#At least the book version of Katniss

[bluemeetgrey]

  I need Ty to cosplay as Katniss Everdeen at least ones. I mean look at the hair, the eyes and the bow and arrow he could actually use.

[mollywog]

From my memory of Far From the Madding Crowd, Peeta is more Farmer Oak than Katniss is Bathsheba

[marzipanandminutiae]

Thoughts on the Hunger Games movies while I recover from oral surgery, as someone who read all of the books back in the late 00s-early 10s when they were first popular but never really fell in love with them or anything

some of these movies fall HARD into the trap of Dark Scenes Where You Can't Tell What's Going On

Oh well I guess someone is getting killed in this part of Catching Fire because I heard screaming and a canon, but damned if I can tell who or how

my thoughts on the continued use of conventionally feminine-coded aesthetics, activities, and general Vibes to represent decadence and evil are, as always, extremely active

why is decadence and evil always represented by artistic fashionistas who love elegant buildings and classical music? why is it never represented by hyper-masculine Elon Musk tech bro assholes who have home gyms and want all buildings to be High Capitalist featureless glass towers?

I mean I shouldn't be surprised; this goes back at least to the French Revolution and has roots in both misogyny and homophobia. and it's not like artistic fashionistas can't be evil and decadent obviously. but there's no single aesthetic with a monopoly on wasteful carelessness, and yet that one seems to always be the one filmmakers and authors pick

it's not like the Female Protagonists are even unfeminine to make up for it. they're just a more toned-down version of conventional feminine attractiveness and they show no evidence of enjoyment or working for it. yawn.

my solid Meh reaction to the Katniss/Peeta love story remains intact. least interesting part of the whole franchise IMO. I'm always surprised that it got so popular as to eclipse the actual plot in the eyes of fans- it's not even that good a love story! they're barely in love for so much of the narrative and then all of a sudden they're soulmates!

I love and have always loved the fact that the Rebels(TM) aren't morally pure or even necessarily that much less calculating than the Capitol in some ways. they're the better option, by a mile, for Panem. but they're also people on a mission who aren't above using their enemy's tactics to make that happen. they have to be stopped from starting up the same cycle of killing and revenge against the children of the Capitol, even. in the end, the only people you really come away liking are Katniss, her family, her allies, etc.

[katnissmellarkkk]

The parallels between Katniss and her mother are quite apparent when it comes to their reactions to grief (as displayed when Mrs. Everdeen lost Katniss’ father and when Katniss lost Peeta and Prim). There’s been posts made about that on here many times before.

But we never really explore the opposition in their choice of man. What I mean is, we’re led to believe (granted, based on very little hints in the first book) that Mrs. Everdeen was with Mr. Mellark in some fashion, at the very least. Enough that he felt it was not only plausible that he could marry her but seemed to be still holding a candle for her all those years later. Mr. Mellark was a merchant, someone from her side of the district, part of the well-to-do class of Twelve. But she instead chose Mr. Everdeen, a poor, coal miner who couldn’t only give her a simple life in the Seam. A life that is much more difficult objectively and in a place that even her own daughter claims she sticks out like a sore thumb in (appearance wise).

Katniss, her daughter, on the other hand, chose Peeta in the end. Even before Mockingjay, it was obvious to anyone really paying attention (in the story or as a reader) who’d she fallen in love with. Gale was a strong, attractive guy from the Seam, who’d lived a pretty parallel life to hers, who was her partner in crime — literally — and her best friend. Everyone expected them to get together. Even the reporters who came from the Capitol took one look at him and thought he seemed like a threat to the idea of the Star-Crossed-Lovers being portrayed on the television screens. And yet, Katniss chose Peeta, not Gale. Peeta, who at the start, she seems to have nothing in common with. Not in terms of their upbringings (she was super poor and starving, he was popular and more comfortable but implied to suffer from heavy child abuse) and not in terms of their mindsets either. But there was an inexplicable attraction between the two, an instinctive pull bringing her back to him no matter how much she tried to fight it. And I suspect her mother had the same feeling, for Mr. Everdeen. That feeling is what led Katniss to choose Peeta over Gale, despite the fact that Gale may have seemed from an outside, detached perspective, like her natural choice of romantic partner. And that feeling is probably what also led her mother to make the same choice all those years before.

Idk I just think it’s interesting that Katniss chose Peeta but her mother — in a lot of ways — chose her Gale. Although there’s a strong argument to be made that her mother was actually choosing her version of Peeta by choosing Katniss’ father but my brain’s not there quite yet.

This post also could have been written and summed up a lot quicker if I’d just said, the love triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale and the love triangle between Mrs. Everdeen, Mr. Everdeen and Mr. Mellark are actually parallel love triangles that ended with the woman choosing the opposite type of man.

[isleofhoneysuckleandclover]

Five characters I will defend as AroAce until my dying breath

5. Alastor

It's canon. But he's my least favorite because he eats people. :(

4. Wednesday Addams

The multiple versions of her make it harder to confidently say, but she is. That doesn't mean she isn't willing to have a relationship.

3. Daryl Dixon

I only watched a few seasons before giving up, but I swear the vibes are there. He's aroace and unbothered.

2. Bakugo Katsuki

Putting him at two would send him spiraling into a rage. But also he just is. I get no real sexual vibe. Just unchecked aggression.

1. Katniss Everdeen

I'm sorry, but the first-person POV in the books is so telling. I firmly believe she was content to be in a relationship, but she had no real drive for sex or romance. But she gave Peeta what she didn't mind to give. And he took what she was willing to give.

