The Hunger Games
By: Suzanne Collins

The world inside Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games is best described as one of the worst possible futures the planet will ever reach. The world has died, the human population has been nearly eradicated, and the idea of democracy is a thought that could cause you to get your tongue sliced out.

In the region once occupied by the United States and Canada is the country of Panem, consisting of 12 fenced in districts and a lavishly rich Capitol. Each district provides a certain type of good or service for the Capitol and almost every district lives in complete poverty. Every year the Capitol hosts the Hunger Games, a competition in which the main goal is to remind the people in every district that the government is stronger than they are. In order to host the Hunger Games, the Capitol selects two children, ages 12-18, one male and one female from each of the districts. The 24 “tributes” are then brought to a government controlled Arena to participate in the televised event. The point of the Hunger Games: to watch the tributes battle one another to the death.

The novel focuses in on at the 74th Hunger Games. The heroine of the story is 16 year old Katniss Everdeen from the mining district, district 12. She takes the place of her younger sister Prim in the event and is the most watched participant of the entire games. The boy selected to go with her into the games, Peeta Mellark, has revealed his love for her in a pre-games interview and their staged romance tugs on the heartstrings of the entire Capitol audience as the games for survival play out.

Suzanne Collins is clearly a “no-nonsense” writer. Her novel describes scenes that makes readers put the book down and reach for a tissue as they experience a character’s tragic death. Her action scenes are flawless. Katniss’s point of view is not riddled with pointless thoughts; it provides everything the reader needs to know and solely that. Subtle usage of dry-humor relieves tension that has you gripping the edges of the cover or muttering to yourself, “Come on!” This is a book that will definitely attach itself with super glue to the reader’s heart. I recommend it for anyone who is looking for a good, action packed read; it will not leave you disappointed.

After you read it, go see the movie being created by Lionsgate film company. It is predicted to be one of the best movies of 2012.

Movie release date : March 23, 2012

Recommend for a friend: Yes

Professional Book Reviews:

“Collins is an efficient no-nonsense prose stylist with a pleasantly dry sense of humor. Reading The Hunger Games is as addictive ( and as violently simple) as playing one of those shoot-if-it-moves video games in the lobby of the local eighthly; you know it’s not real, but you keep plugging in quarters anyway. …But since this is the first novel of a projected trilogy, it seems to me that the essential question is whether or not readers will care enough to stick around and find out what comes next for Katniss. I know I will. But then, I also have a habit of playing Time Crisis until all my quarters are gone.” -Stephen King. Sept 4, 2008. Entertainment Weekly

“The concept of the book isn’t particularly original…nor is there anything spectacular about the writing – the words describe the action and little else. But the considerable strength of the novel comes in Collin’s convincingly detailed world-building and her memorably complex and fascinating heroine. In fact by not calling attention to itself, the text disappears in a way a good font does: nothing stands between Katniss and the reader, between Panem and America.” John Green. Nov 7, 2008.  The New York Times