Book(s) Review: The Hunger Games Trilogy

These aren’t really so much reviews of the three books as just my thoughts and brief comments on them.

The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games, #1)
Entertaining, action-packed story of a post-Apocalyptic, government-controlled America. The powerful government uses the “Hunger Games”, a ‘Survivor’-like competition to the death, to maintain control over the enslaved nation’s populace. I thought the characters were a little weak and Katniss, the main character struck me as a little self-absorbed, but the story was still very enjoyable. The biggest drawback for me was because this was a young adult book, the story wasn’t as brutal or violent as I would have liked for this type of story. That’s not a bad thing, just my thing. This was an excellent and fast-paced story taking place in a wonderfully imagined world. I’d definitely recommend this book to anyone.

Catching Fire (The Hunger Games, #2)
I liked the sequel to The Hunger Games more than I did the first book. I still can’t warm to the Katniss character and I don’t know why, maybe I’m not supposed to like her(?), but in book two, Katniss finds herself back in the Games and this time the stakes are even higher. How is it possible the stakes could be higher, you ask? I won’t tell and spoil the surprises! Catching Fire started a little slow, but the story picked up very quickly and never slowed down. I thought this was a fast, fun read that didn’t seem to suffer any type of sophomore slump common to a lot of trilogies or series books.

Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3)
Suzanne Collins ends her Hunger Game trilogy with a bang. It’s been awhile since I’ve read a book I didn’t want to put down because I was that anxious to get to the end but Mockingjay was one. Life doesn’t get any easier for Katniss and company in Mockingjay. Picking up right after the end of book two, life gets much worse very quickly. In between thinking, “I’m glad I don’t live in Panem.”, I was also wondering how this book could be considered young adult fiction. Unlike my mild complaint about The Hunger Games not being as violent as I would have liked, Mockingjay is not only violent, but intense and a fantastic thrill ride through a very well thought out, and again, a wonderfully imagined, world.

The only drawback to Mockingjay for me, and this was an issue for the trilogy for me, was that I didn’t find any of the characters very well drawn out which made it a little difficult for me to identify with them and care about them to the extent I would have liked to have cared about them. This feeling wasn’t bothersome except as it applied to Katniss. The only character in the series who I found to be three dimensional was Peeta.

All in all, I enjoyed all three books and I thought this was an excellent trilogy. Good writers, in my opinion, should leave the reader not only feeling satisfied, but wanting more and Suzanne Collins did just that with The Hunger Games trilogy. I also appreciate that she ended the series rather than choosing, like so many other writers, to drag the story out with no end in sight. This series gets a high recommendation from me.