The Hunger Games

I have a confession. I have a weakness. I have many in fact but this one is probably one of my more forgivable/likeable weaknesses. I'm a bit of a sucker for Young Adult fiction. GASP. You're all so shocked. I can tell. My bookcase is 3 quarters full of books (stacked 3 deep as to leave some room on my bookcase for other things) and amongst those is a little collection of what would be considered young adult fiction. And my most recent addiction to this collection is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

I've been casually observing the fuss over these books via Tumblr for a little while now and after the recent release of the film trailer I became increasingly intrigued. Here's the trailer for any of you who haven't seen it.



Looks kinda interesting right? I'm into it. I'd pay to see it for sure.

So when I saw the books for sale in The Works for £5.99 I snapped a set up (that's £5.99 for all three by the way, mega bargain). I didn't get round to them right away. Had to finish another book first which was taking me a while. But I eventually finished it and delved right in with The Hunger Games.

Let me say straight off the bat, despite being endorsed by the dreadful Stephenie Meyer, The Hunger Games are on a completely different level to the Twilight Saga when it comes to Young Adult fiction. And I can say that with confidence because I have actually read the Twilight Saga so I'm not dissing it because it's cool to do so. I'm genuinely not a fan of the writing. I'm not saying that The Hunger Games is perfect in comparison. There are flaws in it here and there. But overall it's a pretty intense series to be aimed at a younger audience.

I'm not going to go into intricate detail about the plot, in fact I'll just include the book's blurb here.

"Winning will make you famous. Losing means certain death.

In a dark vision of the near future, a terrifying reality TV show is taking place. Twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live event called The Hunger Games. There is only one rule: kill or be killed.

But sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature."

I'll admit when I first understood the concept I just thought Battle Royale but I became oddly sucked into these books. The whole concept of making children fight to the death makes me so uncomfortable. Collins doesn't shy away from getting graphic either with the injuries incurred or death scenes. There is one particular death in the first book which is so damn disturbing that I'm a little bit scared to see it on the big screen. It's straight out of a horror film truly. But I think that is what makes these books different from the other popular Young Adult fiction being adapted for film or TV. It's a grim series. It isn't so heavily focused around romance like other current fandoms. There is of course some romance in it but it's romance done differently. There isn't a great deal of happiness in this series. Bad things happen. In fact downright horrific things happen in it. Collins isn't afraid to kill off the likeable characters (must have been taking lessons from George R R Martin). I got so wrapped up in reading these books that I finished book 1 pretty quickly, moved straight onto book 2 and read that in about 4 hours (I'm a slightly intense reader). Book 3 took a little longer due to being away for the weekend.

In all for what is supposed to be a Young Adult book The Hunger Games is a surprisingly adult read. It has a strong plot line, interesting characters, some gruesome action and just the right amount of romance. The film looks to be pretty good so if you're not a reader then at least there's that to enjoy instead.

Laters,

P x