Other Worlds' Rating: 7 of 10 stars
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a dystopian, young adult science fiction novel set in a destroyed North America that has been renamed Panem. This nation consists of 13 Districts, the Capitol and the 12 other districts that were labeled rebellious. The Capitol decided to punish the rebellious districts by instituting the Hunger Games. A raffle is hosted among the children of the 12 rebellious districts, which all children are required to enter. Each district has 2 names drawn - one boy, and one girl. The children whose names are drawn from the raffle are entered in the Hunger Games, a brutal gladiator-like event where the contestants fight to the death. The event is televised for the entertainment of the citizens of the Captiol. Katniss is a young girl who ends up representing her district. She is faced with a difficult choice - kill or be killed.
I thought this book got off to a rather slow start. I had a difficult time feeling totally engaged in the book until about a third or half of the way through the book. However, the character Katniss was interesting enough to me to keep me reading until the Hunger Games actually start in the book, and then I was hooked from there. I gave this book 7 stars because of the slow start.
The book is written in an interesting way - a first person, present tense viewpoint makes the book both tense and riveting. I had a hard time not feeling tensed up at certain moments of the book when Katniss finds herself in danger. The book manages to convey Katniss's views and emotions in a way that I thought was excellent. It was hard not to feel like I was Katniss at some points, and the emotions I felt while reading matched hers. When she was in danger, I felt the danger. I was amazed by how well Collins managed this effect.
The plot was good, and very believable. I felt like the characters were well developed, and were very three dimensional. While sometimes characters suprised me, they never did anything that made me say, "Yeah right, they wouldn't have ever done that." I think that this made the characters feel like real people to me, in a way that is hard to find.
In a couple places, the book surprised me with its brutality and realism. Some of the deaths of characters in the Hunger Games are savage and ruthless. Since the book is written in first person from Katniss's view, the gorey details are often given when Katniss is privy to them. This book is probably not for the faint of heart or for children too young to cope with these details.
Overall, I really loved this book. I'm excited to read the next book soon.
I liked this one a lot. I'm excited to read how you liked the rest of the trilogy. There are definitely twists and turns in the other books that keep you turning pages. I'll be interested to find out how you liked the final ending.
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