The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

(from the Official Facebook page)

In anticipation of next year’s The Hunger Games movie, and in order to have bragging rights to having read the book before the movie comes out, The Hunger Games was an easy choice for a bedside table fixture.

Set in a depressing near future where tyranny is manifested by death games, the main characters are drawn to an arena where they fight to the death, only one victor to rise above them all and live. After the Harry Potter epic and the (sickening) love story of Edward and Bella, you’d not be surprised with the winning formula this book took: death and a love triangle. But to differentiate this from the aforementioned vampire story, the narration revolved around the moral dilemmas and mental processes involved in self-preservation. In short, lots of logic and wit, less of the hopeless logic-defying romance.

Suzanne Collins has a way of captivating the reader, putting him in the setting and seeing the scene as the character sees it. The imagery was vivid, yet just enough to avoid TMI (too much information), one sure-fire weapon for a good suspense plot. The best part for me was how hunger and thirst were described. (At one point, I had to get out of bed to eat something.) But at the same time, this kind of writing shall set a high standard for the on-screen portrayal.

Katniss is a unique character. Unlike other heroines struggling for self-awareness and discovery, Katniss knows herself very well, such that it became her weapon throughout the killing competition. Majority of the narrative is her thoughts and mental processes in solitude, brewing up her own strategies. It would be interesting how this will be translated into a movie.

Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen 

(from collider)

And of course, how could one miss the ship being built in this first book: Peeta and Katniss…Peet-niss or Kat-ta. LOL. It’s cute actually. However, and I dare say, I’m afraid this is one of those fat-girl fantasies immortalized in print. No one falls in love at five years old, people. You should’ve grown out of it at puberty and replaced it with a different kind of hunger, if you know what I mean. The Katniss-Gale ship however will have more exposure in the next installments of the trilogy. For now, teenage (and not so teenage) girls will have frenzy over the Peeta-Katniss team up. Expect the fan fiction to overflow.

In other news, there are worse fat girl fantasy stories out there. 
(from poponthepop)

Rating: Nine out of Ten

You may also want to check out Sue Denim's book review of The Hunger Games, or the other book reviews of the trilogy Catching Fire and Mockingjay.