WARNING: CONTAINS MODERATE VIOLENCE

The Hunger Games is a book set in a not-so-distant- future of North America, now named 'Panem', where the country is split into 12 Districts, ruled by The Capitol and President Snow. Each year, each District must send two tributes, a girl and a boy aged 12-18 to go battle against each other in The Hunger Games; a fight to the death in a large arena. All of the action is televised and publicized all over the country. Katniss Everdeen, a 16 year old girl takes her 12 year old sisters' place and goes off to take part. She must not only survive the thirst, hunger, fire, and the other tributes, but deal with a romance between her and another tribute from District 12, all the while deciding if she is willing to kill others her own age as a pawn of her oppressive, dominating government.

There were some events that were hard to digest. For instance, there is a moment where Katniss throws a spear at one of the contestants who is being eaten by a pack of wolves to end his misery. There was loads of violence, and though I am not an easily squeamish person, even I found myself feeling sick at some points; nevertheless, this book was an action-packed thrill ride.

This book is written in the first person, and in the present tense. Just for my personal taste I don't like narratives in the present tense, so I found that a little difficult to follow, but that is just me. A novel written in the first person allows the author to go in-depth with the protagonist's feelings; however, Katniss seemed very indifferent throughout the book, and just got on with her life, the deaths didn't affect her so much, which I found rather hard to believe.

I immensely enjoyed this novel which had me glued to every word. The world that Collins creates is an exaggerated one, yet the details that she includes make it believable, and raises questions such as "what would I do in her place?". There were so many times when after reading it, I would turn the TV on and expect The Hunger Games to come up. The characters are well crafted; both flawed and charming, and I anticipate it to be the next teen craze.

The Hunger Games is part of a trilogy, with Chasing Fire and Mockingjay the next books. The Hunger Games is soon to be a major motion picture.

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