The Hunger Games Companion - The Unauthorized Guide to the Series

The Hunger Games Companions

by Lois H. Gresh

The ultimate companion guide to the blockbuster Hunger Games trilogy For all those who adore Katniss and Peeta, and can't get enough, this companion guide to the wildly popular Hunger Games series is a must-read and a terrific gift. Go deeper into the post-apocalyptic world created by Suzanne Collins than you ever thought possible—an alternative future where boys and girls are chosen from twelve districts to compete in “The Hunger Games,” a televised fight-to-the-death. When sixteen-year-old Katniss learns that her little sister has been chosen, Kat steps up to fight in her place—and the games begin. This unauthorized guide takes the reader behind the stage. The Hunger Games Companion includes fascinating background facts about the action in all three books, a revealing biography of the author, and amazing insights into the series’ main themes and features--from the nature of evil, to weaponry and rebellions, to surviving the end of the world. It’s everything fans have been hungering for since the very first book! This book is not authorized by Suzanne Collins, Scholastic Press or anyone involved in the Hunger Games movie.

Genres: Nonfiction, Dystopia, Reference, Unfinished, Pop Culture, Teen

Unknown Binding

First published October 1, 2011

About the author

LOIS H. GRESH is the New York Times Bestselling Author (6 times) and USA Today Bestselling Author (thrillers) of 30 books and more than 65 short stories. Look for SHERLOCK HOLMES VS. CTHULHU #1: THE ADVENTURE OF THE DEADLY DIMENSIONS (Titan Books, April 2017), the first in a new trilogy of Sherlock Holmes thrillers from England's premier publisher of all things Holmes, with Random House distribution in the USA. Lois’ books have been published in 22 languages. For five years, Lois was a staff book reviewer at scifi.com (now SYFY.com, the Science Fiction Cable Channel), and her work has been on national/international award ballots eight times. She is a frequent Guest of Honor Author at large fan conventions and has appeared on television series such as The History Channel’s Ancient Aliens and Batman Tech.

Reviews

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title "The Hunger Games Companion" is highly misleading, as it has hardly anything to do with The Hunger Games at all. Rather, it goes into details about subjects that are related to The Hunger Games, such as how the world may end, what happens to the body during starvation, several types of torture and execution, reality television, etc. While some of the information was quite interesting, sometimes it got a little too detailed and lengthy. I also found the writing to be a little off; it got highly repetitive at times and the writer seemed to jump around at times, throwing in bits of information that didn't fit with the paragraph or chapter. Sometimes it seemed as if the writer had read the trilogy years prior to writing the book, as some details provided about the stroy weren't quite right. For example, the author mentions how Katniss enjoyed designing clothes. In the book (Catching Fire), it is clear that she didn't really design clothes; it was a talent fabricated for her (no pun intended) because every victor was required to have a talent. Maybe I'm just being nit-picky, but there were several details like that in the book. I also disliked how the first person tense was often used ("And now we're going to talk about..." or "...as I discussed in chapter 3..."). It felt like a middle school essay. Overall, I believe that the intentions for this book were good, but it just didn't come out right. I felt that it was too much varying information packed together into one book. For me, this book just didn't work.

[Shyla · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was excited to delve into the world of Hunger Games....the characters, the relationships, the theories. But this...this so called companion is nothing but a bunch of ramblings explaining things that have happened in history and briefly comparing to them to Panem. Or there are chapters that include topics such as torture methods, war, hunger and how starvation actually occurs. Basically all the chapters pertain to topics brought up in Hunger Games but literally sheds NO light on the actual books, characters or plot. No cool theories about how Panem came to be or what happened to the world, no in depth character studies. Really nothing! Wish I would have saved my money...absolutely regret buying.

[Irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're a fan of The Hunger Games trilogy or if you're teaching the novel, you will probably enjoy this book. There were some sections that I scanned over, but other sections I read with genuine interest.

