I read a lot. Because I'm very often found with a book in my hands/bag/car it's easy for me to be able to put the book down. I always find time to read, and it's rare for a book to absorb me so much that I find myself enraptured to the point where I simply can't put the thing down and feel no choice but to sacrifice just to keep reading. Whatever the sacrifice may be, sleep/food/work (and yes, I've been known to call out of work on one of those abnormally rare occasions that a book pulled me in so much I just had to keep reading).
This book......had me up for hours past my normal bed time just to reach the end where a strangled cry escaped my lips as I realized that this book ends on a cliffhanger. And I beat myself up for not having purchased the second in the series yet. After I got 50 pages in I already knew I'd want to read the whole series. And I did make a special errand run the following day to pick up not only the second book, but the third as well in the series. It was a read I honestly couldn't pull myself away from.
The story is intriguing - basic plot line is a future/alternate world where all of North America is divided in 14 sections. The Capitol city at the center and the 13 outlying districts that produce goods for the Capitol. After a few years of this life the outlying districts stood up to the Capitol and a revolution began. Only it ended as soon as it began and all but one district was defeated by the Capitol. The last wasn't defeated, it was obliterated off the map. Ever since then the Capitol has flaunted their power and control over the districts with the 'Games'. Designed as a way to control the public. Every district must send two 'tributes' to the games (one girl and one boy) who will be placed in a arena with the other tributes from each district and fight to the death. The last one standing is the Victor who will win money and food and safety for their entire family for the rest of their lives. But of course - 24 children will go in, and only one will return home.
The books follow Katniss Everdeen. But I'm going to concentrate on this book alone. The story is amazing, from the moment she wakes up on the first page to the reaping (when the names of the tributes are chosen) to the actual Games, the arena they're set in....I'm trying not to give away too much, but it's so hard not to launch into the details I found to be the most important and the ones that I thought were the sweetest.
There are characters you love, and characters you learn to love. And they're all written so wonderfully. I've read many books where a character acts completely against their nature because it's convenient and adds a good plot twist, but lets be honest, that's not very entertaining and instead turns us off to the read. Nothing like that occurs in this book. Each character is exactly who they are, with no one acting differently than you would expect or hope - which I know sounds like this makes it predictable, but not at all. Especially with the sadistic gamemakers creating new and dangerous obstacles for the tributes to survive while still hunting each other.
Keep in mind, if you make it to the middle of the book and are as caught up as I was....there is a series, and this ends on a cliffhanger with many questions dying for answers...so go out and buy the next two if this is the case. If you're easily putting the book down and walking away then perhaps this read wasn't for you.
A noteworthy point: This book is sometimes found in children's sections because like many other miss-labeled titles the star is a child. However, because of the blood and gore and violence that is not just suggested but witnessed and often times perpetrated by the characters we're following I would not normally recommend the title to a child. Though there are many titles for children that contain these themes of violence and blood, so this is nothing new. I suppose this is up to the parents, I wouldn't put this book in the hands of my child if he/she wasn't at least in high school.
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