Book Review: The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games Cover Art

Author: Suzanne Collins

Published: 2008

Format Read: Paperback

Genre: Dystopian

My Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I currently base my reviews loosely around the CAWPILE system developed by Book Roast on YouTube. I modify the categories depending on the format of the story I’m reviewing.

My star ratings are purely by my opinion and not measured by any particular metric.

SPOILER WARNING: This review will contain spoilers! Proceed with caution!

Summary

Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun. . . .In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Characters

Katniss could be amazingly clueless sometimes. Other than that, I do like her as a character in general. She loves her family and at times can’t help having empathy for those around her.

Peeta is just a sweet boy trying to maintain his soul while going through hell.

By the end I really liked Haymitch. He really does care for them and wants to help them survive. I wonder, do we ever get to learn more about his Hunger Games?

Loved Cinna from the first moment he set foot on the page. A quiet rebellion in his own way.

Atmosphere

Foreboding, scared. The Capitol is a great example of a dystopia and you can just feel that everything is off. Does a great job of inspiring your sense of justice. Which is why I wasn’t able to read this book as a kid: it made me unbelievably angry.

Writing Style

Easy to read and follow. I’m also grateful there was no head-hopping in this one.

Plot

Oh, how I used to have a hard time with dystopian novels such as this. But this is a well-written, scary-that-it-could-come-true, novel. It warns about dehumanization and absolute power. It also shows the natural desire for freedom and an end to tyranny. It still irks me a bit, but that means it was written well to the desired effect.

I actually teared up when District 11 sent her bread to thank her for Rue : (

Intrigue

Even though I knew she would survive, I still wanted to see how. And there are some things I want to have more of. If I’d been reading this when it first came out, it would have been more intense, but there you go.

Logic

The only/main reason this works so well is because it was all so well thought out. And I can see the logical progression from where we are to where this is and it’s terrifying.

Enjoyment and Final Thoughts

Even though it took me so, so long to get into it, I did generally enjoy it. I don’t think I’ll ever read it again, though. Or read the other ones. It’s not my current enjoyment style, I need some more light-hearted books.

Would I Recommend?

Yes. I think it is important to see how bad things could become so we can avoid heading in that direction.