Staff Book and Media Recommendations

The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins

Imagine the Roman Empire set in the near-future Americas and you have "The Hunger Games" series. I was a bit hesitant to get into the story because they're considered Young Adult and I wasn't interested in teen angst, but after people insisted, "You MUST read The Hunger Games!" I relented, and now I insist to others, "You MUST read The Hunger Games!" The other two books in the trilogy are "Catching Fire" and "Mockingjay."

The trilogy is packed full of interesting ideas, vivid descriptions, and a vision of the near future that isn't too outlandish to believe. The upside of Young Adult lit is that everything is explained clearly without digressions or subplots, and there's very little to ponder over or absorb slowly, which makes the reading very quick.

The main character, Katniss, is from a distant, destitute district that has been conquered by the Capitol. The Hunger Games are an annual, televised fight-to-the-death game demanded by the Capitol. Each year, a boy and a girl are chosen at random from 12 districts and prepared to fight in the arena, an artificial landscape with various types of terrain. The contestants may choose to fight with stealth or strength, but the last one standing wins special goods for his or her district for the year. The main plot of the trilogy slowly becomes clear: this is a story of an insurgency, about how Katniss becomes the symbol and catalyst for the rebellion against overlords who live in luxury while remaining happily ignorant of the suffering of those they compel to serve them, supply them with goods, and die for their entertainment.

Despite some unbelievability of the technology, I give it 5 stars out of 5. ~ Abbey Warner

Reviewed October 2010