Hunger Games series changes perspective

North America is gone, replaced by Panem. It’s split up into 13 districts, and then the Capitol. The Capitol is in charge of everything, and when district 13 tried to rebel, they were destroyed. As punishment for the rebellion, the other 12 districts must send one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to compete in the hunger games. This book follows the adventure of Katniss Everdeen who’s chosen as one of the tributes from District 11 along with Peeta Mellark, the son of a baker. They must fight to the death to survive in the arena. Oh yeah, and everyone’s trying to kill them.

People had told me time and time again that I needed to read The Hunger Games. I always responded the same way, “If it doesn’t have fairies or wizards, I don’t want to read it.” Well, finally, I was at home, bored while everyone was at school. I had hurt my back and read everything on my book shelf. I knew from previous experience that YouTube gave me access to the Harry Potter audio books, but I didn’t know the extent of the material available.

I finally succumbed to the wills of my friends (something I don’t condone, peer pressure is bad, kids!) and searched for The Hunger Games. When it came up, I decided to give it a chance. I’m so glad I did.

While audio books cannot compare to physically reading a book, they’re great because you can listen to them while you’re doing homework, or…not doing homework, in most cases.

I loved this trilogy (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and then Mockingjay, all by Suzanne Collins). I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. The idea of a dystopian world never really appealed to me, and at first glance, I didn’t think I’d like these books. I was so wrong. The characters have depth, they have emotions and they have a passionate desire to stay alive.

Katniss is driven by her need to protect her family, because her father died when she was young, leaving her with a despondent mother and a dependent younger sister. I loved her because she was strong. She was capable of taking care of her family and didn’t need someone to protect her, even though there are those who try. Peeta is pushed by his insistence on keeping Katniss safe during their sensationalized romance cooked up by the citizens of the Capitol. Their mentor, Haymitch, is driven to keep them both alive even though he knows one of his tributes won’t make it out of the arena alive.

The series is full of twists that will keep the reader on the edge of their seat, dragging back the time marker to see if they heard right. Chances are they did. This book is not to be taken lightly. It’s angsty and kind of dark. There’s no fluff and there’s only a hint of romance that reader’s are wary to accept. It is a force driven by the human need to survive.