holdenreg11's Reviews (128)

This was sweet! I enjoyed Vi’s arc!

I didn’t give it more than 4 because I did struggle getting through the longer story, but the rest were amazing! 

Wow. Incredibly heartbreaking but well written. At this point, I have read 5 Didion books and this was by far her most personal and in depth. She had a beautiful way of making the most specific memories feel very universal. I particularly loved the circular storytelling. 

This was fun! Once it picked up, I was sucked in! 

Wow. As a lifelong fan (literally read these for the first time 15 years ago)- I don’t even know where to begin. The story told and the broader and also more in depth description of the capitol and the YEARS long efforts to overturn it are incredible. 

Always reading the original trilogy, I always wondered how they got to where they were and why Hay trusted those he did and this was just WOW. 

I think this definitely is now on my top 2 for favorite hunger games books. The context added and world building really made the capitol seem even more dark and sinister than the OGs. Masterful work, further solidifies my opinion that these books will be considered classics one day. 

SPOILERS GOING FORWARD!!! 

• Haymitch’s family being rebels in the past is an amazing touch early on. Perosnally, when reading the OG trilogy, it never felt very clear as to where he stood against the capitol. Did he win because he wanted to survive? It makes sense that his family has always been a part of it 
• Him being friends with Katniss’ dad and mom adds great complexity to his relationship with katniss, especially in book 1 
• The OG trilogy does a great job of casting the victors in line with capitol…until the end of catching fire when they all had to compete again and ultimately escape and rebel. I love how in this, it is clear that even though they have won- they know that they are never safe and are actively working against the capitol 
• If you didn’t the capitol was sinister (or as sinister) this book changes that 
• July 4th being reaping day?! Gagggyyyyyy 
• Lenora is a relative of Lucy ! 
• Wowowow, what is Plutarch doing there!! 
• Wiress and Mags being the ultimate allies/mentors 
• Wiress’ games is CRAZY 
• Love the newcomers alliance 
• The Beetee/Aster dynamic is heartbreaking but badass- another plan to destroy a QQ arena?! Of course! 
• Awww Effie! 
• Having all the names of the tributes is a fun touch! Also lots of discussing/mentions of districts not mentioned much before (6,7,10) 
• At 50% through, my main question is what happened in the 25 years between this and the Trilogy to really glamorize the experience and fine tune everything? I was expecting that by 50, it would have been much more refined and this is chaos! 
• Wow, Haymitchs experience in the arena is so intense, it seems like the capitol has of course scrubbed the footage of these games (based on what Katniss and Peeta watch) 
• The plan to destroy the arena felt short lived, but clearly did something 
• The way that the capitol completely altered his experience in the arena was chilling and is lightly mentioned in other books, but got its start because of Hay for sure 
• His return to District 12 is heartbreaking, but I saw that coming- there was no way he would return home to anyone
• Snow “making” him kill Lenore was the cherry on top 
• The fucking epilogue! This essentially was Hay’s addition to some book that Katniss and Peeta put together with the rest of the new world 
• I’m just glad he didn’t die 

This was extremely dark and somewhat cyclical, but very beautiful. 

Hmmm I really wanted to like this one more! I thought the plot was an interesting idea and at times really came clear. But I found some of the overall messaging and flashbacks to be incredibly repetitive compared to the major plot points in the present that happened really quickly.