Review: The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Obviously this has been said before, but this book feels really reminiscent of Battle Royale. Apparently Collins had never read or seen that series when she wrote this, which I guess speaks more to how captivating the idea of having a dystopian story about teenagers fighting to the death is (and now that I think about it, there's also Lord of the Flies in that group). I don't think I really felt the full impact that this book would have given otherwise if I hadn't seen Battle Royale before, so I can't really judge how well it would go down for others (I assume great). At least, it's a pretty decent story and makes for a gripping fast read if anything.

The only personal gripe I have is with how the entire story is told solely through Katniss's perspective, which feels rather limiting considering how much else is going on during the Games that ends up only heard about or surmised. It's something that Battle Royale handled better technically, but I guess it's more of a personal preference for me as there are probably other reasons for the book to be told the way it is. Outside of her and Peeta and a couple of others, I found it hard to really feel anything about most of the other characters, including Rue. As the only glimpse of them you get is through Katniss's eyes, they end up seeming more like fodder for her to ponder on or make the plot continue, rather than standing alone as individual characters.

That, and Katniss isn't really the most interesting protagonist/narrator here. Her random emotional outbursts were a little hard to accept, considering that half of the time even she didn't know why she was getting angry and just went along with it. You could argue about it being the product of the stress of the games or whatnot, but it didn't really help her character much other than make her sound more annoying to listen to in those moments.

Overall, not the most novel or best version of this dystopian concept out there, but it's a fairly accessible and well written one at that.