The Hunger Games (Hunger Games Trilogy, Book 1)Audiobook

Firstly I'm probably the only person to never read The Hunger Games as soon as I heard it was amazing. I took my time getting to this book and I should have listened to everyone else and raced to it, but I'm stubborn! Pushing that aside the Hunger Games is uniquely constructed, and has an extraordinarily built world that's vividly detailed. The characters are remarkable, each with a surprising amount of depth, and easy-to-like or easy-to-hate personalities. From the beginning you'll have your mind made up on whose good and whose bad--that will change. The heroine Katniss Everdeen is flawed yet has a lot of strength and courage. Right off the bat I really admired her for stepping up to protect her little sister Prim from the Games by taking her place. Her bravery is impressive but aside from that she's also a wood's warrior; she can climb trees, has deadly accuracy with a bow, and can hunt like nobody's business. Then there's Peeta - the bread making boy from her district whose also chosen for the arena. He's the epitome of all that is good, kind-hearted, self-sacrificing, and loyal to no end. His stability and confidence is unbelievably charming. His relationship with Katniss is complicated and beautiful--you'll be rooting for them throughout the entire story!

I loved almost everything about The Hunger Games the only disappointment I had was that we rarely got to see much of Peeta as he and Katniss are often separated. Gale whom is Katniss' bestfriend from the district is mentioned frequently but we never really get to know him except through what we hear about him. Excluding those facts I enjoyed the camaraderie between the formed alliances, but was seriously devastated at the hopelessness of the situations all the characters find themselves in. Haymitch--Katniss and Peeta's mentor--is perhaps underrated but astronomically important in trying to help them succeed and stay alive. I feel that more credit is due to him as a past survivor of the Hunger Games, I loved that even though he's strange and irreparably damaged he gives them the tools necessary to have a good chance at beating the odds. He has such a darkly humorous outlook and it was refreshing of his character not to sugarcoat the very likelihood of death. I don't think many YA authors take such matters seriously enough and portrays important issues appropriately, but Suzanne Collins gets it and does it right. Those expecting romance will be satisfied and yet still want more. The Hunger Games is conceptually clever and extremely gripping. I was near tears during some of the scenes as they struck a chord inside that appeals to everyone's humanity. The world built and weaved into words is dark, seemingly despaired, and unjust but riveting nevertheless. The realness of it will chill your blood because the situations are pretty believable. Children and teens fight for their survival and are pitted against each other for the entertainment of the Capitol and the last one standing wins. It's beyond twisted, crosses many moral lines, but you won't be able to stop reading once you start. I'd strongly recommend for teens over the age of 14 due to violence, and human cruelty.

Located in the ruins of North America lies 12 districts in a nation called Panem with a government-like society dead center named, The Capitol. You have to follow each and every rule because if you don't punishment is swift and deadly. Every year The Capitol holds and celebrates the biggest event--the Hunger Games. Children and teens are randomly selected and forced to participate in a life or death battle arena where only one can emerge as the victor. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen isn't looking forward to the reaping process this year particularly since she's got numerous chances of being selected. She's both horrified and shocked when her younger, and only sister Prim is chosen as the contender. She does the only thing that can save her--she offers to take her place. With this almost guaranteed death sentence Katniss must make some of the most difficult decisions that goes against her morals to make it out alive--and may the odds be ever in her favor--or not.

The Hunger Games is wildly engaging and shockingly amusing. It's easy to lose track of time, minutes will turn into hours so beware of the addicting nature of this novel. It's a blend of science fiction, dystopia, with realistic conditions and futuristic-like advancements. If ever there was a trilogy worth reading it would be this one. It has a universal appeal, it can most definitely be enjoyed by both teens and adults. The Hunger Games is suspenseful, emotional, and a must-read. Collins has written a powerful story with authentic characters, and creates an unbelievably astonishing, and gritty world.

As I write this review there are now 1,756 reviews already posted; which is a lot of reviews when you think about it. I seriously doubt if I will be able to add one thing in my little effusion here that has not already been said but since it will soon be buried and will probably never be read by another human I suppose that will not matter much. Anyway....

I have to tell you that like many folks here I was absolutely hooked on the first page and went through torment when I had to put the thing down in order to eat several times and to sleep once. I cannot remember when a book captivated me so.

The plot has been given a pretty well going over here so I will not dwell on that much. The story, as told through the words of a young girl, takes place in a future totalitarian society; America, after things have gone horribly wrong. There is a place called the Capitol which pretty well runs everything and the country has been broken up into twelve districts (There is a thirteenth district but in this book it has been supposedly completely obliterated.) Because these districts had, 75 years ago rebelled against the Capital, they are required to give up two of the children each year, a boy and a girl. These kids are taken to an arena and forced to fight to the death until only one is left. The people in each of these districts are treated like slaves and for the most part are simply starved or worked to death in the end.

