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A review by beaconatnight
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
3.0
In my mind The Hunger Games were always Battle Royale for young adults. Not quite fair, obviously; rarely if ever narratives are truly original and I'm sure there have been many Battle Royals before Battle Royale. More importantly, though, not fair because it's very good fun in it's own right.
I especially enjoyed the buildup. Not the world-building per se, though I thought that the silly political constellation and the dummy pretense for the Games were delightfully accommodating. Instead of heavy info-dumping, the plot just floats towards where it has to go. In the process we learn to like our heroine as she takes her little sister's place, shows her strengths and weaknesses, and contemplates how she would never want to hurt that beautiful boy who once donated her family the direly needed bread. We learn about the hardships of her life and how this toughened her up for what is to come.
As all good YA (all good SFF, all good literature) it's very visual in its presentation. It's easy to imagine Katniss hunting with her bow and her interactions with the two male parts, the embarrassment that is the drunkard mentor Haymitch, the glamorous Effie Trinket, and especially the Girl on Fire. After some memorable public appearance we quickly end up in the arena and the heart of the story.
The main emotional import comes from the innovation to the usual Battle Royale rule set, the requirement that two children of the same district have to participate. This makes it very likely that at least pair-wise the contestants know each other. The plot's biggest strength in the second part of the book is how Katness and Peeta are stylized as the tragic would-be couple in the in-world media coverage of the spectacle.
For me this wasn't enough to keep me fully engaged. It's a pity and a puzzling flaw that we never learn of any relationships between the other participants. They must have known each other too, right? In fact, the plot's biggest weakness is the lack of personality when it comes to the antagonists. With one exception they are presented as this faceless and rather immobile mob. It deprives the events of humanity before the killing even begins.
On the way to the climax there are developments that keep things interesting. There is one (albeit brief) friendship, there is the lingering question of whether Peeta can be trusted, there are some tactical considerations, and closer to the end there is the rule change and the smart move on how to trick the system. I never felt the pressure – strangely it just doesn't seem too dangerous and I was surprised how little Katness even thinks of her first kill – but I was never bored, either.
A decent Hollywood blockbuster as page-turner of a book.
Rating: 3.5/5
I especially enjoyed the buildup. Not the world-building per se, though I thought that the silly political constellation and the dummy pretense for the Games were delightfully accommodating. Instead of heavy info-dumping, the plot just floats towards where it has to go. In the process we learn to like our heroine as she takes her little sister's place, shows her strengths and weaknesses, and contemplates how she would never want to hurt that beautiful boy who once donated her family the direly needed bread. We learn about the hardships of her life and how this toughened her up for what is to come.
As all good YA (all good SFF, all good literature) it's very visual in its presentation. It's easy to imagine Katniss hunting with her bow and her interactions with the two male parts, the embarrassment that is the drunkard mentor Haymitch, the glamorous Effie Trinket, and especially the Girl on Fire. After some memorable public appearance we quickly end up in the arena and the heart of the story.
The main emotional import comes from the innovation to the usual Battle Royale rule set, the requirement that two children of the same district have to participate. This makes it very likely that at least pair-wise the contestants know each other. The plot's biggest strength in the second part of the book is how Katness and Peeta are stylized as the tragic would-be couple in the in-world media coverage of the spectacle.
For me this wasn't enough to keep me fully engaged. It's a pity and a puzzling flaw that we never learn of any relationships between the other participants. They must have known each other too, right? In fact, the plot's biggest weakness is the lack of personality when it comes to the antagonists. With one exception they are presented as this faceless and rather immobile mob. It deprives the events of humanity before the killing even begins.
On the way to the climax there are developments that keep things interesting. There is one (albeit brief) friendship, there is the lingering question of whether Peeta can be trusted, there are some tactical considerations, and closer to the end there is the rule change and the smart move on how to trick the system. I never felt the pressure – strangely it just doesn't seem too dangerous and I was surprised how little Katness even thinks of her first kill – but I was never bored, either.
A decent Hollywood blockbuster as page-turner of a book.
Rating: 3.5/5