SomTervo Posted December 30, 2011 Report Share Posted December 30, 2011 What is Hunger Games? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P4: Gritty Reboot Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 Hunger Games is a Young Adult (but pretty bloody/brutal for most YAs) dystopian novel set in a future United States controlled by a totalitarian government that forces its citizens' children to compete in deadly survival games for the elites' entertainment. Just finished the final book, and have to say I'd recommend it without reservation. Head and shoulders above most YA stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faiblesse Des Sens Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) I started The Dervish House by Ian MacDonald. Got through the first chapter and had to set it down to process all of the Turkish names and all of the different characters but it seems good enough. I definitely like his style. Edited January 4, 2012 by Faiblesse Des Sens Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterDex Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 I started The Wheel of TIme....but I'm not sure I'll even get through the first book. It was a series I ignored despite lots of insistence to do otherwise for ages because I was wrapped up in so many other fantasy from Tolkien and Dragonlance to Harry Potter but I said I'd give it a go now. I've just begun, barely past chapter 2 and I just find it very dry and boring. Is it just me? Does it start off weak and build into an epic tale? I can't quite place my finger on whether it's because of the writing itself or just what's been written about right now. I'm going to continue but it's been slow going so far. I've also FINALLY read Narn I Hin Húrin aka The Children of Húrin, one of the many tales that J.R.R Tolkien left unfinished before his death. It was fantastic and I recommend any fan of Tolkien, fantasy and/or tragedy to give it a read. It can be found in the Unfinished Tales collection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorgiShinobi Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) Oh wow, didn't realize there was this thread for books. Like a few others, I finished the first Hunger Games a few days ago. My complaints are pretty much like those above, though I'm a bit more forgiving as it is "Teen Fiction." Also, to make a minor correction in regards to P4's summation, the Hunger Games are the Capital's punishment to the twelve remaining districts of Panem after a failed rebellion. As such, once a year two teens (12-18) are randomly drawn from a list of names to (forcibly) compete in a free-for-all death match until there is one survivor. Everyone outside the Capital is forced to watch and act as though there is nothing wrong, whereas most of the citizens of the Capital are more so ignorant rather than inherently evil to the Hunger Games. EDIT: I ordered the remaining two books off Amazon for cheap, but I still have to finish The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Edited January 4, 2012 by Atomsk88 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterDex Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 Oh wow, didn't realize there was this thread for books. Like a few others, I finished the first Hunger Games a few days ago. My complaints are pretty much like those above, though I'm a bit more forgiving as it is "Teen Fiction." Also, to make a minor correction in regards to P4's summation, the Hunger Games are the Capital's punishment to the twelve remaining districts of Panem after a failed rebellion. As such, once a year two teens (12-18) are randomly drawn from a list of names to (forcibly) compete in a free-for-all death match until there is one survivor. Everyone outside the Capital is forced to watch and act as though there is nothing wrong, whereas most of the citizens of the Capital are more so ignorant rather than inherently evil to the Hunger Games. So the Hunger Games is an American version of Battle Royale then? That's what it sounds like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorgiShinobi Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 Oh wow, didn't realize there was this thread for books. Like a few others, I finished the first Hunger Games a few days ago. My complaints are pretty much like those above, though I'm a bit more forgiving as it is "Teen Fiction." Also, to make a minor correction in regards to P4's summation, the Hunger Games are the Capital's punishment to the twelve remaining districts of Panem after a failed rebellion. As such, once a year two teens (12-18) are randomly drawn from a list of names to (forcibly) compete in a free-for-all death match until there is one survivor. Everyone outside the Capital is forced to watch and act as though there is nothing wrong, whereas most of the citizens of the Capital are more so ignorant rather than inherently evil to the Hunger Games. So the Hunger Games is an American version of Battle Royale then? That's what it sounds like. I've seen that comparison quite a bit, but I have no experience with Battle Royale. Oh, and if I didn't make it clear, it's two teens from each district, so there's a total of 24 "participants" each year. There's some good angles to it though, like the "Career Tributes," those from District 1, 2, and 4 who actually train for the games, whereas you have the dirt poor District 11 and District 12 who have had only a few "victors" in the previous 73 games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterDex Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 From your descriptions it sounds a lot like Battle Royale. According to the rules, every year since 1947, 42 third-year high school students are isolated, and each student is required to fight to the death until one student remains. Their movements are tracked by metal collars, later identified as Model Guadalcanal No. 22, which contain tracking and listening devices; if any student should attempt to escape the Program, or enter declared forbidden zones, a bomb will be detonated in the collar, killing the wearer. If no one dies in a 72 hour time period, there will be no winner and all collars will be detonated simultaneously. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Royale So basically it's 42 teenagers killing each other so they can survive a government-run program. Not all the participants are clueless either and know what to expect. It doesn't sound exactly like it but does seem derivative of it. You should check out the movie, if not the book. It stars the fantastic Takeshi "Beat" Kitano and Chiaki Kuriyama who you probably know as Gogo Yubari from Kill Bill v.1 where she reprised her role as a sadistic, murderous highschool student. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staySICK Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) Just finished the first Hunger Games book. It's pretty good for a YA novel, though it had a few issues: - Implausible world: I'm on the fence about this one. I am unsure whether the type of totalitarianism and perpetuation of the Games in the novel's universe would really persist for as long as they have in Panem. You'd think someone in the Capitol would speak out against it, but everyone cheers it on. - Unrealistically selfless heroine: It bothers me that a 16-year-old is portrayed as so selfless for the bulk of the novel, caring only for her family and not ever wanting for herself. That's just not human nature. Near the end this is rectified somewhat as she comes to terms with the Games' brutal rules. At least she is a strong character as compared with someone like Bella from the Twilight series. - The Games' rule change: This only bugs me a little, but I feel the author squirmed out of the position of having to truly force the heroine to choose between love and survival, between her humanity and winning the Games. Yeah, I suppose she "challenged" the authority with her suicide bluff with Peeta, but as a reader I feel baited-and-switched to be told ONLY ONE WILL SURVIVE only to have two survive to prolong the love triangle. Still, afterward the conclusion makes it clear that it won't be without consequences. Looking forward to picking up the next two. well, the Hunger Games is the last series I read so yea. My wife and multiple twitter people talking about coupled with an amazon gift card for $25 led me to getting the HB set. P4 I totes was expecting Katniss to be a Mary Sue. About half to two-thirds through the book I reversed this decision. She's rather clueless, and I think she's been just so beaten into the mold of putting her family above her that it's not exactly selflessness. There is a rather scathing disdain for her mother there, really it just comes down to Prim. I thought the rule change made sense in the story, because the Capitol knew there would be backlash if they kept the status quo in those games and their hand was pretty well forced to prevent full scale backlash nevermind the other damage she had caused elsewhere in the story. The third book was absolutely brutal and while pretty predictable, was much better than a mediocre second book. Edited January 4, 2012 by staySICK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nexus Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 I enjoyed the Hunger Games series. Didn't enjoy the ending to the final book, however. I've been on a bit of a reading frenzy recently, since I bought a Kindle at Xmas so downloaded a load of free books. Ones I would recommend are "The Night Circus," by Erin Morgenstern, which is a really weird paranormal fantasy book, "The Sisters Brothers," by Patrick deWitt, which is a Western book and is excellent, and the sequel to "The Name of the Wind," called "Wise Man's Fear" by Patrick Rothfuss. Currently reading "The Golden Acorn", by Catherine Cooper. Picked it up for free on the Kindle. It's not brilliant, it is seemingly aimed at the younger end of the YA bracket, and it's pretty uninspiring stuff, but I've started it so I'll finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturnine Tenshi Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 Hunger Games was surprising. Typically, I shy away from YA novels. Not because they're poorly written or home to poor content; they just don't generally sate what I'm looking for. The general direction of the book was easily predicted, but it was also pleasing. That's the important part. Don't know what I'm starting next (Hunger Games was a loan). The White Queen and Timequake stand out in my queue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P4: Gritty Reboot Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 Did you read the whole HG series or just the first, Saturnine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturnine Tenshi Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 Just the first. I'll wait until my sister picks up the other two books to read them. No point in getting ahead of her anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomTervo Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 Yeah my first thought upon reading the synopsis of Hunger Games on Wikipedia was Battle Royale. It has the same premise of kids being forced into killing each other in an arena situation, however in BR it's one year from a high-school chosen at random (so you get all the social ladders and awkwardness and truths coming to light). BR is pretty clever as it plays on reality TV (lots of adults watch for pleasure, not from law), high-school drama made lethal, and on the IRL brutality of right-wing legislation in the far East, taken very far. The movie of BR is really entertaining and pretty well done, but the books truly great, I felt, which the movie doesn't quite reach. The book spends chapters just developing the politics and characters of the situation before the savagery and high-school politics turned violent kick in. Hunger Games sounds decent but like there's not much thematic depth beyond rebellion stuff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturnine Tenshi Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 Sounds about right, kenshi (speaking for the first book). I meant to agree with MasterDex about Battle Royale but never got around to making the post (and forgot). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staySICK Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 if you wanna talk kids vs kids, go all the way back to Lord of the Flies. Great book. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P4: Gritty Reboot Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 Yeah my first thought upon reading the synopsis of Hunger Games on Wikipedia was Battle Royale. It has the same premise of kids being forced into killing each other in an arena situation, however in BR it's one year from a high-school chosen at random (so you get all the social ladders and awkwardness and truths coming to light). BR is pretty clever as it plays on reality TV (lots of adults watch for pleasure, not from law), high-school drama made lethal, and on the IRL brutality of right-wing legislation in the far East, taken very far. The movie of BR is really entertaining and pretty well done, but the books truly great, I felt, which the movie doesn't quite reach. The book spends chapters just developing the politics and characters of the situation before the savagery and high-school politics turned violent kick in. Hunger Games sounds decent but like there's not much thematic depth beyond rebellion stuff? The primary theme of the series is the brutality of war from what I took away. Book 3 really hammers that idea home. It's nice that there isn't really a big good rebels/bad dictatorship dichotomy, but you'd have to read through to see what I mean. Edit: And I guess Collins claimed to have never heard of Battle Royale before writing the book. BR wouldn't really even be the first thing of that nature (as staySICK pointed out, LOTF did something thematically similar), as I've read a few books/short stories with the combat for others' pleasure type thing. I guess you could look all the way back to the Roman gladiators for the real life counterpart as well. Anyway I'll probably have to check BR out if it's that good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTF Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 if you wanna talk kids vs kids, go all the way back to Lord of the Flies. Great book. Oh such an amazing read. Loved it when I read it in high school back in the 90s. Considering how it was a satirical look on the idealistic book the coral island I think it stands better off in today's society than the coral island. Wonder if that tells us a negative message. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staySICK Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 lasting effects of violence on children / teens. By Book 3 Katniss is pretty well messed up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturnine Tenshi Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 I enjoyed Lord of the Flies, but for different reasons. I don't think it plucked the same chords. Also reminds me of "The Lottery", btw.staySICK's comment really makes me want to finish the trilogy, though. >.< Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P4: Gritty Reboot Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 Yeah books 2 and 3 really smooth over my main complaint, which was that the protagonist was too unbelievably altruistic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saturnine Tenshi Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) She seemed normal to me. Certainly wouldn't have been my approach. But she seemed to enter with the right amount of apprehension toward, well, everything. You don't suddenly flip a switch to turn off your morality/code of conduct. It takes experience, triggers, something out-of-the-ordinary to either shatter or work at the tenets you've learned to value. Sure, she kills. But she doesn't like it (at least not yet). Edited January 4, 2012 by Saturnine Tenshi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P4: Gritty Reboot Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 I guess it was even before that though, just something about the way she never seemed to want for herself, always thinking of others, it made her feel like a one-dimensional character. But she grew a bit in the book. Really a minor complaint, and it's certainly not as pronounced as in some YA books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorgiShinobi Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 Katniss is evidence enough that Hunger Games is a YA novel. It's probably for the sake of the reader, but she also seemed a bit too clueless about herself and a few others. You can question motives, and etc, but how does someone honestly struggle with, "How do you see yourself?" That's where her selflessness comes to bit her in the butt. I mean, Peeta himself understood the important of staying true to yourself, but it took Katniss near the end of the novel to understand what he was saying. "Oh yeah, that I don't become the pawn of the Capital's game and hold onto what makes me... HUMAN!" I guess you can blame a lot of it on her daddy issues. After all, the book constantly reminds us of his death and her phobia of injured persons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P4: Gritty Reboot Posted January 4, 2012 Report Share Posted January 4, 2012 That reminds me of something annoying that Collins wrote into the book just a couple of times, but it's become a pet peeve of mine: narrators who become unaware constantly. Phrases like "The next thing I was aware of, I was back in my house" or whatever. With the possible exception of drunkenness or freaky drugs, I can't imagine not being aware of walking five city blocks back to your house. I'll dig around for the relevant passage but it drives me batty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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