[waywardangel-wilds]

No one has ever asked me what I think Katniss and Peeta look like but I wanna write it down because I have a very distinct picture of them in my head. Let's start with my favorite, Kantiss:

She is slight and short in stature. You know those people who regardless of however much they might eat or weigh, always look small, not bony but just very thin? That's how I picture her, at least when she's a kid. Just all elbows. Maybe she fills out after she has kids, that shit permanently changes your body. She has a very sharp nose. It's distinct, not quite a roman nose and not quite a hooked nose, it's those noses with a bump? Do you know what I mean? Like a straight roman nose with a little bump on the bridge? You get it. Her hair is very long, I don't see her cutting it all that regularly. Her braid is thick, and nice and tight - it's the type of braid I always wanted to have as a kid, just one thick rope. Her hair doesn't fall out of it unless she's at home relaxing. Her skin is dotted with beauty marks just because I think that's adorable. Her eyebrows are her father's, so they're thick, dark, and generous but a nightmare to pluck haha. Her default expression is a frown, but at she ages she still manages to develop laugh lines. I think she has that great hair gene, so she has great eyelashes and hair on her forearms, and very hairy legs - no wonder waxing sucked pre-games lol. I think her eyes are somewhat upturned, like there's an angle to them which I think makes sense ethnically speaking. The Katniss in my imagination doesn't have a Cupid's bow. She also has larger front teeth haha, I have no idea why.

Peeta, to me, has always been someone I'd describe as healthy and hearty.

As Katniss says, he's got wavy ashy hair that falls across his forehead. Pale eyebrows and nearly invisible eyelashes. I don't know about ya'll but that communicates to me that this kid is pale, so so pale. He's got freckles on his arms and face, much thinner lips than Katniss with a defined Cupids bow, a straight nose, and almond shaped eyes I suppose. His eyes are a very normal blue but, of course, Katniss thinks they're the cats meow. He's got the wide shoulders and thicker arms from working his entire life, but also from being a younger version of his father build. I think that as he ages Peeta will look like his father, as would have all the other Mellark boys, just the large man frame that Mr. Mellark had. Only Peeta wouldn't be large and silent, he'd be large and talkative lol. I picture him at average height, as the book says, so around 5'10 during the events of the novel. I don't know if he grows taller or not. I'd have to know what Mr. Mellark's height was. I don't think he's cut or anything lol that's so unrealistic. He's got that nice frame of someone who's strong but doesn't look like he works at it a lot because he just doesn't. I bet he's also iron deficient, or at least he was based on what he says he was eating pre-games, so that must add to the paleness too lol. He's got nice straight teeth and a good smile - which makes sense with his whole TV persona.

I think Haymitch's assessment of them is accurate. They're attractive enough. They're not Finnick level, but they're in no way ugly. They definitely meet my personal beauty standards of what I consider pretty people, but keep in mind, I'm not exactly a mainstream media person.

anyway, send asks related to this if you'd like!

[witchthewriter]

𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔, 𝑨 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒔 & 𝑹𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑪𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝑹𝒆-𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅

Okay, so I'm re-reading all of SJM's books (well, Throne of Glass series, ACOTAR & Crescent City) before the new CC3 book comes out. And I've had some thoughts and opinions ... (I would also love if people wanted to share their 2 cents!)

𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝑻𝑶𝑮:

・Okay, I guess I'll never have the same exciting feeling when reading this series

・It feels like coming home, honestly.

・When the book ended, I just ... I didn't want it to be over, I felt like Aelin when everyone was going back to their own kingdoms - just stay until the end of Winter!

・I cannot say how much I love Abraxos; he PLAYS in the FLOWERS, and he FALLS IN LOVE. Like??? Can we get a lil book on the Wyverns SJM please! (because technically the game of thrones dragons are actually wyverns. Dragons have four legs and a pair of wings, wyverns have two legs and wins that attach to the front.

・I can't picture Lorcan perfectly in my head and that drives me crazy. And I was also againt Henry Cavill as Rowan, but I can't unsee it. After watching the Witcher...

・

𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝑨𝑪𝑶𝑻𝑨𝑹:

・I honestly do think Feyre is a bit of a Mary-Sue. Even after all these books, I still don't understand why a mother would ask her youngest to look after the two eldest? Her illiterate youngest child?

・And why is Elan planting FLOWERS in the garden? Why not VEGETABLES? Ffs, or at least edible flowers like wtf.

・Nesta ... I'm one of the people who understand her, but also ... coming from poverty myself, I know what it's like to

・Also can Feyre fall into her female rage a bit? I just feel like she has a lot of pain that she's pushed down, and down and down. She needs to ... have more healing.

・AND HER BECOMING PREGNANT GOD REALLY, it just kinda ... I hate that trope. I only like this trope with Katniss and Peeta: that's how it's done right.

・Having two sisters mated to two best friends, but then the third sister and best friend may not be mated?? It's either all in or all out.

・I wish there was some explanation about the magic involved in not only the mating, but also the cauldron. It's all too ambiguous.

・AND WHAT MAKES MOR POWERFUL?! "Her power is truth." What. Does. That. Even. Mean.

・I did like A Court of Silver Flames though. I thought it was a brilliant book about Nesta's healing.

𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒏 𝑪𝑪:

・It took me a while to get into the book, but once I did ... omg, I have even more characters that I love.

・And I cannot wait until the next book comes out! Although there were some aspects of the book that I found boring; like the viper queen (if I even got that right)

・Also the audiobook for CC & TOG are much more superior than ACOTAR. Even though they have a 'dramatised version,' there's an even better one on Youtube by the reader hag.

