I started reading the first book in the series didn’t take me long to get through the first book, its not that long and is a fast read on many levels, I likely will be rereading it at some point in the future (like when I finish the trilogy).
The book takes place in and around North American which has been named Panem (no idea why, the book gives no explanation for the naming that I remember) which has a main capital that had connected to it to various degrees of prosperity 12 districts (but at one time there was 13 districts). Each year there is a game that each district plays by sending two people a male and a female between the ages of 12 and 18 called Tributes to what is known as The Hunger Games.
The Hunger Games is a live event where each of the Tributes must kill to survive and only one can come away from each game, which means in essence each chosen person goes into the games expecting to kill and be killed all for the entertainment of the capital, since most of the districts are not to fond of the games (or so it does sound from the reading and I can’t blame them either).
The lead female known as Katniss ends up being a volenteer for the games all because her little sister Prim is the one who actually gets chosen, each person is chosen though a lottery system their names are entered on their 12th birthday and each additional year their enteries get added plus one extra for each year, so 12 = 1, 13 = 2, 14 = 3 so forth and so on however because of hunger and other issues a child is able to put their name down more then once in a year and thus buys their family a supply of “food” but this means it increases their changes of getting chosen or can. Instead of allowing her only sister to get killed Katniss does the unthinkable she Volenteers to be a Tribute to take her sisters place much to the shock of everyone.
The male counter part is then chosen and from there things get semi interesting because it turns out that the male actually had feelings for Katniss though it takes a while before she learns of this, but when she does it does a lot of form the coming times within the book and I am sure the rest of the series itself.
All in all the first book catching my attention and was enjoyable to read and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading in general and big time for those who enjoy fast passed reads and books that can be read over time or during a rainy day.
Personal views and what not…
So far the first books actually interesting and it does make me wonder about the movie that’s been produced if it is any good to watch (I’ve got an order in at the local library to rent it, but still waiting to be able to do so) I’m thinking that it will not live up to the book, almost 0 movies have been better then the original book (the exception might be Lord of the Rings, which I never could get though the books even before the movies hit the screen I found it just really dry reading – so to be the movies are better then the books). But at any rate, the trailers that I’ve watched and other clips for the first book have my attention to various degrees (think they padded things a little, though maybe not).
The first book, I found hard to actually put down and it took me about 3 hours to read from when I downloaded it till actually finishing the first book (took time out to cook dinner and other things that needed doing, but in total took about 3 hours to read the first book). I found it simple reading and not as defined as I was thinking it should or would be. I also didn’t realize that the book was so short, looking at it on the shelf in paper back format it just seems much larger (though book size with print accounts for that) it just struck me as sad that in reality the whole trilogy is under 1200 pages.
I’ve heard that the book was aimed at young readers so if that really is the case it would make sense as to why its really short and a fast read with not overly developed stuff going on within the pages since it would then be designed to catch a young readers attention and keep it (which as we all know can be hard in this day and age of electronics and fast past information).
One thing I do know is that N has taken an interest in the first book at least, after reading some of a page that I’d left (I got the trilogy in digital format from Google Play for under 20 bucks instead of close to 60 and its the cheapest I’ve seen it online when I got it, which is why I got it when I did). Which kind of surprised that N was finding it interesting, so well see if N ends up reading it in full or not once I finish reading it.
PROS: Simple reading and doesn’t take long to get into the book in general (I was ready to buy it within the first 10 pages it had me hooked which is uncommon for a lot of books of late). Fast paste and hard to put down because it grabs you into the book fast.
CONS: Not fully developed and maybe to short a read, first book isn’t very many pages under 400 pages. Some of the happenings just don’t make sense and leave you wondering why they even made it into the book, so left thinking something is missing or not flushed out correctly.