Who's read the Hunger Games trilogy?
Do you like it or hate it - and why?
Are you 'team Peeta' or 'team Gale'?
Do you like the characters or find them annoying?
Any teenage dystopian fiction that you'd recommend as being better than this?

I've read the first two books of the trilogy. I'm keeping an eye out for the third in hard copy.

It is an enjoyable read, the second more so than the first. The series falls into the category of light entertainment reading. By light, I mean easy to read. I do a lot of dense theory reading for school, so it's nice to read something that doesn't take much brain power to process.

I would be Team Peeta. Katniss has been hunting with Gale for years, and she doesn't start to have feelings for him until after she leaves. Gale is comfortable and familiar, which is what she really misses. Peeta is different from her and thus challenges her as a person. I don't think Katniss is a catch as a companion. She is too caught up in her own mind. She's selfish, and whoever she ends up with will always be putting more into the relationship than her.

I find aspects of Katniss to be very annoying. She is suggested to be a rather sharp girl. She has to have some street smarts to have been hunting illegally and selling her animals on the black market, but that doesn't really show throughout the books. I was also disappointed that she never goes on the offensive in the first book unless she is forced to. She was a very passive winner.

If you enjoy dystopian fiction, I would recommend the Battle Circle series by Piers Anthony. It's not teenage, per se, but a good portion of the series follows the love story of two teenagers (who meet when they are forced to fight to the death).

Ah yes, definitely easy reading - well, I guess most teen novels are. I find teen novels are great to read when I'm tired and don't have a lot of energy to focus. And gosh, I totally agree Katniss isn't a catch at all - well, I suppose she's sexy and that's what attracts the guys, but gosh she is so uptight and self-centred.

I agree Peeta challenges her in different ways than she's used to. I think Gale challenges her too though - he's a lot more politically aware than she is, and his ideas are more radical than Peeta's, but she often just doesn't get where he's coming from, even though she goes on about how she can read him perfectly. I think I might be team Gale, actually, if I were forced to pick a team, because Gale sees the bigger picture more, and has wider goals than simply protecting Katniss. But I think he could do better than Katniss!

I didn't think it was a flaw that she didn't go on the offensive in the first book - she didn't want to kill anyone. Besides, she hadn't been trained as a 'Career', and she knew attempting to kill those who were trained to kill wasn't wise. So she was doing what she knew best - hunting and protecting herself. I actually thought that aspect was quite believable!

I'm 15% of the way through Mockingjay. It seems to be going in quite a different direction from the first two books. I'll check out the Battle Circle - thanks for the recommendation.

i read all the books..
each book took only but a few hours.
i loved it,
i was so in to the book it was like i could see EVERYTHING HAPPENING
im very hard when it comes to the teems im both but i lean a little more toward gale
i like most of the caracters,
but i fond Effie Trinket a little dumb
i dont really thing ive read any betters ones..
well the Vampire Doiary Books were okay

I've read all three books.

Do you like it or hate it - and why?
I like it and dislike it. I think because I like the concept and to me, it's interesting buuuut I'm
with you both on not liking Katniss. There's just something about her that's annoying.
I hate to say this but she annoys me like Bella from Twilight. I'm not sure what it is exactly.

Are you 'team Peeta' or 'team Gale'?
Definitely Team Peeta. I just found him to be more likeable than Gale.
Although I still have a soft spot for Gale. lol.

Do you like the characters or find them annoying?
I like Finnick and Peeta. They are my favorite characters.
I also found myself liking Haymitch despite his harshness and I like Cinna.
Katnis is definitely annoying.
Gale is just.....not really annoying but I don't necessarily like his character.
He seems hard and bitter, which is to be expected, I guess.

Haha - I've also been finding her quite similar to Bella in Twilight, which I totally wasn't expecting, as there are so many memes circulating Facebook about how she's the complete opposite to Bella. I think it's her moodiness and awkwardness and self-importance - the fact she takes herself so seriously and sees most other people as petty and shallow and not worth her time.

I like Peeta more than Gale too - although I'm still at the beginning of the third book, so Gale hasn't featured very heavily in the trilogy yet. I don't think Katniss should end up with Peeta though. I don't understand what he sees in her at all. Gosh, what is it with these books where attractive, courageous, noble, caring guys are fighting over a moody, selfish brat of a girl?! Wish-fulfilment for female teenage readers maybe! ;D

I completely agree that it must be written for wish-fulfillment
for teenage readers because I've noticed the theme quite often.
There's a TV show on MTV called Awkward and both of the most
attractive, popular guys in the school are attractive the the ok looking/
whiny/"nerdy" girl. I can see one popular/attractive person secretly
wishing to be with the "nerd" but both of them? A bit outlandish if you ask me.
That never happens.
Also...I hate how the "nerdy" girl is always just a beautiful girl with glasses.
Come on, lets see some real unattractive nerdy people get the guy.
Haha.
Sorry for straying from the topic but it just annoys me. lol.