The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games #1
My review of the second book, Catching Fire, can be found here.
My review of the third book, Mockingjay, can be found here.
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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 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 death 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.
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The best book ever?
I devoured this book, I couldn't put it down, it's utterly amazing! I don't even know where to begin, how do you describe perfection?
It's extremely well written and the story is so engaging. I initially just picked it up to read the first few pages to decide whether or not to read it now - I couldn't put it back down again. It had me hooked in less than two pages!
Katniss is an incredibly well created character, she is so real and I felt with her the entire book. Nothing she did seemed out of character. In fact all the characters encountered in the book, both the good and the bad, are the same. They have more to them, and you can follow them and feel them.
The world it takes place in is basically the future; North America has one way or the other collapsed and there is now the nation of Panem. It is gloomy and deadly and its story is so detailed and rich. The story is very harsh. It's survival of the fittest with young people forced to fight each other on live TV by a dictating Capitol to keep the enslaved districts down. It's about so much more than just survival though. It's about human nature and the psychological aspect of this book is so well written, it blows me away.
There are both very dark and quite gruesome scenes in the book, but the story is so enthralling and it is told in such a way that you cannot stop reading. Constantly the plot moves forwards and you're sitting on the edge of your chair reading it, dying to find out what happens next. I have already ordered the next two books in the trilogy, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, and I can't wait for them to arrive.
My review of the second book, Catching Fire, can be found here.
My review of the third book, Mockingjay, can be found here.
----------
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 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 death 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.
----------
The best book ever?
I devoured this book, I couldn't put it down, it's utterly amazing! I don't even know where to begin, how do you describe perfection?
It's extremely well written and the story is so engaging. I initially just picked it up to read the first few pages to decide whether or not to read it now - I couldn't put it back down again. It had me hooked in less than two pages!
Katniss is an incredibly well created character, she is so real and I felt with her the entire book. Nothing she did seemed out of character. In fact all the characters encountered in the book, both the good and the bad, are the same. They have more to them, and you can follow them and feel them.
The world it takes place in is basically the future; North America has one way or the other collapsed and there is now the nation of Panem. It is gloomy and deadly and its story is so detailed and rich. The story is very harsh. It's survival of the fittest with young people forced to fight each other on live TV by a dictating Capitol to keep the enslaved districts down. It's about so much more than just survival though. It's about human nature and the psychological aspect of this book is so well written, it blows me away.
There are both very dark and quite gruesome scenes in the book, but the story is so enthralling and it is told in such a way that you cannot stop reading. Constantly the plot moves forwards and you're sitting on the edge of your chair reading it, dying to find out what happens next. I have already ordered the next two books in the trilogy, Catching Fire and Mockingjay, and I can't wait for them to arrive.
374 pages / published in 2008
Review by Iben Jakobsen, BoB, 2011
Review by Iben Jakobsen, BoB, 2011
This is the first in the series, right? I have read lots of bloggers going on about how great the series is but this is actually the first synopsis I've read. The book sounds wonderful, it's gone straight on my wishlist!
SvarSlet@Sam, it is the first in the series yes. It it utterly amazing, I can only recommend it :)
SvarSletHey! Stopping by via FF! I gotta say that I adore the Hunger Games series as well. It really challenges your views of human nature and makes you wonder just how far you would go to survive without having to compromise who you are. I hope you enjoy the next two books---you're in for a heck of a ride!
SvarSletAnywho, I'm a new follower now! So, please take some time and stop on over at my blog and follow me back if you like!
Hi,
SvarSletThank you so much for you comment on my blog and the follow.
As it is now my turn to stop by your blog ;)
I can tell you, you found a new follower in me!
Kyanara
@Carissa, :D I can't wait to read them, I've got them sitting on my shelf right now ^^
SvarSlet@Kyanara_night yay :D
Haven't had a chance to read this series. Looking forward to it. Great post.
SvarSletI'm giving you an award too! You can get it at
http://booknoise411.blogspot.com/2011/01/stylish-blogger-award-x2.html
I went in thinking I would hate it, but ended up LOVING it.
SvarSletBrandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog
Hey! I'm a new follower. Great review. I've been meaning to read this book. :)
SvarSletGaming Gabby's Blog
@Gabby, yay :) I can definitely recommend it!
SvarSletI've read The Hunger Games this summer. The book was okay but not that good in my opinion. I liked the fact that they showed us a sense of survival and what these kids are capable of in a life-and-death situation but it was so bad at some points. An example is the characterization.
SvarSletHalf these 'tributes' they send to the arena got no name or depth whatsoever. The only tributes in the arena we could genuinely root for were Katniss, Rue, Peeta and to some extend Thresh. The careers were one dimensional and typical; Marked as the evil killing machines, Cato and the bunch just went out of their way to track down Katniss and were dumbed down just so Katniss could progress the story in a convenient way. An example of this is Clove taking her time making a lame stereotypical villian speech about how she would kill the protagonist.
The way Collins wrote the story was not all that great in the sense of realism as welll. We can only read so much about how Katniss is dehydrated and how she wanders for several days but that's it. There is no deeper explanation as to what she is really feeling.
Claiming that Katniss is never out of character is not true at all. While she is experienced with survivaling in the woods all her life, basic research about how skinning a rabbit and leaving a good portion of it to waste while hungry is not something she should oversee (The lack of survival research is only the writer to blame). She even murders two girls by throwing a waps nest at them while they're sleeping. She kills other careers too but does she ever feel sorry for any of them? No. She, as a generic 16 year old teenager is not even remotely sorry for doing this to them on live television for their parents to watch.
What I did like about the book was the slow pacing of it all in especially the first half of the book. We got to know more of the side characters like Haymitch and Cinna. I also like the way Collins added Madge. While short, their dynamic of being two introverted acquintances were pretty accurate.
The tv-show aspect is pretty original and especially the way they made the Capitol a dictatorship added a whole new dynamic to the games.
All in all, I'd say the book is good but not good enough. The first perspective of Katniss ruined a lot of characters whom had potential to be more than throw away cardboards. It would've been nice to see Katniss actually being in a situation where she had to fight a non-career. It would've shown the aspect more of how the games were unfair towards these innocent people. I prefer the original literature called Battle Royale over this. There is not a basic line between the protagonists and the antagonists. It goes in way more detail about the characters, makes you feel sorry for every contestants and adds more to the psychological factor of kill or be killed.