"The Hunger Games" Book Review

Hola,

As promised, I have, for the second time in two months, read "The Hunger Games." My older brother had been telling me I should read this for about five months when I bought it. I trust his book judgment. When I entered the bookshop, I discovered a film version was eminent. The film is due out 23 March 2012. I immediately had a time frame. I prefer to read an entire series before the first film is released: books, then films, always.

I did enjoy "The Hunger Games," by Suzanne Collins. It is one of the best young adult books I have read in two or three years, especially in the futuristic genera. It is well written with a - as far as my reading history - unique plot line. Romance is included. Said romance is not the primary topic. Though set at an undetermined future time, the basic premise is believable. Characters are not capable of fantastic feats. Even technology, though somewhat more advanced, it is not far from currently publicized abilities.

Some of the book, especially the first two or three chapters, is predictable. Primrose will be chosen for the female tribute; Katniss will volunteer to take her place. Even if not written on the back cover, one can easily predict this from the first few pages. After that, it tends to diverge from the path one may anticipate. When one has read as many books as I have, especially for my age, one is used to a fairly predictable plot. Being surprised by a book is spectacular.

One of my favorite aspects of how Collins wrote this book was her handling of backstory. In any book taking place in the future, an author must address how society went from how it is today to how it is in the book. Some give a flood of information at the beginning, but readers are not interested at that point. Collins gave bits of the societal backstory, entwined with personal and intra-character background. She gave enough information for a reader to grasp whatever point she was making, but not so much that it exasperated the reader. In fact, I would say she gave the perfect amount of backstory: enough to get the point across and leave the reader wanting more information. I want to discover more about District 13 and why it was that district that was eliminated.

Character-building was also done well. Especially with Peeta, Collins made a point of making her characters multi-dimensional. This made them more believable, but also a little less relateable, which I think is good. It helps keep the reader's attention on the characters. Solid characters hinders projection of a reader's characteristic onto whichever character he or she finds most relateable. The characters retain the personalities the author intended.

In a few different places, Collins used fantastic imagery. One section reminded me - in feel, not specifics - of Scott Westerfield's "Uglies" series, (Thrilled that has not been made into a movie, by the way.) as well as "Beauty" by Nancy Butcher. Another section had me thinking a Tim Burton-Salvidor Dali cross. I also admired how she incorporated that section.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. One chapter I think could have been a paragraph instead. Chapter 10, in my mind, would have been a better fit in Part One. I think the romance was a little overdone, and somewhat forced at the end, but Collins could handle it well in the beginning of book two, "Catching Fire." My other main issue is that I would have liked more background on the some of the other tributes, not much, just a few sentences.

If you would like to see my video review, it is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfDnWX92YQA

The volume is low and it was my first video, so I went through quite a lot of trial and error.

Merci et bon soir,

-Genni