strange and random happenstance

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
Published by: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
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Haymitch Abernathy was born on July 4th which is also the start to Panem's annual Hunger Games. It's the day of the reaping. He has never lived in a world where the games didn't exist and when catching a few quiet moments with his girlfriend Lenore Dove before the Quarter Quell festivities kick off he honestly tells her that he can't envision a world where the Capitol isn't in power. He has a better life than most, a little money in his pocket from bootlegging, a girl whom he loves, and a family he cares about. If he can just get through today he'll be safe for another year. This year though there are double the tributes and he has twenty entries. After the four names are called and he and Lenore believe themselves to be safe one of the tributes, Woodbine Chance, tries to make a break for it and is shot and killed. Lenore Dove tries to keep the Peacekeepers away from Woodbine's body and Haymitch steps in to protect her, unwittingly putting a target on his own back. He is chosen to be Woodbine's replacement. Lenore herself would have been killed for her insubordination if not for the fact that Plutarch Heavensbee thinks her tears will play well with the Capitol. On the train to the Capitol Haymitch appraises his fellow tributes, Wyatt Callow, whose family is into bookmaking, so he knows the odds, Louella McCoy, a sweet girl whom Haymitch instantly forms an alliance with despite the disadvantage to himself, and Maysilee Donner, her family owns a sweet shop so she and her twin sister have always been well-off, Haymitch doesn't think she'll be of much use, but she is far more strategic than he could have imagined. Because District 12 is looked down upon and therefore never really viewed as a contender. This year they aim to change that despite everything. When Louella is accidentally killed during the chariot ride Haymitch snaps. He decides that what he wants to get out of these games is to prove to the Capitol that they are people, just like them, and his death, all their deaths mean something. This means he needs alliances to rival the careers. And a young tribute who's in the game just to control his father might be the key. Ampert Latier, the son of victor Beetee Latier, says his father wants to discuss tactics with Haymitch. And when they meet Haymitch asks if it's possible to break the arena. Time is running out, President Snow has told Haymitch that he will die in the games, and yet, a spark could change everything. Once Haymitch escapes the Cornucopia bloodbath he has a chance. A chance to survive and perhaps start a revolution. After all, he's found the allies he needs, now everything else just has to fall into place. He knows that the house always wins, but there's always an exception that proves the rule. He needs to be the exception.

While no one could accuse Suzanne Collins of writing light fare, the two Hunger Games prequels that have come out in recent years show the true depravity of the world she has created and her creature Coriolanus Snow. And I am here for it. Because I adored this book so much I decided to pick up the original trilogy for the first time in years and I was really struck by how much is left unsaid. Finnick Odair's spilling of the tea is more about what Suzanne Collins omits. At least on the page. Because victors were sex trafficked. They were used for their bodies and for their minds. Little spies for their president. And The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Sunrise on the Reaping are far more upfront about these horrors. These show the true darkness, the true depths of despair, and how far Coriolanus Snow will really go. This is a man who will literally poison himself to kill his enemies and will kill everyone you love. He doesn't do anything by halves. And that's what I kind of feel like the original trilogy is after the brilliance of the prequels, it was only half the story. Sunrise on the Reaping showed me why I could never fully get behind the original books, and it's Katniss. Until I got to see Haymitch in action I never realized how passive Katniss is. It's not that she doesn't want to survive. She does everything in her power to survive. It's that she doesn't act she reacts. She's a hunter-gatherer, going from day to day and kill to kill, not someone destined to plan a rebellion, just someone who is in the right place at the right time and is willing to trust Haymitch's instincts to become the spark that ignites the fire. And that rebellion? Well, here at the 50th Hunger Games people are already testing the boundaries in part due to Snow's extra barbarity with regards to the second Quarter Quell. Quite literally when Beetee finds a way for Haymitch to attempt to break the machine that is the arena by targeting the boundary which ends with a literal earthquake and a victory for Haymitch. After all, there's a reason they don't re-air Haymitch's game. It showed the fallibility of the gamemakers. Everyone was already working, already secretly rebelling, it would just take twenty-four more years for the right candidate to arrive and twenty-five years, to the 75th Hunger Games, the third Quarter Quell and Snow's mistake of placing his victims all in one arena, for everything to fall into place. Which oddly made this book a comfort read for me. Yes, revisiting characters you know and love is generally a comfort, but here I took comfort in the fact that Panem was completely at the mercy of a madman and yet by coming together they defeated him. It didn't happen overnight, but it did happen. That's the message I'm taking from this book. It's possible. We can get through this. It might just take awhile. And while we might never fully heal, but a pet goose couldn't hurt.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Capitol, Coriolanus Snow, District 12, Haymitch Abernathy, Lenore Dove, Panem, Prequel, Quarter Quell, Rebellion, Revolution, Sunrise on the Reaping, Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, Top Ten

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
Published by: Scholastic Press,
Publication Date: May 19th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 528 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
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Coriolanus Snow's life is about keeping up appearances. No one must know how far the great and illustrious Snows have fallen since the Dark Days. That Coriolanus, his cousin Tigris, and their Grandma'am struggle daily to put food on the table and clothes on their back. Coriolanus is a top student at the Academy but if he has any hopes of continuing on to the University he needs a full ride, something The Hunger Games could give him through the Plinth Prize, a monetary reward set up by the father of one of his classmates. If the tribute Coriolanus is assigned to mentor in the tenth annual Hunger Games wins all his worries will evaporate. But then he gets a slap in the face, he's assigned District 12's female. He knows he has no chance of winning with a tribute from this district, but he must try. This might just involve rewriting the rules but he will do anything to succeed. Lucy Gray Baird might seem unlikely to win, but she captured the hearts and minds of the Capital during the reaping with a song. He decides this unique individual needs a different approach than is traditional, so he greets her when she arrives and treats her like a human being. He makes sure she is taken care of and fed. She rewards his kindness by saving his life when the Capital Arena is bombed during a tour organized for the mentors and tributes. He knows he can't let Lucy Gray be just more fodder in the arena. If she can stay alive long enough she has a chance. Luckily Coriolanus's scheme to allow inhabitants of the Capital to bet on and sponsor tributes has been enacted by the Gamemakers and Lucy is a favorite of the viewers. The only problem is Coriolanus is starting to have too much of a personal investment in Lucy. He doesn't just care about the Plinth Prize anymore, he cares about her, and that makes him reckless. He cheats. He's caught. He's punished. He must find a way to rise again. No matter the cost.

It is a sadly rare occurrence when one of the year's most anticipated books is actually worthy of that accolade. But maybe that's just my jaded opinion because I so rarely agree with all those "best of" lists. Yet another reason for why I make my own. Therefore I was delighted when The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes actually exceeded my expectations as well as proving to all those people who said the title seemed to be randomly generated by a YA book title generator how wrong they were because it makes so much sense in context! IT MAKES SENSE PEOPLE! And yes, I'm dredging up arguments I had with people online almost two years ago over a title of a not yet released at that time book. It's what I do. You'd think a prequel starring an anti-hero who by the time we've met him later is an out and out villain would lack any way for the reader to connect and be invested in the character's journey, but you'd be so wrong. It's not that I felt emotionally invested in Coriolanus, it's that I felt pity for him and became invested in how he manipulated the world around him and those in his orbit to survive and thrive. It was a peak behind the curtain, seeing that this man, at one time, had vulnerabilities and how he exploited his connections to armor himself. There was even a glimpse at redemption, that maybe we had judged him all wrong, until the worm twisted. This isn't A Christmas Carol people, Coriolanus isn't going to give a goose to a poor family after a pleasant memory of charades. He's a tyrant who will die a tyrant after the violent overthrowing of the Capital. What's more we see how Coriolanus's need to grasp the golden ring leads him to make connections that others wouldn't. He finds ways to make The Hunger Games not just a punishment for the other Districts but something those in the Capital can be invested in. Again, this is all backstage stuff, we're seeing how the Capital suffered in the wake of the District uprisings and how they were ravaged and how revenge then festered and bloomed into The Hunger Games as we know them in Katniss's time. This is about the complete human experience, deprivation, desire, determination, and death. This is a prequel not just worthy of the original series but perhaps even better.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Christmas Carol, Antihero, Coriolanus Snow, Dark Days, District 12, Gamemakers, Katniss Everdeen, Lucy Gray Baird, Money, Suzanne Collins, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, The Capital, The Hunger Games, YA

