Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins Review

Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins

Ok so bear with me because this is my first attempt at a halfway decent review…

The Hunger Games is the first in the trilogy of the same name – I am now onto reading the second book Catching Fire so look out for that review very soon.   

I am going to start off with the comment that everyone says when asked about this book, it was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed turning every page. Now whilst that may be true I hope to give a more truthful and less general review than just that statement.

Let’s start at the very beginning- with the cover.  The dark cover gives of the impression that the book isn’t going to be all flowers and pretty girly happiness. The splatters of blood confirm that assumption. In my opinion the cover suits the book perfectly- no false hope that this book is going to lift the spirits and make the world a happy place.  Here is a picture of one of the many front covers for this book:

   

Sometime in the future America has been completely destroyed and replaced by a cruel place named Panem. Panem is split up into many, in fact 12, districts. Each district has its own trade, eg district 12 has the coal trade at the heart of its district. To punish the districts for rebelling many years ago every year the Hunger Games take place- these Hunger Games are supposedly sport. Every district has to give 2 tributes, a male and female aged 12 to 18. These tributes then fight it out until the death. Only one tribute can come out alive. The only thing to make this whole thing worse is that the whole of Panem is forced to watch their loved ones fight and kill each other. In the wealthier districts tributes are brought up to enter these games so are training in war and survival skills for many years before they even get the opportunity to enter the games, so obviously these ‘Career tributes’ have the upper hand when it comes to direct contact with other tributes in the games.   

In the seam area of District 12 times are hard- money and food are scarce and the only way Katniss and Gale manage to provide for their families is by hunting illegally in the woods just past the District 12 fence. The time of the reaping is drawing ever closer- and while the chances of Katiniss’ sister getting chosen to be the female tribute from district 12 to enter the 74^th Hunger Games Katniss still worries about how her young sister would cope in such a harsh environment. To cut a long story short Katniss ends up being the female tribute. The rest of the book is about the trials and the journey she goes on throughout the games.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book; every page held my attention brilliantly by making me care about the main characters (Katniss). I think that Suzanne Collins is a wonderful writer who knows just the right amount of gore and blood to put into a book without it becoming disgusting and/or stop appealing to a girly and feminine audience. At every point I was gripped to the story and am very glad that my friends recommended this book to me.   

Despite the fact that I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone I would say that to fully grasp the concept and not be put off by any graphic and bloody moments a reader would have to be at least 12 years of age.

Thank you for reading xoxo

Please comment with spelling and grammar mistakes so I can correct them.