The Hunger Games review: May the odds be ever in your favor!

So, it’s been a while since I’ve posted here, and part of that has to do with the sheer volume of what I’ve been reading recently.  So, you can soon expect some interesting reviews within the next few weeks.   I’d like to start with what’s absolutely the freshest in my mind, The Hunger Games trilogy, by Suzanne Collins.  I read them all in a week.  This review is for The Hunger Games, the first book in the series, but there will be reviews for Catching Fire and Mockingjay later in the week, which will have spoilers for previous books.  This review is spoiler free.

The Hunger Games starts in one of my favorite settings: the dystopian future.  Panem stands where North America once did, centuries after some unknown global war.  Composed of a gleaming Capitol and 12 subservient districts, each with a unique industry meant to serve the nation as a whole, Panem went through the “Dark Days” about 75 years before the novel, when a 13th district tried to rebel.  Each remaining district is now required to provide two children, a girl and a boy, between the ages of 12 and 18 through a lottery to battle to the death annually, so the districts will never forget the power the Capitol holds over them.  This lottery is far from a fair system, however, as poor children can take extra entries in exchange for food for their families. The Hunger Games are mandatory television throughout the nation, with each child growing up knowing they could be fighting to the death as young as 12.

16 year old Katniss Everdeen and her family live in the smallest and poorest of the districts, District 12, the coal mining district.  When her sister, 12 year old Primrose, is selected to be a tribute for the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss immediately volunteers to take her place.  After a short, stunned goodbye to her family, Katniss and her male counterpart, Peeta, the baker’s son, are whisked off to the Capitol for training.  The only living Hunger Games victor from District 12, Haymitch, is supposed to mentor the duo and gather sponsors to buy expensive gifts of supplies while in the arena, but he is almost too drunk to notice most of the time.

The book follows Katniss and Peeta as they adjust to the wasteful life of Capitol citizens.  Their talented stylists give them a fighting chance to begin with, catching the attention of the audience with fiery costumes and a togetherness other districts lack.  Although presented as a team, once dropped into the arena, only one tribute will ultimately be allowed to survive, which Katniss is all too aware of. 

The book is violent.  In the first day of the Games, 10 tributes die.  Children are reluctantly (for the most part) forced to kill one another in order to survive, with the occasional push from the gamemakers.  Forrest fires that start from nowhere to push tributes to into close quarters and horrible genetically engineered animals, “muttations,” are just a few of the horrors in the arena.  Alliances are made and broken, and Katniss feels forced to play up her actions to sponsors who can give her valuable medicine and food. 

Ultimately, the book is about the dangers of a society who views some citizens as disposable to keep power in the hands of those who already have it.  There is dissent in some of the districts, it is revealed, but there is no way to act, with Peacekeeps just around the corner.  For as bad as District 12 is, Katniss realizes that there are districts that have much stricter rules.  It is refreshing to see a strong female character who, yes, has issues with love interests, but is so much more than that.  She is independent; an illegal hunter and de facto head of her household, as her father was killed in a mining accident and her mother stuck into a deep depression. 

Katniss develops in her independence over the course of the novel.  At first, she resents anyone who she feels she owes a favor for past deeds.  By the end of the novel, she has matured in her independence and cunning, accepting help when she needs it, but keeping to herself her true plans.  Without giving up too much, Katniss uses her smarts to try to survive, taking a young tribute who reminds her of her sister and Peeta along with her for as long as she can.  In doing so, she (somewhat unwittingly) ignites what will become the story of the next two novels.

I highly recommend the series, and I think that The Hunger Games is the best of the three.  Collins is a masterful world builder, and although we don’t see a lot other than the Seam neighborhood of District 12 and the arena, the reader understands that Katniss’ struggles are not unique.  It’s a novel that will keep your eyes bugging out until the end.  Even with Katniss as narrator, the reader will have trouble guessing what she’s thinking at times.  This leads to both suspenseful surprises and well interwoven backstory and the feeling that you’re really one of her allies.  She tells no one everything, why should she tell the reader?  All in all, I’d say pick up the book, and the rest of the series too.  Expect a Catching Fire review soon!