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A review by linastories
Hry o život, Skúška ohňom, Drozdajka by Suzanne Collins
4.0
Reading three books in one makes writing the review that much more difficult. Nevertheless, here are some of my thoughts (if someone wants to read this).
Let´s start with the first book. What surprised me a bit about this one is that the actual games begin only at about halfway point of the book, but I actually didn´t mind that. In my opinion, it allowed for a more in-depth insight into the world which is always good. It read very fast at the same time and after we stepped into the arena, it got that much more exciting. The games themselves were thrilling and brutal but not overly so for me. There was something happening all the time, action scenes mixed with some emotional and heartbreaking ones, all the good stuff. All in all, I enjoyed it a lot.
Then the second book hit me just as hard if not harder. Again, the true action arrived a bit later than I would perhaps like, anyway for me it delivers even more than the first time. I had goosebumps so often, I lived with the characters internally. I felt like I could truly understand them and their motives which is definitely a sign of well-crafted characters. Especially Katniss, of course, and Peeta. On the other hand, some other side characters, specifically Haymitch, seemed bland, but I put that down to the fact that we´re looking at them through Katniss´ eyes, who is, understandably but still, quite self-centred. At this point, I didn't prefer one or the other boy in the love triangle. If I had had to choose, I would've said Peete, but mostly just due to the fact that we hadn't spent much time with Gale yet. And then the ending came.. and I was so confused.
The third book was necessary for the resolution as the final battle was to come. The first part seemed slow once more even though there were things happening. I, apparently, am not a big fan of politics in books, so that might be the reason, nevertheless, I had a feeling that the story dragged and I wanted it end (sorry to say that). The action did come in the second half as expected, but in such a way that I couldn´t appreciate it as strongly. For some reason, I wasn't able to picture everything that was going on. On one side, it lowed my enjoyment, on the other, I´m quite happy as the scenes described were incredibly gruesome. The ending didn´t help as it only made me feel more hopeless and depressed. For me, this was not the conclusion I wished for.
All in all, this series definitely deserves a lot of praise, as it also gets. It has a strong message and despite the fact that the ending disappointed me, the first two books undoubtedly hold up there and I am very happy I finally got to this almost-classic.
Let´s start with the first book. What surprised me a bit about this one is that the actual games begin only at about halfway point of the book, but I actually didn´t mind that. In my opinion, it allowed for a more in-depth insight into the world which is always good. It read very fast at the same time and after we stepped into the arena, it got that much more exciting. The games themselves were thrilling and brutal but not overly so for me. There was something happening all the time, action scenes mixed with some emotional and heartbreaking ones, all the good stuff. All in all, I enjoyed it a lot.
Then the second book hit me just as hard if not harder. Again, the true action arrived a bit later than I would perhaps like, anyway for me it delivers even more than the first time. I had goosebumps so often, I lived with the characters internally. I felt like I could truly understand them and their motives which is definitely a sign of well-crafted characters. Especially Katniss, of course, and Peeta. On the other hand, some other side characters, specifically Haymitch, seemed bland, but I put that down to the fact that we´re looking at them through Katniss´ eyes, who is, understandably but still, quite self-centred. At this point, I didn't prefer one or the other boy in the love triangle. If I had had to choose, I would've said Peete, but mostly just due to the fact that we hadn't spent much time with Gale yet. And then the ending came.. and I was so confused.
The third book was necessary for the resolution as the final battle was to come. The first part seemed slow once more even though there were things happening. I, apparently, am not a big fan of politics in books, so that might be the reason, nevertheless, I had a feeling that the story dragged and I wanted it end (sorry to say that). The action did come in the second half as expected, but in such a way that I couldn´t appreciate it as strongly. For some reason, I wasn't able to picture everything that was going on. On one side, it lowed my enjoyment, on the other, I´m quite happy as the scenes described were incredibly gruesome. The ending didn´t help as it only made me feel more hopeless and depressed. For me, this was not the conclusion I wished for.
All in all, this series definitely deserves a lot of praise, as it also gets. It has a strong message and despite the fact that the ending disappointed me, the first two books undoubtedly hold up there and I am very happy I finally got to this almost-classic.