The Odds are Forever in It's Favor

There is a forest of teen fiction stories out there. There is your typical "teen enters supernatural world and life is forever changed" and there is the "teen discovers magical powers and saves the world." From Twilight to Percy Jackson, Magic Tree House to Maximum Ride, it becomes so boring that it almost drives someone to tears. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is a mighty arrow that unleashes a firry inferno upon it's other competitors. The Hunger Games "volunteer as tribute" to risk life and death so that they might save readers from the oppressive boredom that can be easily found in other novels.

The underdog element begins as the same old mundane story. A young teenage girl named Katniss lives a miserable life in The Seam as she struggles to provide for her innocent sister Prim and her distant mother. Katniss is filled with a spite that runs incredibly deep throughout every fiber of her being. Her life is turned upside down when Prim is chosen to fight in the Hunger Games, a stunt pulled by the despicable Capitol as retribution for a rebellion. In a flurry of action, Katniss replaces her sister to guarantee her one more year of life. Where this firecracker begins to explode with creativity is with the entire story being set in a pathetic excuse of futuristic America called Panem. It is as if Collins has taken every terrible thing about our existence to ensure empathy for the tributes and complete hatred for the Capitol. Another difference is that there are both multiple heroes and villains. In the bubble of fiction, you have showdowns such as Harry vs. Voldemort and Bella & Edward vs. the Volturi. Collins puts the entire Capitol against Katniss, Peeta, and Rue.

Another arrow in the heart of what makes The Hunger Games such a hit are the unique characters. Our main heroine Katniss isn't the stereotypical girl who depends on a man to rescue her from an ivory tower. Peeta is the baker's son who "doesn't have a girl back home because she came here with him." After he gives a declaration of love, a strategy develops where the two play Romeo & Juliet in order to win sympathy in the Games. Rue is the tribute who appears for about 5 chapters and then dies a painful death. Rue is the only character from outside District 12 that the reader develops a loveable feeling for. Ellie, Haymitch, and the other tributes are completly despispicable because they seem to lack any sort of guilt over being the government's puppets and the fact that 23 people could end up dead because of their action seems to completly slip their peanut-sized brains. In the first two minutes of the Games, 11 tributes are dead in a horrible bloodbath at the Cornocopia. In addition to unusual characters, a evil dystopian background, a reader will also find some of the most controversial topics in our society sewen into every inch of the novel.

Government control, war, murder, how far you should be willing to go in order to survive, competition. Some of these words send up red flags in any mind, especially in those of parents whose young influencial teens are reading these novels. Sike! Let's be real here: not a lot of teens are going to ask their parents if it is okay for them to read a popular book that has got everyone talking. For those wierdos who might have some concern, there is not any real reason for concern. The war in this book is no different than the wars in Syria, Iran, and Egypt that we see every day! I just don't understand why everyone has so much concern! If you really want to keep someone informed about a worldwide concept, you might as well let them read it in a New York Times bestseller novel because otherwise all they have to do is open the Internet or turn on the news to find what they want. Suzanne Collins has been quoted saying "that she got the inspiration for The Hunger Games by watching a game show and then switching to a movie about a war." The bottom line is that the topics in The Hunger Games are just based around topics readers experience everyday. While they are controversial, they are topics that everyone needs to know about if they want to even have a chance of understanding the world around them.

After reading The Hunger Games, the score for this dystopian fiction novel is 4.5 mockingjays out of 5. The book does have a beginning slower than molasses but it does have importance because you meet the fearless heroine and you understand where the bitterness and utter defiance comes from. Any reader also understands the awkwardness between Katniss and Peeta. Before the novel is done, the reader is left with feelings of awe and respect for the victors of The Hunger Games, confusion over their relationship status, and a burning desire to destroy the cruel society that forces these games upon their youth.