The Hunger Games is NOT Twilight!

For a while now friends have been trying to get me to read the Hunger Games. For those who don't know, it's a trilogy set in the future in a dystopian America that is so far removed from us it's not even called America anymore. In this world there are no States but Districts, 12 Districts that must send one boy and one girl under the age of 18 into the Hunger Games each year to fight to the death in a large outdoor arena.

The main reason I was very resistant to reading this series was that people were comparing it to Twilight as well as referring to it as the next big young-adult book series. But mostly it was pronounced as the next Twilight-like series. 

I just finished the first book last night.

And I almost want to physically hurt anyone that compares this to the Twilight series.

I'm not going to go too much into my general dislike of all things Twilight because honestly, when speaking of the Hunger Games, a story that is far more powerful and engaging, Twilight simply cannot hold a candle to it and is unworthy to be regarded in the same sentence with all it's frivolities and shallowness.

Yes, the Hunger Games is a phenomenal book, and if you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. It's a very well written story that actually has something to say with characters that you care very much about. I found the main character of Katniss to be a true treasure. Here is a character for young girls to look up to and admire. Someone who is strong, resourceful, proud, tough, capable, caring, and smart. She's not the wet blanket that Bella Swan is made out to be. She waits on no one to rescue her and relies solely on her talents and wit's in order to survive. Furthermore, this was probably the first female character I've read that I could actually relate to and that's saying something because I've been a big reader my entire life.

What's even more is that I'm offended that this is even referred to as a young-adult series. When we put titles on things we isolate them. For me, when you call a series young-adult you're saying it's not that well-written and that it's amatuerish, simple, and probably focused on a somewhat hollow subject matter. Stamp the words Twilight anywhere near it and you've just hammered down the final nail. But this is furthest from the truth when speaking of the Hunger Games.

For me, it's the equivalent of saying that Harry Potter is a children's book series. It's absolutely not. I've maintained for years that the Harry Potter books are absolutely adult novels that kid's have just latched onto.

Yes, a story approx. 4100 pages about a grown man wanting to kill a teenage boy is for kid's...SIGH

The reality is somewhere in between. The reality is that Harry Potter is for everyone. Just like all great fiction there is no age limit or restriction to it. Labeling the books as kid's books is inaccurate and damaging because you then have people that don't take it seriously when they absolutely should. I know for a fact that there are people out there who haven't read Harry Potter for the same reasons I resisted the Hunger Games.

And that's what pisses me off.

I almost missed out on the Hunger Games because some idiot compared it to Twilight and the rising young-adult genre and the rest of the mouth breather's just ran with it.

Again, this is couldn't be more false. The Hunger Games is a series that should and does stand on it's own as a piece of good fiction. I wouldn't categorize it as a young-adult read anymore than I would ever compare it to The Book Series That Must Not Be Named (Twilight). It's a brilliant first novel in a trilogy that I am sure will be epically good.

A movie version of the book is coming out and I know the studio is even marketing it like the next Twilight, which is a damn shame. Mostly because it's false advertising. From everything I've read, the movie is going to remain highly faithful to the book. Well, when you take a movie like the Hunger Games and twist the marketing around so that you advertise to teeny-boppers you're probably gonna get a backlash when the Twi-hards see your flick and it isn't the vain, shallow, soap-opera they're expecting it to be. I hope it doesn't damage the movie's box office take. I hope that general audiences embrace it and that the Twilight fans go home scratching their heads. Because it's a good story, it'll make for a good movie.

And it's not just for the fans of sparkly vampires.