The Hunger Games (#1)

By Suzanne Collins

"'Ladies and gentlemen, let the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games begin!'"

THE SHORT

The Hunger Games seems a perfect example of the YA book. Although Katniss's relationship with Peeta might seem a little forced, the actual Hunger Games and the build-up to it is extraordinary. Collins manages to capture the tension between Katniss and the Capitol perfectly. The dystopic setting of Panem is oddly scary and injects a certain rebellion-y feeling into you. The Games are the perfect example of Rome's panem et circenses (bread and circuses) although the major event that wiped out North America is glossed over. The plot moves along at a steady pace, and this is one of the major redeeming qualities of The Hunger Games. All in all, this novel is excellent and one of the best YA novels I have ever read.

THE REVIEW

Let's begin with the book's protagonist, Katniss Everdeen. Being the sole breadwinner for her family, she has to hunt illegally in the woods outside her city, provoking a sense of anger and frustration at the super-rich Capitol, which rules over all the cities, named Districts. The anger is kindled by her hunting partner Gale, who rants about the unfairness, and by the Hunger Games, an annual event where twenty-four children have to fight against each other in a Battle Royale setting.

 Katniss shows remarkable development throughout the book, at the start only a whiny girl who dislikes the Capitol, and at the end a matured person who has stared death in the face and is willing to fight. Her motivations are clearly shown through Collins' amazing use of the first person POV, and her feelings for both Gale and Peeta are illustrated using the wonderful writing. Katniss is a person with love for her sister and the boys around her, but her sarcastic and negative attitude often clash with Peeta's humorous and good-natured disposition. I have a feeling that many people will be able to relate to Katniss, who is struggling with the hardships of life, yet she somehow manages to make it through, battling her out. A flaw in Collins, however, is her inability to show the "dark side" of Katniss, the side which kills animals in the blink of an eye. The emotional turmoil inside is enough to soften the image of the hunter Katniss, and instead we get a crybaby who can't kill humans to save her life.

Peeta is perhaps Katniss's forced lover, whose intentions are unexplained due to Collins' focus on Katniss, although it might have been a bit better to explore the boy with bread and his actions, his feelings for Katniss, and his bitter realisation that Katniss was only pretending to love him. Peeta is perhaps the most emotionally diverse character in this book, more than Katniss, who only ranges from SAD to CONFUSED and FRUSTRATED. Peeta really is the one who keeps the romance alive, therefore keeping both of them alive in the Games. He comes to life through Katniss' viewpoint of him and their tense romance is artfully shown through Collins' writing.

The Hunger Games is the epitome of child sacrifice, although it is made all the more cruel by the fact that it is just for the Capitol's amusement, not actually for any traditions, or for gods, or whatnot. Just for entertainment. The drawing of the names suggests a kind of lottery, except that the prize is to fight or die in the ultimate challenge. "The reaping" implies a kind of harvest, that the children are fruits for the Capitol to eat and laugh at their misfortune.

One of the most prevalent themes in this book is the theme of dictatorship. The Capitol seems to be the evil nation, reminiscent of the Galactic Empire in Star Wars, where an evil old man (President Snow and Emperor Palpatine respectively) rules over a whole world (or worlds in the case of the Empire). They rule with a rod of iron over their subjects, but President Snow seems to be all the more dangerous, even though he doesn't appear in this book (kind of like Palpatine not being in A New Hope?). The word Snow seems to threaten the people, as even though it sounds innocent, it has a kind of metallic ring to it, leaving readers wondering if it is his real name. This novel suggests that dictatorship is wrong, that we should have a free country, through Katniss' feelings about the unfairness and the wrongness of the Capitol, which will do anything it can to wipe out dissent, perhaps most strongly shown in the Avoxes, people who had their tongues cut out because they were traitors. The first sign of strong dissent in Katniss is shown when she recognizes the Avox serving them and she is angry at the Capitol for maiming them.

The plot in this book is perfect for a dystopic setting, which illustrates the future Earth. The pacing of the plot is finely tuned, although it does take quite a bit for the actual Games to begin (Actually, more than HALF of the book is spent on exposition and lead-up to the Games). The Games itself is a fun, action-packed adventure that will keep you thrilled. This is evident in the plot, which Collins' manages to tie together all the events in the books nicely, giving us sufficient background on the characters and also giving us what we all wanted: Children killing each other and the suspense around every corner, reading on frantically to see if Katniss lives and she gets to live with Peeta, the various hardships they endure...The plot is brilliantly constructed and it is excellently connected with the next novel, Catching Fire. Collins is superbly talented at smooth transitions from one book to the next, and even in this book one can see various warning signs that can lead to problems for Katniss in the near future.

However, the downfall of this book is the clumsy exposition that Collins has to resort to in the weirdest of places, such as a cave in the Games. Hello? Are you not doing other stuff? And it seems a bit forced, kind of squashed in, a huge rock standing in the clear and smooth river that is the plot. There are far too many little stories and this distracts us from the actual story. Backstories crowd in, something something about something Days, and then something about America, and then blah blah blah about a goat, just get to the Games already! While this "forcing it in" technique may work for the awkward love story between Peeta and Katniss, it just fails at exposition. Just horrible.

Despite that, this book is epic. The awesome originality of the Games, the dystopic setting, the excellent and well thought-out plot, all contribute to one of the best novels of all time.

Rating: 9.2/10

Advice: Superb for YA/Dystopia lovers.

I sincerely hope you've enjoyed this post, and I can say that The Hunger Games is certainly one of the best books I've ever read. The tension, evil dude to defeat, all comes together smash in one phenomenal books.

Next week: Sherlock Holmes returns in The Sign of Four, where a dangerous treasure threatens the life of a woman, in the second Holmes novel. Will Holmes survive this latest enterprise?