My middle school students like to buzz about the Mayan calendar/the 2012 "prediction." This book has a great timeline of doomsday predictions dating back to 2800 BC. The details of these predictions are spread throughout the book.

The chapters tackle a variety of topics from "Repressive Regimes and Rebellions: Could the Hunger Games Really Happen?" to "The Nature of Evil: President Snow and His Cronies." There are chapters on the weapons, the use of torture, and medicines and poisons. One chapter focuses on the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. I thought this chapter was particularly weak. It's a shame that this book didn't go into more detail analyzing the parallels from various versions of the Theseus myth, since Suzanne Collins has said this myth was one piece of inspiration for the trilogy.

A chapter I liked very much was "Hype Over Substance: A Mirror of Modern Times." This chapter was actually spooky. I don't own a television, and I haven't watched reality TV in a long time. The chart here detailing pieces of "plot lines" on reality TV shows appalled me.

[Emma *insert corn here* · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, as the nerd I am, I found this interesting, and learned stuff I hadn't even thought about. I will not spend a lot of time talking about that, but just know that all the science in this book amounts to three stars alone.

Unfortunately, there were things that prevented it from getting any more stars. I will talk about these, but first, there are some things you might like to know.

One of these things is that this book doesn't really have that much to do with The Hunger Games. Sure, it deals with a lot of themes that pop up in the books, like starvation, weapons, apocalyptic scenarios, and the like, but if you're looking for info specifically on the series, like for example the characters or settings, this won't be the book for you.

The second thing is one that probably would have put me off the book if I had known about it, so it's only fair that I warn you: This book is full of spoilers. Spoilers for the Hunger Games trilogy were expected, so don't read this book if you haven't read the series yet, but it spoils so many other books too. I don't have the book in my proximity right now so I can't double-check, but some of the books that were spoiled were 1984, Uglies, The Island of Doctor Moreau and Divergent, several of which I haven't read, in addition to at least one movie I haven't seen (but I unfortunately can't remember which one right now). All of these spoilers appeared without warning.

Now, let's get into my reasons for not rating the book higher:

Factual errors
First step of writing a book filled with science is making sure your science is correct. For example, the author once claimed humankind was about six thousand years old. I don't know if this is another biblical reference (there are plenty of them) or if she actually got her numbers that wrong, but what I do know is that archaeologists have found human remains that are hundreds of thousands years old. This seems like a pretty big thing to miss when you're researching for your book. The author also at one point talked about "genetically modified rocks" (I don't remember the exact wording but the meaning is the same)–which by the way was taken from one of her earlier books, so we also have points for irrelevant self promotion–and I must have fucked up pretty big if I somehow missed rocks having genes. Even I don't fuck up that big.

Errors relating to the book series
I don't expect people to remember every single detail of the series. But claiming that Prim was held captive in the section with "all the children" (all of which children? In the Capitol? In the world?) in front of the president's palace when she died in the bomb attack, when in truth she was killed when she arrived to give medical aid to the children who had just been bombed (which were a few of Capitol's children, not "all the children") and a second round of bombs was dropped, or that Katniss started out the series as a "kind girl" (I don't think "kind" ever applied to Katniss), is a little too much. There were several more, but my point is that she couldn't even always get the events in the series right. This makes me doubt she really cared that much about the books, which in turn makes me wonder why she even wrote this book.

Irrelevant information
Don't get me wrong, I loved all the science stuff, but some of it hardly had anything to do with the Hunger Games at all. One example: Katniss mentions once that she sees some bows with extra equipment. Because of this, the author spent several whole pages (yes, I'm serious) detailing different types of extra equipment and technology for bows. I try not to judge what people put in their books, but was this really necessary?

Passing off her own opinions as objective facts
This might just be me reading into things, but at some points, she would state things like "[thing] is evil" and just run with it as if it were a fact. Of course, I might have completely missed something here, but this made me start considering how much of this was really science and how much she just pulled out of her mind.

