flouronmypjs t1_jddq98d wrote on March 23, 2023 at 5:38 PM

I honestly think they are the darkest books I've ever read. I don't understand when they are criticized for a lack of darkness, that doesn't resonate with my experience of reading those books. The movies glossed over or removed a lot of the darkest stuff but the books have some truly dark stuff.

I think there's room for criticism in any book. But I do think with Hunger Games there is a bit of an odd mixture of both the movies influencing people's perceptions of the books and inherent bias against YA books.

PinkMoonbow t1_jdem3kw wrote on March 23, 2023 at 9:00 PM

Ikr this is the first I'm reading these books aren't dark?! The one thing I will describe them as is dark. There is a dark undertone running through the entire series when you read it. The background music score captures that very well in the film adaptation too.

baker8590 t1_jdf9tif wrote on March 23, 2023 at 11:40 PM

Yeah the movie kinda go ooh look how horrible kids are killing each other but it's fun action. But the books really go in depth about how dark and horrible it all is. Plus the starvation, punishments, and other things the capitol does to keep them in line.

flouronmypjs t1_jdfbi1e wrote on March 23, 2023 at 11:52 PM

Yeah the stuff that really sticks out to me is some of the more horrifying stuff that the Capitol and District 13 do in the books. Off the top of my head: The mutts at the end of Katniss's first Hunger Games are much darker in the books than in the movies. The avoxes are more fleshed out in the books, and speak to just how far the Capitol will go to oppress people. The imprisonment and torture of Octavia, Venus and Flavia in District 13 was completely left out of the movies, to terrible effect I think because in the books that's a huge signifier that Coin should not become President. And just in general the suffering of people in the outer districts is a lot clearer in the books. The movies kinda take a lot of that out and replace it with an emphasis on a love triangle that barely even exists in the books.

baker8590 t1_jdfgmta wrote on March 24, 2023 at 12:28 AM

One thing that stuck with me from my recent reread that they didn't have in the movies was what happened with the traps they set against the rebels in the capitol when the final fight was happening. That as the rebels advanced pods started to go off and mutts attacking the capitol citizens. They cared more about keeping control than protecting the citizens. But that was why the strike against the kids that killed Prim was so easily attributed to them and why Katniss had more trouble figuring out who did it.

flouronmypjs t1_jdfgtrz wrote on March 24, 2023 at 12:29 AM

Man, I haven't reread the series in a few years. I didn't even remember that detail but it is a great one. Time for a reread!