The Hunger Games : 1 product reviews

The 'Reality TV' game has made it to the future, and what goes on behind the scenes untill a contestant goes into the arena is scary.
This is not a game for the weak and faint-hearted. Its kill or be killed and let the victor take the spoils. You kill your opponent by any means, there is no fair play in this game.
It is also about waking of feelings for each other in two of the contestants, and what they do to survive in the arena of the games. How to beat the system and still be true to themselves... and above all, not hurt each other.
Twenty-four contestants enter the arena... only one survivor will walk out...
This is a must-read for all who enjoy 'Reality TV' shows with a twist!
Bring on book two of this series, it can only get better.

When I first read the blurb for this book I thought "This sounds like Battle Royale" - a famous Japanese pop culture film with teens slashing and killing each other until there is only one left standing in a government controlled arena.

Reading Hunger Games, I did find many similarities, yet there were enough differences to make this an entirely new experience. In fact, whilst I found Battle Royale difficult to watch and overly depressing / gorey, the Hunger Games was exciting, intriguing and surprisingly, really romantic.

Going in, of course, I was not expecting romance in the slightest - though I probably should have been, after all Battle Royale had a romance (though the girl was a complete wimp). I loved the self-sacrificing nature of the young boy in this story, and the way that Katniss keeps convincing herself that he's just using some sort of ploy to trick her. I also love the way that from the very first page, Katniss takes charge of the story and not once does she lose that powerful, determined 'survivor' characteristic. If I had to compare her to any other literary character, I think it would be Ellie from 'Tomorrow when the War Began".

Despite being completely out of my normal genre, I simply could not put this book down and I was highly disappointed when I got to the end and realized there were another two books to go. I am glad this is a series though, it is shaping up to be a whopper of a story with heaps of subtle and not-so-subtle political commentary.

Love it.