The Hunger Games
The Hunger Gamesby Suzanne Collins
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, the shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before--and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. (goodreads.com)
So, unless you've been living under a rock for the past few years, you already know about this here book and series. I included the GR summary in this post just for the heck of it, and because I like my posts formatted in a particular way. Likely you have already read the book and/or seen the movie. I'm behind in the game (ha!) but it was intentional.I never thought I would read this series. Mostly because my wonderful friend Monkey knows me well enough to know what sort of things push my buttons and incite anxiety and she warned me not to read this book. I was ok with that. I truly was. Then the series got more and more popular and the hype surrounding it was too similar to the hype and obsession that surrounds Twilight so I became eager to NOT have anything to do with this series at all. Once people starting calling out teams (Peeta! Gale!) I pretty much wrote this entire saga off. Not interested. Nope. Not for me.Then people I knew, whom I never thought would read this series, started reading it and talking about it. They liked it. Then the movie trailer was released and I had to admit, I was curious. I was certain they wouldn't reveal too much in the trailer that would freak me the hell out, so I watched it.What surprised me was that the premise actually sounded interesting. Hmm.Then another one of my best friends happened to get the box set of the entire trilogy and she read them. Then she handed me the box set and said "Read these."You know what made me decide to finally pick up the first book? When I finished reading Insurgent and was left gasping for air at the end, I realized something: I have read three series recently that freak me the hell out that I adore. Divergent, The Chemical Garden trilogy and the Birthmarked series are all fantastic dystopian reads and they make my heart race but they didn't tip me over the edge.As long as there aren't any meteors crashing to the earth or tidal waves drowning countries, I think I can handle this type of dystopia. If Insurgent was scary but amazing to read, then I should be able to handle this here Hunger Games thing.So I picked it up this morning (Monday, May 7) and read it cover to cover while I had strange men in my house installing a heating/cooling system. The time it took me to read this book was exactly the amount of time it took them to get everything installed. Good to know.Here's what I think of this story:1) I think it would have made a great stand alone novel. I got to the end of the book and thought I didn't really need to go anywhere else with these characters. The Hunger Games itself was enough on its own.2) The writing was good. The pacing was good. I didn't hate Katniss or Peeta, which was good. Ultimately, I thought the book was just that - good.3) I am guessing that the "Teams" I keep hearing people mention come from reading the second book since I didn't see anything in this first book to warrant that division among readers.4) I really liked Cinna and his team of make-over characters. What does it say that those scenes were my favourite in the entire book?5) I would have enjoyed a little more information about the Districts and why everything was laid out that way. I suppose that comes in later books.Here's the thing though... I feel absolutely no need to read the next two books.That's right.I brought the books back to my friend the next day. I honestly felt a sense of closure at the end of the story that wrapped things up nicely for me. It's as though that last chapter, when they arrive home in District 12, was just thrown in there because they wanted people to buy the second book. Like it was made up at the last second in order to add a cliff-hanging element to the book to build on the hype.I may eventually read Catching Fire and Mockingjay, I am not writing them off. It's just that right now I have absolutely no desire to read them. I don't feel like I need to after that first one. This wasn't an earth-shattering read in my mind. It was simply a good story that was enjoyable to spend a day with.The Hunger Games
- The Hunger Games
- Catching Fire
- Mockingjay