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“Mockingjay” is not as impeccably plotted as “The Hunger Games,” but none theless retains its fierce, chilly fascination. At its best the trilogy channels the political passion of “1984,” the memorable violence of “A Clockwork Orange,” the imaginative ambience of “The Chronicles of Narnia” and the detailed inventiveness of “Harry Potter.” The specifics of the dystopian universe, and the fabulous pacing of the complicated plot, give the books their strange, dark charisma. It would take too long to catalog the elaborate gadgets and gizmos and creatures and torments that Collins has devised, but among them are the jabberjays, birds that reproduce the screams of loved ones being tortured, to rattle the tributes; the brilliantly conceived costumes that seem to trail flames as Katniss rides into the arena for her first Hunger Games; an arena in the shape of a lethal ticking clock face; and tracker jackers, genetically altered wasps that can hijack memories and distort them to change the very essence of who a person is.

The trilogy balances seriousness with special effects, a fundamental furious darkness with fast-paced storytelling, so that the books manage to be simultaneously disturbing and fun. They contain a sharp satire of celebrity culture, mindless tabloidism and decadence, as well as crusading teenagers trying to save the world; but they also resist our hunger for clear definitions of good and evil, our sentimental need for a worthwhile cause, our desire for happy or simple endings, or even for the characters we like not to be killed or tortured or battered or bruised in graphic ways. Like the evil Capitol that controls and shadows its world, the trilogy tends to use the things we are attached to against us.

Source: NYTimes.com

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The Hunger Games won the Red House Book Award. Suzanne Collins was so nice to record this speech thanking everyone for voting The Hunger Games #1!

Congrats, Suzanne!

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