SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

So I watched the trailer for the Hunger Games, a trailer which is apparently making grown women cry and others "freak out" and I have to say... wha?

It seems quite pedestrian to me, far less exciting than most other based-on-a-YA-novel trailers I've seen. I'd never heard of City of Ember, but this trailer made me want to see it. Same for The Lightning Thief, and even Cirque du Freak. (Which has the same kid from Zathura as sidekick.)

The Hunger Games looks pale by comparison. Kind of like a teenage Running Man. I assume people who are freaking out about this trailer are bringing their feelings about the book to the trailer, because looking at it as someone who hasn't read the books, this doesn't make me want to see it. Or read the book, for that matter.

I was wildly underwhelmed by the series. I'll probably see the movie, but only because all my young cousins will be begging me to take them.

I can see how the trailer looks lame if you haven't read the books.

Um, yeah...

I have to say the trailer looks pretty decent. I'm vaguely interested in seeing the movie, even though I was underwhelmed by the book. For me, most of the books issue was that I never really felt the tension or suspense, and I think a lot of that had to do with poor narration. (Sorry to those who loved it, that's just what I thought.)

But I think the movie could take the idea and perhaps up the ante.

But that trailer making people cry and freak out? Erm... it looks like a lot of other action movies I've seen. Maybe 'cause it's kids, though. I know that's what some people I knew reacted to - not just the notion of having people fight for their lives in this arena kind of combat, but the fact that it was kids doing it.

Does anyone know the rating? I assume they'll be going for a PG-13 on it.

I agree with Colleen - the book really didn't do that much for me due to the reasons she stated, but I think it'd work quite well as a movie. I thought the trailer looked promising.

I agree with you guys! After I finished reading the first book, I didn't want to read the rest of the series. Just didn't really like it.

But the trailer does make me want to watch it. The film might be even better than the books.

I loved the books personally, but the plot was SOOOO obvious throughout the entire series for all the books. I knew what was going to happen in every single one chapters before it did.

The trailer made them cry and whatnow? O.o (I guess they've never seen Battle Royale ;))

I thought the books were entertaining, although since I *had* seen (if not read, it wasn't translated into any language I could read until years later) Battle Royale the whole premise didn't feel particularly new and shocking to me. I hope some of the narrative issues might be taken care of by turning it into a movie as well, and I gather Jennifer Lawrence is supposed to be a pretty good actress?

Trike wrote: "...I'd never heard of City of Ember, but this trailer made me want to see it. Same for The Lightning Thief, and even Cirque du Freak..."

@Trike - I really enjoyed City of Ember and Cirque du Freak as family movies. To me they weren't hard-core fantasy type movies.

I share other opinions with the The Hunger Games Trilogy Boxset. The first book was pretty good the other two were very predictable but reasonable extensions of the first book. I read them in anticipation of the movie coming out.

EJ Luv Zombie wrote: "I loved the books personally, but the plot was SOOOO obvious throughout the entire series for all the books. I knew what was going to happen in every single one chapters before it did."

I think this is one reason I never really felt the tension or suspense of the stories, precisely because everything was so obvious that I was never in any real fear for the main characters or anything.

± Colleen of the Crawling Chaos ± wrote: "EJ Luv Zombie wrote: "I loved the books personally, but the plot was SOOOO obvious throughout the entire series for all the books. I knew what was going to happen in every single one chapters befor..."

I feel bad now and can't really say anything because I'm not a published author like her, but I mean COME ON, drop a small hint, but don't freaking tell us exactly what is about to happen to her. The medicine to make Peeta fall asleep in the first book, GOOD! The bomb idea in the last book with the healer people... BAD! She ruined the whole shock at the end.

I have a theory that people who don't/haven't read much SF are likely to be shocked and awed by this series. But people who have, especially people who have read post-apocalyptic SF before, are more likely to say "Yeah, seen this before." (I'm basing this on my mother's reaction and mine. Yeah, I know that this is a small sample, and that there are plenty of contradictory data points out there....)

I've only read the first book which I liked and intend to read the others. I dunno, I thought there was some good tension in the book.

The only potentially shocking thing will be how violent the film will be but I can see it all being pretty tame, hence I can't get excited about it,

I'll probably end up watching it though.

I personally really enjoyed the books, but it looks to me like it won't make that good a movie, based on the trailer. Seems to me it's going to be one of those full of in accuracies. ('Cmon, the chick who's playing Katniss is chubby.... they were starving.)

Snail in Danger (Sid) wrote: "I have a theory that people who don't/haven't read much SF are likely to be shocked and awed by this series. But people who have, especially people who have read post-apocalyptic SF before, are more likely to say "Yeah, seen this before." "

I find that's true with a lot of these uber-popular books. I read Wicked and was all, "What's the big deal? He reimagined Wizard of Oz from the witch's perspective. Been there, done that." Now we have a whole slew of these things coming out in books and movies and I have to wonder where all these people have been for the past 60 years.

Jack wrote: "I personally really enjoyed the books, but it looks to me like it won't make that good a movie, based on the trailer. Seems to me it's going to be one of those full of in accuracies. ('Cmon, the chick who's playing Katniss is chubby.... they were starving.)"

To be fair, that's what we mean by "starving" in America.

"Oh God, I am STARVING! I haven't eaten in," checks smart phone, "Two hours!"

