Normally I don't tend to jump on those kind of bandwagons, for example, Twilight came along and I refused to read the series and I refused to watch the films, instead I sat down and enjoyed Bram Stoker's Dracula, as you do.
Anyways, I found the first book in the trilogy, the Hunger Games very readable, in fact I probably stayed up way to late reading it! However, I must admit that I felt there was something lacking. But I just can't put my finger on it.
I liked the whole idea of the Hunger Games. A government controlling people through fear, and doing anything to retain that power is an age old phenomenon. But having strong, healthy, young adults fight it out for their lives in an enclosed space has never cropped up in anything I've read before. Early on in the book the Hunger games makes you feel the terror and fear that every single parent and grandparent in each district must feel at every single reaping. The resentment that everyone one throughout each of the 12 districts must have within towards the Capitol, yet never being able to show it for fear of punishment. The feelings of tension, anger, hatred, terror and dismay are rife through the districts. The perfect setting for a rebellion.
I liked most of the characters.Well, lets be clear, there are obviously characters you're not supposed to like, for example, President Snow! But seriously, the majority of the characters are not either 'good' or 'bad', they have a huge range of feelings and emotions and as you discover more about the way the Capitol works and their own pasts you can see why they feel the way they do and why they act the way they do.
On a side note I loved the way the book was futuristic, however felt very archaic and backwards as well. The Capitol is full of high tech gadgets and magic medicines, while those in the districts have no such luxuries and are forced to forage for food and supplies.
I must admit, I wasn't much impressed with Katniss. Well, I was in some ways; she volunteered to take her little sister's place in the Hunger Games, she practically signed her own death warrant. Nevertheless I find Katniss moody, selfish and sometimes just down-right annoying. She has a balanced mix of desirable and undesirable qualities, and as a heroine that isn't something that happens often. I mean really, in general, the the hero or heroine of a story tends to appear to have only the desirable characteristics while the bad guy, has all the undesirable characteristics. And that's fine, however it's not real life. People aren't as simple as that; they're complicated and intricate. This realisation that a colourful character, for want of a better term, came while I was studying Virgil's Aeneid last week. Many people don't like Aeneas because he is flawed, so in other words he's a human hero. And I think Katniss is very much like this in the first of the Hunger games trilogy.I wasn't too impressed with Katniss' treatment of her Mother, but I won't say too much on that, don't want to spoil the book or the film for you.
On the whole I think the Hunger games was an insightful and interesting look at the way in which people react to different things. How people with different characteristics behave and say.
I really wasn't keen on the whole love triangle. I adore Peeta as a character, I think he is so sweet, if my brother grows up to be like Peeta I will be so proud. I am not keen on Gale, I can't really explain why. I find him moody, and uncommunicative, and over the whole trilogy I find he becomes more and more possessive of Katniss, which really irritates me. I found the whole fictitious romance in the arena a bit odd, however it did work, and I understand that the middle of the book would have been far more boring.
This book is definitely not butterflies and sunshine, it is gritty, and in places violent. It shows human nature stretched to it's limits, people doing anything to save their own lives. It's in a word, realistic.It makes you ask questions about yourself too;
Would I react in the same way as Katniss if I were in her shoes? Would I volunteer as tribute for a sibling? Would I play with Peeta's heart to save myself?
Would I behave the same way as Peet if I were in his shoes? Or Haymitch, or Rue, or Clove, Seneca, Gale, Thrush, Glimmer or Cato?
Food for thought.
I think the Hunger games warrants a 4 out of 5 stars.
On a side note though I do think that the recommended age is rather low, I think it is far more suitable for a children in their teen years, maybe 13+, as opposed to 9+
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