The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins | Teen Ink

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

December 12, 2010
By Margarita Ashkinazi BRONZE, Brooklyn, New York
Margarita Ashkinazi BRONZE, Brooklyn, New York
2 articles 1 photo 0 comments

Adventurous, exciting, suspenseful, action-packed and even romantic are some of the words that can be used to describe The Hunger Games, written by best-selling author, Suzanne Collins. This science fiction story, the first book of a trilogy, takes place in an unknown future time period in North America, called Panem. Panem is divided into twelve districts ,which are like states, ruled by the powerful government in a city called the Capitol. It is said that there were once thirteen districts that all rebelled against the Capitol, and the strong government, in return, showed the districts that they are too powerful and strong to overcome, by destroying district thirteen and all the people inside it. As a punishment to the districts, the Capitol decided to host The Hunger games each year. In these annual bloody Games, one boy and one girl get chosen from each district, and then taken away to an arena, where they fight one another for survival. Through many challenges, blood, and dead bodies, the last person standing alive gets crowned the victor.

This New York Times bestseller is written in a great descriptive and easy-to-read style, from a first person point of view, which makes you feel like you are actually in the book. The main character, Katniss Everdeen, takes you through all her thoughts, feelings and confusion during her time in the arena. With great details and careful words, Collins is able to make you feel like you are actually there experiencing the grief or happiness. The Hunger Games combines many different genres, including young adult, survival, mystery, and romance. The author did a very good job adding suspense in, like how she left a cliffhanger at the end of each chapter, which made me want to keep on reading to find out what will happen next.

When I first go this book, I was glad to find that ,unlike other books, it didn't start with a slow beginning; it was interesting right from the start. With so manny twists and turns, once I started reading, there was no stopping. After staying up late to finish reading this original story, it still continued on in my mind. I kept on thinking about what would happen next in the second book, even I the third!

With interesting characters , like the stubborn main character, Katniss, the kind-hearted friend, Peeta, and also the alcoholic and intelligent mentor, Haymitch, I can say that this book was close to perfect for me. It had all my favorite genres in it and had an original and captivating plot. Although this book is highly recommendable for all ages, there are some things that readers won't want to read about. An example would be all the blood that is described throughout the book; readers with weak stomachs won't really enjoy reading about how bodies lay in pools of blood or how knives get stabbed through organs. Even though this book had many gross descriptions in it, the main great factors overpowered them.

This book definitely deserves all the awards and praises it got, like the award for “New York Times Notable Book 2008.” Also including the praises from best-selling author, Stephenie Meyer, saying “i was so obsessed with this book....The Hunger Games is amazing,” and from the New York Times Book Review, John Green, saying, “Brilliantly plotted and perfectly placed.” Overall, I would rate this book five stars out of five. If you are looking for an enjoyable science fiction book, then you should pick up The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and if you already read the first book, the second and third books are just as interesting!


JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.