alobear | Second and third Hunger Games books reviews

Suzanne Collins impressed me more and more as I read Catching Fire and Mockingjay, the sequels to The Hunger Games, both of which I finished in the space of four days.

I shall do the careful, (hopefully) non-spoilery review first, then delve into more detail behind a cut.

In both cases, the books have a strong opening, that isn't quite borne out by the second half - I'm much more interested in the politics and wider-world presentation than I am in the action sequences - but overall I thought they were really good. The first half of the third book, in particular, is superlative in its presentation of various complex and challenging themes.

The teenage angst aspect does rear its ugly head in places, but mostly not in an annoying way. I actually really respect Collins for her approach to the consequences of the violence and trauma suffered and committed by the characters - she doesn't ignore them as I have found in some young adult books/TV shows; in fact, you could almost say she revels in them. Katniss completely falls apart on more than one occasion, and her physical and emotional responses to everything that happens to her are never far from the narrative. These books are pretty dark, and get more so as the story unfolds, and the narrative doesn't shy away from that at all.

The ambiguity of the rebellion is also very well handled - there are no clean hands in this story, and it's that as much as anything that causes Katniss' dilemmas throughout.

I also thought it was really interesting that a lot of important action takes place without Katniss' involvement or even knowledge in both books. This avoids the ridiculous "teenage protagonist saves the world single-handed" situation that you often get in these types of things, and is also quite a brave choice, considering the first person narrative - but it works.

The relationships are also handled well - it only very rarely devolves into wet lettuce hand-wringing, and is mostly explored in interesting directions that I wasn't expecting.

If the other two films are as far above the books in quality as the first one, I'm *really* looking forward to seeing them, and there's plenty of stuff in these two books that I'm fascinated to know what they're going to do with.

The central twist in Book Two with the Games being made up of past victors was clever, but I found the second half of the book quite repetitive. I'd been enjoying seeing the wider world and finding out about the situation in different districts, and it seemed like taking a step back to be going back into the arena. I also found the set up of the arena and the challenges it presented a bit over the top - it all seemed very real in the first book (and film) and the spinning island in the deadly clock took things away from that sense of reality, making them less effective. I felt somewhat the same about the mission into the Capitol in the second half of Book Three, with the weird booby-traps.

However, there was also a great deal to like, especially in Book Three. Peeta's arc is fantastic - making him initially the Capitol spokesman for ceasefire and then turning him into a weapon aimed directly at Katniss was very clever, and threw an enormous spanner in the love-triangle aspect that I really wasn't expecting.

I also really liked all the evidence of the rebellion leaders being no better than President Snow. It was great to have that ambiguity - that there were no clear-cut good guys, and the sense that little would change if the rebellion was successful added a huge amount of depth to the struggle.

Ordinarily, an event like Prim's death would really piss me off - but the bleakness of its message just seemed to fit in with the rest of the story so well. If you think about it, Katniss first stepped up to take action in order to protect Prim - so having her go through everything that happens and then *still* not be able to save her was a very effective way to demonstrate her ultimate powerlessness and the power hungry nature of Coin.

The conclusion of the love triangle surprised me, but I thought it worked really well. Realising that Gale meant struggle and Peeta meant safety brought it to a satisfying conclusion without any gag-worthy sentimentality or undue angst.

What I liked most, though, was the fact that Katniss' weaknesses were demonstrated throughout just as much as her strengths. She was deeply flawed, and came to realise it herself, and I think that was both brave and very effective on the part of the author. I particularly liked the fact that her military test was based around her having to follow orders, even if she then totally didn't once she was out in the field.

These books have really stayed with me over the last week - I've been thinking about little else, which has got to be the sign of a good series. I'd be interested in talking about them with others who've read them (and aren't 12 - though I'm actually also intrigued by the response of the younger audience, since they are so very dark and yet obviously also so very popular).