The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

Title: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: September 14, 2008
Available Editions: Hardback, Paperback, EBook



Book Synopsis:
In a dark vision of the near future, twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear on live TV show called the Hunger Games. There is only one rule: Kill or be Killed.
When sixteen- year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her sisters place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.

Review

Young Katniss Everdeen a 16 year old from district 12 gets to experience the entertainment of the arena, from within. The rules of the Hunger Games are simple, in punishment for the uprising, each of the 12 districts put forward one boy and one girl, called tributes to participate. The twenty four tributes will be imprisoned in a vast outdoor arena that could hold any situation burning desert to frozen wastelands. Over a period of a few weeks the competitors must fight to the death, the last tribute standing, wins. Taking the children from the districts allows them all to be reminded how much they are all at the Capitols mercy.

I remember when my parents bought me the trilogy, the price had been reduced recently so they bought them home for me and I could barely get them out the cardboard pack without being rough, thankfully I didn't damage them in the process of taking them in and out of the packaging. I can remember the new book smell even though it was a while ago.

I love how the future portrayed in the book isn't the weird technology advanced future that most of us want it to be, for me this future seems and feels more realistic. Not only that but I love the way the characters portray their emotions through their actions, volunteering to go into the games to replace your sister for instant, beautiful.

Katniss is a tough girl, she has skills no one else can possess and it's not only that that makes me love her, it's her determination throughout. She takes the mother role in her family ever since her father died and her mother simply couldn't function, she would hunt in the forest that was off bounds just so her sister and mother could eat a decent meal. She is also a character perfectly portrayed, by Jennifer Lawrence. Peeta can impress anyone and everyone and in the capitol it takes a lot to get them on side, he's young and good looking, he's kind in heart and he's a wonderful character perfectly portrayed in the movies by Josh Hutcherson. Haymitch isn't just a district drunk once the games begin, he is a life line for the young district 12 tributes, he knows what it's like to be in the arena and he knows how bad it can become, between the harsh words and periods of being drunk, he's a man who does what's right not what is easy. Effie, coming from the capitol is judged and labelled for that, she may have a very large obsession with Mahogany and large hair and eccentric outfits, but she's a kind woman, she isn't like the capitol people are anymore, the games changed her. All of the characters in the book/s felt real to me and I cringe most of the time where I read about them being in any danger.

With this book being the first of a series your expectations are high and with the films now being something the books are up against you definitely need to read the books and see the films to take a side. When I first got the books, the first film had already been released but I hadn't seen it, only once I had finished the 3 books completely did I allow myself to buy the DVD. Lets say the movies are a great representation of the books. Once I had begun reading the book I was simply unable to stop, quite literally, until I had finished, I managed it within 5 hours. No headache either. The next day I was straight into the 2nd book of the series.

Even though I like the book as a whole there was only one thing I disliked heavily. It had to end. As we know all good things must come to an end, and like that saying, it did.

I have no trouble awarding the book a 5 out of 5 as a rating and I  recommend this book to anyone who likes heavy suspense and has enough free time to read it because I guarantee you wont be able to put it down, of course anyone from the age 13 upwards are a good audience for the book and if you have seen the 2 movies so far and haven't read the books then, I do recommend them to you too. I can see I've haven't read any books like this before and I hope I never will.