The Hunger Games Box Set: Foil Edition Paperback – September 30, 2014

THERE WILL BE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW, SO DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOKSOkay, so first of all, as a huge Harry Potter fan, I've been undergoing a withdrawal since the book series (and the movie series) have now ended. I love reading many different books, but I wasn't sure I would ever latch onto a new story the way I latched on to Harry Potter almost 10 years ago. Enter The Hunger Games. I actually first heard of it from Kristian Harloff of the Schmoes Know YouTube channel some months ago, and I was definitely intrigued. Of course, there's a movie coming out soon, and back when the trailers were first released, I thought it look interesting but I wasn't excited since I had no idea what it was about. I purchased this box set a few weeks ago, however, going off of the incredibly positive word-of-mouth.I've officially climbed onto The Hunger Games bandwagon. The first book is written in first person POV, with 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen as the main character. I will say that, as a male, I'm aware that most of the great fictional heroes are male. It's so great to see a great female hero like Katniss (along the lines of Ripley from Alien). While brave, her character is also very feminine and vulnerable, and she's just awesome! Anyway, I won't really delve too deep into the plot, but the first book, The Hunger Games, centers around this tournament in which 24 kids aged 12-18 (12 boys and 12 girls) are selected to compete in. They are put into large arenas controlled by Gamemakers, and it's basically a deathmatch. It's all a part of the Capitol (the force which runs the districts of Panem) showing the districts who's in charge. At first, I wasn't sure which of the 3 books was my favorite. Now, I'm pretty sure it's The Hunger Games, just because it takes so many unexpected twists and turns, and the reader really feels as though he/she is Katniss experiencing these games. Also, The Hunger Games is ironically the book that showcases the worst of the Capitol's power, by showing these kids killing each other.Now for the second book, Catching Fire. I regard this as The Empire Strikes Back of the Hunger Games Trilogy (for Star Wars fans out there). This one shows the issues that Katniss and Peeta face after the Hunger Games have ended and they have been crowned victors. The book centers around the rise of a rebellion against the Capitol, and the rising of President Snow, the ruler of the Capitol and the districts. What really sells this book is the dark, ominous, uncertain tone of it. It may reuse a few elements of the first book (for example, another Hunger Games match), but it puts a different twist on it. This book also ends on a cliffhanger MUCH like The Empire Strikes Back (I'll be shocked if Suzanne Collins isn't a Star Wars fan). This is a great book, maybe not as fresh as the first, but it's of equal quality and a great continuation.Now we have the final book, Mockingjay. This is definitely the one fans are most divided over. Some really like it, others were disappointed by it, and some even hate it. I'll start off by saying that Mockingjay is a full out war story, and everything in the first two books had been leading up to it. Many fans were disappointed that the Katniss-Peeta-Gale love triangle wasn't extremely romantic (though it was definitely present), and that the book seemed to end abruptly and felt incomplete. I, for one, think this book is excellent. It's not quite the read that the first two books were (though it's still captivating). While those two were dark, they still had a "pure candy" aspect to them. This one, as I said, is a full-out war story. People on both sides die, allegiances are questioned, there is anger, sadness, distrust, betrayal...everything. I was very surprised with how bold Suzanne Collins was with this book, but I was also very pleased. She doesn't sugarcoat any of it. War tears people apart, and it changes people permanently. Even if they make it through the end and rebuild their lives, they are never the same as they were before. And sure, the ending leaves some questions open, but it felt right to me. The main story, the main moral of the story was wrapped up very well. The main characters' arcs were wrapped up very well, too. It's definitely emotionally draining, but also uplifting.I thought the way she wrote it was fantastic. Is it my favorite of the series? I'm not sure. I would probably reread the first book before rereading this one. However, I might like this one a teensy bit more than the second, but I really can't be sure. All of the books are great for what they are.I'm not trying to overhype it, but this really is an epic trilogy. It has many thrills and takes many unexpected twists and turns. The first movie won't be out for another two weeks, but I could actually see the movies being even more enjoyable than the books. No disrespect to the author, of course, but the stories could benefit greatly from cinematic adaptations. Word has it that the films will take a more omniscent point of view, rather than being solely from Katniss' point of view. While seeing things from Katniss' POV works in the books, we definitely need a larger scale in the movies, so I think the atmosphere in the films could really blow people away. I especially think that Mockingjay (which I believe will be a 2-Part film) will benefit from a film adaptation, since we will probably see more of the war (and President Snow), and the ending will probably have a more definite conclusion. I think we will see some scenes from Peeta's point of view, as well. That's just my prediction anyway, and I hope I'm right.Again, this is a great set of books that has HUGE potential as films. Harry Potter did a great job as movies (sure, I might have some gripes here and there, but I'm just amazed that the crew stuck around to make EIGHT films, all of which are at least very good). Hunger Games needs to stick true to the books, but also bring in people who haven't read them. I LOVE the trailers we've seen so far, and I LOVE the casting (Katniss, Peeta, Effie, Snow, just about everyone), so I'm definitely looking forward to it. One things for certain, though: the world will be watching.

they were definitely hungry

The second time I have read them and I'm still not disappointed! Thank you for such a great trilogy Suzanne!

