What other fantasy books do YOU read?

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Galadriel

Anyone around here read 'The Hunger Games'? I'm not sure if it's fantasy, but I've been hearing a lot about it, and to be truthful I'm a little sceptical. I mean, girl and boy chosen to kill other children in a dystopian world where adults rule? Let me guess: the girl and the guy will be prolific, and the girl will end up being some kind of 'leader', and she'll never do anything wrong with intent, because she's only ever forced to do bad things, and she and the guy will have some kind of forced romance...

I think I'd better stop. The number of flat protagonists these days are kind of getting to my head.

I finished Weirdstone yesterday and still being in the frame of mind to devour a book, I picked up a copy of The Hunger Games today. My interest was piqued because it's dystopian SF and I'm always interested in that, so I wanted to see what a 'young adult' novel would make of what sounded like a lift from the plot of Battle Royale.

I've read three-quarters of it since this afternoon, and it's pretty good. There's vivid scene-setting, the characters aren't flat and predictable at all, and the narrator isn't a 'Mary Sue' but has some definite failings and flaws. The whole concept of people forced to fight to the death has now been done a few times, but it still works. It also makes you feel a bit angry/disgusted, which is always a plus point with dystopian stories. Not finished it yet though, and I've read more than enough novels with poor endings lately, so I shall see....

I wonder - could you call dystopian SF 'fantasy'? Where does one stop and another begin?


EDIT - finished it now, and even though it was basically Battle Royale for younger readers, it was a decent book. Not sure I want to read the sequels, as I thought it was well rounded off, but I'm sure there would be plenty of things to discuss about it, and I can easily see this one creeping into school reading lists at some point.