I was going through some old books Emmy siblings and I owned, and I came across hunger games. I’m older now, so YA fiction mostly strikes me as a bit boring or cringy overall, but I remember liking it way back when I first read it so decided to give it another read. Im surprised that it’s such a well written book. Hunger Games is one of the most popular YA books, and it’s influenced so many others to have protagonists just like catniss, except just way worse. Catnis isn’t a special chosen snowflake, but an actual person with her own flaws, and struggles. She’s shown to be, empathetic and kind, but not unbelievably, and her relationships are actually interesting. Her not being madly in love with Pita but faking it makes their interactions feel so much more meaningful when they’re genuine and not played up for the camera. The society of Hunger Games is also interesting. The society is dystopian, and we’re able to see that even during the games with the need to play up emotions for sponsors, and them actively discouraging playing safe. The people fighting and dying in the arena are reality tv stars; they’re supposed to be interesting and memorable characters, not real people. A flaw with the story is catniss’ perspective kinda gets in the way of the story sometimes, and I felt the story would have been better in 3rd person. Overall, the hunger games is a good book, and I can see why it’s so influential to the YA genre. Way better than most wannabes I’ve read ( Divergent)
My favourite part of reading the Hunger Games was figuring out where each of the Districts were located.
Have you read Shade’s Children by Garth Nix? It was the first dystopian novel I ever read back in 1997.
So I’m not American so I never really did this, I appreciate the writing never really forces the setting in that way.
Like in my head Panem and all of it is a completely different planet
I can appreciate that. But the dystopian element of it being our world after a war/catastrophe is what truly made the book interesting to me.
Like A boy and his dog at the end of the world, it was amazing to read it and see all the real world places they go.
Shade’s Children was so good as a kid. Does it hold up?
I haven’t ever tried to reread it, unlike Sabriel or The Golden Compass.
The Old Kingdom series and His Dark Materials definitely hold up!
They’re both great series and I’ve reread them a few times. I have them in hardback.
Oh? Where were they? (Not American)
Capitol: Colorado
District 1: Montana/Wyoming
District 2: Rocky Mountains
District 3: California/Oregon
District 4: Southern California/parts of Texas
District 5: Ohio-ish
District 6: Michigan/Illinois
District 7: Washington (state)
District 8: South Carolina
District 9: northern Midwest like the Dakotas
District 10: New Mexico/Arizona
District 11: Southeast like Louisiana/Mississippi/what’s left of Florida
District 12: Appalachians like Virginia/Pennsylvania
District 13: New England like Maine/New Hampshire/Vermont/Massachusetts
I did a post about it ages ago and since I’m at work I can’t really look for it.
Biggest ones for me are:
District two is Eastern Colorado, Colorado Springs specifically because the Nut is obviously NORAD, 2 miles deep in the mountain. First one I felt sure on.
I think the Capital is in Grand Junction, CO because it’s Western Colorado, has plenty of water, has a mild climate but all 4 seasons and LOTS of space. The Nut is in Eastern Colorado and you go through the Mountains to get to Grand Junction, just like in the book. And it wasn’t a long trip.
District 12 I think West Virginia/ big coal mining area in modern times, since they’re known for coal.
Others, all debatable. I don’t know how much land the districts actually cover because the habitable areas/towns in each district aren’t really discussed much. I think a lot of the maps around the net aren’t great and don’t actually utilise the hints in the books well or pay attention to what areas of the US were known for when the book was written.