Soooo sloooow
I don't know if it's because of the book itself, because I'm not that used to reading nonfiction, or because school started up a few days before I started the book, but this took me eleven days to read. And hey, eleven days is not bad for a book. I frequently spend a week or two on a single book. But I rarely do that on a book under 300 pages. So when I am slower at reading than usually, I know something is up. Especially when I'm not even looking forward to reading. I wouldn't say the book put me in a reading slump (the only book I can remember that has done that yet was Morning Star, which I by the way actually liked), but it made reading a little less enjoyable while I was at it.



All in all? Three stars for the science, but not much else to give stars for.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good but it wasn't "amazing". I felt some parts went "too" in-depth, which kind of ruined the book. But it was very interesting and a bit scary how our world relates so closely to the world of the Hunger Games. I honesty thought "The Girl Who Was On Fire" was a better Hunger Games companion, but if you love The Hunger Games and want more, I would recommend this as well.

[Alyssa (The Shady Glade) · Rating 2 out of 5]

In my opinion, spent too much time analyzing history/modern warfare/techonology/politics and not much time connecting it to the Hunger Games or analyzing the books/characters. Gave up before finishing.

[aconstellationoftomes · Rating 2 out of 5]

➼ The Hunger Games Companion doesn't provide exclusive information or theories about the characters, world etc. in The Hunger Games trilogy. 

➼ Instead it provides information and theories about topics and themes related to The Hunger Games trilogy such as the apocalypse, oppressive regimes, revolutions, hunger, survival, medicine, war, mythology, the media etc.

➼ The topics that are dealt with are bleak and show the dark sides of humanity and human life, but The Hunger Games trilogy is dark and depressing, so it makes sense.   

➼ The author provides her opinions based on sources such as books, newspapers, websites etc. and while the author's views and opinions are interesting, I didn't necessarily agree with them. 

➼ Instead of researching and writing my honours thesis, I was reading this book and it reminded me of the academic writing that I was trying to avoid. The Hunger Games Companion reads like a student essay. 

➼ There are some parts that I found interesting, and other parts that I skimmed because they are overly descriptive and detailed. There are also parts that are repetitive, unstructured and off-topic.

➼ My entertainment and enjoyment levels were quite low while reading because The Hunger Games Companion is a serious non-fiction read. I didn't have fun while I was reading The Hunger Games Companion.   

➼ The Hunger Games Companion is an interesting read that makes one think about where the world is heading, but I would only recommend it to hardcore fans of The Hunger Games trilogy or people who want to read about related topics.   

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ☆'s.

Though this book started off really interesting, it does not live up to its promises. The title, The Hunger Games Companion, i found was misleading as it was more a look into how there are pieces of The Hunger Games prevalent in our society even today. It was very interesting, no doubt, to see how certain elements of Panem might have been inspired, the chapter on Reality TV being one noteworthy example, as well as the scores of repressive regimes.

Parts of it were intriguing reads, while others dragged and became repetitive especially the ones guilty of overexplaining... like the details on weapons or water purification that had little to do with the Hunger Games or the plot itself. Perhaps if they had more to do with the characters of the book itself and their roles, i would have been more absorbed by them. As it was I found myself skimming through some of the later chapters as the details became more than I really wanted or needed. Sometimes its okay to let a fantasy story blur some of the detail and let you draw your own conclusions.

I will say however the portion of Appendix A: end-of-world scenarios which referred to pandemics and biological warfare struck a little too close to home (considering the state of the world right now).

In conclusion, I'd say this read was an interesting reminder that humans are capable of terrible acts of nightmarish proportions not just now, but throughout history. Each era of time had its own set of challenges and horrific events, to the extent that even YA and its villains are plausible enough. It does not delve with as much depth into THG or its characters as i would have expected or liked, but is a decent read.

