Suzanne Collins

374 pages

In a future North America, now called Panem, Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12. There Katniss hunts to feed her family and to trade and sell for other necessities.

Once a year a lottery is held  to choose two teens, one boy and one girl,  between the ages of 12 and 18 to fight in The Hunger Games. Katniss winds up representing her district and she knows that she will be forced to fight to the death.

I have been seeing a lot of buzz around this book on the blogs and since I tend to really enjoy both survival stories and futuristic societies, I was thrilled to find out that there was no wait for this at the library. Either I beat the buzz to my branch or I am way behind it, I’m not sure which.

Katniss is a real survivor. She steps up and takes over the responsibility of feeding her mother and sister when her father is killed, she doesn’t like owing anyone anything, she faces her lot in The Hunger Games with grit and determination and she is as smart as anything when it comes to outfoxing her opponents. She is tough, abrupt, and almost mean at times and that’s to the people she likes.

Coming off of a sickness-induced reading slump, this was the perfect book to get me jump-started. Once I picked it up, I didn’t want to put it down. It’s violent and disturbing but I expected that once I knew it was about a death match and the circumstances which changed North America into Panem.

My only complaint is that I wish we would have seen more about the government. I kept wondering if I was seeing clues to a revolt or things not being what they seemed as I read. I guess I will have to wait for a sequel. Rats! Another book to eagerly anticipate.

There’s also a sort of a love triangle going on here but, again, we will have to wait for the next book to see any resolution on that front.

I thought the names were a little lame but I really enjoyed reading this book and am looking forward to the next one. (4.5/5)