・I miss Lehaba so much

・And I saw somewhere that Bryce is the long-lost ruler of a Prythian court? And that Azriel might be one of the Princes of Hel?

・SJM does a great job at forming groups that you feel apart of

・Some people find Hunt boring, I don't ... I, well I rank him above Chaol. Ruhn is cool though, Bryce is incredible. Though I hate when I look up fanart of her and it's just a skinny girl with red hair? She's got golden skin, she's fit but curvy, and I want to see proper representation.

[mzannthropy]

Sam Claflin and Adaptations (there's a lot more than you think!)

Articles and interviews be like: Sam, you have done so many book adaptations and then name at most three titles. Every fucking time. Luckily, I'm here to tell you about them! (Under the cut as it got long.)

Hunger Games Catching Fire and Mockingjay (books written by Suzanne Collins) - YA dystopia. The most obvious, of course. Sam plays Finnick Odair, the coolest character. (He's not dead, Katniss is lying.)

Daisy Jones and the Six (book written by Taylor Jenkins Reid) - story of a rise and fall of fictional band in the 1970s. Sam is Billy Dunne, the main male lead and a real rockstar!

My Cousin Rachel (book written by Daphne du Maurier) - Gothic thriller, 19th century. Sam is the narrator, Philip. This is my personal favourite.

Their Finest - adaptation of Their Finest Hour and a Half (book written by Lissa Evans) - Drama with bits of comedy. Set during WW2 in the film industry. Sam plays screenwriter Buckley, a member of a film crew working on a film about Dunkirk evacuation. Also features a side character who is gay and is alive at the end. More people should watch this film, imo.

Enola Holmes (book written by Nancy Springer) - kiddie Sherlockian pastiche. Sam plays Mycroft Holmes, at least that's his character's name, but it's not the usual Mycroft; his version is dumbed-down and cartoon-villainised so that the eponymous teenage girlboss can have her story.

Adrift - adaptation of Red Sky in the Mourning (book written by Tami Oldham Ashcroft) - survival drama of a seafaring couple lost at sea after a hurricane. Sam is the main character's love interest, Richard.

Two mini series from Sam's early career (that I haven't watched so can't give you any info):

Pillars of the Earth (book written by Ken Follett) - TV mini series set in 12th century about building of a cathedral. This was Sam's very first role.

Any Human Heart (book written by William Boyd) - TV mini series, chronicles a life of a writer in 20th century. Sam plays the youngest version of the main character, Logan.

Adaptations of plays - it counts, okay?

Journey's End (play written by RC Sherriff) - WW1 war film, but not a regular one (there's no battles). Covers a week in the trenches in March 1918. Sam plays Captain Stanhope, an officer at the edge of nervous breakdown. One of his best performances, if not the very best.

Riot Club (play written by Laura Wade) - contemporary film about a posh elite club at Oxford. Sam's character, Alistair, is a spoiled brat, Draco Malfoy-like. (Not the good fanon version, the bad canon version.) Btw, this is no Dead Poet's Society, no dark academia - the titular club is based on Bullingdon Club (of which Boris Johnson was member). They book a table at restaurants, trash them and then hand the owners a cheque to compensate. You see now why we have all these problems...

You can make an argument for:

Snow White and the Huntsman - (folk tale recorded by Brothers Grimm). It's a darker retelling. Sam plays William, the prince charming of the story.

Snow White and the Red Shoes, (as above) an animated film, he voices a character named Merlin. No idea what this is as I haven't seen it.

Okay now I'm stretching it

Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides - adapted from a Disneyland ride. BUT the ride itself was inspired by legendary tales of pirates, among others the books of Emilio Salgari. So, not that crazy. Might be the weakest of the franchise, but Sam's storyline--he plays the missionary Philip--is what saves it, his romance with the mermaid is just the cutest!

So that's it. Thank you for reading and I hope you check some of these out.

[districtxii]

Meta: Help Rationalizing THG Worldbuilding

I originally posted this on reddit, even though I'm not really a redditor, because I've had trouble getting much traction on tumblr lately. I just made this sideblog, though, so I decided to share it just in case anyone wanted to discuss this with me.

According to the first book, all we really get about the history of the world of Panem is:

everyone kind of knows their education of history is propaganda, even if they don't have the word for it

Panem is in what used to be called North America, but an unspecified series of natural disasters and wars led to the rise of Panem's current regime

it's the 74th Annual Hunger Games, meaning that it's been somewhere about 75-80 years since the ultimate conclusion of the Rebellion of the Districts against the Capitol, implying that there was some period of time before the rebellion of the Districts and the "Dark Days" during which Panem was the seat of power that was risen up against

Before the existence of the prequel novel, I think that some of us sort of thought that this pre-Panem era might have been the dying days of the United States. However, it seems that it's pretty impossible for that to be true, given how different socially and culturally the Panem of young Coriolanus Snow.

I think it is implied that the excessive reliance upon Greco-Roman pseudo-language, nomenclature, and symbols, was part of a concerted effort on the part of those pulling the strings - people like Dr. Gaul and her ilk - to evoke certain theoretical states of being, directly and intentionally evoking panem et circenses as a mission statement and a weird if-you-know-you-know kind of dig at masses who were kept ignorant, both in and outside the Capitol. (Of course, this is really convenient when you're a YA author trying to drive home and teach a point at the same time.)

However, this had already started before the Rebellion, making it clear that the Capitol was rebuilt much in its own image, even if certain things intensified. And the Capitol of the TBOSAS movie is one that evokes both familiar imagery from the original film triology and a much harsher imagery that draws on very harsh federal and classical architecture, mixed with a kind of Soviet propaganda flavored art style and brutalism. (I'm using these words with a vague understanding of what they mean but an acknowledgment that there may be better descriptions of what I'm talking about.)