[Ana Rusness-petersen · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I first picked up this book, flipped through the table of contents and skimmed a couple pages, I was excited. What a great concept! Exploring some of the subject matter of the popular Hunger Games books in more depth - especially since the trilogy itself leaves readers wanting more. And the topics that the author, New York Times writer, Lois Gresh, chose to address sounded interesting and well worth exploring, if slightly morbid.

Despite the promising concept, I quickly became disillusioned with the execution of the book and with the author. I guess I held her to high standards, based on her background as a writer for the Times. There were grammatical errors peppered throughout, and occasionally, she would use phrasing that didn't express the intended/accurate meaning. For example, when talking about Rue's death, she states that Katniss didn't make it to her friend's side "on time," which implies they had a set meeting time that Katniss was thoughtlessly late for, as opposed to the more accurate "in time." This misuse of wording makes it appear that Katniss's thoughtlessness results in Rue's death, as opposed to her inability to physically reach her friend in time and intercept the sword that ultimately kills Rue.

There are many such instances of questionable wording, as well as blatant inaccuracies and instances of her using/twisting quotes from the Hunger Games trilogy to make or illustrate her point, even if she was taking the statements out of context and making them "say" untruths by the way she used them. Because it's fair for readers to assume that the author had read the three Hunger Games books, in order to undertake writing a book titled The Hunger Games Companion, there are some times you wonder if it's intentional or just thoughtlessness that leads to the numerous inaccurate statements in this book, whether she might have meant one thing (which would be accurate), but because of her careless selection and use of a particular word, the statement became inaccurate. It was the multiplicity of these untruths and the simplistic description by the author of the main Hunger Games character, Katniss as "nice" and "kind" that really angered and annoyed me, so much so that after about the first two chapters, each time I picked up the book to continue reading, I found myself angry at the author, and wanting to violently throw the book into the bathtub.

[mullemit · Rating 1 out of 5]

What is the point of this book? Does it mean to bring readers to the series? Analyze the books? State an opinion about the story? Recap it? Is it just a glorified reddit post? I’m genuinely so confused as to what this ‘guide’ set out to do!
I expected a few ‘this is how the science in the books work’ with maybe a timeline for Katniss starvation in the first game or some edible plant illustrations. I did not expect pages upon pages about different types of knives - none of which we know if they were in the arena! I had to laugh when I finished the chapter about survival instincts that basically just stated that Katniss has them!
I had hoped for some character analysis, maybe about Katniss’ subverted hero’s journey or kindness in the face of oppression. I did not expect a chapter named ‘the nature of evil’ to just sort the characters into ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’ depending on whether the author found them sympathetic or not with no curiosity about ‘evilness’. I did not expect every parallel of something in the books to other literary works or real life to stop at ‘the hunger games has futuristic showers - so does this book’ (and in that specific example the reference is literally to the author’s own book...).

Not every non-fiction book has to be a super intelligent academic piece, but this read like a middle school essay. It gathered the information, described it in its own words, and never had an independent thought (unless you count the blatant shaming of people who get plastic surgery?).

[Alice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had very high hopes for this book. I absolutely adore the Hunger Games, so I was excited to see someone elses insight into the series, and perhaps find out something I didn't know before. This was not the case. Although the book was interesting, I couldn't finish it. It really had nothing to do with the Hunger Games. A large chapter was about all the many kinds of weapons there are in the world. This was linked very quickly to the Hunger Games at the end, because Katniss uses a weapon...It was like I was reading a university student's essay about their opinion on war. Obviously the author is a very clever, insightful person, but this book should not have been branded in any way as a Hunger Games companion. I once had a Twilight companion, and, whether you liked Twilight or not, you had to admit, it really complimented the books. It talked about the characters, gave the author's insight into the books and pointed out things I hadn't noticed before. Additionally, it had fun little quizzes and stuff along the way. I just could not bring myself to finish this book.

