Review - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins


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Page Count: 374
Overall Rating: 5 Stars

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.

Can I do just a little mini-rant/explanation right here?

Sometimes, books are madly popular and their fans are kind of...well, some of them get angry when you don't like said books. Not that I didn't have hopes for The Hunger Games. But I find myself being legitimately afraid to read and dislike a book that people are crazy over. Especially when you can see reviews on Twitter that aren't even hateful that are getting tossed around because it was negative. It's kind of crazy. I wouldn't have posted a review of this if I didn't like it, because of how popular it is, but still. It's sill for me to be afraid to dislike a book, and this isn't the first time I've done this. I did it with Divergent and others.

So yeah, it did take me forever to read this and I'm forever behind on it. That's why.

Anyways, at the start of January, I realized that, hey, it's 2012 now and that means The Hunger Games movie comes out in like, well two months, really. I don't really like watching movies without reading the book first, especially if I've owned the book. Especially if I've owned the book for a freaking year.

I read it in like, three or four days with time at school and all. I picked a weird week where I kept finding songs and stuff that inspired me to write, so I was a bit busier with that than reading, but I did read it in a decent time span.

So, for the negatives first, only because there are fewer of those.

The beginning is kind of slow for me. I don't know if anyone else had that problem, but the first few chapters are kind of hard to get through and then it really picks up around Chapter Four or so. Also, and I know someone is going to read this and probably want to lecture me about how hard the games are and all, but hear me out first. I felt like some things that Katniss complained about weren't even the bad parts of the game. Okay, sure, maybe she wasn't in love with a boy, but she didn't hate him, right? So why is she complaining about having to be nice to a person, especially when it rewards her later. I'm not even siding with Haymitch here. I just think it's silly to complain as much as she did over something like that when she didn't complain about other stuff, stuff that was life-or-death important.

Positives:

Most of everything else. Katniss is a freaking BAMF and Peeta is sweet. Panem is interesting and The Hunger Games help to create one of the most driven plots I've ever read. The characters are strong and well-developed.

All of the tributes had their own style of fighting and their own strategies and I enjoyed that. The plans and raids and killings and such are always different and they don't really repeat like some books can. The compassion that some can show, even in this situation, is unforgettable.

A random thing I loved: The food in this book was beyond interesting for some reason. Especially the breads from the Districts. Can't wait to see some more of those, hopefully.

Also, I'm glad that this was a book that was still good despite all of the spoilers I knew about. Sometimes that can ruin a book, and I try to avoid things that will spoil the book for others, but it's hard when the trilogy is as big as this one is.

I don't know what else to say. It was an entirely new concept and a wonderful book, but I don't really have anything to say that's not been already said. My friends had tried to convince me to read the books last year, and I said that I would soon, just had to get through some other stuff, and then I realized how much everyone in the blogging community loved them and I just couldn't. I was afraid to dislike them and I am still a little afraid for the next two, though greatly less than I was previously.

Read it. Do it now. I double-dog dare you.

Songs I listened to while reading:

Amazing Quote:

“I notice her blouse has pulled out of her skirt in the back again and force myself to stay calm. "Tuck your tail in, little duck," I say, smoothing the blouse back in place. 
Prim giggles and give me a small "Quack." 
"Quack yourself," I say with a light laugh. The kind only Prim can draw out of me.”