This, in turn, perplexes me, because I had sort of understood the Capitol's decadence to have been very... LA-flavored from the start. I had presumed that the Capitol had a hard time that might have more resembled starving in a resort, the way Katniss describes the situation when they're infiltrating the Capitol in Mockingjay. I had also come to the Aha moment, a couple years ago when teaching The Hunger Games (the first book) to seventh graders, that the "Capitol Accent" was a future-evolved version of verbal fry a la the Kardashians or something. I thought that the Capitol population might have been a "Hollywood Elite" run inland to the Rockies due to, I dunno, part of California falling into the sea. I thought that this might have also gone along with the idea that power is in spectacle, and there are conservative people all over who yell and scream about the Hollywood effectively being some kind of lefty shadow government, or whatever.

TBOSAS threw this perception for a loop, when one sees that the color and glitz and glamor of the Capitol, having healed and vampire-sucked the Districts for seven decades, seems to have had a weird original story with Lucy Gray and Dr. Gaul's warring colors, spectacle, and appeal.

While the Tenth Hunger Games are wiped from record as best as they can, the collective memory of Lucy Gray and how much the people started to become invested in her, along with the spectacle of the snakes, pushed and impression of a wild, freer aesthetic -- at least in terms of a first domino falling. At least, that's my current perception.

But, as described, it really challenges my prior conception of what the Capitol is, culturally speaking, and where it and the rest of Panem came from.

The Covey, also, may be an even bigger thorn in my side in this regard. I absolutely love the representation of something of my Appalachian heritage in the music that is depicted in TBOSAS. I also love the way it filters down into Katniss's story. However, the existence of the Covey also seems like something very anachronistic even for this imaginary-future timeline.

During what kind of era and circumstances where the Covey's parent generation - Lucy Gray's mother and others - existing?

Was in the the Capitol era before the Dark Days war? It must have been, right? But what came immediately before that?

The Covey seem to draw some vague flavor from pop culture perceptions of the Roma (which is kind of weird for the Appalachians but who knows and Roma can be anywhere they want), but it seems even more rooted in some kind of spiritual connection to - for example - the Carter Family becoming involved in syndication and touring with music that was previously unknown to the rest of America and the world. With Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia, being the "Birthplace of Country Music."

But that happened during the early 20th century.

One presumes that the timeline of Panem and The Hunger Games diverges from our own sometime in our own future, but has this perception on my part been wrong all along?

Is The Hunger Games universe better-perceived as something like the Fallout universe where it's sort of a nuclear-power-arms-race-punk divergent timeline well BEFORE the apocalypse that resulted in the present dystopia?

I would love to hear anyone's opinion on this, whether it's a reassurance that "just don't worry about it" is the best approach or someone who's better at worldbuilding-brain than I offering some kind of explanation - whether based on canon or fanon.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

[manderleyfire]

hey, ali! i feel your pain about the tbosas adaptation! i cried so much during the movie but not because i felt emotional, seeing MY book comes alive on screen but because we were robbbbbbbbbbed and shot 😞😞😞😞😞😞 anyways, what's your opinion on the music tho? fav/least fav song? (my is the oldtherebefore and least fav the 0livia r0drigo's one)

hey, lollis!

‘robbed and shot’, exactly. i couldn’t have said it better myself because unfortunately, that’s spot on 🥲

I LOVED THE MUSIC! a dystopian reflection of our reality through intentional use of folk/bluegrass music is something that resonates strongly with me. i mean, they knew how to strike the right chord in the hearts of book readers for sure! *the only other thing i wish was different about the music it's the variety of tempo and rhythm because as much as i LOVED the unified sound of LG's songs, i would prefer each song to have its own individual tune and ~aura)

my absolute favourite adaptation that they did was 'nothing you can take from me' (boot-stompin’ version); i am utterly in awe of the powerful passionate energy that they gave to this song?? also i loveeed the similarity of rhythm and tone between 'nothing you can take from me' and a traditional american folk song 'man of constant sorrow', i kinda feel it was a deliberate parallel which worked just great. (also i’m glad they added maude ivory’s 'keep on the sunny side'!)

my least favourite is perhaps 'the ballad of lucy gray baird'?.. and though i did enjoy rachel’s rendition (she copies a young dolly parton in such a warm-hearted respectful manner!), and the respect for traditional appalachian music, she sang it in a cheerful 'to hell with you!' manner which is less intense and intimate that i remember it from the book to be? to quote tbosas here: 'the haunting melody set the tone, and her words did the rest as she began to sing in a voice husky from smoke and sadness' – the movie version really failed to capture both the haunting tune (their version doesn't really tell the story musically because of a major key) and the lucy gray's vulnerability here for me. in the book she did what carrie fisher told us all to do: 'take your broken heart and turn it into art' while in the movie she isn't even angry at billy taupe?? like his betrayal (and her place in the games) is not a big deal? she's openly rebellious and sassy with out of place 'i need no man' attitude and that simply didn't work for me personally.

