Revisiting The Hunger Games

With the recent release of the latest Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping, I naturally felt the need to re-read the entire series. I had only read the first prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, when it originally came out; I'd read the original series a couple of times. Spoilers ahead!

I think Ballad really brought something to the series; getting to see Panem through young Snow's eyes, learning more about the original wars and dark years and how the Hunger Games evolved. Snow didn't start out as a good guy who got turned bad; when we meet him, he already has a horrible manipulative streak--he's just without power. There's more sympathy then, early in that story; you could see how he might be able to use his powers for good. But that's not his nature. 

Sunrise on the Reaping was good, but I found it more fan service-y. Lenore Dove seems like a Lucy Gray retread, only one we barely get to know; "Haymitch is in love with her and is rebellious" is not enough characterization. In contrast, we manage to spend enough time with Gale in the early pages of the first book to get a good feel for him, including his relationship with Katniss and his feelings about the Capitol (which I definitely noticed a lot more this reading), and he was brought to life and three-dimensional in a way Lenore Dove wasn't.

I had forgotten how absolutely wrecked Katniss is by the end of the trilogy. This poor girl, who's still only 17, has gone through so much. She had no desire to be part of a rebellion; circumstances converged around her, people manipulated her and the situation. It's honestly nuts to think, though, how much better her life was than that of pretty much all the other victors, which also jumped out at me this read-through. Still, it isn't surprising that she's basically catatonic for a few months after the main action of Mockingjay. That's way better than how I'd be doing. (And honestly, I'm amazed at how fast the rebellion was over. Once it got going, it was done in less than a year!)

One big question after reading Sunrise and the trilogy I had is about the history of the rebellion. The centrality of victors to the rebellion makes sense, even if the quickness with which Haymitch was brought into their plot in the 50th Games doesn't. You wonder how many times they've tried, how close they got to success before. How District 13 had to regroup and plan and prepare. Whether someone like Coin had to be in charge there. How they got people in the Capitol involved. (I also realized that my pro-Plutarch feelings are probably mostly from how Philip Seymour Hoffman played the character, though he is fascinating.)

Other things that I thought about as I read the series included how I felt about it all being from Katniss's POV (I appreciate how we're also left in the dark a lot, but I like how the movies incorporate other things going on), being vaguely annoyed at Lucy Gray being from 12 so Snow has a weird antipathy toward the district (and girls from 12), the connection between Haymitch and Katniss and how his characterization in Reaping affects my perception of that connection, why they meet "in" the hanging tree in the song, and the importance of songs to the series (and how sick I got of them in Ballad and how sick of "The Raven" I got in Reaping).

Ultimately, though, this has reignited my love for Peeta. I'm not anti-Gale, though I don't think Katniss ever really was into him (definitely not the way he was into her), but Peeta is all that is good and right in the world. His "Always" is a million times better than Snape's, and I will die on that hill. (Though ultimately, and I realize this is a dystopia, but you kids are 16 years old [in the first book] and should not be thinking about marriage.)