The Hunger Games Trilogy

Young Adult Fiction, Suzanne Collins, 2008-2010

I reserve the right to review each book separately in the future.  Right now, I am writing this review as a trilogy because I don't want to bore you, new readers, if you haven't read the series yet.  And, let's be clear, I don't know anyone who's read only one of these books.  They're like Pringles.  Except you read them.

You should read these books in the same way that you should have read Harry Potter.  I personally do not enjoy them as much as HP, but they are about to be a teen movie phenomenon on a somewhat smaller scale than HP/Twilight.  Or maybe bigger, who knows.  But that would be hard to pull off.  So anyway, if you want to be in the know at the water cooler, read these books.

The heroine is named Katniss ("what kind of name is that?" you ask. I don't know.)  She and her mother and sister live in post-apocalyptic-war-America.  In this America, the Capitol is in charge, and to reinforce their power over their states, they force each state ("District," of which there are 12) to send two of their teenagers to a televised battle-to-the-death event called the Hunger Games.  Yes, you read that right--to the death!  It's very dark and exciting.  Katniss has to abandon her childhood friend (slash love interest) Gale to go compete, and then teams up with a new love interest, Peeta, to try to survive the deadly arena.  Many casualties and changes of heart ensue.  I won't spoil the next two books, but suffice it to say that Collins takes young adult fiction to some very dark and dystopian places, full of political intrigue, strategy and battles, and lots more deaths.

Review time:  Super fun, takes a day to read each one--definitely go for it.  Collins does some intriguing world-building and you will definitely get hooked on the story.  Unfortunately, I really disliked the end of the series, but by that time you'll be in it for the long haul anyway, so don't worry about it right now.  (In case you are wondering, I thought the ending was way too dark, and that the third book in general was very poorly paced.)  Shout out to my friend Sasha: you may find yourself in love with some of the boys :)  I'll be interested to hear which side of the love triangle you all pick, readers.  Shout out to my friend Alex: you may really hate Katniss.  If you ask me, she's kind of fun because she's a scrappy action hero girl, but she is annoyingly incapable of emotions or rational responses.

So what are you waiting for? You have until March 23 to get up to speed before the first movie comes out. (look out for Sasha, she's an extra!)