Now I've been gone for a while, but the movies are coming out soon, so some of you may be wondering about the books. Idk if you've already had posts about the Hunger Games, but I'm going to offer up my review anyway:

I love the irony of that they're making a movie of this book. That's all. It's just so ... perfect. And let's be honest, they can pretty much take the book as it is written and slap it up onto the screen and everything would work out perfectly because that's THE ENTIRE POINT! It's a dystopia that is distinctly modern, a beautiful almost satire-like twist on "reality" television. Survivor on crack-cocaine. Everything that happens falls into a wonderful story, and that's because the characters want it to be so. That's the whole point of the Games: to make a story, a horribly, horribly violent story of forcing small children into desperation and murder. The fun part is figuring out how our heroes are going to not only stay alive, but keep themselves from falling into that violent mindset.

What I'm trying to say here is that I really liked this book. It was a very fun and fast read, quite enthralling. The story is told in the first person present tense, which I often don't like but I think worked very here to heighten the urgency and immediacy of what was happening. Naturally, we get to know Katniss the best, and she is the roundest and most developed character. She is also a very interesting character. Her strength, tenacity, and cunning are refreshing. I've heard her described as "the anti-Bella" which while completely true, kind of also belittles Katniss a bit. But at any rate, most of the other characters are pretty flat, which is fine because they do their jobs. I think mostly what fits this book into the category "Young Adult" is the relative simplicity of the plot and the characters (as well as their ages). Nothing wrong with that! Though I am left really itching to know how the mechanics of the government of Panem really work. But Katniss doesn't know, so we won't know. I have high hopes for Catching Fire ... the Games are over, but the REAL games are maybe just beginning?

The second book only gets better, and then the third book really takes a radical shift in tone. I will post my review later if there are people who are interested in discussing it.