Yay for YA: Catching Fire and Mockingjay

After seeing the movie version of the Hunger Games, I just had to read the sequels!

Statistics
Checkouts:
Catching Fire: 6
Mockingjay: 9
Series checkouts: 27
Source: Catching Fire was from Follett for the school, personally purchased my copy; both the school copy and my own copy of Mockingjay were personally purchased.

Synopsis: Katniss continues her narrative of what happened after the 74th Annual Hunger Games, in which she competed and won.

My Goodreads ratings: 5 stars for Catching Fire, 3 stars for Mockingjay

The following reviews contain spoilers.

Catching Fire is one of the most satisfying middle books of any trilogy I've read.  It was creative, and it distanced the series from comparisons between this and Battle Royale.  The book starts out with the confused relationship between Katniss and Gale, a threat from President Snow, and the need to make peace with the spurned Peeta as he and Katniss must travel the country in the victory tour and convince the populace that they are in love.  Then comes the announcement of the third Quarter Quell, the amped-up Hunger Games that happen every quarter-century.  The contestants this time are chosen from past victors, who had always thought themselves safe from ever again competing or knowing hardships.  Since Katniss is District 12's only female victor, she must again compete.  And when Haymitch's name is drawn, Peeta volunteers to go with her.

Throughout the book are hints at rebellion and what's to come.  The end has a great twist, which left me breathless and reaching for the final book in the trilogy.  Great storytelling!  I didn't even mind the relationship drivel, showing how Gale and Peeta loved Katniss while she didn't feel anything beyond friendship and camaraderie toward either of them.  More on that later.

Unfortunately, after a fabulous start, and more world-building as the plot moved to District 13, Mockingjay got old quickly.  Don't get me wrong, there's still some excellent adventure and twists here.  But Ms. Collins found a dead horse to beat.

War is Hell.  Repeat, War is Hell.  And if you missed it: War is Hell.  Oh, and by the way: War is Hell.

I get that part of what inspired the author was news footage of one of the recent wars, followed by a reality TV show.  And I know that this is young adult literature, where sometimes the audience may not know as much as us wise adults do.  But it seemed like the point was driven so far home that it got preachy and ham-handed.

As I sit here writing this review, I'm realizing that Mockingjay probably had some heavy influences from another final book of a YA series: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Both have characters dying a bit arbitrarily (though if you know Greek mythology, the fact that Castor dies and Pollux lives is nothing new).  Both have tear-jerking, pointless casualties.  (What the heck was a certain character doing in the Capitol, anyway?  Never explained.)  And both have epilogues where it's "babies ever after."

Except I liked Harry Potter's epilogue.  There, the pairings felt natural, and it was cute to see the main characters' progeny heading off for their first year at Hogwarts.

If the last three paragraphs plus the epilogue of Mockingjay did not exist, I would have liked it far better.  Instead, we have a complete change in Katniss' character just to ... what?  Satisfy the audience's need to have an answer to the infernal Team Peeta/Team Gale question?  Enforce society's charge that motherhood is the best role a woman can ever achieve?

I'm not going to give a spoiler as to who Katniss ends up with, though I will say there was no choice, no other option.  More disappointingly her mate, in the epilogue, takes fifteen years to convince her to give up her beliefs that she's held so long throughout three books and have children.  While I did not expect a happy ending, it really did not need to include a broken Katniss worrying about how her children will react to learning about her past.

Epic fail.

Hunger Games movie review

On Saturday afternoon I saw the Hunger Games movie with my boyfriend and some friends.  I was looking forward to seeing the movie for the special effects that I was sure could lend themselves well to this story, such as all the fiery costumes Kitniss wears.  Here's my full review.  With spoilers, if you haven't seen the movie or read the book.

Overall: It's pretty, but the book is better.

Acting: Excellent.  Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen was very good.  As other reviewers have said, she portrays so much with her eyes, while maintaining a poised exterior.  There are plenty of fabulous supporting cast as well.  Some were certainly chosen for their acting abilities rather than matching their literary counterparts' physical descriptions; Woody Harrelson was not the Haymitch I imagined, but was excellent in the role.

Costuming: Everything I could have wanted!  The stark contrast between the miners and the Capitol's denizens was depicted wonderfully.  I was waiting with baited breath for the scenes with Katniss on fire, and I loved the dress at her interview with Caesar.  Absolutely amazing.

Cinematography: Like the girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead - when it was good it was very good, and when it was bad it was horrid.  There are amateur movies with less shaky footage than what was used in District 12 and some fight scenes.  What were they thinking?  Seriously.  On the other hand, the disoriented shot when Katniss has been stung by a tracker jacker was very well done.

