The Hunger Games **spoilers for Catching Fire and Mockingjay**

[RcGrant]

Anyone read "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins?

The Hunger Games - Home

I loved it! One of the best YA books I've read in a while, and I can't wait for the next book in the series to come out.

Any thoughts?

[Mark Robson]

I've heard lots of good things about this book. It's rapidly climbing my to read list.

Another one I must read soon is 'Gone' by Michael Grant - that's supposed to be fantastic as well.

[RcGrant]

'Gone' is brilliant too. I prefer Hunger Games, but I will be buying the sequel to 'Gone'. Plus, the hardback has funky green pages!

[TheCosmicFool]

Yeah, I've read it.
I really enjoyed it and I've lent it to my friend. Apparently they have sold the film rights and will be making a film out of it! I cannot wait. The next book is calling 'Catching Fire' and I'm sure it'll be just as good.

I was about to buy 'Gone' a few weeks ago but at the last minute I realised I didn't have enough money. The fluorescent green pages are so cool and I really think the look and feel of the book really affect the way you read it and how much you enjoy it.

(Like when I read a David Eddings paperback and all the pages fell out!)

[Kei]

The basic premise seems terribly similar to Battle Royale, I wonder how it compares. I just might have to check it out.

[LizUK]

Hunger Games and its follow up novel, Catching Fire are absolutey brilliant - I was determined (and jealous) not to like it but yannow, I'm a fan. It is a little bit Battle Royale, that's for sure, but a lot better, with tremendous characterisation and plotting.

Gone by Michael Grant is very good - I have the second novel, Hunger, which I'm currently reading. Both books are very challenging and quite frightening but well written and exceedingly well plotted. You can't go wrong with either Gone / Hunger Games if you're writing YA and you're keen to find fresh new ways to terrify your protags!

[rojse]

I quite liked "The Hunger Games". It didn't need a sequel (I felt that the opening for the sequel was forced into the book in the last few chapters), but I'll read it anyway.

[katniss]

definitely liked it!

[Moggle]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Hunger Games but if anyone is interested in another book with a similiar premise, I found Koushun Takami's Battle Royale much more exciting to read and immerse into.

[Mark Robson]

Just read this and thought it was very well done, but it was basically 'The Running Man' with kids. I'll be interested to see what she does with the second book - the first was very engaging and I very much liked the writing style.

[alchemist]

A friend recommended this for me for research, so I could see how dark a YA story could get. The answer is, pretty dark! I'm halfway through and it's a great read. I can even ignore the bizarre present tense.

[Doctor Crankenstein]

I can even ignore the bizarre present tense.

Didn't bother me in the slightest, I actually quite liked it, I think it suited its purpose.

Without trying to give to much away for those that haven't read it...

I really loved the ending how both sides turned out to be more-or-less as bad as the other. I can't believe Katniss voted yes!!! I also liked that the romantic side of the book didn't turn out all happily-ever-after...

[Moggle]

The first one was very good, the second not so much and I'm not certain about the third since I have it, but haven't read it.

[eclectic_dragon0253]

The Hunger Games is a brilliant book, I read it in the space of two days, literally could not put it down. Katniss was an interesting herione, reluctant and intelligent, even if she did seem paranoid -- and perhaps for good reason -- at times. I'm sad to say, though, that the two sequals to the first book really disappointed me. They became kind of... warped, I thought, and even despressing. Katniss spent most of her time curled up in a ball in the corner of the room for the majority of the third book.

[Boaz]

The Hunger Games is nothing new. This post-apocalyptic near future world seems the same as every other... actually, it seems a very simplistic model. The plucky teenage heroine has been done many times before... not as much as the teenage boy, but it's been done enough. Rags to riches. Local kid makes good... even against Big Brother. It seems improbable to me that a totalitarian government that it that brutal, corrupt, uncreative, and two faced could survive a decade let alone generations.

Now the characters are all familiar, so much so that they're almost caricatures. The author delves into the protagonist's continued dealings with personal loss... but the exploration of the theme of social justiced seemed heavy handed. The game itself has been done many times before.

Against all better judgement, I liked The Hunger Games. The first person narrative put a much more personal and realistic twist on the teenage savior story. That made me sympathetic towards Katniss... and I know I'd have disliked her if the story was presented in the third person.

The neverending setbacks and stress on Katniss is staggering. By telling the story though the first person, the author puts the reader directly into Katniss' shoes... I, for one, felt her pain, frustration, hatred, and complete mistrust of everyone.

I don't particularly like Katniss, but the sorrow of her life is real and I felt sympathy for her. I felt much more sympathetic to the people around Katniss. Peeta, Rue, and Thresh were much more likable to me. It was painful to read of Katniss' efforts in accepting and rejecting relationships with them.

I cannot put my finger on the reason, but The Hunger Games is a page turner. There is never a good place to stop... each chapter ending begs to immediately continue into the next chapter.

But I don't know that I'll be reading the sequels... until my niece turns thirteen or so.