Hello!
I wanted to put in my two cents regarding the Hunger Games:
In my recent trips to BJ's the HG books have been absent from the shelves. Still in my local Barnes and Noble they have reserved a couple of shelves just for that series.
The launch platforms and the cornucopia were in front of a lake, but he didn’t dare to go there. That area would be under the control of the Careers by now, and any tribute attempting to get water or supplies would be killed. Clark couldn’t risk a run-in with the Careers — or any other tribute, for that matter — in his current weakened state. He also couldn’t discount the possibility that Platinum might be out there, in spite of her injuries in her fight with Lois. The last thing he needed was another exposure to Platinum’s Kryptonite pendant.
Why did the Careers stick to the cornucopia? Apparently it still contained weapons and supplies the other tributes could use? My concern is that if Platinum died someone might take the pendant as a prize ... poor Clark!
The water was clear, with only a few leaves floating on it; in fact, it was so clear that he could see the rock strewn bottom and a few fish swimming past. It smelled clean, and the single drop Clark placed on his tongue tasted fine, but he still hesitated, fearing that he was wrong. It was fast becoming apparent, though, that if he didn’t drink the water he would suffer severely from dehydration, perhaps even die from it, before he regained his invulnerability. If he did drink it, he might get sick, though that was far from a certainty, especially since the water was clear and moving quickly over algae-covered rocks, which any farm boy knew signified clean water, but, he thought, if the water was bad, he would most likely recover from whatever illness it triggered in him when he fully recovered from the Kryptonite exposure.
In this alternative universe Clark has had to hide his talents so well that he can survive under normal circumstances without them. Yet, during the games, his survival instincts w/o his powers are taxed to the limit. Good lookout regarding the algae on the rocks. If another tribute had poisoned the water he would have noticed that immediately.
All the logic in the world didn’t change how he felt. Becky had trusted him, and he had failed to live up to that trust. She had died horribly, and her death had no doubt been broadcast and re-broadcast across Panem, the Capitolites shocked and yet thrilled at Becky’s horrific end. In the districts, people would be sickened by what had happened — but they would watch anyway. There would be no mass refusal to watch the Games, and if a few people refused, the Peacekeepers would arrest them, using them as an example of what happened to those who defied the Capitol.
Ok people! Isn't it time we started talking about a resistance movement? The Capitolites diseased rule has to come to an end! This whole tribute system has gone on for over one hundred years! True, District 13 had fought back and were destroyed, but I find it hard to believe no other uprisings have occurred...
The thought of Platinum made Clark uneasy. The Careers were dangerous, but they were also arrogant and noisy, traits that could be their undoing.
All this is true, but those people have been trained for the Hunger Games. They know what to expect. Clark and the others are .... cannon fodder. Huh, excuse the expression.
When he had knocked her down, it had been so sudden and unexpected that she had dropped the spear and the knife fell out of her belt. She mistook his move as the beginning of an attack and watched as he stepped forward. She took a half step back and he followed, just as she had hoped he would. She took another retreating step and he sped up to close the distance. Now he was close enough to touch and she grabbed bunches of his jacket in each hand as she continued to move back, pulling him along, using his momentum against him. Once she was sure he was moving as she wanted, she bent her knees and started falling backwards. She curled her back in preparation for the technique and pulled her right foot up placing it in his mid-section. As she felt her butt hit the ground, she rolled back and pushed with her right leg, straightening it convulsively in a clean Tammoanagi, backward rolling throw. His feet left the ground as he sailed over her head, doing a flip. He landed on his back with a thud and she could hear his breath come out in a whoosh.
This fight scene is so realistic! It is very easy to visualize everything since every movement and gesture is draw for the reader. My back hurt when Clark landed on the ground. Perfect job KenJ!!!!
“You stole my rabbit!”
“I … what?”
“That rabbit is mine! I’m the one who speared it!”
“It got away from you. I’m the one who killed it.”
“You couldn’t have killed it without my help!”
Clark had to admit that this was true … but he would never tell Lois that. “We can share it,” he told her.
“Share it!?”
“Or else you get nothing.”
“You can’t tell me —“
Sorry! This is a very serious situation and they are fighting for their lives, but it is so Lois and Clark to be fighting over a rabbit! The dialogue is pitch perfect!
Sorry to hear Claude died so early. He should not have casted his lot with the Careers....
There would be no convincing Lois that she might not have killed Platinum, so Clark fell silent. He rested his head against the tree trunk, wishing that he could do something to console her, but he knew that there was nothing he could do to convince her that she hadn’t killed Platinum, just as he couldn’t convince himself that he hadn’t failed Becky.
Clark thinks he failed Becky. Lois feels she killed Platinum. Each is now carrying a terrible weight on their shoulders. It will affect how they handle themselves for the remainder of the Games.
“Alliances in the arena have to be broken,” Clark said. “We’re not allies. We’ll just … watch out for each other.”
And so it begins...
Cannot wait for next Saturday!
