The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)
By Suzanne Collins
Publisher: Scholastic Press, 2008
374 pages, hardcover
Read: 6/25/2010
Genres: Young Adult, Furturistic, Action, Adventure, Mystery, Science Fiction

First Line of Book: "When I wake, the other side of the bed is cold."

Review: The book's main character, Katniss Evergreen, lives in a futuristic America, and every year, a horrible event happens -- the Hunger Games. Children from across the country of Panem are chosen to go head-to-head against each other in a specialized arena. When Katniss's little sister Prim gets chosen, she puts herself up for danger by taking PRim's place. From that moment on, Katniss's life is changed -- dramatically. In the arena, she makes an ally, only to lose it soon after; then she portrays a "desperate lover" to keep herself and "Lover Boy" alive, only to have the true feelings of her soul questioned in the end. Can Kat get out alive, or will she die trying to get back home?

Suzanne Collins did an extraordinary job starting this trilogy. The book was suspenseful, adventurous, ful of action, and very intriguing. From the moment you get to the reaping (where they choose the people from the District that go to the arena) and Katniss substitutes herself for Prim, to the moment when Peeta and Kat are fighting for their lives, you are stuck with your nose in the pages trying to figure out what's going to happen next.

Katniss Evergreen, as a character, was someone I wouldn't mind being a BFF with. She cares for her family and friends, and isn't afraid to speak the truth when she needs to. Like me, she doesn't really like talking about herself, but she gets on fairly well anyway; her determination to avenge her ally after a tragic parting was something I absolutely loved. Peeta's character was also on eI really liked. He waas fun when he could be, and serious when he had to be. He tells Katniss that he's loved her since he first saw her when they were five. He seems to be truly in love with Katniss, and when she told him about her act in the caves at the end of the story, it broke my heart along with his.

The other thing that I really loved was the plot. It drew me in at every chance tha tI was reading the book. Whether there was a lot of action and Kat was fighting for her life, or none at all and she was momentarily safe and sound, I was all over the pagesreading to see what would happen next, who was the next victim of unwanted death. I have to say, this book was superbly written, and I' glad that it's a series. Unfortunately, it was open-ended. Collins stops The Hunger Games when Katniss and Peeta are about to greet the cameras waiting for them at home. I was so mad and frustrated when I got to this part! I was like, "How can you just stop a book like that, with so much about to happen?!" I'm definitely very anxious to get ahold of the sequel, Catching Fire, sometime soon.

Rating:


Quotes from the Book:

"Just then, Haymitch staggers into the compartment. 'I miss supper?' he says in a slurred voice. Then he vomits all over the expensive carpet and falls in the mess."

"One time, my mother told me that I always eat like I'll never see food again. And I said, 'I won't unless I bring it home.' That shut her up."

"I've left on Peeta's undershorts because they'r enot in bad shape an dI don't want to pull them over the swollen thigh, and, all right, maybe the idea of him being naked makes me uncomfortable."


--Zakiya, the walking butterfly