Friday, April 27, 2012

The Hunger Games

Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Young Adult
Author: Suzanne Collins
Title: The Hunger Games

First Impressions:
The funky names and the odd setting of the story threw me off at first, but I chugged on and read past the slow exposition and uphill plot. The common terms in this book, such as tasserie, Panem, tribute, take a bit of reading and comprehension to understand exactly what they mean in the layout of the story. Suzanne is the kind of author that ends every chapter cliffhangingly.

Main Characters:
Katniss is the Xena style warrior for the young adult crowd, a child without a father, and with a seriously depressed mother and vulnerable, sweet little innocent thing of little sister, whose name is Primrose. Gale is Katniss' best friend and hunter partner, and Peeta is the boy from the district whom has done favors for her in the past but whom she's not really close to; until they are cast in the hunger games together to kill each other.

In a Nutshell:
Combine Lord of The Flies, the Gladiator, and as I've heard many others say, Battle Royale, and you've got yourself the Hunger Games. Like LOTF, Hunger Games features kids whom not by their choice are placed somewhere away from family and friends and then turn viciously on each other. Unlike LOTF, the Hunger Games is an annual sport, and many districts train for the young ones for it all their lives. Like Gladiator, it's either win and kill, or lose and be killed. Unlike Gladiator, it's 24 tributes (one boy and one girl from each district), and there can only be one sole winner.

The plot gets thick when Peeta reveals he has feelings for Katniss, and then the two fake (or do they?) a romantic relationship, never seen before between two people out to kill each other. This grabs the audience's attention enough to make things intriguing.

Nina's Take:
I'm probably going to get stoned for this, but I really didn't LOVE The Hunger Games. Maybe because I couldn't get past the unrealistic sudden surprises that "floated down from the sky" or the unnecessary gross gore and visual imagery of blood and yuck. But that's just me. It was action-packed, and there were teary moments, but it left me wanting in the end. I didn't want it to turn into a hormonally confused teenage girl's pseudo love-triangle; but I liked that it kept the romanticism suited for the age group (as suited as it can be in today's day and age.) However, it just failed to keep me motivated enough to finish it all in one sitting -as I usually do- and left some unanswered questions, but I guess that's what you sign up for when you read a trilogy. Am I reading the next two? Negative.

My rating is 3.5 out of 5