The Hunger Games (Hunger Games, Bk 1)
Author:
Genres: Children's Books, Teen & Young Adult
Book Type: Hardcover
Author:
Genres: Children's Books, Teen & Young Adult
Book Type: Hardcover
Stephanie S. reviewed on + 168 more book reviews
I was "late to the party" reading this book--friends who raved about it did so a number of years ago. So I opened it in much anticipation--only to be slowly, but utterly, disappointed. I tried to like it, I really did.
The concept was interesting--twenty four kids (ages 12-18) thrown into a televised arena-like setting to endure a battle to the death with only one victor in the end. But the unfolding of the events didn't capture me at all: stylists and sponsors and mentors and pretty dresses and fingernails and all that. By the time it got to the action of The Game, I was both bored and turned off.
I also found the writing style too simple and quite juvenile. I have read much YA fiction and the good ones don't pander down to the audience. I felt this one did.
POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT: But the worst offense was a "twist" in The Games that just threw away all intrigue for me. The part of the premise that first piqued my interest was found in the official rules of The Hungar Games themselves. These were formal, well-known, decades-held and firmly established rules set down by the Capitol, involving that two kids from each of 12 districts are always chosen to participate--and, since there can be only be one winner, it was therefore a given that it would not necessarily be just strangers killing strangers; it must come down, eventually, to neighbor killing neighbor. That the heroine of the book would eventually HAVE to face her neighbor in combat, was the hook that kept me interested!! Would she have the bravery, the steel nerves, the skill? So, when late in the book this conflict was abruptly yanked away by a ridiculous (cheap! contrived! groan-worthy!) twist... well, I almost threw the book across the room. And for me there was no recovery after that.
* 1/2 One and a half stars.
The concept was interesting--twenty four kids (ages 12-18) thrown into a televised arena-like setting to endure a battle to the death with only one victor in the end. But the unfolding of the events didn't capture me at all: stylists and sponsors and mentors and pretty dresses and fingernails and all that. By the time it got to the action of The Game, I was both bored and turned off.
I also found the writing style too simple and quite juvenile. I have read much YA fiction and the good ones don't pander down to the audience. I felt this one did.
POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT: But the worst offense was a "twist" in The Games that just threw away all intrigue for me. The part of the premise that first piqued my interest was found in the official rules of The Hungar Games themselves. These were formal, well-known, decades-held and firmly established rules set down by the Capitol, involving that two kids from each of 12 districts are always chosen to participate--and, since there can be only be one winner, it was therefore a given that it would not necessarily be just strangers killing strangers; it must come down, eventually, to neighbor killing neighbor. That the heroine of the book would eventually HAVE to face her neighbor in combat, was the hook that kept me interested!! Would she have the bravery, the steel nerves, the skill? So, when late in the book this conflict was abruptly yanked away by a ridiculous (cheap! contrived! groan-worthy!) twist... well, I almost threw the book across the room. And for me there was no recovery after that.
* 1/2 One and a half stars.
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