The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, is a thrilling science fiction novel published by Scholastic. It covers the story of Katniss Everdeen, a teenage girl who lives in a country called Panem, set in the far future. The theme of this book is the difference between rich and poor and how one voice can spark change. Panem is a dictatorial state that arose in the area that was once the United States in an apocalyptic world where all current borders and states have fallen. At the heart of the empire is the lavish and wealthy Capitol territory, in which the cream of society lives in indulgent luxury, all under the watchful eyes of the dictatorship. Anything or anyone that shows resistance to the dictatorship is violently punished, and order is kept this way. 13 Districts surround the Capitol in which normal people live, and unlike the Capitol, poverty is prevalent and everyone works backbreaking work to provide for the dictatorship, with little to no food or money. Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12, and must provide all she can for her family to get food on the table. To her horror, her younger sister Primrose was selected as the female tribute for the Hunger Games, an annual televised fight-to-the-death survival made to keep the districts in line and entertain the rich. Only one District can be the winner, and this brutal game gives rich rewards, at the cost of many lives. Protecting her sister, Katniss volunteers to be the tribute instead and must use all her power to survive and bring glory to her district. If she wins, all of Panem may come crashing down; If she loses, yet another casualty will be in the hands of this corrupt dictatorship.
This book is a game-changer in the science fiction genre: it brings all the concepts of apocalypse and science fiction together while adding a flair of action and suspense. It always keeps you on the edge of your seat; never is there a boring or unneeded segment of the novel. In every chapter, you are left craving to read more and find out what happens next. Collins uses action and mystery to always have the reader ask, “What will happen next?”. I like how she utilizes the adventure aspect to add a sense of excitement to every part of the story. Additionally, she makes the characters very relatable and you feel like you can be right there, in the book due to the vivid imagery used. I disagree with the way Collins used the romance between Peeta and Katniss as a way to spread their message, as I felt that made it a bit out of line and unnecessarily complicated the plot. One large part that I felt the book left out was what caused a large portion of conflict, which was that only one tribute from each district could survive, meaning either Katniss or Peeta could survive. In the book, this changed mid-game, which left out a lot of possibilities of what could have happened, and how Katniss would have survived if this had not happened. Although, this may have resulted in too much chaos, which is what happened in Dry by Neal Shusterman, and confused the plot. This novel helped me understand the impact that one person can have on an entire population of people, and that the strongest weapon is brainwashing. It reminded me that a future like the one in The Hunger Games is very much possible if greed and power remain prevalent. It very much reminded me that the world we live in is finite, and we must protect what we have as much as we can.
Overall, I highly recommend The Hunger Games to anyone. It is a wonderful opener to Science Fiction and will never cease to keep you on the edge of your seat. The combination of adventure and conflict makes this book one of the best you can ever read.
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