The Hunger Games Trilogy: an Epic For Kiddies

No fractal "cookie" today.  The Mockingjay symbol from The Hunger Games is far too iconic not to include in a review.  Besides--I don't have anything remotely suitable in my fractal library.
-
I cute my literary teeth on dystopian science fiction.  I had read classics of the genre like Alas Babylon, On The Beach and 1984 by the time I was a high school freshman.  You name it, chances are I've read it by now--and honestly I'm pretty much over the whole thing (since there doesn't seem to be a lot left to say).  So when the SFBC started advertising The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins I couldn't work up enough interest to buy the book. Even so I went to see the movie (because of the massive raves coming from all sides).  The movie was pretty darn good but left me with a lot of questions so when we found a well-priced copy of the trilogy in hardback we decided to buy and give it a read.  WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.  IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOKS AND PLAN TO (AND IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE PLOT IN ADVANCE) STOP READING NOW!!!
-
It's reported that author Suzanne Collins got the idea for The Hunger Games after watching Survivor and coverage of the war in the Model East on television.  She created a world where the wealthy. corrupt Capitol forced teenagers from outlying Districts barely seeking out a living to fight to the death with the winner's District getting extra food.  The 74th Hunger Games drew Katniss Everdeen (who volunteered in place of her sister Primrose) and Peeta Mellark from District 12.  Katniss charms everyone into becoming a media darling and eventually wins the game--even managing to save Peeta.
-
No good deed goes unpunished in Catching Fire (second of the series).  The action that saved their lives in the arena are perceived as an act of rebellion by the Capital and Rebels alike.  Katniss is sent back into the arena for the "Quarter Quell."  (Once every 25 years something "special" is done for the Hunger Games: this time the pool of contestants are drawn from surviving Victors.)  An alliance forms to destroy the games from within and succeeds.  Some of the contestants escape and Katniss awakens in District 13 (thought to have been destroyed in the first rebellion) to discover that Peeta and some of her new friends are being held captive in the Capitol and that her former home has been bombed out of existence.
-
In Mockingjay Katniss accepts her role as the "face of the Rebellion" and she finally learns the whole, dark truth about the origins and history of the Rebellion.  She deals with both the leaders of the Capitol and the Rebellion then has to choose between Peeta (the man who has loved her) and Gale (the man she always loved.)
-
I try to tell myself this is a series written for teens and tweens so I should be kind.  And, truthfully, the books have a lot of good points.  The world is interesting if not well realized.  The writing style of "first person present" (I get out of bed and head for the bathroom...) is interesting and different from most books you'll read.  Sadly, that style is quite limiting: the reader never sees another point of view and we only learn about the characters through the filter of the narrator.  To call most of the characters two dimensional would be an insult to cardboard cut-outs world wide: these characters are purely one-note.  They exist only to further the story and/or to inflict pain or guilt on the lead character.  It bothers me that supposedly smart characters make the worst possible decisions simply to make trouble for Katniss Everdeen. 
-
If you're looking for depth you ain't gonna find it here: a walk through the ocean of these books will scarcely get your feet damp.  Still, there are a few gems among the gravel but those gems left me wanting more.  (I know the writer has it in her but she didn't bring it out her.)  The first book is quite good (mainly because of the setting).  Book two is pretty much book one retold--only without as much fun and a lot more talking.  The wheels completely come off in book three with a plot that strains willing sense of disbelief well past the breaking point.  All that aside there is something between these covers that I can't define, something that speaks to a lot of younger folks. It's getting them reading and talking--maybe even thinking.  And that's a good thing.
-
'nuff said.