"The Hunger Games gives a hint of that vitality to the post-apocalyptic survival scenario."
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The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins
Genre: Young Adult
Book Synopsis
Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.Deb's Rating
Deb's Review
The movie of The Hunger Games is opening soon and apparently it’s a big, Harry Potterish thing with the preteens. I had never heard of the books until I saw a trailer for the movie recently, even though they’re been on best seller lists for nearly two years.
I got the first book in The Hunger Games series when I got my shiny new Kindle for Christmas and the book was a free Amazon Prime borrow. I found the first book compelling, even though there’s nothing the least original in it (but the same could be said, in truth, of Harry Potter). Originality of concept often isn’t as important as the freshness and the vitality of the approach. As the Harry Potter series breathed a vibrant new life into some very old fantasy concepts, The Hunger Games gives a hint of that vitality to the post-apocalyptic survival scenario, at least in the first book.
The main character, Katniss, a teenaged girl, was interesting. She had the whole ‘girl power’ thing going on, but had a decently set-up background that made her feats possible, and enough flaws built in that she wasn’t over-the-top on invincibility. But her very necessary flaws and self-doubts did sometimes read as an author purposely acknowledging that her character, who otherwise would be a “Mary Sue” needed these characteristics. These elements sometimes felt strained in the narrative.
Read the rest of what Deb had to say about The Hunger Games series: HERE.
Disclaimer: May not be appropriate for children due to violence.