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Published by: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: September 1st, 2009
Format: Hardcover, 391 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
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It has been six months since Peeta and Katniss defied the government and were both crowned "victor" of The Hunger Games. Six months where things have achieved some sense of normalcy. Katniss' family and Peeta now live in the victor's village with Haymitch and they are now, more then ever before, an extended family. Katniss still hunts and is uncertain how things are with Gale, there was a tentative kiss, but that could mean anything...But now the tour of the Districts is upon them and Katniss has a rather terrifying visit from President Snow. There is disquiet and rumors of rebellion and Katniss must quell these uprisings with her overwhelming public displays of affection to Peeta to prove once again to the world that she and Peeta are not revolutionaries but two kids so in love they didn't understand the meaning of their actions. But it is obvious that the actions of two kids can not make up for the horrors that people have suffered at the hands of the capital, not even the prospect of Katniss and Peeta getting married can put out the fire that has been lite under these people. The only questions remains...with this year being the 75th anniversary of The Hunger Games, the thrid ever quarter quell...how can the Capital make Katniss pay for what she has done?

While I enjoyed the first book in Suzanne Collins' series it really did not grip me like Catching Fire did. I think this is down to two distinct factors, more of a glimpse into the post apocalyptic society that is Panem and character growth. In the first book, while I loved what we saw of District 12, it just wasn't enough, we were too quickly taken away to the candy coated world of the Capital, which I don't really like, except as a contrast to the lives in the Districts. While I can see the reasoning for Collins' doing this in the first book, seeing as each District is kept compartmentalized from each other, I really wanted to know more. But in a book written in first person narration, we can only expect to know what Katniss knows, which at the beginning is not so much, seeing as she lives within this compartmentalized society. Once she wins though she becomes something more to society, and I'm not talking about as a rallying point for a revolution, I'm talking about being above those she grew up with in her District, but also being not on the same footing as those in the Capital. Even more so because in District 12 there are only three others like her, but three others who when combined with the other past victors are an oddity to this society, but eventually they become something so much more. So with her new found "other" status she starts to learn more and therefore we learn more. We get to see the other Districts, though not in as much detail as I was initially expecting within the context of the "Victory Tour," it was enough to show Panem more completely. Also later on through Katniss' interactions with the other previous victors we learn more about each district, where the seafood comes from, where electronics come from, and by the availability of these goods the uprisings can be charted. It's a whole fascinating structure of Districts as basically serfdoms, and I just can't get enough of it! This is what I was looking for in the first book and I finally got it delivered!

But what I find most important is the character development. In the first book Katniss herself as such an autonomous little person, she has her few people who matter to her, but she has basically shut out the world around her. Again, this was on purpose, but she really kept infuriating me with her obliviousness to the world around her, her inability to see that she was loved and respected by those near her, Peeta in particular. When she won, when she finally grasped that the game she was playing meant something entirely different to Peeta, a wall finally cracked, something actually broke through to her. Therefore the Katniss we see in Catching Fire is a little more mature, a little more willing to let people in, a little more willing to expand her family circle and help others. Also a little more willing to fight for those she loves, and not just Prim this time, but for Peeta and Gale and for the past victors. She has forged alliances and not ones that will be easily broken when the time comes, but ones that mean something, ones that she will be willing to risk the wrath of the government for. She had to come to this realization of the world around her in order for her to become the person she needed to be in order to embrace revolution. You can not fight for something you can't grasp. When all you see or feel is that which affects you, then you are never going to hoist the banners, sound the trumpet and fight for the greater good. Katniss has become an empathic being, as have others, even some of the Capitals residents, and as an empathetic person I can relate far better to someone who feels the same and is not so self reliant and walled in. This is a Katniss I can like as well as admire. And who knows...empathy could easily be the emotion that could end these games forever...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:31 AM 4 comments  

