I first read The Hunger Games a month or two ago and although I was entertained, I thought there were a lot of major flaws with the book. It seemed like a rip off of other YA books that were much better--Nancy Farmer's The House of the Scorpion as one example. I wasn't even going to read the sequel Catching Fire until I found a downloadable audiobook version that I could listen to while I was at work. That further unimpressed me...it was far too much like Twilight in the love-angst department and made Katniss Everdeen (best name ever?) seem like Bella.v2. Despite my lack of praise for the first two books I felt invested enough in the series to continue on with the third (and there was so much press going around that I felt I had to!). After reading the final installment of the series, I have to say that for the first time ever, I found the last book of a series to be the best. A pretty amazing feat!
With the first two books I took major issue with the whole idea of the hunger games (children being selected to participate in a killing fest on tv?). We were never given a thorough explanation as to how these horrendously barbaric games had come about and why children were used instead of adults. We were expected to take it at face value, which I always find a hard time doing. I love unusual concepts, but they need to be explained so I can understand how they make sense in that world.
The final book was complex and gritty. Things weren't perfect and simply realized, good vs. evil, etc. Katniss really had to come to terms with a lot of things and figure out what she stood for apart from it all.
And in the end, she had to decide who she loved most of all.
I agree with all the criticism about how poorly drawn Gale's character was in the book, but I have to say I thought Peeta or at least the essence of what Suzanne Collins was trying to portray in Peeta came across loud and clear to me. I loved the ending and I thought it was extremely accomplished. You could definitely see how her writing progressed throughout these three books and I can now say I'm excited to see what else she has in store.
Was it worth the read?
Yes. As I said, it's the best book of the three, although you have to read the first two to get meaning out of the last.
