The Hunger Games!!

So, to go ahead and start this out, I'm going to express my female side for a little bit.

I am totally Team Gale.  Don't get me wrong, I think Peeta is a great character and has some great qualities, I just perfer gale. 

Anyways, I read this series back in December and have sense convinced many friends to read it as well.  I started off kind of bored with it.  The plot reminded me a lot about the Romans and their staged fights, and quite frankly...I wasn't interested.

I struggled through the first TWO chapters of the first book, and then my opinion was changed. Changed so much that I read all three books in two days. 

For those that don't know, the premise of the book is that the world has essentially been destoryed. There is a capitol, and 12 districts.  There were 13, but during an uprise, the 13th district was destoryed as an example of what happens if you mess with the capitol. 

"The Hunger Games", where the book's title comes from, are yearly games that are held by the capitol.  Each district gives two tributes, one male and one female, and all 24 participants are placed in an arena.  Once in the arena, the participants fight to the death.  There is one objective....to live!

The winner of the games is given wealth, food, housing, etc in their district in an area called the Victor's Village.  The district that has the winning tribute is gifted extra food, and kind of showered with gifts from the capitol for a year. 

The book, isn't just about their struggle of surviving inside the arena, the book is also about the personal struggle of Katniss, the female tribute from district 12.  Some would say that the whole book is about her, and they may be right.  However, I think the book shines a spotlight on the way of life of people that are less fortunate, that are from a "poor district", or third world country.  Everyday people struggle to have food to eat, to keep warm, to have medical care, to simply live!  Collins does a great job of showing how the capitol/government in the book kept control over everything in their lives.

I think the moral of the series is to never give up, no matter what the odds are.  The impact that Katniss and Peeta had on all the districts, on people in the capitol, is inspring. The impact that one or two people can have, is truly motivating.  The book shows that one person can create a revolution, but could potentially also destory it.

The Hunger Games is a fantastic series, and is a cheap easy read.  I recommend it for a weekend getaway insde your own little apartment!