Reviews From an HBN (The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins)

FINALLY! I got to read this book! There's so much I didn't get worked into a review, because this is really a book for conversation, not just...well, reviewing.

Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don't live to see the morning? 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 steps forward to take her sister’s place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—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 will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

MY RATING: 5 STARS

My (inadequate) review from GoodReads: 

Let's see to the most important factoid first: I love Peeta. We'll return to that later, but now you know where I stand.

I place this in the same category as The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo as a book I'd heard praised from here to Jupiter but never really got curious enough to read until the hype got so huge a film adaptation was made (lazy, I know). I mean, it can't be that awesome, can it?

Turns out...it can. I loved Katniss Everdeen's voice as narrator and seeing the story directly through her eyes. Her attitude reminds me of Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle, with her dry humor and inability to get along with people when it's expected of her, when in fact, you'd think it meant the most for people to like her. But of the two, I like Katniss even better for her resourcefulness, her toughness, and her cunning. She also does a lot less feeling sorry for herself. She's made for action, not moping. She's very jaded by her circumstances for being so young, but you can still tell she's a rebellious teenager and still can't quite be beaten, no matter what you throw at her, as her actions in the arena prove.

And now for Peeta. I have major, major love for Peeta. He was just so nice, and funny, and lovable in a boy-next-door kind of way, and his attitude about the Games was so awesome, concerned not so much with death and dying, but with his wish to die as himself. So much more impressive than Gale's ranting about the Capitol! Gale...pssht, who gives two sh*** about Gale when you have Peeta Mellark? And this was my beef with Katniss. Open your eyes, girl! He's not pretending! And you know you feel the same way, so quit acting like such a bimbo!

I have to hand it to Suzanne Collins, she got me good. I wondered how she was going to pull off the ending it seemed she had to pull off without completely ruining it, and I thought she was going for a cheap cop-out at first, but she fooled me. She's also got me hooked, and now I'm glad I waited so long to read this series, as it means I don't have to wait for the other books to come out. The other movies, however...


Your humble book nerd,
Angels