it took some time for 'pure as the driven snow' to grow on me (i expected it to be more of a waltz-like, similar to maiah wynne's cover), but i'm coming around to it. yet… i wish it was STAGED differently??? they had to combine certain scenes and songs in the film but it was such a SURREAL idea to meld PATDS with 'sell you for a song' setting? and it took away so much from that moment of love and connection and unconditional acceptance, where lucy gray is finally ready to be emotionally unshielded in front of her lover (maybe for the first time ever)?? it was a PIVOTAL snowbaird moment but they needed to blend two songs together because obviously PATDS can't be love confession in form of a song because it should be taken as an ominous warning instead (duh!). 'bitch you better not turn out to be a bad guy even tho i knew you were a villain all along' :??? and it could've worked in its own angst-y way, if there had been any development in snowbaird love story?? but since movie!they are full on survival the whole time (there's no canonical teetering on the edge of an actual fondness/love and survival instinct), PATDS makes no sense at all. so… i extremely frustrated by the use of PATDS on screen but at the same time i love the sound of the full version on the soundtrack album.

annnd i'm actually IN PAIN because they had the audacity to leave so many songs out?? especially given their ties to the original trilogy?? 'deep in the meadow' aka rue's song???? 'the valley song' aka the one peeta mentioned seeing katniss sing at school when they were children????  the festive 'crawling to you' ('that thing i love with') likely performed at finnick’s wedding?? idk maybe it's a musical nerd who is speaking in me but i wish they could have included more of the book songs at least on the album, if not in the actual movie (even tho i'm still sure, it would've been possible to present the whole complexity of this book AND its poetic side too, if they decided to split the film in two).

[the score album wasn't much to talk about but 'snow lands on top' piece tho… vivid, striking, remarkable]

[antoine-triplett]

What's your thought about Peeta's home life?

Do you think his parents are abusive toward him?

In the novels, we know that his mother hit him. How about his father?

Why do you think their family doesn't live with him in the Victors' Village? Thoughts?

Thank you so much.

@curiousnonny

I don’t get the impression that his father was abusive. I get the sense that he and Peeta are a bit alike, but that his father is quieter and more reserved. Usually when Peeta mentions his father, it sounds like their relationship was similar to Katniss’ relationship with her dad where he would explain things to Peeta things with care. His father comes to see Katniss before the Games and promises to make sure that Prim is fed so I think he is sensitive. He knows that’s still what she wants to hear most, even as she’s most likely heading to her own death. He’s just a bit awkward in how he expresses it, not unlike Katniss herself.

That being said, it's important to note that his father doesn't do anything to stand up to his mother either. His passivity is mentioned several times and I believe that’s intentional.

I think his mother was more emotionally abusive than physical, especially as Peeta got older and larger, even though we do know that she hit him as a child. Peeta's mother has no problem telling him that Katniss could win the games right to his face, even though it means he will die. This is a prime example of what we can assume is her ongoing cruelty. They clearly don’t have a warm or loving relationship. I get the impression that Peeta's mother disapproves of his "softness" - or what Katniss refers to as his "goodness" - and that she equates it to his father's passivity.

Peeta's ability to anticipate people’s moods/wants and be kind of a chameleon and mask his true feelings is common in kids who come from an abusive home life. They are accustomed to navigating unpredictable interactions and trying to people please even when it seems futile.

It’s possible that alcohol was a factor is his mother’s abuse; Peeta's reaction to Katniss getting drunk is uncharacteristically intense. There are implications in the way he checks in on and looks after Haymitch as well.

SO here is where I go off the rails a bit because I think this all ties into the book’s commentary on traditional gender roles and expectations. After winning the first Games, even though he's only 16, Peeta is expected to behave like a grown man. He is the one that publicly proposes while Katniss' mother is the only one publicly reminding everyone that they are still kids. (Making the important distinction that in reality the proposal is Katniss' idea and Peeta very much does not want to propose/is upset about it.) He lives alone while Katniss is expected to stay under her mother’s care for at least a couple more years. Basically until her mother passes her off to Peeta and they get married, as Katniss observes at one point.

Both of Peeta's parents are still alive at the beginning of CF and own a business in town. His brothers are older than him which would mean they'd likely be expected to move out on their own soon. Prim is still young and an important part of The Capitol’s fabricated version of Katniss’ story, so I'm sure they encouraged her family to live with her and complete the "happy ending" of that story. They probably don’t care much about who Peeta lives with as long as he’s close to Katniss.

[marta-bee]

I've recently reread The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and just saw the movie version, and I've been rolling over a question in my mind. Even the question is chock full of spoilers, so let's put even it under a cut.

Namely: does it matter whether Snow really killed Lucy Baird?

If you don't know (and as I said: major spoilers here ....), TBOSAS is a Hunger Games prequel about Snow's schoolboy experiences mentoring Lucy through the Hunger Games. He cheats to insure her survival and gets punished by being conscripted into the military and sent to District Twelve.

Once there, he and Lucy are suspected of shooting the mayor's daughter (Snow rightly, though it's arguably a kind of self-defense; Lucy is innocent but suspected because of her past) and decide to flee Panem entirely and live in the wilderness outside District Twelve. While fleeing they discover the gun used, meaning Snow at least can safely return to District Twelve once he's destroyed it - if he can trust Lucy to keep his secret.

All of which leads to my basic question. Snow, increasingly paranoid, shoots at Lucy with the same gun he used to kill the mayor's daughter. It's ambiguously written and very unclear what Snow actually sees and does and what he's imagining. Certainly Snow didn't find her body (he looked) or any other concrete evidence she actually died. She just sort of disappeared, and a lot of fan forums have discussions on what actually happened in there, if she was murdered by Snow or not.

I'm all for fan discussions, but for me the real question is, would it matter if she had? If she survived she certainly didn't return to Twelve (at least by the novel's end), and the most likely future other than her death is a solitary life lived in exile. Assuming she doesn't somehow find other exiles, would it actually matter if she went on to live decades more but separated from everyone?

