review: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Release Date: September 2008

Publisher: Scholastic/Hardcover

ISBN: 978-0439023481

There is something very special, incredibly unique about teen novels. I love them for their vast extremes of emotions: the depths of despair to the heights of hope, often within one story. The challenges faced that will expose or build character. The first sweet tastes of young love.

In North America's future, there is an annual day of reaping on which 12 boys and 12 girls are "volunteered" for the Hunger Games: a fight to the death. The games are televised and required viewing for the whole population. There can be only one survivor, and the winner will bring home a year's prosperity for his/her district while the other districts continue their struggle against starvation.

Katniss Everdeen tells us the story in first person. At sixteen years of age, Katniss has managed for almost five years to be the main provider for her mother and younger sister. She is clever, tough and self-sufficient, but is that enough to survive the Games?

What follows is gritty and distressing as the 24 teenagers are forced into a situation of extreme aggression and ruthlessness against each other. There are unexpected moments of companionship and mercy, but the ultimate goal can not be avoided. Katniss may have a chance of beating the odds, yet it will not bring her favor with the leaders and government.

This was an amazing, could-not-put-down-although-I'm-running-late read. Though the reader got a conclusion to the actual Hunger Games, additional and new elements to the story were not resolved. So it was with mixed feelings the last chapter ended with the words: END OF BOOK ONE. Luckily, there is a benefit to discovering this read a few months after the official release date, as the next book Catching Fire will be out in September 2009!