Paperback, 374 pages
English language
Published Feb. 11, 2012 by Scholastic Inc..
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, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead 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.
After the reread I am blown away at how great this book was. Hunger Games used minimal language to bring an epic fleshed put story that delivered a whole world in complete detail. So many things were done meticulously. Maybe YA Authors should go back and reread the hunger games and look at all the stuff they are failing to do.
Four reviews:
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everywhere i turn, i keep hearing about this book/series. it lived up to the hype: a hard-to-put-down gallop through a futuristic time when a modern 'minotaur & the labyrith' - except the monster(s) are fellow tributes - plays out on TV.
in that way, it reminded me of The Running man, and maybe - with such familiarity of the genre - the author could just jump in to the violence. but i would have liked the main character to grapple with the immortality of killing another human being... she takes one life in reaction to witnessing the murder of a young girl (impulse), and another as an act of mercy. so she never gives into the impulse of survival: the 'it's me or you' that would fuel the majority of the conflicts.
i certainly will read the rest of this trilogy. i can't believe, after all these years of making …
everywhere i turn, i keep hearing about this book/series. it lived up to the hype: a hard-to-put-down gallop through a futuristic time when a modern 'minotaur & the labyrith' - except the monster(s) are fellow tributes - plays out on TV.
in that way, it reminded me of The Running man, and maybe - with such familiarity of the genre - the author could just jump in to the violence. but i would have liked the main character to grapple with the immortality of killing another human being... she takes one life in reaction to witnessing the murder of a young girl (impulse), and another as an act of mercy. so she never gives into the impulse of survival: the 'it's me or you' that would fuel the majority of the conflicts.
i certainly will read the rest of this trilogy. i can't believe, after all these years of making fun of ron, I'm turning into a sci-fi / fantasy fan.
Fast-paced and enjoyable read, but didn't get me thinking enough to give it 5 stars. Great concept: The Running Man meets Lord of the Flies meets 1984!
"Odds are someone else will kill him before I do. Of course, the odds have not been very dependable of late..."
post-apocalyptic stories, young adult ones especially, are difficult to get right. You either end up awed at the world so much that you can't focus on characters or so apathetic about the whole thing because it's so distant from any reality you can conceive of. here, the world is neatly summarised and built upon only as necessary and the focus is very much on the characters, who are detailed and potent. Everything's filtered through Katniss in first person perspective and her life's hardship and trials comes through in every sentence.
The action is neatly placed and fast paced, and even though things got a little predictable, it all happened so well that I'm not complaining. This is the first of a trilogy. Rock on!
Enjoyable read but the 1st person, present tense is often stilted, removing the reader from the story. Also, I love Katniss, but she's the perfect example of a Mary Sue.
