I want to figure out how Collins makes so compulsively readable a book that has so. many. problems. Seriously: the world-building makes no sense, it's depressingly gender-essentialist and heteronormative, and the logistics are right out of fairy tales.

And yet I can't stop reading them because she's got the thriller pacing down so well!

If I could just nibble off that part of Collins brain, she could keep the rest. Want.

First of all, I just got a library notice that Blameless is in for me to pick up. I didn't think it was even being released until Sept. 1. But I might drive up there and pick it up (I have the books sent to the library by my office, not home), since...

I stayed up until 3 a.m. finishing Mockingjay. I read it too fast, I know, but I wanted to know what happens. I'm a little okay with it, and a little angry. (Because, seriously? Prim?!? SERIOUSLY?!? God DAMN. That's Minear-esque. It just is.)

I'll say this: Suzanne Collins' method of telling rather than showing is at least more deft than Dan Brown's.

I want to figure out how Collins makes so compulsively readable a book that has so. many. problems. Seriously: the world-building makes no sense, it's depressingly gender-essentialist and heteronormative, and the logistics are right out of fairy tales.

I *so* agree. And she's heavy-handed with the message, too. (What? WAR IS BAD? REALLY?) But I had to finish it.

I am impressed that she pulled off a plot point that made me totally switch my opinion of whether Katniss should be with Gale or Peeta.

Also? I don't know that I'd let a kid under 12 read this one. I *totally* understand that's a generalization, and that it depends on the kid's maturity level, etc. I GET THAT. But I was really taken aback by how brutally violent it is. And dark. Daaaaaaaark. Darkity dark dark. I know that kids can handle dark stuff. I'm just saying that, in general, it's not a book I'd just toss to my kid.

...yeah. I think I'm going to go pick up Blameless, just to balance out Mockingjay, because my head hurts. I need something lighter.

First of all, I just got a library notice that Blameless is in for me to pick up.

YOU FIEND.

pokes at Amazon.com with a stick, whining for my order

I don't know how the Cincinnati library system trumps Amazon!

If it makes you feel any better, I'm not going to pick it up until tomorrow, and I (probably) won't start reading it until Sunday.

Finally! Mockingjay is "in processing" at the library, but only 15 copies so far.

Steph, I ... am really on the fence about Mockingjay. I agree that it's not really YA. I mean, there's dark and then there's Boggs' death, and Finnick's, after just getting married, and then PRIM right in front of Katniss.

As for the love triangle, I'm not sold on the resolution. I think it removed the choice from Katniss, so she never really had to make the decision, without actually casting tainting Gale entirely.

I also wasn't exactly thrilled about the assassination of Coin, because it wasn't really explained: either why she did it or what she thought about it later. She spent more time feeling bad about killing that unnamed woman in the apartment in the Capitol than she did about taking an action that might well have ended in another civil war.

I also think Peeta's recovery was too easy. I mean, she says it's not, but for all the vaunted Capitol technology, he comes around to loving her again pretty damned quickly and easily all things told. Sure, he killed Mitchell, but not really on purpose, and Mitchell was just one of many spear-carriers.

I have to say, it felt... sloppy. And the world-building, lordie, I could just spit. Where exactly were all the resources for District 13's fabulous underground lair? And uniforms, weapons, food? How and why would the Capitol leave boobytraps all over their city, full of living creatures ready to kill anyone nearby? How is that either possible or sane? None of it made any sense at all.

Katniss spent the novel claiming she was doing things and yet most of the time was just reacting to things, and in the end, didn't even accomplish the one thing she set out to do, kill Snow.

I ended up having no idea what the point of all that was. Pretty disappointing.

Oooh, got my shipping notification for Blameless!

I was up unti 3:30 AM finishing The Hunger Games, which I could not put down. I agree with Teppy about the flaws of the books, but the book's quick pace and the cliffhangers that seem to end every chapter keeps me reading. Now, on to the next two books.

Just finished Mockingjay last night. Damn, Steph, you weren't kidding about the darkity darkness.

You know, after reading the first book, I was actually impressed with Collins' worldbuilding. I felt like she had really put a lot of thought into the implications, especially psychological, of the conditions she had created and the world she'd imagined. But now I'm a lot less sure about that. I feel like the story got away from her in the end -- that the smaller subject of the Hunger Games was more compelling and easier to convey than the larger subject of the rebellion and subsequent restructuring of the government and the lives of everyone in Panem. I don't necessarily think all books need to have a moral message or a point, exactly, but I did find myself at the end of the book wondering what I was supposed to take away from the story.

Also, all that talk about needing to keep people alive to perpetuate the human race seemed odd to me. Is Panem the only country on Earth now? Have all the other people all over the world died out? How? Why? I guess I thought we might get a little more backstory on how things got to this point, but now I'm more confused than ever about Panem's creation and position in the world.

I could probably go into a long litany now of things that bugged me about the book, but I did genuinely enjoy it while I was reading it. It's only now that it's over and I know how the story turned out -- and all those characters I cared about are either dead or incredibly psychologically scarred -- that I'm getting cranky about it. But, to give credit where it's due, Collins did do a great job of keeping me on my toes. I truly didn't know where the story might go for much of the book, who to trust, who to root for, who Katniss might choose in the end (though I think you're right, Suela, that in the end the choice was almost made for her, which was disappointing but did feel realistic).

Lots more to say about this one -- hurry up and finish it, everyone!