Book Review: The Hunger Games

Title: The Hunger Games 
Author: Suzanne Collins
Pages: 384
Format: Hardcover
Genre: Dystopian, Young Adult
Star Rating: 4.5/5
Network: Shelfari | Goodreads |
Buy: Amazon

My Summary: When Katniss Everdeen's little sister Primrose is selected to compete in the annual "Hunger Games," Katniss steps forward and volunteers to take Prim's place. She will have to compete against 23 other "players" to win the Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live television, broadcast throughout the country.

My Review: If you have been following my reviews for any length of time, you know that I don't give out half stars. I'm a tough grader, and in fact, most books don't get a four, let alone a five star rating. However, I made an exception in this case. The book is incredible and very much worth the read.

I've read that The Hunger Games Trilogy is geared toward Twilight readers. I would argue that Suzanne Collins takes a combination of a couple of Stephen King's Bachman Books (specifically The Running Man and The Long Walk) and builds them into her Hunger Games.

The only reason I don't give The Hunger Games a full five stars is because I feel that Suzanne Collins didn't pull off the present tense narrative. The first person was believable, but the present tense could be jarring, as she went back and forth between past and present and it was, at times, confusing, even for an experienced and wide reader like myself.

Excellent novel!

On My Wishlist (#1)

I haven't done this meme before and I'm not entirely sure why. I think that it might have had something to do with not wanting to tempt myself to buy more books that would just take up space on my TBR shelf, which is already way out of hand.

Interestingly, this week my wishlist books are both young adult books. I never used to read so much young adult fiction, but with the advent of book blogs I find myself becoming increasingly interested in them. There is a third book which is also surprising to me, but I really do want to read it!

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

From Goodreads:

"What if you had only one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?

Samantha Kingston has it all—looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12th should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it’s her last. The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. In fact, she re-lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she had ever imagined."

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 

From Goodreads:

"Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with every one out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love."

Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris

From Goodreads:

"Sookie Stackhouse has finally settled into a relationship with the Viking vampire Eric, and her errant brother Jason seems to have his life in order, too. But all the other people in Sookie’s life – Eric himself, her former lover Bill, her friend and boss Sam – are having family problems. Eric’s maker shows up with Eric’s ‘brother’ in tow, the ailing Bill can only be healed by a blood sibling, and Sam’s brother’s marriage is about to take place... or will it? The furor raised by the coming out of the two-natured has yet to settle; some people are just not ready to sit down to dinner with a man who turns into a dog. And Sookie herself is still recovering from her last ordeal. She’s definitely improving, physically and mentally, but she’s always going to have some dark moments now. The werewolves tell her that there have been strange and ominous passers-by in the Stackhouse woods; now Sookie is about to come face-to-face with one of her more distant relatives..."
 

Here I Am!

Well. I haven't written here in quite a while and I suppose that it is unfair to my readers to have simply jumped off the face of the planet and not returned to at least explain where I've been.

For starters, I've been gone because I was reading the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris. I enjoyed the series (I'm current through book 9) but I thought that the writing was incredibly sub-par. Though I could detect the myriad ways in which Stephenie Meyer had taken ideas (and even names!) from Harris, I felt that Meyer simply did it better. There are countless inconsistencies in the books, and I am infuriated that I couldn't go from one book into the next without reading an "anthology" between the books. I always felt as though I was behind, and I couldn't give my favorite of the books (Dead and Gone) more than a three star rating. I have never run into such a poorly put together series that was this popular.

At some point, probably after the final book has been written and then read by me, I will review the entire series as a whole. I simply found it tedious to try to do the books one book at a time, considering that sitting down to review them emphasized how poorly written they really were. Once I'm done with this series, I will definitely not be reading anything more by Charlaine Harris.

In addition, I recently began college. I am currently majoring only in English though I plan to add history. I am working on my own novel (much more slowly than I had planned) and trying to take care of a household. I've been busy, but that isn't enough for me to abandon all of you, and I'm sorry.

I will be back immediately doing memes and book reviews of novels that I am reading. I will update the "currently reading" as soon as I pick up a book for pleasure.

Thanks to all of you who have continued to follow in spite of my absence. I appreciate you!