Book Review: The Hunger Games

Fiction: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genres: Science Fiction, Suspense, Romance, Action, everything
Rating: 8/10

24 Kids.

1 Winner.

How to be the winner? Be the last one alive.

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In the country of Panem, there are 12 slave districts surrounding an authoritarian city called the Capitol. Each year, a boy and girl from every district is selected by random lottery for the Hunger Games.

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The Hunger Games are a grim reminder to all those living in the 12 districts of the consequences of rebellion and the power that the Capitol holds. This control mechanism pits all the contestants against each other in a desolate and hostile environment, where the only method of action is “to kill or be killed”. The winner gets a life of ease, along with special treatments to his or her district. The losers can only lose in one way – by dying.

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We follow this gripping tale by listening to the narrative of Katniss Everdeen, a girl who takes her sister’s place as District 12’s female representative in the 74th Games. Along with her comes Peeta Mellark, the baker’s son who once saved her family by providing them with some loaves of bread. With these two competing against those who’ve trained their whole lives for a chance at the Games, hope seems slim. And what happens when the two are forced to turn on each other in a place where the “only unspoken” rule is you can’t eat the dead contestants?
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But this isn’t even the fun part yet. Every moment of the games is televised to the entire nation, and all the citizens are required to watch the gruesome display of supreme power by the Capitol. Sizzling right underneath the subplot of political intrigue is a love story that holds the readers (and the residents of Panem) in complete fascination.
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Reading about this post-apocalyptic world is grisly, terrifying, and at the same time, exhilarating. The Games are not simply tests of strength or agility, but of both intelligence and the instinct to survive. Suspense and action are keywords that provide the readers with a fast-paced journey through a world where the next page seems too far away. It will be inevitable that in a few years, you’ll be watching Hunger Games, the movie.

"Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. Let the games begin…"

By: Annie