The Hunger Games vs. Tortall
Jun. 3rd, 2012 09:50 am![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
I commented to her, but I thought I'd put some of those thoughts here, too, to get your thoughts about 'em, too.
So, the reason we can do a compare-and-contrast between these works is because we can create a category which includes both sets: perhaps something like "YA stories featuring young female protagonists in violent SF&F worlds."
So, in Tortall, we've got Alanna, Daine, Keladry, Aly, and, jumping back a couple centuries, Beka Cooper. And in Panem, we've got Katniss Everdeen.
Cogitationitis mentioned that she just generally liked Pierce's characters better than she liked Katniss, who's more self-centered and moody. But to me, that actually makes sense for the character.
Pierce's heroines generally have a lot of advantages not available to ordinary folks -- family background, early training, magic, support from gods. Keladry and Aly are from noble families. Kel benefited from childhood martial arts training in the Yamani Isles, Aly from childhood espionage training from her father, Beka from childhood proto-policing training in Lord Gershom's household. Alanna has healing magic, Daine is among the most powerful wild mages the world has ever seen, Beka can talk to wind-spinners and the souls of the dead. Both of Daine's parents are gods (although her mother only apotheosated after death), Aly works for and is supported by Kyproth, Beka is an Initiate of the Black God -- and the constellation Pounce hangs out with and helps Alanna, Kel, and Beka.
Katniss is good with a bow. Hey, she might be the best archer of the group, but Dane and Kel can both shoot, too, so even that's not certain.
Katniss lives in a post-apocalyptic dystopia, while Alanna, Daine, Kel, and Aly live in a monarchy with rulers who are dragging their country into a more egalitarian, free, equal, and just society. By Aly's time, Tortall is getting close to where we are now, in the United States -- not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but definitely getting downright livable in parts. Beka's world is one of inconsistent and uneven justice, but at least it doesn't have structural injustice. Her world isn't designed to be unfair, the way Katniss's is.
Of course Katniss isn't as likable as the rest -- nobody else was smashed down as hard as she was.
But if I were to write a crossover fanfic between Panem and Tortall, I'd want to see Beka and Katniss together. They've got the most in common -- both grew up in grinding poverty, both were motivated by wanting to protect their own because nobody else could or would, both, over time, had to expand the scope of what "their own" means. Neither is much good at the whole "talking with people" thing, nor does either make friends easily. However, both have enough integrity that the DO make good, solid friends once the actually get to KNOW people.