The Hunger Games: Hunger Games, Book One
4.7 | 103,063 ratings
Price: 18.86
Last update: 02-02-2026
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- A ChristyThis is for Teens? Adults with love it even more!One of those crazily persistent Amazon suggestions kept showing this book after I bought my Kindle 3 and I finally gave in. The next morning, bleary eyed from lack of sleep and with a full understanding that I wasn't going to get much done on my Christmas vacation, I bought the other 2 books in the trilogy. I can't say that I read them so much as I absorbed them into myself. So, even though there are over 1200 reviews here to read, I simply have to add my own.
Our story revolves primarily around a teen girl named Katniss, but includes many secondary characters of great vividness and depth including two teen boys, Peeta and Gale. These youngsters are from District 12 in the country of Panem; a future version of a collapsed United States. Being the final District in 12 total, her district mines coal as it's primary duty and life is exceptionally hard and brutal there. Unlike more advanced districts that make luxury goods or electronics, there is not enough food to really thrive and Katniss has been providing for her diminished family through poaching the forbidden forrests for years.
Panem, probably a shorter version of PanAmerica, experienced an uprising in the districts some generations back. As a result, District 13 was destroyed and made inhabitable and each of the remaining districts placed under terms of brutal submission. A reminder of this submission are the Hunger Games. These twisted annual games require that each district select 2 children, a boy and a girl, by lottery who are "tributes". In the games, they fight to the death in a specially erected environment.
This short description doesn't even broach the surface of it, really. Like today's Survivor or Ancient Rome's Gladiatorial games, there is intense competition in the Capital to have a more elaborate environment or compete for the best costumes at the opening ceremonies. All of this trite competition completely overlooks the basic hard fact that these children are going to be forced over days and weeks to kill each other. The more gruesome and horrible, the better they love it. And the environments themselves are dangerous, with many dying slowly of thirst or hunger or eaten by animals. The Gamemakers throw targeted horrors at them to keep things interesting and moving along on top of all that.
Katniss, as you might imagine, winds up in the games by volunteering for her younger and more gentle sister. It is she and Peeta, a boy who once saved her life and the life of her family with a single act of compassion, that now compete in the games in which only one of them can hope to survive.
While the games are certainly a focus of the book, the story artfully blends the life of District 12, the whirlwind leading up to the games and the game itself into a comprehensive whole. The masterminding of a strategy with an old drunkard winner, Katniss and Peeta leads to the romantic struggle as well. You become at once a member of the audience and the invisible rider on Katniss' shoulder, urging her on and forward throughout the book.
I genuinely enjoyed the story, which is taut and entirely original and can't imagine how this is geared towards teens other than the use of words below a certain grade level. In truth, the use of words works with this story in a way that using complicated words seen in "adult reading" books would not. Katniss would not resonate with the reader nearly as well.
There are two further books in the trilogy and both of those are equally highly recommended. I only suggest that you buy them all at once or be sure your Kindle is ready to receive before you start this one. You won't want to stop at the last page. - EB99A Review of the entire Hunger Games Trilogy, including Catching Fire and MockingjayThis trio of young adult novels by Suzanne Collins takes place in the future world of Panem, located in what was once North America. Panem is made up of 12 districts and the Capitol, all controlled by President Snow and various other members of the Capitol city. The citizens of the rest of the 12 districts exist only to provide for the Capitol; provide food, clothing, medicine, coal and very importantly, entertainment.
Many years past, the citizens of the 13 original districts had risen up to rebel against a very unfair living arrangement. District 13 was obliterated and the Hunger Games were begun as a way to control the other districts. Each year, a boy and a girl from each district, between the ages of 12 and 17, is "reaped", their names chosen from a list of all of the children in that district. Once chosen, those two children join the 22 others from the remaining districts for a fight to the death in an arena, termed the Hunger Games. This spectacle is broadcast as required watching for all citizens of Panem, who in the 12 districts get to watch those they know and love get brutally murdered by other children.
In District 12, Katniss Everdeen, a 16 year old living in the poorest of the districts, supports her mother and beloved younger sister, Prim, with her illegal hunting and creative ways of providing for her family.
On the day of the reaping this year, Prim is the one whose name is chosen. Katniss immediately volunteers to go for Prim instead. In her mind, she has agreed to die for her but cannot bear the thought of Prim dying in the Games.
What unfolds from here is a spectacular tale of rising up against oppression, with Katniss becoming the symbol for the rebellion. She is joined in the Hunger Games by the first of two love interests, Peeta, who is a baker's son she's known for years.
Throughout this story (it is truly one long story broken into three parts), the author does an amazing job of writing flawed characters. Put into this world, there are few who are selfless, or even marginally kind. Katniss herself is surly at best, having been forced to care for her family since her father died when she was 11. For any young adult reading this novel, it truly shows how a young girl feels inside at this age; not always able to see the true motives of those around her or believe the truly good things about herself.
This story also a commentary on many social and political issues, interspersed with lessons about what should and should not be trusted in life. The politics of those on Katniss' own side of the war, for example, is a lesson on how those in power are those who disseminate the information, and how they spin it and whether how they act on in is in the best interest of the people. It is a lesson on how human beings treat each other and why, how arbitrary things are in life and how betrayal is a part of that.
Although these books were written for YA, they are easily accessible for adults. I found myself riveted, in no small part because of how much the author made me root for Katniss. She is an extremely complicated character, but one I would want on my side in a rough situation. She can't help but protect those who are smaller or weaker than she is, and even those who aren't. She is cold and calculating, though, which makes her decisions and her words unlikable at times, but she is as real a character as I've ever read.
I was struck by the more esoteric parts of Suzanne Collins' writing as well. For example, she references other literature, most notably numbering Katniss' army squadron (from the final book, Mockingjay) 451. The numbers have no meaning in the army, and this number is most easily remembered from Ray Bradbury's tale, Fahrenheit 451, another futuristic story about government control. This is only one reference, however. She uses character's names (eg. Cressida, Castor, Pollux) to further reference historical and literary ideas, as well as metaphorical ideas (naming the very evil President Snow, whose breath smells like blood and roses).
In all, these novels are well-worth reading for those of all ages who like a gripping futuristic tale that isn't all that far-fetched.