The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Jun 21, 2010 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it really liked it

The premise behind The Hunger Games is hardly original - Survivor/Big Brother taken to extremes as a modern anology- but this novel is suprisingly gripping.
I really wasn't expecting to like it at all but was willing to take it on as a challenge read, if for no other reason that it would be a quick read given that it is YA. So I was suprised to find myself engrossed in Katniss's story and then her struggle to survive the barbarity that is the Hunger Games. From the very beginning you are hoping ...more

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Jul 11, 2011 Garima rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya, recommend, favorites, dystopia

I wasn't very keen on reading this series because of the major hype around it. Considering the similar hype around Twilight, I thought this series too will be another angst filled high school drama, like all the subsequent pseudo-copies. However, I can honestly say I was greatly surprised. I was hooked on early in the book and read the book in one shot. I liked the setting, the characters, esp. the fact that its not set in some fictional remote town high school with first world pain teenagers. I ...more

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Feb 13, 2011 Nairabell rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: recommended-by-friends, 4-star, read-in-2011, teen-ya-dystopian, read-in-2012

In a future where North America has been destroyed and replaced with a country called Panem, a yearly event called the Hunger Games takes place. A teenage pair of 'tributes', one male and one female, are selected from each of Panem's 12 disticts and placed in an arena with a single rule - kill or be killed. When Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister's place in the Games, she believes it is a death sentence. Only one competitor from District 12 has ever won, but there has never b In a future where North America has been destroyed and replaced with a country called Panem, a yearly event called the Hunger Games takes place. A teenage pair of 'tributes', one male and one female, are selected from each of Panem's 12 disticts and placed in an arena with a single rule - kill or be killed. When Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister's place in the Games, she believes it is a death sentence. Only one competitor from District 12 has ever won, but there has never been a competitor who has had to fight for their survival like Katniss has in the past.

I'd heard good things about this trilogy so picked up the first book out of a love of distopian novels. Initially, I was pretty disappointed as the book is slow to start and the plot is pretty derivative. Although the author interview at the end of the book claims the idea came from channel surfing between the news and reality TV this is incredibly similar to Battle Royale. I also prefer the kind of distopian novels that start out with a world that doesn't seem that bad, whereas here Panem seems pretty awful from the start.

However, as the Games begin (no pun intended) the plot picks up pace and we soon get to see Katniss in a new light. At the beginning of the book she is pretty irritating to read, whereas I liked Peeta (the male District 12 tribute) from the start. Katniss grows up a lot as she takes part in the Games, but by the end of the book it's clear she still has a lot of growing up to do. I also liked a lot of the supporting characters, especially Katniss's stylist Cinna.

I did like how the spectacle of the Hunger Games was handled, and it is one of the things that stood out from the book. While the Games were invented to remind Panem's citizens that the Capitol reigns supreme after a failed revolution, it has become a media circus. Given the current media attention given to reality TV it isn't too far-fetched to believe a show like this would garner that level of attention, if not more. The way in which the tributes are treated before the Games begin reminded me a little of beauty pagents - costumes, grand entrances, talent testing and interviews.

The way the book ended means that this part of Katniss's story is complete, but still leaves it open for the other two books in the trilogy. I really liked the ending, and it definitely made me look back on the book in a different light.

All in all this was a good read, and I'm looking forward to Catching Fire and Mockingjay.

Plot: 8/10
Characters: 9/10
Ending: 10/10
Enjoyment: 8/10
Cover: 7/10

Overall: 42/50 ...more

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Jun 17, 2011 PM rated it really liked it

I liked this book. Haven't read anything like it before and it is another finished series! The story doesn't attach you to the people as much as some and the "romance" portions are limited, but the world and the games she created are complex and amazing, and the tension feels real. ...more

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Apr 02, 2011 Caroline rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourite-series

What a fabulous book. I'm not a huge YA book fan, but this was just great. I love learning this new world, The plot is well done and the characters are engaging. I immediately started the second book, even though I had no idea where the plot would take them. ...more

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Oct 02, 2010 Jesslyn rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: z2010-kindle-reads, cat-series-completed, cat-dystopian-fantasy, cat-ya-fantasy

Although I liked this book and would recommend it, I had to actively NOT think of the Uglies by Westerfield series while reading. A solid fantasy entry, nonetheless.

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