Final Musings of a Capitol Controlled World

Collins has set up a terrific world here.

I tend to go through reviews and look at the most negative because a lot of reviews I see are all, "OMG THIS IS THE BEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN!! I LUV IT!!," and they have no real substance toward the review. But the negative ones seem to give a better idea of what the book may be about. While I don't doubt the reviews professing undying love toward the book, it helps to see something other than those couple sentences, lol.

One review I read said that as a parent she couldn't understand why the parents would allow their children to be sent to death like that. Maybe it's because I'm not a parent, but I think it shows just how much control the Capitol has over the people. You can see it even during the games, when they set fire to smoke Katniss out of her hiding place. Especially with the sponsors and when they can send things to the tributes.

I do like the signs of rebellion Katniss shows. The flowers she spreads over Rue made me want to cry. It was a heartbreaking moment. I really loved the end of the games when both she and Peeta eat the berries when the Capitol tries to go back on their word. It makes me want to read the 2nd and 3rd books because you know they're not going to let Katniss get away with her acts of defiance.

Overall, the book was great. It was a nice quick pace that rarely lagged. It was interesting seeing Peeta as the more emotional of the two and Katniss being the stronger one. He seemed to recognize his strengths and weaknesses and expected to die, whereas Katniss battles within herself whether or not she could kill him. I like watching that internal battle with her, since a lot of feelings seem to be foreign to her. Picking up the others should make it interesting to see how things come out, especially if there are things between Gale and Katniss as well.

Great pick, Christine :-)