Hunger Games > Mockingjay > Catching Fire But I enjoyed all of them. The pacing in Catching Fire was just so weird.
So lets start with some tiers. In order from best to worst:
Sexy Awesome Katniss (You almost can't not put her first. No other character even comes close to touching her in screen time) Johanna Clove
Just Plain Awesome Effie Trinket Finnick Mags Foxface
Very Good Caesar Flickerman (Movie version only! Made no real impression in the books) Rue Peeta Haymitch
Good But Needed More Screen Time To Be Really Good Chaff Paylor Thresh Glimmer Cressida Madge (Literally nothing would have happened the way it did without Madge. And yet she has such a small part. She wasn't even in the movie!) Jackson Greasy Sae (<3) Seeder
Liked But... Eh Cinna Wiress Boggs Beetee President Snow (Movie version is way better imo. I can't WAIT to see Donald Sutherland act some of the scenes from CF and MJ)
Didn't Much Care For Prim Coin Cato Gale
Prim I actually started to warm up to in Mockingjay. I mean, she doesn't do anything in HG except act as a vessel to get Katniss to fight. Again in CF she doesn't do anything except help their mother heal people. Then in MJ she actually starts to come into her own and begins to congeal into a decent character. AND THEN SHE F***ING DIES! I was so mad when Prim was blown to bits. Like. What the f*** was the point of everything? How can Katniss possibly have a happily ever after without her sister? Prim is like the one person she loves unconditionally! Screw Peeta and Gale and whoever else (No. Really. Katniss. Screw Johanna. You were roommates. Don't act like it didn't happen). Yes. I was ridiculously frustrated when Prim was killed off. I mean, after spending so much time with Katniss over the course of three books, you know Prim is like the one constant ray of light for her. I guess they had to do something drastic to set up the ending and make us believe that Katniss would be desperate enough to shoot Coin but... damn was I disappointed.
As for Gale. He's just kind of an ass really. Honestly, I don't know how anyone could possibly think after reading all three books Katniss should end up with him. I'm sure in the movies they will alter things slightly to better play up the supposed love triangle, but even when Peeta is out of his damn mind you know Katniss will end up with him. In fact, if she hadn't (bar her just staying alone) I probably would have been disappointed again.
Johanna is so awesome. Any girl that naked oil wrestles and strips in public and can throw an ax with deadly aim is Grade-A material in my book. Plus she went through so much, and just when you think the walls of s*** are going to stop falling on her, another one does.
As annoyed as I was with Prim's death, I was elated that Effie wasn't simply forgotten about at the end of Mockingjay. When Katniss came into the room and saw her sitting there, and she says they've got another big, big, big day, I was just like, oh Effie. I've missed you so. Really happy she wasn't killed off like so many others.
So yeah, if you want me to discuss a specific character or situation or event from any of the books just holler. I for one seriously did not see that ending coming with Coin. The only bad thing about it was that Katniss didn't get her final retribution with Snow in the end. But at least he still came up dead. Interesting to see that Katniss did finally break down and have kids with Peeta. After all that, I'm actually really happy to see Katniss get a decently happy ending. Girl had to go through a lot to get to that point.
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http://img.imgcake.com/crimjpgpe.jpg Mo' buildings mo' problems ocean kinda grew on me like a flesh eating ...fungus. -BIGPUN9999
I enjoyed Hunger Games and Catching Fire, but I thought Mockingjay was just so bad.
Katniss as a character was ruined beyond repair in Mockingjay. Nothing she does ever feels like it amounts to anything, making her an effectively useless character. The scene near the end where they're discussing holding another Hunger Games and Katniss actually supports it pretty much cemented her being awful for me. I get the feeling the author wanted to portray Katniss as an utterly broken person who was clearly losing her mind towards the end of the things (because at that point, nothing she does feels sane, especially shooting Coin, though she had it coming), but for some reason didn't want to go all the way with that. So that just fell flat for me. As a result, Katniss was pretty insufferable all throught Mockingjay imo.
In fact wide sections of the second and third books (especially so MJ) felt like that, as if the author laid all this groundwork for a pretty decent sci-fi setting in the first book, but then became embarrassed of that and so made the romance the main focus instead of the other stuff.
Though this is just one of those book series where the side characters are way better than the main cast. Finnick and Johanna the were best, and Haymitch is pretty cool too.
And I know I'm probably being overly negative but Mockingjay really left a bad taste in my mouth. I loved Hunger Games and thought Catching Fire was a worthy enough sequel.
The scene near the end where they're discussing holding another Hunger Games and Katniss actually supports it pretty much cemented her being awful for me.
I have tons of problems with Mockingjay, but it is pretty obvious in this scene she isn't actually supporting another real Hunger Games. The "Hunger Games" she is referring to is the confrontation between her, Coin, and Snow at the end of the book.
