The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins

I am going to come right out with it.

I LOVE THE HUNGER GAMES.

But not as much as Harry Potter. Never.

STILL. It is FLIPPING AMAZING AND HEART-BREAKING AND HORRIFYING AND EXCITING AND UNIQUE.

I absolutely LOVED it.

So this was another book I'd heard loads about. It's not been as hyped up as One Day, but I've been hearing things, especially since the film's coming out (Oh my gosh, guys I actually cannot wait for that!!) and I thought that I ought to give it a try.

Best decision since sliced bread.

I don't even know where to start. I don't think I'll do one of those reviews where I just explain exactly what's going on, but I will give a brief summary just in case...

So. This series is set in the future, in the place where America used to be. The land is split into 12 Districts, with one area that controls the others, called the Capitol. Years ago, there was a rebellion against the Capitol, because of their iron-fisted hold over all the Districts, but the Capitol beat them down. As a result they imposed the Hunger Games: a televised competition, in which a boy and girl from the age of 12-18 are chosen at random from each District, and they are put in an arena and have to fight to the death, the last one remaining winning the competition.

Katniss Everdeen is our narrator, and her little sister gets chosen to compete in the Games. Katniss, aged 16, won't let this happen, and so volunteers instead. The boy chosen is Peeta Mellark. They journey to the Capitol with a support team, and have to go through many public appearances and interviews before the nation. But there comes an interesting twist. Katniss and Peeta's main mentor is Haymitch, District 12's only living survivor of the Games, and he and Peeta seem to think that if Peeta and Katniss pretend to be in love, they will win over public favour. By doing this they're more likely to get funding, which can be life-saving, as it means you might be able to get access to medicine or food when you're trapped in the arena.

They enter the Games, and although they're split up for a while, they are eventually reunited, and both know they have to act like they're in love the whole time, to keep the audience, and the Game-makers, happy. When the announcement comes that the rules have changed, and if two people from one District are left at the end, they may both win, it seems that they won't have to kill each other, and they might both be able to get home. Through various schemes and events, it turns out that they manage to survive it, and just as the final tribute dies, another announcement comes that actually, the rules can't be changed: meaning that they're going to have to kill each other.

Now Katniss has been having suspicions that Peeta isn't faking his affection towards her, and she is in confusion about her own feelings, and knows that she could never kill him. She proposes they both kill themselves, hoping that the Game-makers will not allow this, as the Games needs a winner. Her plan works, and they are taken out of the arena, to safety. Or so they think. Haymitch tells them that the Capitol isn't happy, that they feel they've been cheated, and if Katniss and Peeta don't uphold their story of being in love, they will both be killed.

It isn't until they're on the train home that Katniss tells Peeta that she was faking her attraction to him, trying to get them to survive. He is understandably angry and upset, and it ends with themheading home, her knowing that she's hurt him, but also knowing that they will have to keep up pretenses in order to stay alive...

Ok. Now for my reactions.

This book is exactly the type of story that I love. Fantasy is defintely my thing: Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, The Magicians' Guild, The Hobbit. I love stories where imagination runs wild, where anything is possible becaue it's a completely different world. I love the fact that people can create these worlds with so much depth and back story, how they're so completely different to ours. That's probably part of the reason I love Harry Potter so much. So this book fits that category perfectly.

I also like a bit of romance. I just get so involved with the characters, and think about their lives far more than I think about my life. Especially with this book. I have gone to bed every night for the past couple of weeks, my head filled with the problem of Katniss and Peeta, thinking about their relationship and how on earth they're going to survive.

I actually love Peeta, (NOT in a fangirl way though!) he's just so sweet and honest, and it's such a shame Katniss doesn't quite feel the same way about him. I think I'll start with this problem, as we're here. I thought it was a great idea of Collins' to set this romance up, but remind us that is was only as a way to survive. In reality shows now, people always whisper rumours about contestants getting together, and it's a comment on how set up these things are that Collins had them pretend like this. However the great twist was that they had to do it just to save their own lives, and also that Peeta actually does love Katniss.

Throughout the novel Katniss's feelings were torn between Peeta and Gale, her best friend from home, neither of whom she knew her feelings towards. I have to admit, that for a short while I was worried that this would go down the 'Twilight road' (that's one Fantasy series that I don't like) of the whole love triangle, who's she going to choose, are the two guys going to be all stupid and macho towards each other, blah blah blah. But it doesn't quite seem to be like that. I'm not sure yet whether Gale does like her. Hopefully not, as that would make things easier, but also the fact that Katniss is determined not to get married or have children. I thought that was an interesting dynamic to her character, as so often we are fed the idea that Marriage + babies = happiness. In my opinion, if people want to do that then fine, but personally I don't want children, I want an amazing career instead. But I wouldn't miind getting married. So when she told Peeta at the end that her feelings for him weren't real, I felt like wrapping him up in bublewrap and hugging him, because he's so adorable, and just been completely crushed.

Sadness forever.

So yeah, Katniss's character is nice and refreshin: just like I said the other day about wanting a different kind of heroine, one who doesn't always end up with a guy etc. With Katniss, she loves both Gale and Peeta as friends, and I think that's really different.

Something else I love in novels, and it sounds weird to write this, is the government opressing the nation. I'm not saying I think it's a good thing!! I was just always interested in learning about the Nazis and Soviets, and I don't know what it is, but in books when there are parallels to that sort of society, I find it really interesting. Especially when people begin to rebel against it (see Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, the Inheritance series, etc). I've always loved history, and when I get to learn about the social context of novels in English, it really brings them to life for me, and I feel like I understand them that little bit more.

So although the Capitol and the Game-makers were awful, I love the fact that they're there because I'm sure there'll be some kind of rebellion in the coming books. I couldn't believe that anyone could be so sadistic as to trap 24 children in a large area and force them to kill each other. It was even worse when, after a day or so of inaction, they decided to set the forest on fire just to force the tributes out of their hiding places and into close range of each other, so they had no choice but to fight.

Collins obviously wasn't scared of having Katniss confront the other tributes, and I was surprised that she actually made her kill someone. One complaint would be that she didn't dwell long enough on the fact that Katniss had just murdered, but then maybe the only way for Katniss to survive was for her to block out everything she had done. Maybe we'll see more regret in the next books, but somehow I doubt it.

I also thought that the people who live it the Capitol were really interesting. The stark contrast between them and the people Katniss is used to, and the disgust she feels towards them was really well done. I also like the way Collins approached the idea of fashion. The story is set centuries into the future, so why wouldn't people find ways of dying their skin pea green? Why wouldn't people want golden swirls inked onto their faces, or gems embedded in their arms? I thought those details really made the city come alive, and only added to the difference between them and Katniss.

I didn't think Collins' writing was perfect. I'm not so keen on the writing style, in that it's written in the present tense, which I've never been that keen on, but I didn't think it detracted from the story at all. For me, even though I love it when people write beautifully (modern example: Markus Zusac, The Book Theif, classic example: EM Forster, A Room With a View), but it's not the most important thing. Unless, of course, they write so awfully, Stephenie Meyer and Mandy Hubbard, to name a couple, that I just can't ignore it anymore. But on the whole, I care more about the story. As long as that's good, I'll go with it, and I can confidently say that this book is a hell of a good story.

Oh gosh, my life doesn't have room for another book obsession!!