Labels: Book Review, Catching Fire, District 12, Katniss, Panem, Peeta, Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Published by: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: October 1st, 2008
Format: Hardcover, 374 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
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In the land that was once North America is Panem, a nation of districts that bow to the capital. Once there were 13 districts, then a revolution and an uprising led to 12 districts and the Hunger Games as punishment. Every year two tributes, a boy and a girl between 12 and 18, are sent from each district to participate in the Hunger Games for the capital's amusement and their continued obedience. The sole winner is chosen by them killing every other child out in the arena, which is designed by the gamemakers to be harder and more difficult then the year before. We follow Katniss, a poor girl from District 12. Only one person has ever won from her district, Haymitch, so people reaped from District 12 are seen as fodder for the canons, especially when Katniss' little sister Prim is chosen during her first reaping. Katniss then volunteers to take Prim's place, Prim was supposed to be safe her first year... Her co-competitor is Peeta, the baker's son who once showed her a kindess and who she will actually regret killing. They make their way to the capital, with Haymitch and Effie, their bubbly "handler." Once in the capital they are transformed into the capital ideal of what contestents should look like and then trained up a bit on basic combat and then sent into the arena. The arena is where the majority of the action happens and where alliances are forged and shattered and where the winner is finally crowned. I will not spoil the ending, but it's pretty easy to guess seeing as the book is written in first -person narration.

The Hunger Games is immensely popular, with it's follow up Catching Fire out yesterday. Personally, it took a long time for me to get into it, but I am glad that I stuck with it. I kept repeating, wait until the games begin to make my final decision, as the games are what the book is really about, and that's where I fell for the book. I didn't have issues with the idea of the games themselves, this seemed like a plausible post-apocalyptic, feral society thing to do, I had problems with the other "reality television" elements. While the game itself feels filtered through the future society, the "make-over" and the appearances of the capital's inhabitants seemed a little too colorful, candy coated and too obvious a reference to shows like Extreme Makeover and America's Next Top Model with a hint of Project Runway. I get that this is a reflection of our society, at times it seemed like she was beating me over the head with it. Also every time she mentioned the outrageous colors of hair of the capital's inhabitants, all sleek, shiny and funky I was reminded a little to closely of the movie The Fifth Element, and I am sure she did not want her book to be thought of in the same light as that horrid movie. I know it was to contrast the stark existence of Katniss to the elite, but it was too comical and heavily reminded me of the Dr. Who episode when the two robots try to "extreme-make-over" Captain Jack with a chainsaw. Which I might add, Dr. Who did very well and Suzanne Collins not so much.

The overall plot structure was a bit too predictable, has a first person narrator really died that often? Plus with Haymitch trying to "couple" Katniss and Peeta I kept thinking, perhaps the rules might change...sure enough I was right. But I admire Collins in that despite the plot's overall predictability, I was still glued to the book. A final thought, I find Katniss a little too hard and heartless at times. I get that it's the society she has been raised in and the life she leads, but some of the things she does to poor Peeta. She can't be that oblivious can she? Also Haymitch's "strategy" for the games with regards to Peeta and Katniss sometimes veered on the edge of too much, almost like they are being pushed into a physical relationship, a bit like they are whores. But in the end, whatever I might say, I can't wait for the next installment, I have too many questions I want answered to cover here, but hopefully I will have some answers shortly (she types as she reaches for Catching Fire).

Posted by Miss Eliza at 1:51 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Book Review, Captain Jack, Catching Fire, District 12, Dr. Who, Haymitch, Katniss, Panem, Peeta, Prim, Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games