“The Hunger Games”, by Suzanne Collins

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. New York: Scholastic, 2008. Print.

I read this book in December, during a sick day or two when I wasn’t able to go to work.  I didn’t have anything on the go, so my son loaned me this book that he’d received as a gift for his birthday.

This is a fantasy novel in either an alternate universe or dystopian future.  The protagonist is a female teenage who is the main provider for her family, but then gets taken away to participate in the Hunger Games of the title – a televised competition that pits teens against each other in a death match.

My expectations were low, which is perhaps surprising since I often admit to a love for Young Adult fiction.  I guess I expected this book to be violent – which it mostly is – and therefore not very good – which was an unfair assumption.  I found the characters to be reasonably well developed, the story to be riveting, and the ending to be satisfying and not quite as formulaic as I feared.  I’ll definitely read the next in the series when I need a light, gripping read.