The Hunger Games

Synopsis: The Hunger Games is a game. A televised reality show for everyone to watch and see. A game where the government picks randomized names of two children from each of the twelve districts in the city of Panem.
The rules of the game are simple: kill everyone else or be killed. Only one survives.

Review: Sometimes, the plot is only the beginning of a book. More often, it's the characters that hold up a story. With this young adult book, that's definitely the case.
Although done before, and the plot is not as original or unique, it's the main characters that truly kept me interested. They were very solid characters, likable, and believable. Because of that, it not only made me empathize and relate to them more, it also kept me hooked and interested.

Another big plus for me was the writing and the pace. It never lagged, was simple, and straight-forward; nothing overly complicated or exaggerated. I liked that, because it showed that an author doesn't have to use big, fancy words all the time to create a point. Sometimes, even the simplest of words would suffice, if delivered the right way. I feel like this is one of those books that is the epitome of that idea.

Also, I was really into the book the entire time I was reading it, and literally couldn't put it down. I know, it's a cliche to say that, but that is truly the case with this one. Even when I finished the book, I couldn't wait to check out the sequel. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), this is a popular trilogy so the library did not have it. I was also far too impatient to reserve it, because the number of holds were crazy! So I gave in and bought a copy of it instead. And I really do think it's worth buying. So yes, I do recommend this book. It's a young adult, fantasy/sci-fi/horror-ish novel, and though I usually tend to stay away from that genre, this one made me actually want to read others in that category.

Again, like I said, I do recommend it. So read it, especially if you're in the mood for a really good, intriguing, interesting, well-written young adult book with a really disturbing storyline.