Book Review: The Hunger Games

Title: The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

Rating: 5 Stars

Review: As a child, it is safe to assume, we all loved games. And even today we still do. But every child in Panem fears the very word games. They fear The Hunger Games.

Panem is what North America was. What were the 50 states are now 13 Districts. That is, until District 13 decided to turn against the Capitol and was destroyed. As a result The Hunger Games was created to show the remaining 12 how the Capitol is no one who should be taken lightly.

Every year, one boy and one girl from each District from the ages of twelve to eighteen are chosen to participate in the game. They are put into an arena that varies each year and are forced to fight to the death until only one person is left standing. The winner brings eternal glory, fame and fortune to their District. That is, until next year when it begins all over again.

The whole process it takes to get into the games when chosen is so ridiculous. First they give you a whole make-over as if you are going to enter a beauty contest. They then parade you down in outfits that represent your district for the country to see. They next interview you and make it seem as if it normal. To them it is, but to us, all we can think is that the Capitol are sick bastards who need to die.

Most people might think that this is just a book and that it can’t really phase someone. But if you have the imagination that I have, you can see, smell and hear everything that happens. You can see the sadness and panic that lay on these kids faces. The chaos that they go through in the beginning, seeing someone die right in front of you. Sometimes just that one moment where they freeze can be their last.

And it might seem a bit childish, but nightmares also came. Imagining myself and a friend in the game, both of us dying and waking up thankful that it’s just, after all, a story and nothing else. But reading about a girl getting stabbed through her stomach by a spear does things to your mind. It makes you feel pity and sorrow for everyone.

The novel goes through many things, survival, love, action, drama, life and death. You get to experience it as if you were also in there. Some might find this book too much to read, but it is safe to say that this novel will teach you many things. One of them being that people are smart and will try to control you.

Only thing you need to do, is outsmart them.

Welcome to the seventy-fourth hunger game, kids.