Hunger Games and Midnight Riot

Hunger Games, the book.  Written for young adults but not really for young adults.  Maybe if they were in class and reading it together as a unit it would be good, but there is a lot of subjects that should be talked about in a group setting. 

Together they were a fast read, not very gripping as a whole but there were parts that I had difficulty putting down.  Book one was the best.  The second book was mostly good, only like a lot of second books the main character dropped down to a reluctance level as they had in the first book.  Also the second book might have been better if it had focused on the second main character Peeta, because he was a more likable character, which is a departure from what I usually like to read.  The third book was strained and at times the plot felt rushed, but mostly the pre climactic sequence did not match with the ending; it was like the climax was dropped from the book.

I read a series once that was like this series, in the way the quality of the story held up.  First books every one has time, time to write, time to imagine, time to kill, basically time to get it right.  The second book, the ideas are fresh and fame has not happened, perhaps the book has only just hit the presses and you have time and the novel is still good.  The third novel, you have fame, you have money, you have pressure, the ideas are not flowing, you feel that you could go in two directions.  The first direction is to knuckle under and get the story out as fast as you can so you can duck out and relax, maybe go to see how the movie is going and let's face it, it is finished, but it is not up to the quality of the first book.  Or, you can tell your publishers that if they want a good finale, they will have to wait.  You expand the plot line you lengthen the book, instead of three hundred pages it tops out at five hundred, but in the end it might take you an extra year to write and publish , but it is a better book.  Suzanne Collins took the first route; parts of her second book are trash and the whole ending of the third book.  Mockingjay my ass, Mockingbook.

And then I read Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch.  WoW.  A contemporary magic police thriller whodunit.  Magic like Harry Potter?  Yes and no, the difference is this is real.  Okay no broomsticks though.  Actually the world is London, England and the Chinese Celestial Bureaucracy is in full force, gods, nymphs, trolls, goblins, vampires and mages, well only one wizard.  Back in the sixties all the mages assumed that technology was going to replace magic and all the wizards decided to pack it in without realizing that magic and technology can coexist together.  

Midnight Riot was a much tougher read, the print was smaller and the use of big words and plenty of London specific acronyms made it confusing and an exercise for my mind to read, unlike the Hunger Games.  Still I plowed through it on a holiday and a half day off in a few sittings, basically thirty hours minus eating and sleeping and being friendly to the locals.  I will be getting the sequel Moon Over Soho as soon as I can.