[Meadow Frisbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am shocked by all the reviews on the negative side. Just because the book didn't fit 'your vision of a companion' doesn't mean it didn't do just what the author intended. I personally loved the book! True it wasn't completely about the characters and events from the books. But it was a different topic every couple pages. It was great to just give your life some more overall knowledge on the key points Lois H. Gresh tried to show. you learned how to operate throwing knives, how Snow's torture techniques were based on Chinese history, what disease come with the extreme starvation in district 12, and what really makes the people of capitol classified as 'evil or naive'. I LOVED all the information and thought the spin on the 'points' of the story rather then the events was a good change.

[Sena Khateeb · Rating 3 out of 5]

You will enjoy this book if you are a fan of The Hunger Games. Some parts were really intriguing, other parts were a little boring or felt way too far from the topic. The Hunger Games trilogy was compared to historical events/ old apocalyptic books throughout The Hunger Games Companion- not that I didn't enjoy those parts; I did because I actually love history.
I think, to me, the most boring part was probably that about weapons. I mean, I skimmed through most of that part, because it basically states different types of arrows/ knives etc..
However, this is a very good read if you are obsessed with The Hunger Games like I am. :]

[Francesca · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't something I would normally buy for myself but I actually found it really interesting and a helpful companion to a series that I love, but also left me feeling dissatisfied. However; it definitely could have been better. There were a few occasions where it dived headfirst into a topic (e.g how our brain works) that I know nothing about and my only option was to skip to the end of the section. I've never read anything like this before so I didn't know what to expect and I was impressed at the amount of research that clearly went into it, but the language could have been friendlier.

[Harley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't bring myself to finish this book. I got so incredibly bored. It's too much like a history class to me and I didn't pay attention in history, I zoned out and slept.

It's a good book if you want to learn all the different things that make up the Hunger Games: could the Hunger Games really happen, hunger in the world, repressive regimes and rebellions throughout time, weapons (which I still might check out cause that part sounds interesting), myths, gladiators, ect.

It's just not the book for me.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing style reminded me of the five paragraph essays required in junior year English classes. You know: intro, three paragraphs of supporting evidence, conclusion. By which I mean, the writing was basic, but I learned a ton of facts with supporting research! The research seemed pretty legit. I learned a lot of fun new things. Like, what girl doesn't want to learn how to maim someone with a bow and arrow for reals? It could come in handy. Just saying.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are few connections to the actual characters and plot of The Hunger Games to really call this book a companion. There is an amazing amount of detail, however, and a fanfic writer would be well served to have this guide as a reference. If you're a super hardcore fan, this book might be worth it for you, but otherwise, skip it.

[Natalie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish it. Not what I thought when I brought it and found it very disappointing. Not a huge amount of it was actually about The Hunger Games, alot of history and comparisons to our world. Don't waste your time and money!

[Lily Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lot of information. I really enjoyed it. I loved all the past doomsday predictions and the topics she covered!

[Amvell · Rating 1 out of 5]

this book does not focus on the hunger games as much as it should have. do not get this book if you are looking for somthing hunger games related

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting. I don't recommend it to younger teens, because some of the stuff will be over your heads. Overall, it was very good.

[Jody]

Not Hunger Games all the time but how it ties into our own history of kids killing others, weaponry, survival etc.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although all of the movies and books of this series have come out and we may not see any future books from this series [1], this book still does a good job at showing the appeal of an unauthorized look at a series that is likely to be remembered as a classic of YA dystopian literature.  I must admit that I have some mixed feelings about this book, as I would have preferred to see an authorized version, and it feels as if this book is more than a little bit of a cash grab.  That is not to say that this book does not offer some insight into the context of the Hunger Games, but this is the sort of book that one reads knowing that someone wrote it not necessarily out of love for a series, but of some sort of knowledge that writing more books about a popular series allows one to sell copies of books and burnish one's own reputation as a somewhat parasitic best selling author.  Perhaps that is not kind, but that is how I think of works like this, even as I read them.

