I read The Hunger Games trilogy/Prequel...and now I am obsessed!

It’s to the Capitol’s advantage to have us divided among ourselves’.

When The Hunger Games was published I was in Primary school so I obviously hadn’t read the series and because of my age I never knew the hype around it. When the movies came out however I watched not realising this was an adaptation. I loved it a dystopian which is about the survival of the fittest… except it is more than that isn’t it? I remember when I was watching the movies my sister had said what is this even about and I have to be honest it has been a few years since I watched the films now but I remember enough to know that it really just throws the audience in without giving any background knowledge of how this world came into existence. I hate watching before I read the book of any adaptation because it gives you a picture an image of the characters and setting whereas I would rather have it occur naturally through reading the descriptions than seeing them come to life in the adaptation. I wasn’t a big reader in my teens (I know big shocker) so didn’t pick this up but when the prequel came out I thought now is the perfect chance. Thanks to me being a mood reader because I don’t think this is something I would have picked up just because I watched the movies. I was going to start with the prequel and then go to book 1 but I then thought it wouldn’t make sense so I started with The Hunger Games.

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I love how close the adaptation stayed to the book but what I really loved in the book (which I don’t think is explored in the film) is Katniss’s background, her father and the coal mines how she first met Peeta- he is the baker’s son who takes a punch for her so she can have bread. The North America famine and draught and this existence of The Hunger Games because of the 13 rebels which 12 were killed and the 13th mutilated (which is why there is no District 13) The Hunger Games serves as a reminder of what it is to go against them but also for entertainment I loved getting to know Haymitch and how gut wrenching it must be for him to win the hunger games but has to re-live it through mentoring the tributes. I loved his relationship with both Katniss and Peeta but lets be real the fatherly figure he is to Katniss is just to cute.

I love Cinna and the prep team; they are from the Capitol yet do take Katniss in and the waxing and I mean he did design the girl on fire costume. I really love the mental health rep in this book, Miss Everdeen’s depression due to her husbands death and it is so real and tangible. Also the imagery and the emphasis on district twelves famine and hunger, the extent to which Katniss and Gale go to provide for their families and to get food they double the amount their names are in the reaping bowl. Another form of control. All of district twelve rebel in some form whether it is through the black market, or with Katniss and Gale’s hunting right through to the three fingered salute when Katniss volunteers. Katniss father although absent has left a big influence on her, he taught her how to hunt, he sang her those rebellious songs and the love between the two hurts Katniss to this day. The district’s hob which is basically where they all trade and haggle the black market but you also see the community aspect, Greasy Sae the peacekeepers who look the other way Darius and even Madge the mayors daughter who is like Katniss’s only friend she has apart from Gale. Madge who gives her the mockingjay pin and roots for Katniss to win the games. Then the games begin. It is disturbing to think how they are set up to fail, they are presented are certain way and to be liked and to be pretty is to get more sponsors which means food and a matter of life and death in the games. (Kind of reminding me of influencers and sponcerships) I love the team that they form Effie, Haymitch Cinna and Katniss and Peeta. They play this love story angle because the Capitol feeds into it but also they use it to survive. Peeta tells the story of the bread and how he genuinely was in love with her but for Katniss she can’t think about how she feels or what she thinks because her only goal is to survive. The chapter with Cato and the others reminded me of The Lord of the Flies, and I loved how Rue basically saves Katniss’s life and the heart-breaking scene of her death. I loved the chapter where Katniss and Peeta are in the cave because that is where Katniss begins to love Peeta. Then we have the ending of the book where they are the last ones standing and to fight of Cato and the mutts that are genetically modified to look like the tributes. Then the shock twist of finding that only one can survive and the clever idea of Katniss eating the berries…or is it a clever idea?

Catching Fire is book 2 and it picks up right where it left off Katniss and Peeta are victors and are back home. Everything has changed yet nothing has changed. They live in the Victor Village and those berries that allowed Katniss and Peeta to survive has changed her life because they are a symbol of rebellion. Snow is such a chilling and cold person and it is heart breaking for Katniss because her only goal was to survive and help her family she genuinely doesn’t want to be apart of the symbol of rebellion yet she has got caught up in it. The uprisings start and in a cruel twist for the anniversary for the quarter quell all the winning victors have to take part in The Hunger Games again. Really it is Snow saying to all the districts that resistance is futile and he can do anything to show who has the power. I think Catching Fire both the movie and this book is my favourite because the characters really come into their own and it is where Katniss really develops her feelings for Peeta. It is also a stark reminder that these are children taking part in a war and that the victors are not winners they are survivors.

