Sadly Satiated

I recently reviewed one of my favourite books, The Hunger Games. It was a gripping read that explored human hunger for violent entertainment (see 13 October blog entry if you missed it.) Somehow Suzanne Collins managed to turn this gratuitous story into one of love and hope.

Catching Fire is the sequel and while repeating the concepts of The Hunger Games, explored Katniss’ relationships with Gale and Peeta. It had a clever twist with the set-up of the arena, but an ending that suddenly made things seem a bit unreal. It’s not that The Hunger Games was realistic. You just imagined that society could be like that, especially when survival instincts kick in. When the ending was revealed with the hovercrafts, I sat back and thought, ‘now that’s a bit far fetched.’ I was still waiting for a resolution and ready to read the next book though.

Collins’ last book in The Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay, unfortunately satiated me and I no longer have a hunger for this story. Mockingjay was based in zones and looked at survival below the ground and fighting between the districts. Katniss was the Mockingjay symbol, that was initiated through her friendship with Rue in book one and explored through costumes and actions in Catching Fire. She was the bird of hope for district 12. This theme was interwoven through Mockingjay, but to me it could have been further explored with people connected to Cinna or Rue.

The ending was inevitable and the final pages predictable. I was hoping for some great finale and all we got was the end of one reign and the continuation of another. It sets itself up for further books but I won’t be racing out to pre-order.

The Hunger Games trilogy was a brilliant concept and gave us a very memorable protagonist. Collins’ own connection with her father being a Vietnam War veteran gave the battle some depth and believability.

I was saving this book to read and expected to be reading well into the early morning like I did with the first two, but I put it down and picked it up a week later. Not a good sign of hunger.

Any way it’s back to my parenting book. I could use a few strategies after being house bound this week. The weekend is here…breathe.

Rating: 7 out of 10