Sometimes my life feels like a Edgar Allan Poe Poem. Lenore forevermore!
In other news, I finished The Hunger Games on my Kindle yesterday (my first fully read ebook and Kindle book- even though I have had a ebook reader on my cell phone which I never used more than out of morbid curiousity)
What did I think of The Hunger Games?
The short answer is that I liked it.
The long answer is more complex.
1. I liked how it was not a book like Battle Royale which was a rampant blood fest. What I mean is that the main characters did not wade into the action like Steven Segal and start tallying up a body count. Katniss only kills a one person directly, the rest of her kills are indirect albeit intentional. She comes through the book changed but she isn't a cold blooded killer with a notebook full of one liners.
2. I liked everything but the weird Mutt-werewolf-things. They were too much. I won't say that I did not get the sense of something more but rather it was a convenient plot device that was poorly executed. I would have rather seen Peeta and Katniss confront the killer Cato and defeat him in combat then face their own dilemma then the way it was played out instead.
3. The best part of the first book was the memories of Katniss as they formed a more complete picture of her world than her present. It was a very good use of flashback and worked effectively in keeping me interested in the principle characters that have been introduced.
4. The worst part of the book was the total lack of reality when it comes to cameras and how they could or could not work. I guess this comes from being a camera/tv/video professional. There was no science in the science fiction on this one (let me clarify): while I appreciate the story being told from Katniss' experience and knowledge- there were things that were fully explained that she probably did not actually know like the nature of several of the weapons, the workings of the arena. I could suspend my disbelief on these things since it was sufficiently backed up. My problem with the cameras goes like this:
1. Cameras are troublesome at best of times. Light exposure/color temperature/white balance non-withstanding. For the cameras to be unseen is one thing but to hide them and then have them see inside caves, in trees, in sleeping bags and the like is almost too much of stretch. The only explanation the author gives is through a tiny implant that Katniss and the other tributes are impregnated with. There are no visible signs that this is anything other than a tracking device rather than some kind of camera. If it were a camera how could it see/film itself?
2. If the cameras are coming from satellites then why not say so. If they are they bust be using a completely fictional format since the can see through solid and liquid objects. differentiate without much inference and what is more be amazingly selective all without being seen by any of the characters except when the plot necessitates it.
More tomorrow on The Hunger Games
In other news, I finished The Hunger Games on my Kindle yesterday (my first fully read ebook and Kindle book- even though I have had a ebook reader on my cell phone which I never used more than out of morbid curiousity)
What did I think of The Hunger Games?
The short answer is that I liked it.
The long answer is more complex.
1. I liked how it was not a book like Battle Royale which was a rampant blood fest. What I mean is that the main characters did not wade into the action like Steven Segal and start tallying up a body count. Katniss only kills a one person directly, the rest of her kills are indirect albeit intentional. She comes through the book changed but she isn't a cold blooded killer with a notebook full of one liners.
2. I liked everything but the weird Mutt-werewolf-things. They were too much. I won't say that I did not get the sense of something more but rather it was a convenient plot device that was poorly executed. I would have rather seen Peeta and Katniss confront the killer Cato and defeat him in combat then face their own dilemma then the way it was played out instead.
3. The best part of the first book was the memories of Katniss as they formed a more complete picture of her world than her present. It was a very good use of flashback and worked effectively in keeping me interested in the principle characters that have been introduced.
4. The worst part of the book was the total lack of reality when it comes to cameras and how they could or could not work. I guess this comes from being a camera/tv/video professional. There was no science in the science fiction on this one (let me clarify): while I appreciate the story being told from Katniss' experience and knowledge- there were things that were fully explained that she probably did not actually know like the nature of several of the weapons, the workings of the arena. I could suspend my disbelief on these things since it was sufficiently backed up. My problem with the cameras goes like this:
1. Cameras are troublesome at best of times. Light exposure/color temperature/white balance non-withstanding. For the cameras to be unseen is one thing but to hide them and then have them see inside caves, in trees, in sleeping bags and the like is almost too much of stretch. The only explanation the author gives is through a tiny implant that Katniss and the other tributes are impregnated with. There are no visible signs that this is anything other than a tracking device rather than some kind of camera. If it were a camera how could it see/film itself?
2. If the cameras are coming from satellites then why not say so. If they are they bust be using a completely fictional format since the can see through solid and liquid objects. differentiate without much inference and what is more be amazingly selective all without being seen by any of the characters except when the plot necessitates it.
More tomorrow on The Hunger Games
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