Books, June 2011

*** Suzanne Collins – The Hunger Games
** Suzanne Collins – Catching Fire
** Suzanne Collins – Mockingjay
** George MacDonald Fraser – McAuslan. Entertaining for a while but not particularly gripping. A bunch of amusing anecdotes about being in the army shortly after the end of WWII.
*** John Scalzi – Old Man’s War. Great. An interesting reversal of the typical “raw recruits sent out into the great big universe” type of story, with the recruits bing able to benefit from age and wisdom. Also, kind of a nice wish fulfillment for anyone who’s getting older and feeling it.
*** John Scalzi – Ghost Brigades. Pretty good. Sequel to Old Man’s War, but not as novel. More interesting exploration of the same universe.

The first book of the Hunger Games trilogy was great, immediately engrossing, good characters, interesting and strong female lead. The other two were letdowns (though I have to admit I blazed through all of them). The plot becomes tangled and repetitive, the ending is unsatisfying and uncreative, and most importantly Katniss’s failure to ever really become her own person and be a leader is an abject failure of the series.