The Hunger Games

Summary (from the publisher): In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel 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, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister Primrose, 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 will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Review: After being told that I should read this book by at least a half dozen people, I borrowed a copy from my twelve year old cousin (no shame), and immediately became engrossed. There are two types of good novels, in my opinion. They are the kind that feature beautiful, lyrical writing and propel the reader along on the beauty of their writing alone. And there are the novels whose plot is plain irresistible, the kind of book you can't put down, and feverishly race through, even if you're car sick, or it's 3am, or you really should be spending your day on a million other more important things. This novel falls in the second category. However, while mainly enjoyable because of its story, The Hunger Games benefits from a highly compelling narrator (Katniss is just so likable; it's easy to root for her as the underdog) and the pace of this novel moves along at a steady, fast clip, with perfect timing. 

Despite my adoration for the premise (I've always been a sucker for fantasy/science fiction), I did feel that there were a few cop-outs, that I won't discuss in the interest of keeping my review spoiler free.  The book makes the Capitol out to be a ruthless place, and they caved on several points that kept it from being as cruel as claimed. However, this is a young adult novel, so it's probably for the best that the novel wasn't completely devoid of compassion. But, while I'm on the topic of this novel being a young adult book, I'm shocked that a novel for pre-teens and up is so violent. It had to happen because of the storyline, but it's scary how much violence is in this book and I wonder how it will be portrayed in the movie. 

One detail that Collins got very, very right was the creation of a first class, heart wrenching love triangle. This wasn't fully explored in this first novel of the trilogy, but it's an emerging theme, and it's obvious that it's going to be a large plot detail in the next two books. The closest I can compare it to is the Bella/Edward/Jacob love triangle of the Twilight novels, however, there was never any question for me that I saw Bella with Edward. With The Hunger Games, I'm less sure. Will Katniss ultimately end up with handsome Gale, her best friend and confidant, who helped her family survive for years after her father's death? Or will it be Peeta, the boy who has loved her from afar since Katniss was five, and saved her life multiple times over the course of the hunger games competition? I don't even know. I feel stressed thinking about it. 

Obviously, I enjoyed this novel, just like pretty much everyone else who reads it. I can't fully express how tempted I am to buy the next two novels in the trilogy on my kindle app and pull an all nighter just so I can see how the story ends. And I'm seriously excited for the movie. Highly enjoyable novel that, in my opinion, is deserving of its hype and ultra best selling status. 

Stars: 5