The Hunger Games Trilogy

Finally finished the trilogy! (and by "finally", I'm referring to the amount of time it took me to buy them... it actually only took me about 7 hours to read all three... and I'm not a particularly fast reader.) While they are in the "young adult" category (which may or may not describe my demographic) and consequently kind of "easy" to read, I thought they were very [very] good. A few things that stood out:

Unless you've been living in a dark and lonely place the last few months (what with the growing popularity of these books and the hype over the release of the first movie coming up), you probably have at least an inkling of the general premise of the book. But for those cave dwellers who may not know, here's a brief and simple synopsis:
The Hunger Games trilogy is set in the future of North America-a place now called Panem. The dictatorship holds power over 12 districts, but at one time there were 13; the 13th rebelled, and it is believed to have been annihilated by the government. In an effort to prevent future rebellion, the government holds an annual Hunger Games competition in which each district provides one female and one male competitor. The Games are held in a man-made arena and are designed to challenge the survival skills of the competitors, whose main goal is to kill off their counterparts and be the sole survivor and therefore the victor.

My first reaction to the concept of this book was complete disgust. No one that I talked to explained that the DICTATORSHIP was trying to SCARE the districts into compliance. A couple of minor details that would have resulted in me reading them much sooner and without so much attitude going in (great job, my friendlies). At any rate, the books-while brutal and relatively violent, at times-are actually really good, and not as disturbing as I was led to believe.

A few things that I loved about this trilogy:

1) The books got progressively better. This is one series in which I actually enjoyed the third book more than the first two... and the first two captured my attention well enough to propel me to full force into the third. Character development was great, and the story really unfolded. At the end of the first book I couldn't imagine what could possibly happen in the next one, as the story seemed to be finished. Turns out that was only just the beginning!

2) The characters were pretty good. I wasn't actually a HUGE huge fan of the protagonist (Katniss Everdeen, who tells the story from the first-person perspective), because she was a little too emotionless and her overbearing sense of independence got kind of obnoxious at times. That being said, it all worked out really well in the end. The way her character developed (and this goes for all of the characters, actually), made sense of everything by the close of the series.

3) The love triangle was convincing. I honestly didn't know how that one was going to end. There was no clear choice between Katniss' two lovers, and the complexity of the issue made the story a lot more interesting.

Other than those things, I think that the book was a very eye opening look into what could happen to a country that falls apart due to issues of war and social unrest; an idea of what political strife and civil war can do. It showed the dirty side of a dictatorship, and any politics in general; how power can change an individual. It painted a picture of what it would be like to live in a world where defending your beliefs will cost you your life, and I hope that the "young adults" reading these books will take those ideas seriously... I hope that this story will help our younger generation realize and appreciate the rights that they have, and defend them as if they'd be lost otherwise.

(I'd add a portion about elements that didn't impress me, but there weren't any... none worth mentioning, anyway.)

So yes---I enjoyed these books and have and will continue to recommend them. Easy read, but a very good story. Looking forward to the movies, now, and desperately hoping that they can do the book justice.... we'll see!