Jack wrote:"('Cmon, the chick who's playing Katniss is chubby.... they were starving.)"

A pot-bellied malnourished female star would have been a bit off-putting?

Jennifer Lawrence is chubby? In what universe, exactly?

Peggy wrote: "Jennifer Lawrence is chubby? In what universe, exactly?"

I know, right? :/

Peggy wrote: "Jennifer Lawrence is chubby? In what universe, exactly?"

She's GIGANTIC. She must weigh, what, 100 pounds? I mean come on, a size zero as a starving waif? Preposterous!

What do you mean fat? Sure she doesn't look like she lived in Africa, but come on would you really watch someone who looked like they were dying the entire time...

I'm going to watch it, but I know I'm going to be mad with the inaccuracies. There are always a few.

I enjoyed the books and I am planning on seeing the movie.

I liked the books very much. I'm underwhelmed by the trailer, but that's partly because I was so moved and impressed by an amateur effort I saw on YouTube. I only wish I believed the theatrical release would be as good. You can see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_jw3z... -- but it does involve spoilers.

I rather liked the first book in the series, and it had plenty of tension/ surprises for me (the 2nd & 3rd books a bit too teen-angsty and repetitive of the first, but still good). the trailer was a bit bland. it was more like a series of quick snippets for people who had read the books than an enticement to see a movie. if I hadn't read them, this trailer wouldn't lure me in, or let me know what all the fuss was about.

I don't know if I care for the trailer much either. The one posted showed very little of what I thought was the meat of the book. I did like the book fairly well, but I couldn't wait to get to the actual games part even while reading it.

I started the book then saw the film last week. I'm not sure i'll go back to the book now. I saw the film described as a cross between the films "the Running Man" and "the Truman Show"...after seeing the film its a great comparison.

This discussion is interesting. I read and write speculative fiction (it's 80% of what I read) and I really liked the first two books in the series. I couldn't put them down. I didn't, however, enjoy the 3rd book as much for various reasons.

As far as the movie goes, I'm always leery of books adapted into movies. It's a tough thing to do satisfactorily. I took 3 people who had not read Hunger Games to see the film. They all liked it. And even though there were some different choices I would have made, I thought they did a pretty good job of it. They hit all the major plot points and visually it was interesting (although the Cornucopia was strangely smaller than I had always imagined).

I also thought Jennifer Lawrence was an excellent Katniss, although I didn't think Peeta or Gale were cast as well. But, we all have our own vision of what the characters are like when we read a book.

Snail in Danger (Sid) wrote: "I have a theory that people who don't/haven't read much SF are likely to be shocked and awed by this series. But people who have, especially people who have read post-apocalyptic SF before, are mo..."

Danika, I was likewise with people who hadn't read the books, and they also liked (but were not gushing with love for) the movie.

I found the movie to be a little pointless. I liked it well enough, and I think they did a very good job with the "reaping" scene in particular, but overall it was just a summary of the high points. the major flaw, i think, is that they had to soften a whole lot of things to keep this from being an R-rated movie: other than Rue, I felt most of the characters looked older than teenagers. the book was filled with occasional reminders that this was a truly horrible situation where children were forced to kill each other, and I just didn't get that same gut-punch from the movie at all. in a weird way, I guess, the toning down of the violence made what they did show seem to be not as big a deal, not as truly life-or-death, not as inhuman as the way it read.

All good points, for sure. And yes, as a matter of fact, I was wondering how indeed they would make a mainstream movie where kids are killing kids.

I after reading something and then viewing it in movie form my brain sometimes fills in missing information from the film that other audience members won't get. Guess I'll never really know how it stands on its own.

And sadly, I bet my expectations of books-to-movies has been lowered over years of disappointment. They're two very different mediums and it's near impossible for a movie to convey all that a book does.

Michelle wrote: "Danika, I was likewise with people who hadn't read the books, and they also liked (but were not gushing with love for) the movie.

I found the movie to be a little pointless. I liked it well enoug..."

I was someone who liked the book and then afterwards the book became a hyped up sensation. I went and saw the movie and liked it quite a bit. I've seen some terrible adaptations and I thought this was a very decent one. (Talking about terrible adaptations - I know it's a parody but still it's horrible - Starship Troopers)

I can't believe they are spiting Mockingjay into two movies.

The splitting the final film into two parts seems to be catching on for film adaptations of highly popular books. Harry Potter and Twilight have both done it (though it was more logical for the former to do so than the latter).

It's also a huge revenue ploy for the movie studios. So it really wasn't all that surprising to me when they announced it.

Also the Hobbit's doing it too. A small, small, small reason is to try and get in more storytelling but that's related to dragging it out so that they can make more money.

yeah it's most definitely about the money which really cheapens it. its ironic really as Mockingjay was the weakest of the series by far.

It was but I still rather enjoyed it. I had no real agenda in reading those books and while the third's ultimate conclusion I remember as being disappointing I liked the action elements in it.

I just remember thinking, "how on Earth are they going to film this stuff and still keep the PG13 rating?"

I also thought Mockingjay was a hot mess, but that was mostly due to the first person POV. Fortunately the movie doesn't have that constraint.

I really can't see how they can make Mockingjay work as two novels. It's clear that it's about the money, because the content doesn't justify the decision. The first half was just Katniss moping around and I really don't need to see a whole movie of that.