The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Amazon.com:

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.

So took me long enough to read this yeah? So this was weird it was exactly what I thought it would be but not at all both at the same time. I'm really not sure how to explain that though, so it's pretty much a useless statement.

I really enjoyed Katniss's story, she was a really strong and protective character. I would definitely say she was the way she was because of the circumstances of her life, her father dying when she was still a child and having to basically take care of herself, her little sister, and her mother in his absence. Basically her life of hunting and having to be the strong one in her family prepares her for being part of the Hunger Games. I liked that she wasn't a girly girl at all!

While I wouldn't say this is in a class of it's own plot-wise, (I've heard of other stories and short stories that share some common elements) it's definitely interesting and highly addictive. I wasn't certain how all these killings in the arena would be illustrated for a young adult audience but it's done in a way that's least offensive and least violent to most any reader, which I would have to say is pretty hard to do.

The games start with 24 teens and there can only be one winner. I was definitely hoping to get to know something about all of the competitors but sadly that wasn't the case. This is definitely wishful thinking but a chart of some sort with the competitors names, districts, score etc would have been so so so cool to see in perhaps the back of the book. But no, for the most part we only get to learn about a handful of the competitors and not very much about several of them. It's definitely Katniss's story.

Sometimes action and waiting for action bores me a little but this book did no such thing. It held my interest the whole time and I just couldn't wait to find out what happened. Truthfully the ending of the games was what I expected, but really what else could you expect right? But maybe that's just me. Overall a fantastic book and I'm excited to see where the sequel, Catching Fire picks up!

Genre: Young Adult
4.5/5 Stars
Purchased by myself