The Hunger Games book review

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Series: The Hunger Games #1
on July 1, 2010
Pages: 374
Goodreads

WINNING MEANS FAME AND FORTUNE.LOSING MEANS CERTAIN DEATH.THE HUNGER GAMES HAVE BEGUN. . . .
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 weight survival against humanity and life against love.

When I say Sunrise on the Reaping has put me back into the world of Panem I’m not joking. The next reasonable thing to do was to reread the entire original trilogy and The Hunger Games was as perfect as I remembered it being. When I read this as a kid I remember being in complete awe of Katniss and her ability to become so much more than what they thought she was capable off and that feeling has not gone away.

I think the thing that makes The Hunger Games so special and why it has managed to hold onto it’s fandom for as long as it has is the fact that all of the characters apart from Snow are so realistic in their own way. Each of them has qualities which either make you root for them whilst also recognising their flaws. They are all so inherently human, which to me will always feel like a breath of fresh air. Katniss isn’t this all loving, doing it for the rest of them person, she just wants to survive long enough to see her sister again. It’s what makes the first games so heartbreaking. Being an older reader you can see all the intricacies that are going through her mind when she’s with Peeta and just how desperate she really is.

One thing that I have always loved about The Hunger Games was just how well the world is set up and described. There is such a rich and diverse politics system that is also so well described and easy to understand that it is genuinely a thrill to read bout. I love the idea of the Capitol punishing the districts for 74 years purely because of something their grandparents did, it’s so barbaric but also so believable, especially once you read Songbirds because you realise that Snow lived through the hardships the war caused there. I think seeing the absurdities of the Capitol when seeing Katniss and Peeta turn up skinny from a lack of food makes the whole thing feel even more extreme. There is so much in this first book that is just set up but fantastically written without feeling as though it’s an info dump. You have the perfect underdogs and the perfect villain in Snow that even though they are children you begin to pit the tributes against one another.

There is such a finality with the ending and the emotional struggle with both Peeta and Katniss, and you can almost forget just how young they both are. As a reread I think I have grasped just how much pressure was put on each of their shoulders and how naive they were both were with the situation. I loved that Peeta saw the good in it all and how Katniss was almost the realism in their situation, you can’t help but root for there to be a different ending.

All on all this book was heartbreakingly beautiful in every way and I loved rereading the one that started it all. I cannot wait to read the rest of them and for the film Sunrise on the Reaping to be filmed and enjoyed. This series was definitely one of my favourites and I think it always will be.