Mockingjay

Title: Mockingjay

Author: Suzanne Collins

Series: The Hunger Games Book 3

Year published: 2010

Pages: 455

Time It Took To Read: About a day

And so, the Hunger Games comes to an end, and revolution is in the air. Only revolutions aren't usually led by a 17 year old girl.

This book was not quite as good as the other two - the energy that drove the first two, the quest for survival is enlarged far beyond just being about Katniss and Peeta, and loses its intensity. Even though you know what the people are fighting for, it feels a somewhat pointless, aimless exercise. Katniss becomes ever more grumpy, distant and cold. There is a lot about training and planning, but Katniss doesn't witness it. Then again, Katniss notices bugger all. People die in front of her, and the pace is so breathless that this is noted two paragraphs on. 
The ending was unsatisfactory. Maybe a teen audience want a happy (ish) ending, but it rang false with me. I expected questions to be answered, to know whose side people were on, to understand why this regime had been allowed to continue, but the story checks out of the action and never finishes it up. I also thought that it would be better if Katniss has died, her survival seems hollow and pointless against the rest of the story.
But in another way, that is the truth of oppression and revolution. Blood is shed and people are scarred for life, and the trauma doesn't vanish with the overthrow. Katniss feels like an inhuman instrument of war, because that's what she has become.
I enjoyed this book. I wanted to see how the saga ended; who lived, who died, and who Katniss would choose if the choice was given to her. The book did all that and added a wealth of information about Panem. But it could have been much more.

Book count: 16/50

Catching Fire

Title: Catching Fire

Author: Suzanne Collins

Series: The Hunger Games Book 2

Year published: 2009

Pages: 480

Time It Took To Read: Four hours

Well, when I said I'd read this today, I meant it. I've been reading them on my crappy e-book that only has two hours of battery life, so I've had to keep charging it up as I go along. Frustrating! Anyway, I devoured it, and look forward to reading Mockingjay tomorrow.

With it being part of a book series, it's really hard to give any outline of the plot without spoiling book one. I mean, I'm fairly sure most people who would read it have done so, or seen the film by now, but even so... Katniss has tried to return to normal life after the games, and has MANY FEELINGS about the men in her life. These feelings make this book feel rather more teenage than the last, despite Katniss feigning asexuality most of the time. However, politics are conspiring to make her a figurehead for rebellion, and Capitol make their money through oppression. This book largely charts the president's attempts to quell, and then crush Katniss.

It reminded me of 1984 rather more than the first book in the series. Actions have consequences across the full length of the book, rather than just in the next day or so. It's not quite as brutal as the first book: the evil is insidious and inescapable and there's slightly less emphasis on violent interactions.

I didn't enjoy it quite as much as The Hunger Games, but the inevitable sense of hopelessness, anger and rebellion drives Catching Fire. I hope Mockingjay proves as satisfying a read.
I'll let you know tomorrow... ;-)

Book count: 15/50

The Hunger Games

Title: The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

Series: The Hunger Games Book 1

Year published: 2008

Pages: 454

Time It Took To Read: Five greedy hours

Wow. I've literally just finished this and I am slightly in awe of how good it was. I was expecting something between Twilight and His Dark Materials: with Twilight being a waste of paper bound in black, and His Dark Materials being a dystopian religious allegory. It was neither, thank God.

I don't tend to read a lot of teen fiction. In truth, I never read much of it when I actually was a teen. The exceptions were the gloriously bad Making Out series, Point Horror and the Diving In books by Kate Cann. My experience of teen fiction is mostly overblown MY FEELINGS emo rubbish, where everyone's called Tripp.

The Hunger Games doesn't disappoint on ridiculous names - the heroine is called Katniss - but this is explained by the alternate universe of Panem. The world has been split into districts which serve the capital (usefully known as Capitol, which kept reminding me of CAPITAL CITY in Simpsons) in a feudal manner. As punishment, Capitol holds annual Hunger Games, which are a parody of the Olympics, an excuse for district pride. Each district is forced to send two teenaged tributes, one boy and one girl, to fight it out to the death, a la Battle Royale. Obviously, our heroine Katniss becomes a tribute.

The book then goes into detail explaining the farcical measures which Capitol take to turn this bloodbath into a commercial event, detailing the betting system and the pre and post games interviews as a media event. The author has taken note of Big Brother and the ilk in her fantasy world. Once the games begin, it becomes a study in survival, and really comes into it's own. I absolutely LOVE methodical survival/kill stories; Day of The Jackal is one of my favourites.

And so children kill other children in the name of entertainment. The idea that this might be the natural conclusion of the current swathe of entertainment shows is absurd, but it makes for compelling reading. There is just enough humanity to keep it realistic all the way through, even with the psychotic sci fi twist towards the end. 

It never once struck me that I was reading a book aimed at teenagers. The frailty and vulnerability of life shone throughout, the teen streak of rebellion mixed with compliance was totally believable. I loved it. Tomorrow, I start on the second book!

Book count: 13/50