review: In this book, Collins tells the story of Katniss, a young girl competing in "The Hunger Games," a cruel, government-orchestrated fight to the death. The plot is as compelling as it is unsettling.This is a book you can't put down. The writing is excellent and the pacing flawless. The characters in general are nicely wrought. Collins keeps the reader fully engaged, trying to interpret and anticipate the moves of both the gamemakers and the competitors.Despite the wonderful experience of reading this book, I began to feel a sense of unease in the last thirty or so pages, the fear that I was about to be seriously disappointed. I hoped I was wrong. But I wasn't. I hated the ending. It resolved nothing.While I realize this is a series and the action resumes in "Catching Fire" and continues in "Mockingjay," I feel authors of series works owe it to their readers to reward them at the end of each book with some overwhelming emotion, good or bad. In an epic story such as this, there needs to be some sense that the protagonist has come through some major life event that has changed him or her, prompted some sort of growth or... something. The unfeeling, jaded Katniss of Page 1 is pretty much the same girl the reader's left with on the last page. She's likable enough but still self-centered, still terribly immature and self-congratulatory. How much can the reader really care about this character and her relationships with others when, in the end, Katniss herself really doesn't much give a crap? And at the end, the story just... fizzles. I have a strong sense that this book ended at the wrong place. There needs to be some sense of closure, some feeling that the reader has completed a book. And, in the case of a series novel, there needs to be some major driving element that pushes the reader into wanting to read the next book. A bunch of unresolved loose ends, vague questions, and protagonist ambivalence, as we get here, simply is not good enough.The ending here was so BLAH that I was left seriously questioning whether I wanted to invest the necessary time to keep reading the series. I thought Collins and I might have different views as to what constitutes a book ending. What if the difficulty with endings was systemic and I got to the end of "Mockingjay" and was left going, "Whaaaaattt?"No reader wants to be left that way.But I cared about this series. I would love to love it.I decided to check out the reviews for "Catching Fire" and "Mockingjay" before I went any further with this series. I needed to know whether readers were more satisfied with the endings of "Catching Fire" and "Mockingjay" than I was with the ending of "The Hunger Games." If they weren't, then I was unlikely to read those books.In fact, I wish I'd checked out those reviews before I started the series.Having completed my review of the reviews, I would suggest that strategy to anyone contemplating reading "The Hunger Games." That way, you'll know what you're getting into before you're where I am now.Eventually, nostalgia may pull me back to the series and I'll pick up Book II. Right now, though, I feel too cheated and disappointed.With just a little more effort on the part of the author and editors, this could have been a phenomenal book.
question: Is the book talk a good story?
Despite the wonderful experience of reading this book