All of the victors have scars and it is so poignant when Johanna says they can’t hurt me because I have no one left to love. The games are twisted and the stakes are higher. For Katniss she only wants Haymitch to promise that Peeta survives yet they both don’t know that all the tributes are working together to make sure Katniss survives. Moves and countermoves. Cinna’s death broke me, as did the Jabberjay scene, Peeta’s near death and Mags and Wiress. I loved again seeing the team work together again for Peeta and Katniss. I loved that Peeta painted Rue and that Katniss hung Seneca, this book was so much more fast paced and the writing the character development just so good.

The finale of The Hunger Games ends with the mockingjay.

I think this is the best book in the series in regards to the damage and danger of what war can do and having someone like Coin who wants to go into power who is on the rebels side yet is using the same methods as the Capitol.

It really raises good discussions and I love that about dystopias. For me this was never a love story however Katniss and Peeta are literally the OTP and I ship them so much. The capitol have brainwashed Peeta to think Katniss is the enemy and with the help of Madge and the medical team he is slowly coming back to himself. The games have changed all of them and this is really witnessed in the last book. Also in this book Katniss vists the hospital so many times. I loved Finnick and Annie’s wedding, but hated how Finnick had to die, I love when Katniss sang but the double bomb which kills Prim, Katniss can’t forgive Gale for. It started with Prim and it ends with her sadly actually dying. I love the last scenes between Peeta and Katniss, Peeta trying to remember his old life and the real or not real.

A really heart-breaking end to the series because no one wins yes they achieved what they set out, but to what extent. Tigris helping them also she is Snow’s cousin (because of the Prequel) Highly, highly recommend this series easily one of my favourite series and I cannot wait to re-read them. I can’t do it justice how much I love these books so my reviews are meh but honestly I am utterly astounded by the writing, the thought provoking and honestly devour able series. I am so so so glad I picked this up and can’t wait to do it all over again.

Book to movie adaptation- I obviously loved the adaptation the characters are so well picked with Jennifer Lawrence fronting, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Teddy, Elizabeth Banks stellar cast, it stuck pretty close to the books but I am really annoyed at how much got cut. I can understand that it is 2 hours but who would complain if it was 6 hours.

Things that got cut out the movie which I am annoyed about.

- How much Katniss father meant to her

- District 12 and the hob the community the goat scene (although mentioned) Darius because the change happens when the peacekeepers are changed.

- The herbal remedies and how much Katniss’s mother and Prim help out.

- Madge (so mad that Madge got left out) also when she helped Peeta in Mockingjay

- The electric fence and when Katniss twisted her ankle.

- At the end of Mockingjay when Katniss comes back home and is in depression and Greasy Sae helps her and begins to take therapy.

- The train chapters and her and Peeta’s relationship was so much more than what was depicted on screen.

- The prep team in Mockingjay in chains in District 13

- The prep team working on Katniss

- The hunger and the hunting and how much food was a major issue in the first movie.

- When her mom gives biscuits to Snow in Catching Fire

- The avox on the train and the discussion/how much they ate on the train until they felt sick

- Haymitch’s girlfriend who was murdered alongside his family which is why he drinks also because he watches two people die every year. (Apart from Katniss and Peeta)

- The fact that Katniss looked flawless in the books yet in the books it was the oppositeat the start of Catching Fire the prep team are shocked at how Katniss let herself go, bites her nails, her hair etc.

- Her suicide attempt

- THE CAVE SCENE between Katniss and Peeta, the thunder the days they stayed there in the cave whilst Peeta was getting better it was not just a day also in the movie they made it more romantic whereas in the book it was more raw, touching, desperation I mean I could go on.

- The secrets of Finnick and how he was used by the Capitol

- Peeta’s leg that was ampuatated that was why he nearly died

- Katniss coming across the rebels in Catching Fire when they are trying to escape to District 13.

- Katniss going deaf because she blew up Cato’s food and stuff. (Ironic but J Law lost-but regained- her hearing because of an underwater stunt she was made to be Katniss).

There is so much more but obviously it wouldn’t be an adaptation then but alas I still love the movies.

‘If there’s a more helpless feeling than trying to reach someone you love who’s trapped underground, I don’t know it. The wounded. The bodies. The waiting through the night. Blankets put around your shoulders by strangers. A mug of something hot that you didn’t that you don’t drink. And then finally, at dawn, the grieved expression on the face of the mine captain that could only mean one thing.’

‘Are you preparing for another war, Plutarch. Oh not now. Now we’re in that sweet period where everyone agrees that our recent horrors should never be repreated’ he says. ‘But collective thinking is short-lived. We’re fickle stupid beings with poor memories and a great gift for self-destruction.