That in brief, is the essence of the story.

Is this somewhat brutal? You bet it is. Is this somewhat horrifying? Most certainly. Is the story plot realistic? Unfortunately, yes it is...quite believable. And this is why so many are reading this work and the two books that follow in this series. The author has done her job. Most of us are horrified and most of us do see the brutality in the situation and most of us deplore it. To be quite frank, I would quite worry about someone who was not horrified and a bit disturbed.

I have some random thoughts about this book:

The writing is good. We are not talking high literature here, and thank goodness for that. We are talking about a well written story that, after reading the many reviews here and on other sites, holds the readers interest page after page. Excellent plot, excellent dialog, lots of action, very fine character development...it is all here. Maybe it is not to everyone's taste, but it most certainly satisfies the reading needs of a lot of folks...both young and old.

The premise of this story is certainly not new. Right off the top of my head I think of the old story "The Lottery," and a more recent novel by Stephen King, "The Long Walk." Both are similar but this idea is no worse the wear for being used again and I really think this author got it better than King did with his shot at it.

Designating this work as a YA book is really a bit inaccurate as the age group who will enjoy this thing has a very wide range and in many ways the book is more suited for the adult reader than the pre-teen. I personally would have no problem with a younger child reading this thing, but each child is so different that this would be a hard call to make. I do have a great problem with those folks who seem to want to ban this work from school libraries...that is one of the silliest things I have ever heard of. Folks who want this have no clue as to what their children are reading right now. I recently read three YA books by different authors. In those three books there were vivid descriptions of vampires sucking the blood out of the necks of virgins, (and a goodly number of non-virgins), blatant and casual recreational drug use, sex, group sex (a cool thing to do, by the way), gang rape (no big deal), infidelity, murder, robbery....oh where to stop? I can assure you that none of these subjects were addressed in this book. No folks, our libraries are no longer filled with Little House in the Big Woods' books...it is more like Little Meth House in the Big Woods'...truth be told.

The concept of having a drawing to decide which child (ages 12 through 18) be sent off to fight to the death is upsetting to be sure. On the other hand, does anyone here remember a thing called The Draft? We have been sending children, and make no mistake, an 18 year old is still something of a child, off to fight and die in wars since the beginning of so called civilization. This concept of not putting children in harms way has never held much water. During most of our previous wars we had children, young men, as young as 15 fighting and dying in them.

The author has done a very nice job with the violent scenes. They are well done, not gratuitous in the least bit, are an important part of the story and not overly graphic when compared to a lot of books that are on our shelves today.

Taste in books is wide ranging. This book will not be for everyone. I personally found in one of the better reads I have had over the past ten years are so and am already on the third volume of this series and dread that it will soon be over.

Don Blankenship The Ozarks

REASON FOR BOOK CHOICE

I am an aggressive reader now, for sure, but I didn't used to be. As such I found out about Hunger Games via a trailer on Apple.com. It looked intriguing and the main character had a lean and angry feel to her that I hadn't seen in a while. I like kick ass female heroines and the story seemed to tick all my desirability boxes.

Then a few reviewers said the movie wasn't as great as it could be, so I passed and decided to wait for the DVD release. However, a couple of weeks ago I was trawling for a good book and I thought: Hunger Games, why not? I'm currently writing my own YA book and I thought that I should be pragmatic and check out the competition. I didn't expect it to be good, I certainly expect it to be great. It was just the new Twilight that I had to read because the world demanded it.

COVER

The cover for the Kindle version I purchased is the movie tie-in edition. I'm not sure what to think of that. I know that keeping your marketing material the same is a good idea, but would it be such an ask to have a unique Kindle cover that really takes advantage of its grey scale processing? We're not talking a single independent writer here, this is a professional squad. Surely they could design something that grabs you straight off from the get go.

The cover itself is fine. It's Katniss' mockingbird on fire and I already knew it looked great in print at the local bookshop. In greyscale, however, not so much. All the vividness and contrast has been drained out of the picture; therefore, even though it's in super high definition, it doesn't grab me on the Kindle.

It's also strange that the cover suffers from the 'blank space' issue a lot of books have around its left and right sides. I went off at Alan Parr last week about and I haven't changed my opinion. This is really lazy work and whoever put the book together for the Kindle should be spoken to about it. Yes, they would have to modify the file but it would be worth it.