In terms of its contents, this book begins with a discussion about the trilogy and what it means to survive until the end of the world.  After that the author talks about the realism of the portrayal of Panem's repressive government, the starvation of the ordinary people of the Hunger Games, as well as the nature of the gladiators in the arena who serve as tributes.  The author spends a great deal of time talking about weapons, torture and execution, the nature of evil in President Snow and his associates as well as the damage suffered by the killer kids.  The author looks at the Hunger Games as a mirror of contemporary hype as well as having an echo of of ancient myths like Theseus and the Minotaur.  The author looks at Katniss' instincts and strategies, the importance of medicine and poisons, as well as the realism of muttations and some more weird science of the novels.  The book c loses with two appendices, one of end-of-the-world scenarios and the other of further reading in the genre of apocalyptic and dystopian fiction.  To be sure, there is a lot to appreciate in this book and the author clearly shows her knowledge of the context of the Hunger Games and other literature like it.

So, given this, why are my feelings so mixed about this book?  Well, every chapter includes some failed predictions of the end of days, which gives the author the sense of being smug when it comes to failed predictions, especially of a religious stripe.  Then the author turns around and makes a lot of comments that suggest that she is alarmist when it comes to issues of global warming and supposed anthropogenic climate change.  The author wants to get the best of both ways, being ironic and smug when it comes to looking down on the apocalyptic follies of religious people in times past and the present day but holding to her own beliefs in the dangers of an apocalypse.  That sense of playing both sides carries its way throughout the entire book, and it makes this book a lot less enjoyable than it could have been otherwise.  It is easy to see, given the author's desire to make herself appear to be a literary expert, that this is not the sort of book that is going to be approved by anyone involved in a series, but is written to make a quick book and try to toot the horn of the author herself, and that is more than a little bit disappointing.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2014...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2012...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2015...

[Natalie Schloss · Rating 3 out of 5]

will start off by saying that i do think some of this was interesting and i don't entirely agree with reviews saying it didn't have much to do with the hunger games, i just think there are some tangents and it should be more like how to survive the hunger games lmao BUT i did have some real beefs

don't like the implication that being interested in celeb gossip or fashion or whatever you deem frivolous (which btw fashion is an art form bye) means you aren't paying attention to politics and the government is just trying to distract you with these silly things like you can be obsessed with the kardashians (idk why you would be but people are) and be politically involved

same with the discussion of plastic surgery because i am no defender of it, i think it's not a great choice to make BUT she's talking like "oh it's not gonna get you that minimum wage job" and i'm like the people getting plastic surgery are not working minimum wage jobs lmao it's VERY expensive and she's very much downplaying the fact that a lot of society judges merit based on appearance, PARTICULARLY for women like omg yes it does affect their prospects in terms of careers, relationships, it's literally everywhere. idt plastic surgery is the answer but there very much is a reason people feel pressured to have it done

obvs in recent years we've had protests not full on rebellions in the us but bringing up only these middle eastern countries felt a little like she's saying oh these icky muslim countries they're so terrible with the restrictions on free speech and the people had to rise up like bestie western countries aren't much better on that front! maybe i'm being too sensitive on that one bc it annoys the hell out of me how people talk about muslims but.

the microchip thing sounds like conspiracy theory territory like that's what the anti vaxxers are saying lmao no doubt we live in a surveillance state but yeah that was a little much

i don't mind historical parallels or references to other pieces of fiction (though i didn't really need summaries of those stories, just tell me how it's similar to thg) but i don't need to know how the body starves and i definitely don't think we need to be told that sometimes fasting is healthy actually it's decidedly not relevant here

what's with assuming thresh is stupid for letting katniss live, he was doing a kindness and probably figured one of them would be killed before having to come up against each other again

anyway i do think for the most part it was technically well done, just not necessarily what i would want. i'm more interested in analysis of the series and understanding the origins/inspirations, which there was some of, than how to use certain weapons or the different ways people can be tortured/killed

[James Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, I am currently on a kick of reading everything I can about The Hunger Games. I loved the books and the movies.

