Thursday 20 December 2012

Book Review - Hunger Games

Ok so I know I'm rather late, after The Hunger Games was released in cinemas March this year to much hype. However I keep buying too many books and not getting a chance to get around to reading them for months, so I've only just had a chance to finish these.


I bought the complete trio for £7.99 from The Works, so each book worked out at just over £2.60 each!
After just finishing off the first book from A Story of Ice and Fire and picking this up directly, I must admit when I first started reading, it felt like a huge downgrade and I was slightly disappointed. Firstly I didn't realise how young the target age group was, this is definitely one for the teenagers and an extremely easy read. Whilst in general the plot idea is fantastic, I just didn't find the writing engaging enough for me and always felt like something was missing and that I needed more. I became attached to the headstrong, heroine Katniss Everdeen and came to admire her stance and attitudes towards the rebellious cause. The second book Catching Fire did little to draw back my enthusiasm and seemed rather rushed and came to an end too quickly. I have just started reading the final book Mockingjay yesterday and hope that it can bring back some passion and win me over in the end.
I've tried to think how I would have felt reading this a few years ago and think I would have liked it, but as said following on from such a great book (Game of Thrones my favourite book series ever I've now decided) the overwhelming praise I'd heard didn't seem credible.
I watched the film on Saturday and was even more disappointed by this than the books. In general it is extremely hard to convert a book to film and rarely is it ever achieved well. I'm one of those people who like every aspect transferred over from the book and hate when huge details are missed out; parts which I think will help the audience to understand more.
All in all I couldn't put the book down and finished the trilogy in under 2 weeks which shows I must have liked it somewhat, but feel rather than loving it I was chasing for something better which didn't come and came away unsatisfied with the whole story. Maybe after finishing Mockingjay this week my opinions might change.

Have you read this series or watched the film, what did you think?

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