Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - Initial Thoughts

So from a book with a shoehorned-in romance to a book with a main character caught between two.

I read The Hunger Games less than a week ago (I think...) and thoroughly enjoyed it despite the slow start. The characters were human and the book was well written, and once it got going the page count flew by. It's best described as Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four for Teens, crossed with Japan's Battle Royale, although it thankfully lacked the bloodlust of the latter. I started Catching Fire last night and hit just shy of page 150 (That's pretty good going for me), and thoroughly enjoyed what I read. It seems like the series has taken a darker tone with this book, and I suspect at this point we're moving from an action novel to something more satirical and 'philosophical' like Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, although I strongly doubt action will be missing from this book.

At this point, it's a book about Katniss' personal conflicts. She's trapped in a number of Catch 22 situations, none of which seem to be resolved in a manner she would be comfortable with. Blood will be on her hands no matter what she does. We have an Orwellian villain, a Big Brother-esque situation going on and an ever-so-convenient twist to the games (One that wasn't mentioned in the first book, but it's understandable as to why).

Looking forward to see how this pans out.

Update: Turns out I finished The Hunger Games just over a week ago. Bloody hell.

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