The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1)

A great book that features an original idea of a post-apocalyptic world. Extremely well written and makes it very hard to put the book down. You will wonder how Peeta and Katniss will possibly survive, especially since Peeta is at a clear disadvantage. This book will leave you hanging with the idea that the Capitol needs to be brought down and makes you eager to read the next book. A must read.

I loved this book! I picked this book up after some of my friends recommended it to me. After I started the book I couldn't put it down. I was useless for an entire day busy reading. I'm pretty sure this was the first dystopian book I read. The way the author made this world just instantly sucked me in. I was fascinated with the world and how it worked. This book was excellently written!

Amazing! There were run-on sentences but which surprisingly bugged me but other than that amazing.

The Hunger Games is an excellent book. I couldn’t put it down. With every page came another exciting moment that I could never just keep to myself. The setting is in the future. In the future world of The Hunger Games, which is based off of North America, is a nation re-named Panem. Feuds cause wars to break out, forcing the government to divide the nation into 13 districts. The government is cruel and pushes the districts to stay is check. The government chooses one boy, and one girl, from each district, every year, to go into an arena and fight to the death on live television. In district 12, Primrose Everdeen get chosen, she is 12 years old, her first year of being in the drawing to be chosen. But her 16 year old sister, Katniss Everdeen volunteers as tribute for her. Then the male chosen, Peeta Mellark, also 16 is her component. The two get taken away to the capital where they meet their other 22 components from the other districts. Katniss and Peeta train, and learn strategies from there mentor, Haymitch. Then they get put into the arena and fight to the death on live television. Who wins? There can only be one victor. Will Katniss survive and be the only one left standing? You’ll just have to read the book to find out! :)

The Hunger Games starts out with Katniss Everdeen. She lives in district 12. The capitol has taken over what was North America and turned it into 13 districts. Now only 12 districts. District 13 was blown up by the capitol when the people of district 13 tried to take over. The capitol has been using children as entertainment in the hunger games. The hunger games is broadcasted and it stars 24 children, a boy and a girl from each district. Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark are the chosen tributes. Will they survive the 74th Hunger Games or will their lack of skill and knowledge destroy them. Just remember the capitol can tear you apart as much as they can build you up.

The first thing that stood out to me was the world-building. If you will allow me an indulgent comparison, I’ll explain.
Veronica Roth’s Divergent is widely being hailed as the next Hunger Games. It’s very obvious to me that Ms Roth took a great deal of inspiration from The Hunger Games. I won’t go into the similarities, but they’re there, and at times they almost verge on copy-cating. However, the big, huge difference between these two books—and the factor that makes The Hunger Games better than Divergent—is that Ms Collins actually understands how to create a believable post-apocalyptic setting, whereas Ms Roth does not.

Without going too heavily into the details, the foundations of Panem’s society are laid out intelligbly and clearly. Sure, I still have questions, but these questions aren’t the result of faulty setting/story conception. Of course, at times the information was given in a bit of an info-dump, but information presented awkwardly is better than no information at all.

In short, the world-building was good. I’m glad I read Divergent first, as it probably would have been quite a let-down after reading The Hunger Games.

Still being indulgent, please allow me to *SQUEE* about Peeta a little bit. Now, his character is logistically awful; he’s without a doubt some fantasy pulled out of the author’s head. No boy is that perfect. But I still liked him. If a Mary Sue character is done well enough and is thoroughly endearing, I don’t mind as much as I would otherwise. Peeta is the dystopian equivalent of Prince Charming, something that shouldn’t have worked, but did.

Thirdly, I thought the plot was good. Actually, strike that; I thought the premise was good. Insanely original. Roman gladatorial contests for a new era? Count me in. And since the premise was good, the plot followed a path that, though predictable, had enough newness to be entertaining.

All that being said, I did have one rather large issue with the book. That being the way Katniss involved herself in the Games. In short, how she somehow managed to come out as a glorified god who hadn’t dirtied her hands with her fellow competitors’ blood.

Rue, Thresh, Foxface, and the others were all conveniently not killed by Katniss, or if they were, it was by “accident”. I found the whole set-up to be entirely contrived and used as a method for keeping Katniss squeaky clean and above reproach. Same for Peeta.

By extension, characters who are above reproach generally tend to lack depth or realism. Which is a no-no.
And that’s all I have to say about that.

Well deserving of its reputation as the mother of modern dystopian fiction, The Hunger Games is well worth reading. It isn’t a perfect book, but I think it comes close enough that readers don’t care.

Brilliantly creative dystopian novel about Katniss Everdeen, a poor teenager who dives into a deadly gladiator event operated by the oppressive government. Romance is intertwined w/ plenty of white-knuckle action. It's one of those books that makes you need to immediately read the second installment (Catching Fire) after finishing it!

I don't know why I waited so long to read this book but when I finally read it, I absolutely loved it!

I read this about a year before the movie came out and very little people I knew had read them. I instantly fell in love! Suzanne Collins couldn't have made a better beginning to possibly the best trilogy ever. Now, every single person I know has read at least the first one. It's amazing, really, how a movie can make such a big difference in the popularity of the book. I couldn't love a book more.

Go get this book right now