Review: The Hunger Games Trilogy, by Suzanne Collins

I read this trilogy in eight days flat.

After many months of hearing everyone around me talking about The Hunger Games, books and movie #1, I

I consider myself luckier than those who had to wait between books, although I will say that I could have been entirely happy without any sequels to The Hunger Games the book at all.  It had a good, sudden ending, with a certain amount of resolution and yet some uncertainty nevertheless.

Katniss is awesome, but undeniably flawed.  Far from perfect, her flaws make what could be a Mary-Sue-like sacrifice for Prim engaging rather than wearing.  Peeta is adorable all the way through until he's not, and by the time that happens, I already loved him anyway.  By midway through the second book I would say that I was Team Peeta if pressed; by midway through the third, I was a despairing Team Peeta-ite.

I've heard from a lot of people that they don't like the second and third books because of the politics, but I loved them.  I wanted more and more and more of the world building, not less.  I

And then there was that epilogue.  It's even more pointless and annoying than the Harry Potter epilogue and that's saying something.  I love the way Mockingjay proper ends - real or not real?  Real, says Katniss - and it didn't need any of what came after.

And I had a discussion with a colleague today about the ending of Mockingjay and the decision Katniss makes at that point.  We were diametrically opposed: I approved the ending and what led to it, in terms of authorial choice: colleague disagreed.  (In case you can't tell I'm trying to avoid spoilers.)  The thing is, over all, I enjoyed the trilogy a lot more than I expected to, given the widespread popularity of it.  They're certainly engaging, gripping books; I was so VERY glad that I had each subsequent book to keep going with as I finished the previous.  Is this the way someone feels these days reading the Tomorrow series?  While I had to wait the year or more between each book?  (A similar thing happened with West Wing, where US viewers had to wait a summer between "What Kind of Day Has it Been?" and "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen", while Australian viewers only had to wait a week.  It's not a perfect analogy.)

Anyway.  I enjoyed it more than I expected.  I have a lot of affection for many of the characters.  And I think that I do adore Katniss. Flaws and all.  As you do.