(Dear Fellow Amazon Readers: How 'bout a change of pace for this review?)Whatever Date You Read ThisHi Suzanne:I just finished two weeks of hunger gaming -- first at the movies, then with all three books. This is a thank-you note with some advice on how to make your next effort even better!First, a little bit about me. I love strong female leads, stories set in the future and ones involving the fight against tyranny. And I know this is fiction, so I have to suspend my disbelief.But you have to make it easier for me to do that by really creating a detailed picture of the world you have created for me...one every bit as full-bodied as any setting on our present world map you might have chosen for something other than an SF novel. That would have prevented you from presenting both President Snow and the writer of his "Why We Have The Hunger Games" propo as harmless dolts with Wonder Woman's magic lasso around them! To paraphrase a line from another book I just finished reading, "How do you get the people of Panem to participate in the Hunger Games? You LIE to them!Remember, Suzanne: Katniss' actions spring from her motives, which in turn can only be based on two things: her personality and the "actual" situations in which she finds herself - the myriad "realities", both momentous and mundane, of the world in which she has grown up. Let's pretend you'd written HG the way I'm suggesting: Mightn't Katniss be THRILLED to be going to the arena? For that matter, might this not even perhaps be Prim's coming of age story? Assume all of Panem has bought into some semireligious rationale for the games: How much deeper (and scarier!) might this whole thing have been if - as so often in real life - the biggest battle the tributes-turned-rebels had to fight was against their own desire for glory, their own hand not just in the deaths of their peers in the arena, but in actively promoting both the games and the very regime which holds them every year?I don't think you're lazy, Suzanne, though it might not have occurred to you to write yourself a virtual Country Guide for Panem like the (U.S.) Foreign Service does, filled with "facts" not intended for inclusion in the trilogy. But as you've written it, the story could only start on the first ever Reaping Day; then I could buy Snow telling the districts something like: "You rebelled, we had to stop you for our collective good as a society, and because the war has disrupted the whole nation by killing our top military strategist, we need a new one...whom we're going to pick from one of your districts, which district will be granted complete amnesty for its crimes against the nation. Send us your best: Only one may have the honor."Notice that even at this, you'd have to do some pretty fancy footwork to explain why each district has to serve up TWO tributes. I understand why you needed it as a plot device, but in what sort of world would this really make sense? All in all, having just one tribute per district and making Peta be from another one would have been more believable.So, Suzanne, next time you create a post-apocalypse world for us, PLEASE ask yourself if everything you write in and about it is truly believable. Notice I didn't say: "....whether or not you believe it yourself"; we're all too caught up in our own work to have that much objectivity. But you can ask yourself a couple dozen questions about what has happened before the story starts, how the government is structured and what lies it tells before you begin. Or, with considerably more effort, you might be able to work backwards, starting with how you want your characters to come off, and a few key plot points to which you are fully committed. I think, though, that this would be a mistake, and everything I've ever read on the process of creating says that when you're in the zone, it should just flow out of you. I've read more than one great artist (musical and literary) say they had no control once inspiration struck. I know that's not so convenient when you're planning out a trilogy, much less a major motion picture and a bunch of related merchandise. As it stands, your Hunger Games series is ALMOST worthy of all that attention, Suzanne, and I want to add that I'm lucky to find one single book per year that I can't put down, much less three worth stealing homework time from (I'm a graduate student), so I'm not just writing this out of jealousy or envy. You've got a lot of potential to produce something truly brilliant, Suzanne, but this time you get just an A- for your efforts.You can have an A+ next time, Suzanne. Just keep it all absolutely real. Don't force anything whatsoever. Then you'll have truly written the book - or series - we all love to be scared out of our wits by. You might even find yourself being counted among the ranks of the very best SF writers of all time.

This is still one of my absolute favorite series ever! I just did a re-read to refresh my mind before reading the latest prequel book. And I'm blown away by how much this series still pulls me in. It will forever hold a special place in my heart. If you haven't read these books yet, I highly recommend you do!