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A review by jselliot
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Hunger Games ... the book that kickstarted the western obsession with the dystopian genre once again, following on the heels of Battle Royale in Japan. I personally feel it makes a nod to the predecessor rather than steals from it, and both are good for their own reasons. I will hands down recommend this book and the whole trilogy to anyone that asks. (I have not read the prequel yet, so cannot give an aye or nay.)
A craft-level aside to other authors:
I will say that I have noticed in recent years that many books try and fail to copy the first-person present-tense style of Hunger Games. Most of them fail. First-person is difficult enough to write well without annoying a reader. Present-tense is even higher on the difficulty tier. So if there are authors out there wanting to mimic this style, please study it. Underline particularly effective passages. Pay attention to how turns of phrase are not butchered from the time-honored past-tense version just because it is an option. Manually type the whole thing out on your computer from the book. Learn via osmosis on how the style functions, much like you can learn how to flesh out and characterize a setting from doing that with an author like Robin Hobb. It's the writer's version of how artists trace to learn specific things, and is a valid exercise.
A craft-level aside to other authors:
I will say that I have noticed in recent years that many books try and fail to copy the first-person present-tense style of Hunger Games. Most of them fail. First-person is difficult enough to write well without annoying a reader. Present-tense is even higher on the difficulty tier. So if there are authors out there wanting to mimic this style, please study it. Underline particularly effective passages. Pay attention to how turns of phrase are not butchered from the time-honored past-tense version just because it is an option. Manually type the whole thing out on your computer from the book. Learn via osmosis on how the style functions, much like you can learn how to flesh out and characterize a setting from doing that with an author like Robin Hobb. It's the writer's version of how artists trace to learn specific things, and is a valid exercise.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, and Classism
Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, and Mental illness