2 (or 4) down, 1 to go/Miniature Book Review

Yet again, I have neglected my blog. I've pretty much just skipped out on blogging this whole semester, but I have only 1 final left to go tomorrow (in historical geology) so I thought I'd try to get back to writing on here again.
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A few months ago, I finally read Battle Royale. I read it because on Goodreads, people kept saying that the Hunger Games ripped it off and that Suzanne Collins was unoriginal. I tend to disagree.
The starting idea may have been similar (kids being forced to fight to the death in a "game") but the execution was completely different.
The author of Battle Royale took a much much darker approach to it and made it...how do I put it...much more gory and violent than Suzanne Collins did. Also in Royale, it was a grade of school, so the competitors knew each other. The author of Royale also made the story much more complex by focusing on every single one of the competitors, whereas Collins took a much more personal approach with Katniss' first person narrative.

Which do I like better? Probably Hunger Games. I liked the characters much better and the writing much better. (though I am convinced that some of the triteness of the writing of Battle Royale came from being translated into English from Japanese.) The ending was also much more positive in the Hunger Games.

So, does anyone have any thoughts on the casting of Hunger Games so far?