Book Review: The Hunger Games

I picked up The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins from the public library - children's section - on a recommendation from a friend. She described it as captivating and a little dark. It's the first book I've read in a long time that gave me chills in chapter one and demanded that I keep reading straight through to the end. There are no wizards or potions, no secret passages or time warps, just children in poverty struggling to survive in a future America where they are forced to kill each other for sport while the rest of the world watches. The ruling class is revealed to be grotesque and amoral, and the citizens of the surrounding 12 districts making up North America have no recourse for the injustices they suffer. The book is horrific, unsettling, and thought-provoking.

This book is promoted as young adult fiction, but should not be checked out by anyone under 16. That said, I think it should be required reading for high school seniors. Think Stephen King's Running Man sprinkled with Orwell's 1984, set with a teenage cast. Consider me a fan. I'm going to pick up the second in the series, Catching Fire, today.

Review by Lacey Fitts