I'm enough of a solitary soul, I think I could be quite content living on my own. But Lucy's a storyteller by nature, and that requires an audience, never mind an ensemble to sing the story along side. I wonder how meaningful a life could be if she didn't have anyone to share it with. Snow says he looks forward to getting away from people so the world can't twist him into hurting them. Lucy doesn't think people are so bad. She seems to really regret leaving her family behind, and in the books at least doesn't think she would have been able to force herself to leave Twelve if Snow wasn't going with her.

Again, though, it's not clearcut. She's not driven by actual love the way Katniss is with Prim, and her fight is to survive so she can live on and grow her own character and experiences, not to get back to her home or family or whatever else. In probably her clearest statement of what a well-lived life means for her, she says she's willing to die only "When I'm pure like a dove / When I've learned how to love / Right here in the old there before." You can't learn how to love without another person to love, I guess, but you could paint this as more a drive for self-actualization and developing into a better, more complete person. For moral progress, for lack of a better word: she wants to complete the song that is how we change and what we change into. And while most of us like community, that can be done on our lonesome.

Still. I have to imagine this complete an exile would be a kind of living death for someone like Lucy. Of course I much prefer to think of her living for decades after the book, even if the birds and the wind are her only companions. I'm just not sure for how long she'd agree.

[mellarked-katnisseverdeen]

Let's talk about Caesar Flickerman.

What's your opinion about him?

Where do you think Caesar falls onto, supporter of the Capitol or belong to the secret rebel line?

What's your favourite interview moment with Caesar? Why do you like this moment?

What do you think happened with Caesar after the war? Do you think he survived?

How do you like the portrayal in the movies from the books?

Do you like Stanley Tucci performance as Caesar?

Spoiler for TBOSAS :

What do you think the relationship between Lucky and Caesar? Actual blood relative? Or something else?

Thank you :)

@curiousnonny

So I think Caesar is a really good character for what he does. He is meant to be a tool for hypeing up tributes and the games. He does it very well! Personally that is as much as I am attached to his character. That said, he is incredibly cool, the movie version even more so, meaning I do get why some fans would love him. Me personally, I just don't have much more to say about him, funny enough.

As for my favorite moment with him, actually it's the first interview with Katniss. He genueinely seems to be attempting to help her out where she is clearly uncomfortable. As for if I think he is a rebel? Eh. Probabbly not. At least not directly. Though I like to headcanon he is somewhere on the side of being empathic to the rebels cause, and maybe even hopeing they win when the rebellion starts. But not outright a rebel or agasint the Capitol as a whole. I like to think he survived and tried to help the new governement get a good footing press wise.

I think his film version, and his actor were amazing!

Now, as for if he is related to Lucky or not...I would like to say yes. If feels like he is somehow directly related. But I guess we don't really know! There are actually a LOT of Capitol characters like that in TBoSaS. We see names that are familiar but with no direct explination of how they are all related.

[frick6101719]

the dress on the pinterest board reminds me of lucy grey’s rainbow dress (or at least the movie version) - do you think president snow was getting flashbacks seeing another performer in a similar style? like first katniss and then caerwyn i think he’d be having recurring nightmares

This is where I am extremely embarrassing and admit I have neither read nor watched TBoSaS 💀 I had made my own lore up about so many of the original trilogy characters so long ago that I think at first I was scared to see canon contradict me, and now somehow I've STILL not gotten around to checking it out. I have my sister's copy of the book kicking about somewhere too...

I think Snow is trying to figure out what he thinks about Caer, but he is not sure what to conclude. He knows she is a schemer, but I think, after last year, he is just generally a paranoid bastard and so he doesn't trust this conniving country bumpkin who seems eager to give him everything he wants from the Quell. He's been burned before, after all, and I he is seeing signs of foul play everywhere

[where-theres-smoak-2]

The difference between Malina in the book version and the series is striking. In the book, they annoy me. They are toxic to each other from a strength. And Mal, in addition to being the least interesting character, and just plain boring, is a walking red flag in relational terms. Which makes him unbearable. Especially because he takes up too much space in the story and in Alina's head too... In the series, Mal is very much like a human being! Sometimes I even want to give him a big hug. But he's still a pretty boring character because he's only defined by Alina. Being a good person in fiction is not enough. You must have a real personality. But the Malina relationship for me is above all family. They're each other's family, and I can't see them growing into a great love story.

I agree with all of this. When it comes to ships I tend to react in a few ways, either I love them and they are my do or die like darklina for example, I think they are cute but I am not quite at the obsessed level like david and genya or I am indifferent to them, don't really care find them a bit boring, like show m*lina. It is very rare that I will hate a ship to the point of not being able to stand them, but book M*lina did that to me. I think it might actually be the first fictional relationship that I can say I hated. It was just so toxic but not in an interesting way it was just way too real, M*l often emotionally manipulated Alina, even going so far as cheating on her, he often made her feel inadequate and self conscious and the two of them just weren't compatible at all and I spent the whole book series just waiting for them to realise they didn't work and break up with each other, something that never happens. They were a large part of what made reading the books so unenjoyable for me.

When it comes to the show I do think M*l is a much more likeable character but unfortunately he is bland as they've wrapped up too much of his character into Alina and how his character relates to Alina he doesn't really get any story lines of his own. As you said being a good person isn't enough in fiction there needs to be more to his personality. I've used this comparison before but take Peeta Mellark from the Hunger Games for example, he is your typical nice/good guy, he is someone who has always been in love with Katniss and she has alot to do with what drives his character's motivation, but his character isn't solely wrapped up in Katniss, we learn more about him outside of her and he has his own story that is separate from her. I am really hoping that when it comes to M*l's character in the show they do develop and branch his character out more in season 3.

