I REALLY VERY STRONGLY dislike the Hunger Games. Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, sit back and enjoy this Caffeine-Fuelled Two-Thirty-AM scathing rant about why I hate this overrated, pathetic series:
Firstly, the writing. In my opinion, the writing is absolutely horrendous. Multiple lines make zero sense and I have no idea why they weren't cut during editing as there is no point to them being there. The series is not very fast-paced and it took over half the book to get to the actual Games during the second book. As well as this, whilst it's slow-paced, it just doesn't explain certain aspects of the story or fleshes out scenes / actions properly which leaves the reader confused + the dialogue is especially bad.
Secondly, the main character herself. Katniss is an EXTREMELY unlikeable protagonist, she's riddled with self-doubt and whilst usually this would give the character an opportunity to grow and expand in their confidence, Katniss stays SO PATHETIC throughout the entire series. I know this may be to exemplify the horror of what she's are living through but it simply unenjoyable for a reader to have to read page after page about how the protagonist hates herself, feels she is useless, always messed up, will fail her family, etc. I STRONGLY dislike her character.
Thirdly, the rest of the character & the pathetic attempt at a love triangle. Almost every character is NOT expand on character's motives, flaws, ambitions, etc. (quick example: Prim. We know she's Katniss's innocent younger sister, but we have zero insight to what she wants in life, her inner struggles, anything. It's just "oh look her Katniss has a cute sister you need to like her because we're going to kill her off later so YOU MUST BE SAD!!)
I have taken zero liking to ANY characters, although in the first book I grew fond of a few but they just ended up getting killed off and no new likeable characters were introduced throughout the rest of the series. EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER (sorry for caps!) is extremely one-dimensional and I feel the author made no attempt at writing relatable, or even remotely LIKEABLE characters. Also, the love triangle is extremely poorly written and it was obvious what was going to happen right from the start.
I have taken zero liking to ANY characters, although in the first book I grew fond of a few but they just ended up getting killed off and no new likeable characters were introduced throughout the rest of the series. EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER (sorry for caps!) is extremely one-dimensional and I feel the author made no attempt at writing relatable, or even remotely LIKEABLE characters. Also, the love triangle is extremely poorly written and it was obvious what was going to happen right from the start.
Next, there is too much focus on the politics and far too little on the Hunger Games themselves. As I said earlier, it takes over half the book for them to start in the second one, and THERE ISN'T EVEN A HUNGER GAMES in the third!! What I came to read about is a dangerous, high-stakes, kill-or-be-killed death game between intelligent, skilled, and yet VULNERABLE young people who will use their wits to outsmart the others and struggle with the morality of killing throughout their journey; to make allies and enemies and to end up learning a greater lesson in the end. But NOPE, instead we get long, droning, bland, tasteless political garbage that I could barely stay awake reading. And this is all that was happening during the third book, I HATED that one with a burning, fiery passion.
Lastly, expanding on my previous point, there is SEVERE lack of inner torment for the characters involved with the games. This is probably my greatest gripe with the series. There is ZERO, and I mean ZERO, inner troubles about having to literally KILL CHILDREN. I wish Katniss had set a trap, caught a defenseless child, and had to kill them, probably while they begged for mercy. THAT would give her something to feel bad about. But NO, all we have is ruthless murderers and psychopaths, reading to slit the throats of toddlers. WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLDS. Surely at least ONE of them would feel bad? But of course, no! Each character, despite seemingly being very young, seems to have the mental age of twenty. This is incredibly unrealistic and believable. The ONE THING that could VASTLY improve the entire series is to GIVE YOUR CHARACTERS A DAMN CONSCIENCE.
There are no redeeming qualities to this book. Overrated and Horribly Written.