Friday, September 25, 2009

Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins


Book Info:
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press (September 14, 2008)
ISBN-13: 978-0439023481
Genre: Young Adult
Source: Library
Rating: 4.5/5



Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.





I'm not going to do a full fledged review of The Hunger Games as it has been all over the blogland for months and months. I do want to mention that this book is completely out of my normal genre and because of that I held off on reading it even though bloggers everywhere were raving about it. What finally changed my mind was a trip to my library where The Hunger Games was just sitting on the front desk, waiting to be checked out. Now, I wish I hadn't waited so long to read it.

One question for those of you who first read this when it came out....Did you know how it was going to end? Obviously, we now all know that there will be two more books in the trilogy, and that alone gives a bit away. Not that I was disappointed, I loved the book, but I just wondered if the early readers knew at the beginning that there was more to the story...

8 comments:

Crystal said...

Like you, I didn't pick this book up right away becuase it's not the normal genre I read. But once I finally read it, I loved it! I had no idea how it was going to end. I knew that it was part of a trilogy, and assumed that Katniss would live, but other than that, I knew nothing.

You're going to love Catching Fire. I was very surprised at some of the twists.

Literary Feline said...

I haven't read this one yet and can't say I'm in a hurry to, although someday perhaps. I am glad you ended up really liking it, Melissa!

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

I'm so jealous...everyone has read this but me :(

Zibilee said...

Glad you liked this one so much! I am planning on reading it in the next couple of months, so I will get back to you on what I think of it. By the way, are you going to rush out and get the second book right away?

Melissa said...

Zibilee: My library doesn't have the 2nd one so I'm having my mom pick it up from the store for me this week!

Lisa said...

I didn't read the other comments, just in case! I have this sitting on my shelf at home, from the library, waiting on me to get to it. Soon, I hope.

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

I'm planning on reading this for the read-a-thon in a few weeks along with Catching Fire. Interesting about knowing whether or not it was going to be a trilogy and how that might have colored early readers' reactions.

Unknown said...

I did not know the book was part of a trilogy until I got to the end. I was a bit disappointed, to be honest. I liked the book, but I didn't love it the way so many other people do. So, you can probably guess I've no interested in reading books two or three.

I think this one appeals more to adults than kids. I've yet to see any of the students at the middle school I work in reading it in class or in the halls. The Lightning Thief books are all over the place this year, but no Hunger Games.

I'm in Marin County California, BTW.