The Hunger Games

Time for some Christmas gift reading. My parents bought me "The Hunger Games" trilogy this season, a series of books I've been meaning to read for a while but never got around to buying them. "The Hunger Games" (374 pages) by Suzanne Collins is the first novel in the trilogy. From Goodreads:

"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 Primrose, 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."

First, I really enjoy books of this nature, along the lines of "The Long Walk" or "Brave New World." Reading what used to be the world we live in turned completely upside down by some sort of cataclysmic event or war is always fascinating to me. Though I usually don't read Young Adult fiction (think the "Twilight" series) I do have to say that I found Collins' work engaging and very readable. Indeed I blew through the book in one sitting. That's not to say that the story didn't have some flaws. Some of the plot devises and so called twists were a little contrived, especially toward the conclusion, which I won't spoil here.

Recommended for fans of science fiction, alternate history buffs, and thirteen year old girls! Easy to read with sometimes gratuitous violence and strong characters, I look forward to finishing off this trilogy and seeing the movie in March.