The Hunger Games
I don't know where to start with The Hunger Games. I shall start by saying that Suzanne Collins has a talent. For the first time in a long time I've really enjoyed a modern book. Most modern teen fiction have a certain focus on dark fantasy. Though this is fantasy it also has a strong sense of adventure, survival and rebellion.
The main character, Katniss, is a very strong female character. After the loss of her father she looks after her depressed mother and young sister, hunting illegally in the woods by her home to keep them alive and trading her kills to make money. The one problem I end up having with Katniss is her stupidity in her cliché love triangle. Personally I believe that the love triangle sub plot did nothing for the main story line except to make it appeal to an audience, and I understand that, but it seems like an obvious desperate plea to get more Twilight loving little girls to read the books and buy into the franchise. The love triangle just doesn't match the characters personalities and makes the actual plot seem a little undermined and less important.
One thing I really did love was the use of first person and present tense to build the suspense of the story. Collins really knows how to keep the reader on their toes with her ability to build up the tension, and to refrain from any foreshadowing of the plot, so the reader doesn't know or even understand the climax until it slaps them in the face, metaphorically, of course.
When I first bought the books there was a little mix up with the covers I wanted and I ended up with these covers:
So I sold those to Leaf because I prefer the plain covers. Cover art is a big thing for me. It's become a habit of avoiding any movie covers or any covers that I call "over designed" much like the one above with too much going on, so I got the top ones, the ones I now love and cherish. I'll review the other two books soon, but until then I'll leave you with Hunger Games cupcakes.
Enjoy!
