Archer's Asylum

Okay... Review time.Originally, when I first read this book back in 2009 I gave it a measly one star. I thought it was the worst kind of amateurish americanisation of every good thing to come out of Asia and I was pissed. I am of course referring to the obvious similarities to novel, manga and film Battle Royale by Koushun Takami. However with this re-reading I have to say that it is a solid (almost, but not quite) 1.5 stars. In my opinion this book falls into the distinct kingdom of meh. It was OK but I don't think it deserves the hype. I don't like Katniss overly. Honestly the first act of the book, whilst being the strongest in regards to pacing and building tension and suspense, just stinks of "I wanna be a princess so I'm gonna make my MC a princess" wish fulfilment. Katniss shows a distinct skill with the ability to kill already, although if she were truly an archer she would never think or say "a sheath of arrows." It is a fucking quiver. Archers have called it that for over 1200 years. Nor would she say that she "drew her arm back to her chin". An archer would use the term half draw. This needs to be said because it infuriated me and, in my experience reading this book, was one of the things that made me feel detached. The tone of the novel feels passive to me. I feel like I'm being told about things a lot more than I am shown them. There are sections where it picks up and I'm right there in the games but they are few and far between. In act 2 when the games actually start I feel that the flow of the story grinds almost to a halt. The reader is told about Katniss' plight of dehydration, we are told of the pain in her calf from an injury. I had heard more and more of the graphic nature of the killings in this book. I was let down. I have to question did we read the same book? The vast majority of the killing happened out of the sphere of the story passed on by Katniss. The killings themselves seem glossed over and just put in there for fuel for a poor attempt at an almost love triangle. Yes, poor Peeta is infatuated with the heroine, but what she shows strikes me as nothing more than the strategy her mentor wanted her to play out in the first place. The almost Romeo and Juliet style double suicide ending had me gagging, not on tears of sympathy, empathy... whatever the hell you want to call it but from the distinct waft of cheese coming from the narrative at that point. As for the world building... What world building? We aren't told anything of the world out of Panem. Are we supposed to believe the rest of humanity is dead and that from the festering corpse of the American nation this society fought tooth and nail to survive only to hold a gladiatorial event each year?The dialogue in the novel is another thing that got to me a bit. I don't need to be told, after ever single minute sentence who has said what, I can figure it out on my own. The gifts from the sponsors strike me as just a convenient way to get Katniss stuff that the author wants to give her at points where she may have gotten stuck in the story, don't get me wrong they work, but it's just a little too convenient for my liking (Sleep syrup anyone? yeah too convenient)As for the story itself, after 3 years (practically) I have to say it does have some potential. It's no where near as abysmal as I remembered and I would read it again... in the far distant future after reading War and Peace maybe, when I need something simple to fix my broken brain. As far as YA romances go it's not a bad book but I feel too many people have gotten caught up in the love triangle BS, at this point in the story it's just not there yet. It's not a 'bad book' as bad books go but after my first read I'd vilified it, quite openly in fact, and a few (million) fans had convinced me it was worth a re-read and tbh it was. I'd let kids read it who want to steer away from Harry Potter but aren't ready for things like Lord of The Flies or Battle Royale. It's a nice Sesame Street adaptation of those kind of books. But in all it was entertaining, in the way that McDonalds is tasty Thank you to Eli Lysen(sp) for the McD's parallel, you know what you're going to get. Happy reading guys and gals of GRArcher.*edit*I wonder... when I write my review of the film should I attach it to this?