Gregor the Overlander discussion

The Hunger Games is more of an action book. It is as sweeping and fascinating as these but more elaborate, since the age group is higher.

I have read the first of the Overlander series, and I have to say I wasn't a huge fan (maybe I'm too old for them?). There has been a huge surge in heroine protagonists lately and having a heroine whose choices aren't controlled by her adoring love for another man was pretty appealing.

I have been a Hunger Games fan since the books first came out; as in I actually got them the first month they came out in 2008. It wasn't until movie talks were beginning that Hollywood latched onto it as a potential gold mine. Articles popped up talking about the new series that just came out-this was months after Catching Fire had been out. The Overlander series, has a next to none possibility of turning into a movie. Therefore, the mainstream doesn't care about them. They are great books, and I enjoy them just as much as the Hunger Games.

Thanks ^_^

I love these books way more than the hunger games, i espescially like the last 2 books and i find the last 2 much better than the first 3

I think that these books are more aimed toward children and juvenile fiction. I'm not saying that they aren't great for everyone to read, but the author clearly had 3-5th graders in mind when she was writing these. Hunger Games is YA by far, and YA movies usually make more money and get more attention. Even though Gregor and the Overland has better writing than the Hunger Games, the fact that they were aimed towards a younger audience put them out of the running for a movie and/or mainstream attention.

Um I'd say middle schoolers since Gregor is twelve and she usually makes her characters the age of the audience. Plus genocide is a little intense for little kids.

It does make sense that the hunger games has a bigger fan base than gregor the overlander but in my opinion,i think might have been more attached to the underland chronicles...its just that the end of every book has an unpredictable surprise while the hunger games also has many surprises, they don't really happen all at the end. The synopsis for gregor the overlander, however, makes the book sound like its very childish and i didnt even wanna read it when i first saw it but im glad i did :)

I wondered then (when released) and I still wonder what makes this series so good to a lot of people. Children killing children. I was approached by a women in the book store who stated she tries to read what her church teen group read. She had completed the first book and could not wait for the second. I was confused by it all. What really makes this series sooo good?

I don't think anyone has addressed the issue of reality/possibility.

Hunger games has the inherent attraction of possibility. Gruesome, almost unimaginable, but in out world of ignored poverty sitting next to extravagant wealth, prejudice, genocide... it is completely believable. (In fact it has happened in some forms in the past).

Overlander is pure fantasy. Gigantic talking rats and bugs. Many adults and young adults don't/can't relate to this. They have a lot of the same messages but the unreality of the world makes it less popular with a maturer audience.

Well, the giant thing isn't really impossible. It's actually realistic that creatures that are several layers below the surface are huge. You see this in the ocean. But, what you said is pretty much why I didn't think the books could become movies.

After reading both series, I enjoyed this one more. I liked the characters and that they weren't so suicidal. I hope these won't be the next big thing, then everyone will talk about them and I would get tired of it. KEEP IT FRESH!

Lol. I had that problem with Hunger Games, though I still love the characters. I just can't talk to anyone about the books anymore. Not without wanting to bang my head against a wall.

@Eml, those are my exact thoughts

Hunger games is YA this not so much but i finished the last book yesterday and I LOVED IT

YA is determined by the age of the main character. If Gregor had been 13 or maybe 14, he'd have been in the YA section.

I actually think that the Underland Chronicles are sometimes deeper in content than HG (Again, I love HG too, but these books even cover genocide). Because HG takes place in a dystopian future, it sort of had a limited number of topics it could address. Underland Chronicles takes place in a warring society, one that could be interchanged with modern ones. It covers a lot of moral/political issues, whereas I think HG was more moral/social commentary.

I loved the Hunger Games, but the Underland books are definitely underrated

I love the Overlander books I don't know why they're not more well known. I'm a fan of the writer but not just because of the Hunger games books it was because of Overlander books too.

Michaela wrote: "Okay, so, don't get me wrong - I like the Hunger Games with the rest of them. But I'm just trying to figure out why the Hunger Games are so known and these aren't. I mean, even people who don't lik..."

I agree with you greogor the over lander should be a movie not the hunger games

Nathan wrote: "I love these books way more than the hunger games, i espescially like the last 2 books and i find the last 2 much better than the first 3"

me two :-3)

I mean the HG r good but Gregor the overlander i think is a lot better than HG (im 11 so thats probably y i like tham so much) and i think they should have made gregor the overlander a movie instead

I think it has to do with a couple of things. first off as mentioned before the hunger games reaches a wider age range. Also, and this is part of the reason why it reaches more ages, Gregor is fantasy where a lot of the stuff isn't possible while everything in the Hunger Games are futuristic possibilities, i'm not saying it will happen but if you believe as a society no one would ever allow anything like this to happen look up the Roman Gladiators. It pretty much is the hunger games so that historical and future aspects to the hunger games i think is why it is more popular and reaches more people. i personally like Gregor better.

exactly

I mean the hungr games r good but the underlander chronicles r sooooooooo much better

yes they r u fat boy XD

They are popular because its for older people and older people like to read more then younger kids

Lies I've read them there not for just grown ups

People probably know more about the hunger games, because it's a movie. DUH:P

I love the hunger games! I also like gregor the overlander too, but it isn't as good to me as the hunger games is.

It seems to me its the attractiveness of a great challenge and threat to a real single person struggling to care and understand the world she growing up in.As an oldey i don't find it easy to accept the idea of kids killing kids as a vehicle, unless the story demanded it . I thought snow and the lack of glue operating in the capitol made the justification for their evil less convincing and frightening than real evil of the powerful could be . To get that right would make this a very very scary film. Just as well - because reality engagement with the issues takes a lot more work and a lot more communal than are raised in this film about one minds walk.

Question- does anyone else think that the phrase "everyone a rager" in Lorde's song Glory and Gore might be a nod to Gregor?

I have read both series, and I have to say: both are good. I just feel that the Hunger Games appeal to an older-- and possibly broader-- audience. Teens, preteens, and adults might just have a sort of... bias, towards more mature themes, etc. I like both, but feel they are extremely different. I enjoyed the Hunger Games probably because I enjoy read from a heroine's point of view, for me it is more relatable. Not to mention the fantastic plot idea, as well as being an easily read trilogy, rather than a confusing array of titles in a long series.

Well I red the hunger games but I have better things to read then a game about killing preteens and young adults.