[lilmackiereads]

A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins – SPOILER REVIEW

For my first official review, here is the fourth Hunger Games novel which I finished last week. A spoiler-free version of this review has already been posted on my blog if you prefer to read that.

My score chart: 0-5 stars

0 stars = Hate it/ Regret reading

1 star = Meh, not for me

2 stars = It was ok/ neutral

3 stars = Liked it

4 stars = Loved it

5 stars = One of my favorite books of all time!

Overall rating: 3 to 3.5 stars. I liked it, but it is my least favorite book of the series of four. I do recommend reading it though if you are a big fan of the Hunger Games trilogy, but if you are a casual fan then you can skip it. I would love for Collins to write two more books, one about the actual war while it was happening (at least 10 years before this story) as well as one that takes place between the end of Songbirds and Snakes and The Hunger Games. There is a whole six decades between these stories, so she has a lot of content to work with if she wants to. 

Do you agree or disagree with my review? DM me for your take and your recommendations. 

——

Detailed Review:

Plot = 3 stars

Part 1: The Mentor

Collins choosing to narrate the story from Coriolanus’s perspective was very refreshing to me. When reading the original series, I didn’t spend too much time considering what life would be like for Capitol innocents, such as children, who were affected by the war. The story he mentioned about being a child and seeing a neighborhood woman dying in the street and being eaten by a cannibal was such a wakeup call for me about what the Capitol experienced in the aftermath. I didn’t realize how much they were also starving since all of their food is grown in the Districts. 

Having the story take place during the 10th Hunger Games was very exciting since I was very curious to see how they have developed over the years, especially since they would have been harder to enforce directly after the war. Lucy Gray’s Reaping moment was iconic; I can’t believe that she was daring enough to put a snake down the mayor’s daughter’s outfit! I can’t wait for it to play out on the movie screen. 

Later, when Coriolanus sees how the tributes are bound and put into carnival train cars to be transported reminded me at how much the Capitol sees the tributes as animals. While Katniss and Peeta were still mistreated, at least they had a bullet train with gourmet food, luxury furniture, and air conditioning. On that note, keeping the 10th Games tributes in the zoo really hit the nail on the head for the lack of humanity. I was shocked when so many of the tributes died from starvation and exposure before the Games even started. I wasn’t sure if they would call for another Reaping to replace the tributes lost and that was making me anxious.

Another shock was when Arachne was killed by her District 10 tribute. How can I say this...? I was surprised, but not surprised. I wasn’t surprised at Arachne’s cruelty toward her tribute by taunting food in her face in front of the crowd and media, but I was surprised at how quickly the tribute was able to murder her, especially when surrounded by Peacekeepers. This (in a morbid way) is where the book drew me in. Another interesting touch was when the bombs went off in the arena before the Games during the Mentor and Tribute tour. This moment showed the Captiol that the District members meant business and actually helped the tributes by giving the arena more hiding spaces.

I feel wishy-washy about Coriolanus helping Lucy Gray cheat by giving her the idea to poison the other tributes with the makeup compact full of rat poison. Cheating can get her whole District in trouble and have had way worse repercussions than what he actually got as punishment in part 3. I really thought that they might kill Lucy Gray in public, even as a victor, to show the Districts that winning doesn’t mean anything. Perhaps this wouldn’t have worked and caused another revolt and maybe that’s why they just “punished” Coriolanus by not letting him go to University.

Part 2: The Prize

The relationship between Coriolanus and Sejanus was like a rollercoaster. I understood how Coriolanus felt about being afraid to put his family and future in danger, but at the same time, I think Sejanus was right about society as a whole. To be honest, I am definitely more like Coriolanus and would have put myself first, which sounds horrific, but... sorry not sorry. I think I would have been too much of a coward to be like Sejanus and would not have tried to martyr myself for Marcus or my former district. On that same track, Marcus’s death was brutal! Beheading is just a whole other level, but I do think that when the female tribute was whispering to him that she was asking for his permission to put him out of his misery and put herself ahead in the media’s eyes. I don’t think there was any malice in it. 

I was soooo worried for Sejanus when he stormed out after Marcus’s death and even more afraid when he trespassed into the arena to bless his body. I despise the fact that Coriolanus only went in to save his own skin, not because he really cared about Sejanus, which is especially sad since Sejanus sees him as a brother. Coriolanus defending himself against Bobbin was a great nerve-wracking scene because even though I knew Coriolanus was going to survive, Sejanus might not, and Coriolanus could still be greatly wounded. If he had been permanently wounded, I don’t think that he would ever reveal it to others. I think that he would imagine that others would see these wounds as weaknesses (proving that he is not invincible) rather than strengths (that he was brave and survived a tragedy). 

The fact that Lucy Gray won the Games was very predictable to me because she is a character foil and foreshadow toward Snow’s resentment (and respect) toward Katniss. However, I like that Lucy didn’t use physical combat to take out her competition, but rather used poison and mercy. The whole rabies aspect was spooky. It’s sad to think about how the Districts are not given adequate health care such as vaccines. I really hate her relationship with Coriolanus because he does not see her as an equal, but as property to be controlled and admired. She is just a trophy. A pretty songbird that he can put in a cage. 

