Adult reviewers misunderstand major plot points of popular young adult trilogy

For the past three years The Hunger Games trilogy has been the victim of several misinformed reviewers. There are so many reviews that have been published, and that have completely missed the point of the books.
The Hunger Games was published in September 2008.
One review by Stephen King, published six days before the release, described the book as “fairly standard teen-read stuff.” He retorted about the “love triangle: what 16-year-old girl wouldn’t like to have two interesting guys to choose from?”
This was the first mistake made by this trilogy’s reviewers. Almost every single one after King seemed to follow suit, focusing on the romance in the novel. To those who haven’t read The Hunger Games: The romance is such a minor part of the first book, that it’s sad King even feels compelled to mention it. Sure it creates appeal, but it isn’t what the books are about.
These books are about the fight against the injustice, the poverty, the desperate inhumanity of the future world. They are about kids seeing through the monopolizing world of politics and about a youth doing everything in her power to escape the death game, trying to overcome something so out of her grasp that the adults begin to fear her.
“Once inside the death match arena, she must get down and dirty to outlive her competitors, but there’s one slight problem. Her hot friend Peeta gets cast into the games, too. In the midst of all the slaying, Katniss finds herself embroiled in a love triangle with her longtime pal Gale, who is watching the games from his home, and Peeta, who confesses his love for her inside the arena.” That’s the view of a tabloid reviewer for CNN who probably didn’t even read the book.
Peeta and Katniss weren’t friends. Peeta is never described as “hot” or even good-looking for that matter. The only thing attracting Katniss to Peeta in the end is that they can make it out of the arena as a team for their district. Peeta confesses his love as a ploy, BEFORE they enter the arena, to gain sponsorship from someone who could send supplies during the games.
Catching Fire was published in September 2009, a sequel to The Hunger Games.
Entertainment Weekly, a company apparently known and reputed for their entertainment coverage may have written the worst review mankind has ever read…and then wept.
Katniss, previously described as a brave and tragic girl fighting against a giant, is thrown down to the status of an “adolescent girl who crushed on a sexy hunter. In between romantic daydreams, [she] shot strange beasts, dodged force fields, and battled murderous zombie werewolves usually while wearing fabulous glitzy outfits.”
As ironic as it is, this reviewer is looking at this story in the EXACT way that the Capitol saw the annual Hunger Games event.
The author of this review went on to say “Katniss pretends to be in love with her sweet-natured Games teammate Peeta Mellark, but she secretly pines for brooding Gale, a childhood friend. Except why? There’s little distinction between the two thinly imagined guys, other than the fact that Peeta has a dopier name. Collins conjures none of the erotic energy that makes Twilight, for instance, so creepily alluring.”
First, Katniss is not pining for Gale, she is trying to repair a faded friendship. However, it really makes sense that this reviewer had a hard time finding distinction between Gale and Peeta, since there is no way she both wrote this review and read the book. And “the erotic energy that makes Twilight…so creepily alluring” is missing? Catching Fire is not a romance novel. Catching Fire is nothing like Twilight. Catching Fire is not supposed to be alluring. Catching Fire is not meant to be erotic. This review was a disgrace to Entertainment Weekly.
Mockingjay was published in August 2010, the final book in the trilogy.
Entertainment Weekly (thankfully) wrote an incredibly short review with little opinion and nothing specific about the book. The angry comments on their first two reviews must have taught their staff to read the books and understand the concepts before writing about them. Apparently, the YA reviewers were either unwilling or incapable.
The one semi-successful review of the Hunger Games trilogy out there (from NY Times) at least got one thing right. “That just goes to show how much adults forget about what it’s like to be a child. Kids are physical creatures, and they’re not stupid. They know all about violence and power and raw emotions. What’s really scary is when adults pretend that such things don’t exist.”

Lovely Bones Strikes a Chord

This book is amazing. It is awesomely narrated by a girl trying help her family, from the “in-between” of life and death, to cope with her murder, while she tries to deal with it herself. From the horrific violence of the crime scene and the grief, to the redeeming hope of finding the truth, The Lovely Bones is a whirlwind journey to the emotional depths of people everywhere.
The take on life Susie Salmon, the murdered girl, has is stirring. It’s told in a point of view from a person who isn’t really there, and the omniscience she brings reveals how blind people on earth really are. Their scope of life is severely limited, which makes the reader want to cry and yell at the people and tell them everything you know. It makes you feel the way Susie does: stuck.
This book truly contains a wrenching story. I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who is willing to deal with mature subjects, as it IS about a girl who has been raped and murdered. I commend the author Alice Sebold. Once you have read the book, be sure to see the movie, directed by Peter Jackson. There are certainly changes, as any book adaptation will have, but it brought me to tears, as did the book.