‘On that night I feel that thing again, the hunger that overtook me on the beach, I know this would have happened anyway. That what I need to survive is not Gale’s fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that. So after, when he whisprs, ‘You love me. Real or not real?’ I tell him, ‘Real’.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

A prequel to THG and follows Coriolanus Snow’s rise to power. The origins of the hunger games how it all started and the evolution. The discussions around this book is amazing. It is a lot slower than the original trilogy but that is to be expected. Snow is living with his cousin Tigris (who helped Katniss in Mockingjay) and they live in the Snow apartment with Grandma'am which if they don’t pay the rent for they are going to be kicked out. Living of scraps Snow is a student of the academy and the only way he can graduate and go to university is to become a mentor the first mentor in The Hunger Games and make sure his tribute wins. His tribute, Lucy Gray Baird. Lucy Gray is from district twelve and is in a band called the Covey from what I took they are basically travelers.

When the mentors are assigned Snow isn’t happy because the districts work as a class system if your from 1 you have a higher chance at winning whereas if your from 12 you have a lower chance and he is not happy. But like Katniss, Lucy makes an impression because at the reaping she captivates her audience by singing and the snake out of her dress. From them on Snow makes sure they win. I was appalled at how the tributes were treated like animals in a cage but I guess that was the point.

Snow needs to get sponsors because her win means reclaiming the Snow name and his scholarship, they developed a bond through the cage and with his food and her songs they began to develop feelings. For me I really wanted the backstory of how this world was created, why it was created. Really we were told what we already knew. Highbottom recognises Snow's father in him because Dean was the one who came up with The Hunger Games but Snow's father lied and took the idea for himself. I read people didn't want Snow's story because his back story could humanise him but I like those backstories because isn't that just more scarier. Humanising a villain just suggests that once upon a time they were like everyone else but by understanding why they are the way the are allows us to learn and understand how society failed but also free will and choice comes together to create evil. In the story Collins discusses this through the essays Dr. Gaul sets which is so interesting and the discussions they have in the academy. Also Dr. Gaul is one of those scariest people her authority, the lab experiments what she did to Clemensia and Sejanus (poor Sejanus). The Hunger Games was also interesting reading it from the mentor's p.o.v it is scary how they view it as entertainment and winning for their own purposes...the musical chairs and Snow killing bobbins, the vivid image of the corpses sitting on top of another. I really liked the twist at the end Snow was found out through his handkerchief and compact and was sent to 12 to be a peacekeeper. The Covey and his drills one of my favourite scenes but when Sejanus turns up your thinking where is this going to lead. The ending I was just left with shock and what just happened because the origin of the song of the hanging tree is made by Lucy but also does she survive (in the movie they obviously are going to play with this) but also does that mean book 2. I kind of liked the ending because it just reinforces how selfish and evil Snow really is and that he just cares about himself and those that are a threat to him he kills/gets rid of (or tries to). The foreshadowing to The Hunger Games too I loved, the Katniss plant, the songs, the settings, Snow's hatred of the Mockingjay, Lucky Flickerman who has to be related to Ceaser. How Lucy and Snow save each other's lives-which is where the dynamic shifts (like Katniss and Peeta) I think this is a reason why Snow hates Katniss so much because he recognises Lucy in her. I am not going to say anymore because I literally will spill all my thoughts.

Quotes/

‘We control it’ if the war is impossible to end then we have to control it indefinitely just as we do now. With the peacekeepers occupying the districts, with strict laws, and with reminders of who’s in charge, like the hunger games. It’s preferable to have the upper hand, to be the victor rather than the defeated.’

The essay's on everything attractive about war, and control chaos and contract.

‘Well you know what they say. The show’s not over until the mockingjay sings’. Not my show, sweetheart. Yours. The Capitol’s anyway’ (LITERARLLY TRUE)

‘Then be kind, Coryo. And try not to look down on people who had to choose between death and disgrace.’ (Ugh Tigris deserves so much more I love her)

‘The truth was, most of what the Capitol did, he supported, and the rest rarely concerned him.’

Do you think the hunger games are right? She asked,

I’m not even sure why we do them, to be honest. But I do think people are forgetting about war too fast. What we did to each other. What we’re capable of. Districts and capitol both. I know the Capitol must seem hard-liners out here, but we’re just trying to keep things under control. Otherwise there’d be chaos and people running around and killing each other, like in the arena.’

‘I do. Unless there’s law, and someone enforcing it, I think we might as well be animals… like it or not, the capitol is the only thing keeping anyone safe.’

If you read up to here thank you so much, just my rambles of thoughts of The Hunger Games and all what I had in my head. Let me know if you read what you thought, and if you agree/disagree with what I said?

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With Love and Dua's,

Fiz @Every Page She Turns.