Here are my reviews of each book. To avoid any spoilers, I did some sections of the review in white. Just highlight over that area to read the review.
Well, where to start. This book, it was a little "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, a little of TV's Survivor, a little Lord of the Flies by William Golding, and a whole lot of amazing. Suzanne Collins is a great writer. She really knows how to write an engaging, albeit disturbing, story. Her characters are interesting, the story is fairly unique, and the parallels to today's society are interesting, whether she meant to make a statement or not. Overall I throughly enjoyed the book once I looked past the main purpose of the games.
Overall Review: ★★★★★
Catching Fire was a great book, though not as great as the first one. I found it to be a tad repetitive and not as quick paced. But it was good filler and a great set up for the final book. Collins still knows how to tell a great story and I'm glad to see some of the secondary characters fleshed out some more.
Spoilers - Please do not read if you plan to read the series:
I will say the game arena in the Quarter Quall was very creative and found the clock setup and an excellent why to distinguish it from the first games.
Overall Review: ★★★★★
I have to say, I was a bit disappointed in Mockingjay, the final book of this series. The book felt rushed, the characters very undimensional, and it was very violent. I just wasn't satisfied with how a lot of the plot lines were wrapped up. There is more I want to say about this, but I want to avoid spoilers, so I wrote those parts below.
Spoilers - Please do not read if you plan to read the series:
Initially I was upset about Prim. I though it was cruel and senseless to kill her off, but the more I think about it the more it was called for. It's what drove Katniss the rest of the book and gave her a reason to no longer love Gale. Speaking of Gale, here is some of what angered me about this book... Gale. Where was the closure? I mean he didn't even try to fight for her in the end. Just took a job in District 2 and that was it. No visiting her in the hospital, no talk about why she killed Coin. Nothing. I want some closure! I wanted to see Katniss forced to choose between her two loves. Which leads me to another sour note... Peeta. She just settled. Where is the no marriage/no children Katniss? She gave in to having kids? What is that? She went from strong and independent to someone who just needed a guy around. Though maybe part of it was from her being damaged by the events, but still... Or maybe I'm just bitter because for most of the story I was team Gale. Besides those two points my biggest issue with this book, like I mentioned, was the overall feeling that the ending was rushed. Till the end everything was well thought out and had great timing. But the last couple of chapters were hurry up and get it over with. I mean for a girl like Katniss who had a speech for every injustice, to just shoot and be done. Where is the speech? Where is the Mockingjay speaking out for the cause. Surely there needed to be some explanation to the people. And then to not even read about the trial, just the highlights. Really that could have been a whole chapter with Katniss being aloud to defend her actions. Instead they played the crazy card? The whole ending, it just seem that is wasn't thought out very well.
Overall Review: ★★★★
Have you read The Hunger Games trilogy? What did you think of it?
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| © Goodreads.com |
Well, where to start. This book, it was a little "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, a little of TV's Survivor, a little Lord of the Flies by William Golding, and a whole lot of amazing. Suzanne Collins is a great writer. She really knows how to write an engaging, albeit disturbing, story. Her characters are interesting, the story is fairly unique, and the parallels to today's society are interesting, whether she meant to make a statement or not. Overall I throughly enjoyed the book once I looked past the main purpose of the games.
Overall Review: ★★★★★
 |
| © Goodreads.com |
Catching Fire was a great book, though not as great as the first one. I found it to be a tad repetitive and not as quick paced. But it was good filler and a great set up for the final book. Collins still knows how to tell a great story and I'm glad to see some of the secondary characters fleshed out some more.
Spoilers - Please do not read if you plan to read the series:
I will say the game arena in the Quarter Quall was very creative and found the clock setup and an excellent why to distinguish it from the first games.
Overall Review: ★★★★★
 |
| © Goodreads.com |
Spoilers - Please do not read if you plan to read the series:
Initially I was upset about Prim. I though it was cruel and senseless to kill her off, but the more I think about it the more it was called for. It's what drove Katniss the rest of the book and gave her a reason to no longer love Gale. Speaking of Gale, here is some of what angered me about this book... Gale. Where was the closure? I mean he didn't even try to fight for her in the end. Just took a job in District 2 and that was it. No visiting her in the hospital, no talk about why she killed Coin. Nothing. I want some closure! I wanted to see Katniss forced to choose between her two loves. Which leads me to another sour note... Peeta. She just settled. Where is the no marriage/no children Katniss? She gave in to having kids? What is that? She went from strong and independent to someone who just needed a guy around. Though maybe part of it was from her being damaged by the events, but still... Or maybe I'm just bitter because for most of the story I was team Gale. Besides those two points my biggest issue with this book, like I mentioned, was the overall feeling that the ending was rushed. Till the end everything was well thought out and had great timing. But the last couple of chapters were hurry up and get it over with. I mean for a girl like Katniss who had a speech for every injustice, to just shoot and be done. Where is the speech? Where is the Mockingjay speaking out for the cause. Surely there needed to be some explanation to the people. And then to not even read about the trial, just the highlights. Really that could have been a whole chapter with Katniss being aloud to defend her actions. Instead they played the crazy card? The whole ending, it just seem that is wasn't thought out very well.
Overall Review: ★★★★
Have you read The Hunger Games trilogy? What did you think of it?
I resisted reading this series because I'm not a big fan of violence. I love how you whited out the spoilers... very clever :)
ReplyDeleteGrrr...I had a nice long comment typed and it got eaten. Loved the series and, unlike you, thought the ending was perfect.
ReplyDelete