Accuracy: Reasonably good.  There was some streamlining, of course, which is understandable.  Some of the added scenes, offering explanations, were worthwhile.  Others, such as when they created the creatures for the finale battle, were basically spoilers.  I appreciate how true they were to main events, and to how most deaths were off-screen like they were in the book.
What I did not like, at all, was how they changed the ending.  And here comes the spoiler.  I am extremely unhappy that they left ambiguity in how Katniss feels about Peeta.  In the book, she tells him point blank that the relationship was an act on her part, and she's not interested.  But noooo, we get the potential for a flipping love triangle, thanks also to the footage of Gale watching the Hunger Games and reacting jealously to the kissing and such.  Argh!!!!
The point of this was obvious in the lobby after the movie, when some of our companions were asking a non-reader if she was "Team Gale or Team Peeta."  Poke me with a spork, I'm done.

Best outcome of the movie experience: My boyfriend is now reading my copy of The Hunger Games.

The Hunger Games v. Battle Royale

I read the manga Battle Royale last summer, and now that I've read the first novel in the hit trilogy The Hunger Games, I can't resist making a bit of a compare-and-contrast review.

Synopsis for both: A cruel government keeps its citizens in check by having a yearly "game" pitting dozens of teens against each other in a battle to the death.  This brutal game is shown on live TV.  There can be only one victor.

Statistics Checkouts: 10 Series checkouts (trilogy): 22 Typical reader: This ranges from older elementary boys, to high school girls, to classroom aides. There is no typical reader. Source: Follett for the school, gift for my copy	Statistics Checkouts: Rated M, this does not belong in a school library. Series checkouts (15 manga): Seriously. This puts "graphic" in graphic novels. Typical reader: Fans of Japanese gore fests Source: Local public library
My Goodreads rating: 5 stars	My Goodreads rating: N/A

While reading Battle Royale, I realized that what I'd heard about The Hunger Games sounded a lot like this manga.  That's absolutely true, at least on the surface.  The plot, as shown in the synopsis above, is interchangeable.  What's different, besides the medium used to tell the story and the language/country of origin?


The main characters: Katniss of The Hunger Games is one of those YA heroines that I can really get behind.  She's a survivor, strong and tough.  When her little sister's name is drawn to participate in the Hunger Games, she refuses to let that happen and volunteers in her stead.  She is a skilled huntress and keeps her wits about her throughout the ordeal.  And she remains true to herself!  I don't want to give anything away, but I was proud of how she handled things at the end of the book.

Shuuya of Battle Royale is a student in an ill-fated class that's drugged on a field trip and sent to a deserted island for this story's battle to the death.  He is a musician - which is rebellious in this dystopian Japan - and quite nonviolent; he would prefer to avoid killing his classmates at all costs.  Joined by a female classmate, Noriko, whose wound he dresses after she is shot before the game even begins, Shuuya tries to recruit and save other classmates in an alliance.  Only the transfer student, Shogo, joins them for long.

Perspective and style: The Hunger Games is a novel written in limited third-person, focusing on Katniss.  Most of the deaths occur "off-screen," except for the battle near the end of the Games.  Battle Royale covers every one of the 42 students in the game, including offering back-stories on several of the contestants.  It is one of the most graphic, explicit sequential art pieces I've ever seen.  Most of that is violence, but there's also some nudity and sexual situations.

This is one of the less gory death scenes.

Outside aid and restrictions: The students in Battle Royale each start with a backpack of supplies and one random weapon.  They are equipped with collars that track their movements and transmit their vital statistics to those who run the show.  If no one dies in a 24-hour period, someone's tracking collar will detonate; this will also happen if a student strays into an area announced as being off-limits.

The competitors in The Hunger Games have it easier by far - if they survive the initial rush for supplies, and the bloodbath that ensues.  Katniss grabbed a bag and ran, narrowly escaping death.  After that, those who impressed the audiences in the Capital may be sent gifts via their sponsors.  These can really come in handy.

Movies: Battle Royale was made into a movie before it became a manga; both are based on a novel of the same name.  The movie was released in Japan in 2000.  The Hunger Games movie will be in theaters next month.

Sequels: The Hunger Games is part of a trilogy; I look forward to reading the next two books.  Battle Royale has a sequel manga series, Blitz Royale.  I've seen some art from it, and it's not as good or realistic.

Who I would give the book to: As I said in the statistics, there are older elementary students who read The Hunger Games.  That's pretty acceptable.  Battle Royale, on the other hand, fits well into my "Guilty Pleasures" category and would best go to mature adults who like manga filled with violence and social commentary, and Quentin Tarantino's films.