The Book Cats: oldie review - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

(oldie reviews are books that I review a few years after it's come out)

Title: The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1)

Author: Suzanne Collins

Published: September 14th 2008 by Scholastic Press

My rating:

Summary:

Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with everyone out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?

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, 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.

My thoughts:

When i first saw the hunger games series in my local bookshop i thought 'why does everyone love these books?'
The cover looked too boyish for me and the blurb didn't appeal. I thought they were some kind of cross between artemis fowl and harry potter. So basically not an appealing match.
I didn't buy the books but promised myself i might read them sometime in the distant future.
It wasn't until about three months before the movie was set to be released when my friend Allyson messaged me saying that she had read the first book and wanted me to borrow the second for her from the library that i started to consider reading them sooner rather than later.
I believed her when she said they were great because we have the same taste in books and the next day i bought the whole trilogy from a bookstore and starting reading them.

I am so angry at myself for not reading them sooner as i enjoyed them so much.
The story starts rather slowly and confusing but by about the third chapter i was hooked.
The story races along with funny, charming, and likable ( and also some not so likable ) characters and terrific, heart racing suspense and action.

Betrayal, loyalty, sadness, anger, love, and passion mix together to make an inspiring and wholesome novel.

The Movie trailer: