult market. I can't help but think that most adults are lazy readers & don't want to be challenged in any way (vocabulary, plot twists to keep up with, concealed intrigue, etc.).

There was never a moment that I wondered what the outcome of the first book (or any separate scenes) would be. I know that having a 1st person POV creates that a lot of times but stories like these are just far too predictable for me. I feel like I'm reading a child's book (if it is YA then I guess I was).

[Sheilawisz]

Well, I am an adult and what I want to read or watch are good stories, and sometimes the huge books with difficult vocabulary, many plot twists to keep up with, concealed intrigue, elevated content, hundreds of deeply developed characters and such things are not always better than the more simple stories that can be told in shorter books =)

I do not believe in age groups like adult books or young adult and so on, and as a Fantasy writer, I write my stories for all of those that love imagination no matter how old they are.

Too many people believing that if your books are short and not super complex, then you cannot be good...

[Endymion]

The first book is great. Second book was, well, pretty bad, the third book improved a bit but wasn't good either.
Have you seen Battle Royal?

[Kit]

Just read Battle Royale. Premise fascinating, characterization pretty poor, writing CRINGEWORTHY. But who knows how much of that is attributable to translation. Dare say the original Japanese was better (had to be....)

[T.Allen.Smith]

Well, I am an adult and what I want to read or watch are good stories, and sometimes the huge books with difficult vocabulary, many plot twists to keep up with, concealed intrigue, elevated content, hundreds of deeply developed characters and such things are not always better than the more simple stories that can be told in shorter books =)

I do not believe in age groups like adult books or young adult and so on, and as a Fantasy writer, I write my stories for all of those that love imagination no matter how old they are.

Too many people believing that if your books are short and not super complex, then you cannot be good...

After treading my post I can see how it could have offended you. That was not my intent & if that did happen please accept my apology.

I was trying to come up with reasons that there are so many YA books nowadays that garner so much attention from the adult demographic.

I suppose another reason could be that a large percentage of people just want to be entertained by a good story & get lost in the tale. Simplicity may benefit those readers.

Sometimes it's nice to not have to think that hard or try to guess what will happen. Above all, story trumps all. I agree with that.

For me to really enjoy something I need to wonder what will come next. That's why I usually don't dig the 1st person POV. You know that that character will survive. The only exception to this that I'm aware of is Rothfuss's Name of the Wind series which has a fresh take on 1st person.