sakon76

Title: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Length: 374 pages

So I have this knee-jerk reaction to too many people telling me I should read/watch/experience some really popular thing. The Hunger Games fell victim to this reaction; the nail in its coffin was when my writing teacher began extolling its virtues. (Maralys only read it because multiple of her family members told her to, and she was on a beach in Hawaii. And I'm not sure she even grasps the genre because she was describing it as a "magical dystopia." Um, no, it's a technological dsytopia. These are very different things, Maralys....) Its passing similarity to Battle Royale also didn't sell it to me as something new and interesting.

So, why, then, did I read it? Because of Beneath a Sanguine Moon, a very good crossover story between THG and RotG. Anyone who says derivative works have no financial value to the creators of the original is wrong. I would never have read this book without that story, just as I never would have purchased and watched Princess Tutu without the Hold Me (Håll Om Mig) AMV.

So, the book itself. I actually don't think it's a work of genius the way Maralys does. The writing style and its main character both made it hard for me to get into. But the world-building is very well done, and once the action starts, a few chapters in, the writing smooths out and the book becomes more gripping. All authors have their strengths; Suzanne Collins' is in action, not exposition. The main character changes over the course of the book into someone I can occasionally like, and many problems with the world are raised, both subtly and more directly, that I assume will be addressed in the next two books.

That said, I'm not all that interested in seeing the film version the way I am with some speculative-fiction books.

Verdict: Recommended. It's an easy, fast read.