Book Review: The Hunger Game Series
May the odds be ever in your favor.
1. The Hunger Games
2. Catching Fire
3. Mockingjay
There’s a lot of spoilers so refrain from reading unless you’ve read ALL THREE BOOKS.
The Hunger Games is a book series by Suzanne Collin’s, which is currently being turned into three movies. I decided to read the books because two of my best friends were in love with the books and could not stop talking about them. I enjoy reading just as much as they do and heard from numerous amounts of people that the books are brilliant. I decided to give them a shot and was worried that they would not live up to my expectations. I was wrong. They definitely surpassed my expectations by a long shot. For those of you who don’t know what the books are about because you haven’t read the books or seen the movie, The Hunger Games take place during a post apocalyptic era. Everything has been destroyed because of natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornados, etc. (This kind of hints at Suzanne Collin’s believing in global warming especially when in the books themselves, she mentions how pervious generations clearly did not care what happened in the future.) The Capital is the current main body of government and they control 12 Districts that each have a main source of income, such as coal for district 12. The districts are extremely poor, however, and it is not uncommon for people to die of starvation. The Districts tried to overthrow the government before the books take place in a period known as the Dark Ages. This leads to the Hunger Games being created, which is a game taken place every year where a boy and girl from ages 12-18 are picked from each district to compete on a live reality show where they have they have to kill each other to survive. The last man standing is winner. The main character Katniss Everdeen decides to take place of her younger sister when she is selected.
The rest of the books are about the games, the government, a war, and of course the love triangle. One of the main reasons I love these books is because that even though there is a love triangle, it is not the main topic of the books. Politics, government, society, ethics, survival, etc., that’s what the books are mainly about. It teaches valuable lessons to readers. It’s well thought out and you can tell Suzanne Collin’s is very intelligent. She writes very well and each chapter ends with a shock leaving you wanting more, especially when at when books one and two end. It’s hard not to get sucked into the series. Once I started the books, I could not let go until I knew what happened. This is a sign of a remarkable author.
There is a love triangle between Katniss, Gale and Peeta. Peeta has been in love with Katniss since they were five years old, while Gale is Katniss’s best friend who she went hunting with and felt like herself with. Peeta is absolutely my favorite character. He is so loving and caring. He did everything for Katniss and constantly sacrificed himself for her. He also stuck up for what he believed in, which required a lot of strength and bravery. SPOILER ALERT: I was so depressed when he is taken by the Capital and is hijacked and hates Katniss. He is definitely not himself and even though his character is present, he is not there. He fights so hard against the hijacking and is able to get past it for the most part. I love Katniss because she is very humble and loving but I got very annoyed at her when she starts to ignore Peeta when he is hijacked. I know that it must have been painful for the character but Peeta would definitely not have done that if the roles were reversed. Anyways, Peeta is my favorite character in the book and I wanted him to win over Katniss instead of Gale because Gale is very destructive. I liked Gale because Katniss is able to be herself around him but once they took away their hunting, they had nothing in common. Gale did not care who died or what he had to do to bring down the Capital and get revenge. But Katniss, after everything she has been through, refused to let innocent people die and wanted complete unity. She is the perfect Mockingjay because she is able to bring unity, just like Peeta would have been able to because he knew the right words to say and did all the right things.
I love Katniss’s character because her main priority is always her sister, Primrose and she does whatever is right regardless of the consequences. SPOILER ALERT: Without her there would be no war, at least not for a while. She is also able to kill the Coin when she found out that Coin is thinking about hosting another Hunger Games for the children of the Capital after the Capital is defeated. Instead of letting her anger and revenge take over, as I’m sure Gale’s would’ve, she is able to see what is right and followed through with that. She is a strong, independent character and that is one of the reasons I love the book.
There were points of the book that mad me cry. I don’t know why, maybe because I was so engrossed with it and got so attached to the books and really wanted them to bring down the Capital, end the hunger games and Katniss to say I love you to Peeta. That’s how I knew how much I loved the books; because of my emotional investment.
The book sort of ended way too fast. A lot of the readers agreed with me. The whole ending with Peeta and Katniss is really rushed but I’m still glad she picks him. To end this post, I’d like to add the end of the series because that is one of my favorite parts:
“Peeta and I grow back together. There are still moments when he clutches the back of a chair and hangs on until the flashbacks are over. I wake screaming from nightmares of mutts and lost children. But his arms are there to comfort me. And eventually his lips. On the night I feel that thing again, the hunger that overtook me on the beach, I know this would have happened anyway. That what I need to survive is not Gale’s fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that.
So after, when he whispers, “You love me. Real or not real?”
I tell him, “Real.”
<3
