I know, I'm a little slow. I just got around to reading these books and people have been talking about The Hunger Games for a couple years now. Well, I'm glad I waited because I read all three in less than a week and I really enjoyed reading them back to back.
Because I read them so close together, I honestly would probably get the plots confused and forget where one book ended and the other began, but here's a brief synopsis of the trilogy:
Katniss Everdeen is the main character, a 16 year old girl who lives in what is known as District 12. There are 12 districts in this fantasy country, supposedly where the United States is right now. The 12 districts basically feed the Capitol. Each district is responsible for a certain industry. District 12 mines coal. In order to keep the districts in line, every year the Capitol hosts "The Hunger Games": a gladiator-like competition where 2 kids from each district (24 total) are thrown in an arena and have to kill each other. The last survivor wins. Clearly the districts don't like participating in this, but have no ability to fight the Capitol, so they send their children each year to this awful spectacle.
I can't really tell you much more, otherwise I'll ruin it. But you can guess that Katniss is a participant in the Hunger Games in the first book, and if she's going to be in the next 2 books, you can bet she wins! Basically she ends up helping the rebels fight against the Capitol to stop their totalitarian control of the country. I LOVED the twist at the end of Mockingjay. I wasn't prepared for it at all and thought it brought a great conclusion to the series.
I wasn't dying over these books like some people are as of late. Apparently, I have read too much young adult fiction. These were just like "Among the Hidden", "The Giver" and even "Ender's Game". Clearly, teenagers really relate to these societies in which the citizens feel no control over the way everything is set up. Teenagers often get really upset at clearly morally wrong things. As an adult reading these books, I can't help but ask more questions like "are there no other countries in this world?". I think that's why they are written as young adult fiction, because adults would demand more explanation and you can keep it simple with young adults.
That being said, they are very well written, full of suspense, and entertaining to read. I highly recommend them. I am so mad to find out they are being made into a movie. Seriously?! Why can't a book just stay a book instead of becoming material for Hollywood? I'm sure they'll make it PG-13 because it needs to be available for the young adult audience, but they are so violent that it really should be R (if it were to be shown exactly how it is written). I think it's so sad that any popular book has to become a movie so the whole country can enjoy it. Why can't people just read the book to enjoy it? I still haven't seen any of the Twilight movies just to boycott the whole thing!
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