My real problem is that just because Coin and Snow are gone does not mean everything should be automatically good, like the book assumes.
-- Moops? "I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."
I loved Hunger Games and Catching Fire but I despised Mockingjay. I hated the pacing, Finnick's quick death making him seem like a minor character in the author's eyes, and Katniss spending most of the book being a co-dependent Bella clone. Mockingjay took the awesome plot twist ending of Catching Fire and ruined it completely.
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Mockingjay took the awesome plot twist ending of Catching Fire and ruined it completely.
See, I hated the twist ending of Catching Fire, mostly because it made no friggin' sense.
"Hey lets tell everyone involved of our plan except for the two most important people, because they might do something that looks suspicious. Herp derp."
I mean, at least give them a heads up that part of the forest spews poison that kills you instantly. They were about two seconds from their whole plan being ruined. I get that it was written this way to emphasize the DRAMA and save the plot twist until the very end, but it just didn't make much sense.
-- Moops? "I thought you were making up diseases? That's spontaneous dental hydroplosion."
Finnick is the best. Katniss, Peeta, and Gale should have all died. Prim shouldn't have. The whole GOD DAMN POINT of the series was to save Prim. I didn't like her, but that's irrelevant. The third book was pretty much just a middle finger from the author.
FINNICK SHOULDN'T HAVE DIED
I literally threw the book across the room when that happened. And I was at work, in the break room.
HeroDelTiempo17 posted... The scene near the end where they're discussing holding another Hunger Games and Katniss actually supports it pretty much cemented her being awful for me.
She never supports bringing back the Hunger Games. The mere suggestion that they should return is what convinces Katniss to break from the rebellion and finally realize that Coin is going to be another dictator no better than Snow; she only votes for the Games to trick Coin into thinking she's still a good little puppet so that she'll be able to kill her more easily later on.
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From: ShadowHalo17 | #011 The whole GOD DAMN POINT of the series was to save Prim. I didn't like her, but that's irrelevant.
Yep, that's exactly my feeling.
As for Finnick, he was awesome, but if only he or Johanna could live I'm glad it was Johanna. Because lets be honest, there's no way both of them were surviving.
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http://img.imgcake.com/crimjpgpe.jpg Mo' buildings mo' problems ocean kinda grew on me like a flesh eating ...fungus. -BIGPUN9999
probably the saddest moment of the series for me when he died out of nowhere
I figured it was gonna happen because everyone else was dying. But I at least hoped he had a cool, manly, heroic death. Instead he got mauled by monsters. That's the worst.
I f***ing hate that book. He really was the only character I cared about.
From: Ngamer64 | #012 She never supports bringing back the Hunger Games. The mere suggestion that they should return is what convinces Katniss to break from the rebellion and finally realize that Coin is going to be another dictator no better than Snow; she only votes for the Games to trick Coin into thinking she's still a good little puppet so that she'll be able to kill her more easily later on.
Hmm. I didn't pick up on that and neither did any of my friends I talked to about the book.
Then again I was only half-reading because at that point I just wanted it to be over.
From: CrimsonOcean | #018 I really don't get all the Mockingjay hate >_>
I don't get how you don't get it.
All the good characters (Finnick) died. The three characters that should have died survived. The one character who's protection is what started this series still ends up dying, which is essentially a middle finger from the author.
Not to mention that the only thing Katniss did that accomplished anything was occasionally toss out a speech and then shoot Coin at the end.
And the whole time the book is describing the awesome things that other people are doing, like "Gale went on a mission to get Peeta, and then he did and Peeta was back," which was the worst offender. You get a few details but I feel like Katniss was just sitting around for most of the book. And even when she makes her last push with her team, she's completely irrelevant and they all die for no reason.
that's pretty much my biggest problem with the first book
she sits around in the hunger games worrying about future confrontations (vs peeta, rue, thresher, foxface, and then the others) and you spend the entire book wondering how these things will be resolved because they are actually interesting considerations
and then everything basically gets taken care of for her
pretty anticlimactic
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Lol, this is the second time I've seen you call him that. His name is Thresh >_>
I dunno, the only time Katniss really p***ed me off was at the very end of CF when she attacked Haymitch. I was like, you b****. Other than that, I thought she was pretty bad ass. Gale was a huge massive dick the entire time. Terrible character.
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http://img.imgcake.com/crimjpgpe.jpg Mo' buildings mo' problems ocean kinda grew on me like a flesh eating ...fungus. -BIGPUN9999
I didn't mind Mockingjay either. Only part I really disliked was Finnick's death. And personally, I don't really get the Johanna love but eh. And not enough Beetee/Wiress love in here.