The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1) in All Challenges All The Time

Mar 25, 2015 Catsalive rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2014, 2016, 2022, 2024

A good story but it's a pity the heroine is such a cow. Each time I read it I like her less so I think this will be the last time (2022).

2024: Read again for a challenge.
All up, it's a pretty good story, fast-paced & easy to read, & I enjoy a good dystopia tale. I doubt I enjoyed it as much as the first reading but it was still entertaining despite my dislike of Katniss. There are some tedious moments but it mostly moves along at a good clip with some great action scenes, & some really awful one ...more

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Jun 01, 2017 Susan rated it it was amazing

OMGosh this book was freakin amazing!!!! I have NO IDEA why it took me this long to start this series. I wasn't sure I could get into it but I was gripped from the get go. I love Katniss and Peeta so much. I love Gale too but we didn't get to know him like we did with Peeta. I cannot wait to read the rest of this series. I was so worried for Katniss and Peeta throughout the book and then I fell in love with little Rue and was so sad. I loved the way the players would gain gifts. The Gamemakers w ...more

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May 27, 2011 Haze rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2011-books-read, 2013-books-read, 2015-books-read, reread, 2017-books-read, haze-s-1000-list, 2021-books-read, audiobook, 2022-books-read, 2025-books-read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 2025:

Thoughts: I think sometimes it's difficult to find things to talk about when it's a reread and one that you've read multiple times and gushed about over and over again. I feel like I have nothing of substance to contribute except gushing, but gush I will 😂

All the parts that get me got me all over again! I cry at all the same places and more now because I'm paying attention to different parts of the book, including the ones where Haymitch's backstory now make me see things in a different li 2025:

Thoughts: I think sometimes it's difficult to find things to talk about when it's a reread and one that you've read multiple times and gushed about over and over again. I feel like I have nothing of substance to contribute except gushing, but gush I will 😂

All the parts that get me got me all over again! I cry at all the same places and more now because I'm paying attention to different parts of the book, including the ones where Haymitch's backstory now make me see things in a different light. It's funny how Katniss' observation of herself is so honest and oblivious at the same time. She's completely honest in the way she acts, but in denial about her thoughts and feelings. She cannot help but get frantic over Peeta, needing him to be well and healthy, rushing to get to him, wanting to sneak into his room at night when people were keeping them apart, feeling anxious without him, but she's all like, it's just a strategy, I don't like him that way. I mean, girl! Maybe I didn't know her well enough the first time reading the books and I trusted her at her word, but now I'm like, your words say one thing and your action says different, my girl!

To be clear, this series is about more than their romance to me, there were a few times rereading when the horror and trauma were more of a focus for me, but it's still hella romantic, especially now when realizing how subtle and deep the love goes 😭 He loved her forever! He remembers everything about her! And she might have been playing a part, but there is truth in her words too; "because for the first time, there was a chance I could keep him," and "I just couldn't bear the thought of being without him."

The parts with the three-finger salute got me too, as well as with Rue. I tear up every single time! When Katniss first volunteers for Prim, when the district gave her the salute. When Rue died and Katniss sang for her, put flowers on her and gave her the salute as well. When Rue's district sent bread as a thank you to Katniss. The feelings Katniss had about sleeping without Rue that night, after the night before where they both slept in comfort and feeling safe, together. When Tresh let Katniss go because of Rue, the way that scene was written, he was brutal and harsh and yet his actions spoke louder about how he felt. I am crying all over again writing these!! :catTearsCry:

It's also interesting that this time I was more affected by that last scene with Cato and the muttations, and how long he took to die. Previously, I couldn't care less about him. I mean, he was a villain, crazy, brutal in a psychotic way, not the same way we see Tresh, and after all his brutality, being scared of him, and him almost killing Peeta, we're just happy he's no longer a danger to Peeta and Katniss. But how long he took to die, knowing there was no one to save him, and the psychological effect that must have on someone in their last moments :animeShocked: I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. Although to be fair, none of my enemies ever tried to kill me the way Cato tried to kill Peeta and Katniss!

Whole series slight spoiler: The more I read the series, the more I get from it. It's not a flash in the pan, popular coz of a YA dystopian trend, but rather a long-lasting story, and unfortunately, more relevant in our world today than when it was written, although we don't see as much of that in the first book compared to the next ones.

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Read the book in May 2011, listened to the audiobook July 2013. As good or even better than I remembered. Maybe I'll give this a proper review soon.

Read the book again in January 2015, on ebook this time. Listened to Hunger Games Fan podcast after. Such a great reading experience!

Reread again in August 2015! Still so many things to get from it!

Reread in June 2017 - I think this was after watching the movies again, wanted to relive the experience.

Another reread - July 2021! On audiobook again. This time it was for a reading challenge for a book with more than a million ratings and I couldn't think of another book I wanted to read! At this point, I'm still not sure if I'll write a "proper" review because I could write a book about my feelings! ...more

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Mar 07, 2014 Shan ~A~ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 1st-in-series, audio, series-trilogies-i-started, favorites, sci-fi, young-adult, futuristic, crime, fake-relationship, family

Updated Review ~ 05/20/204 ~ 5 stars
Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark

This is still a 5 star read for me, but I realized that some of my perceptions of certain situations changed as they come to Katniss. I always thought that she was smart, and I still do, but this time I realized that Peeta was the better strategist or maybe he was just more selfless. He made his decisions to give Katniss the best advantages moving forward, not just in the moment.

Katniss is a survivor, so she takes each challenge ...more

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Feb 26, 2019 Ketutar Jensen rated it it was amazing

Brilliant! And I thought there couldn't possibly be any secrets about this. There were. Wow. Thank you, for all who read this and managed to keep silent :-) I appreciate it enormously!

But - I suppose this is just the first part of the story, and not first book. The story cuts in the middle. ...more

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Mar 10, 2020 Nancy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: still-owned, fantasy, ya, dystopia

So much hype, so many people saying how great it was...which left me so disappointed. I had put this book off simply because of the hype, but that meant I had the chance to read a whole lot of other good dystopian novels before this one (Red Rising immediately comes to mind). As a result, this just felt clunky.

My biggest problem was that I didn't like Katniss - at all. There are plenty of books where the heroine, having lived a hard life, starts out prickly. But as the story goes on the reader s ...more

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Mar 11, 2009 Marla rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, girl-power, middle-school, with-reservations, award-winner, adventure, series, completed, fantasy, couldnt-put-down

4.5 stars. The Dangerous Game meets Survivor. Very violent for YA and light romance between interesting characters.

I liked this book, but it is very violent, sad and dark. I like Gregor the Overlander series better, because it is less dark and violent, and I like the characters better in Gregor. I also think I can't give this 5 stars because of all the media hype...ala Twilight and Harry Potter, but I read those books before the hype got too out of control.

2011 Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Bo ...more

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Jul 27, 2009 Jamie ~ Bad Boy Inspector rated it it was amazing

Shelves: genre-urban-fantasy, genre-young-adult

LOVED IT!!!

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Feb 21, 2012 Lindy rated it liked it

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Feb 16, 2009 Ama rated it really liked it

Shelves: teen, 2009

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Jun 24, 2017 Carrie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, dystopia, heroine-i-adore, kickass-spirited-strong, 4-and-a-half-to-5-stars, tear-jerker

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Sep 02, 2013 Mirliz rated it really liked it

Shelves: to-buy, young-adult, dystopia, fiction

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Nov 30, 2023 Kristen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, tandem-print-and-audio, young-adult, suspense, first-in-series, in-a-series, black-covers, dystopia, animals-on-cover, 2023-challenge-books

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