#34: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

The final chapter in the Hunger Games trilogy finds our protagonist, Katniss, helping overthrow the government (personified by her enemy President Snow) while realizing that the rebellion isn't all it's cracked up to be in Suzanne Collins Mockingjay.

The first two books in this trilogy mainly center around Katniss participating in the Hunger Games, where the totalitarian central government keeps the districts in check by holding gladiator-style battles once a year in which only one living victor is allowed.  Astute readers will see pieces and parts borrowed from all sorts of places, including The Giver and Lord of the Flies and Battle Royale.  I have sometimes wondered if I enjoyed this series primarily because it reminded me of other things I liked.

This entry happens after the Hunger Games has ended, and to me seemed to show up the fact that the backstory of the world had been sketched in a bit slenderly in the first two volumes.  There were scenes here that seemed reminiscent of stories from Logan's Run to Beneath the Planet of the Apes which left me to wonder if Collins would leave any pop culture stone unturned.

Interesting for those who have read the first two and who would like to see the story to completion.  I got this for Christmas and finished it over time.

#2: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

In The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins introduces the reader to a dystopian future where teen "tributes" are forced to act out a televised gladiatorial combat for the enjoyment of the debauched capitol's citizens; in the end, one tribute's act of defiance makes her the inadvertent winner, and sets the stage for Catching Fire.

In the sequel, our reluctant hero is sent on a "Victory Tour" through the formerly rebellious districts, only to find that she is becoming the rallying point for a new rebellion. Behind the scenes, the machinery begins moving to pitch her back into the arena, even as forces begin to mass against the capitol.

Collins borrows a little bit from a lot of places from The Giver to Lord of the Flies and a half-dozen more, but it all goes by at such a brisk pace that it remains interesting. This outing spends a little more time developing a love triangle between the protagonist, a cerebral tribute, and a smoldering woodsman back home, for those interested in a little Twilight flair.

Despite bringing to mind other novels, it has enjoyments of its own, and I devoured it rather quickly.

I checked this out from the Farmland Public Library in Farmland, Indiana.

#52: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

In a dystopian future U.S., a totalitarian central government forces the formerly rebellious outer districts to offer teenage "tributes' in a nationally televised fight to the death in Suzanne Collins' young adult sci fi outing The Hunger Games.

Collins throws in a little of everything from Lord of the Flies to The Long Walk to The Giver, and astute readers will probably find more stories that one could draw parallels from. But The Hunger Games tools along under its own steam, and has interesting characters and situations. I was a bit surprised, however, that despite its young adult label there is a very high body count, and there are plenty of stabbings, shootings, maulings, and general mayhem that skip through its pages.

This novel is reported to be the first of a trilogy, and I am interested in finding the next one to know what happens next (especially as this ends on almost a cliffhanger). I bought this for my beloved Kindle with some Christmas money and read it over two snowy days.