Book Review: The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)

Winning will make you famous.

Losing means certain death.

In a dark vision of the near future, a terrifying reality TV show is taking place. Twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live event called the Hunger Games. There is only one rule: kill or be killed.

When sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her sister's place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.

With a few exceptions, I feel I am the last person to read this book. In a way, I'm glad I read it late. Had I read it any sooner I would have gone insane waiting for Catching Fire and again waiting for Mockingjay.

There is always something unnerving about dystopian fiction in general, but what makes Hunger Games just that bit more gruesome is the fact that it pits children against each other under the amusement of everyone else. The thought it sickening. The Hunger Games certainly lives up to the brutality of the concept, and Katniss' narration gives a very vivid picture of just how sadistic it all is. I must admit that while reading, the Hunger Games felt like one big adventure and as such, has a certain magnetism to it that I could not say no to. But for once I am glad not to be part of that adventure and be in the relative safety of my bed reading rather than fighting for survival.

I'm sure a lot will agree Katniss Everdeen is probably the strongest female protagonist in the world of YA. Her voice is authentic and conversational and thus easy to follow, despite the heavy decisions she has to make within the circumstances. The ease in which she narrates her world adds to her strength and is a strong contrast to the darkness of her future. She's very real and very tangible, truly a person of her own.

There is no end to the number of secondary characters that is note-worthy in this book. Friendships and bonds are fragile, but unmistakable. It's particularly difficult to endear myself to any one of the tributes as they are doomed to perish one way or another, but certain characters attach themselves so strongly that their deaths deliver a very different point across to the readers. One of these points being just how satirical The Hunger Game is. It reminds me of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four and hence also carry heavy political connotations.

The Hunger games does not forgo humour or drama, but it excels in brutality. And I do love it. It's a bloody good book!

As for the great debate? Well, Team Peeta.

Five Stars!