BOOK LAYOUT

Even though the book still starts right into the novel (please, can we not do that?), I found it had all the essentials: TOC, chapter headings, acknowledgments and a really great way of promoting the next book. Unfortunately, I'm not a huge fan of the way the TOC had been laid out and although I understand it's not the Kindle version creator's fault (because he / she was staying true to the source material) it really reeks of sloppiness.

I can comprehend that fans of the novel would want it changed as little as possible from one version to another, but I'm not sure they would complain about aesthetic changes like chapter headings. I say this because the TOC chapter listings are 1, 2, 3 and so on. It works when you create a printed book because you can make those numbers really large but as TOC headings, it looks like an eighth grader put the table of contents together. Surely they could have changed them to One, Two, Three and kept the spirit of the book.

One thing I love about the layout is their marketing. At the very end of the novel is a picture promoting the new novel: Catching Fire, and it's great. It let's you know that the other book is available, what it's called and it's not trying to force you to read anymore. I'm already thinking for picking it up in the Christmas period (or when I have holidays) to add to my list of reading material.

STORY

The story is pretty well known by now: Katniss has voluntarily put herself forward to compete in the Hunger Games so that she can save her sister from a likely death. This games are a survival tournament between the 12 different districts that is held in the Capitol and features participants from the ages of 13 (?) to 18.

The main story: survival, is added to with the possibility of romance, audience manipulation and defiance against an oppressive regime. I loved it. I really loved it. The story arc is tightly wound and just goes up and up in its tension as the book progresses.

I found Suzanne Collins totally ruthless as an author (for this kind of book she needs to be) and that was overwhelmingly refreshing for me as a reader. No-one is spared. Friendships are made because of the need to survive and then characters are dispatched as if the Hunger Games was happening in reality right now. There's no sentimentality in this book or inauthentic moments and that's what makes the story work because it feels as if you're right there every step of the way with Katniss and the other competitors.

Also, the book ends. The Hunger Games end and that makes it a compelling (and fulfilling) read.

CHARACTERS

It's been a long time since I've read characters who I've cared about so deeply. I love Katniss and her strength, her confusion, her struggle with humanity versus survival. It's powerful, it's evocative and it made my heart jump more than once. She's a character that hasn't just turned up with a bow because that's what the author wants, she's a character who grew to use a bow because of her fierce determination to survive. I feel that things are going to go badly for her in the next two novels but you can't help but hope she makes it somehow.

There's a great mentor in Haymitch who I hope will be fleshed out more in the second book, a complex and volatile love interest in Peeta, an uncertain ally in Cinna and a fascinating interviewer in Caesar. I think what I loved about all these characters was the fact that they arrive as real people. They have histories, secrets and their own goals Suzanne hasn't told us about yet. Nothing feels deliberately hidden in the book but you can feel it lurking beneath the surface and just waiting to explode.

I think Cinna was probably my favourite outside of Katniss and I'm looking forward to seeing if he gets more space in the next novel.

WRITING

Wow. This is incredibly written. The end of the book says that Suzanne Collins explores the effects of war in her novels and you can feel that. She writes with a purpose and drive that I did not feel in Twilight or Switched. Everything feels stripped back, every word feels as if it should belong on the page and there's no fancy literary games to be played with the author. I felt as if Katniss was speaking to me directly all the way through.

It's written in the first person perspective and in the present tense. I think the narrator is a little unreliable (she's only 18) but has a unique and strong voice that you can hear in each sentence on the page. After reading the big ones: Switched and Twilight, I'm pretty comfortable saying this is in a whole different league. There was nothing wrong with Stephanie Meyer or Amanda Hocking's writing ability in those books, but they were not at this level. Not this gripping, not with this strength of tone and force behind each word. It was like being kicked in the teeth and then pulled behind a chariot for three thousand metres.

CONCLUSION

Is it worth five dollars? Yes. Hell yes.

I can't tell you how much of a relief it was for me to read Hunger Games. I really struggled through the last two books and thought that maybe I had lost my ability to enjoy well written novels because I was writing more myself. I wasn't. The last two books just weren't that good.

Hunger Games grabbed me from the first page and held me until its bittersweet end. I started it at ten o'clock at night and finished the novel the next morning. It's about 80,000 words but it didn't feel like it. It felt so much smaller than the other two novels I had just read. I loved Hunger Games and it made me believe that there was some more Young Adult fiction out there for me.

You don't need to like YA to enjoy Hunger Games, you don't need to like vampires, love torn women or any of the tropes of the genre. This is fiction at its finest with an immediacy that would have made George Orwell proud.

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