"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

I am giving "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins 3 stars though I sort of want to give it 4 stars. This is the first book in a young adult series, and you'd have to be living under a rock not to have heard about it. The movie opened this past weekend and had the 3rd highest box office opening of all time. The princess saw it this weekend. She loved the series, but her review of the movie was, "It's not as good as the book." My response, "They never are."

This is a futuristic story of a country that was once the USA and is now broken into 12 districts. Every year each district must send 1 boy and 1 girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to compete in the Hunger Games. It's a fight to the death with only one winner and is broadcast to the country in an effort to keep the citizens in line. Given that description, I would have NEVER read this book, because I don't like to read books that brutalize children. It bothers me.

However, with all the hoopla surrounding this book and working in a middle school where probably 1/2 the population has read the series, I decided to give in and suck it up. I thought the book was well written. It was a fast read. I was totally drawn in and found it easy to relate to the characters. And I couldn't put it down. It was a great story, and I will definitely read the next one in the series.

Having said all of that, you might wonder why it didn't get 4 stars. The truth is I just couldn't do it. In the end it's still a story about children being forced to kill each other (I don't like "Lord of the Rings" either), and I HATE that! So though it's an excellent book that kept my pages turning, it's only getting 3 stars because of all the carnage.