*No spoilers will be found in this post*
THE Crossover title of 2010 has to be the third volume of Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy, Mockingjay.
I really enjoyed The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, but I have to admit I was disappointed by Mockingjay. Mostly I think that the balance between moments of near death and moments of mundane beauty was off. At every moment Katniss stands on a precipice; there's no time for reflection beyond Katniss's neverending surprise at her own status as a hero or symbol of the revolution.
What's really bugging me, though, after reading Mockingjay is the Peeta-Gale question. I'm tired of the two-wonderful-boys-devoted-to-one-not-very-special-girl conceit.* (And its even more annoying variant: the two-wonderful-boys-devoted-to-one-girl-who-doesn't-realize-how-strong-and-beautiful-she-is conceit.) Does this come from romance fiction? I've lived in the world a few decades and it just doesn't ring true to me.
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* I write this having read not one Twilight novel.
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I've missed talking books with you all. I'm hope to see some of you in Minneapolis!