A Great and Terrible Beauty: Great and Terrible

A Great and Terrible Beauty, written by Libba Bray, is without a doubt a mysterious selection. It’s a story about the girl Gemma who seems to have been touched by destiny. It is a shockingly cryptic view of her misfortunes and struggles with regret, confusion, strange visions, and fitting in at her 19th century school.
While the book is mainly a drama/mystery, it contains hints of romance and adventure, which may have been an unnecessary addition to the book. While it adds more themes to the book and widens the book’s appeal, it tames the spookiness and creates more monotony than is intended.
This book is very peculiar. If you like peculiar books, you should definitely check this one out and its sequels: Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing. Aside from the few chapters the drag on, A Great and Terrible Beauty is a thrilling way to escape the throng of everyday life…

Dragons Rock

How to Train Your Dragon is a classic story of a coming of age boy vying for the acceptance of his peers and father; Hiccup is a teenager growing up in a colony of Vikings, but unlike all of the other teens in this colony, Hiccup is skinny, weak, and amazingly clumsy. The Vikings see him as a burden to his father, the Viking leader and the best dragon slayer in the entire village.

The story truly begins when Hiccup shoots down a Night Fury, a dragon that “never misses”. This dragon has never been seen before, but leaves devastation in its wake. When he find the dragon in the forest tangled up in his net Hiccup finds that he cannot bear to kill the creature. After hundreds of years of war between Vikings and dragons, he is the first Viking that will not, or could not kill a dragon. After befriending the dragon, he realizes that they are not as frightening as the Vikings make them, they are just as afraid of humans, as humans are afraid of their kind.

A main theme of this movie is understanding others and that not everything that seems scary is deserving of that harsh emotion.

The voicing is perfect, and the animation will easily capture the attention of the audience. Each character has been well thought out and blends together to make a wonderful story; although the critters in this movie aren’t as cute and cuddly as in other films, they each provide an important aspect to the reoccurring theme of understanding the thoughts and feelings of others, even if those others are frightening.

Many people say that animals are just as afraid of humans as humans are of them, and that is another important concept in this film.

With so many themes, this movie provides learning to the younger audience and insight to the older audience,and the ideas implied through the script are universal. Children as well as parents and even teens will be able to enjoy this movie. With a score of 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and high ratings on many other sites, it is clear that this film is worth the hour and a half taken out of your day.

Lip Synch delivers strong performance

Lip Synch, an 11-year tradition held only by Rider, once again brought down the house on three separate occasions with its mix of intense and emotional pieces.

Though one would expect every song in Lip Synch to exceed expectations, some fell flat and left me searching for the point of that torturing and pointless three minutes. One of these agonizing songs was “Pink Ego Box”, introduced as an Alice in Wonderland take. It turned to be a poorly choreographed chaos of people. The song didn’t hold true to its Alice in Wonderland homage, having random cast members dancing oddly and others flipping through the aisles created a twisted and confusing roller coaster ride that I couldn’t wait to stop.

Though the next song I couldn’t comprehend wasn’t quite the same level of agony, “Paint It Black” seemed to be a song quickly thrown together without a true point to draw the viewer in. I had to make myself pay attention as I searched for how this song made it past Jefferson’s eagle eye. The answer to that question is still left unanswered.

After hearing to worst of the night, we must now step through that mess and look at the highlights of the night. “Gold Lion”, a song about the strength of women and how they took their own lives out of the men’s control and became their own people. I greatly enjoyed, not only the song, but also the storyline.

Another great song was “Blue Lips”, an interesting song with many biblical and worldly allusions that lured in the audience and left me wanting more.

The final favorite of the night was “White Houses”, a song every teenage girl can easily relate to with a storyline of one’s first love and one’s first mistake with a boy. It would bring tears to anyone’s eyes as they feel for the girl who lost it all and joy with a hint of menace for the girl who got it all.

Lip Synch will always bring a full spectrum of emotions to every audience member and will forever remain one of Rider’s most loved and anticipated traditions.