This book is filled with information and is written in a readable style. It starts off talking about what possibly led to Panem which was a series of climatic disasters and maybe some kind of war (although it had been a nuclear exchange with Russia and China I doubt the land would be actually livable yet.)

Another thing the book does is cover end-of-the-world prophecies which amounted to around 77 times (the book dated 2011) and, as far as most of us can tell, the world is still here.

Yep. Checked out the window. The world is still here. (Unless we are all a holographic projection by some space aliens like some scientists believe.)

Another thing the book does a good job of is showing just how the America is closing in on the type of country that Panem is. Panem is severely divided between the haves (the Capitol) and the have-nots (districts 1-12.) In America at the time the book was written 20% of the people in the country controlled 93% of the wealth of the country.

The book also points out some other things:

How our news is becoming less 'hard' news and more opinionated news.

Starvation in Panem and starvation in many countries of our real world.

The process of starvation.

Weapons seen in the books/movies ranging from primitive ones (rocks) to nuclear weapons.

Torture and execution (Avocs, whipping of Gale, etc. and today's practices.)

The nature of evil.

Anorexia (generally a situation found only in women.)

Roman games atrocities and its relation to the Hunger Games.

How does a person become a killer?

Hype vs. substance in such things like 'reality' shows, the news, etc.

What is truth?

How our society values style over substance.

Medicines and poisons.

The book also includes appendices, information about Unit 731 and a list of books about end-of-the-world events.

I think you can see this is a book that is very informative and very thought-provoking.

[Jason O'Hagan · Rating 1 out of 5]

There is so much bad about this book it’s hard to find a place to start. The writing itself is pretty terrible, there’s so much repetition and the author directly addresses the audience and makes assumptions about their views, the whole thing reads like it was written by a middle schooler. The book also isn’t even about the Hunger Games, the author just rambles about vaguely related topic in far too much detail about things such as the nature of evil, what exactly the body does when it’s starving and how to use a variety of weapons. When the Hunger Games is brought up, the author will recap briefly and then make the stupidest comments that make me wonder if she has thought about the book once. My favorite example being the quote “For example, when the Gamemakers drool over feasting on a roasted pig, in a grand show of rebellious behavior, she shoots an arrow into the pig’s mouth. What a great moment in the book! Absolutely superb!” (pg 97). This isn’t even getting into the amount of times where the information in this book is just flat out wrong.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a more intense book than I thought it would be. Gresh picks apart the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins and very vividly and accurately compares the characters, the games, and many events in the trilogy to factual evidence of dates and events that have happened historically. She breaks down the skills that the Hunger Games participants needs to have to win them, gives detailed information about the different weapons that are used in the series, etc. Definitely a thought provoking book.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it hard to count this as a proper companion for the hunger games. It's more like the author wanted an outlet to discuss issues like the government, poverty, history, killer kids and weapons and lumped a few 'like hunger games' or 'like katniss' in there so it could be sold to the fans of the series. There are some interesting parts, don't get me wrong but it wasn't hunger games. I'd say only about 10% of the entire thing if that is hunger games content.

[Mary Usufzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very boring and dull. I used to love this book when I was in middle school, but rereading it made me realize just how annoying this author's writing style is. Also, she misinterprets a LOT of character decisions and I didn't care for her takes on certain topics (video games, plastic surgery etc). Maybe she's very religious? There was many connections to the Bible and everything. Overall, a really dull read!

[Gabriela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was tough for me to get through but I really thought it was going to be a fun read. It was alright in the end. I think it would’ve been way more engaging if it was written in 2023 and could include pieces of A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Then it would’ve definitely felt relevant. But throughout the read I could only think, “this isn’t up to date”.