Hunger Games vs. Divergent

Courtesy of Deviant Art

Has anyone seen the "war" between The Hunger Games and Divergent? Well, I have. If one searches Google with "tris vs katniss" a whole slew of things pop up, mostly about who would win  in a fight. And it makes me mad enough to make a whole blog post about it, so hold on while I enjoy myself.

It all started on Goodreads (a website all about books) when I was looking up Divergent as a possible book to read. It sounded good, but a ton of people were trying to compare the two. After reading Divergent, I went back and took a second look at several reviews, who desperately tried to compare them. It irked me more than just a little.

Then I found this article (which is definitely worth the read by the way) on who would you rather face in a fight. I was a bit surprised on who won and why. Who am I kidding? There are tons of articles on this. Sometimes Katniss wins, sometimes Tris. But there is never a draw. Go figure.

While I enjoy the fun and games (no pun intended) of it all, I just really want to call a huge freaking B.S. People can compare the two series all they want. I think that I won't. Not to be contrary, but just because... there are so many reasons. 

It actually got to the point where I went on a huge Facebook rant, mad at myself because I didn't know how to express myself adequately. Thankfully, I manged to get it all out with the help of my cousin, who felt similarly about what I was trying to say.

So, here goes:

1. People seem to think that Tris and Katiniss are comparable because they are both sixteen year old females who don't take crap. Sorry, but no. It's true. They don't take crap. Katniss seems to come by that naturally, while Tris has to learn to come by it. And lets talk about motivations. Anything that Katniss does is pretty much done by force, and that might even include volunteering for tribute. Almost anything that Tris does is done willingly, even to the bitter end.

2. The dystopias come from two very different places. I'm a believer that futuristic societies are social commentaries. But these two are two very different social commentaries. The Hunger Games takes on societies' love of reality TV with a capitalistic society, while Divergent clearly takes on Critical Race Theory.  **How the societies were created are different too. The Hunger Games was a civil war, while Divergent ended up being a World War III. It seems like a Civil War, but Allegiant (book 3) throws too many wrenches into the plot for it not to have been. (and I'm so so sorry for spoilers).

Courtesy of Living for the Books

3. I don't think I will ever be able to express enough how grateful I am that Veronica Roth didn't include a love triangle. It's one of those things that just seems to paramount to literature (or anything entertainment wise these days). A lot of my love for the Hunger Games was lost when Gale tried to win Katniss over and it was just like "but she belongs with Peeta!!!!!"

Personally, I'm a Divergent fan. Besides the no love triangle, I would much rather cut my hand and choose a faction, possibly leaving my family behind, than fight to the death on live TV. Also, I would much rather have four over Peeta or goodness forbid Gale as a love interest. Shallow, I know, but it's often a turning point for me.

This is just me being me. So, what do you think on the "war" over the two series? Are they comparable? Am I off my Rocker? Or did I actually make some sense? Feel free to let me know in the comments!!