Oh, and side note, I truly dislike how fricken direct the symbolism of Coriolanus is a snake and Lucy Gray is a bird. I mean, even her last name is Baird, which of course sounds like “bird” and literally means “someone who sings songs or poetry.” And Coriolanus Snow is cold-hearted. Cold, like snow. Ha. Soooo funnyyyy. I had never heard the name “Coriolanus” before, but it is originally made famous by the Shakespeare play. I haven’t read it, but this link here basically tells the same story as Songbirds and Snakes. So, I guess this prequel is really a Hunger Games fanfiction about Shakespeare’s story? It was a little disappointing to find out. I thought it was an original concept. Boo. 

Part 3: The Peacekeeper

I was very confused at first about why Dr. Gaul and Dean Highbottom would send Coriolanus to District 12 after winning the Hunger Games because it means he would reunite with Lucy Gray. I found this part to be a bit slow (which of course was to make us feel how bored Coriolanus was since there were no mental challenges in the Peacekeepr training other than executions.) I rushed through the blandness so I could get to the climax faster.

Yet, a few parts of this section that I liked are reading more about The Hob and the origin of “Katniss’s songs” from Mockingjay, which were created by Lucy Gray. The Hanging Tree scenes were terrifying. I wanted Coriolanus to act out and become a rebel, but I knew his sense of loyalty to the Capitol and self-preservation would get in the way. I liked how we learned how and why people become Peacekeepers since it seems like a terrible job to me, but apparently it has perks for a lot of people. I didn’t ever think about how the Rebels organize revolts with bombs or guns in their own districts. It makes me wonder if when Katniss’s dad died in the original story if that was a revolt gone wrong, just like how one of the mines was destroyed in this book. I always wondered why Suzanne Collins uses the mockingjay as the main symbol of the series because I feel like the reason was a bit vague in the trilogy, but I feel like I did get these answers in Songbirds and Snakes. Sejanus’s death was so sad. I had to read it quickly to get it over with so I would not get too emotional. His final word, “ma,” was absolutely haunting.

Lucy Gray’s end was a bit annoying. I knew deep down that Coriolanus would never run away with her or marry her, but I wasn’t sure if he was going to end up killing her or letting her go. Even worse, we don’t actually get to know. I would have liked a more definite answer on whether or not she escaped or was killed on their way north, but I get that Collins left it ambiguous like the song Lucy Gray was named after.

Heading back to the Capitol, the fact that the Snow family is responsible for most of the concepts used in the Hunger Games is both awful and amazing. I did like reading about how Coriolanus “innovated” the 10th Games to be more high-tech and interactive with the drone gifts, the betting, and the tributes and District winning a prize, but it makes me shudder to know that this infamy is what kept him in power all those decades. I wonder how old he was when he got elected president.

______

Overall Main Characters Rating = 3.5 stars

Coriolanus: 3 stars

Coriolanus describing the lack of nutrition, the hand-me-down clothes, the inability to afford his familial home, the desire to go to university without any savings, and being an orphan made me feel a lot of sympathy toward him. It now makes more sense into why he evolved into the villainous President Snow. I would have loved for him to have taken this trauma and turn it into something good, but he chose selfishness over selflessness. I feel like his “snap” against Sejanus was a bit rushed, like Daenerys Targaryen, so I would have like a little more to happen before his change. He always valued his own life over Sejanus and others who lived in the districts, but his decision to turn against him just felt a bit hasty. 

Lucy Gray: 4 stars

Despite the fact that Lucy Gray and her successor, Katniss Everdeen, are both thin brunettes with lovely voices from District 12, I find Lucy Gray much more likable. She has so much spunk and passion for life and art that I think she would be a fun person to be around in person. She is definitely a glass half-full kind of girl and sees the beauty in the frightening. I find her Covey background interesting and want to know so much more about those who live “outside” of the Districts and Capitol since I had no idea people exist outside of there (which is exactly what the Capitol wants you to think). However, I am grateful that this story was not from her persepective because it would have been to similar to the original.

Sejanus: 4.5 stars

He was my absolute favorite! I think he was the best because he was the only person we met that could really bridge the gap between District and Capitol lives. His conflicting relationships with Marcus, Coriolanus, and his family broke my heart. Even though the book is narrated from Coriolanus’s perspective, I would have liked if this was written like Marie Lu’s Legend series where it goes back and forth between characters that have different opinions about the war. He would get 5 stars if we got chapters from his perspective. He is the exact opposite of Coriolanus since he is impulsive, outspoken, and ashamed of his family, while Coriolanus is calculated, reserved, and proud of his heritage to a fault. I like seeing the two of them together because they are so different. 

Dr. Gaul = 3.5 stars

I really enjoyed Dr. Gaul, but I can’t give her more than 3.5 stars because I yearned to see more of her lab experiments, and I feel like the readers didn’t get to see much more than the snakes. Her manipulation throughout the plot gets snaps from me, especially sending Coriolanus to District 12 for him to spy for her when he didn’t even realize he was a spy. Brilliant!

Tigris = 3 stars

I like how sweet she is, but other than taking care of Coriolanus and Grandma’am, she doesn’t do much. I need to know how and why she became the woman she is in Mockingjay. Considering I didn’t even mention her at all in my “plot” section, I think she definitely needed to be more fleshed out.

_____

Would I read it again? Yes. Especially after the film comes out since I enjoy comparing books to movies. I’m afraid of what they will cut out because they are only doing one film and there is a lot of content here. I have a feeling they won’t show Marcus’s beheading due to its gruesome nature or the District 12 hangings. They might just mention it or cut away when the actual violence happens which is understandable for a PG-13 film, but disappointing in showing the true fear of the moment. I think that’s part of why these books are so scary though. Violence can happen to people at any age, and it has throughout history. Keeping it from people doesn’t protect them from it, but showing too much numbs people to it. It’s a hard balance. I hope that the film shows the whole story justice.