Eagerly Anticipating...The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games

by Suzanne Collins

Is anyone else excited about the Hunger Games film coming out this month? We certainly are! We have been watching the trailers, speculating whether Josh Hutcherson will make a good Peeta Mallark (Damn straight he will!), whether the film will really be able to capture the atmosphere of the books (do we really want another Northern Lights/Golden Compass debacle? I think not) and so, we are going to be waiting eagerly with our popcorn outside the cinema door!

But lets have a refresh on the fantastic trilogy of books by Suzanne Collins on which the film is based on:



          Book 1- The Hunger Games

Book 2: Catching Fire

Book 3: Mockingjay



Review: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay

by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games #3

This is the last book in the Hunger Games trilogy, we finished Catching Fire with the realization that District 12, Katniss’s home, had been completely destroyed and Peeta captured by the Capitol and Katniss is now welcomed into the once thought annihilated District 13. The third and final book in this emotional and action packed series shows us Katniss becoming the Mockingjay, the symbol of the rebels and their freedom from the oppression of the Capitol. And once again Katniss finds herself used a pawn in a new and different kind of Game orchestrated by District 13 and their President as they use her to further their own ends.

All I can say is WOW! this book had me so twisted up, I couldn’t put it down, I literally sat and read it from end to end in one sitting, more often than not with tears dripping down my face. It was so emotional as you watch events unfold and Katniss breaking apart and all the characters fall...this book has a high body count and is not for the faint of heart.

As for Peeta vs Gale argument, I thought it was rather moot at the end, everyone had changed so much that it was the last thing I was thinking about. What I liked about this book was that it really showed the characters growing and maturing becoming adults as they are faced with horrific situations and became shaped by them. It made them very real showing both their flaws and their strengths.

This whole trilogy has been brilliant, definitely among the best books I have read, all three have kept a steady pace of action and character and plot development. It has kept me wanting more and kept me emotionally engaged (or strung out!) in all three; I believe I have shed tears whilst reading all three books! The storyline is both high on entertainment with the fast paced action and thought provoking, this isn’t a mindless action book about the People vs the Evil State.

And this book did get me thinking. Were District 13 and President Coin any better than the Capitol and President Snow? They were both ruthless in their goals, using any means necessary to achieve it; they both used Katniss, in the end they both wanted to destroy her. And there was a part at the end that led me to believe that they probably weren’t, just different sides to the same coin (no pun intended!). I think what struck me was the thought that in the end war leaves no one unscathed, especially the victors, and Katniss and Peeta seemed to be a perfect example of this. They both had scars that will never heal inwardly and outwardly and people they will never get back; in the end it seemed like a rather pyrrhic victory to me. But then again I didn’t go into this book expecting a happy ending.



Review: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

Catching Fire

by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games #2

When Katniss and Peeta pick up the berries in The Hunger Games, they don’t realize what they have started. They are the spark that has ignited a revolution. A revolution that the Capitol will go to brutal and ruthless extremes to suppress and end the way they did 75 years ago when District 13 rebelled. But Katniss didn’t do this on purpose; she and her mockingjay have become unwitting figureheads in the fight against their oppression. But the Capitol has a trick up its sleeve and no one Katniss and Peeta hold dear are safe.

This book was again brilliant, I couldn’t put it down once I started it I got so caught up that I stayed up late into the night reading it and came into work tired and a bit melancholy the next day. If you are looking for a feel good read this is not the book for you. However, if you are looking for a fantastic, emotional and heartrending story with characters that come off the page and remain with you, then this is definitely the book for you.

Although I didn’t think this book was as good as The Hunger Games (the first in the trilogy) this book deserved all 5 feathers. It showed the characters getting growing up maturing from frightened children in the first book, to more mature young adults in this one. Just like The Hunger Games the writing sucks you in, it is first person POV through Katniss’s eyes, but that just means you are closer to what’s happening and get to feel all her highs and lows with her.

I think the reason I preferred The Hunger Games> was because the time she spends through the games are so intense and you are learning everything for the first time, experiencing the brutality and the injustice up close and personal. And Rue, the scene when she dies in the first book was so heartbreaking, so emotional, I still get a bit teary eyes when I think about it. But, when they have to go back into the games for the Quarter Quell, it just doesn’t have that impact anymore and although there are plenty of times when this book is truly sad, nothing quite comes close to the pointless, brutal and sad murder of Rue, and Katniss's reaction.

Now the Peeta and Gale conflict, I am firmly on Team Peeta. He is just...perfect and they have been through so much together. He is kind, loving, tough, and completely devoted to Katniss, he would literally die for her, and equally she would die for him, though not for the same reasons, I am really hoping that it ends with them as a couple. Although at this point I am doubting the likelihood of any kind of conventional happy ending. I feel however, that I must put in a few words for Gale as well because I do like him, but we just don’t see as much of him he is always on the periphery, so we don’t actually get that much page time for him to state his case. Maybe the next book will change that, but for now I am rooting for Peeta.

So, this is a really great book in a fantastic trilogy and I can’t wait to see how it ends. Anyone who hasn’t read these books really needs to give them a try, I am not normally a fan of YA, but these books are so good that they seem to ascend the usual annoyances I find with the genre.

Review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Wow, this book earned every one of the 5 feathers I have given it. It simply was one of the best books I have read this year, infact one of the best books I have read in a long time.

This book is set in the future where a series of natural disasters have reduced the world to a small population living in South America. They are set up in Districts which all answer to the Capitol. The Hunger Games are the ultimately twisted Big Brother, with viewers watching as children between the ages of 12-18 years of age, a male and female chosen from each District (but not the Capitol) try to kill each other, the winner being the last one standing. And it really is as barbaric as it sounds. This is all orchestrated by the Capitol to demonstrate its power over the other Districts and as a warning for a past rebellion from the now decimated and destroyed District 13.

The heroine of this story is Katniss from the impoverished District 12, she volunteers for the games to protect someone she loves, and is thrown into the games with Peeta the baker’s son with whom she has a silent connection with from an act of kindness from the past.

This book is told from 1st person POV and in present tense, something that normally I dislike, but in this case just adds to the tension and emotion in the books as you see everything as soon as it happens through Katniss’ eyes. You feel everything she feels, and at times this book can be gruesome, heartbreaking and tender, it really takes you through a whirl of emotions. Katniss is a wonderful character, she is a strong heroine, and although she is young you can feel all the hardship she has been through and when she makes hard decisions (a lot involving Peeta) you are with her all the away because as well as the book just telling you her reasons behind it, you could also feel it too. As for Peeta, although he doesn’t have quite the presence in the book that Katniss does I also found myself rooting for him, I didn’t want him to die as much as I didn’t want Katniss to die. He reflects perhaps the more normal teenager as he isn’t a survivor like Katniss and has had an easier upbringing, as much as someone can living in District 12.

As well as being alive with emotions, the underlying idea behind the Hunger Games was so completely bone chilling. But what made this worse was the way that other reacted to it, for most the Hunger Games weren’t something to dread, but rather a holiday. They enjoyed watching them, watching these young children trying their best to kill each other and survive the harsh environment that the games were staged in. Very few seemed to see how very wrong it was, which for me just made it more horrific.

There are so many good bits in this book, so many poignant moments as well nail biting action, that I just can’t recommend it enough. But the ending, oh my god the ending, it has ensured me going out tomorrow to get the next book, Suzanne Collins has totally sucked me in.

Would recommend for EVERYONE no matter what you like this book is worth at least a try and I defy anyone not to love it!