Great Scott! Here I set a precedent for this blog: a review of a book you actually may have read (sorry, Christine).
I've heard mixed oral opinions of The Hunger Games for the past two years. I've been told it's the next Twilight or the next Harry Potter. Other people have had good things to say about it. The fact that it was made into a Hollywood movie means that everyone agrees that, at least, it's lucrative.
The Hunger Games follows the trials and tribulations of Katniss Everdeen (most of the names in this book are equally irritating), a sixteen year-old girl who lives in a dystopian future where most of Panem, a place that was once North America, is ruled by the rich, merciless Capitol. Panem is built rather like a game of Settlers of Catan, in which each geographic region produces exactly one resource for the Capitol to take and redistribute to everybody, keeping most for itself. The rest of the setting is unimportant, except for the Hunger Games themselves. In this event, which is mandatory viewing for every citizen of Panem, two teenagers from each district fight to the death in a giant, role-playing game-esque free-for-all. It's up to Katniss to find a way to survive the games at the same time as sticking it to the Capitol.
Because most of the hype pertained either to teenage romance or box office dollars, I was surprised by how good this book was. Of course, it's consciously a young adult book, so it's necessary to be more lenient with some of the awkward narration or times the moral is explicitly spelled out.
With this in mind, the dystopian world of Panem is surprisingly well established. The futuristic power relationships feel less traditional, like in Frank Herbert's Dune, than actually futuristic. I love the connection Collins made between the Colosseum games and reality TV, especially how she synthesized the real deaths in the former with the fake airs put on by the latter. For me, this was the best aspect of the book.
The worst aspect, other than the names, was the general shallowness of character. It sometimes bothers me when authors think it's okay to pass off one-dimensional characters because they're writing for children; Collins isn't nearly as guilty of this as some authors are, but she's far from perfect. Katniss is one of the best examples, fluctuating between cluelessness and total understanding of the system, as the narrative requires. Her personal connection to the action is somewhat too simple, considering she's the narrator. Of course, she cares about her family, doesn't want to fight to the death, hates the spoiled competitors, etc., but she comes out of the Hunger Games without a clear understanding of what she has gained from them. This may have been part of the message, but the message itself should have been clearer than "this kind of spectacle is evil."
Altogether, though, the plot held together quite nicely. I was particularly impressed by the details of the Games themselves; most of Katniss's survival skills and the conditions of wilderness existence were actually spot-on (except for shooting fireballs, but things like that were intentional). There was a nice balance on many counts of the plot of the Games: Katniss' strategy, the interaction of the characters' personalities, the actions of the game-makers, etc.
To cap it off, it was definitely a thrilling read for me. Although it hasn't been my favorite book of the summer, it kept my attention the best by far. Her narrative pace is perfect to keep the reader on edge, never quite sure when the next fight scene could break out. And the chapter cliffhangers, while overt, are all effective.
So: I'd recommend this book to nearly anybody, but especially to those who want to stay in the know about popular young adult fantasy and want somewhere to turn away from Harry Potter or Twilight. It's worth the time to read.
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