The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)

by Suzanne Collins

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I bought this book series on a whim. The Hunger Games movie was coming out and it looked awesome, I thought the books must be awesome too. Actually I expected the books to be way better, since they nearly always are. So when I saw all three books on a stand in my local book store I decided to buy them.

When I started reading this book I was instantly taken off guard by the fact it was written present tense. Personally I enjoy past tense a lot more, in fact I had never even read a book written in present tense until I picked up this one. No wonder it took me a while to get used to it.

It took me the first part of the book to get into the flow of present tense and to really start to enjoy it. At first I didn’t think I would be able to get into the story because the tense kept bothering me and I found it stopped me from getting sucked into the story, into Katniss’s head. But then I kept reading and without realising I soon found I was unable to put the book down (A cliché but the truth none the less). So it took me two days to finish the book, which is no big feat for me as I usually read larger books in that space of time if I have the time to lie around reading.

I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, Katniss as the main character and the world in which Suzanne Collins has created was believable. I was able to picture everything in my head, words or sentences didn’t bother me or make me read them twice to understand them; which to me looks like it’s written well, in the sense of the language. I felt like I was taken on a journey which was very satisfying and exciting at the same time. Whenever I would put the book down it would only be because it was in the early hours of the morning and I needed to sleep, not because I wanted to. I would have read this book in a day if I had the time.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book but I did feel like that at points something was missing. It felt like things were passed over too quickly at times. Things you wanted to know a little more detail about, not necessarily pages and pages, just a paragraph or two. Sometimes I felt like the event that was taking place happened so fast that it was over before you had any time to really grasp what was happening. Like the audience could have been dragged in with more suspense or more detail into how Katniss was feeling or something along those lines. But then I guess this is the style of the book. And I think this is my opinion just because I enjoyed it so much and I really wanted to know more. I just wanted more.

To be honest, I guessed what was going to happen and found it a little predictable. After reading the first book and not having read the summaries or having read anything about the last two books I have guessed how the next two books will turn out. I’m hoping for surprises though! Things I really don’t see coming or things that aren’t as easy as putting two and two together and figuring out what Katniss has still yet to realize. This disappointed me a little. I felt like everything was too easy to figure out what was going to happen or what way it had to go in order for the story to continue being likeable. I didn’t find myself feeling surprised at any point. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it, because I did, very much so.

The plot its self is pretty awesome. The whole story makes you wish there was more going on so you didn’t have to stop reading. It feels like a rather complicated world that Suzanne has developed, complicated but at the same time so straight forward that it’s simple. I found myself wondering what my real opinion on that was. Was it too simple to understand? Or has it been explained so well that in fact it is brilliant?

Now. The ending. In my opinion it was pretty anti-climactic. I expected a cliff hanger that would make me jump to book two as soon as I closed the back page of book one. But alas the ending was not so. I did want to start reading book two straight away but not with the excitement that I thought I would have gained from reading that last chapter. It was a little disappointing but it wasn’t bad by any sense.

I closed the back cover of that book imagining what was going to happen, imagining how things would turn out, I guess I even started imagining my own version of events. I wanted to start reading the second book to find out what really happened. Just not with the urgency I would have felt if the ending had been more climatic.

In conclusion this book is a definite page turner. Once you start reading you will find it really hard to put down, you will not get dull at any point (unless this is not your genre). It’s an entertaining and satisfying read, although I felt it lacking in some areas that make books best sellers (In my opinion of best sellers that is). But I still loved it and would recommend it to all my friends. Which I have already done actually.

On to Book two, Catching Fire!

Miss J
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