Week 4 / 2016 - The Hunger Games Review

Ah "The Hunger Games". I have to say that I am glad that I decided to read this book because it was exactly what I was looking for, nothing but non-stop action. This book in all honesty was a hard read for me, but not because of the reason you are thinking. The reason it was a hard read for me was because I forgot to start reading it until Thursday. I had only Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to read it, and I knew that even if I read 100 pages a day (which I did sort of) I still wouldn't finish it. Luckily the end is really good, so I managed 180 pages on Saturday alone. Enough chit chat, lets get into the review.

One good thing I can say about the Hunger Games series is that the movie (at least for the first book) is pretty accurate to the book. There are a few things different, but honestly it follows pretty closely to the book. Which to me means, that the story in the first book is very good because they would have changed it if it was not.

I've never really considered myself a big fan of young-adult books, im looking at you "Twilight", but I can certainly enjoy a good story when I read one. Hunger Games is a breath of fresh air when compared to something like "Starship Troopers" which I struggled reading. One thing I like to point out is the fact that the story never stops when it comes to action. You are always being taken to a new place or something important is always happening in the story.

Our story begins with our main character Katniss Everdeen. She is your typical post-apocalyptic female heroin, these seem to be typical among this genre, and is actually a somewhat like-able character. She goes to school while also taking care of her family by going out beyond the fence of their District, District 12, and hunting for food. During the few chapters going through the opening sequence, up until the reaping, we meet her best friend Gale. He doesn't really come up any other times after except for when Katniss mentions him, only happens a few times later in the book. She is the female Tribute for District 12 after volunteering in place of her sister Prim.

We also meet Peeta Mellark who is our second main character in the story. He is the Male Tribute from District 12 who has a huge crush on Katniss. One thing that never seemed clear to me while reading is whether or not his love for her was real or not, and Katniss also seems to struggle with whether or not his affection towards her is real or not. Obviously I know how the story ends, watched the movies and read the wikis, but it still doesn't change the fact that the love aspect was written very well. It keeps the reader on their toes by trying to decide whether he actually does love her or not, and that is something I really enjoy in books is a bit of mystery. **SPOILER at the end of book 1 Peta realizes that Katniss was pretending to be affectionate towards him in the arena, and you can genuinely see that he is hurt which let me know that he really does lover her. SPOILER END**

Overall I really enjoyed the book, if you don't believe me I read over half the book in less than 5 hours. I read from page 180 to the end in about 6 hours on Saturday because I just couldn't put the book down. For any fantasy and young-adult book lovers out there this is a great read if you have not already read it yourselves. Im even tempted to continue reading the series.