It's like you went into my mind and put all my thoughts down because I literally feel exactly the same way!J-Cran wrote:I also read the Hunger Games series off of a recommendation from several friends. I loved the first book and immediately went to the store and picked up the second and third. I was honestly let down by the second and completely annoyed by the third. I'm not one who has to have "happily ever afters" but to me this storyline and its characters had so much potential and the author didnt deliver. It was very strange to have a series where the first book is the most climactic and have the series go downhill from there. I plan on rereading it so I can see if I feel differently about it the second time around. I agree with the person who said they started disliking Katniss in the third. I was very disappointed in how she reacted to what happened to her. I also felt like the ending was rushed, like the author didnt have time to think it through and was trying to beat a deadline... I'm not sure if thats the case or not. Its very rare that a book disappoints me or leaves me feeling so irritated but this one definitely did. I still recommend the series bc the first book is so great and everyone reacts differently to the ending. But overall I was let down. I'm curious to hear from people who enjoyed the storyline overall and how they felt about the book ending the way it did.
****SPOILER ALERT****
I felt like people started dying unnecessarily. I was crushed when Finnach died, literally crying about the loss of his character. From there is just went down hill. The way Katniss had reacted to Peeta being kidnapped, the whole Peeta going crazy- all irritating. And Prim dying seemed cliche, (of course all of Katniss' hard work would be for nothing, she couldnt save her sister regardless) but it didnt bother me. I HATED the way Gale/Katnisss responded to it though. Gale didnt even fight to save their friendship and he supposedly loved her more than anything. They completely gave up on each other, after everything! Disappointing. I was happy she ended up with Peeta and the line the author put in explaining it (about she had enough fire of her own etc) seemed to really tie it together...but I wish she had spent more time on the end developing it. It just.... ended. Then flash forward thirty years (exaggeration, I dont remember how much time was supposed to have passed) and they have kids and are still dealing with the trauma of the games? Ugh.
Ok the trauma I can understand, but still the ending seemed so rushed and thrown together to me. I loved Haymich all throughout the series, he was to me the most developed character and seemed to grow the most throughout the story. And Cienna, loved him!! Anyone else feel the same?
**********************SPOILER****************
I agree with you about the ending being rushed and in the process she destroyed the characterisations of the main characters that she spent the first two book and most of the third one trying to develop.
Prim dying to me sort of made the first book completely redundant. Why go through all that to have her die in the end?
I completely agree with you about the way the author ruined Gale's character and consequently his relationship with Katniss. It's like she spent most of the second and third book trying to induce some sort of triangle very much akin to the Twilight saga (and Katniss did start to resemble Bella in my mind which is not a compliment). The killing of the president was predictable and that whole part was so badly done, it could have been an excellent climax but it was rushed and somewhat forced.
Cienna was great, it was a pity he had to die as with Finnich. (By that point he was more or less my only favourite character). I also felt that he had more depth than Katniss had and that even his relationship with Annie had more depth. I don't know if you felt the same way, which is why I was gutted when he was killed off.
It's a shame because I loved the first one and I guess I'm going to try to just write the other two out of my head, for me it was a one hit wonder!